Chapter 921 - 268: Carrying the Head

Pa~

The Extraordinary Zombie had just come close and was about to push open the dressing room door to check the situation inside when it heard a heavy impact.

Su Changxing took the initiative to attack, driving the silver machete straight through the dressing room door, chopping at the arm the zombie had stretched inside.

Crack~

The door burst apart with a crisp sound.

This kind of door was never solid to begin with; the two wooden panels were hollow, so it took barely any effort to pierce through, and it didn’t sap the force of the strike at all.

The Extraordinary Zombie reacted instantly as well, tilting its body to the side and shifting its arm away.

Only—

The silver machete changed course ahead of time, its slashing angle shifting to a sideways cut, as if it had grown eyes.

The Extraordinary Zombie also sensed something was wrong; at this rate its arm would be severed, but the blade had already kissed its elbow, and the outcome could no longer be changed.

Swish~

With the crisp sound of bone shattering, Su Changxing neatly lopped off the Extraordinary Zombie’s remaining arm in one stroke, seizing the advantage right from the start.

From the outside it looked like Su Changxing had simply chopped the zombie’s arm off with one easy swing, but in his core consciousness this sequence had been drilled tens of thousands of times—his highest-odds combat plan, deduced from the Extraordinary Zombie’s past behavior patterns and fighting style.

Ordinarily, there’s no way a regular zombie holding this machete could injure an Extraordinary Zombie; whether in Speed or Power it’s far, far inferior.

Fighting is nowhere near that simple. Being stronger or faster doesn’t guarantee victory—unless you achieve absolute crush.

With the main body as terminal, the fight is analyzed in real time.

The zombie clone thus possesses an almost flawless combat sense and highly refined combat skills; that too is part of overall combat strength.

The Extraordinary Zombie’s brain blanked out for a split second. It couldn’t fathom how this "ordinary" zombie had chopped off one of its arms; in its view, Su Changxing should have posed no threat at all.

Without the slightest pause in his movements, Su Changxing immediately rolled to the left. Even without both hands, killing an ordinary zombie would still be easy for this Extraordinary Zombie; with just its mouth it could still bite him to death.

The Extraordinary Zombie did exactly what Su Changxing had anticipated, barreling straight into him, trying to tackle him to the ground.

Pa~

A dull thud rang out. Even though he’d dodged somewhat, the zombie’s shoulder still slammed squarely into him, then his back crashed into the dressing room’s wooden panel, punching out a big hole, splintered wood spearing into flesh.

At least four bones in his left shoulder snapped, and his entire left arm was basically rendered useless.

But this was already the "better" outcome he’d expected.

Su Changxing smashed into the wall, but his motions didn’t falter at all. He raised the silver machete again, swinging from the side toward the Extraordinary Zombie’s neck.

This would decide the outcome of the fight.

The dressing room was cramped; the two zombies were practically pressed together, face to face.

Faced with this situation, the Extraordinary Zombie didn’t choose to evade. Instead, with its shattered arm bone, it drove straight through his abdomen, its torso lunging forward, mouth snapping toward Su Changxing’s neck.

Zombies don’t fear death. When they fight, they launch themselves forward without regard for anything, attacking with everything they’ve got—even if it means their own destruction.

That’s also why, when fighting humans, they often display even greater combat strength.

But with that lunge, the Extraordinary Zombie’s neck happened to slam right onto the machete’s edge.

Ka~

The blade sliced through flesh and bit into bone, but didn’t completely sever it.

What was shocking was that the vertebrae in this zombie’s neck were actually stronger than those in its arm, like metal; this stroke only managed to cut halfway through.

Bestial roars echoed inside the dressing room, more big holes blown open in the wooden walls, the larger and smaller bodies of the two zombies tangled together.

Su Changxing heard the bones in his shoulder shatter. One elbow braced against the Extraordinary Zombie’s shoulder, shoving out with all he had, while his other hand wrenched the machete free and chopped down at the same spot again.

His shoulder had been bitten into a gaping crater, black blood surging out in a frantic gush.

Life and death were balanced on a knife’s edge.

This was the most savage, most primal kind of fight—neither side holding anything back, and only the victor walking away alive.

Another bite—crunch crunch—Su Changxing’s neck was half severed, the sound of bone cracking filling his ears, accompanied by a faint pain.

At the same time, he raised the machete and chopped clean through the zombie’s neck, then shoved it away, flinging it out. It crashed into the wall, then tumbled to the floor, looking unnervingly springy as it kept on howling, full of bitter resentment.

The fight had been even tougher, even more dangerous than expected; he’d almost died.

If that Extraordinary Zombie’s mouth had been an inch closer, his entire neck would have been bitten clean through. Once the neck is severed, death is almost a foregone conclusion; even if you don’t die instantly, your Life Force will keep draining away until you perish completely.

"Still my win, huh~"

Su Changxing’s head drooped, a stiff smile crawling onto his face, making him look especially terrifying and feral. He picked up the silver machete that had just fallen to the floor and brought it down toward that severed head.

