Chen Liu weighed his options, then decided to confront the danger. The two zombies standing before him were a manageable threat compared to the risks of retreating deeper into the sanatorium. Without a proper weapon, chances of survival were slim. I’ll take the lesser evil, he thought, his expression hardening with determination.
Charging in blindly was not an option. Even with his awakened strength, Chen Liu felt confident against only one zombie. Facing two, with three corpses wandering nearby felt unwise. He crouched and picked up a smooth river stone, then slipped behind a thick tree. With a sharp flick of his wrist, he hurled the stone into the distant underbrush. Rustle—the noise cut through the air. Guaao—the three corpses shambled toward the sound, drawn by instinct. To his relief, one zombie paused its feeding, muttered something unintelligible to its companion, and followed the corpses, leaving the gateball court.
Now’s my chance, Chen Liu thought, his face set with focus. He sprinted from the tree, slipped into the court, and grabbed a gateball mallet[^1]. But the remaining zombie raised its head, letting out a guttural howl. GROOOOHH—it called for backup and charged at him. The other zombie turned back, the three corpses trailing behind. Chen Liu’s heart sank. Running blindly risked exhaustion or worse—more zombies. There was no second lake to escape into. “Screw it,” he muttered, gripping the mallet tightly. He turned to face the zombie in the court.
In a fight with slim odds, courage was his only ally. If he could kill this zombie before its partner arrived, he might survive. He stopped two meters away, holding the mallet with both hands. No reckless swings this time, he thought, recalling his clumsy strike against the female corpse. His expression tightened with resolve. The zombie’s blood-red eyes locked onto him, brimming with hunger and malice. Chen Liu braced himself as it closed in.
Bang—he swung the mallet down with steady force, aiming for the zombie’s head. To his dismay, the alloy hammerhead, hollow for lightweight handling, crumpled on impact. The blow dented the zombie’s skull but didn’t break it, sending the creature sprawling. This zombie was cunning. It rolled, sprang forward, and wrapped its limbs around Chen Liu’s legs, jaws snapping for a bite. The second zombie entered the court, seconds away.
Instinct took over once again. Chen Liu flipped the mallet and drove the shaft’s blunt end into the zombie’s head like a stake. Thud, thud, thud—three desperate blows shattered its skull. The creature’s limbs twitched, still clinging to him. Chen Liu kicked it off just as the second zombie lunged. But its next move chilled him. It growled at the three corpses behind, urging them forward, then circled to attack from behind. It’s coordinating them, Chen Liu thought, his face paling with realisation. He hadn’t expected such intelligence from a zombie.
His bloodline knowledge suggested zombies matched awakened ability users, ranked from one to nine stars. This one’s at least Two-Star, he thought in frustration. Trapped between the corpses and the circling zombie, he needed a plan. Pretending to untangle the dead zombie from his legs, he kept his eyes on the one behind him. As expected, it saw his apparent vulnerability and charged with a roar. GROOOOHH—Chen Liu waited until it was nearly upon him, then spun like a golfer teeing off. Thud—the mallet slammed into the zombie’s chest, knocking it off balance. He freed his foot, faced the creature head-on, and swung again, driving it to the ground. With a final strike, he crushed its skull.
The three corpses shuffled closer. Chen Liu, undaunted, adopted a hit-and-run approach, striking each one methodically until their skulls cracked. Crack, crack, crack—they fell one by one. From the zombies, he collected two white crystals, the second slightly larger, confirming its Two-Star status. The corpses yielded nothing.
After a brief rest, Chen Liu dismantled the mallet, keeping the foam-wrapped shaft with its sharp screw post. It was a better weapon than the hollow hammerhead. One strike could pierce a skull, he thought. He noticed a storage shed by the court’s fence, used for gateball equipment. Too small to stand in, it could still serve as a hideout. Perfect, he thought. He slipped inside, leaving the door slightly ajar to watch outside, and sat cross-legged. He pulled out a One-Star crystal and held it in his palm.
Closing his eyes, he activated the energy guidance technique from his bloodline, focusing inward on his dantian. It was a hazy, fist-sized space with two hair-thin white strands of source energy, swaying chaotically. This powers my ability, he thought. A One-Star Awakened had two strands; reaching Two-Star required four. He channelled the crystal’s energy through his meridians into his dantian, where it fused into a third strand. When the crystal crumbled to powder, only half a strand had formed. Zombies’ crystals are weak—only a quarter of their energy converts, he discovered. Undeterred, he absorbed another One-Star crystal, then the Two-Star one. When it too turned to dust, four strands pulsed in his dantian, which expanded slightly under an unseen force. Chen Liu had become a Two-Star Awakened.
Small-stage promotions offered little physical boost, except for those with Physical-type abilities. It occurred to him that the Awakened were powerful but not invincible. Leaving the court, he moved cautiously toward the villa. Along the way, three more zombies appeared. With the sharpened shaft, he dispatched them, collecting three One-Star crystals. The sanatorium’s sparse population helped; in a city, a single building could hold a horde. Yet the absence of living people gnawed at him. Are they hiding or dead? he worried, but pushed the thought aside almost immediately.
At the villa, he swiped his keycard and stepped into the living room. A shrill screech pierced the air. MEEOW—a shadow shot toward him like lightning. In the distance, a female zombie in a maid’s uniform snapped her head up. Chen Liu recognised her—the woman who cleaned his room daily. Her once-warm eyes now held only bloodlust and cold malice.