Chapter 21: Instant Kill

"Steady steps."

"Downward slash!"

Lin An's bones exploded throughout his body, and all his strength gathered in his right hand.

A single blade slash burst forth, generating a fierce wind.

Under power exceeding human limits.

As the most basic slash in swordsmanship, it now shows boundless might.

"Roar!"

The Licker also instantly swung its claws, and the size difference between them formed a stark contrast in everyone's eyes.

"Crack!"

The massive claw shattered.

The chilling blade's residual might undiminished, a blood line spread from the Licker's skull.

Lin An's steps remained unchanged, marching straight forward.

The Licker's massive claw halted the instant it touched Lin An's head.

Flesh and blood separated.

The huge body slowly split into two halves.

Lin An silently walked through the Licker's split body.

One second later, the sound of a heavy object hitting the ground rang out.

"Ding, detected player slaying 1 Fourth Rank Mutant: Licker."

Waves of white light surged from the Licker's corpse, entering Lin An's body.

"Ding, upgrade conditions met, congratulations player! Current player level 1!"

"Ding, advancement conditions met, congratulations Awakened One! Current awakened level 1 Fourth Rank!"

Two streams of power successively emerged from the void, instantly vanishing within Lin An's body.

Warm, comfortable.

The addictive pleasure washed away fatigue.

"Ding, player level increased. Strength+1, Agility+1, Constitution+1, Will+1!"

"Ding, Awakened Ones rank increased. Strength+2, Agility+2, Constitution+2, Will+2!"

Double the power increase!

Lin An greedily took a deep breath, feeling the growing power within him.

Great! The black bear collapsed on the ground has shrunk back to human form.

The bald man's awakened ability is bear transformation, and its duration is not long.

After suffering severe injuries near death, he can no longer maintain the bear form.

He covered his severed arm, eyes shocked, as if seeing a monster.

Lin An's performance of killing the Licker with a single slash.

Perhaps others would also feel shocked.

But it is nowhere as intense as the bald man's.

He had fought the Licker before, seemingly evenly matched at first.

Later, just one ineffective strike exposed an opening, and he was heavily wounded by the Licker's backhand.

But he clearly knows that even if given a hundred lives, he couldn't last more than a few seconds against the Licker.

Too strong.

"You... how did you do that?"

The bald man's throat convulsed.

Watching Lin An walk over as if strolling, his eyes full of admiration.

"Hmm."

"Just slash down with one blade."

Lin An casually replied.

With his current strength, a charged slash to kill the Licker is completely normal.

Bald man:...

Lin An gave a slight smile, also not caring about the bald man's mood.

"How about it, can you still move?"

Lin An looked at his body; the huge wound originally pierced through the chest by the Licker was slowly healing.

Only the missing left arm merely stopped bleeding, without regenerating.

This recovery speed is somewhat fast.

Lin An thought to himself.

It seems the bald man's strength is somewhat greater than I thought.

Awakened Ones have strong physiques, and their recovery ability is also not bad.

But for such an injury to heal this quickly is rather unreasonable.

Ordinary people would have long been dead.

Does the beast transformation skill come with a physique boost?

Perhaps it's related to the awakening talent.

After beast transformation, speed is lacking, but physique is still decent.

Not bad as a meat shield.

Lin An gave his evaluation of the bald man in his heart.

Still able to move.

The bald man nodded and, with effort, climbed up from the ground.

Hello, I'm Zhang Tie!

The bald man extended his right hand.

His voice was gruff, and though he bared his teeth in a grin, it wasn't a pleasant sight, but he was sincere.

Lin An.

Um, Big Brother Lin, thank you for saving me.

Zhang Tie's face was full of gratitude, not seeming feigned.

If Lin An hadn't intervened, he estimated he'd have ended up in three pieces like his brother.

I really don't know what to...

We'll talk about it later.

The zombies are about to surround us.

Lin An cut off Zhang Tie's words, glancing at the hospital gate in the distance.

Many zombies were gathering in this direction.

Good!

Zhang Tie didn't say much either, just keeping his gratitude in his heart.

As they passed the burly man's corpse, Zhang Tie quickly picked up a piece of it and held it in his arms.

His eyes were bloodshot.

My condolences.

Lin An could feel Zhang Tie's sorrow, and involuntarily spoke to comfort him.

He also had brothers.

Naturally, he knew how painful this feeling was.

An Jing Tian, AnXia...

Hold on, I'll be back!

Lin An thought of the two siblings from He Yuan Residential Area, his gaze firm.

They ran all the way.

Both are Awakened Ones, their speed far surpassing that of ordinary people.

In just a few seconds they rushed into the hotel lobby.

Brother Zhang!

Everyone was talking at once.

The dozen or so survivors who had previously fled into the hotel excitedly gathered around, asking about their well-being.

But upon seeing Zhang Tie holding his companion's corpse, their gazes grew sorrowful.

It seems these people all know each other.

Several elderly men took the corpse from Zhang Tie's hands and silently placed it on a piece of red cloth.

Lin An remained silent, merely re-blocking the hotel door.

Boom—crack!

A car weighing several tons was dragged by Lin An alone, blocking the door.

Upon hearing the sound, people looked over, some feeling fearful.

This fear differs from that of facing zombies; it is the ordinary person's instinctive fear of the strong.

Zhang Tie seems to be the group's leader.

He noticed his companions were somewhat afraid, and immediately introduced Lin An.

This is Lin An, my lifesaver,

Everyone just saw that. I can only stay alive thanks to Brother Lin.

After saying that, Zhang Tie deeply bowed.

Everyone also looked grateful, all bowing to Lin An.

Among the survivors, a young-looking girl had moist eyes.

She wore a baseball cap and simply tied her hair into a ponytail.

She is not old, about 17 or 18.

Her entire athletic outfit exuded youthful vigor.

The girl's appearance is sweet; one can tell she is a beauty in the making.

Brother Lin, you saved my brother's life. This kindness, Youwei, I will never forget.

Lin An gave a light smile.

Youwei and Wen Ya are quite alike.

Both are full of youthful vitality.

Except Wen Ya is a bit more mature.

Youwei wiped away a tear, turned and looked at Zhang Tie.

Brother... your hand.

Brother's fine, Youwei, don't cry.

"We Zhang family folks don't cry!"

Zhang Tie grinned, his chubby cheeks forcing out a smile as he comforted the little girl who had just stood up.

Looking at the two people before.

Lin An's face looked a little strange.

He had originally thought Youwei's surname was You, just like everyone else calling Zhang Tie 'brother'.

He never expected the two to be siblings.

One was sturdy like a bear, his face full of flesh.

The other was petite and cute, delicate and frail.

They share the same parents, yet this gap is too huge..

Zhang Tie seemed to sense Lin An's strange gaze, suddenly pulling Youwei's hand over and walking to stand before Lin An.

"Lin big brother, this is my sister!"

Zhang Tie's face full of pride.

Lin An:...