Chapter 005: Danger Imminent!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The door shook continuously, then with a crack, it burst open, the lock unable to withstand the zombie's monstrous strength.

A tall zombie with a rotten, slimy face stepped out of the room.

"Aaah... Mmm mmm..."

Amanda couldn't help but scream in horror, immediately being silenced by Lionel beside her.

Though Lionel was equally terrified, he feared attracting more zombies even more.

This tall zombie seemed to be Devlin Leyton, Kieron Leyton's brother. It hissed threateningly, its heavy footsteps moving towards Memphis and the others.

"Its speed isn't too high, but its monstrous strength is immense!"

Memphis quickly assessed the situation. As the zombie's claw came down, he used his superior speed to dodge, gripping the machete and slashing upwards, striking its arm joint.

Crack!

The zombie's claw was severed on the spot.

The zombie didn't feel any pain and swung its remaining hand towards Memphis's head. He quickly crouched, rolled through its legs, and moved behind it.

The zombie, Devlin Leyton, didn't turn to chase Memphis but instead let out a bloodthirsty hiss and lunged at Lionel and Amanda.

The two of them were paralyzed with fear, their faces turning deathly pale.

At that moment, a dense ring of frost appeared around Devlin's legs, coating them in white and firmly anchoring him to the floor. The zombie lost its balance and fell forward in front of Lionel.

Both Lionel and Amanda were petrified, staring at the rotting arms and ghastly, decayed face. They hurriedly took a step back, too scared to swing the baseball bat in their hands.

From behind, Memphis swiftly jumped forward and decapitated Devlin with one clean stroke.

That was close, luckily he was fast enough to dodge its claw. Otherwise, he could have been scratched or had his bones broken.

Memphis still felt a lingering fear. The zombie's movement speed wasn't high, but its attack speed was quite dangerous. If he hadn't allocated 2 points to agility, he would have been hit.

From Devlin's body, a card and a silver-white book were ejected. Memphis immediately picked them both up.

"Ding! First-level passive skill book: Strength Enhancement. Skill attributes: grants the owner +3 permanent strength. The skill can only be learned once and can be enhanced and upgraded."

"Learn immediately!"

"Ding! Learning completed!"

"Ding! Random item card, confirm usage?"

"Use!"

"Ding! Speed Boots Lv2. Attributes: +3 agility. Limited item, cannot stack effects with similar items."

"These are really good items!"

At this point, Memphis's strength finally increased to 13 points, and his agility reached 12 points, surpassing normal human standards. He estimated that he was now slightly stronger and faster than the large Kieron had been when he was alive.

Lionel and Amanda could only look at Memphis with envy. They hadn't contributed anything beyond distracting the enemy.

Ignoring their envious looks, Memphis said sternly:

"You two had better stay calm and not scream like before. If there's a chance, you need to seize it and attack the zombies. Otherwise, I can't guarantee your safety."

His words made Amanda blush with embarrassment. She had screamed loudly earlier, but fortunately, no other zombies had come running.

Lionel, being thick-skinned, just laughed and said: "We should quickly look for guns. I remember they were stored under the cabinet next to the fire extinguisher."

Memphis nodded, stepping through the shattered door and entering the security room.

Lionel and Amanda followed him inside.

The room still held a half-eaten corpse, its body turned a dark purple, as if it had been dead for ten days.

"Hmm? Why hasn't it turned into a zombie? Is there some rule here? Maybe if the body is eaten too much, it won't come back as a zombie, or the more it's eaten, the longer it takes to zombify?"

Memphis frowned in confusion, not seeing any notification info on the corpse. He decided to ignore it for now and searched according to Lionel's directions.

"Here it is."

After some searching, he indeed pulled out a k54 pistol and a small bag of bullets from under a drawer, even finding a holster.

Lionel and Amanda both sighed in relief. They felt a sense of protection with the gun.

Memphis, having served in the military before, was not unfamiliar with this toy. He loaded the 8 bullets into the magazine, locked the safety, placed it in the holster, and strapped it to his waistband.

Watching this, Lionel felt a pang of heartache. He wanted to say something but refrained, ending with a sigh.

Memphis looked around and saw two monitors on the wall, displaying the images of two staff rooms filled with corpses. He then asked:

"Mr. Hester, are there cameras in the stairwell?"

Lionel quickly set aside his regret and replied:

"Yes, let me check."

He stepped forward, glanced at the corpse on the table, suppressed his disgust, and retrieved a remote and a set of keys from the dead body's pocket. Using the remote, he pressed a few buttons, changing the camera images.

As he searched, he said:

"There are a total of six cameras, luckily connected by internal cables. If they were connected via Wi-Fi, there'd be no signal now."

Memphis nodded, watching the stairwell camera.

There, two zombies were kneeling, gnawing on a corpse. As for what was on the second and first floors, he didn't know. He pondered and asked:

"Mr. Hester, is it far from the stairwell to the pickup truck?"

Lionel thought carefully before answering:

"Technically, no one should have used the company truck today. It's parked in parking lot number 2 behind the building. My car is in the basement."

Memphis thought for a moment and decided:

"The car in the basement is likely hard to retrieve. It might be chaotic down there, and a car isn't strong enough against large zombie claws. We still need to find the truck."

"Alright, we'll follow your lead."

During the conversation between the two men, Amanda wasn't idle. She had already swept the room, collecting all the snacks, bottled water, and fruits that the guards had.

Seeing this, Memphis nodded silently. It seemed Amanda wasn't brainless, despite her rather ample chest.

