As soon as the system finished speaking, a flood of experimental data and procedural knowledge surged into Huan Tian's mind. The information overwhelmed him—he was completely stunned by the sheer scale of the system's revelation.
This was beyond anything he had imagined!
Neither the Gene Enhancement Serum nor the Gene Unlocking Serum could grant true immunity to infection. Only the Nightmare Virus Inhibitor could solve the problem once and for all. If he could create it himself, he would never again have to fight cautiously in close combat.
More importantly, the value of this Nightmare Virus Inhibitor data at this moment was immeasurable.
In his previous life, after the apocalypse struck, global order collapsed. With nations losing unified leadership, countless factions rose from the ashes. It wasn't until a year later that the research team in Dragon City successfully developed the Nightmare Virus Inhibitor. Mass production and widespread inoculation didn't happen until two years after that. If Huan Tian could get his hands on this data now, he would have the leverage to negotiate with any force.
In just an instant, he had already locked onto his next strategic objective—
The 35th floor of the building. The biological laboratory.
"Get ready! As soon as we finish preparing the tools, we move out immediately!"
Huan Tian's sudden burst of excitement startled Lin Qingqing, but she didn't question him. To her, every word from Huan Tian was an order.
Zzzzt—zzzt—
A burst of electronic static suddenly crackled in their ears, faint and distant, as though coming from behind a thick wall.
"It's from the Spiked Zombie's corpse—it has a walkie-talkie!"
The two rushed toward the body. Huan Tian moved faster. He drew a utility knife and sliced into a large mass of swollen, decayed flesh on the zombie's waist.
With a dull thud, a black, blood-smeared walkie-talkie fell out.
A deep, steady voice crackled from the speaker:
"This is the Security Department of the building, broadcasting to all survivors inside. You should have received the national emergency message by now. In the short term, we can no longer rely on state rescue. We must fend for ourselves."
"We've established a temporary safe zone on the 36th floor. There's plenty of water and food. All zombies in the area have been cleared. We urge all survivors to gather there as soon as possible."
"Believe me—if we stand together, we will make it through."
Beep—
The transmission ended with a sharp electronic tone, loud enough to attract the attention of nearby zombies. Scratching and pounding immediately started at the door again. Huan Tian frowned and quickly switched off the walkie-talkie.
There was a large employee cafeteria on the thirty-sixth floor. For now, the building still had its power supply, and the water hadn't been cut off. If there were enough people guarding it, they could hold out for quite a while.
But to get to the thirty-fifth floor, they would have to pass through the thirty-sixth, which was now under someone else's control. And since that floor had already been turned into a safe zone, it meant they had completely secured the stairwells. To go down, they'd have to go through those people.
Huan Tian casually wiped the blood off the walkie-talkie and stowed it away.
"You want to go there? I'm heading to the thirty-fifth floor next. I can drop you off on the way."
Lin Qingqing looked straight at him, then firmly shook her head.
"I'm staying with you. Nowhere is safer than by your side."
"They might have more people—and the cafeteria is stocked with food and water."
"I still remember what happened with Liang Jing," she said flatly, but her tone carried a sharp edge. "I don't trust anyone now. Only you."
A sly smile suddenly curved across Huan Tian's lips.
"Oh? Aren't you afraid I'll eat you?"
As he spoke, he leaned in toward her.
"Ah!"
Startled, Lin Qingqing instinctively backed away, only to lose her balance and fall flat on the floor.
Huan Tian slowly moved closer, that mischievous grin still on his face.
"Don't forget—you still owe me a lot of compensation."
Now they were so close, they could feel each other's breath on their faces. The air between them turned heavy and charged.
Lin Qingqing's heart skipped a beat. She looked away, unable to meet his eyes, her fingers tangled nervously in her lap.
"Uh… they say a serious injury takes a hundred days to heal… no intense physical activity."
Huan Tian burst out laughing.
"Hahaha! Lin Qingqing, that's the lamest excuse I've ever heard!"
Huan Tian burst into hearty laughter. He pushed himself off Lin Qingqing with both hands and stood up.
"I told you—I'm not a vegetarian. So you'd better not give me a chance to devour you."
Lin Qingqing looked completely flustered, nodding repeatedly. It was unclear if her little brain truly understood what he meant.
But after a few teasing words, the distance between them seemed to shrink. Over the next few days, they focused completely on sharpening their bone knives in shifts, working with silent efficiency. Once everything was ready, they set out again.
Each of them was equipped with arm and leg guards, a backpack filled to the brim with supplies, a motorcycle helmet, and a pair of hard plastic safety boots.
Their weapons included a full set of long, medium, and short bone knives—
The long blade was slung across the back, the medium one strapped at the waist, and the short dagger tied to the outside of the leg guard.
Huan Tian also carried seven throwing spears for ranged combat.
Before leaving, he made sure not to waste any space, packing the five-cubic-meter storage area to the limit. All the water, food, and medicine they had were loaded in, along with materials for maintaining their gear.
Lin Qingqing stood to the side, staring in awe. Her eyes were filled with curiosity, practically glued to Huan Tian's every move. After a long pause, she finally asked in a hushed voice:
"Huan Tian… are you from the future? Do you have some kind of advanced tech on you?"
