29: Chapter 29: Soldiers and bulletproof vests are indeed of the same style.

The sunlight after ten o'clock had already begun to turn blinding; the beams pierced through the mist, cutting obliquely across the shattered display window of Kendo Gun Shop.

The three of them snuck out the back door, hugging the wall, their footsteps kept extremely soft, as if afraid of hurting the broken glass on the ground.

Hu Jinsi kept his perception active, glancing back at the sky every few steps to confirm that those damned crows were not circling over.

"Walk lightly." Lin Rui didn't look back, his voice lowered to a whisper, "The environment here is not suitable for a battle."

"Understood." Hu Jinsi curled his lips.

The three of them crossed the narrow street, their footsteps making a faint rustling sound on the asphalt road.

The main entrance of the police station revealed its outline in the smog, like a crouching steel beast.

The stone archway loomed high, and the blue and white shield emblem above the lintel was still there, but the white paint had been splashed with large patches of dried black-red stains. The three letters RPD were embedded in the center of the shield, their edges frayed by bullet holes, looking like a festering face.

The double glass doors had long since shattered, the twisted metal frame caved inward, and shards of glass covered the steps, making a teeth-gritting creaking sound under the soles of their boots.

Several black and white painted patrol cars were parked haphazardly in front of the door.

One was overturned on the curb, chassis facing the sky, its tires flattened into rubber pancakes; another was pressed tightly against the gate, its body covered in scratch marks and bullet holes, the windshield smeared with spattered blood that had already turned dark brown.

Further away, the roof light of a police car was still blinking unconsciously, red and blue lights alternately sweeping across the dead-silent street, illuminating this ruin like some kind of morbid disco.

"This police light..." Su Wan shrank her neck, "Is it still consuming power?"

"Dungeon residual mechanism." Lin Rui said in a deep voice, "Ignore it, pay attention to inside the door."

The smell in the air was no better than a sewer.

The scent of blood, the smell of gunpowder, and some deeper, sweet, nauseating stench like meat rotting in a confined space for weeks, mixed together and drilled into their nasal cavities.

Inside the gate was pitch black, with only a glimmer of flickering firelight from a broken window on the second floor, barely outlining the complex staircase inside.

The wind blew out from the broken doorway, carrying a low groaning sound, and some kind of sticky, wet dragging sound, as if something was slowly crawling along the floor tiles.

"There is something at the entrance." Hu Jinsi narrowed his eyes. After his Perception attribute reached 20 points, his capture of airflow changes was sharp to the point of being morbid.

In the shadows on both sides of the doorway, several silhouettes wearing dark blue police uniforms were swaying slowly.

They were wearing black tactical gear, with square armor outlines bulging on their chests and abdomens—bulletproof vests.

"Too many." Lin Rui lowered his tower shield, "Harder than the normal ones."

"Clear the entrance first, don't enter the hall." The bone blade of Hu Jinsi's right-hand knuckle duster popped out, "Quick battle, quick decision, don't touch those cars."

Before the words fell, the closest police-uniformed zombie had already turned its head.

Half of its face still maintained a human contour, while the other half had been gnawed to reveal the cheekbone, and its turbid eyeballs rolled in its sockets.

It stepped forward, heavy boot soles grinding over broken glass, making a crisp cracking sound. This sound was exceptionally piercing in the dead silence, like throwing a stone into a calm lake.

"Go!"

Lin Rui activated [Charge]!

His figure turned into an afterimage, the eight-meter distance instantly zeroed out. The tower shield didn't slap but slammed obliquely, knocking that zombie staggering back, crashing into the door of a patrol car behind it.

"Bang!"

The dull sound of metal denting exploded on the street.

The zombie was knocked into the car door, but the bulletproof vest absorbed most of the impact. It actually didn't fall to the ground; instead, it reached out its hands to grab the edge of Lin Rui's shield.

