Chapter 289 - 152: Rainy Night

Chapter 289: Chapter 152: Rainy Night

Naturally, Xu Mo was not in the security office.

The moment he pushed open the dilapidated wooden door of the security office, a thought was all it took for him to enter the world behind the door. This was his Golden Finger, an ability he could only use once every 48 hours. He had previously used it to scavenge for supplies; now, he was using it to save his life.

The roar of the downpour and the snarls of the zombies were all shut out. He was safe now, but only for sixty seconds. For Xu Mo, however, that was more than enough time.

Behind the door was a bedroom. It was a small space with simple furnishings, no more than twenty square meters by the look of it.

Xu Mo leaned against the door, his chest heaving. Rainwater dripped from the edges of his combat suit, forming a small puddle on the floor.

It wasn’t from exhaustion, but from the release of tension after prying open a sliver of an escape from extreme danger and forcing himself through. Finally, he had a moment to relax.

When facing that Level-2 zombie, Xu Mo hadn’t dared to be the least bit careless, terrified of making a single mistake and falling prey to it.

The countdown was already underway. Xu Mo felt that these were the longest sixty seconds he had ever experienced since gaining this ability.

Xu Mo stood in the center of the bedroom, letting the rainwater drip from his combat suit and darken a patch of the floor. He didn’t search the room for any items, nor did he have any interest in exploring the other corners of this static world. He just stared at the wall clock, watching it tick second by second toward the moment he would have to face.

"I need to get a better Mountain-Cutting Saber after this," Xu Mo muttered to himself, his voice exceptionally clear in the silent bedroom. "A better Triangular Spike, too."

Xu Mo made a silent resolve. Once he got through this crisis, he absolutely had to upgrade his Cold Weapons.

As for how he would get through this crisis, the Barrett in Xu Mo’s hands would provide the answer.

Xu Mo pulled the bolt. A brass-colored .50 caliber round slid into the chamber with a crisp, metallic click.

Fifteen seconds left on the countdown. He raised the rifle to his shoulder, his index finger resting lightly on the trigger guard in preparation. Based on his previous experiences using the ability, when the countdown hit zero, he would reappear at the exact spot where he had entered the world behind the door—right by the security office entrance, next to the wooden door he had pushed open.

Ten seconds.

Xu Mo took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, steadying his heart rate. The vital energy of the Iron Bone Realm circulated through his body, pushing his strength and reflexes into a combat-ready state.

Five seconds.

Three seconds.

One second.

The clock’s hand seemed to twitch. A flash of light exploded before Xu Mo’s eyes—the roar of the downpour flooded back into his ears, along with the feeling of raindrops striking his face, the thick humidity and stench of blood in the air, and the muddy ground beneath his feet.

He was back at the entrance of the security office!

The inside of the security office was a complete wreck. The overturned wooden table had been smashed to pieces, the metal cabinet was twisted and torn as if mauled by a giant beast, and deep claw marks scarred the walls, even scraping white gashes into the concrete bricks.

But Xu Mo had no time to take in the details.

Because at the very same instant he appeared, an utterly furious roar erupted from within the curtain of rain twenty meters away.

"ROAR—!!!"

It was the Level-2 zombie!

It hadn’t left. It had been waiting near the security office, a place it had torn apart yet found nothing. It didn’t know where its prey had gone, but it knew its prey would return.

It had guessed right.

Through the curtain of rain, the figure covered in dark green scales lunged toward Xu Mo at a speed that was nearly teleportation. Its charge tore the rain in two, carving a straight, explosive wake across the ground! Its cold, slitted pupils locked onto Xu Mo as its grotesque, underbiting maw stretched to its limit, revealing overlapping, saliva-drenched fangs.

As it lunged, it raised its right arm. The scales on the limb, as thick as a battering ram, stood on end, their edges as sharp as blades. This strike contained all of its fury and killing intent, a vow to tear the prey that had trifled with it to shreds!

Xu Mo didn’t retreat. He didn’t even move his feet.

He simply pulled the trigger.

"BANG—!!!"

The Barrett’s roar exploded through the downpour, the sound deeper and more muffled than usual. The blast from the muzzle brake blew a visible hemispherical cavity into the curtain of rain before him, atomizing countless raindrops into a fine mist.

The .50 caliber Armor-Piercing Bullet shot out of the barrel, tore through the rain, and then ripped apart the dark green Scale Armor that was the pride of the lunging Level-2 zombie!

Xu Mo saw the moment the bullet struck the zombie’s chest. The tightly packed scales, like glass struck by a sledgehammer, first dented, then cracked, and finally shattered and flew off. The bullet penetrated the Level-2 zombie’s skin and its layer of unbelievably tough muscle fiber, blasting a bloody, bowl-sized exit wound out of its back.

Dark red blood mixed with shredded flesh gushed from both the front and back of the wound simultaneously, creating a gruesome spray of blood in the rain.

And yet, the zombie didn’t fall. The immense kinetic energy of the bullet violently halted its forward momentum, forcing its entire body to lurch backward. Its feet plowed two deep furrows in the ground, but it miraculously managed to stabilize its center of gravity.

It looked down, its cold and crazed eyes staring at the hole in its chest that went straight through, at the blood pouring out like a spring, at the defense it had been so proud of, utterly shredded by a single bullet.

It felt no fear, but it had an instinct more ancient than fear—the instinct of knowing it was about to die. The Level-2 zombie raised its head for one last look at Xu Mo. The predator’s composure and taunting glee were gone from its eyes, replaced by nothing but pure, unadulterated hatred.

Then, it turned to run.