Chapter 23

"Click, click, click..." Scarred David raised his assault rifle and fired at the monster. The monster leaped with great force, jumping over David's head and pouncing on an unlucky person who was just packing up. The monster's long tongue coiled and then shot out, piercing straight into the person's eye socket. When it pulled out, the tongue was covered in a mixture of red and white fluids.

The people nearby were startled. Jason was the first to react, firing three shots at the monster with his gun. He had been a soldier before and was skilled, and with the assault rifle in hand, he was even more formidable. The three shots hit the monster's head, and it let out a scream before lying still on the ground.

"Is it dead?" Johnny was also nearby. The monster had almost pounced on him, and he was so scared that he didn't dare move. Now, seeing the monster seemingly dead, Johnny's courage grew, and he kicked it a few times. However, the monster, which seemed not to be completely dead, started to move again when stimulated. Johnny screamed and wildly fired his pistol at the monster's head until the magazine was empty.

Ma Le walked over, squatted down, and examined the monster's body, confirming, "It's really dead this time!" The people around him felt nauseous watching Ma Le handle the bloody monster's corpse without changing his expression. They were about to warn him to be careful of infection, but then they saw Ma Le pull out a syringe, draw a tube of the monster's blood, and put it in his bag.

Earlier, Ma Le had also collected several tubes of blood, but the monsters were killed with a crossbow, and everyone thought he was just retrieving the bolts, so they didn't notice this small action. Now, seeing it, they were all shocked. Scarred David sternly asked, "Who are you, and why do you need this disgusting blood?!"

It's no wonder they were afraid. Most people came to the infected area for supplies and money, but Ma Le seemed uninterested in these things and was instead collecting the monsters' blood. Coupled with his agile movements, it made people suspect that Ma Le was a military agent.

Ma Le casually replied, "I'm a doctor, here to collect the virus for research on a cure!" Seeing the disbelief on everyone's faces and the gun David pointed at his head, Ma Le laughed, "What's wrong with your head? The army sends agents to investigate you? What's there to investigate about a few armed civilians?" There's no slang in English for "brain filled with gas," so Ma Le translated it directly from Chinese. David was momentarily confused, but Ma Le had already raised his crossbow and aimed at him, shouting, "Get down!"

David instinctively crouched, and Ma Le pulled the trigger. The bolt shot out and pierced the head of a dark figure that was pouncing from behind. The figure fell to the ground, and upon closer inspection, it was another mutated monster, different from the previous one. This one looked more human, but its hands had also mutated, resembling scythe-like appendages.

"Why are there so many monsters here?" Scarred David, still on the ground, was still shaken and loudly complained to hide his fear. Jason and Frank, standing nearby, said solemnly, "Don't you notice the smell of blood is stronger than before?" They turned on their flashlights and shone them around, and everyone gasped. The supermarket hall was filled with monsters, and a quick count revealed at least thirty of them!

Seeing this, Jerry and Johnny were terrified, their legs trembling and almost collapsing. The woman with the short knife, Isabella, looked fierce, but as a woman, her teeth were chattering. Scarred David, looking disheveled, stood up, sweat on his forehead, and his hand holding the assault rifle was unsteady. Frank and Jason, however, were relatively calm, aiming their guns at the nearest monsters, ready to fight. Ma Le had already finished collecting the blood sample from the scythe monster, reloaded his crossbow, and loudly reminded everyone, "Don't be afraid, these monsters are essentially zombies. As long as you stay calm, you can easily deal with them with guns!"

The seven people formed a circle, their guns pointing outward. These mutated zombies seemed to have developed some basic intelligence and knew the power of guns, so they approached slowly but did not rush forward. Then, a roar came from the depths of the supermarket, and a tall monster emerged from the darkness. This monster was over two meters tall, its clothes torn by the mutated and enlarged tissue, leaving only strips of fabric hanging on its body. Its exposed skin was rotten and cracked. It still had a human-like shape, but its left arm was long and reached the ground, while its right arm, though shorter, was especially thick, with a grotesque growth at the end, forming a giant claw with dagger-like nails. The claw held a bloody human head, with a segment of spine still attached, clearly torn directly from a person.

Seeing the head in the monster's hand, Scarred David was shocked, "That, that's James!" Everyone was startled. James's group should have left through the back door, so if he was in the monster's hand, it meant they had been eliminated! But there had been no gunshots, so they must have been killed instantly, without a chance to fire back.