Lin Rui's short sword thrust out from under the shield, the ghostly blue sword light piercing into its eye socket, [-14], and points of light rose.

But this collision had already alerted the other zombies inside the doorway.

Three, five, eight... police-uniformed zombies wearing bulletproof vests poured out from the darkness, like a swarm of disturbed beetles, staggering and pouncing toward the three of them.

Worse, one of them tripped over a fire extinguisher on the ground while pouncing. The steel cylinder fell to the ground, rolling toward the other side of the street, and hit the front bumper of another police car.

"Thud!"

That police car's siren seemed to have triggered some kind of stress response, suddenly emitting a piercing beep!

The red and blue roof lights spun wildly, and the high-decibel siren tore through the dead silence over Raccoon City.

"Fuck!" Hu Jinsi's face turned green.

Inside the buildings on both sides of the street, behind the green belts, and even from the grates of the underground drains, countless guttural sounds sounded simultaneously.

That alarm was like some kind of summoning ritual, activating all the zombies within a hundred-meter range.

Black, oppressive figures poured in from all directions, the number far exceeding expectations, at least nearly a hundred, like a slow but unstoppable mudslide, converging toward the main entrance of the police station.

"Nearly a hundred!" Su Wan's voice tightened, her fingers already hooked on the strings, "Thunderwave."

"Don't use it!" Lin Rui shouted in a low voice, "The sound will draw out the ones inside the police station too! Who knows how many are inside!"

Su Wan forcibly stopped casting, instead drawing her police light crossbow, and nocking an aluminum bolt.

The bone blade of Hu Jinsi's right-hand knuckle duster gouged five bloody holes in the face of the first zombie that pounced, his left fist followed up, and an uppercut smashed into the zombie's jaw, [-8], with rotten blood splattering.

He dodged the pounce of the second one, his knuckle duster backhanding into the gap in the armor at its back neck, [-11], and green blood gushed out.

"Switch to the chainsaw!" Hu Jinsi signaled to Lin Rui.

Lin Rui performed a [Tactical Roll] on the spot, his heavy armor grinding a gully into the broken glass. The moment the Roll ended, his right hand had already pulled the low-noise chainsaw from his backpack.

The motor started, and the chain rotated, emitting a low hum, like some kind of giant insect flapping its wings.

He rushed into the zombie horde, saw teeth pushing horizontally, and rotten limbs and black blood splattered everywhere. [-15] [-17] [-14]

The harvesting efficiency of the chainsaw was vividly displayed in this dense zombie tide.

But the splattered flesh and blood covered Lin Rui's face; he had to lift his hand to wipe his mask every ten seconds, otherwise his vision would be completely blocked.

He swore that if there was a next time, he would definitely prepare some damn goggles.

What was worse was the psychological disgust.

Those zombies were wearing police uniforms, some even had blood-stained police badge tags hanging around their necks. The deformed faces and broken limbs when sawed open made Lin Rui's stomach churn.

"Left!" Hu Jinsi prompted.

He sensed a subtle vibration coming from an overturned patrol car on the left.

A playing-dead zombie, a fat guy wearing riot gear, suddenly exploded from the broken rear window, his withered hands grabbing straight for the back of Su Wan's neck!

Su Wan reacted extremely quickly, her left-arm round shield raised backward, "Clang!" blocking the grab, but she was knocked forward and fell.

The lyre in her arms flew out of her hand, the body of the instrument smashing onto the ground, making a heartbreaking dull sound.

That playing-dead zombie smashed through the remaining car window glass, glass fragments scattered all over the ground, and its massive body squeezed into the window frame, the hard shoulder pads of the riot gear scraping against the metal edges, emitting a piercing screech.

And the sound of this overturned police car's glass breaking triggered the alarm of another car nearby!

"Bee-woo—bee-woo—"

The dual sirens resonated on the street, the sound waves spreading outward like tangible ripples.

The zombie horde further away was stimulated again, their moving speed significantly increased, like hornets whose nest had been poked, pressing over in a black, oppressive mass.

