Chapter 518: A Part of the Black Mist

"Bozi, you're getting pretty full of yourself, alright, I'll watch you show off… hmm?"

Before Zhang Su finished speaking, a clump of black mist appeared in the corner of the office building; others couldn't see it due to the dim twilight, but he frowned deeply and said gravely, "Stop fooling around—it's here!"

Everyone turned to look across the way.

At that moment, a stumbling figure appeared beside the office building; the zombie had once been a man, his clothing badly torn but still recognizable as a security uniform—combined with the location, it was clear he was the night shift security guard from the restaurant.

"Why does this thing look just like the most basic zombie from Plants vs. Zombies? Can't it even run?"

"Hey, idiot, take a few steps, come on, hahaha…"

Someone watched the black-mist zombie shambling forward, couldn't help complaining, even lowered his weapon, picking his nose while taunting it, feeling absolutely no threat from the creature.

Qi Xiaoshuai had caught his breath, swallowed hard, and pointed across: "I ran back and forth two or three times just for this damn thing—fuck, it walks slow and doesn't even follow people properly; if it gets too far, you lose it. Pure trash zombie!"

Slow speed and poor tracking—yes, as a zombie, it's definitely trash, probably can't even secure warm meat, lucky if it gets scraps of flesh clinging to bones—but can you judge it as harmless based solely on these two factors?

Obviously not.

The black-mist zombie swayed side to side, its head bobbing on its neck; compared to the earlier sprinting zombies, it looked like it was crawling, and with the black mist swirling around it, under the dim light, it resembled a slow-moving black slime.

If you had to say what made it dangerous, only the black mist around it inspired caution—otherwise, it was just a disabled zombie…

Zhang Su didn't join the others in mocking; he was using his superior vision to observe the black-mist zombie, but after watching for a long time, he still saw nothing unusual—just as he was about to speak, something strange happened: a zombie corpse lay in the black-mist zombie's path, and when the black mist drew near, the corpse was gently pushed aside, as if the dead zombie on the ground hadn't died and was willingly making way for the black-mist zombie.

This discovery stirred something in Zhang Su's mind; he didn't understand the black mist's exact function, but at least he'd spotted something abnormal—some progress at least.

"Boss Zhang, I think this thing's kinda cute and dumb—why don't we capture it and let Dr. Fu study it?"

Chen Hanzhou walked over to Zhang Su and again suggested not killing it.

"Study it?"

If anyone else had made this suggestion, Zhang Su wouldn't have minded—but not Chen Hanzhou. Not Chen Hanzhou at this moment.

It wasn't that he trusted the cherry blossom woman's words—he'd already worried since Chen Hanzhou gained his special ability that one day he might turn abnormal.

If it weren't for today's snow, even if Chen Hanzhou showed signs of change, Zhang Su wouldn't have paid much attention—but the snow falling today was too convenient, making one wonder.

Zhang Su had many thoughts; logically, capturing it alive for study made sense—but right now, he refused to grant Chen Hanzhou's wish.

He took a deep breath and shook his head slightly: "We don't know how to subdue it. Getting close is too risky—deal with it first!"

"Don't rush, don't rush…"

Chen Hanzhou waved urgently for everyone to wait, then said to Zhang Su: "Boss Zhang, let me go test its ability—I'll be careful, no problem, okay?"

Aside from Zhang Su, no one had seen the black mist push aside the corpse on the ground; most assumed it was just kicked away by its leg.

"Fuck no—you can't miss how weird and eerie that black mist is! Don't risk it! Tan Hua, cripple it first!"

Zhang Su had no patience; Chen Hanzhou clearly had a strong interest in this zombie, and though he didn't yet know why, he absolutely wouldn't let Chen Hanzhou get his way.

But the zombie was still worth studying—so perhaps it could be spared for now.

"Got it!" Tan Hua obeyed without hesitation; she had none of Chen Hanzhou's qualms—her past job had long ingrained in her the habit of following orders. She tilted her head, aimed, and fired in one smooth motion.

Tack.

The gunshot rang out, the bullet flew.

"Cripple it" could mean many things, but Tan Hua knew Zhang Su meant to disable its mobility—so the bullet flew straight toward the black-mist zombie's knee. No matter how tough a zombie's defenses, its kneecaps were always vulnerable—a single rifle round was enough to shatter them.

Everyone waited for the zombie to collapse—but when the shot fired, the expected scene didn't happen. Everything remained calm. The zombie kept walking. Everyone stared.

???

"Missed?"

Non-Yanluo Army members all wondered this internally.

Yanluo Army members didn't doubt Tan Hua's marksmanship—they had full trust in Fat Auntie's skill, especially given how stable the shooting conditions had just been. How could she miss?

"Holy shit, Boss Zhang, this fucking thing's bulletproof?"

Lu Yu bo twisted his face, pointing across—he firmly believed in his future mother-in-law's ability.

"Those skinny arms and legs—this 5. mm round should've shredded it inside out…"

"Yeah, how could there be no effect?!"

"Pay attention!" Others chattered; Ju Wuying's gaze grew serious as she pointed ahead: "The black mist pushes aside corpses on the ground!"

She was the second person, after Zhang Su, to notice the black mist's special ability.

"Huh? That's sci-fi?"

"Damn, it's real—I thought it was just kicked."

"What the hell is this black mist?!"

This discovery sent a chill through most of the crowd.

Zheng Xinyu glanced at Zhang Su with a strange look—as if asking, You've got such sharp eyes, you couldn't have missed that, right?

Zhang Su said nothing—he saw clearly. He'd noticed long ago that the black mist could push aside corpses on the ground—and he'd also seen the bullet stuck inside the black mist, embedded about a foot deep, still slowly spinning, glistening.

"Its black mist isn't intangible—it's a fucking defense shield!"

Zhang Su spoke gravely, instantly silencing all speculation and chatter.

Everyone stared at Zhang Su in shock—as if asking, Really? The black-mist zombie didn't care about the humans' discussion; it continued its slow, indifferent, unfeeling steps, inching toward LeGou Mall.

The truth was soon confirmed: when a large zombie corpse was pushed aside by the black mist, everyone sucked in a sharp breath—because the flame zombie stood right beside it, and the air suddenly didn't feel cold anymore…

(End of Chapter)