Chapter 112: World Turned Upside Down!
The humanoid zombie disappearing into the building made it lose sight of its target, leaving only a few Awakened with vision-based abilities still able to track it.
“Hold your fire!” Wu Hejun roared, a wave of weak electromagnetic energy spreading outwards, a tingling sensation in the legs of everyone nearby.
The Voodoo Cult members, feeling the shock, stopped firing and began reloading, their weapons raised.
Before Wu Hejun could issue her next command, a green laser beam shot out, its dot moving rapidly across a distant building, tracing the zombie’s movements.
Several other lasers, different colors, converged on the same spot, the dot moving upwards.
The visual-type Awakened had located it.
“Zzzt—”
An electromagnetic coil formed in front of Wu Hejun, pulling a nearby abandoned car towards her.
But instead of aiming at the middle floors of the building where the laser pointers converged, she aimed higher, anticipating the zombie’s ascent.
“Whrrr—”
The car, propelled by the first electromagnetic coil, was accelerating towards the second when the laser dot suddenly moved sideways, across the building’s facade.
“Crash—”
A figure burst through a window, a flash of blood, leaping towards an adjacent building.
Damn it—!
Wu Hejun, her aim disrupted, quickly stopped the car, her hand gripping it, preventing it from entering the second coil.
She had anticipated its movement, but it had anticipated her anticipation.
A battle of predictions.
“Thump—”
The electromagnetic field dissipated; she wouldn’t waste her energy on long-range attacks.
Remembering the zombie’s uncanny ability to dodge, she wasn’t confident in her aim.
She needed to calm down.
It’s just a C-rank zombie; it couldn’t get close to her.
Even with its precognitive abilities, it couldn’t dodge her point-blank electromagnetic burst, a 360-degree attack.
As long as she remained calm and composed, this zombie, no matter how tricky, couldn’t harm her.
“Everyone, behind me!” To avoid further infections or friendly fire, Wu Hejun grabbed the megaphone and issued her commands.
The Voodoo Cult members, still gathering, quickly moved behind her, occupying the street and the surrounding buildings.
They peered out from the windows, their rifles raised, ready to provide covering fire.
And about thirty others, men and women, instead of taking positions in the buildings, spread out behind Wu Hejun, assuming combat stances.
These were the Awakened who had remained in the city, most of them C-rank, not on missions.
The majority of their combat-oriented Awakened had been sent to Guangdong Province; most of those remaining weren’t strong fighters.
Had that zombie anticipated this, known that the Voodoo Cult’s forces were depleted?
Wu Hejun gritted her teeth, her temples throbbing.
She was usually the one exploiting weaknesses, not the other way around!
And she didn’t believe that fast-moving zombie was truly a zombie; it was definitely being controlled.
If zombies were this intelligent, neither Survivor’s Light nor the Voodoo Cult would have survived this long.
A truly intelligent zombie would be at least B-rank, or even A-rank, not a mere C-rank.
It had to be that person, the one controlling it!
“Boom—”
Another explosion from a distant building, making Wu Hejun uneasy.
Although the lasers tracked the zombie’s general direction, the other buildings blocked their view; they couldn’t determine its exact location or how many buildings it had crossed.
And as expected, the laser dots started moving rapidly sideways.
Wu Hejun instantly understood.
From its initial attempt to escape to this flanking maneuver, the zombie had no intention of facing her directly.
It was trying to attack her base and her men!
It knew it couldn’t defeat her.
But even if it couldn’t defeat her, could it defeat her subordinates?
Even if she engaged it directly, her own attacks might harm her men.
A pyrrhic victory.
This was the kingdom of madness she’d built; she wouldn’t let anyone destroy it.
“Zzzt—”
“Boom—”
Two bolts of lightning shot from her hands into the ground, the force propelling her upwards.
Mid-air, she saw the zombie.
Two or three blocks away, a figure running in circles, the dust clouds and shattered concrete marking its location.
