Chapter Twenty-Eight: Scheming Aloud
The woman’s eyes were wide open, still reflecting the terror and dread she had felt in her final moments. Her pupils slowly dilated, and her body collapsed limply to the ground.
“Xiao Jing!”
In the darkness, Chen Li quickly turned her head, just in time to see a shadowy figure thrust a dagger into the girl’s skull.
Shock flooded her heart, her eyes nearly bursting with rage and fear.
The monster had appeared!
A chilling aura emanated from Chen Li’s entire body. Her awakened power was of the frost type; as she clenched her fists, ice crystals formed, and two sharp icicles extended from her hands.
Without hesitation, her figure darted forward, heading straight for Lin Dong. She moved with the speed and grace of a hunting leopard, the icicles slicing through the air and creating sonic booms—their lethality greater than bullets.
Lin Dong had no desire to confront her head-on; he dodged, slipping directly into the wall to conceal himself.
“What? This...”
Chen Li instantly lost sight of her target, left bewildered and confused.
Where did he go?
But as she hesitated, a dagger flashed out from within the wall, stabbing straight for her crown.
The blade was so quick that Chen Li had no time to react. By the time she tried to evade, the knife had already entered her skull, extracting her crystal core.
Another body fell to the ground.
It all happened so swiftly, in the blink of an eye.
“Xiao Jing, Chen Li, what happened to you two?”
At that moment, anxious voices echoed from the entrance to the corridor.
It was Li Nan and his companions, who, upon noticing something was wrong, hurried over—but, alas, they were a step too late.
Upon arrival, they saw only two lifeless bodies.
There were no wounds on either, but their crystal cores had been removed.
The manner of death was identical to the previous five.
A strong sense of the uncanny weighed upon their hearts.
Two more people were dead...
“Where’s the monster? Where did it go?”
The remaining five scanned their surroundings, their expressions grave and tense, afraid they too would be ambushed.
Yet the area had returned to quiet, as if nothing had happened. If not for the bodies at their feet, they might have thought it was all a hallucination.
It was deeply unsettling.
This realization hit them: the monster had not left. It was still lurking in the darkness, ready to strike as soon as anyone let their guard down.
Li Nan pondered another issue. There were two hundred survivors in the mall and none had been harmed. That meant... its targets were only the awakened.
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Perhaps Xiao Jing’s intuition was correct—the monster had been following them all along...
At this moment, Xiao Liu’s eyes were bloodshot, his breath ragged. The immense pressure was driving him to the brink of madness.
“Where’s the monster? Come out, damn you! What’s the point of sneaking around? If you’ve got guts, face me one on one!”
But no matter how he shouted, the corridor remained filled with darkness and silence, echoing only his voice—no response came.
“Xiao Liu, calm down!”
Li Nan advised sternly, “This is pointless. Instead, we should analyze how the monster kills.”
“Brother Nan, did you notice anything just now?” asked the only remaining female awakened in the group.
Li Nan nodded.
“Yes, I did notice something.”
“Oh?”
The others looked at him expectantly, waiting for his explanation.
Li Nan stared intently and said, “Don’t you find Chen Li’s position strange? She was facing the wall. That means... she was about to attack the wall before she died!”
“Attack the wall?”
The others found this odd, but soon an idea emerged. “Could it be... the monster was inside the wall?”
“No, it’s not inside the wall, but it has the ability to move through objects—including human bodies,” Li Nan analyzed.
The four nodded; it made sense. Otherwise, the victims wouldn’t be unscathed with their brain cores taken.
In fact, they had thought along these lines before, but it seemed unbelievable.
“Is such an ability possible?”
“Absolutely. Besides, the monster can quickly transport large amounts of supplies. Combined, these abilities suggest it belongs to the spatial type—maybe it has even awakened a domain.”
“What? A domain?”
The four were startled.
Tech Corp had studied the apocalypse, capturing numerous zombies and mutated beasts for sampling and experimentation. They discovered that a very select few could awaken bizarre powers—domains among them.
Monsters with domains could appear and vanish at will, killing unseen. Some researchers had classified such zombies as ‘Phantom Zombies.’
“Are we facing a Phantom Zombie?” Xiao Liu asked, eyes wide with fear.
“Yes, and clearly this zombie is highly intelligent, adept at hiding and evading. Its lethality is formidable. We must destroy it before it grows into a Zombie King, or it will become an insurmountable threat!”
Li Nan’s gaze was resolute.
The others drew sharp breaths, feeling the terror of it all.
Xiao Liu, recalling something, tried to reassure the group.
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“There’s no need to be too afraid. The researchers said zombies with domain abilities are usually physically weak. That’s their fatal flaw.”
“Oh, that’s a relief... No wonder it never confronts us directly—only attacks from the shadows.”
The group felt a bit more at ease.
Xiao Liu nodded. “The most critical issue now is how do we find it!”
“Indeed. With our current strength, if that zombie doesn’t want to be found, we might never locate it.”
Li Nan analyzed, then quickly changed his tone, “But... perhaps we can use a strategy. No matter how smart that zombie is, it can’t match human intelligence.”
Humans have survived on Earth for millions of years thanks to their wits. If you can’t catch a wild rabbit, you set a trap.
Thus, the five discussed and devised a plan to lure the enemy.
They would have one person act as bait, pretending to wander off, drawing the zombie out—then everyone would attack together.
But being bait carried risks, so it had to be someone strong.
Li Nan stepped forward.
“I’ll be the bait. I’ll head to the first-floor lobby; you stay on the sixth floor, where the view is good. As soon as you spot the target, attack instantly.”
“Remember, zombies with domain abilities have weak bodies. Get close and fight hand-to-hand—don’t let it escape again!”
“Brother Nan, it’s too dangerous to go alone. Let me come with you. The zombie will attack if it sees two people together,” said a tall, muscular man.
Li Nan nodded.
“Alright, I’ll go with Li Tao to the first floor. Xiao Liu, you keep watch upstairs. Don’t split up under any circumstances.”
“Got it, Brother Nan!”
Xiao Liu patted his chest.
Previously, the monster had led them by the nose, seven teammates had died, and frustration simmered in his heart. Now they finally sounded the call for a counterattack!
With renewed determination, the group set out.
What they didn’t know was that Lin Dong was just in the next room, less than thirty meters away.
With his zombie-enhanced hearing, he caught every word.
Li Nan’s plan to lure the enemy was heard loud and clear.
“Plotting loudly—not bad...”
Lin Dong’s figure flickered, reappearing in the corridor where the group had just left.
He thought these people had some intelligence... but not much.
...
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