Chapter 288 - 151: Luochuan City

Chapter 288: Chapter 151: Luochuan City

Sparks!

Xu Mo saw it clearly—a shower of dazzling, orange-red sparks erupted where his blade met the monster’s forearm, flaring in the curtain of rain before being swiftly extinguished.

But his blade hadn’t cut through.

No blood, no wound. The thick arm, covered in dark green scales, had simply absorbed the full force of his strike, leaving behind only a shallow white mark on the surface of its scales.

"What?!"

A storm raged in Xu Mo’s mind. This was the first time since he had reached the Iron Bone Realm that he had encountered an enemy whose defense his Mountain-Cutting Saber couldn’t pierce. The Level 1 agile zombies, the Strength Zombies—without exception, they had all fallen to a single strike from this blade. Even the Black Panther Saber-toothed Beast in Mori Town, with its astonishing defense, had its neck split open by him.

But this zombie—

It hadn’t even tried to dodge. It had taken the blow head-on, and now it was looking down at Xu Mo with something akin to a scrutinizing gaze.

No, not scrutinizing. It was the calm, unhurried certainty of a predator staring at prey already caught in its trap.

Xu Mo finally got a clear look at it.

It stood about 1.8 meters tall, but with its broad shoulders and thick back, it looked like an iron tower clad in Scale Armor. Its skin—if it could even be called skin—was completely covered by a layer of tightly packed, dark green scales that ran from its neck to its ankles. Each scale was the size of an adult’s thumb, with slightly raised edges that glinted with a cold, sinister light in the rain.

Its head was a size larger than a normal human’s, with an exaggerated underbite jutting forward, forming a monstrous jawline. Two rows of jagged, overlapping teeth protruded from its lips, each one as sharp as a shark’s and slick with foul-smelling saliva.

’A Level 2 water-type mutated zombie! No, maybe it’s even about to become a Level 3! But why would something like this be here?’

Unfortunately, the zombie didn’t give Xu Mo any more time to think. Its scale-covered right arm swung sideways like a battering ram. It wasn’t fast, but the sense of power behind it was suffocating.

Xu Mo raised his saber to block—

"CLANG!!"

Another shower of sparks. The blow sent Xu Mo and his saber sliding four or five meters to the side, his feet plowing two deep furrows in the muddy ground.

After taking the hit, Xu Mo felt the surging qi and blood within him falter for an instant, its circulation disrupted.

Before he could even steady himself, the zombie had already closed the distance, its second attack immediately following!

Xu Mo rolled to the side, narrowly dodging the claw.

’I can’t fight it head-on.’

The thought exploded in Xu Mo’s mind. His Mountain-Cutting Saber couldn’t hurt it, but a single hit from the creature—even a graze—would be the end of him. Xu Mo had no confidence at all that his Iron Bone Realm defenses could withstand that kind of power.

Xu Mo swung his saber again, the blade striking precisely at the side of the zombie’s neck, but once again, sparks flew. The zombie didn’t even flinch. It simply turned its head and stared at Xu Mo with those cold eyes.

Then it opened its mouth and let out a low, hoarse roar, like sandpaper grinding against glass.

There was no pain in the sound, no anger, not even the pure hunger of a normal zombie. It was more like a declaration, telling Xu Mo that this was its hunting ground, and he was its prey.

Xu Mo retreated, and retreated again.

He parried and dodged, his mind racing to find a counter-strategy. His Mountain-Cutting Saber was already battered from the repeated strikes, its edge riddled with nicks. Though it wasn’t broken yet, it probably wouldn’t last much longer.

What was worse, as the fight dragged on, Xu Mo was suddenly struck by an extremely bizarre feeling—

’Did this zombie just get bigger?’

It wasn’t a trick of the mind. Xu Mo saw it with his own eyes: the scaled shoulders and back of the zombie opposite him had grown wider, and its arms seemed to have bulked up. The color of its scales was shifting from dark green to deep brown, their edges curling up at a sharper angle, glinting with an even more dangerous light.

’Is it growing? Or is this some kind of stress-induced mutation to adapt to the battle?’

Xu Mo didn’t know. He only knew that he had to make a decision, and fast.

’If this keeps up, I’m dead for sure.’

The Mountain-Cutting Saber couldn’t damage it. An AK-47’s accuracy would be severely compromised at this range and in this downpour, and the gunshot would attract more zombies—maybe even more of its kind.

The Barrett could probably break its defense, but there was no chance to set up the rifle and aim.

He needed an opening—a chance to break away from the close-quarters fight and use the terrain or a different weapon to turn the tables.

Xu Mo’s gaze swept over his surroundings. The warehouse where the SUV was hidden was nearby, but he dismissed the thought as soon as it arose.

In a flash of inspiration, Xu Mo had an idea.

He suddenly exploded with force, his Mountain-Cutting Saber a blur of brilliant light in front of him. Slash, lift, chop, thrust—a seven-strike combo aimed entirely at the zombie’s eyes and throat, forcing it to instinctively raise its arms to block and retreat.

Xu Mo didn’t waste the priceless opening. He spun around and broke into a dead sprint toward the factory building.

Heavy footsteps immediately sounded from behind, brutally tearing through the curtain of rain. The zombie barely paused from being forced back; in a single stride, it was in pursuit, its speed equal to, if not greater than, Xu Mo’s.

Three seconds.

In just three seconds, Xu Mo felt a sharp pressure at his back. It was swinging its claws!

Xu Mo whipped around, holding his Mountain-Cutting Saber in a reverse grip to block horizontally, the body of the blade just barely catching the zombie’s descending claws.

"CLANG—CRACK!"

The deafening clang of metal was followed by a sickening crunch.

The Mountain-Cutting Saber... broke.

The blade snapped in two. The front half spun through the rain and embedded itself in the mud several meters away. All that was left in Xu Mo’s hand was a shattered stump, less than thirty centimeters from the hilt to the break.

But this was exactly what he wanted.

The overwhelming force traveled from the broken blade, up his arm, and through his entire body. Xu Mo was sent flying like a sandbag struck by a sledgehammer, soaring seven or eight meters before crashing hard onto the concrete ground at the factory entrance. He immediately rolled with the impact to bleed off most of the momentum, then scrambled to his feet.

"You son of a bitch!"

Xu Mo roared in fury. His Mountain-Cutting Saber had been with him for so long, only to meet such an unceremonious end. With a backhand throw, he hurled the broken half of the blade at the dark silhouette pursuing him. The fragment spun through the air, its tip striking the zombie square in the face before deflecting and clattering to the ground.

After throwing the blade, Xu Mo wrenched open the door to the security booth and dove inside.

The Level 2 zombie chasing him didn’t even slow down. It reached the security booth’s entrance, raised its thick, scale-covered arm, and shattered the door with a single palm strike.

The security booth door caved in like paper, tearing and exploding inward.

And then, for the first time, the zombie’s movements paused.

It stood in the center of the shattered doorframe, its cold eyes scanning the interior of the security booth—

The tiny space, less than ten square meters, held only an overturned wooden table and two empty metal lockers. There was no sign of Xu Mo. A living person, that large, had simply vanished into thin air.

The zombie stood its ground. Rain poured in through the broken doorway, slicking its scales and dripping from its monstrous underbite. It slowly turned its head, once again scanning the tiny room, a space so small there was nowhere to hide.

Then, it let out a low, confused hiss.

It was as if it were asking: Where did the prey go?