"Tier-3… zombie..."
Huan Tian ground out the words through clenched teeth.
Tier-2 zombies were only partially enhanced—an organ, a limb—but Tier-3 zombies… they had already spread that mutation through surrounding tissues, becoming something else entirely. Their combat power didn't just increase—it multiplied.
He had already struggled to cope with peak Tier-2. Now, facing this monstrous Tier-3 behemoth—how the hell was he supposed to fight it?
A Tier-1 Nightmare bullet probably couldn't even pierce that thick layer of muscle!
Lin Qingqing had witnessed Luo Mai's evolution firsthand. Her delicate face had gone as pale as paper.
"Huan Tian…"
Gritting his teeth, Huan Tian looked toward their only escape route.
The hallway ended in silence, where a gleaming wall of tempered glass awaited. That was the reception room—each glass panel over three meters tall, designed to offer visitors a wide, unobstructed view of the city skyline.
And then—a crazy idea flashed through his mind.
"ROOOAAAR!!"
Luo Mai's wounds had fully healed. Rage twisted his now-mutated form as he charged forward, stomping with monstrous force.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
His grotesquely swollen shoulders and back muscles scraped the ceiling tiles as he barreled down the corridor. Each step smashed overhead chandeliers to pieces, glass and sparks showering down.
The corridor itself seemed barely able to withstand this rampaging beast. It felt like it could collapse at any moment.
"Move!"
Huan Tian grabbed Lin Qingqing and sprinted with all his strength toward the reception room. While running, he slammed a new magazine into his gun. His hawk-like eyes locked onto the tempered glass at the end of the hall, barrel lifting with a deadly calm.
Steady your breath.
Sync your steps.
Then, he pulled the trigger without hesitation!
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
Ten shots in a single burst—every bullet precisely clustered into a palm-sized point on the glass, thanks to Huan Tian's expert rhythm, breathing, and movement control.
Crack. Crack. Crack…
Finally, the reinforced glass began to splinter under the relentless barrage. Sharp, spiderweb cracks exploded outward from the impact zone, racing across the massive surface.
"Ah!"
Lin Qingqing let out a startled cry.
Just as they broke into the room, Huan Tian shoved her hard to the side. He then dropped into a tactical slide, using the momentum to slow himself while slapping the magazine release.
Click.
The empty extended mag popped free.
In one smooth motion, he slammed a fresh, full clip of Nightmare rounds into the grip.
Clack!
Reload complete!
Huan Tian's hand braced against the floor as he twisted mid-slide, coming to a stop in a half-kneeling position—his body a perfect shooting stance.
The cold barrel of his Desert Eagle leveled at the corridor. In his equally cold eyes was the reflection of the blood-and-muscle abomination barreling straight toward him.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Luo Mai charged like an avalanche, nearly filling the entire corridor. Overhead lights continued to shatter under his brute momentum, the hallway falling apart behind him.
Huan Tian fired again.
Luo Mai, remembering the pain of their last encounter, instinctively raised his arm to shield himself. The bullet merely left a shallow wound, no more than a mosquito bite, on him.
"Hrgh, hrgh…"
Luo Mai's ash-gray pupils gleamed with mocking amusement. His lip curled back in a sneer, revealing jagged fangs.
But Huan Tian's expression didn't change.
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
Each shot came with purpose, a rhythm, as if he were playing a deadly melody. But no bullet could break through—Luo Mai batted them all aside with his thick, reinforced forearm.
His eyes gleamed with growing excitement. Arrogance spread across his face as he shrugged off the fear from his once-blown-off fingers. He pushed forward even faster, completely unrestrained.
Lin Qingqing's heart was pounding so hard it hurt. Her breath caught in her throat, her face paling by the second as Romei closed in.
"What's Huan Tian waiting for…?"
She stood frozen, helpless, the creeping despair consuming her. She was ready to close her eyes—because the moment Luo Mai broke into the reception room… would be the moment they died.
But then—
From the corner of her eye, she caught something. Her eyes widened in disbelief. Shock locked her in place—
If Lin Qingqing remembered correctly, Luo Mai's right arm had always shielded his head firmly, so why was half his face exposed now?
At that moment, Huan Tian pulled the trigger again, the bullet aimed straight at Luo Mat's torso, the part that hadn't fully mutated.
Once more, the shot was blocked. But in doing so, Luo Mai's arm unconsciously shifted slightly downward.
Another shot rang out—Luo Mai's arm moved another half inch lower.
In that instant, Lin Qingqing understood Huan Tian's strategy. Her heart leapt into her throat, and a blazing fire of hope reignited in her eyes.
BOOM!
Luo Mai finally charged into the reception room, and the sheer force of his entry made the entire space tremble violently beneath his weight. His massive body was like a living mountain of flesh, crashing through the room with overwhelming momentum.
At the same time, Huan Tian pulled the trigger again—the ninth bullet hurtled toward Luo Mai's unmutated left shin.
But Luo Mai had anticipated it.
His massive hand dropped like a shield, firmly covering the vulnerable area.
ROAR!
The mockery in Luo Mai's eyes reached its peak. His excitement twisted his muscles like writhing serpents, and thick, black blood vessels began to surge outward from around his pale pupils. With clawed fingers extended, he lunged toward Huan Tian, ready to rip him apart.
But just then, Huan Tian suddenly lifted his gun and fired the final round in his chamber.
BANG!
The shot exploded through the air. Luo Mai's beastlike instincts instantly sensed danger. In a panic, his right arm shot upward to shield his face again.
But Huan Tian's grin widened.
Luo Mai had forgotten—his right index finger had been shattered earlier!
And now, his fragile eye was completely exposed.
SPLAT!
The Tier-1 Nightmare round hit dead center.
The eyeball burst instantly, the entire socket erupting with a wet pop into a gaping, bloody crater.
At the very moment the bullet left the barrel, Huan Tian hurled himself to the right.
A heartbeat later, a colossal mass of flesh roared past the spot he had just been in.
ROOAARR!!
The sudden blindness threw Romei off balance. His enormous, mountain-like frame crashed to the floor with a deafening boom. But the force of his charge hadn't yet run out. His body tumbled forward, flipping uncontrollably, and slammed into the tempered glass wall at the far end of the reception room.
CRASH!
Already fractured from Huan Tian's earlier shots, the glass gave way with a final, shattering collapse.
Luo Mai's body barreled through it.
Most of his massive frame now dangled out of the building, thirty-seven stories above the ground.
Even with a Tier-3 zombie's monstrous endurance, a fall from this height would reduce him to a splattered heap of blood and meat.
Huan Tian's face lit up with barely contained triumph.
But just as Luo Mai was about to plunge into the abyss—
A deafening boom erupted in Huan Tian's ears. The entire reception room jolted as if struck by a seismic wave!
From beyond the broken window, that thick, mutated right arm suddenly lunged inward—
Four pale, bone-like claws dug brutally into the floor, carving deep grooves into the tiles.
With a vicious grip, Luo Mai's enormous body was caught on the outer wall—
Hanging there.
Refusing to fall.