"Endless!" Hu Jinsi did a [Roll] to get close to that overturned police car, his right-hand knuckle duster ruthlessly gouging into the riot zombie's temple, [-16], the bone blade's armor-piercing effect tearing through the weak point of the riot helmet.

He took the opportunity to pull Su Wan up, "Is the lyre okay?"

"It's... it's fine!" Su Wan's face was pale, she grabbed the lyre to check the strings, fortunately, only a small piece of paint was chipped off.

"Kill them all first!" Lin Rui's chainsaw had already been dyed pure black, with bits of flesh and fabric fibers hanging on the chain, and the motor emitted a slight burnt smell of overload.

He no longer cared about the disgust, purely and mechanically pushing horizontally and cutting vertically, chopping the incoming zombie horde into pieces all over the ground.

Hu Jinsi stayed on his flank, his knuckle duster specifically targeting the zombies' eye sockets and throats, saving his Qi consumption.

Su Wan stood behind the two, firing the light crossbow continuously, the bolts nailing into the zombies' foreheads, [-7] [-8], although the single-shot damage was not high, the accuracy made up for the power.

The battle slid completely from cautious to unrestrained.

The three formed a triangle back-to-back, Lin Rui's chainsaw was responsible for the frontal fan-shaped area, Hu Jinsi's knuckle duster guarded the flanks, and Su Wan used the light crossbow to pick off the stragglers.

The zombie horde was endless under the summons of the dual sirens, but the essence of their individual fragility did not change, it was just that the quantity accumulated into a suffocating wave.

When the last zombie turned into points of light under the chainsaw, the sirens on the street were still wailing in vain.

Lin Rui turned off the chainsaw, the chain slowly stopped rotating, making a weary click.

He supported his knees and dry-heaved twice, the flesh and blood smeared on his mask had already formed a hard crust.

"It's over..." Su Wan leaned against a lamppost, the arrows for the police light crossbow had long been exhausted.

Even the bolts she brought herself were one-third empty.

Hu Jinsi looked down at himself—his school uniform had completely become a rag, the front soaked with blood, and his pant legs were covered in black oil and brain matter.

He lifted his foot, a sticky thread stretched between his boot sole and the ground, as if he had stepped into a giant piece of chewing gum.

"This place..." he panted, "really is too much worse than Goldshire!"

Post-battle tally. The drops from nearly two hundred zombies were piled on the street, but the physical items left after the light points dissipated were pitifully few.

Five scratched police pistols, the gun bodies printed with faded RPD letters, the grips scorched, the safety catch so stiff that it required force to toggle; three black expandable batons, made of carbon fiber, emitting a crisp metallic echo when struck, but the panel attributes stated they could not cause lethal damage; several boxes of universal ammunition, marked as not being able to be taken out of the dungeon; several blood-soaked police uniforms; and one heavy tactical vest.

[Damaged Police Pistol]

[Type: Simple Weapon/Pistol]

[Damage: 1-8 (Piercing)]

[Special: Malfunction Risk, after each shot, there is a probability the firearm will jam (based on Perception), requiring 6 seconds to clear the malfunction.]

[Item Description: A standard 9mm police pistol, the body covered in scratches and burn marks. There are a few bullets left in the magazine, the safety catch seems a bit stiff and requires force to toggle.]

Hu Jinsi picked one up, weighed it, and curled his lips: "The damage isn't even as high as my fist, but the negative effects are quite real."

"Simple weapon attributes." Lin Rui checked the other one, "You and Su Wan can both use it. It's not the main weapon anyway, after we go out, give it to Zhou Hao to see if it can be repaired."

The two each tucked one into their waists as an emergency measure within the dungeon.

[Carbon Fiber Baton]

[Type: Simple Weapon/Club]

[Damage: 1-6 (Bludgeoning)]

[Special: Non-lethal Deterrence, this weapon cannot land a Heavy Strike (Critical Hit), and cannot cause lethal damage.]

