Compared to Feng Bujue, Wang Tanzhi was not that calm and collected. As someone who was more innocent, when he dropped to the ground, he did not think much of it and started to tackle the main quest. As naïve as he was, at least he was an efficient player. He soon found a city map at the roadside newspaper stall and got the address for Allerbmu.
Xiao Tan thought that his other teammates would be heading there as well, so if he hurried toward the building, he would meet up with them. Along the way, he killed quite a number of monsters. The closer he got to the building designated by the main quest, the more zombies there were.
Perhaps because it was still daylight, even though Xiao Tan was alone, he managed to keep hold of his Terror Points. Compared to the zombies in movies, it was hard to say which one was scarier, these BW Zombies or the movie zombies. But the key issue was that they moved too slowly and were unable to create a sense of danger. In broad daylight, walking past the monsters that posed no threat… it was as relaxing as walking through a group of zombie cosplayers at a convention. Perhaps after dark, things might change.
At around 2:30 pm, when Feng Bujue left his own 'base' to go searching for people, Xiao Tan had already reached the entrance to the Allerbmu company. The building was fifty-two stories tall, and there was a large logo attached to the top floor—Allerbmu. It was like the headquarters of the avengers, as if they were afraid that people did not know about them.
The fact that the company could place its logo on the outside of the building proved that the building was their own asset. From the introduction, this Allerbmu company was undeniably the center that did research on the virus.
Holding the baseball bat in his hand, Wang Tanzhi slowly moved forward. The dried blood on the weapon proved the wielder's ruthlessness when faced with his earlier adversaries. When comparing fighting ability, Doctor Wang might not be weaker than Feng Bujue. To put simply, with their current character levels and abilities, the actions they could do were not outside the realm of possibilities for a normal human being.
There were many BW Zombies milling about the entrance of the building. When they spotted a living human, they started to gather toward it. The space before Xiao Tan was covered by the building's shadow, and the BW Zombies moved faster there compared to when they were exposed to sunlight. They were as fast as the zombies in movies. Of course, compared to recent movies where the zombies could run, jump, open doors, and even drive and use guns, they were still relatively weak.
Xiao Tan was finally a bit shaken. Looking at the furry zombies crawling toward him, even if he broke the bat he was holding, he might not be able to fell all of them. Then he noticed something very strange. There were no dead BW Zombies around him. If a teammate had already entered the building, then… they would have had to pass through this crowd of zombies. No matter how agile they were, they had to kill at least five or six to cut their way through, right? But before the building, there were no zombies that were not shuffling toward him.
"Looks like I'm the first one here," Xiao Tan said to himself as he started to retreat. Since there was a chance that his teammates had not arrived, there was no need for him to rush in. He decided to wait outside for other people to arrive first. With that thought in mind, he decided to retreat, but once he turned around, he triggered an event, and a gatekeeper mini boss appeared.
Xiao Tan was facing away from the building, and about one hundred meters in front of him, in the middle of the street, stood a large shadow about 2.5 meters tall. Xiao Tan had no idea when the thing arrived, but he was clear that this was not a monster that he could kill with a baseball bat.
The upper half of the monster had completely turned into a werewolf because it was covered in brown fur. There was no exposed skin on its face or arms, and its head even looked like a wolf with claws as fingers. There was no visible sign of vampirism on its body, but it did show signs of being a zombie. There was a large wound on its left chest, and one could look through its body through it, but the problem was, looking through the hole, there were no internal organs. Instead, trapped inside the ribcage were some bloody human heads.
This mini boss could be called a Zombie Werewolf because it did not look like a vampire at all. Perhaps because of that, it was not affected by the sunlight, and its size had broken through the humanoid limitation. The Zombie Werewolf stomped toward Xiao Tan, and the pressure caused by its presence and appearance could not be put into words.
Xiao Tan's Terror Points climbed wildly while sweat poured, but he was not frozen to the spot. He knew that he could not turn back to the building, and facing against this mini boss was going to cause his death, so his only solution was to flee from the side.
He was in too much of a hurry to pick an escape route. His eyes landed on an open street, and he launched forward. The path he picked was a descending slope, and it led to the entrance of an underground parking lot. When he realized that, the walls around him were already higher than the height that he could climb out of, so the only option he had was to keep running.
