Chapter Forty-One: Hanging by a Thread

Rebuilding Civilization

Faced with the chaotic scene before him, Xie Han knew now was not the time to preserve his strength. He shouted at the stunned Chen Liu, “Brother Chen, find a way to gather people and clear away the cars blocking the front. I’ll hold off R3.” Without waiting for debate, Xie Han leapt from the King Hummer and dashed toward R3, forty meters away. Every second R3 was left unchecked meant another life lost.

Against R3, since even heavy machine guns failed to pierce its hide, Xie Han could only pin his hopes on explosive rounds. The situation was dire: he didn’t have many left, having used fifteen in the bank, plus the one that blew off R2’s head. He wasn’t sure if what remained would be enough to kill R3. Still, he doubted explosives alone would finish it. At that moment, Xie Han desperately wished for an impossibly sharp and sturdy blade—a close-range weapon, the only thing capable of maneuvering around R3.

The thick stench of blood had driven R3 into a frenzy. Moving on all fours, it was agile beyond belief; even those frantically firing couldn’t keep their gun barrels trained on it. Nearly every time it darted, someone was killed. Its claws, razor-sharp, often sliced victims in half. Its belly protruded, clearly stuffed from recently devouring several unlucky souls; now it slaughtered humans out of sheer bloodlust.

R3 measured a staggering three meters in length; even crouched, its limbs stood one and a half meters tall. Its head vaguely resembled a human’s, but its face was twisted, its mouth stretched monstrously wide, teeth akin to a leopard’s—capable of shredding a man with ease. As Xie Han drew near, he thought R3 shouldn’t be called a zombie at all; beast would be more fitting.

Xie Han’s approach alerted the rampaging R3. It glared at him, wary, its two bloodshot eyes fixed on Xie Han, a guttural roar rumbling from its maw.

R3’s behavior gave Xie Han more data: zombies, after evolving, perfected their bodily functions. R3, for instance, could vocalize and exhibited fear of powerful force. Xie Han wondered at the madness of this world—zombies, their bodies rotting, somehow repairing themselves through evolution, slowly regaining a degree of consciousness. For the surviving humans, this change could only be ominous.

Xie Han sprinted closer, raised his Exploding Star, and fired at R3 without hesitation. Bang! His movements were so quick that R3 only saw his arm lift, barely managing to turn its head before the explosive round detonated on its back.

Flesh flew as the blast carved away a swath of its hide, black blood spraying forth. R3, wounded by the sudden attack, lost all caution. With a furious roar, it charged at Xie Han, all four limbs pounding the ground.

Bang!

Another shot. Despite its agility, R3’s forelimb was struck by Xie Han’s equally swift reflexes. The explosive round blasted another bloody wound in its left foreleg. The hurtling R3, battered by the blow, tumbled to the ground with a screech. Yet the blast wasn’t enough to break its leg; R3 rolled and sprang up like lightning, lunging at Xie Han again.

“Damn it, why aren’t you getting out of here?” Xie Han yelled. The people frozen in fear atop the vehicles, even seeing Xie Han holding R3 at bay, failed to grasp this was their chance to escape, remaining stunned. Only at Xie Han’s furious roar did they awaken as if from a dream, scrambling to start their cars and flee.

Chen Liu acted swiftly. He used the King Hummer’s terrifying force to ram the cars blocking the road. Everyone now knew those vehicles had to be moved. Chen Liu stepped up to organize the effort, and no one opposed him at such a moment. After moving what cars could still run, the King Hummer’s powerful engine roared, slamming hard into a parked sedan. As promised in the commercials, the car Chen Liu struck was hurled several meters away, the King Hummer’s bumper only bearing a few scratches.

“Hurry the hell up!” he shouted.

After clearing two cars in succession, the street was opened. The blocked vehicles, startled by Chen Liu’s shouts, scattered, fleeing at full speed. The convoy ahead had already left the city; the emptied street wasn’t yet filled with zombies, so there was no need to worry about being blocked again.

Xie Han had no idea how Xu Qiang and the others managed to squeeze their minibus into the forward convoy, but that was just as well—one less thing to worry about. In just a few minutes, R3 had destroyed over a dozen vehicles; the rest crashed into each other or plowed into buildings in panic. Xie Han couldn’t imagine how just one R3 could turn such a powerful convoy into this chaos. What if two or three appeared at once?

Watching R3 rush toward him in a blink, Xie Han took a deep breath. His Exploding Star had three explosive rounds left—the most powerful weapon he had to stop R3. Once they were spent, R3 wouldn’t give him a chance to reload.

“Damn it, it’s now or never…” Xie Han roared, firing again. At such close range, the round struck R3’s neck directly, spraying black blood anew. This time, R3’s reaction was different; it tumbled to the ground immediately. The surprise made Xie Han pause, but as he realized what happened, he followed up with another shot at R3’s head.

Bang!

No black blood splattered; this shot merely blasted the skin from R3’s scalp, exposing writhing flesh beneath.

Hit in the head, R3 went completely berserk, rolling once and then charging like lightning. Xie Han and R3 were never far apart; with R3’s madness, the distance was covered in a breath, its foul stench overwhelming Xie Han’s senses as it raised its claw, swinging viciously at him.

By now, Xie Han’s genetic level had reached stage two, with physical strength twenty-five times that of an ordinary person. His reaction speed and toughness were astonishing, but he knew that, ultimately, he was still flesh and blood, unable to withstand R3’s ferocious strike. The beast’s claws were terrifyingly strong and sharp—as shown by its ease in shredding through titanium alloy car roofs.

R3’s swipe was a blur; Xie Han saw only a shadow. His response was instinctive: he rolled aside, raised his gun, and fired at R3’s belly as it passed overhead. By now, he’d figured out a key detail—human vulnerability was mirrored in R3. No matter how it mutated, it was ultimately evolved from humans.

As Xie Han suspected, R3’s abdomen was much more fragile. The shot blasted a fist-sized hole in its belly. R3, howling, spun like lightning and swiped at Xie Han again. The whistling claws passed within less than two centimeters of his neck, the claw wind leaving a bloody scratch across his throat.

“That was close…” Xie Han knew how deadly that blow had been. Had he not moved just in time, R3 would have torn his head off. He wondered if the claw mark would become infected—XR virus-induced fear gnawed at him. After firing the last explosive round, he didn’t check where he’d hit R3; instead, he scrambled to his feet and bolted.

The brush with death had robbed Xie Han of his courage to face R3.

(ps: Many thanks to all the enthusiastic brothers and sisters who’ve offered suggestions for this book. Thank you all!)