CHAPTER 31

"Hoo hooo~"

The zombie who was trying to lunge at Mo Jun huffed and puffed hungrily, its eyes locked on to the latter's neck.

Seeing that, Mo Jun tensed his body and transmutated his skin to shiny yet sturdy steel material.

The zombie successfully grabbed Mo Jun's back and attempted to bite a flesh off, but its teeth failed to sink into soft flesh. Instead, a soft clang was heard as the zombie's sharp teeth attempted to tear through Mo Jun's sturdy steel skin.

Now that the zombie is in close contact with him, Mo Jun didn't hesitate and put all his power into his fist. One strike and the zombie's head flew off, spilling brain matters and blood everywhere.

"Ugh!" Mo Jun flicked his hand, attempting to flick away the dirt that stained his hand.

"That's the last one," Li Qingshan tallied upon seeing that Mo Jun already finished his share of the battle.

It's already the afternoon and they've been away from the safe zone for about three hours. They would have left the safe zone this morning, but Shen Tian asked for their help for some manual labor. They left after eating lunch.

Shao Haoran took out a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to Mo Jun.

"Let's collect the crystal cores quickly," Mo Jun accepted the handkerchief and wiped the remaining dirt off his hands. "We should be able to cover a couple of distance more before the sun sets."

Shao Haoran and Li Qinsghan nodded at his words and started to squat over the zombies they've killed. As they have lots of experience culling zombies and digging out crystal cores from their heads, they were able to collect what they need within half an hour.

They then moved forward a bit more in the forest.

While it may be true that the safe zone will keep them safe from the zombie, they still felt that they need to proactively get rid of the zombies around the vicinity. The main reason is so that they can get stronger, since fighting zombies can improve their abilities in exchange. The other reason is because they knew that leaving the zombies around can contribute to the formation of the horde. As survivors, they need to do their part in eliminating the threat against their survival. Most importantly, killing the zombies in the forest, which is within the vicinity of the safe zone, ensures that the latter remains safe.

After covering more distance forward, the three men encountered another group of zombies. Just like the zombies they've encountered before, these zombies have purplish, rotting flesh and dried blood. The smell is very distinctive that, if you're smelling it for the first time, you'll definitely end up vomiting whatever it is you ate in your last meal.

The zombies haven't noticed them yet, so the three men crouched down and hid themselves first.

"How many zombies are there?" Mo Jun whispered a question.

"Around ten, I think."

Shao Haoran observed the group of zombies and their movements. After a while, he came up with a strategy for the three of them to execute.

"Li Qingshan, gather them up in one place with an encirclement," Shao Haoran commanded in a low voice. "I'll fry them inside once the enclosure is done. We will then deal with any zombies that didn't die during the first attack. Mo Jun, if there are zombies that slip through the net, take care of them. Then, join me and Li Qingshan in dealing with the zombies inside the enclosure."

Li Qingshan and Mo Jun nodded without complaints. It wasn't the first time that they worked with Shao Haoran and they believe that the latter can make the best strategies, especially within a short period of time.

They then took their position according to Shao Haoran's instructions. Li Qingshan crouched and touched the ground, ready to manipulate the soil at Shao Haoran's signal. Mo Jun, on the other hand, transmutated his skin into steel.

"Ready?" Shao Haoran asked the two.

"Let's do this!" Mo Jun replied excitedly while Li Qingshan nodded solemnly.

Shao Haoran timed and observed the movement of the zombies.

"Go!"

As soon as Shao Haoran's words fell into the two men's ears, they took action immediately. Li Qingshan raised the soil five feet high and manipulated it to form a circle, encircling as many zombies as he can.

Mo Jun ran forward to attack the three zombies outside the enclosure. The zombies had already noticed them and had ran forward towards their supposed prey.

Shao Haoran jumped to the top of the soil wall and released high-voltage lighting inside the encirclement, grilling zombie flesh to crisp. Most of the zombies fell down, but some were durable enough to withstand the shock.

"Roar!!"

One of the bigger zombies roared with all its might towards Shao Haoran. It then ran toward his direction, clawing and punching at the soil wall, attempting to climb up.

Seeing the big zombie, Shao Haoran noticed that this one is a mutated type. It's either a body strengthening or a body transmutating type like Mo Jun.

Shao Haoran did a quick look at Mo Jun's direction and determined that he was done with the zombies that escaped the encirclement. Looking at Li Qingshan, the man has already started manipulating the soil to pierce towards the slow-moving zombies inside the enclosure.

"Mo Jun! Go help Li Qingshan!" Shao Haoran shouted as he charged his fist with small volts of lightning. "I'll take care of the big one!"

"Copy that!"

When Shao Haoran felt that the voltage in his fist is already enough, he then made a grabbing motion. The small volts of lighting consolidated to materialize a small knife in his grip. Once the lightning knife felt solid enough, he confidently jumped down to face off with the big zombie.

"Roar!!" The zombie roared again upon seeing Shao Haoran jumped to his direction. It didn't retreat, though. Instead, it braced itself and prepared to attack head-on as well.

The knife hit the zombie's flesh. However, instead of slicing rotting flesh off, Shao Haoran felt resistance as if he was striking cement. In the brief second of their contact, Shao Haoran observed that the zombie's flesh didn't change in material, thus confirming that this zombie is a body strengthening type zombie.

He jumped back to gain distance, but the zombie followed him and swung a fist. He parried the zombie's attack with his knife. Using the momentum of his swing, he did a roundhouse kick. The zombie didn't expect to be counterattacked that fast. He flew away, hitting the soil wall so hard, the dust scattered everywhere.