Chapter 284: Return to the Pigsty

“That big guy…”

Lin Fan’s gaze swept past the parking lot to the row of massive cold storage units on the opposite side. Two of the cold storage doors were gone, leaving only a huge, dark cavern in their place.

[5896/5896]…

But that long, thick health bar appeared in the darkness, completely motionless.

‘It’s sleeping?’ Lin Fan raised an eyebrow. ‘Do zombie pigs also just sleep after they’ve eaten their fill?’

Still, this was a good opportunity…

“Stealth.”

Lin Fan took a deep breath, his consciousness sinking into the system. He equipped the Stealth Crystal, which was in a [Critical State], to himself.

Instantly, a “veil” invisible to the naked eye but clearly perceptible to Lin Fan enveloped him completely, fitting like a thin membrane.

He leaped down lightly and ran toward the cold storage unit. Like a wisp of a ghost, he strode brazenly through the collapsed opening and into the unit’s interior.

‘Whoa… Truly spectacular.’

Although he had long since prepared himself mentally, Lin Fan couldn’t help but narrow his eyes when he finally saw the monster sleeping in the center of the cold storage unit up close.

The pig was currently wedged between two walls of the cold storage unit like a mountain of flesh. Its massive body, almost a sausage-like cylinder, was perfectly still.

The thorny hide and steel bristles it had evolved from devouring zombies and metal had shredded the insulated walls. Two thick tusks, like lances, were exposed, and the drool dripping from the corners of its mouth corroded the ground, creating small, steaming pits.

And scattered around it were countless “severed limbs,” all from its former kin.

‘Its Life Value seems to have increased. Looks like it’s still upgrading after eating those two Mutated Zombies and all this meat.’

‘This health bar… It’s so thick.’

Lin Fan crept quietly to its side.

Up close, the oppressive presence was even more suffocating. If not for the pair of massive, several-meter-long tusks jutting out, Lin Fan would have been almost unable to tell which end of the squirming mountain of flesh was the head and which was the ass.

With a thought, Lin Fan materialized the heavy, black greatsword, holding it in one hand.

However, the greatsword—which on any other day looked imposing enough to smash a person to pulp—now appeared comically tiny against the backdrop of the monster.

The monster lay on the ground, its back alone over six meters high, and its body nearly fifteen meters long.

Lin Fan’s greatsword, less than two meters long, wouldn’t even be thicker than one of the beast’s layers of fat if stood on end.

“Uhh…”

Lin Fan held the greatsword, sizing it up against the monster’s neck, which was as thick as a city wall. His heart sank. ‘With one strike… I’m not even sure I could reach the lean meat…’

Fortunately, the Stealth Crystal in its Critical State was incredibly effective. Even as Lin Fan moved the greatsword back and forth, aiming and sizing it up next to the giant pig’s head and neck, he still didn’t startle it awake.

‘If I fight it head-on, it would be like trying to scratch it to death, and that would take forever. Besides…’ Lin Fan glanced up at the health bar, which had now risen to [5897/5897]. ‘Crystals from monsters that are still mutating are round. They can’t be used for upgrades, and they can’t be synthesized…’

‘Interrupting it now would be a loss even if I kill it. I might as well wait for it to reach six thousand… It’s only about a hundred points away, anyway.’

Lin Fan shook his head, suppressing the desire to wake it up with a few explosive barrels. With a thought, he returned the greatsword to his inventory and slowly backed out of the cold storage unit, which was filled with a putrid stench.

If worst comes to worst, he could just blow the damn thing up and turn it into a roasted suckling pig, but doing so would undoubtedly level the entire factory.

So he decided to use this time to search the rest of the factory first.

The little girl who had disappeared.

Lin Fan looked at the gaping hole in the factory building in the distance. There was still no sign of movement from within. ‘I wonder if she found her mom?’