Slightly chaotic footsteps echoed against the cold, smooth white marble floor. The vast hospital felt eerily empty. The group of seven moved upstairs in silence, making the surroundings seem even more deathly and strange.
Before the apocalypse, this kind of quiet would have been perfectly normal for a hospital.
After the apocalypse, however, a hospital this quiet was enough to make one’s scalp prickle—because it made no sense at all.
When something defied logic, there was always something wrong. Everyone understood that.
Luo Beiyao’s spiritual sense was enough to envelop the entire hospital. Once he locked onto the target, he led the others straight toward it.
Lu Shuangshuang was visibly tense. Sweat seeped into her palms as she gripped the iron rod. She glanced at Su Mu, and the calmness on his face instantly gave her a sense of reassurance.
They were getting closer.
Without drawing attention, Luo Beiyao moved slightly nearer to Su Mu.
“Keep your movements light,” he said softly. “Don’t tear your wound.”
His low, gentle voice was unnaturally clear in the silent corridor.
Almost as soon as his words fell, a black shadow shot toward Su Mu like lightning.
Luo Beiyao had already anticipated it.
Blade raised, blade fell—
A mangled, bloody arm dropped heavily to the floor.
Everything happened too fast. By the time the others reacted, a chill had already seeped into their bones.
If Luo Beiyao hadn’t been here… they probably wouldn’t even know how they died.
Pitch-black, viscous blood splattered across the ground. Su Mu looked toward the advanced zombie crouched in the corner, still glaring at them with feral hostility, his expression growing colder.
So it really was a Zombie King.
Such terrifying speed of evolution and such monstrous talent—if it weren’t eliminated early, once it fully matured, it would become a threat to every human survivor in the apocalypse.
The Zombie King’s instinct for self-preservation made it retreat subconsciously. It could sense that this time, it had encountered something dangerous—something it couldn’t devour.
Unable to bite through this piece of meat, it abandoned it to retreat.
Its movements were swift. As it released a mental attack, it let out a harsh, hoarse roar. Low-level zombies hidden inside the wards responded instantly, bursting through doors as black, razor-sharp claws lunged toward the group.
The mental attack that erupted in that instant was overwhelming.
Deng Qinghuai, Lu Shuangshuang, Su Yang, and Fang Yiyang were slammed to the ground by the pain, kneeling and collapsing as blood streamed from their eyes, ears, noses, and mouths.
Wu Keke and Xu Qingru, who were stronger, sensed the mental assault from the advanced zombie, but they were too slow to react. Their spiritual fields were damaged, and their heads rang violently.
Su Mu’s expression changed slightly. He raised a hand to cover his right ear as sharp pain pierced his skull, a thin line of crimson blood slowly trailing down his pale skin.
Whether ordinary humans or ability users, everyone possessed a spiritual field within their mind. Ability users could sense their own spiritual field and strengthen it through various means.
The spiritual field was a barrier that protected the human brain and consciousness. Once it suffered heavy damage or rupture, it would directly harm the individual.
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Luo Beiyao was a Nascent Soul cultivator. His five senses far surpassed even first-generation super ability users. The moment he sensed the zombie’s mental attack, he wrapped Su Mu in spiritual energy.
But he had underestimated this advanced zombie.
The mental attack didn’t damage Luo Beiyao’s spiritual field—but it unintentionally stimulated his brain. In that instant, fragments of long-lost images surged forward, and he caught them sharply.
The moment he saw them clearly, Luo Beiyao’s expression changed slightly. At the same time, the spiritual energy he was gathering in his hand faltered and began to destabilize.
Su Mu also sensed the mental attack and immediately mobilized his own mental power to protect his field.
What he hadn’t expected was that while attacking all seven of them, the advanced zombie had concentrated most of its power on him.
Caught off guard, his spiritual field was inevitably affected—and damaged.
Honstely, I am not sure if spiritual field (精神网) is the right way to translate it… I’ve read my fair share of Cultivation Novels but can’t remember a good translation I could use… if there is a reader who knows how to translate 精神网 well, please enlighten me! Google Translate says Mental Net/Network… but it sounds so foreign to me to use it sonsistently …. since we have a modern apocalypse zombie and cultivation story, I try to keep the words consistent…..