Chapter Seven: Luo Ling
At noon, the sun blazed mercilessly in the sky. Zombies rarely appeared at this time, and so Ke Bei reached Chen Village without incident.
“Something’s not right!”
Ke Bei hid in a dilapidated three-story tower with no roof, frowning as he gazed northward. A thousand red-haired zombies surged in like a crimson cloud, sending a chill down his spine. Confusion and astonishment flickered in his eyes.
“What on earth is happening?” His expression grew grave.
“There shouldn’t be so many red-haired zombies in this small town of Chen Village—especially not now!”
“It’s noon, the sun is scorching, and zombies typically remain dormant at this hour. Even seeing a dozen or so red-haired zombies wandering in the sunlight would be rare. But now, so many have appeared at once—it’s completely abnormal.”
Ke Bei pressed himself lower against the floor, one hand gripping his broad machete so tightly that sweat pooled in his palm, while the other hand clenched a three-inch willow-leaf throwing knife.
“A...purple-haired zombie!”
His face turned deathly pale as he sucked in a sharp breath, terror twisting his features and drenching him in cold sweat.
As the horde drew near, he suddenly spotted a flash of purple leaping nimbly from the midst of the red-haired zombies, appearing at the vanguard in the blink of an eye.
“It really is a purple-haired zombie...”
Ke Bei bit his lip, his body shaking uncontrollably.
Even the lowest red-haired zombies possessed triple the strength of an ordinary human, and their defenses were formidable. Unless struck in a vital spot, even if they stood still, Ke Bei doubted he could cut them down.
A step above the red-haired zombies were the blue-haired ones. Covered in blue fuzz, their strength was monstrous—nine times that of a human—and their defenses were yet another level higher. If Ke Bei encountered one, death would be his only fate. Even if he managed to strike a vital point with a throwing knife, he wouldn’t harm it, and blue-haired zombies moved as quickly as a level one gene-enhanced human at full burst. There would be no escape.
But purple-haired zombies...
They were even more terrifying—apex predators among the undead. Their strength exceeded that of a normal human by twenty-seven times, their bodies nearly impervious to attack, with ordinary blows unable to leave even a pale mark. Most horrifying was that they had evolved a rudimentary intelligence.
Thunderous footsteps shook the ground. Dust billowed, and the sky grew gloomier.
Led by the purple-haired zombie, the horde of nearly a thousand red-haired zombies swept forward, reducing the already-ruined buildings to utter rubble in their wake.
Closer—they drew ever closer!
The horde was now less than a hundred meters from the tower where Ke Bei hid.
He held his breath, his heart pounding like a drum, threatening to burst from his chest.
“What do I do? What do I do?” A thousand thoughts raced through his mind, familiar faces flashing before his eyes. Ke Bei could think of no way out.
Roars and howls split the air.
“Is this the end?” The deafening cacophony rang in his ears. The horde, now less than ten meters away, would engulf him in an instant. Ke Bei stared blankly at the gray sky, a bitter smile twisting his lips. The sudden catastrophe had come so swiftly that he’d had no time to prepare.
“Father...”
The last image in his mind was that of the bearded man. As the thunderous noise filled his ears, Ke Bei sprang to his feet!
If he must die, let it be a glorious death!
Clutching the machete his father left behind, Ke Bei looked down at the dense swarm of zombies.
“Fight!”
He growled inwardly, preparing to hurl the throwing knife in his palm. But suddenly, he froze, looking up at the sky in shock.
A strange chill swept down, as though the air itself were laced with ice crystals. Ke Bei shuddered violently, the cold seeping into his bones, his hands trembling so much that the throwing knife slipped from his grasp and clattered to the floor.
A black figure appeared above the horde like a deity descending from the heavens—not far from Ke Bei, so he could see clearly: it was a woman.
She wore a tight, black combat suit, her long purple hair whipping in the wind, her figure slender and lithe, a crystalline, translucent sword as thin as a cicada’s wing held in her hand.
In the sky above, the woman stood with an air of calm, her cold, beautiful face radiating a chilling intent to kill.
A mournful wail arose.
The bloodthirsty, frenzied red-haired zombies sensed the inexplicable chill and whimpered uneasily.
Suddenly, the woman moved. The crystalline sword in her fair hand was instantly sheathed in a layer of fine ice. With a graceful sweep, the sword traced an arc, and dozens of red-haired zombies were blasted away, their gruesome heads flying off, icy shards glinting at their necks.
With a single gesture, dozens of zombies lost their lives!
“She’s terrifying!” Ke Bei sucked in a breath. The mysterious woman’s power was astonishing.
A piercing roar erupted from the leading purple-haired zombie. Its body, bristling with violet fuzz, sprang forward in a series of bounding leaps to confront the woman.
Its claws gleamed with a ghostly light, slashing wildly at her.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The woman met the attack with icy indifference, her sword flashing as she parried the zombie’s claws in a flurry of strikes. Each clash sent another swath of red-haired zombies tumbling to the ground.
