Chapter 44: Zombies Know Martial Arts?

Chapter 44: Zombies Knowing Martial Arts?

"Flying freely in your heart, the brilliant starlight flowing eternally..."

Inside the apartment, the song blaring from the large loudspeaker was incredibly loud, making one's legs want to dance along to the rhythm. Lu Feng was satisfied with the power of the speaker. Adding two extra amplifiers would surely improve the effect, but he decided against it in this apartment, fearing the potential of shaking the building.

With a thought, he brought the loudspeaker and the two amplifiers directly into the game.

Appearing in the Qingfeng Tea House, he tossed the equipment to Xu Bin. The guy was large and sturdy, making him well-suited for carrying things.

"Boss, this speaker is so old-fashioned, and it's quite huge." Xu Bin examined the speaker.

To someone from the game world's era, this loudspeaker was indeed crude and ancient.

"Go to the ground floor and find a way to lure out that mutated beast." Lu Feng didn't say much else. He took a steel blade from his backpack and headed straight out of the Qingfeng Tea House, walking downstairs.

The others followed immediately, their eyes filled with anticipation. They had been trapped here for too long, and the primary reason was the presence of the mutated beast. There was a high probability that the last one was on the ground floor. Once the beast was dealt with, no matter how many zombies remained, they could take them down one by one without any worries. They finally had a chance to leave this godforsaken place.

The stairwell behind them had already been cleared several times. Lu Feng and his group encountered no zombies on their way down. Even at the sixth and fifth-floor landings, they met nothing; clearly, those had been led away by the previous mutated zombie to ambush Lu Feng, only to be wiped out by the gas canister tactic.

When they reached the fourth-floor landing, they finally encountered zombies. However, Lin Jiao, Xu Bin, Chen Tao, and Chen Hao swarmed them, clearing the area with such ease that Lu Feng didn't even get a chance to intervene.

The group continued until they reached the second-floor landing. There was a fairly large platform here, occupied by a cluster of zombies. Curiously, these zombies were all wearing uniform attire that appeared to be some kind of martial arts training uniform. Looking at the "Liu Style Martial Arts Gym" sign in front of the platform, it all made sense—these zombies were students of the gym. Judging by their numbers, the gym must have taught real skills.

In the world of "After the Apocalypse," the martial arts gyms taught genuine techniques, unlike the real world where self-proclaimed grandmasters were famous only for taking punches with their faces, or where martial arts videos showcased flashy, aggressive moves that devolved into clumsy brawling on the ring.

In an instant, those zombies spotted Lu Feng's group and lunged toward them.

Lin Jiao and the others immediately engaged, dispatching the zombies one by one. Lu Feng quickly swung his steel blade and joined the fray. Since he hadn't had a chance to fight earlier, he felt compelled to grab a few kills for himself.

[Congratulations, you have killed a zombie. Gained 5 EXP!]
...
[Congratulations, you have killed a zombie. Gained 5 EXP!]

With their combined efforts, the zombies in training uniforms were quickly cleared.

Without being surrounded by a massive horde and with favorable terrain, Lin Jiao and her companions, who had survived until now, handled the situation with ease.

Lin Jiao thrust her steel spike toward the last zombie wearing the training uniform. But then, the unexpected happened.

The zombie suddenly ducked, dodging Lin Jiao's attack, and countered with a palm strike aimed right at her.

"..." Lin Jiao was stunned for a moment, quickly rolling on the ground to evade the blow.

"???" Xu Bin.
"???" Chen Tao.
"???" Chen Hao.

The three men were also dumbfounded by the sight.

"What the hell?" Lu Feng was equally shocked. Is that martial arts? Zombies knowing martial arts? The speed of that dodge and counter-attack was so abrupt that even he might not have reacted in time. Fortunately, Lin Jiao was agile enough to dodge; otherwise, getting hit would have been fatal.

However, he knew this must be another mutated zombie. But a zombie that knew martial arts was truly shocking. It likely had something to do with the creature's identity when it was alive.

"A mutated zombie!" Lin Jiao realized it too, springing to her feet and frowning at the remaining zombie.

"I didn't expect a mutated zombie to appear here," Xu Bin muttered, his brows furrowed as he stepped forward with his large axe. "Let's take it down together to avoid any accidents."

Chen Tao and Chen Hao nodded in agreement. In places where zombies gathered in large numbers, mutated zombies would inevitably appear over time for unknown reasons. The longer they existed, the greater the threat they posed. At the same time, they felt fortunate. If the boss hadn't appeared, this mutated zombie might have eventually become a greater threat than the mutated beast, and they would have been doomed.

Lin Jiao thrust her steel spike at the mutated zombie again. Once more, the zombie twisted its body to dodge. But this time, before it could counter-attack, Chen Tao and Chen Hao's strikes landed, forcing it to dodge again. Before it could fully recover, Xu Bin's heavy axe struck its shoulder, slicing half of it off.

Clearly, the group's attacks were methodical and calculated. This was the classic case of "four hands being better than two." Since the zombie hadn't mutated in terms of intelligence, it was easily outmaneuvered.

As Xu Bin raised his axe to deliver the killing blow, a steel blade suddenly pierced the zombie's skull, killing it instantly. Xu Bin looked at Lu Feng, stunned.

Lu Feng smiled slightly. The kill-steal was a success; a mutated zombie was worth 100 EXP, far better than a regular one.

[Congratulations, you have killed a mutated zombie. Gained 100 EXP!]

The mutated zombie collapsed, its brain destroyed. At the same time, Lu Feng was surprised to see a badge wrapped in white light floating above the corpse. Another drop? It was clear that Lin Jiao and the others still couldn't see it.

Xu Bin immediately knelt and used his axe to crack open the mutated zombie's head, clearly looking for a crystal core. When he pulled one out, he exclaimed in surprise: "Huh! I've never seen a crystal core like this!"

Lin Jiao, Chen Tao, and Chen Hao were all drawn to the core.

"It's crystal-colored?" Lin Jiao wondered. Chen Tao and Chen Hao were equally curious. They had only ever seen white crystal cores before.

Xu Bin examined it for a moment before handing the special crystal core to Lu Feng.

Lu Feng took it and used his game's scanning function. He immediately understood what it was:

[This is a special crystal-colored core, extremely rare. It contains the purest non-elemental energy that can be absorbed by humans. Absorbing a certain amount of this energy can enhance one's physical attributes. Absorbing it will grant 300 EXP. Do you wish to absorb it?]

This must be the special crystal core mentioned in the official game information. However, the official data was sparse, only noting that such cores were rare and would only appear after the game had been open for some time. It seemed this crystal wasn't meant to be used as energy; it could actually be absorbed directly for EXP.

Lu Feng decisively chose to absorb it. The next moment, the core turned into specks of starlight in his hand and seeped into his body.

[Congratulations, you have absorbed a special crystal-colored core. Gained 300 EXP!]

In Lu Feng's attribute panel, his experience had updated to Lv 4: 585/1600.

Lin Jiao and the others stared at Lu Feng in astonishment.

"It was... absorbed?" Lin Jiao muttered. The other three looked at each other, equally baffled. This was their first time witnessing such a thing, and they were intensely curious.

Lu Feng walked silently to the mutated zombie and picked up the dropped special item badge. When he used the game's scanning function to view the information on the badge, his face was filled with utter disbelief.

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