Chapter 43: The Mutated Zombie! The Loudspeaker Lure Trap!

Chapter 43: Mutant Zombie! The Megaphone Lure Trap!

Lu Feng was rendered speechless to find that the spot where he entered the game had been staked out by a group of zombies.

The scene before him was definitely not right. Remembering the zombie he had seen earlier, he immediately shifted his perspective in the game. A moment later, he witnessed a sight that shocked him.

The zombie from before was walking toward the outside of the shop. As it approached, the other zombies actually parted ways to let it through. That’s right, they were making way for it.

The zombie entered the shop and scanned its surroundings, seemingly searching for him. It was unbelievable; the creature appeared to possess intelligence. Yet, because it couldn't find him, it simply stood there motionless, as if waiting for him to reappear. This contradicted the idea of intelligence, as a truly intelligent creature would surely have left once its prey vanished. Surely, no one would believe that prey, having escaped a trap, would be foolish enough to walk right back into it?

Lu Feng immediately pulled out his phone and logged into the official website of "Post-Apocalyptic Era" to search for information on zombies. However, the game data contained no such information, offering only a single, simple description: some zombies evolve for unknown reasons and become smarter.

Seeing this, he couldn't help but curse the game company for being lazy and cutting corners by failing to provide detailed monster profiles. Now, all he knew for sure was that this zombie had mutated and become smarter; otherwise, it wouldn't know how to set an ambush.

Lu Feng checked the game screen again, hoping the zombies would eventually disperse, but he wasn't optimistic. By the next day, when he woke up and checked the screen, he could only sigh. That zombie was still there, surrounded by a dense crowd of others in the shop. He really wanted to ask it, "Buddy, are you actually smart or just pretending? Are you really going to sit there waiting for me like the farmer waiting for the hare?"

Lu Feng felt helpless, but fortunately, he received a call from his cousin. He hurriedly answered, "Cousin, I need gas tanks, and they must be full!" Since these dense clusters of zombies were camping at his spawn point, it would be a shame not to use them.

"Uh, gas tanks again?" Yang Ming was stunned.

"The more, the better. Old ones, but full!" Lu Feng added. These things were useful, and he would definitely need them again.

Yang Ming couldn't help but ask, "Little Feng, what do you need so many gas tanks for?"

Lu Feng replied quickly, "Cousin, it’s hard to explain, but they’re useful!"

"Alright!" Yang Ming didn't press further. "I'll have people get them right away. Oh, Chen Bo and I have finished handling the gold and are back. The money has been transferred to you and should arrive shortly. We're at the tea house; do you want to come over for tea?"

"Sure, I happen to have another batch of goods!" Lu Feng agreed with a smile. After hanging up, he took the new bag of gold from his backpack space and headed out. He had barely gotten into his car when he received a notification that 2.55 million had been deposited. After deducting the 3.9 million investment for the tea factory, he had over 5.5 million in usable funds.

On the other end, Yang Ming hung up, and Chen Bo asked, "How is it? Is Young Master Feng coming?"

Yang Ming nodded. "He said he has another batch of goods to bring over."

"Another batch?" Chen Bo's eyes lit up. This meant more money to be made. Was there any better news than this? Sticking close to Young Master Feng was definitely the right move.

...

The Panamera pulled up outside the Qingfeng Tea House. Lu Feng entered carrying a travel bag, and Chen Bo greeted him with the utmost enthusiasm.

"Little Feng!" Yang Ming also greeted him with a smile.

"Let’s talk in the office!" Lu Feng headed straight upstairs with the bag, followed closely by Yang Ming and Chen Bo.

Once inside the office, Lu Feng opened the bag to reveal the gold. Yang Ming nodded and brought out the electronic scale. Chen Bo used a gold tester to verify the items, then worked with Yang Ming to weigh them.

Chen Bo said, "Young Master Feng, we’ll give you 2,851,421 yuan for this batch. We can pay you in full this time."

"Mm," Lu Feng nodded. Shortly after, another 2.85 million hit his account, bringing his total available funds to over 8.35 million.

Yang Ming then told Chen Bo, "Take this gold back first. We'll rest for a day before going out to process this batch of gold jewelry."

"Understood." Chen Bo packed the gold back into the bag, headed downstairs, and left with his men.