[Item Description: An expandable black baton, made of lightweight carbon fiber. Although stained with dark red blood, it still emits a crisp metallic echo when struck. There is anti-slip rubber on the handle, and the grip feels solid.]

"A club that can't kill monsters?" Hu Jinsi picked one up to test the feel, "This attribute is amazing. I guess only concert security would need it, to maintain order."

"Money-making item." Su Wan concluded.

The last item was the main attraction.

[RPD Tactical Bulletproof Vest]

[Type: Medium Armor/Torso]

[Defense: 10]

[Effect: Bulletproof fiber, has resistance to non-magical piercing damage (damage halved). But it is ineffective against bludgeoning.]

[Special: Stealth Disadvantage, the vest material is relatively stiff, resulting in a disadvantage when performing Stealth.]

[Item Description: A standard police tactical vest, the outer fabric has been soaked with blood and filth, but the embedded Kevlar bulletproof layer is still intact. The front and back of the vest are printed with reflective "POLICE" lettering, and the shoulder straps and sides have tactical webbing for attaching magazine pouches.]

"Defense 10..." Lin Rui's eyes lit up, "The highest medium armor I've seen so far."

"It's a pity it's medium armor." Hu Jinsi spread his hands, "Su Wan is a light armor class, she can't wear it. Only you can use it."

Lin Rui didn't stand on ceremony and tore off the inner clothing soaked in blood and mud on the spot and threw it away.

He picked out a relatively intact damaged police uniform from the drops and put it on. Although the dark blue uniform was stained with blood, it was at least better than his original one.

Then he put the bulletproof vest directly over the police uniform, adjusting the shoulder straps and the tactical webbing on the waist.

The Kevlar layer covered his chest and abdomen, and the reflective "POLICE" lettering on the front and back shimmered in the light.

Hu Jinsi also changed into a damaged police uniform, putting it on over his iconic "Mercy Stained with Blood" white lab coat.

The hem of the lab coat poked out from the hem of the police uniform, the blood-soaked fabric forming a sharp contrast with the relatively clean front of the police uniform, making him look like a mad doctor who had escaped from a battlefield first-aid station.

After the fierce battle, the three decided to go back to rest for a while, returned to the back warehouse of the gun shop, and used the compressed biscuits and beef jerky in their backpacks to replenish their stamina.

Su Wan leaned against the wall, her gaze lingering on Lin Rui for a moment, and suddenly laughed.

"What are you laughing at?" Lin Rui asked, chewing on a biscuit, unclearly.

"Nothing." Su Wan's lips curled up, "I just think, Soldier and bulletproof vest really do have the same aesthetic. If you stood at the entrance of the police station now, you'd look just like the last remaining staff member of the RPD."

Lin Rui looked down at himself: the damaged police uniform, the reflective POLICE lettering, the tactical vest, the pistol and short sword at his waist.

Indeed, except for his overly young face, his current look had a similar effect to those dead police zombies at the entrance.

"Clothes make the man." Hu Jinsi adjusted the collar of his white lab coat nearby, the police uniform jacket stretched somewhat out of shape by him, "What about me? What do I look like?"

Su Wan turned her head, her gaze lingering on his mix-and-match of white lab coat and police uniform for two seconds, and said sincerely: "Like someone who escaped from a mental hospital."

"...Thanks for the compliment."

In the afternoon, the sunlight was filtered by the smog into pale white blocks of color.

The three set off again, hugging the wall and sneaking toward the main entrance of the police station.

The battle in the morning had cleared most of the zombies at the entrance, leaving only a few scattered wanderers, which were silently dealt with by Hu Jinsi's knuckle duster and Lin Rui's short sword.

Stepping into the broken double glass doors, a pungent odor mixed with old tobacco, congealed blood, and disinfectant rushed toward them, almost suffocating.

