Chapter 61

Old Mr. Jiang said, "It's hard to say. After all, it has been so many days since the earthquake. The corpses could have turned into monsters, mutated, or other survivors. The animals that remained in the zoo might have also mutated and stayed here... if there are any, there shouldn't be many."

The others also agreed with Old Mr. Jiang, as this made sense. Otherwise, it would be abnormal.

Following the blue brick path, they soon saw a peacock garden with a Thai architectural style.

"Previously, there were hundreds of various blue peacocks and white peacocks, but unfortunately, they are all gone," Old Mr. Jiang said with a sigh.

The peacock garden had also collapsed, and the blue brick path was cracked like a dense spider web. As they approached, everyone was slightly taken aback by the sight of the collapsed peacock garden.

Inside, there were no peacocks left, not even a single corpse. The hundreds of peacocks that should have been there were all gone.

"This... is a bit strange..." Old Mr. Jiang frowned and quickened his pace, and the others hurried to follow.

On the other side of the peacock garden was the herbivore area, enclosed by a wire fence. Chu Nan had visited this zoo before and clearly remembered that there should have been many herbivores on the grassland enclosed by the wire fence.

There were animals like sika deer, yaks, elks, wild donkeys, and more, at least a hundred in total. However, now, many parts of the wire fence had fallen, and the animals inside were all gone.

"Could it be that after the earthquake, these animals mutated and escaped?" Shen Mo rubbed his forehead, looking doubtful.

Suyao nodded slightly and said, "It's possible. These animals were kept here, and once such a disaster occurred, they would definitely try to escape. They wouldn't just stay here obediently."

"From this, it seems that most of the animals here have almost all escaped. Our choice to go this way was correct," Shen Mo said, feeling pleased that Suyao was speaking to him, and he smiled.

Old Mr. Jiang, however, frowned slightly, as if he had encountered a difficult problem, and remained silent.

They quickened their pace and passed through the black muntjac enclosure, where dozens of nationally protected black muntjacs had once lived, but now they were all missing.

Next was the walking bird area, with an ostrich garden, a collapsed sea lion performance hall, a gorilla hall, and a squirrel monkey garden.

The aviary, which housed nearly a thousand various birds, could be said to have occupied half of the zoo. However, without exception, the entire aviary was empty, with not a single bird left.

As they walked further, they became increasingly shocked because there were no animals left anywhere, not even a single corpse.

"Abnormal, abnormal..." Old Mr. Jiang finally muttered to himself.

Many places had collapsed, and even if the animals had escaped, it was impossible for there to be no casualties. Now, even the corpses were gone.

Although they were puzzled and the entire zoo was eerily silent and frightening, they had walked the entire way without any danger or unexpected incidents.

Finally, they reached the last predator enclosure. After that, they could leave the zoo through the back gate and reach the Yangtze Road, where Suyao's home, Fuchun Garden, was located.

When they reached the predator area, everyone suddenly stopped, stunned.

On the lawn ahead, there were densely packed piles of animal corpses.

Squirrel monkeys, sika deer, elephants, mandrills, gorillas, lions, tigers, black bears, giraffes, zebras, kangaroos, ostriches, hippos...

Almost every common wild animal was there, and at a glance, there were at least several hundred to nearly a thousand.

"What... is going on? All the missing animals are concentrated here?" Shen Mo opened his eyes wide, looking bewildered.

Nangong Xiong lit another cigarette and said, "Damn, this is really bizarre."

Tang Sanli instinctively moved closer to Chu Nan and whispered, "Something's off."

Chu Nan narrowed his eyes and said slowly, "Don't be curious. Go around and leave as soon as possible."

In his heart, he regretted that he didn't know how long these predators had been dead. If the pineal glands were still intact, he could dig them all out, which would be nearly a thousand pineal glands, potentially helping him break through again. However, in such a bizarre place, he didn't dare to stay long.

Nearly a thousand animal corpses suddenly piled up in this predator area, which was highly abnormal. Although the group was curious, they mostly wanted to stay away from this place.

"Let's go." The eight people didn't linger and bypassed the predator area, heading straight for the zoo's back gate. Once they left the zoo, Suyao's home wouldn't be far.

"Boom—"

Suddenly, a loud noise came from the pile of animal corpses in the distance, like a闷雷 (thunder), and the ground seemed to shake.

