18: Chapter 18 Speed-type Mutants

The gunshot from the barracks building was like a needle, piercing the silence of dusk.

Commander Lin Dong propped himself on the windowsill with one hand and leaped from the second floor, bending his knees slightly upon landing to absorb the impact. Behind him, Li Na stumbled as she followed with her rifle, and he grabbed her arm to steady her.

"Don't make a sound."

His voice was extremely low, his gaze sweeping across the intersection fifty meters ahead. There, the "bait" they had set seven minutes ago—a bus with its horn blaring—was being submerged by a tide of grayish-black figures.

F-Class Zombies, data shows 378 of them, average movement speed 3.1 m/s.

But that wasn't the point.

Commander Lin Dong's pupils contracted slightly. In the upper-left corner of his vision, a translucent red panel was flashing frantically:

[Warning: Mutant life signal detected]

[Level: Lv.3]

[Type: Speed-Type Mutant]

[HP: 200/200]

[Threat Rating: D+]

[Special Ability: Rapid Dash (Cooldown 8 seconds)]

"It's coming."

Before the words had even faded, the escape hatch on the roof of the bus suddenly exploded outward.

A gray shadow shot into the air like a cannonball, trailing afterimages in the fading light of the setting sun. It landed twenty meters away, smashing spiderweb-like cracks into the concrete road.

Commander Lin Dong got a clear look at it.

It had once been a human, perhaps a male athlete in his twenties. Now, its back was arched, its arms hung below its knees, and its fingertips had grown black keratinous claws like ten curved daggers. Along its spine, a row of bone spurs pierced through the skin, trembling slightly with its breath.

The most terrifying part was its eyes—no pupils, only two spheres of dark red light.

[Speed-Type Mutant Data Updated]

[Movement Speed: 7.5m/s (Normal), 12m/s (Rapid Dash)]

[Attack Method: Claw Strike/Ram]

[Weaknesses: Tendons behind the knee joints (Defense Coefficient 0.4), Third Vertebra of the spine (Defense Coefficient 0.3)]

"Fuck," Li Na squeezed out through her teeth.

Commander Lin Dong didn't speak. His brain was working at high speed—Their side: two people, one Type 95 (17 rounds left), one type 92 pistol (9 rounds left), one Directional Mine, two grenades. The opponent: three times his normal speed, hits and runs, never staying still.

A conventional fight would be certain death.

"See that fuel tanker?" Commander Lin Dong pointed to the southeast corner of the intersection, where an overturned tanker lay across the curb. "The tank is facing us, there are impact marks, and it's highly likely to be leaking fuel."

Li Na followed his finger, and sure enough, there was a faint mist shimmering in the sunset—it was evaporating gasoline vapor.

"You want to detonate it? It's at least a hundred and twenty meters away, we can't possibly outrun..."

"It's not us running," Commander Lin Dong interrupted her. "It's it."

He quickly unslung the tactical backpack from his back and fished a Directional Mine from a compartment—a domestic Type 66, 1.5 kg charge, 60-degree frontal kill arc, effective kill range of 50 meters.

"I'll lure it over, you wait behind that phone booth. Once it enters the kill zone, I'll detonate the mine. But the shrapnel speed is 1,200 m/s, while its reaction speed..." He paused. "I'm betting it can't dodge it."

Li Na stared at him for two seconds, then suddenly asked, "What are you using to lure it?"

Commander Lin Dong didn't answer. Instead, he pulled out the Type 92 from his waist, checked the magazine, and slid it back in.

"The remote for the Directional Mine is in your hands. When I run behind that scrapped taxi, press the button. Remember, you must wait until I'm completely behind the car, not a second sooner."

"But you..."

"No time." Commander Lin Dong looked toward the intersection. The zombies around the bus were already starting to stir, with about a dozen turning in their direction. "Go to the phone booth, now."

Li Na bit her lip, grabbed the Directional Mine, and ran toward the phone booth twenty meters away. Commander Lin Dong took a deep breath and flexed his left knee—the old injury felt a bit tight in the damp weather, but it wouldn't affect his burst of speed.

