Chương 79: Not Martial Arts... It's Cultivation!

.. It's Cultivation!

Unfortunately, his grand "Savior of Humanity" project fell through. A real shame...

"Hmph!" Claire let out a soft huff. Her face flushed red, she didn't reply and simply turned back to the stove to continue cooking noodles.

"It's all your fault, the noodles are getting mushy..."

"It's fine, more broth means it's easier to digest..." However, Claire had mentioned earlier that she felt more "energetic" today. That so-called "energy" was clearly a slight increase in her overall constitution, though the increment was likely too small for her to definitively pinpoint. Although this particular experiment was a bust, getting that feedback from Claire at least proved one crucial theory: regular humans could indeed increase their Max HP and enhance their physique through certain methods.

He just didn't know the exact methodology yet... As long as I control the variables and continue experimenting, I'll figure it out! Bzz... Vince... situation... bzz... Vince... Just as Vince was waiting for his food, the walkie-talkie in his shirt pocket suddenly crackled to life!

"You guys eat first, I'll be right back..." Tossing a quick excuse to Claire, Vince immediately bolted down the stairs. He pulled out the radio.

"This is Vince! What happened?!"

"Vince... it's Ben... we found a monster... someone's dead..."

"Fuck..." He had explicitly warned them to be cautious. Although he had anticipated casualties, he hadn't expected them to occur this quickly... Vince burst out of his apartment building. He saw Cody and the others were still working on the short spear in front of the clinic; they had just finished cutting the tip. He immediately shouted:"Are they welded solid?!"

"They're solid!" Although Hank didn't know what was happening, seeing Vince's frantic expression, he answered instantly.

"Pack up the gear! Something went wrong down the street!" With that, Vince grabbed the long spear in one hand, snatched up the short spear in the other, and sprinted eastward toward the supermarket! In the distance, he could already see several men frantically climbing out of a first-floor balcony window. They had abandoned their spears and were fleeing across the street like a routed army. Ben was among them.

Vince immediately noticed that the Health Bars of the fleeing men had all dropped uniformly by over a dozen points; they were all hovering in the low 60s. He was perplexed. How could they all take such uniform damage? It's not like the zombie kicked every single one of them exactly once...

"What happened?!" As he closed the distance, Vince shouted.

"Vince! There's a monster! In the building!" Seeing Vince, Ben looked like he had just found his savior. He instantly changed direction and sprinted toward him. The other fleeing men immediately followed suit. Vince noted that the men following Ben weren't Zack's crew; it seemed Ben was leading the second excursion team. They weren't far from the balcony the men had just fled from. With his enhanced hearing, Vince could clearly hear terrifying, rhythmic THUD-THUD-THUD sounds echoing from within the building.

The impacts were so heavy that the entire structure seemed to tremble slightly. Amidst this chaos, Zack's five-man team, gripping their spears tightly, rushed out of the supermarket.

"What the hell is going on?!" Running at the front, Zack yelled when he saw Ben's panicked retreat. Before Ben could answer, Zack's eyes swept over the group, instantly realizing someone was missing! Panicking, he grabbed the collar of one of the fleeing men and roared: "Where is your team leader?!" Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. Before the man could stammer out an answer, Ben, panting heavily, reached out and grabbed Zack's wrist.

"Wang is dead... it's my fault." Vince vaguely remembered Wang; he was one of the original four men hiding with Ben yesterday. He was the only one Vince hadn't seen yet today. To think he was already dead. Among these survivors, Ben was the only one who could maintain a clear head under pressure. Ignoring Zack's frantic gaze, he turned directly to Vince and reported:"I took the second team and tagged out Zack's group. It was going perfectly; we cleared five regular zombies in a row...

When we got to apartment 201, we knocked on the door. The zombie inside started banging against the door incredibly hard... I said we should wait for you, Vince. But Zhengyang said he knew the family who lived there. Said it was just a really fat guy, and we could handle it... Sigh... I should have stopped him!"

"And then what? A monster came out?" Vince's eyes sharpened. It was a classic mistake—killing a few weak zombies had made them arrogant and complacent. Not just Zhengyang, but even Ben had let his guard down. And they had paid the ultimate price.

"When the door opened, there was no fat guy. It was a massive monster, over two meters tall! It had terrifying strength, and its skin was like armor; our spears couldn't even pierce it! But it was clumsy and got stuck in the narrow hallway. We had a chance to run, but in the chaos, someone's spear accidentally gouged its eye! It went completely berserk. It slammed its fist into Wang, and he... His entire body was literally shattered..." Ben's voice trembled violently as he recounted the horror.