Startled, everyone turned to look and saw the pile of animal corpses being pushed from the inside. A lion and a sika deer's corpses rolled down from the pile, and with the terrifying ground-shaking sound, a massive grayish-white creature burst out from the pile.

It was a giant rhinoceros, nearly five meters long and two meters high at the shoulder, with a body weight of at least three tons, like a small elephant. The rhinoceros horn on its nose was over a meter long. It suddenly charged out, stomping the ground and making a thunderous sound, like a tank, moving at a speed of at least 70-80 kilometers per hour, heading straight for the group.

The impact was too shocking, and everyone was startled.

"Be careful, quickly move aside!" Shen Mo shouted.

Chu Nan held the spider claw in his right hand, blocking the group, signaling the others to move aside, and he actively lunged at the charging rhinoceros.

Among the group, only Chu Nan had such courage.

In an instant, Suyao, Tang Sanli, Tao Zhi, Old Mr. Jiang, and the others moved aside, and Chu Nan collided with the rhinoceros.

With a swift movement, Chu Nan's body tilted, and he narrowly avoided the rhinoceros, passing by it. The spider claw in his right hand slashed at the rhinoceros' horn.

With a "clank," Chu Nan was surprised; he never expected the rhinoceros horn to be so hard that the spider claw, which could cut through metal like butter, couldn't sever it.

The rhinoceros horn suddenly thrust forward, and Chu Nan and the spider claw were thrown back.

He did a somersault and landed five meters away. The rhinoceros quickly turned around and charged at him again.

Chu Nan could see clearly that the rhinoceros' eyes glowed with a terrifying red light, and the horn faintly shimmered with a pale light. Chu Nan's heart raced as he sensed a faint special primal force emanating from the rhinoceros horn, similar to the spider claw in his hand.

"Could it be that this rhinoceros horn, like the spider claw, has also condensed primal force and is a genetic weapon?"

As he thought, Shen Mo, Nangong Xiong, Tao Zhi, and Suyao scattered and surrounded to help Chu Nan deal with the massive rhinoceros.

Chu Nan crouched slightly, focused, and stared at the charging rhinoceros. He waited until the rhinoceros was within a meter of him, then stomped his right foot, and the golden force erupted.

With a "bang," he almost leaped over two meters, soaring over the charging rhinoceros. The spider claw in his hand plunged deep into the rhinoceros' back and sliced downward.

The rhinoceros' skin was very thick, even bulletproof, but it couldn't withstand the spider claw in Chu Nan's hand.

The spider claw, formed from primal factors and containing spider gene power, was a genetic primal force weapon. Its sharpness far exceeded that of ordinary knives and swords.

The spider claw deeply pierced the back of the charging rhinoceros and then sliced its back open from the spine.

Unexpectedly, when Chu Nan landed, the rhinoceros, with a wound over a meter long on its back, did not scream, and no blood flowed from the wound.

"Hmm?" Chu Nan frowned as the rhinoceros turned around and charged at him again.

On the other side, the nearly a thousand animal corpses began to move.

Lions, tigers, giraffes, sika deer, elephants, gorillas...

One by one, they moved like zombies, swaying and coming to life.

"Damn, what's going on? Quick, run—!" Nangong Xiong was so shocked that the cigarette in his mouth fell to the ground, and he shouted.

Nearly a thousand animals had come back to life. What would it mean if they all charged over?

Chu Nan stared at the rhinoceros charging at him again, his eyes showing shock and surprise.

From the large wound on the rhinoceros' back, he saw bones and small holes in the torn fat and muscle, from which strange insects were crawling out.

This scene was extremely disgusting. Chu Nan just glanced at it and felt his hair stand on end.

There was no time to think. The rhinoceros charged at him, and Chu Nan dodged, then kicked it hard.

His golden right leg hit the side of the charging rhinoceros. Despite its three-ton weight, the rhinoceros staggered and almost fell. Chu Nan, holding the spider claw in both hands, let out a low whistle and swung it down with great force.

With a "swoosh," this time, he avoided the rhinoceros horn and cut down from the neck.

The rhinoceros' skin, though tough, could not withstand the spider claw, which cut through it like butter, severing the rhinoceros' head at the neck.

The rhinoceros' head fell to the ground, and Chu Nan saw that no blood spurted from the cut, only a large number of maggots-like insects crawling out.

These insects were much larger than maggots, emerging from the muscles, blood vessels, skin, and fat of the rhinoceros, moving in and out. The entire body of the rhinoceros had been completely consumed by these strange maggot-like insects.