Chapter 55 - 48: Encounter

Chapter 55: Chapter 48: Encounter

Seeing the Strength Zombie steadily advancing on the town’s edge, Xu Mo’s gaze turned cold. He couldn’t let it inside under any circumstances. The town was dense with buildings and littered with ruins. Once it found a place to hide, hunting it down would be like finding a needle in a haystack, and he would be exposing himself to a constant, underlying threat.

Rather than wait passively, it was better to strike proactively and snipe it from a distance while it was still out on the open snowfield.

With that thought, Xu Mo didn’t hesitate for a moment. He immediately went downstairs and retrieved his AWM and two spare magazines. One was loaded with standard .338 Lapua Magnum sniper rounds, while the other was filled with black-tipped Armor-Piercing Bullets. He would choose the right ammunition based on the situation.

Back on the rooftop platform, Xu Mo quickly set up the bipod and pressed his right eye against the high-powered scope. The cold touch of the metal further sharpened his focus. In the distance, the giant figure trudging through the snow appeared clearly in the center of the crosshairs.

He regulated his breathing, his finger taking up the slack on the trigger. Xu Mo didn’t immediately aim for the vital spot on its head. Instead, he held his aim steady on the zombie’s right shoulder blade, which was knotted with ashen-gray muscle.

’I want to test just how strong this Strength Zombie’s defenses are! Can a standard sniper round even do any real damage?’

WHOOSH—THWACK!

The silenced muzzle let out a muffled roar, the powerful recoil steadily absorbed by Xu Mo’s solid shoulder. Almost at the exact moment the gun fired, the Strength Zombie’s right shoulder exploded in a spray of dark-red blood and mangled flesh within his scope.

"ROAR—!"

The zombie let out a deep, furious roar. The immense kinetic energy of the bullet sent its massive body stumbling to the right, yet it didn’t fall. It slammed its left arm into the snow to stabilize itself. A horrifying, bowl-sized wound gaped from its shattered right shoulder, thick, blackish-red blood gushing out and dripping onto the snow. Its hideous head snapped toward the general direction of the attack, its empty eye sockets seeming to burn with an invisible fury.

’It’s effective!’ Xu Mo rejoiced inwardly.

A standard sniper round could pierce its defenses and inflict a serious wound, but the Strength Zombie’s robust constitution and tenacious vitality meant that such a non-lethal injury couldn’t immediately incapacitate it.

’Thick-skinned, just as I thought,’ Xu Mo noted, his hands never ceasing their motion. He quickly worked the bolt, ejecting the spent casing. Amid a crisp, metallic scrape, the next round was chambered.

This time, the crosshairs locked steadily and precisely onto the grotesque head as it swiveled, searching for a target.

PFFT—!

The second shot rang out.

This time, there was no spray of blood, only a violent burst.

The large-caliber .338 round entered the zombie’s skull at extreme velocity, completely unimpeded, before releasing its devastating energy within the confined space.

Like a watermelon struck by a sledgehammer, the Strength Zombie’s head exploded in Xu Mo’s scope. Fragments of skull, grayish-white brain matter, and blackish-red blood sprayed in all directions, splattering the pristine white snow with a vile mess.

The massive, headless body swayed stiffly, as if its strings had been cut, then crashed down into the snow like a falling mountain, finally going still.

’That’s settled.’ Xu Mo let out a slow breath. He cleared the chamber and inspected the rifle, his movements steady. He hadn’t needed the Armor-Piercing Bullets after all. A standard round to a vital spot was enough to take care of this Strength Zombie.

But Xu Mo didn’t relax just yet. After confirming the target’s death, he quickly donned his full gear—a stab-proof vest and his Mountain-Cutting Saber. After a moment’s hesitation, he also grabbed the AK-47 assault rifle, then hurried downstairs and headed toward the spot where the zombie had fallen.

He wanted to observe the Strength Zombie’s specific morphology up close. More importantly, Xu Mo wanted to test for himself whether the power of his Cowhide Realm, combined with his sharp Mountain-Cutting Saber, could easily cut through or even dismember the mutant’s tough body. This was crucial for evaluating the gap between his own close-combat abilities and those of the mutated zombies.

The snow was deep, and even with Xu Mo’s level of fitness, his pace was somewhat hindered. He stayed vigilant, gun in one hand and the other ready to draw his saber, as he rapidly closed in on the area.

When he was about thirty meters from the enormous, headless corpse, Xu Mo came to a sudden halt.

A cold, sinister feeling, as if he were being targeted by a venomous snake, shot up his spine. Simultaneously, the sharp sound of something slicing through the air came from behind him, accompanied by a shrill, savage shriek.

’Another one?!’

