Chapter 7: Zombification

This is the place!

An old, dilapidated building was overgrown with withered vines.

Lin An looked at the familiar yet strange doorplate, his emotions surging.

He hadn't wasted a single minute or second.

In just five minutes, he fought his way through a horde of over a hundred zombies all the way here.

On his combat uniform, the sticky blood had already crusted.

The soles of his leather boots were covered in chunks of flesh.

The broken fire axe in his hand had been replaced by a Licker's half spine.

Lin An had been fighting bloody battles all the way.

Just from his appearance, he looked like a monster crawling out of a heap of corpses.

」Jing Tian! AnXia！「

Lin An didn't break his stride, striding into the residential building.

He completely ignored the Corpse Horde before the building.

He kept calling out the names of An Jing Tian and his sibling.

」Lin Bro！「

Inside the room.

AnXia, curled up in the corner, her face lit with surprise, feared she had misheard and hastily rose, peering out the window.

"I'm here!"

AnXia leaned out, waving her hand, her eyes full of hope.

Outside the door, the zombies grew increasingly restless, drawn by the scent of the living on Lin An.

Lin An heard AnXia's voice and quickly looked up.

On the chair inside the room, An Jing Tian's bound hands suddenly broke free.

His wrist had shrunk a circle from the chafed flesh, no longer bound by the chains.

The iron chains fell to the ground with a clear clink.

But amidst the zombies' howls, AnXia didn't notice.

The interior was dim and lightless.

A pair of scarlet, bloodthirsty eyes suddenly appeared behind her.

Lin An's pupils instantly contracted into dangerous pinpricks.

Power exploded!

The Awakened Ones' talent activated again.

Lin An disregarded the massive consumption of repeatedly activating his talent in a short time, frantically driving the power within his body.

Charge!

」Pfft！「

The Licker's sharp spine directly pierced the zombie at the doorway.

Like candied haws on a stick, it was pinned to the doorframe.

Hurry up!

Even faster!

Lin An roared inwardly, throwing his right fist with all his might.

」Boom！「

Brutal force smashed the door.

The sturdy iron door emitted a piercing screech as it deformed and was damaged.

Inside the room.

AnXia weakly covered her throat, blood seeping through the gaps between her fingers.

」Bro... Bro？「

His lips opened, but no sound came out.

An Jing Tian's ferocious, rotting face showed no trace of reason in his eyes.

A strand of blood hung from the corner of his mouth, about to bite again.

」Jing Tian！「

Lin An let out an angry shout.

Muscles tore.

The speed that had already exploded to its limit increased a notch more.

An Jing Tian's body trembled at the sound, a flicker of confusion crossing his eyes.

The mouth that was about to bite again froze in place.

」Boom！「

Lin An instantly charged from the doorway into the room, crashing into An Jing Tian and knocking him away from AnXia.

Behind him, the wall cracked and dust rained down.

Zombies are different from ordinary humans.

Even before fully transforming, An Jing Tian's bodily strength, enhanced by the virus, surpassed that of ordinary people.

If it were an ordinary person.

Even with Lin An's restrained impact force, most would lose their ability to move.

But Jing Tian is different.

After a brief stiffness, his eyes again turned scarlet, full of longing for flesh.

"Roar!"

Lin An pressed him down firmly, preventing him from hurting AnXia.

His body was tightly restrained by Lin An, his head twisting wildly.

Low, deep growls like a beast's issued from his throat.

His formerly steady and dignified face now had not a single intact piece of flesh.

Under the zombie virus infection, the skin on his body had rotted away completely.

Lin An's gaze was sorrowful.

He had quickly observed AnXia beside him; for the time being she was unharmed.

But if her throat were slit by Jing Tian, she would likewise become infected.

Watching his best brother about to turn into a zombie.

The sister whom both of them loved was also infected.

He felt as if his heart were being roasted over a fire.

Jing Tian, you must hold on!

"Hiss"

Lin An, holding a metal sheet in one hand, swiftly slit his wrist.

Blood poured out.

Power surged!

Lin An whispered a low shout, activating his Awakened talent again.

But the originally rich golden light around his body had dimmed somewhat.

The bright red blood took on a golden sheen.

His mental strength was exhausted, and his vision went dark.

Lin An simply bit his tongue to force himself awake.

"Brother Lin"

"Is there still hope for my brother?"

AnXia sat helplessly to the side, asking timidly with effort.

The wound on her neck was inflicted by Jing Tian's fingernail; it wasn't large.

Lin An didn't reply, merely extending his cut wrist toward Jing Tian's chest with a solemn expression.

The wound touched the skin.

The hint of gold in the blood, as if alive, suddenly plunged in.

"Don't worry, I'm here."

After biting his tongue, a metallic, rusty sweetness filled his mouth.

Seeing that his blood indeed changed upon contacting Jing Tian, Lin An let out a slight sigh of relief.

After all, the blood of Awakened Ones from his past life was said to suppress zombification, though it was only hearsay and he had never tested it himself.

He didn't know how effective it would be.

He softly comforted AnXia a few times, though he himself had little confidence.

Using Awakened blood to delay zombification.

This was the only method he had ever heard of that could affect zombification.

Now that Jing Tian was about to turn into a zombie, he could only try a desperate remedy.

As the pale gold blood strangely seeped into Jing Tian's chest skin.

His originally scarlet eyes gradually regained a glimmer of clarity.

His frantically struggling body also slowly calmed down.

It really works!

Lin An felt a surge of joy, only to feel his nose sour.

The regret of his past life was finally made up for.

"Brother Lin, is my brother alright?"

AnXia's eyes were full of hope, longing for Lin An to give her a reassuring answer.

Lin An forced himself to stay conscious, about to offer a few words of comfort.

"Ahhhh!"

An abnormality suddenly occurred.

Jing Tian's body, which had just calmed, suddenly arched back to a 90° angle, with a grating bone-on-bone sound issuing from his joints.

His pupils instantly turned gray-white.

The blood that had seeped from Lin An's wrist into Jing Tian's chest was also expelled from his body.

"Hiss"

The pale gold blood dripped onto his chest, instantly vaporizing and giving off a strong foul odor.

Lin An was shocked beyond belief.

His relaxed nerves instantly tensed.

Just a few seconds.

The flesh on Jing Tian's body peeled away like clothing, exposing raw red muscle.

"No!"

How could this be!?

Lin An's eyes were bloodshot.

His face was ashen.

He didn't know whether it was because the rumor from his past life that Awakened Ones' blood could delay zombification was false.

Or because the Awakened talent he had obtained differed from that of others.

Contrary to expectation, the Awakened Ones' blood not only failed to delay zombification, but actually accelerated the transformation into a zombie!

Thus.

He now had no way to save An Jing Tian.

The blood was useless.

Then AnXia...

would also die!

Having fought his way through bloodshed, exhausted, he only felt mentally and physically weary.

Why would it end like this!?

Of the two people he cherished, he couldn't save even one!

Lin An clenched his fists, his nails digging deep into his flesh, filled with despair and unwillingness.

"Drip."

"Savior mission initiated:"