Chapter 7

Jiang Daha made a gesture for silence, walked to the door, bent down, and placed his eye to the peephole to observe for a moment. He then turned his head and whispered to the newbies, "Four ordinary zombies, scratching at the door."

Xia Yingying's face immediately turned pale, and her legs went weak, almost making her collapse to the ground. She barely managed to stand by clinging to Ma Le's arm. She had just been curious and had seen the terrifying scene outside the window. Now, knowing that there were four such monsters right outside the door, how could she not be afraid?

Ma Le was also very nervous. He was startled when Xia Yingying suddenly clung to him, but when he looked down at the pitiful girl, their eyes met, and a strange impulse suddenly surged in Ma Le's heart. No matter what, he had to protect this girl! With this thought, he shifted his position, shielding Xia Yingying behind him. He picked up a metal stool nearby, tested its weight, and prepared to use it as a weapon against the zombies.

However, before Ma Le could react, Jiang Daha had already kicked the door open with one foot. This guy was as big as a polar bear, and his strength was probably even greater. The kick broke the door hinges, and the door flew out, slamming the four zombies against the opposite wall in the corridor!

The loud "bang" attracted other wandering zombies in the corridor. Jiang Daha looked left and right, seeing two on the left and one on the right, all not far away. "Hmph!" The giant man sneered and lunged to the left, grabbing the head of the zombie in front of him and kicking its chest. With a "crack," the zombie's body flew out, leaving only its head in Jiang Daha's hand, mechanically opening and closing its mouth.

The zombie behind also arrived. Jiang Daha casually threw away the head and picked up the terrifying large gun. With a "pfft," he inserted the thick barrel into the zombie's mouth, splitting its rotten cheeks. The zombie from the right also caught up. Jiang Daha, without hesitation, increased his strength and lifted the large gun with one hand, along with the zombie's mouth. He swung it over his head and aimed it at the approaching zombie, making the two zombies' heads overlap, with the front zombie's mouth still containing the thick barrel...

With a loud "bang," the two zombies' heads exploded, splattering flesh everywhere, leaving two headless bodies on the ground. At the end of the corridor, a hole the size of a washbasin was left in the cement wall, a shocking sight.

Ma Le was stunned. Everyone has seen action movies and zombie films, but when such direct, violent, and bloody slaughter happens right in front of you, the shock is incomparable to what you see in media. The brutal fighting style, the massive body, and the terrifying weapon made Jiang Daha a killing machine!

"Clack, clack..." The four zombies that were initially pinned under the door began to move. Jiang Daha had taken care of the three zombies in less than ten seconds, but the four under the door were entangled and moved slowly, finally lifting the door.

"Ah!!!" Seeing the zombies about to stand up, Xia Yingying screamed in fear. Ma Le held the metal stool but was still hesitant. He had been in fights and even used knives, but those were just disputes, never with the intention of killing. Now, he faced zombies that did not know fear, and only death could stop them.

"Brother Jiang, there are still four here!" Ma Le, lacking the courage to act, decided to call for help, but Jiang Daha just sneered, "Can't even deal with four zombies on the ground, and you still want to be a hero?"

Ma Le thought, "Go to hell, these things are disgusting, and if you get bitten, you'll probably get infected. Who would dare to fight without experience?" But when he looked back at Xia Yingying, who was staring at him with big, pitiful eyes, he suddenly felt a surge of courage. He gritted his teeth, raised the stool, and smashed a zombie's head with a "smack"!

It wasn't as difficult as he imagined, and Ma Le's heart steadied. He swung the stool again at the second zombie... Whether it was the decayed flesh of the zombies or Ma Le's immense strength, he barely felt any resistance, smashing the heads of the second and third zombies like breaking watermelons. However, the fourth zombie had already stood up, grabbed Ma Le's shoulder, and opened its mouth, full of pus and broken teeth, to bite his neck.

Ma Le was not about to give in. His strength was five times that of a normal person, and he could exert nearly a thousand pounds of force! He threw the metal stool, grabbed the zombie's neck with one hand, and its arm with the other, then kicked its abdomen. With a "crack" and a tearing sound, the zombie was torn apart by Ma Le.

This was a pure instinctive reaction driven by the will to survive. When he came to his senses and saw the zombie's remains and the blood on his body, he felt a wave of nausea, almost vomiting. But he didn't want to be laughed at, so he suppressed the urge to vomit, threw the remains to the ground, and looked defiantly at Jiang Daha, who was watching.

