Chapter 667: Strange Man, Strange Corpse!

Cock-a-doodle-doo, howl, howl!

The deserted village was bustling; after hearing the rooster’s crow, the zombies fell briefly silent, then erupted into frenzied roars, as chaotic noises grew loud and dense—the zombies were in uproar!

Fuck.

Through the screen, everyone could see the zombies’ bloodthirsty behavior—some even leaped up, trying to grab the drone, utterly unlike zombies of the past.

“Is this guy about to start using tools…?”

“Enough, don’t say any more of that!”

Over the past few months, survivors had all witnessed the zombies’ transformation; in this race to grow stronger, humans had consistently lagged behind in physical capability…

Fortunately, technology could still be relied upon—the drone showed no stress, slowly flying in the opposite direction, while zombies on the ground hopped and bounded after it, looking somewhat comical.

Zombies without self-awareness were ultimately doomed to be toyed with.

“Well done!”

Everyone exhaled in relief; Duan Wu wanted to pat Wu Lue on the shoulder to encourage him, but seeing he was focused on piloting the drone, his hand hovered mid-air—yet Wu Lue still let out a startled exclamation.

“Huh?”

Wu Lue, while keeping the drone hovering, said: “Something’s off… Look, do you see that? Is there someone hiding beside the collapsed wall?”

“Someone?”

“Could there really be? Look—he’s got a flashlight on his head!”

Fuck!

At the sound, everyone leaned closer to the screen; just as they made out a glowing head, Wu Lue cursed loudly—and the screen suddenly jerked sideways.

“That bastard just threw a rock at my drone!”

Wu Lue’s voice was shrill, cracking: “My drone’s my precious baby—more valuable than those soft-looking teachers! Fifty meters up? How the hell could he hit it?”

Park Chan-yong saw the drone’s altitude displayed as fifty-two meters and was stunned.

Fifty-two meters was as high as a seventeen- or eighteen-story residential building; even if you had perfect aim, most people couldn’t throw anything that high.

“Just strong, nothing strange!” said PE teacher Duan Wu, unfazed. “Pull back to a safe distance and see what he’s up to!”

The cock-a-doodle-doo sound rose steadily, lifting the drone to a hundred meters; the camera adjusted focus, revealing a figure on screen. Zooming made the image blurry, but the flashlight’s glare had dimmed.

In the frame, a man was scaling the broken wall—his movements agile and fluid, wearing a headlamp and carrying a long-handled weapon resembling a steel spear. He wasn’t fat, but wore many layers, bulging out oddly.

“There really is someone… Where the hell did this guy come from?!”

“Could he be a survivor from this village…?”

“Fuck, fuck, look what he’s doing now!”

Park Chan-yong pointed at the screen and erupted in curses.

In an instant, the man charged with his long weapon toward a small group of zombies and began attacking them! Because the drone’s alarm kept the zombies hovering in the center, over a hundred zombies were tightly packed together; yet when the outer zombies were struck, the inner ones showed no reaction.

“Wait—that’s not right… He’s not trying to kill them—is he insane?”

Someone immediately spotted the anomaly.

The mysterious man had a perfect chance to slay the outer zombies without being noticed—he could’ve easily taken out seven or eight with a quick strike!

But he only used his steel spear to knock them down—sweeping their shins—one, two, five, ten…

Soon, a small patch of zombies lay sprawled on the ground.

“His movements are sharp, his technique refined! But why waste energy tripping them up…?”

Fan Donglu, the combat lead of Dragon Head Camp, voiced his confusion—he assumed the man was tripping zombies to land precise kills, yet after tripping them, he just left them there! “I don’t get it… Shit, the zombies noticed him!”

The horde finally sensed blood nearby and abandoned the drone; zombies on the side being attacked turned back, charging toward the fresh meat.

At that moment, the zombies the man had tripped became a buffer—only a few could immediately leap over the obstacles. The man retreated backward, continuing to strike the zombies’ lower limbs with his long weapon.

He wasn’t killing them—he was controlling them…

From the drone’s camera, zombies kept rising, chasing after him, falling again, one after another, relentless—an eerie, surreal sight.