"If you don’t ask for it, you won’t die, you know that?"

Su Changxing said irritably. He’d been doing his best to avoid this Extraordinary Zombie, yet the thing just had to come looking for trouble.

He raised the silver machete and hacked at the zombie’s head again and again. The skull was even harder than the neck; a full-force chop only made cracks appear on the surface, and the severed head bounced around inside the fitting room.

Pa~

Pa~

...

Accompanied by its roars, only on the sixth strike did he finally split the head open completely, exposing a mass of black blood and rotten meat pulp.

The Extraordinary Zombie’s life breath vanished completely.

Su Changxing grabbed the nearly severed head in one hand to keep it from coming apart, then reached into the split-open skull with his other hand, groped around, and pulled out a dark green crystal—this zombie’s Extraordinary Crystal.

Most Extraordinary Creatures possess such a crystal; it’s their power core.

Pure Extraordinary do not have such a thing. Their power system’s underlying architecture is different, so the manifested result is different.

Despite all that commotion, none of the zombies outside came in. If it had been humans, these zombies would have swarmed in long ago.

Staring at the dark green crystal in his blood-smeared hand, Su Changxing unhesitatingly put it into his mouth.

His current status was extremely dangerous, with almost no combat strength, and ordinary zombies have very low self-healing ability, so he had no choice but to take this step.

It was risky, but better than sitting here waiting to die.

The Extraordinary Crystal of an Extraordinary Zombie has a certain compatibility with zombies, so the chance of dying on the spot should be somewhat lower.

The dark green Extraordinary Crystal was held in his mouth, going from slightly cool to hot. The heat rose higher and higher, becoming a warm current flowing inside his mouth, while its size steadily shrank.

Then he swallowed it.

Su Changxing sat on the floor, using both hands to hold up his head, trying not to let his neck bear any weight. He felt that if he relaxed even a little, it might snap, and since the torn flesh was still peeling away, the risk of it coming off completely was increasing.

Forty-seven minutes later.

His body underwent obvious changes. His originally pale skin started to shed; white flakes fell onto the fitting room floor. The new skin was still pale, but looked more elastic, with greater resilience, and the broken neck bones were showing signs of repairing.

Su Changxing once again marveled at the superiority of zombies—their absorption and conversion of Energy far surpassed humans. Less than an hour after eating an Extraordinary Crystal, there were already signs of him becoming Extraordinary.

Ordinary zombies are like empty cups; you just need to pour water into them and they can become Extraordinary Zombies.

This transformation process lasted for an hour. Su Changxing kept using both hands to hold his head up. The wound on his neck was healing, but the Speed was way too slow. At this rate, he might have to keep holding his head with his hands for several days.

It reminded him of when he’d been at the Lady of the House’s place, running while holding his severed head. That had seemed to be his head as well.

Up to now, he still hadn’t figured out why another version of himself existed—not just in the Zombie World, but in the Steam World too.

Feeling his head was a bit more stable, Su Changxing slung on his backpack, tied the Silver-White Machete to his back with a rope, then supported his head with both hands and walked out of the clothing store.

This place was still far too unsafe; he had to find somewhere else. He was in a weakened state right now.

The horizon was faintly bright, Dusk shrouded in cloud and mist, its dim yellow light shining over the ruined city.

A huge creature with wings tore across the sky above the city, whipping up a tremendous wind, lifting dust from the ground, then a distant roar spread out, making the entire city fall silent.

"What was that?"

Su Changxing, dragging his head, stared up at the empty sky, realizing this world was nothing like when he’d first come here.

He was certain that thing just now was absolutely a High-tier Extraordinary Creature.

"I thought the Extraordinary tier of this world wouldn’t be too high... The time flow is faster than I imagined."

The faster the time flow of a world, the lighter its mass. Normally, it shouldn’t be this fast no matter what.

This wasn’t a normal world; it had been artificially modified.

He recalled what he’d seen under the Blood Moon back then, that feeling—like he was an experimental ant in a petri dish, being observed.

When sunlight arrives, a zombie’s power retracts; compared to nighttime, it becomes much weaker.

If it had been daytime, those dozen or so people earlier might really have been able to kill that Extraordinary Zombie.

Su Changxing walked along the street in the direction he’d come from. Once it was daytime, many humans would probably come out to move around. Zombies were thicker over there, so humans would relatively be fewer.

He had no idea what stage these people who’d been dumped here were in now. Maybe they’d already survived for a while, maybe they’d even set up a settlement.

He hadn’t gone far when he sensed movement behind him. Looking back, he saw human figures appear at the far end of the street, walking toward him.

His eyesight was better than before, so at a glance he recognized several of them as the ones who’d escaped last night. He figured they were here to pick up the items left behind by the man in the white safety helmet.

The man was dead, but those items had all been bought with Points.

They’d taken such a big risk last night purely for the things in the Mysterious Shop.