The view suddenly opened up—the towering, vaulted ceiling was hidden in the dim light, and the second-floor wraparound corridor was like an indifferent giant mouth, overlooking the living beings below.

The light was extremely dim, with only a few wall lamps and the precarious chandelier next to the huge bronze globe in the center casting bleak and mottled halos, cutting the entire space into a maze of light and shadow.

Around the base of the globe were scattered overturned chairs and toppled filing cabinets, and several long-stiffened corpses were entangled in eerie poses.

Some wore police uniforms, some wore casual clothes, and dried black blood painted scenes of dying struggles on the floor tiles, like some kind of abstract mural of hell.

"This sight..." Hu Jinsi paused, his voice echoing slightly in the empty hall. "Is this something we should be seeing at our age?"

While his words were mood-killing, his eyes quickly scanned the poses of the corpses—entangled limbs, scratched floor tiles, and bloody handprints pointing toward the gate.

These details felt familiar from some memory in his past life, but he simply suppressed the thought, maintaining that unserious expression on his face.

Su Wan and Lin Rui were pulled back to reality from their brief shock by him.

Almost simultaneously, a chorus of hoarse groans emerged from the shadows deep within the hall.

The zombies that had been crawling on the floor or sitting against the walls were awakened by the scent of the living and the sound of voices, staggering to their feet like a group of students hearing the signal that the cafeteria was open.

"Too many," Lin Rui said, holding his short sword across his chest. "The hall's layout is too cluttered, there are too many obstacles, and the noise will attract the ones upstairs."

"Retreat," Hu Jinsi decided decisively. "Lead them out to the plaza in front of the gate to fight."

The three of them fought as they retreated, stepping on broken glass as they exited the main gate.

The zombie horde chased them out, but their speed was hampered by their bulletproof vests, making them slower than ordinary zombies—like a group of drunks wearing heavy cotton coats, stumbling down the steps.

Hu Jinsi breathed a sigh of relief upon retreating to the plaza. He backhanded the nearest zombie, knocking it over, and couldn't help but complain: "If you ask me, this dungeon is seriously disgusting. You can't make a single sound, and fighting here is ten times more frustrating than Goldshire. Next week, I'd rather try the Cold Plains than keep coming to this hellhole."

"I don't have an opinion on that," Lin Rui said, performing a [Tactical Roll] to the side and switching to his low-noise chainsaw. The teeth cut into the side of a zombie's neck. "But a team of four can enter the Cold Plains, and going in with just three of us is a bit of a disadvantage. Unless you can pull in another person, this isn't up for discussion."

Su Wan, also firing shots from her light crossbow on the side, chimed in: "Yes, yes, yes, pull in a girl, preferably a ranged one. That way someone can keep me company, and our firepower will be more balanced. I also feel like Raccoon City is smelly and oppressive."

"Do you have any candidates?" Hu Jinsi looked at Su Wan.

Su Wan pinned a bolt into the center of a zombie's forehead and thought for a moment: "Now that you mention it, I do have a few sisters in mind. But let's focus on the fight for now; we can continue this discussion tonight when we get back."

The number of zombies on the plaza was much lower than in the morning, but their quality had clearly improved.

Nine out of ten of the zombies rushing out of the police station were wearing black tactical bulletproof vests, and some were even wearing partially shattered riot helmets.

Their movement speed was nearly a third slower than ordinary zombies, but their defense had clearly gone up a level.

When Lin Rui's chainsaw cut into them, the chain would get stuck in the bulletproof fibers, spinning for an extra half-turn before finally tearing through. When Hu Jinsi's brass knuckles struck the front of the vests, the armor-piercing effect of the bone blades was mostly negated by the bulletproof layer, and the damage numbers were pathetically low.

"These bulletproof vests..." Lin Rui frowned, his chainsaw cutting into a zombie's flank for [-12] damage, but the zombie was still crawling. "Their health is too high."

