Chapter 12: A Modest Test of Skill — Strategic Retreat

「Thud. 」

A crisp sound rang out as the walking corpse bit down on a fair, tender arm, but unfortunately, aside from leaving a few shallow tooth marks, it didn't tear even a sliver of skin.

Pitifully, the walking corpse's atrophied brain couldn't figure out what had happened at all, and could only keep opening its jaws to bite at the arm before it.

Fang Shi, who had emerged from the class-change space, was actually still in the same state as when he entered, but he didn't rush to kill the walking corpse right away.

Instead, he used his own arm to test the two feats he had just obtained.

"The walking corpse uses Bite on you: 0 【Strength (2-10)/2 + Bite 4 (1d6)】 - 2 【Natural Armor 1 + Steel Bones and Iron Frame 1】 is less than 0, the target's defense was not penetrated, this damage is 0."

Sure enough, the +2 physical defense effect did not disappoint him; these defective Level 1 walking corpses couldn't break through his defense at all.

"Don't get cocky. These older walking corpses have probably lost all their teeth, and their biting muscles aren't that developed either."

"If a younger walking corpse came along, it would at least break the skin a little."

"Besides, in a few more minutes the walking corpses will have completely finished metamorphosing, and at that point their attributes won't be like this anymore."

The first ten minutes after the apocalypse game began were perhaps to let the remaining humans of Blue Star catch their breath, giving them a buffer period.

The initial walking corpses hadn't finished metamorphosing, only being Level 1/4. As long as an ordinary person didn't get scared, they could very easily kill a walking corpse and open the player attribute panel.

For players whose Strength, Constitution, or Agility was below 10 points, this allowed one attribute completion, raising it to ten points, to get through the most difficult period of weakness.

But for experts, these first ten minutes were a precious time to grind experience.

Once the walking corpses completed their attribute completion and fully metamorphosed into Level 1, their Strength attribute would be at least 12 points, and they would also have 1 point of Natural Armor.

Ordinary people could only barely cope by wielding weapons, and that was still taking advantage of the walking corpses' lack of brains; they had to set up certain traps to successfully kill them.

The most disgusting part was that the teeth and claws of the metamorphosed walking corpses carried paralyzing toxin. When fighting walking corpses, one had to minimize taking damage, otherwise one could only follow in death's footsteps.

This was the initiative Fang Shi's Weight had missed in his previous life—failing to kill the walking corpses outside the door before the game began.

Being blocked at the door for a day resulted in only being able to open the combat profession template two days later, falling a big step behind the other experts.

This led to him only barely being able to step into the middle layer of the human gathering place in his previous life, and after the human gathering place was destroyed, dying in the wilderness during the outward escape.

After finishing his test, Fang Shi turned his hand and swung the bone-chopping cleaver, severing the walking corpse's head, then used the cleaver's tip to pierce into the walking corpse's eye socket and flick away the head stuck on his arm.

He shook his unharmed left hand, then immediately charged into the walking corpse horde to begin his slaughter.

He had to take advantage of these precious ten minutes to quickly wipe out the largest walking corpse group on this small plaza, striving to maximize his experience gains.

At the same time, he also wanted to avoid being surrounded during the subsequent retreat, because in the attribute panel, Strength was what affected movement speed.

Agility only influenced the player's and monster's hand-eye coordination, limb dexterity, reaction, and balance.

Although the walking corpses' Agility was low, even if their Strength was similar to his, because of their body's coordination ability, they still couldn't outrun him.

But he couldn't afford to be held up by walking corpses, which would drag down his own escape speed. If walking corpses piled up more and more and he got surrounded and beaten, once bitten, the paralyzing toxin would take hold, and he wouldn't be far from death.

Fang Shi didn't dare gamble on whether he could still be reborn. Having one chance was already a great blessing; one shouldn't be too greedy.

"Puchi."

"Hoo, hoo."

As the last walking corpse's head hit the ground, Fang Shi's breathing had already become somewhat disordered, and a drop of sweat slowly dripped down his forehead.

Just severing heads didn't consume much stamina; what consumed a lot was moving while dodging,

while swinging the blade.

In a top-tier combat athlete's match, an intense fight could only be sustained for a few minutes.

