Chapter 8: Evolution

Su Li realized that this corpse’s agility seemed higher than that of the female corpse during the day; it was now close to the flexibility of a normal person. If it had retreated now, Su Li wouldn’t have been able to attack it.

Then, Su Li noticed the second flaw of these transformed corpse monsters: they weren’t very intelligent.

A normal person encountering this situation, facing Su Li with a cleaver and a hammer while unarmed, would definitely retreat first and then figure out a way to attack.

But the transformed monster in front of him, after taking a hit from Su Li’s hammer on its arm, was still desperately trying to climb inside. It quickly hauled nearly half its body through the window opening.

Seeing this, Su Li brought the cleaver in his left hand down repeatedly. Flesh and blood flew everywhere. Two cuts landed on the creature’s arm, and three more chopped into its head and face. The hammer also fell in rapid succession. By the time the corpse had finally climbed half its body through the window, it slumped there motionless, its head practically smashed to a pulp by Su Li’s hammer.

Watching the transformed monster cease movement, Su Li felt a strange sensation that the opponent had simply offered itself up to be killed.

Watching the corpse lie across the window, the layer of white fuzz on its skin retracted and vanished. Soon, a thumb-sized ball of white fuzz emerged from the bloody mess of its head and face, launched itself, and flew toward Su Li’s face.

This time, Su Li didn’t try to resist. In fact, he couldn’t have dodged it anyway; the object was too fast.

Struck on the forehead again, he reached up to touch it but felt nothing. Then, he felt a wave of intense heat, like an electric current, surge through his entire body. It lasted only a few seconds before rapidly disappearing, but a new power was blossoming within him.

When he smashed the female corpse’s head during the day, he had been left panting, but now, despite the continuous attacks with the cleaver and hammer, he didn’t feel overly fatigued. And now, with a new wave of power coursing through him, he felt that swinging the hammer and cleaver was easier. He even felt the weight of the hammer was somewhat light.

He faintly sensed that his strength had increased by at least several tens of jin (a Chinese unit of weight, roughly equivalent to several pounds).

In his mind, a new message appeared out of nowhere, as if he suddenly gained this memory.

“Spiritual Source: 2/5.”

Sensing this new message in his mind, Su Li was no longer surprised.

“Sure enough, this thing is called a Spiritual Source. I dealt with two reanimated corpses and gained two Spiritual Sources. But what does the ‘5’ at the end mean? Does it mean I need to obtain five Spiritual Sources? And what will happen once I get five Spiritual Sources…”

Su Li recalled how the transformed corpses grew a layer of white fuzz on their bodies, resembling the legendary white-haired zombies. He felt a creeping fear that once the Spiritual Source in his body reached 5/5, he might also grow white hair and turn into a zombie.

While contemplating, Su Li was about to lift the corpse that was draped over the window and toss it out when he suddenly heard a “bang” on the security door. This was immediately followed by a rapid “bang, bang, bang,” indicating someone outside was hitting the door with great force.

Su Li gripped the cleaver and hammer, staring at the security door. Although the banging was powerful, the door was solid, and trying to break it down would be difficult, which slightly calmed him.

“Who are you?” Su Li stared at the security door. Although he suspected the one banging was another transformed monster, he couldn’t help but call out. He held onto a sliver of hope that the person outside wasn’t a transformed monster but another survivor.

The moment he spoke, the banging outside stopped. Silence returned to the surroundings. Just then, a sharp shattering sound came from his bedroom.

“This is bad!” Su Li’s face changed, and he immediately rushed toward the bedroom.

When he burst into the bedroom, he vaguely saw a dark shape in the darkness climbing through his bedroom window. The bedroom window glass had already been broken.

The dark shape had just landed when it suddenly lunged at him at a high speed.

Using the faint light in the darkness, Su Li could barely make out that this was also a transformed monster. It had likely been a middle-aged man, perhaps 40 or 50 years old, and its body was similarly bloated from being submerged. However, this particular monster didn’t show signs of being gnawed on. Its mouth was slightly open, its face was covered in fuzz, and its white eyes faintly glowed.

Su Li’s heart tensed as he observed the speed of its charge.

From the stiff movements of the female corpse during the day, to the agility of the second monster that was close to a normal person’s, and now the speed of this third monster—Su Li suddenly realized that these transformed creatures seemed to be evolving, with each one being more terrifying than the last.

However, he had no retreat. He charged forward, relying on the weapons in his hands and the fact that his strength had increased after obtaining the second Spiritual Source.

The lunging transformed monster was not truly human, so it felt no fear or pain. It pounced fiercely, extending both arms, allowing Su Li’s cleaver to hack into its arm, and then slamming into Su Li, knocking him heavily to the ground with a massive force.

Su Li fell, his back and rear hitting the floor, causing a burst of pain. Immediately after, his neck was seized. The monster, with its hands locked around his throat, instantly cut off his air supply.

Su Li gasped, his eyes bulging. He exerted all his strength, wildly swinging the cleaver and hammer in his hands at the monster riding on top of him.

In a flash, he hacked the monster at least five or six times and hammered it four or five times, yet the creature was impervious to pain. It just rode on him, its hands tightly squeezing Su Li’s throat.

Su Li’s face was turning blue and purple, and he knew he was in trouble. In his current position, he couldn’t smash the monster’s head, and no matter how severe the injuries he inflicted on its body with the cleaver and hammer, they wouldn’t stop its actions. Meanwhile, with his throat being choked, he couldn’t breathe, his brain was starved of oxygen, and he was moments away from losing consciousness and dying.

In that desperate moment between life and death, with his throat tightly constricted and unable to breathe, Su Li felt his chest was about to explode and his entire head was spinning and ringing. Drawing strength from an unknown source, he suddenly opened his mouth and let out a grunt. Using his waist and thighs simultaneously, he violently threw the transformed monster off his body.

With a loud “bang,” the immense force flung the monster away, sending it crashing into the television hanging on the wall.

A crisp “smash” was heard instantly. The television screen shattered into pieces, falling onto the transformed monster with a “clatter.”

(End of Chapter)