The purple-haired zombie’s eyes, blood-red with an eerie violet glow, fixed on her. Its fangs suddenly lengthened a full foot, and its massive, furred hand struck her sword with brutal force.
Bang!
The tremendous force traveled up the sword and into the woman’s delicate frame. She skidded back more than ten meters, a thread of blood staining her pale lips.
Her momentum only halted when she crashed against the tower where Ke Bei hid. He stared in shock at the deep, gruesome wounds gouged in her back.
“She’s already so badly wounded!” Ke Bei’s eyes widened. “How can she still fight a purple-haired zombie with injuries like that? This woman is incredible!”
He was at a loss for words to describe his awe.
The woman glanced at Ke Bei with an expressionless gaze, then turned and charged back at the purple-haired zombie.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Her sword, sheathed in ice, clashed violently with the purple-haired zombie.
They fought from the front of the horde to the rear, and back again, their battle cutting a swath of carnage through the mass of zombies. Countless red-haired zombies fell to her blade.
Her purple hair whipped wildly, her face pale as death. Each fierce collision sapped her strength further, and her graceful figure looked as fragile as a willow in the wind, as if she might fall at any moment. Yet she never did. With every sweep of her sword, she reaped more red-haired zombies.
Half an hour passed. Though neither the purple-haired zombie nor the woman could gain the upper hand, more than half the red-haired zombies had perished by her hand.
Her sword was fierce and icy, while the purple-haired zombie was immensely powerful, its body as hard as iron. Despite their apparent parity, Ke Bei was worried for the woman.
He knew her injuries were grave. Without some trump card, she would not survive this ordeal.
As expected, after another brutal exchange, the woman in black staggered back several steps, nearly collapsing, and spat a mouthful of blood.
The purple-haired zombie, seeing this, howled with excitement. Its massive body leapt forward, black claws slashing for her throat.
“Hmph.”
The woman snorted disdainfully. The temperature plummeted, the chill deepening. Her eyes turned a crystalline white.
“A mere purple-haired zombie—what can it do to me?”
Her pure-white eyes flashed, and her sword lunged lightning-fast. Mist gathered around its tip, the air freezing solid.
“Die!”
Her brows knit tightly, her face even paler, as she hurled her sword like a whirlwind.
The icy blade, trailing a wreath of white mist, swept violently toward the purple-haired zombie. Every red-haired zombie it passed was sliced in two, the wounds frosted with ice crystals, not a drop of blood spilled before life was snuffed out.
The purple-haired zombie’s scarlet eyes fixed on the sword hidden in the mist. It roared furiously, every hair standing on end like steel pins, its muscles tensing to their limits as it charged.
Boom!
A shrill clash like metal ringing through the heavens. The sword, sharp enough to shatter gold and stone, was stopped, lodged in the zombie’s muscle.
The purple-haired zombie ignored the blade in its chest, roaring as it lunged at the woman. Its fangs gleamed, its claws flashed.
The woman swayed, her face ghostly pale, her body wavering as if she might collapse, but she showed no fear, her expression still calm.
“Detonate.”
Just as the zombie’s fangs were about to touch her, she fixed her gaze on the sword in its chest and spoke coldly.
Boom!
At her icy command, the purple-haired zombie froze. The sword in its chest exploded in a burst of thick white mist, enveloping the creature in a deadly chill. In an instant, it was frozen solid.
Then came a brittle crackling. Covered in a shell of ice, the purple-haired zombie shattered like glass, fragments glittering across the ground.
As the zombie broke apart, the woman could suppress her wounds no longer. She spat a mouthful of blood, staining her black battle suit a deep red.
“Is this where I, Luo Ling, die at the hands of these red-haired zombies?”
Her face was devoid of color, lips cracked and teeth biting down, her lovely features tinged with bitterness and helplessness. She knew her own state all too well—her body was already a guttering lamp, now pushed to its limit.
Her vision blurred; her limbs grew unresponsive. Suddenly, the world spun, and Luo Ling staggered, then crashed to the ground.
Roars and howls echoed around her.
The battle between Luo Ling and the purple-haired zombie had decimated the horde; of the thousand or so zombies, only seventy or eighty remained.
The red-haired zombies seemed deeply afraid of Luo Ling. Even though she lay unconscious, they did not dare approach, yet were reluctant to leave. Instead, they howled and shuffled slowly, inching closer to her prone form.
“Damn!” Ke Bei, prone on the tower’s rooftop, watched the zombies converge on Luo Ling and cursed under his breath.
“Do I help her or not?”
He was torn. If not for this woman, he’d be dead already. Now she was in mortal danger—if he did nothing, he’d regret it forever, but if he tried to help, both of them might die.
“No matter what, you saved my life. I can’t just walk away!” Determination flashed in Ke Bei’s eyes as he stood up slowly. Reason urged him to flee, but his heart could not accept it.
“A man lives but once—let it be without regret! Snatching a wretched survival is not my way!”
“If I die here today, then that is my fate. I will never regret it!”
Whoosh!
A throwing knife whistled through the air, and the red-haired zombie closest to Luo Ling collapsed. Ke Bei had made his move.