Yang Ming called A-Lin, A-Pao, and the other four brothers who had gone on the trip into Lu Feng's office to distribute the money. As the batch of gold was larger, they naturally earned more. Lu Feng, not being stingy, pulled out an additional 200,000 as a bonus for their hard work; since this business venture had no overhead, he could afford to be generous.

Lu Feng didn't forget his main task. "Cousin, remember the gas tanks. Get me a few first, and we'll handle the rest slowly."

"Got it!" Yang Ming was diligent; by the afternoon, he had delivered a few tanks. "Little Feng, how many more do you need in total so I can have people keep gathering them?"

"As many as possible," Lu Feng replied without hesitation. "Even a few dozen wouldn't be too many!"

"That many?" Yang Ming was extremely curious about what required so many gas tanks, but he didn't pry. After dropping them off, he left.

Lu Feng moved the tanks to his rented apartment and checked the game screen. The zombie was still there, surrounded by the crowd. He didn't care anymore—the creature was a dead man walking. He turned the valves on two gas tanks and used a thought to enter the game.

The moment he appeared, the zombies sensed him and surged forward. Lu Feng didn't hesitate; he opened both tanks fully, pointed the valves toward the ground, and instantly exited the game.

Back in the apartment, he watched the screen. Having lost his trail, the ordinary zombies soon calmed down, but the strange, mutant zombie continued to roar, becoming even more restless. Lu Feng waited for a while, then took out a lighter. With another thought, he entered the game, ignited the gas, threw the lighter, and immediately exited.

In that instant, flames rapidly engulfed the shop. Moments later, a thunderous explosion rocked the department store. Under the terrifying shockwave, the bodies of the zombies were shredded like rotting wood, destroyed in rows as if they were wheat being harvested.

Inside the Qingfeng Tea Shop, Lin Jiao, Xu Bin, Chen Tao, and Chen Hao instinctively stood up. They didn't need to guess what had happened; only their mysterious boss could pull off such a feat.

Back in the apartment, Lu Feng was bombarded with notifications:

【Congratulations on killing a Level 2 mutant zombie! Gained 100 EXP!】

【Congratulations on killing a zombie! Gained 5 EXP!】

...

【Congratulations on killing a zombie! Gained 5 EXP!】

【Congratulations! You have leveled up!】

It really was a mutant zombie. This single blast had leveled him up, and he felt that familiar, wondrous sensation of growth again. He looked at his character panel:

Character: Lu Feng

Gender: Male

Level: 5

Strength: 8 (Average human: 5)

Agility: 8 (Average human: 5)

Stamina: 8 (Average human: 5)

Spirit: 0

EXP: 150/1600

This meant the explosion had killed over a hundred zombies.

A moment later, Lu Feng entered the game again. The shop was a mess—beyond the scorch marks from the explosion, there were severed limbs and scattered, viscous red-and-white remains everywhere. The scene was sickening. The mutant zombie hadn't dropped any items, and he couldn't even identify its head anymore. Not in the mood to search for a crystal core, he quickly left the shop.

As he exited, footsteps echoed. It was Lin Jiao and her group coming to investigate.

"Boss!" Lin Jiao hurried forward, then saw the shop's interior. The gruesome, eye-piercing sight made her feel nauseated, as it did for the other three. Although they had killed many zombies, they had never seen a scene like this, as if a meat grinder had been at work.

Lu Feng didn't want to linger. He brought them back to the main Qingfeng Tea Shop and asked, "How is it? Did you find any gold shops in the last two days?"

Lin Jiao shook her head. "We searched most of the areas above the 6th floor but didn't find any new shops. As for below the 6th floor, there are too many zombies, and we were worried about the other mutant beast, so we didn't search."

Lu Feng nodded. He would need to find a way to lure that last mutant beast out to deal with it. The method was simple: create a noise to draw it out. Of course, he didn't mean an explosion like the gas tanks—that was a one-time event. If the beast were above the 4th floor, it wouldn't know where the sound had come from. However, creating a sustained noise wouldn't be difficult. A megaphone lure trap, often seen in movies, would work perfectly.

He still had several gas tanks left from his cousin. The next moment, Lu Feng vanished into thin air, leaving Lin Jiao and the others in shock. Back at the apartment, he hurried to a nearby supermarket and bought a megaphone capable of recording and playing songs, along with two amplifiers. Returning to his room, he connected the megaphone to his phone and began recording the chorus of "Flying Freely."