Chapter 72 - 65: Screams in the Snowy Night

Chapter 72: Chapter 65: Screams in the Snowy Night

The wave of survivors migrating toward Jiang City was not always smooth sailing. For those teams with sturdy vehicles and ample fuel, traversing the ruins blanketed by the Eternal Night and ice, while fraught with unknown risks, at least provided a relatively safe mobile fortress and the chance to quickly escape danger.

However, for the survivors who, for various reasons, were forced to travel on foot, the journey was a brutal gamble with their very lives.

These survivors had to contend with the all-pervasive corrosion of darkness, the bone-chilling cold, and a scarcity of supplies. They also had to remain ever-vigilant against any threat that might lurk in the dark—be it mutated beasts or wandering zombies. Moreover, any zombie still active in such an extremely cold environment was never an ordinary one.

The time on his watch showed it was afternoon. Xu Mo was on the first floor, practicing his resistance to impact. After reaching the Cowhide Realm, he needed stronger external stimuli to further temper the toughness of his hide. Bare-chested, Xu Mo circulated his qi and blood, his skin taking on a faint yellow glow as he repeatedly struck himself with a solid iron rod, producing dull, muffled THUDS.

Just as Xu Mo was completely absorbed in his training, an extremely faint yet abnormally sharp sound pierced the shelter’s thick walls and reached his ears.

It was a human voice—a bloodcurdling scream.

Xu Mo froze, his vital energy receding. He tilted his head, listening intently. The sound wasn’t continuous; it was sporadic, growing closer. It was as if something was chasing the person, drawing nearer and nearer to his location. The screams were filled with utter terror and despair.

’Something’s wrong!’ Xu Mo’s eyes sharpened. Without a moment’s hesitation, he snatched the clothes lying nearby and threw them on. In the same fluid motion, he grabbed the AK-47 leaning against the wall, checked the magazine, and pulled the bolt to chamber a round.

Grabbing a high-intensity flashlight, Xu Mo holstered his backup pistol on his thigh. The entire process was incredibly swift.

The moment Xu Mo stepped out of the shelter and the frigid air hit his face, the distant screams, which had been drawing steadily closer, stopped abruptly, as if severed by a blade.

The world fell back into a dead silence, broken only by the faint whimpering of the wind as it swept across the snow’s surface.

’Something’s not right.’ Xu Mo’s heart sank. He immediately dropped into a crouch, using the shadows of the ruins and snowdrifts for cover. His sharp, hawk-like gaze scanned the direction the screams had come from—an area about a hundred meters away, near a fork in the road that once led to the main thoroughfare.

Xu Mo quickly unclipped his high-intensity flashlight and flicked the switch with his thumb. A blinding beam of white light, like a Sharp Sword, tore through the darkness.

The scene illuminated by the beam was enough to make one’s skin crawl.

The once-pristine white snow was now a chaotic mess, shockingly stained with sprayed and dragged trails of dark red blood. Several mangled human corpses lay in twisted positions in pools of blood, their limbs torn apart and organs exposed. They had clearly been subjected to an incredibly ferocious attack in a very short amount of time.

Torn backpacks, battered water canteens, and splintered clubs lay scattered across the snow, silently testifying to the suddenness of the attack and the victims’ helplessness.

The thick stench of blood drifted over, faint but unmistakable, even from more than a hundred meters away.

Xu Mo’s heart clenched. ’This definitely isn’t the work of a wild animal.’ Beasts hunted to eat; they wouldn’t cause such pure, efficient slaughter and destruction. This method was more like...

Just as the thought crossed Xu Mo’s mind, a shadowy figure, as swift as a phantom, darted through the shadows at the edge of the light beam.

The figure moved with incredible speed. It seemed to hesitate for a fraction of a second in the harsh glare of the flashlight before starting to duck behind a nearby broken wall.

But in that fleeting glimpse, Xu Mo’s vision—enhanced by the Eternal Night and the superior motion detection granted by his Cowhide Realm—allowed him to clearly capture its features: shriveled, emaciated limbs that nevertheless held explosive power; pale, grayish-blue skin; and a gaping, bloody maw bristling with sharp teeth.

An Agile Zombie!

Xu Mo’s pupils constricted. He was completely astonished. ’Based on my months of observation, there hasn’t been any zombie activity in Cyan Pine Ridge Town or the surrounding area for a long time, let alone a troublesome Agile Zombie like this one. Where did it come from?’

