Chapter 435 - Taking Over the Mall

With a single order from Lie Yang, all the ability users charged into the mall and started fighting against every zombie in sight.

Han Wu noticed that most of them were fairly weak. Some were weaker than Heroic life forms, technically classified as Unique life forms. In a sense, they were barely stronger than ordinary people. Even 100 of them together wouldn’t be enough to defeat a Heroic life form. Their strength came only from their guns, which allowed them to easily dispatch zombies with one or two shots.

Gripping his Steel Blade, Han Wu sliced through zombies as if they were vegetables and headed smoothly to the second floor. Without any other ability users in his path, he faced numerous zombies alone, but Steel Blade’s power allowed him to clear a path effortlessly and move on to the third floor.

There were fewer zombies there, but he sensed that they were much stronger than the ones below. Following the aura of a powerful zombie, he cut through the weaker ones in his way until he came upon a mutated zombie.

To his surprise, it was a dog, or rather, a zombie dog. It had once been covered in thick, glossy fur, but its body was now stripped bare, exposing raw flesh and sinew that gave it a grotesque, unsettling look. Facing this

cute

dog, Han Wu didn’t hesitate and swung his blade.

The zombie dog somehow dodged his strike and darted through a hole in the nearby wall to hide. Unfortunately for it, Han Wu could still sense its presence. He followed the path to the other side, walked down the corridor, and feigned ignorance. As he reached the hiding spot, he suddenly swung his blade.

At such close range, the zombie dog had nowhere to run and died. This time, Han Wu didn’t mind getting dirty and cracked open its skull to retrieve its crystal. To his surprise, there was none.

“Such misfortune!” he exclaimed. He never thought that he’d be unlucky enough to encounter a one-in-ten-thousand chance of a mutated zombie without a crystal.

He tossed the skull aside, summoned his locusts to the third floor to feast, and made his way to the fourth floor.

He cleared out the weaker zombies first while spreading his senses through the area. Before long, he detected another powerful zombie guarding the fourth floor. It was huge, its skin tough as concrete, and the aura it emitted was more powerful and purer than that of the zombie dog below.

Even so, it was no match for his Steel Blade. The 1-Star God weapon could easily tear apart the zombie’s skin, and he defeated it within minutes.

Han Wu checked its skull for a crystal but was stunned to find none. The zombie dog’s missing crystal could have been a coincidence, but finding two in a row without one was abnormal. He was certain that there had to be a reason behind it.

Han Wu glanced up at the top floor. He suspected the cause had to do with the Frost Zombie that Lie Yang had mentioned. He was about to head up to confirm his suspicion when Lie Yang reached the fourth floor, moving at a leisurely pace.

Seeing the carnage around Han Wu, Lie Yang gave him an approving look. “Newbie, I didn’t expect your ability to be that strong. I will reward you handsomely once we get back. The one upstairs is too strong for you to handle. Leave it to me.”

As Lie Yang made his way upstairs, Han Wu watched his back and cursed inwardly,

Would it kill you to stop bragging?

He followed Lie Yang anyway. The latter noticed him but didn’t chase him away. Instead, he whispered, “Once the battle starts, don’t do anything reckless and break my rhythm, or we’re both dead.”

𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

Han Wu said nothing, and Lie Yang took his silence as agreement. The air grew colder as they climbed. When they reached the top, they finally saw the strongest mutated zombie in the mall. Its ability clearly stemmed from ice and frost, evident from the thick sheets of ice and the frozen humans surrounding it.

The Frost Zombie also appeared highly intelligent. It didn’t panic upon spotting Han Wu and Lie Yang. Instead, it eagerly presented its ice sculptures. “Finally, someone is here. Look, this is my first project after my mutation. It’s called The Half-Bitten Child

.

”

The name fit disturbingly well. Inside the ice stood a small, half-eaten child, her skull and torso partially devoured but perfectly preserved in the frozen block.

“The next project is Crystal Alice,” the Frost Zombie continued proudly, revealing a beautiful young girl, sealed forever in crystal ice.

“The next one is called—”

It never finished. Lie Yang pointed both his AK and rifle at it. “You’ve committed too many sins. Time to go to hell.”

He pulled the trigger, and something extraordinary happened. The gun muzzles flared as bright as the sun, and the bullets that tore through the air carried solar power, scorching the Frost Zombie on impact.

The Frost Zombie summoned thick walls of ice to shield itself from Lie Yang’s gunfire, but the barrage was overwhelmingly powerful. The ice walls crumbled easily, leaving the Frost Zombie exposed.

Lie Yang poured every ounce of his power into his weapons and turned every round into a burning bullet. In less than three seconds, the magazines of his AK and rifle were emptied. In return, the Frost Zombie’s body was riddled with holes like Swiss cheese.

Lie Yang stumbled to the ground, overcome by severe fatigue. “I’m so tired.”

Han Wu strode forward and severed the Frost Zombie’s head to ensure it couldn’t regenerate. He split open its skull to look for the crystal and, this time, he found one the size of a fist. It gleamed brightly, with the image of an ice block suspended inside.

Lie Yang raised his gun and aimed at Han Wu. “Hand over the crystal, now!”