In this deep night abandoned by God, the gears of fate let out a bone-chilling crack amidst a pool of blood.
Lin Xuan crouched beside the mangled zombie corpse, thick black blood already soaking through his soles. A faint blue glow pulsed within the foul brain matter, like the lure of some deep-sea creature, emitting an attraction that made Lin Xuan's very soul tremble. His reason screamed at him to leave immediately, but his hand seemed out of control, slowly reaching toward that mass of flesh.
When Lin Xuan's fingertips touched the cold, hard, crystal-like object, a powerful current instantly surged up his arm and straight into his brain!
[Ding! High concentration of Biomass detected. The prototype system has been activated.]
[Scanning host's vital signs... Compatibility: 100%.]
[Warning: Hostile creature density in the current area is too high. The host is being surrounded by zombies.]
[Automatically opening the Newbie Gift Pack: Obtained one elite Black Watch squad member (Formerly assigned to: Robert Cross's Elite Team).]
"What?!" Lin Xuan's brain buzzed from the string of cold, mechanical voices.
Before he could figure out what "Prototype" or "Black Watch" actually meant, dense patches of roars suddenly erupted from the surrounding darkness.
"Roar—!"
"Ugh-ah—!"
The hair-raising sound of grinding teeth and dragging footsteps flooded in from all directions. Lin Xuan stood up abruptly and looked around, cold sweat instantly drenching his back. In the green belts below the dormitory and the shadows of the campus paths, at least a dozen pairs of cloudy, white eyes were staring fixedly at him. Attracted by the death of the previous zombie and Lin Xuan's voice, they were closing in like a tide.
Lin Xuan gripped his spear tightly, but the greasy sensation in his palm told him that against these dozen or so zombies, this crude steel pipe would only delay his death.
"I'm giving it my all!"
Just as the foremost zombie pounced within three meters of Lin Xuan, and the nauseating stench of rot pierced his nostrils—
"Vroom—"
A black afterimage stepped out from the void beside Lin Xuan without warning.
It was a figure as dark as the night under the streetlights. He was entirely clad in a blackish, specialized combat suit (similar to a diving suit), layered with a pure black bulletproof vest, and his waist was laden with various tactical pouches. Most terrifying was his head; a fully enclosed black gas mask covered his entire face, and two night-vision lenses glowing with a faint blue light on his forehead looked like the compound eyes of a demon in the dark.
In his hands, he held a rifle equipped with a silencer and specialized attachments; the rifle resembled an M16, but upon closer inspection, it was not.
The soldier said nothing, and didn't even make any redundant movements. He coldly scanned the surrounding horde, a barely audible grunt coming from the electronic synthesizer under his helmet.
He did not fire. In the silent campus, gunfire would attract monsters from the entire city; even with a silencer, it would still cause quite a stir.
Then, with extremely efficient movements, he flipped the rifle onto the tactical sling on his back, swiped his right hand across his thigh, and a cold, gleaming black tactical dagger was already in his grip.
Squelch—!
He moved. His speed exceeded the limits of human vision.
Lin Xuan only saw a black whirlwind sweep into the horde. Before the first zombie could even close its mouth, the dagger pierced through its lower jaw and straight through the crown of its head. The soldier gave it a twist, and the zombie's skull let out a crisp cracking sound.
Immediately after, he dodged the swipe of another zombie, pressed his left hand against the monster's shoulder, and his right-hand dagger struck like a viper's tongue, sinking into the zombie's temple and straight into its brain. Black filth sprayed onto his jet-black combat suit but failed to leave any mark.
It was a one-sided slaughter.
These monsters, which seemed invincible to ordinary people, were like lambs to the slaughter before this Black Watch Soldier. Every one of his movements was as precise as a finely calculated machine—stabbing brains, snapping spines. In less than half a minute, all dozen or so zombies had turned into heaps of rotten meat on the ground, while the soldier stood silently in the center of the bloodbath, black blood dripping from the tip of his dagger.
He turned around, his blue electronic eyes staring fixedly at Lin Xuan, then slightly bowed his head as if saluting him.
Lin Xuan felt an unprecedented shock. This kind of power, this cold efficiency, was completely beyond his comprehension.
"You... who are you?" Lin Xuan asked tremblingly.
"Your subordinate, Commander." After speaking, he simply stood silently two steps behind Lin Xuan, like a most loyal ghost.
Lin Xuan realized they couldn't stay here for long; everything had happened too suddenly, and he had to figure out what was going on.
Lin Xuan ran back to the spot under the balcony as fast as he could and pulled desperately on the hanging cloth rope.
"Xiaotian! Pull me up! Fast!" Lin Xuan growled in a low voice.
Mo Xiaotian, upstairs, had clearly heard the heart-pounding commotion just now and pulled up with all his might. Lin Xuan stepped on the external air conditioning units on the wall and struggled back up to the third-floor balcony. As Lin Xuan climbed over the railing and collapsed onto the balcony floor, gasping for air, Mo Xiaotian was looking at him with a face full of terror.
"Lin... Lin Xuan, are you okay?"
Lin Xuan was about to speak when he noticed the rope hadn't been pulled up. He looked down, intending to signal that person called Black Watch to grab the rope, but the next scene left both Lin Xuan and Mo Xiaotian dumbstruck.
The soldier ignored the rope entirely. He took a two-step running start, leaped up, and grabbed the security bars on the second floor. Then, his muscles exploded like tight springs, and he moved like an agile black panther, using the vertical wall for leverage. In just two leaps, he flipped directly over the third-floor balcony railing.
Thud!
Heavy tactical boots stepped onto the balcony floor, making a dull sound.
"Wahhh! A ghost!" Mo Xiaotian let out a scream and fell backward into the dormitory, his spear flying from his hand. He looked in terror at this fully armed "monster" that had suddenly appeared on the balcony; there was even a faint smell of urine coming from his crotch.
Lin Xuan stood up and looked at the silent soldier. He stood quietly by Lin Xuan's side, and the heavy scent of blood and cold killing intent instantly made the small dormitory feel as oppressive as a morgue.
Lin Xuan looked at his slightly trembling hands, then at the Black Watch Soldier. He realized that the rules of this apocalyptic game might be about to change.