Seeing his escape, the Zombie Werewolf naturally gave chase. Thankfully, the monster was not a real werewolf, and it did not seem to know that running on four limbs would be faster than running on two legs. Still, compared to the slow shuffling of the BW Zombies, it was already very fast, and Xiao Tan had trouble introducing distance between them.
Soon, Xiao Tan reached the gate to the underground parking lot. The gate was just tall enough for him to leap over and would not block his way, but the problem was, he realized that the underground parking lot did not have any light.
His legs were still pushing him forward, but his hands reached into his backpack to grab the flashlight. Something suddenly entered his sight. Not far from the gate inside the parking lot, there were some moving shadows. Then, something worse happened…
Initially, Xiao Tan had only seen several shadows, but once he got closer, he realized that the dark parking lot was crammed with BW Zombies.
So many monsters are hiding in such places where the sun cannot reach! Xiao Tan exclaimed internally, but there was no time for him to digest this shock. He had to choose between the mob of BW Zombies or the single strong Zombie Werewolf. Of course, based on the current situation, if he rushed into the darkness, he would instantly be torn into pieces, so he had no choice but to turn and face the mini boss.
With Xiao Tan's power level, killing the Zombie Werewolf was going to be hard. But as long as he saved his energy and played his cards right, things might not turn out so bad for him. He had two solutions: one was to use the Slowing Sands, and the second was to use the special power provided by his title 'Panicked Hidden Assailant'—Fleeing Strike.
———
Skill Name: Fleeing Strike
Special Power Type: Active
Consumption: 30% of maximum Stamina Points
Effect: Can be activated when an attack lands. The user will move backward at ultra-high speed, to pull themself at least ten meters away from the target. No cooldown time, can be used only when the user is armed with cold steel.
Remark: I jump back out, and I jump back in… What's wrong? Why aren't you hitting me, you dummy!
———
The first method would be able to help Xiao Tan escape. One minute was more than enough to run away from the monster, but Xiao Tan could think of better uses for Slowing Sands. This scenario was one that leaned heavier on combat, and he imagined that there would come a time when he was surrounded by more BW Zombies or when they were facing the final boss. The item might be what they needed to turn things around, and using it now seemed like such a waste.
The second method was very risky. To use this skill to escape, he had to somehow reach behind the Zombie Werewolf or at least be facing away from the slope, and on top of that, he had to land a hit on the monster.
The memory of Brother Long between slammed away by the strengthened zombie was still fresh in his mind. Xiao Tan did not think that the Zombie Werewolf was weaker than that monster. Just in terms of levels, the average level of the players in this scenario was almost twice the average level of the players in that earlier scenario. Extenuating factors aside, one could speculate the monster's strength.
While Xiao Tan was hesitating, the Zombie Werewolf was approaching. Just as the monster was about to attack, it suddenly stopped. It turned around and completely ignored Wang Tanzhi's presence. Its head turned in a direction, and a growl escaped its throat.
Tat, tat, tat…
The sound of heavy metallic boots hitting the ground echoed down the streets, and two elongated shadows appeared at the top of the slope. Since they were facing away from the light, Xiao Tan could not see their faces, but from the monster's reaction, they were either other players or a hostile NPC.
"There was a warrior from He Bei name Pang Feng.
"His ambition as large as the galaxy, a million soldiers marched under his name.
"A reincarnated God, Phoenix was his nickname.
"His reputation reached far and wide, a hero was his destiny!"
One of them recited this strange poem as he walked forward. The man did not look that impressive, roughly in his thirties and with a full goatee. He had a large axe in his arms, and that was more eye-catching than its wielder.
So far, this was the first time that Wang Tanzhi had seen someone use this kind of weapon, which was larger than its wielder. The presence was indeed domineering.
"Little buddy, don't be afraid!" The one who spoke was none other than Unparalleled General Pan Feng. "With me and Brother Hwa here, no harm will come to you!"
Thousand Kills Hwa Xiong was also holding a long weapon, a spear. He looked about as old as Pan Feng, and he also had a glorious moustache. "Brother Pan's words are not to be mistrusted. Little buddy, please patient a tad longer. A monster of this level is not to be afraid of. Killing it will be no different from slaughtering a pig or a dog…"
Wang Tanzhi's only thought was…
Did I stumble into some kind of period drama, or have I lost my mind?
