"Run!" Zhao Yin screamed at the top of his lungs, already sprinting.

Little Monkey activated his Giantification ability instantly, scooped up Song Xiaodao, and bolted after him.

By now, the monkey had fully internalized his master's survival doctrine: when danger strikes, run first.

"My food!" Song Xiaodao shrieked.

Little Monkey's grip was too forceful. Most of the supplies she'd been clutching went flying from her arms.

But she knew better than to make him stop now. All she could do was watch with aching eyes as her precious food tumbled farther and farther away.

After several hundred meters, Zhao Yin risked a glance back.

The Zombie King had chased the water buffalo into the village. The beast had fled to the Chestnut Tree and now stood there, staring dumbly at the bare trunk.

Zhao Yin understood immediately. That damn cow was still after his Chestnut Leaves.

"So they're gone now, huh?" Zhao Yin sneered inwardly.

"Zhao Yin, that cow is amazing! Look, it wounded the big zombie!" Song Xiaodao suddenly shouted.

Zhao Yin followed her gaze.

Half a horn jutted from the Zombie King's right shoulder, black blood oozing around it. One arm dangled uselessly, connected only by a strip of fascia that swung grotesquely with each stride.

A gaping hole had been punched clean through its waist. Even its running speed had noticeably dropped.

Zhao Yin's spirits surged. "Monkey! Circle around with me!"

Little Monkey asked through their mental link, "Master, are we going to kill the zombie and the cow?"

Zhao Yin replied, "Kill them? An injured Zombie King is still way beyond us. We're going for the Star Crystals!"

With the Zombie King's strength diminished, his sense of security had climbed just enough for his mind to start working again.

He remembered clearly: twenty-six F-rank zombies had been following the Zombie King.

Only twelve remained now. That meant the water buffalo had slaughtered fourteen.

The battlefield wasn't far. A minute or two at most.

He sprinted without looking up and soon arrived.

The farmland that had been merely potholed before was now devastated. Freshly churned earth lay everywhere, as if a magnitude-ten earthquake had torn through.

Over a dozen F-rank zombies lay scattered across the field, their bodies crushed beneath the water buffalo's iron hooves.

Several had been reduced to little more than intact heads attached to ruined torsos. When they saw Zhao Yin approach, their jaws clicked open and shut hungrily.

Left alone, another day or two would have seen their shattered bodies regenerate through some unknown energy.

But they wouldn't get that chance.

Without waiting for orders, Little Monkey set Song Xiaodao down. The three of them-two humans and one beast-began smashing zombie skulls.

Fourteen Star Crystals and Zombie Cores soon rested in Zhao Yin's palm.

He pocketed them immediately. "Let's go!"

But before he could take a single step, thundering footsteps erupted behind him.

The water buffalo charged toward them, blood streaming from its mouth and nostrils. A massive hole had been torn through its belly, intestines trailing behind it.

It closed several hundred meters in the blink of an eye, the Zombie King right on its heels. The twelve remaining F-rank zombies were nowhere to be seen.

The buffalo's single red eye locked onto Zhao Yin, burning with hatred.

It had figured it out.

The leaves that could have healed its wounds-this human had taken them all.

This human had doomed it.

So if it couldn't kill the Zombie King, it would kill Zhao Yin before it died.

There was no time to run. The buffalo had unleashed every last drop of its life force. It was too fast.

Zhao Yin didn't hesitate. He whipped out his sniper rifle.

Bang!

The shot punched through the shattered scales on the buffalo's skull and buried itself in its brain.

The beast's momentum carried it past him in a thunderous blur before it crashed face-first into the dirt.

If Zhao Yin had been even a tenth of a second slower, he'd have been trampled to paste.

No time to breathe.

The Zombie King arrived. Without the buffalo to chase, it locked onto Zhao Yin and charged with a savage roar.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Zhao Yin fired rapidly, every shot targeting the mangled shoulder. The thin strip of fascia holding the arm on finally snapped.

The severed limb dropped to the ground.

The Zombie King stumbled.

"Run! Run! RUN!" Zhao Yin bellowed, stowing the rifle as he fled.

But the Zombie King was beyond enraged now.

The worst-case scenario unfolded before his eyes.

Its already massive frame swelled further. Its speed exploded.

Neither Zhao Yin nor Little Monkey had seen this ability before.

It was faster than him now-faster even than the Extreme Speed boost from his Fishnet Stockings. A huge hand tipped with ten-centimeter black talons slashed toward his back.

Cold sweat erupted across Zhao Yin's body.

For the first time since the apocalypse began, he felt death breathing down his neck.

WHAM!

The blow launched him forward like a ragdoll. His F-rank Extraordinary Equipment military jacket shredded under the Zombie King's claws.

He crashed into the mud over twenty meters away, tumbling a dozen times before finally skidding to a stop.

Zhao Yin coughed up a mouthful of blood. His organs felt like they'd been rearranged. His face went deathly pale.

If not for his Supernatural Equipment absorbing the impact, that strike would have punched straight through him.

Gritting his teeth against the agony, he raised his rifle and kept firing.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

Armor-piercing rounds sparked against the Zombie King's hide, barely slowing its advance.

Within seconds, it stood over him. One massive foot rose to crush his skull.

Zhao Yin had anticipated this. He rolled aside, still shooting, still scrambling to create distance.

But the gap between them was too vast.

The Fishnet Stockings only boosted his movement speed. In raw agility, the Zombie King sat at 36 points-more than double his own. It pivoted, seized him by the collar, and hoisted him into the air like a chick.

ROAR!

The Zombie King glared at him and bellowed, as if demanding to know how this insignificant ant had dared sever its arm.

Zhao Yin dangled helplessly. He'd never imagined he'd end up like this-held aloft by a monster, staring into a reeking maw full of rotting teeth.

ROAR!

Another roar erupted from behind the Zombie King.

Little Monkey had reacted the moment the attack began, but the creature was simply too fast. Only now did he finally close the distance.

His Giantification ability surged to full power. The iron rod in his hands came down on the Zombie King's skull with everything he had.

CLANG!

The rebar twisted and warped on impact, lodging itself in the monster's head.

The Zombie King didn't even flinch.

It turned its head slowly to regard Little Monkey.

To this creature, the human and the monkey were nothing but jokes.

WHAM!

One kick sent Little Monkey hurtling through the air. His massive body crashed down like a meteor.

Zhao Yin's mind remained ice-cold.

The Zombie King had almost no weaknesses. Extreme speed. Terrifying strength. Near-impenetrable defense.

Almost no weaknesses.

Except one.

The damage the water buffalo had already inflicted.

That was it. The wounds from the buffalo were its only vulnerability.

Zhao Yin rammed his sniper rifle into the gaping hole in the Zombie King's abdomen.

At point-blank range, he squeezed the trigger.

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