Chapter 14

Tang Sanli wanted to hit its head with his police baton, but missed and was instead grabbed by its left hand, which left several bloody fingernail marks on his chest, causing him to groan in pain.

The other men, holding sticks and steel bars, all struck the zombie-like creature solidly.

It opened its mouth, making a faint sound, seemingly in anger, and suddenly charged forward, using its head to knock one of the men away.

This unexpected move made the man groan, his nose breaking instantly, blood covering his face as he flew backward.

The impact was powerful.

With a "bang," the zombie-like creature's head was hit by a stick.

However, the zombie-like creature, despite taking the hit, managed to break free from another person and dart out of the circle of people.

"Bad!" Before Tang Sanli could shout, the zombie-like creature swung its curved knife, deeply embedding it into the back of one of the men, dragging it down.

The zombie-like creature's strength was immense, and the curved knife almost split the man's upper body open. When the knife was pulled out, the man fell to the ground, his limbs twitching, clearly not able to survive.

This was the third person to die.

The others felt a chill, but the zombie-like creature turned and fled far away.

In the series of exchanges, although it had killed three people and injured one, it had also taken several hits. The blow to its head made the zombie-like creature wary. It knew that if it continued to fight, it could kill two or three more people, but if it was surrounded again, it would die here.

So the zombie-like creature decided to escape. However, before leaving, it charged toward where Chu Nan was sitting, intending to kill one more person before it left.

It had developed a certain level of intelligence, perhaps not as smart as a normal human, but it could see that Chu Nan was having physical problems, sitting there, weak and exhausted, with no ability to resist its attack.

"Chu Nan, get out of the way—"

Tang Sanli saw this and his face changed, unable to hold back his shout.

However, the zombie-like creature was too fast. Even if the others saw its intention, they couldn't save Chu Nan.

Chu Nan was also taken aback, never expecting the zombie-like creature to suddenly break away from the others and charge toward him. The blood-stained curved knife was aimed at his neck.

Faced with the zombie-like creature's strength and speed, even a normal person couldn't dodge, let alone the weak and exhausted Chu Nan.

Chu Nan's face changed drastically. Suddenly, he let out a wild cry, his muscles tensing instantly. He rolled on the ground, avoiding the swinging curved knife, and struck the zombie-like creature's right knee with the steel bar he was holding.

No one expected the seemingly weak and powerless Chu Nan to suddenly become so vigorous and agile. Before the zombie-like creature could react, a clear sound came from its knee.

This was the sound of bones shattering. The force of the steel bar was no less than that of the creature, and its right leg bent, unable to support its body, causing it to fall to the ground.

As it tried to get up, Chu Nan stood up, swinging the steel bar at its head, in a posture similar to a golfer, looking exceptionally graceful.

The zombie-like creature couldn't appreciate this grace and blocked with its curved knife.

With a "clank," the steel bar hit the curved knife, both arms trembling. Chu Nan felt his arm go numb, as if he had hit an iron pillar, unable to knock the curved knife out of the creature's hand.

However, Chu Nan reacted faster than the zombie-like creature. He grabbed the steel bar with both hands, stood it up, and thrust it down. Blood splattered from the creature's face as the steel bar pierced through its already bloodied face, emerging from the back of its head and embedding it in the ground.

The zombie-like creature began to convulse violently. Even with its head pierced, it didn't die immediately. It dropped its knife and grabbed the steel bar, trying to pull it out.

Chu Nan let go of the steel bar, allowing it to pull it out.

However, as soon as it pulled the steel bar out of its head, Chu Nan had already picked up a large rock and was waiting for it.

The large rock fell heavily, and the intelligent and unique zombie-like creature finally stopped moving.

Chu Nan took a deep breath, feeling a surge of a different kind of primal force from the creature's brain.

This genetic force was immense, at least two to three times more powerful than that of a regular zombie-like creature.

"Indeed, it was different..." Chu Nan exhaled softly, falling backward, his body trembling, the feeling of suffocation and death returning.

Just as the zombie-like creature attacked, Chu Nan had no choice but to activate the power of his genetic center again, controlling the adrenaline to over-secrete, stimulating his physical abilities to temporarily increase several times.

