Chapter 53: Unconscious for Three Days

At this moment, the zombie boss had only 10 health points remaining. Chen Fan's final strike and the zombie's attack landed on each other simultaneously.

With a loud bang, Yang Keli's shield stubbornly absorbed the vast majority of the damage.

The remaining force transferred through the shield onto her body, crashing her into Chen Fan. Both of them were sent flying backward, crashing heavily onto the ground.

Yang Keli coughed up a mouthful of blood from the impact, her health plummeting to 3 points.

Chen Fan did not suffer much damage, but the duration of his enchanted golden apple was about to expire.

As its health was exhausted, the zombie boss's massive body began to turn translucent from the feet up, dissolving into wisps of white mist. The surrounding air seemed disturbed by this force, causing mild ripples to spread.

Just when everyone thought it was over, dozens of ordinary zombies suddenly materialized out of thin air, baring their fangs and claws as they swarmed toward them.

This was another trait of the elite-grade zombie boss: upon death, it would summon one ordinary zombie for every 10 points of its maximum health.

Seeing this, Xu Xinjie and the others constricted their pupils in shock, and Ram hurriedly shouted, "Rem, go protect the master! Everyone else, eliminate the ordinary zombies!"

"Understood!"

Suddenly, a mechanical voice echoed in the minds of all surviving humans:

[Congratulations to Chen Fan for completing the world's first kill of an elite-grade zombie boss. The reward has been deposited into your inventory.]

Everyone was utterly stunned by this notification. The message was simply too shocking.

Killing an elite-grade boss completely transcended their understanding.

If there were ordinary bosses before and elite ones now, would there be legendary and king-tier bosses in the future?

Were they even meant to survive this? Some wailed in despair, while others simply accepted whatever happened, feeling that managing to stay alive this far was already a miracle enough.

Especially the siblings Zhao Gang and Zhao Xiaoqian; looking at each other, they could see deep shock and disbelief in one another's eyes. That Chen Fan was outrageously, terrifyingly strong.

"Brother, is Chen Fan a god?"

After a long silence, Zhao Xiaoqian parted her lips and murmured those words.

"I don't know. But there probably isn't a single person left in this world who could fight him as an equal," Zhao Gang said, feeling somewhat broken.

...

Meanwhile, Chen Fan's previously tense body did not relax even after the zombie boss vanished; instead, it began to tremble slightly.

His breathing grew rapid and heavy, and a hint of madness flickered deep within his eyes.

Yang Keli noticed Chen Fan's abnormality, especially his blood-red eyes that seemed to be oozing gore.

Realizing something was wrong, she hurriedly stepped forward and grabbed Chen Fan's arm, only to be violently shoved away. At the same time, he swung his diamond sword directly at her.

"Chen Fan!" Yang Keli stepped back in terror, crying out anxiously, "Snap out of it, it's me, Keli!"

Chen Fan's body trembled slightly, and the diamond sword froze just one centimeter away from Yang Keli's neck.

The red hue in his eyes slowly faded. As he looked at Yang Keli before him, seeing the terrified expression and the tears welling in her eyes, a surge of remorse flooded his heart.

He slowly lowered the diamond sword in his hand, painfully twisting the corners of his mouth into a weak smile as he spoke, "I'm sorry, Keli, I almost..."

Before he could finish his sentence, Chen Fan's vision went black, and he collapsed forward.

Seeing this, Yang Keli rushed forward to catch him in her arms. With trembling hands, she continuously splashed [Healing Potion] onto Chen Fan's wounds.

Her eyes were filled with panic and helplessness as she muttered over and over, "You're going to be fine, you'll be fine..."

After a while, seeing that Chen Fan's breathing had stabilized, Yang Keli gently laid him flat on the ground. She then turned her head toward the approaching horde of zombies, her eyes blazing with fury.

"Damn it, I'm going to hack every single one of you bastards to death!"

With that, she picked up the diamond sword from the ground and charged fiercely into the zombie horde, weapon swinging wildly.