Let alone a life-and-death struggle. Even though Fang Shi had rich combat experience, if he hadn't chosen 【Toughness I】 and 【Natural Armor I】, tanking the walking corpses' attacks while going all-out,

he wouldn't have been able to hold on this long; killing ten-odd walking corpses would have been his limit before having to run.

After all, this was a one-versus-thirty, and he still needed to conserve some stamina to deal with other situations.

But even though the walking corpses at this time were very weak and unarmed, this was still an extraordinary feat.

"Roar!"

Fang Shi's gaze sharpened. In his peripheral vision, a walking corpse at the street corner suddenly surged in speed, rapidly charging toward him.

He instantly realized that the ten-minute golden window had arrived.

Though he felt a little regret in his heart, he still ran toward home without hesitation.

At the current stage, monsters' Strength hadn't grown to a certain level yet, and Hua country's security doors were still a very good protective measure.

These weren't like the wooden doors in distant continental countries, which could easily be broken by walking corpses.

……

"Xiao Lin, go lure those three walking corpses over here," a pot-bellied middle-aged man called out.

"Got it, Li Ge," a lean youth replied, and while speaking he picked up a wooden stick and walked toward the three walking corpses ahead.

They were vendors on the plaza, one selling cake, one selling fried food; being neighbors for a long time, they naturally knew each other well.

At the dawn of the apocalypse, their shared customers had suddenly become walking corpses.

It gave them quite a fright, but beyond the fear in their hearts, they also rose up to fight back.

The two delicate girls, whose attributes in life were naturally not high, were easily taken down by Xiao Lin and Li Ge.

The two who had opened the attribute panel were instantly thrilled.

The attribute completion and the panel's information made everything clear.

They exchanged a few words, and seeing Fang Shi's eye-catching performance, they also came to their senses, grabbed their weapons one after another, and began charging at the walking corpses.

Others lucky enough to have opened the attribute panel weren't fools either. Attributes, experience, levels, monsters, panels.

Wasn't this just fighting monsters and leveling up?

Were there a lot of walking corpses?

The six billion walking corpses converted from ninety percent of the global population—indeed, a lot.

When the number exceeds ten thousand, it stretches endlessly to the horizon.

Let alone six billion walking corpses.

But in reality, when distributed among the survivors, it amounted to only nine apiece.

Other survivors, unlike Fang Shi, did not know the conversion rate of the zombies.

But seeing the density of zombies on the street, they had a general idea.

These zombies were merely frightening—they had no enhanced physical strength or other abilities like spitting mist or shooting fire.

Added to that, they were utterly mindless; as long as they worked together, these zombies could be easily wiped out.

Then, the experience points on the attribute panel became crucial.

If you don't kill more now, you don't know if there'll be any later.

Some even dared enough to see Fang Shi activate Wu Shuang and wanted to test their own abilities.

I can't fight thirty, but fighting three should be fine.

"Ah!"

This daring man had just attracted three zombies toward him.

Who knew the zombies suddenly surged in speed and strength, instantly breaking through his defense circle.

They pounced on the daring man, biting and tearing, blood spraying everywhere.

Strands of flesh hung from the zombies' mouths.

This scene did not occur only to the daring man—it also happened beside other hunters of zombies.

After the golden ten minutes passed, the inferior zombies underwent transformation; the true horror of the zombies began to unfold.

A zombie's 12-point strength was no joke—140 kilograms of overhead lifting power, something few even those who did heavy labor could achieve.

The zombies' sudden surge in strength was like adding weight to a scale—the surviving hunters instantly suffered massive casualties.

Even facing just one zombie, most survivors could not withstand it.

Xiao Lin, of course, was no exception; he survived the first moment only thanks to Li Ge's help.

But a large chunk of flesh had been sliced from his arm, blood pooling on the ground.

If he didn't stop the bleeding soon, death was inevitable.

Worse still, Xiao Lin realized his injured side was gradually losing strength.

It felt just like when he had a tooth pulled and received anesthesia.

Xiao Lin gritted his teeth: "Li Ge, you go. I'm done for."

Li Ge shoved his cart forward, ramming into the zombies; food scattered everywhere with a clatter.