"It's like they're wearing turtle shells." Hu Jinsi circled to the side and jammed his brass knuckles into the back of a zombie's neck—a spot not covered by the bulletproof layer—for [-15] damage. A point of light finally ascended. "Hit the joints! Hit the unprotected areas!"

Su Wan's crossbow precision was fully utilized against such slow targets.

She specifically targeted the zombies' faces and the sides of their necks.

The battle lasted nearly twenty minutes, and the plaza was piled with corpses in police uniforms. Points of light rose one after another, like an eerie graveyard of fireflies.

Just as the last few bulletproof-vest-wearing zombies were about to fall, a hair-raising crawling sound came from the shadows of the police station entrance.

It wasn't the dragging footsteps of a zombie, but a sticky, friction-filled sound of something on all fours, like a wet towel being dragged forcefully across tiles.

The three of them turned their heads simultaneously, their headlamp beams hitting the source of the sound—

Three pale figures crawled out from the shattered glass doors.

They had the Licker's signature naked muscles, exposed brain tissue, and that long, scarlet tongue, but they were wearing ill-fitting RPD tactical bulletproof vests.

The shoulder straps of the vests were stretched out of shape by their knotted muscles, and the reflective "POLICE" lettering on the front and back shimmered with an ironic, cold light in the dim environment.

Most terrifying was their size—they were a size larger than ordinary Lickers, and the weight of the bulletproof vests forced their limbs to claw at the ground with more force, producing a harsh, scraping sound.

"...What the hell is this thing now?" Hu Jinsi complained immediately. "Is there a heavy SWAT version of a Licker waiting for us inside?"

"A dungeon abomination." Lin Rui said, still holding his chainsaw, but his gaze had changed.

He stared intently at the movement pattern of the three monsters—they were on all fours, but their crawling speed was significantly slower than the Lickers they had encountered in the gymnasium before. When they turned, their entire bodies moved like clumsy trucks, requiring a wide swing to adjust their direction.

"They're slower," Lin Rui said in a low voice. "The weight of the bulletproof vests is dragging them down."

Hu Jinsi noticed it too. The agility level of these three monsters was roughly equivalent to those ordinary Defias Brotherhood members in Goldshire; they could run, they could chase, but they definitely couldn't be considered agile.

More importantly, the stiff vests on their bodies meant they could no longer crawl along walls silently like before; every step produced a dull, frictional sound.

"They've gone from assassins to turrets." Hu Jinsi said, raising his damaged police pistol with a tone of absurd relief. "They rely on their tongues for mid-range surprise attacks, but their melee turning speed is as slow as a turtle."

"Kite them." Lin Rui said, decisively putting away the chainsaw and drawing his standard-issue rifle from his back. "Keep your distance, don't give them a chance for their tongues to reach us."

The three of them quickly retreated to the edge of the plaza, using abandoned patrol cars and roadblocks as cover.

The three bulletproof-vest-wearing Lickers chased them out, as expected, but their speed was hindered by the weight, and they were unable to close in quickly. They let out sharp hisses, and their long tongues snapped out like whips—

"Swish!"

A long tongue flew past Hu Jinsi's ear, pinning itself onto the lamppost behind him, emitting a sizzling sound as the metal corroded.

The tongue's attack range was indeed astonishing, nearly ten meters, but the retraction speed after the strike was absurdly slow, like a broken winch, taking two or three seconds to fully retract.

"Effective range is ten meters, retraction stun is two seconds." Lin Rui said, lying behind the hood of a police car with his rifle steadily rested on the deformed door. "Farther than the crossbow, but closer than the rifle. Keep a fifteen-meter distance, and they're just target practice."

"The shooting game begins." Su Wan said, kneeling half-way behind an overturned van. She raised her police light crossbow, aiming the aluminum bolt at the eye socket of the leading Licker.

"Bang!"

Lin Rui fired first. The rifle bullet pierced the air, hitting one of the Lickers precisely in the shoulder.

