Chapter Six: The Second One

"There are two more." Carter Hayes walked, recalling the recent hunt for zombies. Although there were mistakes on the zombies' part, Carter believed that even if he were to encounter a zombie now, he had an eighty percent chance of killing it.

With the success of the first kill, Carter's confidence soared. He understood that in this apocalypse, many people died not because they were weak, but because of the fear in their hearts. If not for knowing about zombies beforehand, Carter believed he would've been scared to death by their bloodshot, pus-covered faces.

No longer as anxious as before, Carter left the secluded street and headed straight for the busiest and largest street in the city—Zhongshan Pedestrian Street.

His goal was simple: the largest shopping mall in the city center, Joy City.

According to the Aeon System's information, the zombie outbreak occurred last night. This meant places like Joy City would likely have few customers, if any at all. Even if there were zombies, they wouldn't be too numerous, most likely just the mall staff.

Today, the Aeon System gave Carter three tasks, two of which—finding food and a secure location—could be accomplished at the shopping mall. Here, he didn't have to worry about encountering large groups of zombies and could easily complete the first task.

It was a win-win situation, and Carter wouldn't miss out on it.

However, as he reached the bustling street, Carter became more cautious in his movements. While he wasn't afraid of facing zombies one-on-one, being surrounded by them could prove fatal.

Carefully, he arrived at the entrance of Joy City and found it as he had imagined—quiet. What pleased him most was that the mall's doors were open, saving him the trouble of forcing them open.

Once inside, Carter remained vigilant. The first floor housed electronics, which wasn't his target. However, there were quite a few zombies scattered around, most likely the owners or salespersons of these electronic shops.

Although Carter had anticipated the existence of zombies, seeing hundreds of them at once still frightened him.

Holding his breath and moving cautiously, Carter quietly made his way to the escalator. He didn't want to alert the zombies. If discovered, he'd have to abandon the place.

The entire city had lost power due to the meteor shower the previous day. Although places like Joy City had their own generators, with the outbreak of zombies, nobody would bother maintaining them.

Without electricity, the escalator was the only option. Soon, Carter, who had already roughly guessed the zombies' temperaments, reached the second floor.

This was his destination. As a resident of this city, he was very familiar with Joy City.

"The Deli Section," Carter ascended to the second floor and immediately saw the area selling cooked food.

Having not eaten for almost half a day, hunger gripped him.

"Food has been contaminated by the virus. Host, please be cautious." Just as Carter was about to bite into a chicken leg, the voice of the Maya System, silent for most of the day, echoed in his mind.

"What?" Carter hadn't expected this turn of events. He hesitated and put down the chicken leg.

Although frustrated, Carter realized the validity of the Maya System's warning when he saw a swaying figure emerge from behind a counter.

All the staff in Joy City had turned into zombies. The air was contaminated with the virus, let alone these unpackaged foods.

Thinking of this, Carter felt a wave of fear. If the Maya System hadn't reminded him earlier, he might have become a mindless zombie by now.

However, this wasn't the time to dwell on such matters. As the zombie emerged from the shelf, it spotted Carter's presence.

"Another fight," Carter complained inwardly. Seeing the green light flash in the gray eyes of the zombie, he knew that hiding was no longer an option.

Making noise would attract more zombies. Carter knew the best and most effective method was to quickly kill the zombie to prevent it from summoning more companions.

Gripping his knife tightly, Carter made his move.

Zombies, perhaps inheriting human selfishness and greed, generally wouldn't loudly call other zombies for help when they found a living human. They preferred the taste of fresh human flesh and preferred to feast alone rather than share with others.

Earlier, on his way to Joy City, Carter had relied on this characteristic of zombies to make it here unscathed.

"It has to be a single, lethal blow," Carter thought as he charged towards the zombie. He already had a rough plan in mind. The weak point was the neck; he had to hit it with a single strike.

Although zombies didn't feel pain, cutting other parts of their bodies with a knife would still provoke their anger.

Unlike the street earlier in the morning, where there were probably thousands of zombies, there were likely fewer zombies here in the mall. Carter wasn't bold enough to think he could handle thousands of them alone.

"Ahh!" The zombie saw Carter rushing towards him and let out a low growl. Carter's boldness had offended it, and it charged at him in retaliation.

Remembering the slow movements of the zombies, Carter didn't forget their weaknesses. Watching the zombie's swaying gait, when its claws were about to touch his body, Carter squatted down, dodging the claws, and extended his foot.

"Thunk."

With Carter's calculations, the zombie fell straight to the ground.

"A good opportunity." Carter hadn't expected this foot to be effective, successfully tripping the zombie. A zombie lying on its back posed little threat.

"Die!"

Seeing the opportunity, Carter disregarded the pain when his lower leg touched the zombie's leg. After quickly jumping up, he used all his strength to accurately cut the zombie's neck.

"Snap." When metal met bone, a crisp sound rang out. The zombie's head fell to the ground.

"Phew." Carter looked at the zombie, now covered in black blood, and breathed a sigh of relief.

"That's the second one."

Although he had easily dealt with this zombie, Carter still didn't dare linger in one place for too long. The fight just now, more or less, had made some noise.

However, this was Carter's destination, and even knowing the danger, it was impossible for him to leave.

Having easily killed this zombie, Carter's mind suddenly came up with a rather crazy idea: if one-on-one, zombies weren't his opponents, then now, wasn't it possible to kill all the zombies in the second floor?

Although Carter felt he was being quite reckless, after a moment of thought, he found it feasible.

"Thud, thud." Just then, a loud footstep brought Carter back to reality.

He quickly turned around and hid not far from where he had just killed the zombie.