He needed to run forty meters to reach the wreckage of the red taxi. Meanwhile, the Mutant's Rapid Dash speed was 12 m/s.

Three seconds.

He had to cover forty meters in three seconds while ensuring the Mutant entered the Directional Mine's kill arc.

[Calculating...]

[Target Movement Trajectory Prediction: Mutant will pursue in a straight line]

[Detonation Timing: Target enters the 18-22 meter range from the taxi]

[Survival Probability: 34.7%]

"High enough," Commander Lin Dong whispered.

He raised the Type 95, aimed toward the intersection, and pulled the trigger.

"Da da da—"

A short burst. Three bullets grazed the Mutant's scalp. Its red eyes snapped over, locking onto Commander Lin Dong a hundred and fifty meters away.

In the next second, it moved.

There was no roar, no warning, only the shrill whistle of air being torn apart.

Commander Lin Dong turned and ran.

His pace was rhythmic. He wasn't running in a straight line but kept his knees slightly bent, maintaining the possibility of changing direction with every step. This was an instinct honed as a scout—facing a speed-type enemy, a straight line equaled death.

The sound of wind came from behind him, getting closer and closer.

[Distance: 35 meters]

[Target Speed: 11.8 m/s]

[Time Remaining: 2.1 seconds]

The taxi wreckage twenty meters away wavered in his vision.

[1.4 seconds]

Commander Lin Dong's right leg suddenly exerted force, and he lunged diagonally to the left. At the same time, his peripheral vision caught a gray shadow blurring past on the right—the Mutant had missed its pounce!

But it braked almost instantly, landing on all fours, and turned its head to lock onto Commander Lin Dong again.

At this point, Commander Lin Dong was still eight meters from the taxi.

[Mutant Rapid Dash cooldown complete]

[It will attack again]

No time.

Commander Lin Dong gritted his teeth. As he was falling forward, he pulled the Type 92 from his waist and, without aiming, fired three consecutive shots behind him by feel.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The first shot missed.

The second shot grazed the Mutant's shoulder.

The third shot—

[Hit Determination: Right scapula struck]

[Damage: 12 points]

[Target HP: 188/200]

[Enraged state triggered: Attack speed +15%]

The gray shadow only wobbled slightly, and its speed actually increased!

An eight-meter distance only took 0.7 seconds for it.

Commander Lin Dong could almost smell the stench of decay on it, could see the black blood scabs on its claws.

Right at that moment—

BOOM!!!!

The Directional Mine exploded.

It wasn't Commander Lin Dong who detonated it; it was Li Na.

From behind the phone booth, she saw Commander Lin Dong about to be caught. Without waiting for him to get behind the taxi, she pressed the button.

1.5 kilograms of explosives went off sixty meters away, fan-shaped shrapnel covering half the intersection. Dozens of F-Class Zombies were cut in half at the waist, black blood splattering the entire street.

And the Mutant was right on the edge of the kill arc.

[Shrapnel Hits x3]

[Damage: 47 points]

[Target HP: 141/200]

[Left leg tendon damaged: Movement speed -20%]

It let out a sharp screech, its entire body flipped over by the shockwave, rolling three times on the ground.

Commander Lin Dong's eardrums were ringing, and he was seeing stars. But he didn't stop. He scrambled up, ran the last few meters, and dove behind the taxi.

"Grenade!" he shouted at Li Na.

Li Na dithered for a moment before reacting. She grabbed the grenade at her waist and threw it with all her might.

The grenade traced an arc through the air, landing five meters away from the Mutant.

BOOM!

Another explosion.

But this time, the Mutant moved.

In the fraction of a second before the grenade landed, it pushed off the ground with its injured left leg, shifting its body two meters and just barely avoiding the center of the blast.

[Grenade Damage: Splash hit]

[Damage: 23 points]

[Target HP: 118/200]

[Left leg tendon damage worsened: Movement speed -35%]

It stood up.