Found you—
“Zzzt—”
“Boom—”
Two more lightning strikes, landing in front of the zombie, forcing it to stop.
But the zombie simply rolled to the side and then resumed running in circles.
Long-range attacks were ineffective.
Wu Hejun, still airborne, lashed out with a whip of red lightning, striking a construction crane on an unfinished building.
The force pulled her towards the crane.
Reaching the crane, she lashed out again, this time at a streetlight below, the lightning tether pulling her towards the ground.
She would land directly in front of the humanoid zombie.
If it didn’t stop, it would run straight into her.
And no matter which direction it moved, she was now much closer, it couldn’t circle around and attack her base.
As she descended, her body crackled with electricity, her eyes glowing red.
For most blood crystal entities, this was a sign of full power.
As expected, the zombie, realizing it couldn’t escape and couldn’t continue circling, slammed on the brakes and turned sharply, running back towards where Wu Hejun had come from.
It was trying to exploit her limited maneuverability in the air, to pass her.
“Hmph—”
Seeing its movements, Wu Hejun quickly retracted her lightning whip, the red glow around her fading as she charged her attack, her body crackling like a thunderstorm.
“You’re… dead…!”
She roared, and a series of red, concentric electromagnetic rings, like interlocking hoops of irregular shapes, expanded rapidly outwards.
“Crackle—”
“Rumble—”
The sound of thunder echoed through the streets as the spherical lightning expanded, instantly engulfing the blonde zombie.
Heh… you’re dead… you clever little…
Nothing could survive her spherical lightning attack.
It looked like a red ball of lightning, but it was actually a complex structure of interlocking electromagnetic rings, like a woven ball of beads, but far denser, more intricate.
Like a multi-layered, expanding bird’s nest, each layer irregular and unpredictable.
Not even a mosquito could pass through it.
Wu Hejun felt her energy draining, but she maintained the attack, ensuring that the cockroach-like zombie was completely incinerated.
Looking at the zombie’s location within the electric field, a confident smile, she stopped the attack.
Heh, so you thought you were clever, huh? A weakling’s clever tricks are useless against absolute power…
“What?!”
She stared in disbelief.
As the electromagnetic field dissipated, she saw the zombie below.
What… the… fuck…?
The zombie hadn’t been incinerated. It was standing there, amidst the fading electrical arcs, seemingly… unharmed, having dodged and weaved through the complex network of electromagnetic rings with an almost… graceful ease.
How… how is that even possible?!
This isn’t a bullet hell game!!!
Then she realized.
It hadn’t dodged everything.
Some of the unavoidable rings it had blocked with its massive blade, the scales on its body somehow mitigating the damage.
But even that was terrifying!
Was this really just a C-rank? That agility was A-rank level! Even a B-rank wouldn’t be able to dodge everything!
No, its speed wasn’t A-rank, not even B-rank; it had anticipated her attacks!
That level of calculation… it was like a supercomputer.
This wasn’t humanly possible. It had probably calculated every possible outcome the moment she moved.
And to it, everyone else was moving in slow motion, every attack with a clear, optimal path for evasion…
In a game, this would be called… hacking.
No… impossible… no living creature could have such processing power… Don’t be ridiculous…
Looking at the zombie, having perfectly navigated her attack, Wu Hejun desperately tried to calm herself.
It’s injured!
It didn’t dodge all of it!
She noticed this immediately.
But she wouldn’t waste any more energy on the spherical lightning; the energy cost was too high, and the effectiveness too low. She might exhaust herself before killing it.
And the zombie, now wreathed in electricity, wouldn’t be as agile.
This was her chance!
“Thump—”
“Boom—”
Stopping the attack, she landed heavily, a red spark as her feet touched the ground, and then, her body a blur of lightning, she lunged towards the zombie.
The blonde zombie didn’t dodge, as if knowing it was futile. It turned sideways, raising its left arm defensively.
Its arm, green and red veins pulsing, transformed into a massive shield, its surface covered in gleaming golden scales.
“Boom—”
Red lightning crackled around her fist as she unleashed her full power, a devastating blow.