"Shattered?" Vince was baffled by the description. What did he mean by 'shattered'...?

"Yes... shattered. And not just him... even those of us standing further back felt our internal organs violently churn. Even now, my heart is beating irregularly..." Ben panted heavily, lingering terror evident in his eyes. No wonder their Health Bars all dropped uniformly... they were hit by the shockwave of the monster's attack... An attack capable of shattering a human body... Regardless of what exactly had been "shattered," it was blatantly obvious that a mysterious Zombie Crystal was at play. THUD! CRASH!

Another deafening impact echoed from inside the building, shattering several windows. Judging by the acoustics, the source of the noise had reached the first floor. The monster had chased them downstairs. Vince tucked his short spear into his belt. Although it was much heavier now, the sturdy tactical belt could barely support the weight. Staring at the freshly ground, razor-sharp tip of his heavy long spear, Vince took a deep breath, forcing his heart rate to steady. THUD! BOOM—!

A massive cloud of dust and debris exploded from the first-floor balcony! The brick wall beneath the windowsill cracked violently outward. The sheer concussive force of the impact shattered every single window across all three floors of that unit and the adjacent ones! Stimulated by the deafening explosion, five or six zombies frantically crawled out of various balconies on the upper floors. They plummeted to the concrete like sacks of rotten meat, landing with sickening splats...

The three that fell from the highest floors splattered violently against the pavement. Their Health Bars plummeted to the low 30s as they writhed helplessly on the ground. Only the two that fell from the second floor managed to stagger to their feet, limping aggressively toward Vince's group...

"Vince!" Suddenly, a shout came from behind. Vince turned to see Cody and Seth sprinting toward him. Perfect timing. Vince reached into Cody's pants pocket. With a mental command, four silver auto-injectors materialized out of his inventory and directly into the boy's pocket. Cody felt the sudden, inexplicable weight appear in his pocket. Before he could even process his shock, Vince grabbed his hand, pressed it firmly against the pocket, and whispered fiercely into his ear:"Look at them when you get home!

Remember, only inject these in an absolute, life-or-death emergency! Now run back!" Although Cody had no idea what was happening in this chaotic scene, he instantly understood one thing: what the items were didn't matter; what mattered was the absolute gravity of Vince's trust! He nodded heavily. Without a second of hesitation, he grabbed Seth, spun around, and sprinted back toward the clinic with everything he had... What Vince had slipped him were four [Feral Potions (Small)].

He currently had 10 of them in stock, and given the one-hour cooldown per injection... What kind of battle lasts over an hour anyway? He had long wanted to test if the potions worked on other people but never had the right opportunity. Given the impending chaos, he didn't care about secrecy anymore; he just wanted to leave his crew an insurance policy...

"Everyone, fall back! If any normal zombies come out, deal with them!" Vince ordered with an tone that brooked no argument. He raised his heavy steel spear and charged straight at the two limping zombies! With a brutal, sweeping strike, he obliterated the first zombie's head in a spray of gore! [600/600]! The exact instant the zombie died, his Max HP finally hit the 600 milestone. Suddenly, Vince felt every single muscle in his body violently spasm and contract! He instantly lost all motor control!

Before he could even attempt to kill the second zombie, he collapsed to his knees, his body convulsing uncontrollably. His heavy steel spear clattered uselessly onto the asphalt... Having sprinted away the moment Vince gave the order, Cody and Seth were already gone. Only Ben and his men remained. Although he had no idea what was happening, Ben saw the remaining zombie was less than a meter away from Vince, and the man was still kneeling, paralyzed.

Without hesitation, Ben snatched a spear from the man next to him and charged forward, preparing to rescue him. But before he could take two steps, he saw Vince move... Vince, his body still trembling violently, slowly raised his arm. He extended a single finger and thrust it toward the lunging zombie's chest... The moment his finger made contact, a bizarre phenomenon occurred—something that completely shattered Ben's understanding of reality!

That single finger pierced through the zombie's chest as easily as a hot knife through tofu! It drove straight through the sternum! That was bone! Bone that required the combined momentum of two men charging with steel spears to pierce!

"What the..." But what happened next was even more incomprehensible! The instant Vince's finger pierced the sternum, a terrifying, unseen force erupted from within the zombie! The creature's entire upper torso was violently ripped apart from the inside out! Black sludge and gore exploded in every direction as the torso blasted into four distinct chunks... Ben, having only taken two steps, froze completely dead in his tracks...

Staring blankly at the silhouette of the man kneeling amidst the mist of blood and gore... This Vince isn't a martial arts master... He's a fucking Cultivation Patriarch...