The zombies were also knocked off balance.

"No, I won't abandon my friend and run," Li Ge shouted, rushing to Xiao Lin's side, lifting him up, trying to flee together.

But Xiao Lin's half-body was paralyzed; even though the other half was fine, he lost balance, his entire weight pressing onto Li Ge.

Watching the zombies stagger back to their feet, Xiao Lin continued: "Li Ge, if we keep going like this, none of us will escape. Leave me."

Li Ge heard the screams around him, a flicker of hesitation crossed his eyes, then he hardened: "No. If we die, we die together. I won't leave you."

Saying this, he simply slung Xiao Lin onto his back and strode forward.

Fortunately, after activating the attribute panel, his strength stat was boosted; otherwise, with his original 8-point strength, he wouldn't have managed so easily.

But even so, he was still slower than the zombies.

The stench of the zombies drew closer; it looked like Li Ge and Xiao Lin would soon be devoured.

"Whoosh!"

A sound of rushing air pierced through.

A steel bar whizzed past Li Ge's ear, piercing the eye socket of the zombie behind him; the zombie toppled backward, falling to the ground.

"Whoosh! Whoosh!"

Two more sounds of rushing air followed; the remaining two pursuing zombies collapsed.

Li Ge and Xiao Lin stared in shock at Fang Shi, who had thrown the bars from afar, then turned to look at the dead zombies.

They were too stunned to speak.

Wasn't this the guy who charged into the zombie horde and activated Wu Shuang just now? How strong is he?

Actually, after the earlier hunt, they had realized something.

The elderly zombies that transformed at first weren't that powerful. The two of them could have activated Wu Shuang together.

But these zombies now? They were far beyond what they could handle.

This young man not only fought his way out of the zombie horde—he still had energy left to aid others.

And he used throwing. Though humans are the strongest throwers on Earth, that doesn't mean untrained humans can throw with such precision.

Hitting an eye socket straight on from ten meters away—this young man was no ordinary person.

Fang Shi held a bundle of steel bars, slowly retreating while scanning his surroundings.

Whenever a zombie approached within ten meters, he hurled one of the bars.

As a survivor of three years in the apocalypse, he naturally mastered the throwing skill; killing zombies with agility 10 was effortless.

Earlier, as he retreated, he happened to notice steel bars left by a nearby shop's renovation and decided to continue hunting.

Humans with weapons and humans without weapons are two different species.

Previously, Fang Shi had planned to retreat because his weapon, the cleaver, was only suited for close combat.

Given his rate of stamina drain, getting surrounded could pose real danger.

He had to withdraw—but now, with steel bars in hand, he could attack from range and had regained the courage to fight.

Of course, Fang Shi wouldn't fight to the death; he only struck when he encountered zombies on his retreat path.

And he deliberately limited his attacks, avoiding accidents on his way back.

Saving Li Ge and Xiao Lin was merely a side act.

"Only two steel bars left—time to pull out." After killing the three walking corpses chasing Li Ge and Xiao Lin, Fang Shi caught his breath and thought.

This operation yielded rich results: a total of 38 walking corpses eliminated, 31 before transformation and 7 after.

He was greatly satisfied with this haul.

In his past life, at this time, he was still trapped at home, waiting for rescue—nowhere near this perfect start.

Then, Fang Shi moved like a cat, darting left and right, skillfully avoiding all obstacles.

The pursuing walking corpses were far less agile; vehicles, roadblocks, and staircases all hindered their advance.

Besides, their straight-line speed wasn't faster than Fang Shi's.

In an instant, Fang Shi vanished from Li Ge and Xiao Lin's sight.

"Li Ge, what do we do now?" Xiao Lin, slumped on Li Ge's shoulder, gasped.

Xiao Lin had originally accepted death, but Li Ge's determination and Fang Shi's intervention reignited his hope.

Li Ge scanned the surroundings: luckily, the nearby walking corpses had been dealt with by Fang Shi, while the distant ones were chasing other survivors.

He tightened his grip on Xiao Lin on his back and said grimly, "My garage is in Building Three. No walking corpses have noticed us yet—if we make it there, we'll be safe."

"Alright!"