Seven or eight pieces of shrapnel were embedded all over its body, black fluid flowing from the wounds. It clearly didn't dare use its left leg, supporting its body with only three limbs. But its eyes, those two spheres of dark red light, grew even brighter.

It stared at Commander Lin Dong, staring at this human who had injured it twice.

Then, it opened its mouth.

It wasn't a sound a human could make—sharp, high-frequency, like metal scraping glass, making Commander Lin Dong's eardrums ache.

What was even more terrifying was that all the zombies at the intersection stopped.

378 F-Class Zombies turned simultaneously, facing Commander Lin Dong and Li Na's direction.

[Mutant Skill Triggered: Horde Command]

[F-Class Zombies within a 200-meter radius enter Berserk state]

[Movement speed +30%, Attack desire +50%]

"Damn it..." Li Na's voice was trembling.

Commander Lin Dong quickly checked his ammunition: 6 rounds left in the Type 95, 2 rounds in the Type 92, 0 grenades, 0 Directional Mines.

And over three hundred zombies had already started moving, the closest ones less than eighty meters from them.

"Run," Commander Lin Dong said.

"Where to?"

Commander Lin Dong didn't answer but pointed southeast—toward the fuel tanker.

"But over there is..."

"Listen to me, run!"

Just as they had run twenty meters, Commander Lin Dong's peripheral vision caught a detail: the Mutant wasn't pursuing.

It stood in place, supporting itself on three limbs, its red eyes fixed on the direction they were fleeing, on that overturned fuel tanker.

Then, it retreated.

Dragging its injured left leg, it moved in the opposite direction at about 4 m/s.

It was retreating?

The thought flashed through Commander Lin Dong's mind, but there was no time to dwell on it. The horde behind them was getting closer; he could even see the festering wounds on the face of the lead zombie.

"Fifty meters!" Li Na yelled.

The fuel tanker was only thirty meters away. Commander Lin Dong could clearly see a two-meter-long crack on the side of the tank, from which a brownish liquid was slowly seeping out, forming a small puddle on the road.

The smell of gasoline vapor was thick enough to be choking.

"Give me the gun!"

Li Na blanked for a second, then threw the Type 95 to him. Commander Lin Dong caught the rifle, turned, aimed, and pulled the trigger.

"Da da da—"

A long burst, 5 rounds.

The first two missed. The third hit just above the crack in the tank, sparks flying.

No explosion.

The fourth round grazed the edge of the crack.

The fifth round—

BOOM!!!!!!!

The fuel tanker exploded.

The shockwave of the explosion was like an invisible wall, instantly tossing Commander Lin Dong and Li Na into the air. Commander Lin Dong's back slammed into an abandoned car, all the air squeezed out of his lungs as his vision went black.

Flames soared into the sky, forming a fireball over fifty meters in diameter. More than thirty zombies at the very front were instantly engulfed in flames, turning into charred husks before they could even scream.

The zombies behind them stopped.

They weren't afraid of death, but their instincts held a fear of fire—it was written in their genes, something that couldn't be erased even after becoming zombies.

The flames formed a barrier, isolating the horde on the other side of the intersection.

Commander Lin Dong lay on the ground, panting heavily. His left arm was stinging painfully. Pulling up his sleeve, he saw a large patch of skin turned bright red from the heat, already starting to blister.

"Li Na..."

"Cough... I'm... I'm here..."

Li Na crawled out from behind a van, her face covered in black soot and a cut on her forehead that had smeared blood over half her face. But she was alive, her eyes still sharp.

The two supported each other as they stood up, looking at the horde on the other side of the flames.

Over three hundred zombies paced outside the fire wall, letting out low growls. But they didn't dare cross the flames, only able to watch helplessly as their prey escaped.

"It... that Mutant one... ran away..." Li Na said haltingly.

Commander Lin Dong nodded. He had seen it. At the moment the tanker exploded, the Mutant had already retreated a hundred and fifty meters away, ducking into a residential building.

It knew the tanker would explode.

It wasn't retreating; it had anticipated the danger.