"Clap, clap, clap" Jiang Daha actually clapped, "Not bad, although you have the attributes, it's rare to see someone so brave on their first mission. You must be a tough guy in the real world, where do you come from?"

Ma Le wiped the blood off his face with the clean part of his sleeve and answered proudly, "From the third floor of Longsheng in Shen City, at the Hongyi Antiques Shop. Our boss is surnamed Wang, even more powerful! Known as 'Blood Spurt Wang,' he can take you down just as easily!"

"Ah, I'll have to pay him a visit sometime!" Jiang Daha raised an eyebrow and smiled.

...

In the afternoon, the streets were deserted, with only zombies aimlessly wandering. A zombie dragged its rotten legs and stopped in front of an apartment building. It seemed to hear some noise inside, turned mechanically, and pushed open the broken door of the apartment. It extended its pale, emaciated hands to grab the source of the noise. However, what greeted it was a sharp, broken iron pipe. With a "pfft," the pipe pierced its eye socket, shattered the orbital bone, and destroyed its brain. The zombie's body lost its power, and its limbs went limp, hanging on the iron pipe.

Ma Le steadied himself, slowly pulled back the iron pipe, and to avoid attracting other zombies, he also brought the zombie's body back and gently placed it on the ground. This was the ninth zombie he had killed.

Although Jiang Daha could easily crush these zombies, Ma Le decided not to rely too much on the veteran's strength. The life-and-death moment just now made him realize that even with great strength, without a calm and steady mindset, one couldn't survive in this world. He wanted to quickly adapt to the rhythm of killing!

Jiang Daha was naturally happy to let Ma Le handle it. Surprisingly, the other newbies also supported his idea. From the third floor to the first floor of the apartment building, not only Ma Le and the white-coated Zhou Ruinan, but even the delicate Xia Yingying used a baseball bat to smash a zombie's head.

Incidentally, Liu Lei and Wang Na, the couple, chose to stay in the apartment. They seemed to not understand the current situation, and no matter how much Ma Le tried to persuade them, they refused to join the search for the trapped team. Jiang Daha didn't care much, saying that if they wanted to die, they should be left alone. This surprised Ma Le, as it seemed that the death of these newbies would deduct Jiang Daha's credit points, yet he didn't seem to care.

Briefly, with the help of Jiang Daha's miracle badge's positioning function, the group avoided the zombies as much as possible and quietly advanced. They finally reached the building that was sending the distress signal in fifteen minutes.

The four stood at the bottom of the building, hearing intermittent gunshots from above. Zhou Ruinan sighed, "This team is still alive, they are really tough!"

As he spoke, a "crash" was heard, and a window on the third floor of the building shattered. A fully burning monster flew out, curling its body as if it had been thrown, and fell directly toward the ground, heading straight for the four of them!

The first to react was Zhou Ruinan, who quickly dodged the impact point. Jiang Daha, as the only veteran, naturally avoided it without any trouble. Ma Le, with his agility attribute at 13 points, had much faster reflexes and dynamic vision than a normal person, so he could easily dodge. However, he noticed that Xia Yingying was still standing there, frozen in fear, about to be hit. At the same time, two more monsters rushed out from the building's entrance, heading straight for Jiang Daha, who was now too busy to help. Seeing this, Ma Le gritted his teeth, stomped his foot, and dashed out, grabbing Xia Yingying and flying sideways, saving her life at the last moment!

The burning monster hit the ground with a "thud," rolled a few times, and extinguished the flames, slowly standing up. Ma Le then saw what it was.

The monster was about three meters tall, roughly human in shape, but with long front limbs and curled hind limbs. Its entire body was skinless, with exposed muscle tissue, looking like a peeled gorilla! The monster seemed injured, with one foot twisted at an abnormal angle, the bone protruding through the muscle, clearly broken. However, an injured wild animal is the most dangerous. Despite its incomplete limbs, the monster was especially ferocious and bloodthirsty. As soon as it stood up, it roared at Ma Le and the others, emitting a strong, pungent odor.

Ma Le extended his arm to protect Xia Yingying behind him and whispered, "Can you move?" Xia Yingying nodded and said, "Yes." Ma Le continued, "I'll charge forward to distract it. You run to find Zhou Ruinan. He's so quick, he must have drawn some special skill and can protect you. Just wait for Jiang Daha to free himself, and you'll be saved."

Xia Yingying was stunned and asked, "What about you?" Ma Le glanced at the iron pipe lying next to the monster's foot and grinned, "I'll play with it!" With that, he roared and charged at the monster...

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