Chapter 124: You Get Used to It After a While... (3/3)

Shiratori Saki looked at the piece of meat floating in the broth, covered in white fuzz, and nearly vomited up last night's dinner. Her face turned deathly pale in an instant, and she clutched her mouth, dry-heaving.

In contrast, Su Cheng appeared perfectly calm in the face of a table laden with snakes, insects, rats, and ants. As a veteran of horror stories, this level of scene was nothing to him; he was long past being startled. When necessary, he could consume whatever was on the table without batting an eye.

"Are you alright? Have some water to settle your stomach," Su Cheng said, handing her a bottle of mineral water.

After taking a few sips and finally easing her nausea, Shiratori Saki was about to thank him when he added, "There will likely be even more terrifying things later. You'll get used to it after throwing up a few more times."

The words of thanks died on Shiratori Saki’s lips. She shot him an indignant glare; that was no way to comfort a girl. *You’ll never find a girlfriend at this rate!*

"Ito-kun, what exactly is going on here? You must know something."

At this moment, Shiratori Saki noticed that the complexions of the other patrons in the cafeteria had turned ghastly and sinister, and a familiar, putrid stench of rotting corpses emanated from them. Yet, they seemed unaware, continuing to eat their food just like living people.

"Everything that happened just now must have been an illusion. There seems to be a mysterious force in this village that has turned all the living residents into zombies. Furthermore, this force has created an illusionary realm to conceal the truth. We were affected by these hallucinations the moment we entered the village, which is why we didn't realize everyone here was a zombie."

Su Cheng’s eyes flickered; he had roughly deduced what had happened to the village. What concerned him was the source of this mysterious power and the origin of the black cat that had been able to see through the illusions.

"Are you saying... everyone in the village is already dead?" As she spoke, a chill seeped into her bones. The village was not small, housing over a hundred families. If the entire population had truly turned into zombies, it would be a catastrophe of unimaginable proportions. Regardless, this case was far beyond what two rookie police officers could handle.

Just as Shiratori Saki was panicking, a hideous, iron-blue face suddenly loomed right in front of hers.

"Ah!"

Her terrified scream echoed through the night. In the darkness, pairs of glowing green eyes, like those of starving wolves, emerged. Sensing the vitality of a living human, the zombie turned ferocious. A bloodthirsty gleam flashed in its green eyes as its fangs elongated, and it lunged viciously toward Shiratori Saki’s smooth, fair neck.

The soft white fuzz that had covered the zombie was gone, replaced by an inch of black hair growing from its withered, bark-like skin. It had stepped into the level of a "Black Zombie," its strength several times greater than the ones they had encountered in the old house.

Driven by desperation, Shiratori Saki found strength from somewhere and kicked the creature hard in its vital area. In her student days, she had been the ace of her karate club; she was skilled in hand-to-hand combat and could easily handle a group of three or five men. However, these zombies were not ordinary adversaries; even fully armed police officers would only face slaughter when encountering such horrors.

*Thud!*

Her "nut-cracker" kick felt like slamming into a solid iron plate. The impact numbed her foot, leaving her momentarily powerless. In a panic, she whipped out a black, rigid rod and thrust it at the zombie.

Do not misunderstand—it was not an indescribable object, but a high-voltage stun gun.

A powerful current surged into the zombie’s body, causing its hair to stand on end as it began to convulse violently.

"It’s working!"

Seeing the reaction, Shiratori Saki was overjoyed. She hadn't expected her stun gun to save her life at a critical moment. The device could generate over 40,000 volts, enough to induce intense shocks, total numbness, and loss of motor function in any human. If it struck the heart, it could even cause cardiac arrest or death.

However, since zombies were supernatural entities born of reanimation, they were nearly immortal, so there was no need to worry about accidentally killing it.

Sure enough, after the torture of the electric shock, the zombie climbed back up as if nothing had happened and lunged forward with a low growl. Black Zombies needed to consume enough human blood to evolve to higher levels, which made them obsessively fixated on the scent of the living. However, the shock had slowed its movements, giving Shiratori Saki time to react.

"Stay back!"

Transforming into a walking storm of electricity, she screamed and thrust the rod repeatedly into the zombies, electrocuting several black-haired fiends in quick succession.

Watching her, Su Cheng was speechless. Was she trying to evolve into Pikachu?

"Die!"

Caught up in the momentum, she jammed the rod into a zombie's throat and pressed the switch. But the next instant, nothing happened. The zombie stood there with the tip of the rod pressed against its throat, eyes bulging as it stared at her. The situation was incredibly awkward.

"Huh? What’s going on?" She pressed the switch again, but not a single spark emerged. Only then did she realize the stun gun... seemed to be out of power. "Oh no, I haven't used it much lately, and I haven't charged it in days."

The sudden realization left her on the verge of tears.

*Roar!*

A blood-red light flickered in the black-haired zombie's glowing eyes. It flashed forward like a bloodthirsty bat, pouncing through the air toward her.

Despair washed over Shiratori Saki’s pale face. Just then, a blade of brilliant, icy light flashed like lightning in a clear sky, filling her vision.

*Slash!*

The cold edge of the blade struck the zombie’s neck at a ruthless, precise angle. With the 60-point armor-piercing effect of [Shadow of the Gale], Su Cheng decapitated the Black Zombie in a single stroke. Putrid, black pus sprayed from the headless corpse as it plummeted to the ground with a heavy thud.

Seeing the immensely strong and terrifying zombie dispatched by Su Cheng in one blow, Shiratori Saki stood in disbelief, her soft lips parted in astonishment.

*This guy Ito... he’s even more of a monster than the zombies. Who exactly is the real monster here?* The thought flashed through her mind and vanished.

The next second, Su Cheng was already charging into the fray with his blade. Most of the nearby zombies were White or Black Zombies, with no higher-level ones appearing. Even so, the battle was grueling. These creatures possessed hide as tough as copper and iron; in a one-on-one fight, Su Cheng would have nothing to fear, but the sheer number of them was terrifying.

*Boom! Boom!*

With a dull thud, Su Cheng kicked away an incoming zombie, feeling his internal energy churn and a metallic taste of blood rising in his throat. Taking advantage of a brief lull, he downed an alchemical healing potion. His eyes shifted, and a tangible, murderous aura erupted from his body.

The zombies were extremely sensitive to killing intent. Sensing the overwhelming aura radiating from Su Cheng, they instinctively recoiled like beasts encountering an apex predator.

"Trying to run after realizing you can't win? Heh!"

Su Cheng’s gaze deepened. With a surge of spiritual power, he resembled a god of war returned from hell, swinging his blade. Several black arcs of light tore through the air, hacking the zombies in his path to pieces. To him, these creatures were merely material for grinding his Spiritual Arts proficiency—he wouldn't let them go easily.

After the accumulation from two game instances, his Spiritual Arts proficiency was only a hair’s breadth away from leveling up. This time, he intended to grind to his heart's content in this zombie dungeon!