Licker

Boom!

A heavy object hit the ground.

Lin An jumped down from the roof with a heavy expression.

The mental storm had passed.

Aside from a slight dizziness in his head, he was otherwise unharmed.

Now that the apocalypse game had officially begun, it meant An Jingtian's life was ticking away.

Time was running out; he needed to find a vehicle as soon as he left the main urban area.

Otherwise, relying solely on his legs, he wouldn't be able to reach his destination in time.

Now, the city was infested with at least millions of zombies.

Even though he had become an awakened one, surrounded by countless zombies, there was no chance of survival.

...

Linjiang Suburb.

A red Dongfeng heavy truck roared past, mercilessly crushing zombies along the way.

"Bang!"

In the truck's cab, Lin An kicked open the door and jumped out without hesitation, despite the truck still speeding.

After rolling several times to reduce the impact, he stood up steadily.

Having become an awakened one, his constitution of 12 points was enough to make him immune to most impacts.

The uncontrolled Dongfeng heavy truck crashed straight into the community wall.

Blood smeared the vehicle, and some unidentified pieces of flesh were stuck in the gaps.

On the front bumper, a zombie with only its upper body left continued gnawing on the metal tirelessly.

With a loud crash, the truck that had been speeding out of the city finally completed its last mission.

At the entrance of the community, zombies gnawing on corpses were crushed into a bloody mess by the runaway truck.

Black smoke rose from the deformed front, and dark tire marks were mixed with red.

The sky was dim.

After breaking out from the city center, Lin An had driven straight to the area where An Jingtian was located.

What would have been a three-hour drive was reduced by more than half.

Without taking a break, Lin An quickly took out his phone and looked at the glowing screen.

There were still twenty-three minutes left...

His heart, which had been on edge, finally relaxed.

Fortunately, there was still time.

An Jingtian's neighborhood was in the innermost part of this area.

This was an old district with intricate roads, so he could only proceed on foot.

But even on foot, with his enhanced body, it would take him no more than fifteen minutes to get there.

Brother, you must hold on!

After punching through a zombie lunging at him, Lin An sprinted along the inner wall of the neighborhood.

The once quiet and cozy residential buildings had now turned into slaughterhouses.

Sealed security windows became the biggest obstacles for those trying to escape.

Occasionally, shrill screams echoed from the buildings.

In half-open windows, zombies flickered in and out of sight.

Fortunately, before the apocalypse broke out, most residents in the neighborhood were still outside and hadn't returned home.

Otherwise, given the population density of this old district, it would have been impossible for him to move an inch.

With agile movements, Lin An easily avoided small groups of zombies that tried to surround him.

He ran at an incredible speed, reaching the neighborhood entrance in no time.

He avoided zombies when he could; when he couldn't, he simply punched through their heads.

...

At the entrance of the neighborhood, under the security window on the 6th floor of a fancy apartment.

A businessman, shirtless and overweight, hung laboriously below the security grille.

It was unclear how such a fat man had managed to climb the outer wall.

"Save me!"

"Please!"

The short and fat man shouted loudly to Lin An, squeezing out an awkward smile, with sweat the size of soybeans dripping from his nose.

He had been hanging outside the window for a while, and seeing Lin An charge out of the neighborhood like a god of death, he thought it would be a piece of cake for him to save him.

Lin An remained unmoved, kicking a zombie in front of him to pieces and not looking back.

"I have money!"

"Ten thousand!"

"Save me!"

The businessman panicked, seeing Lin An about to leave the gate.

The security window in front of him was gradually deforming.

The sturdy steel bars creaked as the woman turned zombie bit into them.

"One hundred thousand! I'll give you one hundred thousand!"

The businessman looked terrified; his strength was nearly exhausted.

The stench of rot from the woman's mouth made him dizzy.

She used to have his favorite cherry lips, once fragrant and sweet.

"Five hundred thousand! I am the boss of Linjiang Construction Group! If you save me, I'll give you the position of general manager!"

Seeing Lin An getting farther away, the businessman's face turned pale. No longer caring about the cost, he shouted at the top of his lungs.

Linjiang Construction Group was a famous name in Linjiang City; he believed anyone would be tempted.

Lin An couldn't be bothered.

In the apocalypse, money was only good for wiping one's butt.

Seeing Lin An disappear, the businessman was stunned.

That was five million plus the position of general manager! How could someone not be tempted?

Power, money.

He thought he had offered enough!

Idiot, absolute idiot!

Furious and desperate, the businessman began to curse Lin An madly, venting his fear.

...

Passing through a rare zombie-free avenue.

Lin An's footsteps suddenly halted, his expression serious.

It wasn't because the businessman's promised money tempted him to turn back.

In the distance, a giant creature, three meters tall and blood-red like a skinned frog, blocked the road.

That was...

A Licker!

As a mutated zombie, Lickers possessed terrifying combat abilities.

In his previous life, one could easily destroy a small safe zone.

Although they lacked armor, their constantly regenerating muscle tissue could withstand most small-caliber firearms.

They were extremely fast, incredibly strong, and had regenerative flesh.

Hard steel in its hands was like dough.

They were truly one of the survivors' nightmares.

I wonder if I can bypass it.

Lin An carefully concealed himself behind a truck.

Even though he was an awakened one, he was only at stage 0.

While his strength had surpassed human limits, there was still a significant gap compared to such a monster.

And he had no weapons; if discovered by the Licker, fighting it bare-handed would be extremely difficult.

Should I take a detour?

Lin An held his breath cautiously, using a broken side mirror to inspect carefully.

The Licker's every movement on the road felt like an earthquake.

Over two meters long, its sharp claws could easily pierce through metal.

Its dual claws struck like afterimages, continuously pulling humans out of cars.

It was like savoring dessert.

In high spirits, it even devoured other zombies.

Lin An remained silent.

No wonder there were no zombies on this road; they had all been eaten by this monster.

After ten seconds.

The Licker chewed on a pair of severed legs, its eyes greedily scanning the surroundings.

It had cleaned out the entire street.

"Bzzz~"

A faint vibration from his phone.

It was a voice message from An Jingtian.

Lin An's eyes narrowed sharply, and he carefully turned the volume to its lowest.

"Zz... Lin Ge, I'm Jingtian's sister An Xia. My brother seems to be dying..."

"He threw up... zz... a lot of blood."

"I don't know why... the way my brother looks at me."

"It's like..."

"Zz..."

"He wants to eat me."

There was interference in the message, making it somewhat unclear.

The message was sent five minutes ago.

Global communications had been severely disrupted since the apocalypse began and would be completely cut off within three hours.

Lin An clutched his phone tightly.

His hands, steady from fighting through mountains of corpses and seas of blood, now trembled slightly.

The speed at which Jingtian's condition was deteriorating exceeded his expectations.

Maybe in the next second, he would completely turn into a zombie.

There was no more time to waste.

Originally planning to take a detour, Lin An immediately straightened up, ignoring the risk of exposing himself to the Licker, and sprinted forward!

He needed a weapon now!

Back to the community guard post!

He remembered there was a fire axe there!

"Thud!"

"Thud!"

The ground trembled.

In the distance, the massive Licker seemed to have sensed something.

Its hideous face, with two nostril-like holes, sniffed the air carefully.

"Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!"

Suddenly, the enormous Licker began to sprint madly.

Cars along the way were thrown aside like being hit by a train.

It was incredibly fast; it had smelled the scent of living flesh!

The distance between them closed rapidly.

"Boom!"

Lin An took a leap to the guard post, kicked open the locked iron door with brute force.