The six of them walked up the stairs toward the 11th floor.
"I told you, Captain Wang, you can't always rely on instinct! If there were just a few small Zombies, I, Li Feihong, could take care of them all by myself!" Fatty boasted loudly on the stairs.
"Shh! Fatty, keep your voice down! It's best if there's no danger! Do you think I want to come back empty-handed?" Wang Zhi retorted irritably.
Creak~ Wang Zhi pushed open the door to the eleventh floor. The six entered the corridor, and the scene was no different from the lower floors—claw marks covered the walls everywhere. What struck Wang Zhi as strange was that a Zombie was lying on the ground in the distance, and another Zombie was sitting next to it, its back turned toward Wang Zhi and the others.
Just as Old He was about to open fire to shoot the lying Zombie in the head, the Zombie sitting on the ground suddenly rotated its head 180 degrees, staring at Wang Zhi and the group while chewing on the internal organs of the Zombie on the ground.
Wang Zhi's pupils constricted: "Old He, shoot quickly!"
Just as Old He was about to fire, the Zombie sitting on the ground had already vanished into the darkness at the end of the hallway.
"Th-this... I didn't see wrong, did I? It disappeared?" Fatty said, looking in terror at the spot where the Zombie had vanished.
"Is that... a Mutated Zombie?" Old He said, holding his gun and still staring intently ahead.
Wang Zhi didn't speak; he was contemplating whether they could fight against that Mutated Zombie. Fortunately, it wasn't one of those giant mutated beasts, or Wang Zhi would definitely have turned tail and run.
"Could it be that it can turn invisible?" Zhang Ming guessed.
"Invisible?"
Hearing Zhang Ming's guess, everyone watched their surroundings vigilantly. If that Zombie could truly turn invisible, then it could appear beside them at any moment.
Just then, Wang Zhi suddenly heard a low growl.
"Careful! It's nearby!"
As soon as Wang Zhi finished speaking, the Mutated Zombie lurking in the shadows leaped down from the ceiling, and its target was Wang Zhi directly ahead!
"Watch out! Ah!"
Zhang Ming, standing behind Wang Zhi, saw the Zombie descending from above and immediately shoved Wang Zhi aside. Unfortunately, he couldn't dodge in time, and its sharp serrations sliced across Zhang Ming's forearm.
After the Zombie revealed itself, the others immediately locked onto the target and rushed forward with their melee weapons drawn.
The Mutated Zombie, seeing its initial strike failed to kill instantly, prepared to vanish again. Just as the group was about to reach it, the Mutated Zombie began to fade visibly, merging with its surroundings at a speed perceptible to the naked eye.
Just as it was about to vanish again, Su Muying continued forward, predicting the Mutated Zombie's escape path, and thrust her weapon into empty air.
Aaooow!
As Su Muying swung Fentian where nothing visible seemed to be, the Mutated Zombie let out a shriek. Immediately afterward, Su Muying seemed to be kicked, staggering back several steps.
Seeing that Su Muying had struck the Mutated Zombie, Wang Zhi and the others quickly drew their guns and fired at that spot.
"Stop shooting, it got away," Su Muying said, pointing at the trail of blood left by the zombie on the ground.
When the zombie revealed itself, everyone got a clear look at its appearance: naked, covered in blood vessels, and its arms mutated into scythe-like serrations, similar to a mantis.
Seeing the zombie flee, Wang Zhi immediately turned back to Zhang Ming, only to see that Zhang Ming's Hazmat Suit had been torn open, with blood continuously gushing out.
"Zhang Ming, hold on!"
Bang! Bang!
As soon as Wang Zhi finished speaking, he immediately pulled out his Desert Eagle and fired two shots into Zhang Ming's arm!
"Aah!" Zhang Ming screamed in pain.
"Wang Zhi! What are you doing!"
"Captain Wang! You!"
Old He and Fatty cried out simultaneously, startled by Wang Zhi's action.
"His arm is already infected, and our daggers are stained with Zombie blood; we must finish this with a gun," Wang Zhi finished saying. He then amputated Zhang Ming's broken arm, retrieved the first-aid kit from his backpack, and bandaged the wound to stop the bleeding.
"Little Ming! This is all my fault! Hold on, rest assured, you'll be fine," Fatty said from the side, trembling as he held Zhang Ming.
After Zhang Ming's arm was bandaged, Wang Zhi administered another injection of Adrenaline Hormone to keep his heart active and conscious.
"Fatty, you support him! We need to find that Mutated Zombie! Since it's already injured, we can track it down by following the blood trail!" Wang Zhi said, picking up the pistol from the ground again.
The group did not hesitate; they had to press the attack while the Mutated Zombie was wounded and eliminate it immediately!
The six people tracked the blood trail. When they reached the middle section and saw the blood disappear, they immediately opened fire into the surrounding area.
Bang! Bang! Bang! For a moment, the surrounding walls were riddled with bullet holes, but there was no sign of the Mutated Zombie.
Wang Zhi looked up and discovered that a section above had been smashed through by something unknown, allowing them a clear view of the ceiling of the twelfth floor.
They exchanged glances. Everyone now understood: this Mutated Zombie had escaped up to the twelfth floor.
Wang Zhi immediately returned to the staircase and climbed up to the twelfth floor.
The six of them reached the opening on the twelfth floor and continued to follow the blood trail until it turned into a room.
Wang Zhi stopped. Now he was certain that the Mutated Zombie was lying in ambush inside this room.
Wang Zhi took out his last High-Explosive Grenade from his waist, gently pulled the safety ring, and threw it hard; the grenade exploded inside the room.
Boom! As the explosion sounded, the Mutated Zombie also burst out of the room.
Wang Zhi saw that the Mutated Zombie was burning with flames, and one side of its body was blown into a bloody mess.
"Open fire!"
Seeing such an obvious target now, the group's bullets rained down upon the Mutated Zombie.
The zombie was now shot down to the ground by everyone, left in a state of lingering agony.
Just as Wang Zhi was about to step forward for the finishing headshot, unexpectedly, the Mutated Zombie before him suddenly let out an angry roar, as if calling for help, or perhaps threatening Mutual Destruction.
ROAR!!!
A massive roar shook the hospital, causing some thinner glass panes to shatter consecutively, while Wang Zhi and the others were left somewhat deafened and dizzy.
Wang Zhi suppressed the abnormal state and fired a full magazine into the zombie's head, only lowering his hand and covering his head, which was still feeling faint from the shock, after confirming it was completely dead.
"Damn it, where did this bastard get the strength to yell so loud?" Fatty cursed while covering his ears from the side.
Wang Zhi thought of the Crystal Core that Jie Xi had in her possession earlier. According to Jie Xi, she had dissected it from the head of a Giant Python. So, did the Mutated Zombie in front of him possess such a Crystal Core?
Thinking this, Wang Zhi drew his Dagger and stepped forward to cut open the head of the Mutated Zombie on the ground. After searching inside for a while, he indeed found a relatively hard object. Wang Zhi used the Dagger to pry it out. The Crystal Core was covered in blood and was half the size of the one in Jie Xi's hand. Wang Zhi tore off a piece of cloth and wrapped it up.
"Let's hurry up and look for medicine," Wang Zhi said as he put away the Crystal Core.
"No... this is bad!" Old He's trembling voice came through the radio.
Wang Zhi's heart tightened. This was the first time he had seen Old He so flustered. What could possibly make him so panicked?