Chapter 116: Advanced research inst.i.tute
"That is an evolved zombie. Able to increase its abilities by devouring their kin"s brains." Lu Yi who managed to avoid death by the skin of his teeth states as his comrades drag him into the car.
"I’ll let all of you handle the normal zombies. As for the evolved one, little Yuan and I will take care of it." Long Zhanye commands as he gestures to Huo Zaiyuan, then removes the steel sword he tucked away beneath the driver seat of the Hummer. "Little Yuan, cover me."
"Older brother Long, what are you planning to do?" Li Qing asks over the earpiece.
"Since putting a bullet in its head won"t work, then the only other option is to hack it to bits. You focus on the situation in our vicinity. Report any and all changes!"
Long Zhanye stalks towards the female zombie with Huo Zaiyuan three paces behind. Tossing a few talismans towards the swarm of zombies, a flash of silver erupts, forming two protective screens between the evolved undead and the horde on both sides.
An admiring exclamation comes through the earpiece even as the sound of submachine guns and a.s.sault rifles firing ring continuously in the air, bringing down wave after wave of undead.
Beholding the silver wall separating it from the ordinary undead, the female zombie becomes jittery. In a blink of an eye, its expression turns malevolent, low growls wafting out through clenched teeth. The only warning it gave before attacking Long Zhanye is the minute twitch that ran through its body.
The soldier meets it head on, not retreating even a single step back. The blade slashes through the air, aiming to sever the zombie"s head from its shoulders. Clearly registering the sword as a bigger threat than bullets, it doesn"t attempt to dodge, instead raising both hands to catch the blade.
Two talismans shoot pa.s.s Long Zhanye"s ears, hitting the zombie"s face.
Boom! Boom!
Following two loud explosions, Long Zhanye shifts a step back and withdraws his sword, sustaining no damage on his person.
As for the zombie who is sent flying by the exploding talismans, its entire body is covered in black burns, smoke rising from its skin.
Explosions and flames from a Taoist"s talismans wouldn’t harm a normal human in the slightest. However, in terms of demonic beings like zombies, they are a very effective killing tool.
"What do you think?" Huo Zaiyuan asks with a small smirk as he walks to stand beside Long Zhanye.
To be honest, he actually doesn"t need to lift a hand. Although that evolved female zombie appears to be extremely ferocious, based on Long Zhanye"s ability, he wouldn"t have any problems bringing it down. However, Huo Zaiyuan feels bored just standing aside and not cashing in on the action. So he decides to play a flanking game with Long Zhanye.
"Speed is quick and its force is powerful." Long Zhanye gives his honest opinion, before tagging on other unwanted personal opinions that makes one feel like blowing their top. "Build is not bad, but skin complexion is too pale and facial expression is too fierce. Sure enough, a woman cannot be too aggressive lest they scare men away."
"……" Upon hearing the last few sentences, Huo Zaiyuan pauses, rendered completely speechless.
A few chuckles come over the earpiece before being hastily stifled as the members of the commando squad are taken by surprise. They never would have thought this infamous legendary figure in the army actually possesses a sense of humour, strange as it may be.
"I wasn"t aware you have such unique tastes." Huo Zaiyuan says in an extremely dry tone. "Since you like it, then I"ll leave it to you."
"As if I"ll like it. In my eyes and heart, there is only one little Yuan." Saying these corny words with a bland face causes gooseb.u.mps to rise on the arms of the others listening.
"Scram far away…" A blush surfaces on Huo Zaiyuan"s face and he glances away, gaze flickering towards the female zombie.
Being ignored by the two men for so long, it eventually runs out of patience. With a loud howl, it leaps towards the seemingly weaker of the two, Huo Zaiyuan.
"Tsk, tsk. Little Yuan, it seems this female is rather taken with you. How can I let this pa.s.s? I am someone who is easily jealous." Stepping in front of Huo Zaiyuan, his sword slices downwards.
Clang…purplish-red claws collide with the steel blade.
Although an evolved zombie is many times stronger than the average one, it is still not a creature capable of complex thoughts and planning. Long Zhanye"s eyes narrow, twisting the sword in his hand as he pushes against the undead"s sharp claws. In a flash, the blade slides pa.s.s a small opening between its hands and a mournful wail rips out of its throat. Another slash and both its arms now lay on the ground, twitching once before going still.
A yellow paper comes streaking through the air and an explosion sweeps the zombie off its feet with another wail.
A soft scuffing sound rise as the soles of his shoes rub across the asphalt. A gentle breeze causes his long black hair to flutter, bland smile plastered on his youthful face as another talisman is pinched between two fingers.