In his already weakened state, using this power again caused immeasurable damage to his body, but Chu Nan had no other choice.

Fortunately, it only lasted for a moment. Once the zombie-like creature was dealt with, Chu Nan immediately deactivated the state, and the aftereffects kicked in, more severe than before.

The longer the state lasted, the greater the burden on the body and the more severe the aftereffects, with a longer recovery time. If the duration was too long and the power too strong, it could even cause muscle fibers to tear, internal organs to be damaged, and bones to break.

After all, the human body, adapted to normal human strength and speed, could not withstand a sudden, several-fold increase in power without suffering serious injury.

Yu Xiaotian and the other men, seeing Chu Nan's sudden bravery, were stunned. It wasn't until the zombie-like creature stopped moving and Chu Nan fell backward that they reacted, exclaiming in surprise.

Tang Sanli and Yu Xiaohu, like waking from a dream, hurried over.

Of the nine people, three had died, one had his nose broken and was lying on the ground, bleeding and screaming in pain. The remaining two women and three men stared at Chu Nan in shock.

"Chu Nan, you... how did you suddenly become so brave?" Tang Sanli couldn't hold back his curiosity, whispering the question, but saw that Chu Nan's face was pale like a corpse, his body trembling, showing extreme pain.

Yu Xiaotian and the others slowly approached. Although three of their companions had died, they were temporary partners who had met along the way, with no deep bonds. In such a situation, death was common, and they didn't show much sadness, only a sense of shared misfortune.

The man with the broken nose, supported by another man in his thirties with a buzz cut, managed to stand up.

"Finally, I understand how these monsters died." Yu Xiaotian, looking at the headless corpses scattered on the ground, seemed to have an epiphany.

Tang Sanli and Yu Xiaohu had also fought, but like the others, they were just ordinary people and couldn't possibly kill so many monsters. The only possibility was the man named Chu Nan, who had shown such unexpected bravery.

"How did he end up like this? He was so strong just now." Yu Xiaotian, who was outgoing, had become very interested in Chu Nan after witnessing his astonishing performance. He squatted down, looking at Chu Nan's painful expression, and looked up to ask Tang Sanli.

Tang Sanli smiled bitterly and said, "Maybe he used too much force."

Yu Xiaotian nodded seriously, "I see."

A woman with a bun, who was a bit older, spoke up, "Let's take some food and leave quickly. What if more of those monsters appear..." She didn't dare to continue, a look of fear on her face.

Although it was broad daylight, everyone still felt a chill, their hearts uneasy.

The man with the buzz cut said, "Gan Yuanyue is right. We should each take some things and leave this place quickly. The most important thing now is to get to the city as soon as possible... It's strange, with such a big earthquake, why haven't we seen any rescue teams? This place isn't too far from the city, right? Even if the roads are destroyed... shouldn't helicopters be able to see us?"

The buzz-cut man muttered, unable to resist looking up at the sky, which was overcast and gloomy, making everyone feel particularly depressed.

"I've been thinking about this too, it is strange," another man chimed in.

The woman with the bun, called Gan Yuanyue, said, "We should be about ten kilometers from the city. We just need to take some water. We should be able to return to the city before dark."

Yu Xiaotian looked at her and said, "That's assuming everything goes normally and there are no accidents. If we encounter something... it's hard to say."

Gan Yuanyue, somewhat angrily, said, "As long as we follow the road and stay away from the collapsed residential areas, we won't easily encounter these monsters. I said earlier that we shouldn't come here, we should have gone around. It's you guys who couldn't stand the hunger, insisting on finding food. Is life more important, or is being hungry more important?"

"Monday morning quarterback. The place we were walking through had a huge crack. How could we get past it? To get to the city, we had to cross this area of ruins. Otherwise, we would have to detour. Do you know how long that would take? Do you know how big this area is? What if we encountered more cracks? In the unknown, the fastest way to return to the city is this path," one of the men retorted coldly.

In fact, at the time, their group had also argued about this. However, most of them believed that with nine people together, they would be safer, so they chose to cross the ruins. This was the only way to reach the city before dark and possibly find some food.

If they detoured, they wouldn't know how big the area was or how long it would take. At the time, Gan Yuanyue had also agreed. Now, hearing her criticism, they were a bit angry.