Chapter 42: The Blood Gang’s Demise
“That bitch dared to throw a rock at me! I’m so pissed! She’s just relying on her Awakened sister, acting all high and mighty, damn it!”
Inside a VIP room in the bathhouse, more than a dozen Blood Gang members gathered, one of them ranting.
“Calm down,” a man with a demonic face tattoo covering his face said slowly from his massage chair. “I got some intel. Those two sisters are going onto the highway.”
“Huh? Really? They’re not going to Haixin District with the camp? They’re going onto the highway?”
“Those two bitches are really going on the highway?”
“North? There’s only one highway going north from here…”
“Yes. That Lin woman was asking around about buying a vehicle all day today, and she ordered a ton of supplies,” the tattooed man smiled. “If they’re going on the highway, sooner or later, they’ll fall into our hands.”
“Haha, you’re right, boss,” the man who had been complaining said excitedly. “Let’s go to the Speed Demons tomorrow! Before anything else happens.”
“No, we’re leaving tonight. If we wait until tomorrow, that Lin woman will stop us. You heard what she did at the night market, right?” The tattooed man shook his head. “We’re leaving tonight.”
“Tonight? But tonight…”
“Are we really leaving at night?”
“Come on, boss…”
The tattooed man sat up from the massage chair, silencing their discussion.
“We’re leaving tonight,” he said firmly. “She has strong connections with the Awakened here. We’re no match for her.”
“This camp is remote. We’re just going to the highway. There aren’t many zombies along the way, and the convoy has already cleared most of the zombies on the highway.”
“It’s time. Let’s go.” The tattooed man glanced at his watch and stood up.
The other dozen members also stood, gathering their weapons and supplies.
None of them noticed that their eyes were now glowing with a blood-red light.
The Blood Orb spores, spreading through the room, had already entered their bodies through their eyes and noses.
And the source of all this was the gang member who had been complaining.
With every word he spoke, he expelled countless invisible Blood Orb spores, until the room was filled with the faintly glowing red particles.
The night market was still bustling when they left the camp, their belongings packed, slipping out under the cover of darkness.
The camp guards didn’t like the gangs much. After a quick check with their superiors, they opened the gate and let these troublemakers leave.
Under the moonlight, the Blood Gang members skirted the city, running towards the highway.
The route to the highway was mostly wilderness, only about 5km.
And to avoid the zombies that might be on the road, they chose to run through the overgrown fields.
But as they ran, their stamina began to fail.
“Ha… ha…”
“How… how can we be so tired… after only two kilometers…?”
The apocalypse was different from before. Anyone who had survived for five years, unless physically disabled, shouldn’t be struggling to run 2km.
But almost half of them collapsed on the ground. Even their tattooed leader was panting, hands on his knees, unable to speak.
What’s happening…?
He could feel his strength draining away at an alarming rate.
He felt cold, his lips dry.
He quickly took out his water bottle and gulped it down, but it didn’t quench his thirst.
“Fuck… I’m so thirsty, I can’t…”
“I’m so hungry…”
After finishing the entire bottle, the tattooed man looked up and saw a horrifying sight.
His underlings were writhing weakly on the ground, their faces becoming gaunt and drawn.
Some were frantically eating dirt and the supplies they were carrying, as if they hadn’t eaten in centuries.
“What… what’s going on…?”
The tattooed man trembled and knelt down. He couldn’t control his body; he couldn’t stand.
An overwhelming sense of hunger and weakness washed over him, clouding his mind.
In his haze, he saw one of his men, his face completely caved in, splitting in two, his skin and flesh continuing to shrink.
As if something was devouring him from the inside.
A grotesque tendril emerged from the man’s split head.
Then, countless blood-red, thread-like tendrils erupted from the crack, covering his entire body.
The tattooed man stared in horror, unable even to scream.
They seemed to have all been infected by some kind of virus at the same time.
He could only watch as his underling transformed into a monster before his eyes.
A grotesque creature, writhing on the ground, covered in blood-red tendrils.
The tendrils pulsed rhythmically.
He even wondered if his underling was still alive, the pulsing of the creature mirroring the beating of a heart.
His underling seemed to have become a living food source, suffering unimaginable torment, yet unable to die.
Suddenly, the tattooed man’s eyes widened. He saw a blood-red mushroom slowly emerge from his underling’s split skull.
A slender white stem supporting a bright red cap, as if dripping with blood.
The delicate mushroom swayed gently in the night breeze, shedding spores that glowed with a blood-red light, scattering them far and wide.
“AAAAH—”
An overwhelming wave of terror gave him a burst of strength.
But it was only enough for him to raise his head, his hands clutching his mouth, and let out a scream.
After the scream, a scarlet Blood Orb Mushroom bloomed from his splitting mouth.
The dozen or so men who had been struggling were now like wooden statues scattered across the field, covered in tendrils, blood mushrooms swaying on their heads.
They were still alive, still conscious, still able to feel pain.
But now their only purpose was to be consumed by zombies, spreading the spores even further.
A fate worse than death.
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