“This guy… is seriously weird!”

“Actually, his method’s clever—these zombies run fast, but with this trick, one man can easily lure over a hundred away. Without drones or vehicles, that’s impressive! Even with vehicles, it wouldn’t work—look at the roads, cars can’t move… But… is he dragging this horde to celebrate the New Year?”

The nine in the courtyard had never seen such a zombie-tactic before—they had to admit they’d learned something. But you couldn’t drag this horde forever, until the end of time, exhausting the zombies’ energy?

In stamina, ten people taking turns couldn’t match a zombie—Tianma Yu’s ox-and-horse generator had already proven that.

“Should we take the initiative? Just over a hundred zombies, no big ones—he’s luring them ahead, we strike from behind, no danger!”

Zhao De proposed this suggestion—if Zhang Su were here, he’d never speak up…

“I think he’s trying to trap the horde. Let’s not disturb them yet. Xiao Wu, can you silence the phone? Let’s follow him and see!”

Duan Wu pointed at the retreating horde and the mysterious man.

Wu Lue scratched his head, sounding awkward: “This… this can’t be controlled remotely!”

The sound wasn’t coming from the drone—it was coming from the phone inside the net bag.

“Can’t you just drop the bomb? Get rid of it!”

Duan Wu said—he remembered how they’d deployed the “grape” using a drone.

Wu Lue smiled sheepishly: “The… the net bag was my addition—it’s… really secure… I can’t remove it. But I can raise it higher—the sound won’t affect the zombies much.”

As he spoke, Wu Lue raised the drone again—the sound became negligible, though the image grew blurrier; fortunately, they only needed a general view.

“This… this must be the village’s assembly hall. Looks like he’s trying to trap them!”

Zhou Haiquan, familiar with rural architecture, could make out the structure even through the blur.

“That broken building doesn’t look stable—will it hold?”

Zhao De squinted; though the image was fuzzy, he could still see one corner of the hall’s roof torn off—the blast damage was severe.

“If he can trap them, that’s fine. We’ll just stay here for the night—better to avoid trouble. Hope he succeeds.”

Duan Wu nodded slightly; on screen, the assembly hall’s entrance looked like a demon’s mouth, swallowing zombies in line.

“Huh? The alarm just stopped…”

Lu Yu listened closely—he realized the cock-a-doodle-doo sound had ceased.

“It only rings for ten minutes. Time’s up.” Wu Lue sighed in relief and began lowering the drone.

As the drone descended, the image sharpened—over half the hundred-plus zombies had already crowded into the hall. At that moment, the mysterious man leapt out from a window.

The zombies at the main entrance clearly didn’t know he’d escaped—they kept rushing inside! “Block the door with that junk? Bullshit!”

On screen, the man hugged the wall, circled to the main entrance, shoved random debris against the door, then turned and ran.

“Wait—he’s coming to find us?”

“Looks like it… Lue, how long can the drone hold?”

“If it just hovers, an hour’s fine. Monitor the horde?”

“Right. Keep watching—I want to see what this guy’s up to. Everyone stay alert.”

Duan Wu gave the group a glance.

The nine were fully armed—they weren’t afraid of one man, and waited calmly.

Meanwhile, on Yunlong Valley’s mountain, a strange zombie crawled out of the cave. Its condition was terrible—listless, as if it hadn’t received light or energy in a long time, nearly collapsed.

Aowu… aow…

The long-headed zombie crawled from the cave and lay on the ground, emitting a low moan.

Ordinary zombies’ howls sounded identical—emotionless. People only projected imagined emotions onto them: when they screamed upon spotting humans, people thought they were excited; when attacked, they seemed angry.

But this zombie’s howl was different—clearly filled with pain! It struggled to its feet. A tall figure stood before the cave entrance—over two men tall, nearly four meters, taller than a typical first-floor ceiling. Unlike the big ones, this tall zombie wasn’t bulky—it looked slender…

It trudged heavily to the cliff’s edge, its long arms hanging naturally past its knees, its vertically elongated eyes fixed intently on the deserted village.

(End of Chapter)