The bulletproof vest had resistance to piercing damage, and the bullet was deflected by the Kevlar layer, causing only [-4] damage, but the impact made the Licker stagger, causing its tongue's trajectory to miss.

"Tough hide!" Lin Rui pulled the bolt, aiming his second shot at the Licker's face—where there was no bulletproof layer.

"Bang!"

[-12]

Green blood sprayed from the Licker's nose bridge. It let out an angry hiss, its long tongue snapping out frantically, but it still couldn't reach the target fifteen meters away.

Su Wan's bolt followed closely. Her light crossbow didn't have the range of the rifle, but its accuracy was extremely high.

The bolt pinned into the ear of another Licker, [-8]. Although not fatal, it successfully drew its attention, making it turn toward her direction, thereby creating a more stable output window for Lin Rui.

Hu Jinsi lay behind a wrecked car, the police pistol in his hand—with 1-8 damage—looking exceptionally ridiculous. He aimed at a Licker's chest and pulled the trigger.

"Click." It jammed.

"..." Hu Jinsi put the gun down expressionlessly and began to clear the malfunction according to the panel prompts. Six seconds later, he raised his gun again. This time the bullet successfully fired, hitting the Licker's knee, [-3].

"Your gun is worse than throwing rocks." Su Wan laughed from the side, but her fingers didn't stop, pinning another bolt into the Licker's eye socket, [-9].

"The damage is low, sure," Hu Jinsi insisted stubbornly, "but I can draw aggro. Look at it, it's so angry its tongue is getting knotted."

The Licker that Hu Jinsi was continuously shooting indeed locked its target onto him, its long tongue snapping out repeatedly, corroding holes into the car door that emitted wisps of smoke.

Hu Jinsi used [Roll] to move between covers. Every time the Licker was in the retraction stun period after its tongue attack, he would poke his head out, fire a shot, and immediately pull back. Although the damage numbers were disastrous, this kiting created a nearly safe output environment for Lin Rui and Su Wan.

Lin Rui's rifle continued to roar. He specifically targeted the Lickers' faces and limbs, the areas not covered by the bulletproof vests. The third bullet hit one Licker's jaw, [-14]; the fifth shot pierced the shoulder blade of another, [-11].

Green blood pooled into small streams on the plaza, flowing along the gaps between the floor tiles.

After Su Wan's five crossbow bolts were all spent, she put down the light crossbow and placed her hands on the strings of her lyre.

"Tashas Hideous Laughter!"

The playful melody cut precisely into the nervous system of one Licker. The beast stiffened, and its mouth corners—if those exposed muscle fibers could be called corners of the mouth—began to twitch uncontrollably, falling into a four-second state of hysterical laughter. Its long tongue hung limply on the ground, like a dead red python.

"Focus fire!" Lin Rui roared.

Rifle and crossbow fire poured simultaneously onto the controlled Licker's face. Hu Jinsi even rushed within ten meters, his right-hand brass knuckle bone blade ruthlessly gouging into its eye socket, [-16], then followed up with [Flurry of Blows], striking left and right, [-9] [-10]. Within three seconds, the Licker's head was beaten into a bloody mess, dissolving into points of light.

The remaining two, seeing this, actually tried to retreat. But the weight of the bulletproof vests made their retreat as slow as a snail. Lin Rui's rifle chased their backs, shot after shot, until the second one fell on the police station steps, and the third one, while attempting to crawl back into the glass doors, was pinned in the back of the neck by Su Wan's final bolt, ending its struggle.

After the battle, the plaza was filled with a thick, fishy stench and the smell of gunpowder. The three emerged from behind their cover. Hu Jinsi shoved the jammed pistol back into his waistband, his face full of disdain: "This piece of junk, other than making a noise, is completely useless."

"It's your only effective ranged option for now. Your throwing knives wouldn't even deal damage if they hit the bulletproof vests." Lin Rui checked his rifle ammunition; there were only about 50 rounds left.

