Chapter 20: Bone Spike Chains
Lin Jiayao didn’t stop.
After smashing the first Wailer’s head with a single punch, she charged towards the next one, repeating the same tactic.
The Wailers’ legs were practically atrophied to their hips, making escape virtually impossible.
Their frantic “running” only moved them a short distance, slower than even Biters.
Their only threat was the piercing shriek emitted from the honeycomb-like holes in their swollen throats.
If you killed them before they noticed you, it was fine.
But if they managed to shriek and release their pheromones…
Even if you killed them, you’d face the dire consequences of being chased by a horde.
Four Wailers in one area was a nearly impossible situation for ordinary survivors.
Unless there were four highly skilled marksmen, outside the range of Bone Spike Lurker, firing simultaneously and accurately hitting all four heads, killing them instantly.
Otherwise, even if just one survived, the result would be catastrophic.
Before the horde arrived, Lin Jiayao crushed another Wailer’s skull, grabbed the last one by the neck, and turned, sprinting towards the river.
The Wailer, gripped by the Sprinter’s large hand, didn’t give up its struggle. Its sharp claws frantically scratched at the Sprinter’s muscles, sending sprays of blood flying.
But it was useless. Lin Jiayao didn’t slow down, dragging the Wailer towards the riverbank.
Reaching the river, Lin Jiayao seized the opportunity and, with all her might, hurled the Wailer into the water.
Seemingly surprised by this treatment, the Wailer spun in the air, shrieking miserably, frantically releasing pheromones to attract the horde.
“Splash—”
But it couldn’t defy gravity. It plunged into the river, its shrieks silenced.
However, the large amount of pheromones it had released still lingered in the air.
A large number of zombies, ignoring Lin Jiayao, jumped into the river one after another, a spectacular sight.
Lin Jiayao, who had moved a hundred meters away, intending to find a way to collect the blood crystals from those zombies, suddenly started running frantically down the road, away from the riverbank.
“Swish—”
To Lin Jiayao’s horror, a nearly ten-meter-long fish with a protruding mouth, its body covered in barbed bone scales and its eyes blood-red, leaped out of the water, its massive jaws swallowing two zombies whole.
The splash from the mutated fish seemed to trigger a chain reaction.
The previously calm river churned, and more zombies were dragged underwater.
In an instant, the river surface under the bridge was dyed crimson. Under the blood-red sunset, the area looked as if it had been stained with black oil, filthy and polluted.
This was the first time Lin Jiayao had seen aquatic zombies. She had only heard about them on Survivor’s Light radio.
Evolution in the water seemed even more terrifying than on land—almost entirely focused on gigantism and brute force.
By now, the pheromones left by the Wailer had almost dissipated.
The horde stopped rushing into the water and began to wander aimlessly.
The territorial Nest Zombies casually devoured some nearby Biters and then quickly crawled back to their territories.
Lin Jiayao ignored the zombies wandering along the riverbank.
By morning, the sunlight would drive them into the shadows, and she wouldn’t need to lift a finger.
Now, controlling the Sprinter, Lin Jiayao followed a Nest Zombie.
The Nest Zombie’s twenty-odd pairs of legs allowed it to crawl with incredible speed. Lin Jiayao, controlling the Sprinter, practically ran its muscles to the point of dissolving to keep up.
As if nearing its territory, the Nest Zombie quickly climbed a streetlight, its green, bulging abdomen prominent, and looked down at Lin Jiayao.
“Kukuku—”
Its four-lobed lips spread wide, the bone spikes that served as teeth scraping and clicking against each other, emitting a shrill warning at Lin Jiayao, who had reached the base of the streetlight.
Its abdomen already full, it seemed unwilling to eat more, only wanting to drive Lin Jiayao away.
“Aagh—Aagh—”
Lin Jiayao mimicked the Sprinter, wandering in place, using the Sprinter’s throat to emit monotonous, meaningless growls.
The not-so-intelligent Nest Zombie seemed to think its intimidation tactic had worked.
It climbed down from the streetlight and turned, crawling towards a residential building.
“Bang—”
Just as it turned, a loud gunshot rang out behind it.
“splat—”
At such close range, half of its brain was blown away.
But it still writhed frantically, its abdomen convulsing, spitting out several Biter corpses covered in green pus.
My aim is improving.
Lin Jiayao looked at the writhing Nest Zombie, satisfied with her marksmanship.
No wonder they said marksmanship was honed by firing countless bullets. Lin Jiayao had progressed from needing to shove the gun into a zombie’s mouth to guarantee a hit to being able to accurately headshot within five meters.
For someone who had never touched a gun before, this was a huge improvement.
Lin Jiayao didn’t fire another shot, as she usually would. Instead, she controlled the Sprinter, dragging the writhing Nest Zombie to the streetlight.
Lin Jiayao reached behind her head and snapped off one of her bone spikes.
Then, she used the meter-long bone spike, like threading a needle, to pierce through the Nest Zombie’s thick neck.
“Click-clack—Click-clack—”
The Nest Zombie’s throat made a faint clicking sound, either pleading or threatening.
Lin Jiayao felt no sympathy for zombies.
After piercing its neck with her bone spike, which was segmented like a chain, she wrapped the spike around the streetlight pole and tied a tight knot.
The Nest Zombie wasn’t dead, but without half of its brain, it could barely control its body and was unable to resist.
It was tied there, like a gift waiting to be claimed.
Nest Zombies were as tenacious as cockroaches; it would likely survive until morning.
During this time, no ordinary zombies would approach it, especially with Lin Jiayao’s bone spike left there, practically a declaration of ownership.
Lin Jiayao straightened up, looked down Huangpu Avenue West, and smiled faintly.
She had cleared the entire avenue, all the way to the Yangzhou Bridge—the Yangzhou Tower Park camp and the Wailers were gone.
As long as she followed this road, her sister’s path back would be clear.
Now, just a few finishing touches.
Seeing she still had plenty of time, Lin Jiayao, controlling the Sprinter, started running again.
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