[Data Updated]

[Speed-Type Mutant Intelligence Evaluation: Increased]

[Possesses basic tactical thinking: Can judge threats from explosives, can command lower-level zombies]

[Threat Level Revision: D+ → C-]

Commander Lin Dong stared at the data on the panel, his brow furrowed.

The zombies before had all acted on instinct, only chasing sounds and smells. But this one was different. It could think, it could command, it could even retreat to preserve its strength.

If Mutants all had this level of intelligence...

"It can remember us," Commander Lin Dong said suddenly.

Li Na was stunned. "What?"

"Its eyes." Commander Lin Dong recalled those dark red eyes. "It wasn't just chasing prey. It was staring at me. It was... remembering what I look like."

The fire crackled, with occasional small explosions. The sun had completely sunk below the horizon, and darkness began to shroud this dead city.

Li Na opened her mouth, wanting to ask something, but she couldn't find the words.

Commander Lin Dong didn't explain further. He fished out the last two magazines from his tactical bag, pressing one into the Type 95 and sliding the other into his belt. Then, he looked at the residential building where the Mutant had disappeared.

Seven floors, precast concrete structure, with a fire escape ladder on the outer wall.

[Target's possible hiding spot: Floors 4-6]

[Recommended Action: Immediate evacuation, return to base]

[However...]

Commander Lin Dong knew the rational choice was to leave immediately. Both of them were injured, their ammunition was nearly exhausted, and the temporary safe house was still two kilometers away. Chasing it inside, playing hide-and-seek with a Speed-Type Mutant in a pitch-black hallway—the survival probability wouldn't exceed 15%.

But—

That Mutant was also injured. Its left leg tendon was damaged, reducing its movement speed by 35%. If they didn't kill it now, once its wound healed, it would remember their scent, their faces, and their tactics.

It would come back with even more zombies.

"What are you thinking?" Li Na asked.

Commander Lin Dong didn't answer but asked instead, "How many rounds do you have left?"

Li Na felt her gun. "Six."

"I have eleven total on my end." Commander Lin Dong paused. "That's enough to kill it."

Li Na stared at him for three seconds, then suddenly laughed, the blood on her face trembling as she did. "Lunatic. You're a fucking lunatic."

"Are you going or not?"

"I'm going," Li Na said. "I wouldn't make it back on my own anyway."

Commander Lin Dong nodded, pulled out the bayonet from his waist, and clicked it onto the barrel of the Type 95. Then he looked toward the residential building, toward that dark, gaping window on the fourth floor.

Inside the window, something seemed to be moving.

[Combat Log]

[Time: 31 hours post-apocalypse]

[Location: East District of Beiling City, intersection of Jianshe Road and Guanghua Street]

[Status: Two-person squad, light injuries, extreme ammunition shortage]

[Target: Lv.3 Speed-Type Mutant (Injured), HP 118/200]

[Environment: Nighttime, residential building, unknown terrain]

Commander Lin Dong took a deep breath. The air was thick with the smell of gasoline, charred corpses, and blood.

"Stay close to me," he said. "Don't make a sound, don't fire unless I tell you to."

He stepped toward the building, toward the darkness.

Li Na gripped her gun tightly and followed behind him.

The fire burned behind them, illuminating half the block and stretching their shadows very, very long.

On the other side of the intersection, over three hundred zombies were still pacing. Their eyes, reflected in the firelight, looked like a sea of dark red.

A few of them looked past the flames, their gaze falling on the two people.

From their throats came low, rhythmic screeches.

It was as if they were transmitting some kind of signal.

Commander Lin Dong didn't look back, but his footsteps faltered for a moment.

At the edge of his vision, the translucent panel flashed again:

[Abnormal mental fluctuations detected]

[Source: Zombie Horde]

[Nature: ???]

[Suggestion: Immediate evacuation]

Commander Lin Dong's finger tightened on the trigger, and then he continued forward.

He knew he might be making a mistake.

But some things had to be done.

The entrance to the residential building was like an open mouth, waiting to swallow them.

[End of Chapter]