Witnessing this, Xu Xinjie was left completely dumbfounded. Was this really the cute, delicate little girl Yang Keli he thought he knew?

...

During the days of Chen Fan's coma, Yang Keli remained faithfully by his side, barely closing her eyes to sleep.

She closely monitored Chen Fan's condition every second, and every time his brow furrowed even slightly, it would make her heart leap into her throat.

Xu Xinjie and the others stood guard vigilantly around the perimeter. During this period, a terrifying goatman appeared in their vicinity, letting out spine-chilling screeches. If not for Ram and the others fighting desperately to hold it off, the team would likely have suffered casualties.

Chen Fan, unconscious, remained completely unaware of everything that happened afterward. When he finally woke up, it was already the afternoon three days later.

Chen Fan slowly opened his eyes, and what came into view was Yang Keli's haggard yet radiant, joyful face.

His throat felt as though it were blocked by something, and it took him a long while to squeeze out a few hoarse words: "How... how long have I been asleep?"

With tears in her eyes, Yang Keli gently scolded, "You've been asleep for three whole days! You scared everyone half to death."

Chen Fan struggled to sit up, only to find his body overwhelmingly weak. Yang Keli hurried over to support him.

He looked around and saw the tired yet relieved expressions on Xu Xinjie and the others' faces.

A wave of warmth washed over him, accompanied by a deep sense of guilt for causing concern during his coma.

"Did anything unusual happen while I was out?" Chen Fan asked casually, pretending indifference.

Just as Xu Xinjie was about to speak, Ram chimed in first, "Master, everything is fine. You just focus on recovering your health."

Yang Keli frowned slightly but chose not to expose the white lie.

After resting for a while, Chen Fan opened his status panel to check his condition, and his eyes suddenly widened in disbelief.

He had never seen his attributes fall so low.

(The three primary bars: Health, Hunger, Thirst)

Right now, all of them were sitting at a miserable 1 point, and within moments, his hunger bar dropped completely to zero.

Terrified, he hurriedly pulled out some cooked potatoes and mineral water to replenish his stats. Seeing Chen Fan wolfing down the food ravenously, the others finally let out the breath they had been holding.

Once his status was restored, Chen Fan rested a bit longer before asking about what had transpired over the past few days.

From Ram's explanation, he learned that Yang Keli had tirelessly cared for him the entire time. Chen Fan's gaze grew exceptionally tender.

He gently raised his hand, patted Yang Keli's head, and said with boundless affection, "Keli, you've had a hard time these past few days."

"It wasn't hard at all."

Yang Keli's cheeks flushed slightly, and the exhaustion in her eyes seemed largely chased away by this gentle moment.

Seeing this scene, everyone else understood the situation instantly.

When Ram mentioned the items dropped by the zombie boss, a bright gleam lit up Chen Fan's eyes.

The enchanted books included [Protection III], [Projectile Protection IV], and [Fire Aspect III].

The equipment featured an iron helmet with [Blast Protection II] and iron leggings with [Projectile Protection II].

There was also one piece of dark matter and five thousand gold coins.

Additionally, inside the silver loot chest on the bottom layer of the dungeon, they had obtained 1 bottle of Tier 1 Strength Potion, 2 bottles of Healing Potions, two winter coats, 1 diamond helmet, 3 golden apples, several crop seeds, and 1 stack of bread.

The harvest was remarkably bountiful.

Chen Fan arranged the distribution of the equipment, giving the diamond helmet and the enchanted iron leggings to Yang Keli, and the enchanted iron helmet to Xu Xinjie.

As for the enchanted books, whoever needed them would have to apply them to their gear themselves, though he reminded them that they must wait until reaching level 50 before enchanting.

Everyone looked puzzled by this, so Chen Fan explained to them about the attribute boosts unlocked upon reaching level 40.

After handling these matters, Chen Fan sat up from the bed. Although his head still felt a bit dizzy, it no longer affected his ability to walk normally.