Both arms chopped off and lying face down, the female writhed on the ground, growling as it fails to rise to its feet. When Huo Zaiyuan steps closer, it lifts its head, a trace of fear appearing. Abruptly, it springs up into the air and slams into the silver barrier, howling as it tries to flee. Unfortunately for it, the barrier is too strong to be breached.
A lean figure dashes behind the female undead, followed closely by a flash of silver. The evolved zombie stiffens, then its head slides off its neck slowly before hitting the ground with a thud, rolling a good few meters away from its headless body.
Golden flames rise from the unused talisman, burning the corpse to nothingness. As soon as the evolved zombie"s body disappears, the horde of undead pouring forth in an organised pattern from both sides of the street abruptly crumbles into a disorderly mess.
"They were being controlled?" Huo Zaiyuan picks up the deep red crystal the size of a marble before glancing up at the bunch of undead now gathered together on the other side of his barrier.
"Everyone, cease fire." Long Zhanye waves a hand at the soldiers in the armoured car. "Little Yuan, I"ll trouble you with the corpses. If we leave this pile of bodies here, it will cause inconvenience for others."
"Un." Huo Zaiyuan nods, then tosses a yellow paper through each barrier.
The moment the talisman merges with the barriers, rays of silver light seeps out and forms into a translucent rune in the air. The sea of undead pressed up against the invisible boundaries slowly begins to disperse, wandering off aimlessly in all directions.
Huo Zaiyuan walks up the edge of the barrier and drops a couple of talisman on the piles of zombie bodies, watching the golden flames rise.
"That"s…really remarkable…and mystical." Lu Yi murmurs as he stares at the slim youth and the burning corpses on the streets.
"Naturally. Our little Yuan is awesome." Li Qing"s heart feels very satisfied when he overhears Li Yu"s awed words, as though the compliment is directed towards him.
"Little Li, is that little brother a Taoist priest?" Hou Yong asks curiously.
In E City, he has seen people from the Taoist temples using charms and yellow paper talismans. These individuals are important figures within the safe zones due to their ability to repel monsters and other demonic beings.
"Taoist priest…hahaha…you actually said little Yuan is a Taoist priest!" A fit of laughter bursts out of Li Qing.
"Idiot, you"re really noisy." Huo Zaiyuan"s voice wafts out of every earpiece, causing the soldiers to stiffen and shut their mouths while Li Qing fumes at being called an idiot.
Since an Aura Concealment Charm is added to the array, the zombies now free of the evolved one"s control scatter and wander off.
Gazing down at the two gla.s.s bottles full of red ant crystals, Huo Zaiyuan smiles in satisfaction. This has to be the biggest loot he has gotten from the beginning of the apocalypse to this day. Hmm…although an evolved undead is a little harder to take care of, its ability to control normal zombies is pretty useful. He doesn"t need to use too many talismans to burn the bodies, and all the crystals are gathered in one place, so he also doesn"t need to run around collecting them. These two bottles will be able to last him quite a while.
"Look at your cheerful face." Long Zhanye"s heart softens as he stares at the happily smiling youth sitting in the pa.s.senger seat of the car.
Now with the Land Rovers and zombies out of the way, the armoured car and Hummer continue their journey forward to the research inst.i.tute. They are only two streets away from their destination.
"Of course I"ll be happy. Generally, when harvesting crystals, I need to take the time to draw a few zombies together. Now I got so many in one swoop, really save a lot of effort."
Sending the two bottle into his s.p.a.ce, he takes out another bottle. There are also a few crystals sitting inside, but these three are very different from the common sesame seed sized ones. One is the size of a red bean, the other a purplish-red, quail egg sized one, and the last is the round, marble-size, dark red crystal he recently acquired from the female undead.
"The transformation and evolution of these zombies are becoming more severe."
He doesn"t know if any of the soldiers or other survivors have encountered evolved zombies before, but Long Zhanye and he have already met three. The one in the garage of Z City"s military base, the infant zombie that crawled out of the pregnant zombie mother and the very recent female undead.
"Un, merely cutting off the heads of zombies is insufficient. At minimum, the heads should be totally destroyed. No matter how strong a regular person"s fighting ability is, it is impossible to compare with your average talismans that are able to hold off a horde of controlled undead." Long Zhanye drums a finger lightly on the steering wheel. "After we reach A City, I was thinking to ask you to teach them your skills. Grandfather has already permitted the Elder Taoist priest to recruit disciples."
"Hehe…" Huo Zaiyuan laughs. "Will that be considered as rendering special service to the nation?"
"Of course, and the material benefits you"ll receive are a high wage, a family, as well as a high-ranking senior officer with formidable fighting skills. How is that? Are you interested?"
"Since the benefits are so ample, how can I possibly refuse such goodwill?"
As they banter back and forth, it doesn"t take long until they arrive at their destination - the advanced research inst.i.tute.