Where the points of light dissipated, a piece of equipment slowly appeared.

The object looked like a pair of headphones, but the material was hair-raising—dark purple nerve bundles woven into the outline of an ear hook, with an embalmed, pale-glowing little bone embedded in the center. There was a delicate lever on the side of the device, and the whole thing exuded a morbid, bio-technological feel.

[Wailing Resonator]

[Type: Accessory/Curio]

[Effect 1: Auditory Hyper-sense, you gain 10 meters of Blindsight. In darkness, fog, or under the effects of Deafness, you can still "see" everything through air vibrations.]

[Effect 2: Sonic Tuning, when you perform Perception or Insight checks involving sound, tone, or vibration, you gain advantage.]

[Negative: Eardrum Stress, you cannot wear this item for more than 15 consecutive minutes, and the interval between two wears cannot be less than 15 minutes.]

[Item Description: This is not a pair of headphones, but an ear-hook device woven from dark purple nerve bundles, with an embalmed Licker auditory ossicle embedded in the center. When you put it on, the surrounding noise instantly fades away, replaced by an eerie "silence"—that is the world through the eyes of a Licker. There is a delicate lever on the side of the device, which seems to be used to adjust the "receiving frequency".]

Su Wan leaned over to look at the panel, and her expression changed instantly. She imagined the sensation of that pale auditory ossicle pressed against her ear, imagined what the so-called "world through the eyes of a Licker" felt like, and her stomach churned.

"No." She stepped back, her attitude resolute. "Absolutely not. Whoever wants to wear it, go ahead."

"The stats are very suitable for you." Lin Rui said objectively. "10-meter Blindsight, advantage on sonic Perception. You are a Bard, and sound is your field of expertise."

"After seeing the description, I adamantly refuse." Su Wan hugged her lyre as if it were some kind of amulet. "Make me hang a bone on my ear? I'd rather go wear that spider-shell chest armor."

Hu Jinsi picked up the Wailing Resonator and twirled it on his fingertip. The dark purple nerve bundles twitched slightly in the light, as if they were alive.

"Lin Rui already has a bulletproof vest, and I have brass knuckles." He handed the resonator to Su Wan. "In this dungeon, you're the only one who hasn't gotten usable equipment yet. Whether you wear it yourself or sell it when we get out, the proceeds go to your own treasury."

"Take it." Lin Rui also nodded. "Dungeon loot is distributed based on need, but based on contribution, you deserve a share. The stats for this thing really suit you, even if the description is a bit disgusting..."

"It's not disgusting, it's a mental attack." Su Wan corrected, but her fingers were no longer so resolutely resistant. She took the resonator, wrapped it in two layers of waterproof cloth, and stuffed it into the deepest part of her backpack. "I'll keep it for now. After we get out, I'll list it on the exchange with the title 'Licker-Style Fashion Accessory' and see if there are any buyers with heavy tastes."

"Maybe it'll sell for a good price." Hu Jinsi grinned. "After all, the stats are genuinely useful."

The three rested for a moment, and after confirming there were no remaining threats on the plaza, they stepped into the police station entrance again. This time, the first-floor hall was empty; the zombies drawn out in the morning had been wiped out, leaving only those few long-stiffened corpses and scattered documents.

They found a floor plan splashed with blood on the wall on the east side of the hall. The plastic panel in the metal frame had yellowed, but the writing was barely legible:

"Basement 1: Includes parking lot, detention center (cells), morgue, shooting range, kennel;

Floor 1: Central hall, west office, press room, command room;

Floor 2: Library, S.T.A.R.S. office, chief's office, art collection room;

Floor 3: Attic, storage area, and..."

The floor plan for the 3rd floor had clearly been partially torn off, the plastic panel shattered to reveal the mottled brick wall behind it, as if someone had deliberately not wanted latecomers to know what was hidden on the top floor.