Alarm bells screamed in Xu Mo’s mind. With no time to turn, he acted on pure combat instinct, whipping the AK-47 up horizontally to shield the vital points of his neck and the back of his head.

CLANG!!!

A piercing shriek of metal on metal erupted.

An immense, focused force slammed into the body of the AK-47. A shock ran up Xu Mo’s arm. The sturdy, standard-issue rifle, as if struck by an industrial cutter, was sheared in two. The front half, barrel and handguard included, went spinning away to bury itself deep in the distant snow.

The tremendous force sent Xu Mo staggering a step forward. He was horrified. ’Such power! Such speed!’

He spun around and finally got a clear look at his attacker. It was a relatively small and slender zombie with deathly pale skin, a completely bald head, and abnormally twisted joints. Protruding from one of its hands was a bone claw as sharp as a dagger, glinting with a cold light. It was this claw that had just sheared his rifle in two with a single strike.

’An Agile Zombie! A Strength Type and an Agility Type appearing together?’ Xu Mo was shocked.

But Xu Mo had no time to ponder this. After its failed strike, the bald Agile Zombie didn’t pause for even a second. Using the counter-force from striking the rifle, it twisted its body unnaturally in mid-air. Its eyes, flashing with a bloodthirsty red light, locked onto Xu Mo. It became a blurry white shadow once more, lunging straight for his face with astonishing speed, cutting through the air with a piercing whine.

’So fast!’

Xu Mo’s pupils contracted. Without hesitation, he dropped the useless rifle scraps from his hand as his right hand flashed to his back—SHING!

The Mountain-Cutting Saber was drawn.

Simultaneously, the qi and blood in Xu Mo’s body began to surge with unprecedented speed and power!

HMMMM—

A low hum, seemingly vibrating from deep within his chest, sounded out. At a visible rate, Xu Mo’s skin took on a dense, dark-yellow sheen. His muscle fibers tensed and swelled, and a sense of immense power, far beyond his normal state, flooded every corner of his being.

Cowhide Realm, at full power.

In Xu Mo’s perception, the world seemed to slow for an instant. The trajectory of the phantom-fast Agile Zombie’s lunge became clear and discernible.

"BEGONE!" ℯℯ𝑙.

Xu Mo roared, his voice like muffled thunder. He generated power from his waist, twisting his torso and hips to pour his entire body’s strength into his right arm. The Mountain-Cutting Saber in his hand drew a bleak, cold arc through the air. Without dodging or evading, he met the lunging white shadow head-on with a ferocious chop.

SHLICK!

The sound of blade meeting flesh. It wasn’t the hard resistance he’d expected. Instead, there was a brief, dragging sensation, like cutting through tough leather, which vanished in an instant.

A spray of blackish-red blood erupted! The Agile Zombie let out a half-formed, piercing shriek. Its entire right arm had been cleanly severed at the shoulder by Xu Mo’s full-powered strike. The detached limb, claw and all, fell to the snow and twitched a few times.

However, zombies feel no pain. The loss of its arm seemed only to enrage it further, doing nothing to diminish its aggression. Its remaining left claw whistled through the air as it swiped for Xu Mo’s neck, its mouth gaping to reveal sharp teeth, ready to bite.

’Tenacious, as expected.’ Xu Mo’s expression was grim, but he now had a clear understanding of the Agile Zombie’s combat strength, defenses, and fighting style.

’Fast, with vicious attacks, but relatively weak defenses. It’s fearless and its fighting style is frenzied and direct.’

’And that’s enough for me!’

Xu Mo’s footwork shifted, his body sidestepping just enough to evade the claw aimed at his neck. At the same time, he twisted his wrist, changing his chop to a horizontal slice. The dark-yellow muscles in his arm bulged once more as the blade, screaming through the air, swept with even greater speed and precision across the Agile Zombie’s bald neck.

SHINK!

As the blade flashed past, a bald head flew into the air, its face locked in a hideous snarl, its mouth still opening and closing as if trying to shriek.

The Agile Zombie’s headless body, carried by its forward momentum, staggered a few more steps before collapsing heavily into the snow. It twitched a few times, then went still.

The head that had rolled onto the ground continued to move, its lips opening and closing, its teeth clacking together as if still trying to make a sound. Its empty eye sockets stared fixedly in Xu Mo’s direction, filled with endless savagery. This bizarre sight lasted for only a second or two before the last trace of life in the head vanished, and it became just another dead thing.

Xu Mo remained in his swinging stance, panting slightly—not from fatigue, but from the mental strain of the lightning-fast, life-or-death battle. He slowly retracted his power, and the dark-yellow hue of his skin gradually faded.

Looking at the corpses of the two mutated zombies on the ground, Xu Mo let out a long sigh. Only then did his frayed nerves truly begin to unwind.