006 Women, Too, Can Be Brave and Resourceful

In the shadowy corner of the ground floor lobby, Xue Feng spotted seven or eight zombies, ravenously gnawing at the corpse of a woman. All of them were of the ordinary human form—there were no signs of mutation. Though the system mission hadn’t specified what a mutant zombie looked like, Xue Feng reasoned that since one had already mutated, it must be distinctly different from the common ones, and surely more formidable. The zombies feasting on the corpse were likely not the mutant he sought.

With this judgment in mind, Xue Feng avoided entangling with the ordinary zombies and instead led An Xiaowei up to the second floor of the building. The structure here was entirely different from the open lobby below; it was divided into countless small rooms, each housing a small company. Xue Feng glanced at An Xiaowei and asked, “Xiaowei, are you familiar with this place?”

“Not really…” An Xiaowei replied softly, “I’ve only been here once, and I took the elevator straight to the twenty-sixth floor.”

“Alright then, stay close to me.”

“Thank you, Brother Feng!”

“What are you thanking me for?” Her sudden gratitude warmed Xue Feng’s heart.

“Thank you for helping me cross that threshold… I know you’re doing this so I can survive more safely, thank you. Next time we encounter a badly wounded zombie, I’ll help you deal with it.”

Xue Feng chuckled, “You’re really capable, Xiaowei. I’m starting to like you more and more.”

An Xiaowei blushed deeply and nodded, uncertain which ‘capable’ Brother Feng meant. Ever since Xue Feng had taught her a few techniques, she was no longer the naive maiden she once was.

“Hmm?”

At that moment, Xue Feng’s expression froze. He had seen something utterly terrifying—a monstrous figure towering over two meters tall in an office hall ahead. The giant’s face was twisted, its body bloated and riddled with rotting flesh, grotesque beyond belief.

A mutant!

Ordinary zombies could never possess such an enormous, bloated physique.

With a roar, the mutant giant zombie lunged at Xue Feng, teeth bared and claws slashing. Without hesitation, Xue Feng raised his gun and fired fiercely at the mutant’s head. The first shot pierced its skull, but the following bullets were blocked by its thick arms. The mutant’s bulk rendered the pistol’s limited caliber and slow rate of fire ineffective.

In an instant, the mutant giant was upon him.

“Run!” Xue Feng grabbed An Xiaowei’s arm and retreated quickly down the corridor. They reached the stairwell together; An Xiaowei wanted to descend, but Xue Feng pulled her upward. The ground floor, though sparsely populated by zombies, was too open—the mutant’s massive frame would be unrestrained, able to unleash its full ferocity. Xue Feng’s Browning M1935 held a maximum of thirteen rounds. Once emptied, he might not even have a chance to reload before being torn to shreds by the beast.

The mutant’s size made stair-climbing difficult—it lumbered slowly, like a snail. Seizing the fleeting chance, Xue Feng fired at close range, riddling the mutant with bullets. An ordinary zombie would have been reduced to pulp, but this brute was far tougher. Xue Feng emptied more than a dozen rounds without felling it.

An Xiaowei suggested, “Brother Feng, why not use the stairs to make it fall?”

“Good idea,” Xue Feng nodded, willing to try.

“Help me reload, and keep an eye on the monster behind us.” As he spoke, Xue Feng handed An Xiaowei an empty magazine and some bullets. He then switched to his broadsword, forging ahead. The mutant was bloated and powerful—Xue Feng wasn’t confident he could kill it with a single blow. Zombies were riddled with viruses and possessed extraordinary resilience; if he failed to deliver a fatal strike, he’d likely be wounded and infected.

Thus, Xue Feng only used his blade against common zombies. Facing the mutant, he would never allow it near, maintaining a safe distance to kill it.

The third floor’s layout was even more closed and shadowy than the second; after the power outage, darkness flooded the entire floor, obscuring everything. Xue Feng couldn’t tell how many dangers lurked in the gloom, so he chose not to enter the third-floor hall, but continued his ascent.

Five minutes later, Xue Feng and An Xiaowei reached the eleventh floor, still pursued relentlessly by the hulking zombie. In that time, Xue Feng had fired over twenty rounds, yet the mutant remained undefeated.

He pried open the elevator doors on the eleventh floor and peered into the shaft. The power outage had locked the elevator on the ground floor; looking down, only darkness greeted him. The sheer drop made his head spin and his heart race.

“If only I could lure the zombie into the shaft,” Xue Feng muttered under his breath.

An Xiaowei was quick to agree, “With such a height, it would surely be smashed to pieces!”

“But the problem is, that brute seems to possess some intelligence—how could it obediently jump in?” Xue Feng replied calmly. “It won’t jump on its own, but if we use human flesh as bait to lure it?”

“Human flesh as bait?” An Xiaowei was speechless.

“Where would we get human flesh?”

Xue Feng leaned in and whispered a few words in her ear. Only then did An Xiaowei realize he meant her as the bait.

“Brother Feng, I…” she stammered, anxiety flooding her heart. The plan Xue Feng had explained carried some risk, but with careful execution, it was manageable. He wasn’t asking her to sacrifice herself without hope.