Having made their decision, the three of them lined up and left, heading straight for the stairwell. Memphis took the lead, Amanda in the middle, and the portly Lionel brought up the rear, his hand trembling as he gripped the baseball bat.

Kheeze… Kheeze…

At the staircase landing between the 3rd and 2nd floors, two zombies were kneeling, gnawing on a body. Hearing the footsteps of the three people coming down, one of them immediately turned its head and then crawled over.

"Infectious form level 2, can turn living beings into the same kind."

"Infectious form level 2, can turn living beings into the same kind."

Just two level 2 zombies. Memphis swung his sword, shattering the skull of the crawling zombie, then casually chopped off the head of the other one still engrossed in eating.

His experience points had risen to 12/40.

He turned to Lionel and Amanda:

"If you have the courage to face them, you can gain greater power. These zombies are disgusting and dangerous, but they're also relatively stupid."

The two could only swallow nervously and nod in agreement.

Memphis didn't plan to give them the opportunity to kill enemies. He wasn't that free now. Strengthening himself first was the best strategy.

He just hoped that in a critical moment, these two wouldn't become burdens. A fat director and a weak secretary didn't exactly form a strong team.

The three continued down the stairs. Memphis signaled for them to stop, then peeked over the railing.

No zombies in sight. Lucky.

He signaled for them to move forward, and the two behind him followed closely.

Leading the way, Memphis remained constantly alert, his focus at 120%.

Just as he stepped onto the 2nd floor, the emergency exit door beside him, which had been silent, suddenly shook violently.

Bang! Bang, bang!

The sound of pounding on the door startled all three. Through the glass pane, they saw a grotesque face gnawing at them.

Memphis immediately pulled out his K54 pistol, disengaged the safety, and aimed at the glass.

Amanda's face turned pale, her lips trembling, almost screaming in terror. However, with Memphis's prior warning and some reassurance from the power of the pistol, she managed to hold herself together.

"Infectious form level 6, can turn living beings into the same kind."

Bang! Clang...

The level 6 zombie ferociously pounded on the door, and Memphis could see the hinges bulging, as if the door was about to be blown off.

He restrained the urge to shoot and shouted deeply:

"Give me the bat!"

Amanda, startled for a second, quickly handed the baseball bat to Memphis.

Without hesitation, Memphis swung the bat, smashing the glass with a crash. The zombie lunged forward immediately.

Kheeze...

It reached out, its filthy, black mouth snapping towards Memphis. But its body was too large, and the window could only fit its head, arm, and part of its upper body, causing it to get stuck.

Memphis dodged a swipe from the zombie, swung his broadsword, and chopped at its head.

Slice!

The zombie's skull couldn't withstand Memphis's strength and the sharp blade, and half of its head was cleaved off, brains and fluids gushing out like a stream.

It stopped struggling, its body stuck in the opening, arms hanging limply, black blood dripping onto the ground.

A blood-red, transparent stone immediately fell from the zombie's body. Memphis observed it for a moment, not detecting any danger, then reached out to pick it up.

"Ding! 12 exp, do you want to use it?"

Memphis was overjoyed and immediately decided without hesitation.

"Use."

As soon as he confirmed, the crystal shattered and evaporated, adding 12 points to his exp bar.

Killing this zombie earned him a fixed 6 exp, and the dropped crystal gave him an additional 12 exp. Combined with his previous accumulation, he now had 30/40 exp, bringing him closer to leveling up.

"It's somewhat based on luck. Honestly, I'd prefer a skill or item. But gaining experience isn't bad, equivalent to killing several zombies."

He tossed the baseball bat back to Amanda, ignoring her envious gaze, and continued downstairs.

From the second floor to the first, Memphis killed two more level 1 zombies and one level 2 zombie before finally seeing the light shining through the exit door.

And standing there was a massive zombie.

"Infectious type level 8, possessing immense strength and stamina, capable of infecting living beings into its kind."

This zombie was even larger than Devlin, with an abnormally swollen left arm resembling a weightlifter's arm.

It had been standing dazed, but upon hearing the footsteps of the three approaching, it slowly turned its head.

A heavily rotting face with a stubby nose appeared, with half-black, half-yellow jagged teeth, a long tongue covered in lumps and tangled hair, incredibly disgusting. It hissed excitedly and immediately stepped towards the staircase.

Memphis felt a heavy sense of foreboding and quickly shouted:

"Fall back!"

Amanda, her nerves trembling, hurriedly retreated, but she misstepped. Luckily, the plump Lionel grabbed her arm, pulling her back.

"Roar..."

The zombie moved as fast as a normal human, quickly approaching the three of them. It swung its swollen arm to grab Memphis, intending to crush him.

Because of Amanda's delay, Memphis hadn't retreated in time and could only swing his machete at the zombie's arm.

Slash!

The sharp machete cut into the zombie's arm but didn't sever it.

The zombie missing its target, immediately retracted its hand, pulling the machete from Memphis's grip.

Memphis quickly decided, summoning a white ice spear in his hand. But before he could throw it, he had to leap aside to avoid the zombie's swinging arm.

Crash!

The zombie's powerful arm smashed a chunk of the staircase, sending debris flying.

Behind the large zombie, two more zombies were lumbering towards them, crowding the exit, undoubtedly drawn by the sounds of the battle.

Gritting his teeth, Memphis took advantage of the zombie's pause and thrust the ice spear towards its throat.

Kheeze...

The zombie felt no pain and used its smaller right hand to swipe at Memphis's head, trying to crush him.

Fear flashed in Memphis's eyes. He had missed his strike, failing to kill the zombie, and now faced its counterattack, unable to evade in time!