The sight of James's head was very intimidating. Johnny was the first to break down, shouting, "I'm out of here!" and dragging his brother Jerry towards the door. The monsters, seeing two humans leave the group, immediately pounced. Ma Le, seeing the danger, raised his crossbow and fired, a bolt piercing the head of a mutated zombie. However, two monsters still caught up with the brothers. One monster reached out and grabbed Johnny's back, causing him to scream and protect Jerry by lying on the ground, enduring the monster's attacks. Ma Le roared and threw his crossbow, pulling out the assault rifle from his backpack and rushing over. As Ma Le left, the human formation was completely disrupted, and the monsters swarmed in, the supermarket filled with the sound of gunfire.

Ma Le's gun skills were far inferior to his crossbow skills. Although both involved aiming and shooting, the recoil made it difficult for him to quickly grasp the shooting rhythm. To avoid accidentally hurting Johnny, he had to get close and shoot the monsters in the head. "Bang, bang," two shots took out two monsters. Ma Le helped the nearly unconscious Johnny, shouting his name. Johnny finally regained consciousness, weakly saying, "Anderson... where's Jerry, is he okay?"

Jerry was already sobbing, rushing to Johnny and shouting, "Johnny, you can't die! You're my only brother, don't leave me!" Johnny coughed a few times and managed a weak smile, "It's okay, just flesh wounds, I won't die for now, but I'll probably turn into a zombie soon..." He then turned to Ma Le, "Mr. Anderson, give me a quick end..."

Ma Le tightly held Johnny's hand, comforting him, "Don't say that, you'll be fine..." As he spoke, another monster attacked. This one had two long, soft tentacles, which it used to whip Ma Le's rifle away. Ma Le grabbed the tentacle, pulled the monster close, and twisted its head, breaking its neck with a crisp sound.

Ma Le threw the monster aside and told Jerry, "Take care of your brother!" He then took off his backpack and ran towards the rifle. However, the monsters were not willing to let him go, and two more blocked his path. Ma Le, enraged, pulled out his pistol and shot them in the head, finally retrieving the assault rifle.

These mutated zombies, although more lethal due to their limb mutations, had not significantly changed in strength. Except for the giant monster that killed James, the others had a strength of no more than ten points, making them cannon fodder in the game. However, this was not a game, and the humans were not Alex.

Scarred David, despite his initial poor performance, was a tough guy who had been in the underworld for years. Now, with the power of the assault rifle, he had taken out several zombies. David's right-hand woman, the South American girl Isabella, had also abandoned her pistol and was now using dual knives in close combat. As Johnny said, she was extremely brutal in killing zombies, often disemboweling and decapitating them. One could imagine how skilled she would be at killing humans. However, zombies were not humans; as long as their brains were not destroyed, they would not die. Therefore, even though Isabella was fierce, using knives to fight zombies was inefficient. Her task was to protect David and keep the zombies from getting too close, which she managed to do for the moment.

Jason and Frank, on the other hand, were now back-to-back, similar to David and Isabella, with one long-range and one close-range fighter. Jason's assault rifle was responsible for shooting distant zombies, while Frank's shotgun dealt with the ones that got too close. It was clear they were both trained, and Frank was likely a retired veteran. They worked together seamlessly, and for the moment, they were not in danger.

During this time, the largest monster had been circling outside the battle, observing the humans and zombies. Finally, its eyes lit up, and it crouched, its leg muscles tensing before it leaped into the air, swinging its giant right claw down at Jason.

Jason had been watching the monster's movements and pushed Frank, and they quickly separated. The monster's claw hit the ground, causing the supermarket floor to tremble. Frank did a forward roll and immediately stood up, kneeling and aiming his shotgun at the monster. However, upon seeing the situation, his pupils contracted, and he shouted, "Jason!!"

Jason seemed to be in shock, his expression dazed. He instinctively touched his stomach, feeling a wetness. He brought his hand to his eyes and, before he could see, smelled the heavy scent of blood. The blood on the ground was also spreading.

Jason opened his mouth, as if to say something, but only managed to utter a couple of "ahs" before collapsing. The monster slowly withdrew its long left hand from the body, shook off the blood, and turned to look at Frank.

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