The force of the impact, the surge of electricity, ignited the surrounding area, a ring of fire around them.
The zombie’s shield shattered, its left arm a charred stump.
Its body was thrown back, landing ten meters away, its massive blade preventing it from falling.
“It’s over.” Wu Hejun slowly lowered her smoking, charred right fist, electricity crackling around her body.
Press the attack, don’t give it a chance to recover.
“Zzzt—”
“Boom—”
Almost instantly, she was upon it, a flash of lightning, her left fist, charged with electricity, connecting with the zombie’s face.
A perfectly aimed left hook, a headshot!
“Boom—”
The force of the blow, its speed, was so great that the zombie’s head, before it could even react, was sent flying, its neck snapping.
The head, its face mangled, trailing sparks, crashed through several walls of a nearby building.
The zombie’s remaining neck stump, cauterized by the heat, didn’t even bleed.
Looking at the headless corpse, Wu Hejun’s rapid breathing slowed.
Click—
The headless body twitched; it wasn’t dead yet.
“Zzzt—”
“Boom—”
“Zzzt—”
“Boom—”
Before it could move, she pressed her hands against its chest, unleashing another barrage of lightning.
And she didn’t stop, continuing to electrocute the corpse until it was nothing but charred fragments.
Overkill was always a good strategy.
“Zzzt—”
“Boom—”
Finally, the last burning piece disintegrated, and she breathed a sigh of relief.
Not even a god could bring it back now.
“Hoo…”
Wu Hejun walked towards where she’d sent the head flying.
She always finished what she started.
After this, she needed to reassess… She would contact the other B-rank Awakened and then they would go to Guangdong Province together, to eliminate the threat she had seen in her vision, the one that would destroy all blood crystals.
She wasn’t a savior, but she, too, was a blood crystal entity; destroying all blood crystals meant destroying her as well.
She had to find a way to change the future.
Unfortunately, her precognitive abilities weren’t always accurate, the visions often fragmented and random.
Better safe than sorry. That was her motto.
But the battlefield had to be moved to Guangdong Province. She couldn’t let that threat reach Chongyu City.
Chongyu City was her base, where she had restored many essential production lines and had teams collecting raw materials and blood crystals.
To grow stronger in the apocalypse, she needed the Voodoo Cult, needed to… feed.
She followed the trail of destruction, the shattered walls, into the building.
The first floor was a large shopping mall, its interior walls flimsy. The head had flown through several of them.
“Boom—”
She smashed through wall after wall, and then a terrified voice echoed in her mind.
“Xiao Wu!”
Before she could even correct her, a vision flashed through her mind.
A blurry image of a head lying on the ground.
Bone spikes erupting from its neck.
And finally, the head, its face half-mangled, its hair matted with blood, crawling away on bone spikes.
That head… that blonde hair… that direction!!!
Motherfucker!!!
Wu Hejun’s eyes widened in fury. She blasted through the mall’s outer wall, her body a blur of lightning.
That fucking zombie!
It wasn’t dead!
It hadn’t even tried to fight her! It had been targeting her subordinates all along!
Rage and helplessness consumed her.
Like facing a circling vulture, its gaze fixed not on you, but on the chickens behind you, waiting for an opening to swoop down and feast.
And indeed, just as she’d imagined…
On the street below, a head, its neck supported by bone spikes, was rapidly crawling away.
A small, doll-like white figure emerged from its mouth, climbed onto its head, and sat down among its hair.
The head moved with incredible speed, like a giant jumping spider, navigating the uneven terrain of Chongyu City.
It crawled through a broken window, towards a figure standing nearby.
“Huh?”
The figure, holding a rifle, paused, noticing the laser pointers now converging on him.
“Hey—wrong target! Hey!” He lowered his rifle, waving his left hand at the lasers.
He didn’t notice the head, suspended by a tendril, descending behind him, until it was right behind his head.
Had he moved into the zombie’s path?
Better move… and make way for it.
He turned around.
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