Chapter 115: Vanishing

At this moment, Lin Dong had just finished collecting Er Zhuang and the cat corpse.

From the distant streets, he heard bursts of shrieks and the sounds of panicked flight. He could clearly perceive the scent of humans, followed by the zombies pursuing them.

Lin Dong headed in that direction.

Before long, he arrived at a basement that had just witnessed a slaughter. The air was thick with a pungent, bloody stench. The once-pristine walls were splattered with visceral blood, and the floor was littered with corpses in disarray; some had even been half-devoured, a truly harrowing sight.

"Might as well scavenge the leftovers..."

Lin Dong was not one to be picky. With a wave of his hand, he collected all of the "food."

After finishing, he returned to the street and gazed into the distance, spotting more corpses along the roadside—likely the humans who had just been caught and killed by zombies while trying to escape.

And so, Lin Dong continued along the road, "corpse-collecting" as he went...

...

On the other side, Brother Wu and Bulbous-Nose were still fleeing. The energy crystals in their brains were ten times more valuable than those of ordinary survivors.

They were the primary targets of the Zombie King’s hunt.

The two glanced back as they ran, a vague sense of foreboding gnawing at their hearts.

"Why do I get the feeling... that we’re being watched by something?" Brother Wu said, his brows furrowed.

"Don't start, Big Brother, don't scare me like that."

Bulbous-Nose looked tense, yet he, too, could feel that something terrifying was unfolding.

"We’d better hurry!"

"Yeah..."

Brother Wu nodded repeatedly, his pace quickening.

However, wandering zombies had already appeared on the street ahead. Upon catching the scent of the two, the zombies turned in unison to look at them.

"Roar—"

Disturbed, the zombies seemed to be activated; they instantly turned feral and charged toward the pair.

"Damn it!"

Brother Wu cursed under his breath. With no other choice, he had to fight his way out, unleashing his fire-based ability.

As he raised his hand, scorching flames erupted from his palm like a long dragon, sweeping toward the zombies.

The zombies were engulfed in the flames and ignited immediately. Before long, they were reduced to piles of charred remains, black smoke rising and a pungent, burnt stench filling the air.

Bulbous-Nose also engaged the zombies. As a strength-enhanced awakener, he sent them flying with a few punches, moving with incredible speed and power.

"Phew, just ordinary zombies," Bulbous-Nose remarked with relief.

"Don't get careless. Finish them quickly, or we'll trigger a massive horde!" Brother Wu warned.

"Understood."

Bulbous-Nose nodded, landing an uppercut on a zombie's chin that sent it flying into the air before it crashed heavily to the ground.

Suddenly, a "whoosh" echoed through the sky as a figure darted past. Under the moonlight, a massive shadow was cast upon the ground.

"What is that?" Bulbous-Nose’s eyes widened.

Brother Wu, however, looked terrified.

"A mutated Zombie King has appeared!"

"What?"

Bulbous-Nose grew tense. "Could this be the thing that’s been tracking us all this time?"

"Heh heh heh heh, found you..."

The figure in the air descended. The bone wings on his back retracted with a series of clicks, and in the blink of an eye, he took on the appearance of a young man.

He was so gaunt he was nothing but skin and bone, and his hands were completely exposed, revealing terrifying, skeletal white bones.

"Brother Wu, is this the Zombie King? What’s his level?" Bulbous-Nose hurriedly asked.

"He..."

Brother Wu’s eyes darted around. After a moment of hesitation, he replied, "His level isn't high. Only B-rank!"

"Oh, that's not so bad then."

Bulbous-Nose nodded. Some zombies looked terrifying but weren't necessarily high-level. Since his own strength was above B-rank, he felt confident about taking down this Zombie King.

"Let me handle this!"

Bulbous-Nose gathered his strength and charged at the skeleton like an angry bull!

The Bone Zombie King tilted his head to observe, looking slightly curious.

"This piece of food... actually charged at me voluntarily. Who gave him the courage?"

The skeleton balled his hand into a fist and swung it toward Bulbous-Nose.

Bulbous-Nose didn't dodge. Seeing the bony, thin figure, he assumed it lacked strength and decided to meet the blow head-on.

"Bang!"

The two fists collided like iron hammers. While the strength-awakener’s physique was formidable, Bulbous-Nose’s arm let out a sickening "crack" as the bones shattered instantly, twisting into a grotesque shape.

His body flew backward dozens of meters as if struck by a train, only coming to a stop after smashing through a wrecked vehicle.

"Hiss..."

The intense pain nearly caused him to black out. He couldn't move a muscle; he was completely paralyzed.

How could he be so fierce?

He never imagined that the gaunt, skeletal frame could unleash such terrifying power.

Wait!

He couldn't just be B-rank!

Realizing the truth, Bulbous-Nose looked toward Brother Wu, only to see him taking advantage of the distraction to flee into the distance. His back was already about to vanish into the night.

"Damn it! I’ve been played!"

Clearly, Brother Wu had lied about the Bone Zombie King being only B-rank just to give Bulbous-Nose the courage to fight, buying himself a moment to escape.

Humans possessed a weapon that could kill without a trace: the human heart.

The Bone Zombie King, naturally, couldn't let Brother Wu go and prepared to give chase.

But at that moment, an old woman appeared on a rooftop. She was half-human, half-cat, her eyes fixed on the direction Brother Wu had fled.

The skeleton looked up.

"Hey, old hag, why are you everywhere? This was the prey I claimed first!"

"Hmph! What good is claiming it? Whoever catches it first gets it."

The cat-faced crone scoffed.

The skeleton frowned; the two zombies had never gotten along.

"Haven't you already caught a few humans?"

"Only children make choices..." the cat-faced crone replied, her meaning clear: she wanted them all!

But just then, the Ghost Infant Zombie King appeared at the corner of the street. Covered in blood and wearing a look of manic excitement, she was clearly also there for Brother Wu.

"Then let's compete and see who hunts him first."

"Fine, I'm not afraid of you!"

As the skeleton spoke, the bones in his back rattled, preparing to unfurl his wings.

But in the next second, he froze, his movements coming to an abrupt halt. His expression turned strange, for he could feel that Brother Wu's aura had suddenly vanished, and he had instantly lost his target.

"How did he suddenly disappear?"

"Something's wrong!"

On the roof, the cat-faced crone's expression turned grave, as if she had sensed something. "The corpses of the humans I just killed are all gone, and several of my cats are dead too!"

Hearing this, the Ghost Infant Zombie King turned to look toward the direction she had come from. She sniffed the air, feeling that the stench of blood on the street had indeed faded significantly...

The Bone Zombie King turned to look at her.

"What? Did your prey disappear, too?"

"Yes, it seems they really are gone!" the Ghost Infant Zombie said, frowning.

The three kings felt a sudden jolt in their hearts. The prey they had killed had vanished in the blink of an eye, as if they had evaporated into thin air.

In the world of zombies, this was an incredibly eerie turn of events.