’Could this group of migrating survivors have provoked it somewhere on their way to Jiang City? Did it then hunt them down all this way until it finally wiped them all out here?’ Xu Mo rapidly considered the possibility.

It seemed the most logical explanation. Agile Zombies were known for their speed and tracking abilities. Once they locked onto a target, escape was nearly impossible unless you could either kill them or find a completely secure shelter.

The whole situation felt strange, but what was done was done. Xu Mo had no more time to think.

The Agile Zombie that had just ducked behind the broken wall seemed drawn to the flashlight’s beam and the sudden appearance of a "living thing"—Xu Mo. Or perhaps, its bloodlust simply hadn’t been satisfied.

WHOOSH—!

A black shadow shot out from behind the wall like an arrow loosed from a bow. It wasn’t running upright but on all fours, launching into a savage, ground-hugging sprint toward Xu Mo’s position! Its speed was astounding; it would cover the hundred-meter distance in a matter of seconds.

The Agile Zombie’s gray-white eyes, filled with nothing but bloodthirsty instinct, locked onto Xu Mo. A low, guttural HRRGH HRRGH rumbled from its rotten throat as its sharp claws made a teeth-grinding SCRAPE against the frozen earth and snow.

Xu Mo frowned as he watched the Agile Zombie charge him like a rabid hound.

He held the high-intensity flashlight steady in his left hand, keeping the beam locked on the fast-moving zombie. The intense light seemed to interfere with it, causing an almost imperceptible stiffness and a slight deviation in its sprinting trajectory. At the same time, Xu Mo’s right arm held the AK-47’s stock firmly, his sights locked onto the rapidly closing shadow.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Short, precise bursts of fire rang out, the muzzle flash startlingly bright in the dim surroundings.

As if they had eyes, the bullets accurately struck the Agile Zombie’s chest and shoulder, erupting in sprays of dark blood. The powerful kinetic impact brought its forward momentum to a sudden halt. It let out a roar of rage, not pain, and staggered a few steps.

’Now!’

A cold glint flashed in Xu Mo’s eyes. He flung the flashlight from his left hand toward an open patch of ground just in front of the zombie. The flashlight traced an arc through the air, its beam rolling wildly across the ground, further disorienting the creature’s senses.

Xu Mo seized the opportunity. He brought the rifle to his shoulder with both hands, correcting his aim in the instant the flashlight hit the ground.

BANG!

An exceptionally crisp gunshot rang out.

The bullet drilled directly into the eye socket of the Agile Zombie, which had been slowed momentarily by its injuries and the disorienting light.

The back of the zombie’s skull exploded like an overripe watermelon, splattering a mix of red and white onto the snow behind it. Its body, carried by momentum, stumbled forward two more steps before collapsing heavily to the ground. Its limbs twitched a few times, and then it was still.

From the moment the zombie charged until it was killed with a headshot, the entire encounter lasted only a few seconds.

After confirming the Agile Zombie was dead, Xu Mo didn’t lower his guard. He advanced slowly, rifle ready, observing the corpse from a distance to make sure it didn’t move. Only then did he turn his attention to the slain survivors.

Approaching the bloody scene, Xu Mo fought back his unease and began to inspect the area. There were six bodies in total—five men and one woman. Their deaths had been horrific; almost all of them had been torn apart by immense force, leaving no clean wounds on their mangled corpses. Their faces were twisted in masks of pure terror. They wore tattered clothing, inadequate for the cold, and carried pitifully few supplies. They were clearly migrants traveling on foot, struggling on the very edge of survival.

Suddenly, Xu Mo’s eyes narrowed. He saw the fingers of one of the more intact male corpses twitch slightly. ’He’s turning!’

Without a moment’s hesitation, Xu Mo raised his rifle, aimed at the head that was beginning to tremble and looked as if it would lift at any second, and pulled the trigger.

BANG!

Another gunshot put a definitive end to the short, brutal encounter.

Xu Mo stood on the blood-soaked snow, his brow furrowed as he surveyed the surrounding corpses and the dead-silent edge of the town.

The immediate threat was gone, but the cloud of doubt in his mind remained. ’Was the appearance of this Agile Zombie a coincidence, or is it a sign of some greater change?’