Chapter 14: Predicament

"Machine lathe?" William looked at Clove, his face full of confusion. He couldn't understand why, in the middle of the apocalypse, anyone would still need something like that.

But seeing the dark barrel of the gun, William still obediently replied, "Yes, the mansion can produce its own weapons. The AK47s used by the cannon fodder—those were made by Quincy's adopted sons."

"Hey, buddy, my friend, my lord, how about sparing my life?"

"If you let me live, I'll go back and gather people to help you. We'll take down Quincy, then kill those little gangsters, and the mansion will be ours!"

As he spoke, William's face showed a somewhat flattering smile.

Clove shook his head. "I refuse. I don't need to control a faction. In this apocalypse, the more humans gather, the more dangerous it becomes."

"Those zombies—they all have the noses of dogs."

"However, your suggestion isn't bad. How about this? I'll spare your life and let you go, but you'll have to hand over all the machine lathes from the mansion to me."

"I can't do that alone." William quickly lowered his head.

Clove raised an eyebrow. "Then what use do I have for you?"

Upon hearing this, William immediately raised his hands in surrender and nervously said, "Okay, okay, I'll do my best to fulfill your request!"

"We mercenaries have never liked Quincy. Once I return and rally my comrades, we can definitely overthrow Quincy's rule in the mansion…"

Before he could finish his sentence, a sharp gunshot rang out.

At the rear of the group, Lange had raised his rifle, pointing it at William.

The bullet hit William in the head, and he collapsed to the ground, lifeless.

Clove looked at the rifle in Lange's hand and then sized him up. After a moment, he spoke, "Since you killed him, this task falls to you now."

Lange lowered the rifle. He understood that even if he pulled the trigger, the bullet wouldn't reach the man in front of him. If it weren't for William's desire to destroy the mansion, Lange would have preferred to face the incoming zombies in a final stand.

"I imagine the zombies outside won't be able to deal with you. I saw many of them near the front door, and there were also a lot of dead zombies on the street. Most of the marks were from cold weapons, with only a few zombies being shot by firearms."

"I'm curious. After fighting zombies up close, how have you not been infected?" Lange looked Clove over and said slowly.

Clove shrugged. "There's nothing to hide. I don't mind telling you."

"Once you become a superpowered being, you no longer fear the zombie virus. Dealing with those ordinary zombies is nothing."

Lange's furrowed brow slowly relaxed. "Superpowers?"

"Like those in the movies?"

"That's just human fantasy."

Clove simply pointed outside, then at the gunfire and zombie growls that had started coming from downstairs, saying, "So, what do you call all of this?"

"Alright, I've already talked too much. You killed that bald guy, so now the mission falls to you. I need those machine lathes. Of course, if you can take down that mansion, all the better."

Lange shook his head. "I can't do that. Quincy has deep control over the mansion, and with the apocalypse now, his combat forces grow stronger every day. Even if they're just cannon fodder with no combat experience or professional training."

"However, if you step in personally, I think with your strength, it should be no problem."

"But you're not injured, and you even killed Marshall. Quincy is only after revenge. The mansion currently shelters over ten thousand people. If Quincy dies, the mansion will be destroyed by war instantly."

Clove nodded. "Alright, you've got a point, but what's that got to do with me?"

"If you're here to kill me, be prepared for me to kill you first. That's how it works in this world, buddy. This isn't a war—this is the apocalypse."

With that, Clove raised his hand and fired. The bullet struck Lange's brain.

Killing Lange, Clove slowly made his way downstairs, muttering under his breath, "Seriously, what a fool. You come here to kill and then try to act all virtuous like the Virgin Mary."

"You're not even close to that bald guy."

"It's just too bad. Looks like I'll have to head to Marshall Manor personally, find Quincy, settle some scores, and maybe craft a new set of weapons while I'm at it."

"Firearms are going to become less useful in this apocalypse."

"The bigger the firepower, the more useless it is if you can't land a shot."

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The gunfire downstairs continued to erupt, and the screams grew louder.

When Clove reached the first floor and saw the destroyed front door, a wave of frustration washed over him. Without a door, weren't these zombies just coming and going as they pleased?

Whoosh!

The sound of something cutting through the air suddenly came from behind him.

Clove felt a chill down his spine. With a quick step forward, he lunged ahead.

But before Clove could turn around, a large, obese figure wobbled into the doorway, opening its mouth wide and spitting out a thick, green, foul-smelling slime toward him.

Clove swiftly sidestepped, watching as the green slime hit the ground, immediately corroding a large hole in the floor.

Clove's gaze quickly shifted between the two zombies in front of and behind him, swiftly identifying their types: Invisible One and Acidic Zombie.

Both were newly evolved first-tier zombies.

Bang, bang, bang.

The heavy sound of footsteps echoed as a massive, muscular zombie slowly emerged from the darkness.

Clove's heart sank.

He hadn't expected it to be a Rage Zombie.

These types of zombies greatly increase in strength when they enter a berserk state. If it were just one of them, Clove was confident he could kill it without injury.

But now, there was the added problem of the Invisible One and the Acidic Zombie, which severely restricted his mobility. The situation was no longer simple.

Clove slowly lowered his firearm, drawing a bone knife from his waist, and quickly made a decision.

He had to take down the Acidic Zombie immediately. If it exploded, there would be no safe ground left, and things would get really bad.

Making up his mind, Clove gripped the bone knife tightly, raising his hand to unleash a Rending Sky Blade.

Invisible, without any warning, the Rending Sky Blade instantly reached the Acidic Zombie's head.

There was no sound. The Acidic Zombie's head simply disappeared into thin air.

Seeing the fatal strike land, Clove let out a breath of relief. However, the energy spent on the Rending Sky Blade made him wary of making unnecessary movements.

Now, every ounce of energy was incredibly precious.

The Rage Zombie still had a physical form, and no matter how well it hid, it wouldn't escape detection. The troublesome Invisible One zombie, however, had no form until it attacked.

The Invisible One only became visible temporarily when it launched an effective attack. Clove remembered all too well from his past life—countless strong people had met their end against these types of zombies, tortured to death by their relentless invisibility and sudden strikes.

Whew!

Clove exhaled slowly, raising his bone knife once more, eyes scanning the surroundings warily.

He was prepared for an attack to come at any moment.

In front of him, the Rage Zombie cracked its fists together and began to stride toward him with heavy steps.

It lifted its fist and threw a powerful punch.

Clove chose not to clash directly with the Rage Zombie. Given that the Rage Zombie excelled in raw strength, Clove would only engage in such a confrontation if absolutely necessary.

As long as there were options, Clove would always try to make use of his weapons.

The wind from the punch howled, knocking over various objects in the apartment's lobby.

Clove sidestepped the full-force strike, but suddenly felt a sharp pain as a deep wound opened across his back. Without hesitation, he spun around and slashed out with his dagger.

Just then, the sound of another punch reached his ears.

Clove's expression shifted immediately, and he quickly turned, crossing his arms in front of him to block the Rage Zombie's blow.

Boom!

Clove was sent flying backward, crashing hard into the wall.

Before he could recover, the Invisible Zombie attacked again. Before Clove could react, he felt a sharp sting in his left leg, where a new wound appeared.

Blood started to drip steadily from the wound.

The dust settled from the wall, and Clove panted heavily, his eyes constantly moving as he scanned the area, searching for any sign of the Invisible Zombie.

But the ground showed no footprints, no signs at all.

Whew.

Clove bit down hard on his teeth.

There was no choice now.

He raised his bone knife once more, slowly swinging it down toward the Rage Zombie.