Her question made Huan Tian chuckle.
"You can think of it that way. When the time is right, I'll tell you the full story."
Lin Qingqing nodded, wisely choosing not to press further.
Instead of using the front door, the two climbed back into the ventilation shaft. But the moment they entered the main duct, their expressions turned grim.
Everywhere they looked, there were dried blood trails—drag marks, smeared streaks, the remnants of something violent. Though the blood had long dried, the stench of death still clung to the air.
"It all came from the direction of the patio," Huan Tian muttered. "Must've been the first batch of mutated zombies triggered by the rain."
Lin Qingqing's face went pale. These things carried an unusually high concentration of the virus. If they fused and produced a primary Nightmare Crystal, they could instantly evolve into Tier-2 zombies!
And now, after two full days, those monsters had likely already spread to the lower floors through the ventilation system.
There was a very real chance they'd run into them along the way.
"Don't be afraid—our current gear is more than enough to handle them!"
Huan Tian's confidence was like a shot of adrenaline, calming Lin Qingqing instantly. The two of them continued crawling steadily through the ventilation shaft. Before long, they reached the emergency access point they had previously encountered. With a solid kick, Huan Tian smashed through the old louvered panel, and the two of them leapt down—this was the closest path to the lower floor.
"Raaaargh!" They had previously encountered
The moment Huan Tian landed, a chorus of guttural roars erupted in his ears. A rush of wind swept toward the back of his head—danger!
Without even looking, Huan Tian snapped his right leg up in a lightning-fast back kick.
Crack!
His foot landed squarely on the face of a charging zombie. With 14 points of strength behind the strike, the zombie's neck bent backward at a ninety-degree angle before it collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.
A second zombie lunged, jaws wide, aiming for Huan Tian's thigh.
He met it head-on with a brutal knee strike.
Crunch!
Its face caved in completely, skull shattered, brain matter instantly mashed to pulp.
With a smooth draw, Huan Tian unsheathed his bone blade. He spun in place, slicing cleanly through the remaining seven zombies, decapitating them one by one like chopping vegetables.
Just then, Lin Qingqing dropped from the vent.
She didn't hesitate. The moment she landed, she rolled to the side, pulling the bone knife from her waist as she moved.
Thud!
She kicked away the nearest zombie and, in the same breath, drove her blade into its eye socket with precision.
"I'll leave the last five to you!" Huan Tian called out.
"Got it!"
The past few days of training had made Lin Qingqing intimately familiar with the attack patterns of Tier-1 zombies. With no real intelligence, they always lunged straight for the torso of the nearest moving target.
She waved her left arm as bait.
As expected, the first zombie snapped toward her armored forearm.
In a flash, she swept her leg toward its right foot—the one bearing its weight.
The zombie stumbled, completely off balance. Lin Qingqing followed through, her right hand swinging the blade in a clean arc that severed its head.
The first kill gave her confidence.
Repeating the same tactics—bait, sweep, strike—she moved like a machine of efficiency and focus.
Five encounters. Five kills.
When the final body hit the ground, silence returned to the corridor—only the metallic scent of blood and the echo of battle remained in the air.
[Ding. Killed Tier-1 zombie: 14. Gained Demon Hunter Points: 14. Current total: 24.]
"Huan Tian, how did I do?"
Lin Qingqing turned around, beaming with excitement, ready to bask in his praise—
But Huan Tian's eyes suddenly sharpened. In a flash, he reached out and yanked her to his side!
Bang!
A heavy crash exploded in front of them. The emergency exit door was violently smashed open, and a sharp corpse claw burst through the gap, aiming straight for where Lin Qingqing had just stood.
Huan Tian was a fraction of a second too slow. Fortunately, Lin Qingqing instinctively raised her blade to block.
Crash!
The force slammed into the weapon, sending her sprawling backward and tumbling behind Huan Tian.
From behind the door came a furious roar. The creature's long, thin arm thrashed through the opening, clawing wildly. And then—
Boom!
The solid emergency door was shredded like paper, torn apart by brute force.
A half-naked, emaciated woman with matted hair burst into the corridor.
"Liang Jing!?"
Lin Qingqing gasped in disbelief.
Then she saw it—embedded in Liang Jing's chest was a gleaming blue Nightmare Crystal.
"No way… a Tier-2 zombie!?"
"Raaaargh!"
The zombified Liang Jing locked eyes with them, and in that twisted, hate-filled gaze burned a disturbingly human malice. With a hoarse roar, her body shot forward like a black streak, nails gleaming with a deadly red-black sheen.
"Speed-augmented type… from the Agility path! And those claws are poisoned!"
Huan Tian's expression hardened. He swiftly drew two short bone blades and gripped them tightly.
Liang Jing's assault was wild and fast as lightning, but Huan Tian was no slower; his agility matched at 12 points. Man and monster collided in a blur of strikes and slashes, the narrow corridor becoming their brutal arena.
His armored forearms bore the brunt of her attacks, but even the thick plating couldn't silence the high-pitched screeching of claws raking metal. Each swipe left deep, jagged gouges behind.
The protective gear held for now.
Behind him, Lin Qingqing stood frozen, pale-faced, bone knife in hand, legs stiff with tension. She knew this fight was beyond her.
All she could do… was believe in him.