Chapter 18: Corpse Beasts

He remembered his phone could be used for light. Su Li found his phone and saw that the battery was down to just 3% and would soon shut off.

“I wonder how you are doing now.” Su Li sighed, looking at the screen which displayed a beautiful, smiling girl with long, straight hair and bangs, looking clean and pure. It was a photo of his girlfriend, Wang Lan, whom he had set as his phone wallpaper.

With the city suddenly devastated by a catastrophic flood, Su Li dared not contemplate what fate had befallen Wang Lan, whether she was dead or alive. Just thinking about it brought a quiet sadness and made him feel very discouraged.

“Today is the 16th. It’s already Friday, and tomorrow is the weekend. We had planned to climb Longqiu Mountain together on Saturday.”

Since waking up early yesterday and realizing the flood had submerged the entire city, less than two days had passed. Yet, for Su Li, his life had undergone an earth-shattering change. It felt as long as a century, and he truly understood the meaning of every day being a struggle.

Su Li, looking forlorn, gently placed the phone aside. Without a way to charge it, the phone would soon turn off automatically. Although he still had a flashlight for illumination, Su Li was reluctant to use it. In this situation of severe resource scarcity, the flashlight was a precious resource. He put it into his backpack, along with his dwindling food supply, and refused to use it casually.

“Forget it, I’ll just leave the corpse here for now. Everything can wait until tomorrow morning.”

Su Li left the One-Eyed Frog corpse in the living room. Since the floor was increasingly damp and water marks were appearing everywhere, Su Li moved the sofa into the bedroom. He planned to sleep on the sofa tonight.

Now, the bedroom was almost entirely filled: the cabinet bracing the window, the upright bed slats, the makeshift raft he had built, the two basins holding tap water, the storage box filled with cooled boiled water, and the travel backpack containing food and important tools. With the sofa moved in as well, the entire bedroom was crammed.

He had thought about moving the One-Eyed Frog corpse in too, but considering its overwhelming stench, the smell would be unbearable with the door and windows closed, and he wouldn’t be able to sleep. He was forced to leave it in the better-ventilated living room and retreated to the bedroom.

Beyond that, deep down, Su Li secretly hoped that the One-Eyed Frog’s corpse would attract the low-level Corpse Beasts he wanted.

He urgently needed Spiritual Sources.

After closing the door, Su Li thought for a moment, then opened the door again, took out the cleaver, and started shaving the edge of the door frame.

He quickly shaved off a small section of the door edge. When he closed the door again, the shaved section left a gap about one centimeter wide. Through the gap, he could see the situation in the living room.

This was so he could easily observe the situation outside while hiding inside, just in case something happened.

Since the lock was broken and the door couldn’t be secured, Su Li moved the sofa over and wedged one end against the door.

Lying on the sofa, Su Li’s mind was in a state of hyper-alertness. Though his eyes were closed, he couldn’t fall asleep.

His mind was constantly racing: one moment thinking of his parents, the next of Wang Lan. He wondered what he should do next, trapped here, how many other survivors like him were left in the city, and how many people had evacuated before the flood.

His city was submerged, but what about the other cities?

He had been trapped here for two days. Initially, he had hoped for rescue, but that hope was slowly fading.

The disaster caused by this great flood might be far more horrific than he had imagined.

Drowned humans evolving into irrational Corpse Beasts that attack people, the never-before-seen monster, the One-Eyed Frog, and the Spiritual Sources he acquired, the boost in strength, and the “Peering Rune” he now possessed—all these signs indicated that the world had undergone an unprecedented change. All former rules and common sense had ceased to exist.

He could no longer use his previous knowledge to predict the events unfolding now.

Regarding the future, his heart was filled with uncertainty.

Mulling over these thoughts, Su Li eventually drifted off to sleep, though he didn’t know how much time had passed.

However, with so much on his mind and under immense mental stress, Su Li’s sleep was light. A strange noise woke him up.

The sound was faint, seemingly coming from the living room. Su Li woke up with a jolt and immediately sat up on the sofa. His first instinct was to grab the cleaver and hammer he had placed beside him.

Clutching the cleaver and hammer, Su Li felt a little safer. He held his breath, carefully listening to the sound coming from the living room.

Rustle, rustle. It sounded like something was chewing.

Su Li immediately thought of the One-Eyed Frog’s corpse in the living room.

Moving slowly and quietly, he crept to the door and pressed his face against the gap, peering into the living room.

Through the crack, and with the aid of the faint moonlight filtering in from the balcony window, Su Li saw several dark figures in the dimly lit living room surrounding the One-Eyed Frog’s corpse on the floor, gnawing at it.

When Su Li first saw them, a small portion of the One-Eyed Frog’s corpse had already been eaten.

With a thought, Su Li immediately activated the “Peering Rune.” The vertical eye-like symbol appeared on his brow, and information instantly flooded his mind.

“Corpse Beast: The lowest-level Spiritual Source Beast infected. Has a certain probability of evolving into a higher-level Corpse Beast through mutual consumption. Other: None.”

“Corpse Beast: The lowest-level Spiritual Source Beast infected…”

…

As Su Li observed each dark figure, the repetitive message appeared, confirming that all the dark shapes eating the flesh and blood of the One-Eyed Frog’s corpse were low-level Corpse Beasts, formed from the infected bodies of drowned humans.

For the current Su Li, these low-level Corpse Beasts posed no threat. On the contrary, they were exactly what he wanted to see most.

He was currently short two Spiritual Sources to reach ten. The Corpse Beasts in the living room were, in his eyes, just Spiritual Sources waiting to be collected.

Determining there was no threat, Su Li did not hesitate. He pushed the sofa away, opened the door, and charged out, cleaver and hammer in hand.

Su Li’s sudden appearance startled the feeding Corpse Beasts. They all looked up, and then two of them stood up and lunged at Su Li.

Although it was night, Su Li could see their movements clearly enough with the aid of the moonlight. To the current Su Li, the monsters’ pounces were not fast; he could easily evade or block them.

He launched a kick. His speed was far greater than the attacking Corpse Beasts. He sent the monster on the left flying backward with one kick, while he swung the hammer in his right arm, accurately smashing the head of the Corpse Beast lunging from the right.

(End of Chapter)