Chapter 054: Sorry, I Have No Interest in Older Women

Judging by the look on her face, this woman intends to pull off the doctor's fingers one by one and eat them right in front of him. What a perverse fascination.

Clearly, although Tsumi Tsukishima had been infected by the bio-plague, turning her into a zombie, she hadn't lost her sanity like the primary infected creature Su Cheng killed earlier, nor become a mindless beast driven only by slaughter.

However, after becoming an infected, she had shed all human emotions, growing cruel and cold-blooded. From both biological and anthropological perspectives, she could no longer be classified as human, but rather as a highly intelligent humanoid monster.

"Heh, Doctor, it seems you still don't grasp the value of the TX antidote. According to the company's projections, within the next week, ninety-seven percent of Tokyo's population will become infected. The world's only cure for the bio-plague—the TX antidote—will bring the company billions in profit."

"If this antidote disappears, how do you think the company will deal with you?"

"Or would you rather I devour you slowly, piece by piece?"

Tsumi Tsukishima pressed her blood-red lips to the doctor's ear, biting his earlobe. With a gentle tug, she tore off one of his ears, bloody and raw.

"The TX antidote is in the basement of the Third Research Institute, along with the formula and production documents," the doctor replied, his eyes wide with terror.

At that moment, Tsumi Tsukishima seemed to sense something, her expression changing abruptly. "The scent of a living person."

Outside the laboratory, Su Cheng’s heart skipped a beat. Infected creatures are particularly sensitive to the scent of living humans; he hadn’t expected her to detect him from such a distance.

As Tsukishima turned her head, a pitch-black long blade swept toward her.

"Who’s there?"

In the next instant, Tsukishima suddenly opened her mouth, revealing terrifying zombie fangs, and bit down hard on the blade.

Su Cheng gripped the hilt with both hands and slashed forcefully.

Swish!

The cold, sharp blade sliced through, splitting Tsukishima’s face in two, the wound extending from the corners of her mouth all the way to the base of her ear.

To Su Cheng’s surprise, as he withdrew the blade from her mouth, the wound on her face healed rapidly within seconds, leaving not even a scar.

"Hyper-regeneration?"

Su Cheng recalled that the previous primary infected hadn’t possessed such rapid healing. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been so easy to kill the tank zombie.

"Heh, little brother. You smell quite delicious. Let me eat you gently," Tsukishima caressed her smooth, pale skin, her mature face seductive and fox-like. From within her body came a series of cracking sounds.

Black bone spikes suddenly pierced through her skin, her right hand transforming into a serrated axe. With a leap, she lunged swiftly at Su Cheng.

"Sorry, I have no interest in old women."

With a fierce kick to Tsukishima’s abdomen, Su Cheng used the recoil to spring backward, then charged forward, stabbing downward and piercing her collarbone.

Crack.

Tsukishima’s collarbone snapped, but the wound healed at an astonishing rate.

"Damn you, I’ll kill you!"

Women are sensitive about their age, and even as a zombie, Tsumi Tsukishima was no exception. Su Cheng’s remark about her being an "old woman" struck a nerve. With a low growl, she let out a beastly, terrifying roar and swung her serrated blade wildly around the laboratory.

Her mutated right hand was exceptionally sharp, easily slicing through five centimeters of steel. Yet, in the cramped space of the lab, she couldn’t even touch the hem of Su Cheng’s coat.

What infuriated her was that Su Cheng seemed able to anticipate her every move, evading her attacks before she even struck.

"Impossible! Who are you?"

Tsukishima could hardly believe her eyes. Since injecting herself with the bio-virus, her strength and speed had become four times that of an ordinary human, and with her hyper-regeneration, even fully armed mercenaries would be no match for her. If she got serious, she could easily massacre hundreds.

Yet now, she couldn’t even graze Su Cheng.

It made no sense!

Tsukishima didn’t realize that her combat movements had long been read by Su Cheng; no matter how fast she moved, he could predict her attack trajectory and evade in advance.

This was because, before becoming infected, Tsukishima was merely an ordinary researcher, with no professional combat training.

Su Cheng, on the other hand, possessed far more combat experience.

To him, Tsukishima was like a child wielding a weapon; as long as he stayed alert, she wasn’t hard to handle.

Seeing that close combat was ineffective, Tsukishima snorted coldly, pulled a handgun from her pocket, and fired several shots at Su Cheng.

"I don’t believe you can dodge bullets!"

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Bullets whizzed toward Su Cheng.

In such a confined space, evading bullets was nearly impossible, but Su Cheng had no intention of dodging.

With Shadow of the Gale held before him, Su Cheng stomped hard on the floor, channeling spirit energy through his feet. He shot forward like a rocket, straight at Tsukishima.

Bullets struck the cold blade and ricocheted away. Su Cheng gripped the hilt with both hands and slashed fiercely at Tsukishima’s ample chest.

As the blade flashed, a thin line of blood appeared across her chest.

Her chest split open with a terrible gash, dark red blood pouring from the wound and soaking her white lab coat.

Even for a second-level infected, a shattered body meant death or serious injury; yet Tsukishima seemed unfazed.

After becoming a zombie, she no longer felt pain.

"This ability is truly troublesome. Looks like killing her quickly is impossible."

Su Cheng’s gaze lingered on Tsukishima’s chest. In no time, the horrific wound had completely healed.

Though Tsukishima couldn’t harm him, Su Cheng couldn’t kill her either.

"Little brother, hasn’t anyone taught you that staring at a lady’s chest is quite rude?"

Tsukishima flashed a seductive smile, pulling a remote from her pocket and pressing a button.

A wave of danger surged through Su Cheng, and suddenly a deafening explosion resounded in his ears.

"A bomb!"

Su Cheng’s expression shifted. He hadn’t expected Tsukishima to be so ruthless as to plant explosives in the institute, intending to destroy all evidence after obtaining the antidote.

"Farewell."

As the explosion sounded, Tsukishima leapt out the laboratory window, vanishing from Su Cheng’s sight.

Seizing the moment before the lab blew up, Su Cheng hoisted the barely breathing doctor and sprinted out of the institute.

Boom!

The thunderous blast made Su Cheng’s ears ring, the shockwave propelling him and the doctor several meters through the air before they crashed to the ground.

The doctor, already gravely wounded, was barely clinging to life. With wide, unyielding eyes, he gasped his last words, "The antidote in the institute is fake. The real one is..."

He fished a slip of paper from his pocket and pressed it into Su Cheng’s hand, then breathed his last.

"Player Su Cheng has triggered the first stage of the storyline quest and received 300 points."

The game’s voice sounded at just the right time. Su Cheng glanced at what the doctor had handed him.

It was a photograph—a sunlit smile of a high school girl.