Anna raced up the stairs, her heart pounding as she made her way to the master bedroom. She needed to retrieve a “Yang-infused object,” something specifically designed to counter the undead.
“So this is Wu Wen’s country’s ‘jiangshi’…”“Back in Russian, we used the same word for zombies, but they’re completely different creatures.”
“Even though we interrupted the ritual in time and stopped this jiangshi from fully evolving, its body is still unbelievably tough. My axe, which can chop through a tree with one swing, barely scratched its shoulder bone.”
“And this is just a heavily controlled simulation practice under the Research Institute’s supervision. The real ‘anomalies’ must be far more terrifying. My strength and skills are nowhere near enough. No wonder the teacher cut me from the sports team. I’ll have to double my training when I get back to school.”
Pushing aside her chaotic thoughts, Anna found herself standing in front of the master bedroom door.
Just as she reached for the handle—
Click.
A sharp, crisp tongue-click echoed through the air.
That single sound sent a wave of fear crashing over her, far exceeding the terror she felt downstairs with the jiangshi.
Her gaze was involuntarily drawn to the hallway beside her.
She distinctly remembered that the master bedroom was at the very end of the hallway, with the door right next to the corridor's dead end.
But now, the hallway seemed to stretch endlessly into the shadows.The far end was swallowed in pitch blackness, with no light strips lining the walls. There was no way to see where it ended.
The sound had come from within that darkness.
The longer Anna stared, the more her fear grew, her mind spiraling into dread.
Then, she thought she saw something—a figure slowly emerging from the shadows, its body gradually taking shape.
It was a horrifying creature with a tongue for a head,walking forward step by step like a living person.
It was about to step out of the darkness,about to reveal some unknown and terrifying ultimate form.
Slap!
A hand suddenly clapped down on Anna’s shoulder.
The unexpected touch jolted her back to reality. In the blink of an eye, the hallway returned to normal—just three meters away was the dead end, with a decorative vase standing at the far wall.
“Anna, what are you doing just standing there?”
Anna turned her head to see Gao Yuxuan, his usual composed demeanor intact behind his glasses.
“Did you hear anything strange just now?” she asked, her voice trembling slightly.
“No… Hurry up! Wu Wen and Luo Di can’t hold out much longer.”
With the situation at a critical juncture, Gao Yuxuan didn’t have the luxury to think about anything else. Every second wasted was a gamble with his teammates’ lives.
He had followed Anna back to the mansion for a simple reason: among the four of them, he was the least athletic. If even Anna’s axe couldn’t harm the jiangshi, his survival knife would be completely useless.
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But Gao Yuxuan had come prepared. In his backpack was a special item, originally intended to provide medical support for his teammates. Now, it might just be their best weapon against the jiangshi.
Seeing Gao Yuxuan rush into the master bedroom to search for his item, Anna quickly followed.
Though the fear from the tongue-click still lingered at the back of her mind, she couldn’t afford to dwell on it. Her best friend was in danger, and that thought was enough to push her forward.
She kept reminding herself to trust the Research Institute, to believe that this simulation would only trigger one anomalous event.
As her fear gradually subsided, Anna rummaged through her backpack and found the tool she needed to deal with the jiangshi. However, it required some preparation before it could be used.
While assembling her equipment, Anna noticed Gao Yuxuan holding a strange wooden box. Inside, arranged in neat rows, were long silver needles.
“Are those… for acupuncture?”
Though Anna wasn’t from Wu Wen’s country, she was well aware of the renowned practice of traditional Chinese medicine.
In a world where a major corporation monopolized biomedical technology, these affordable and effective TCM clinics had become an essential part of the healthcare system, providing accessible treatment for ordinary people.
Anna herself had once tried acupuncture, which had significantly improved her physical condition after just one session. It even helped her achieve excellent results in her subsequent physical exams.
But the silver needles in this box were much longer than those used in acupuncture. The longest one could easily pierce through an arm.
Meanwhile, the tools in Anna’s hands were three bottles of vodka they had brought for dinner.Two of them were her favorite 60-proof spirits, while the last was a bottle of Spirytus, a 96-proof vodka known as “The Water of Life.” Typically used for mixing cocktails, Anna never expected it to come in handy like this.
“Let’s go!”
“Got it!”
When the two of them reopened the master bedroom door, they could hear the clash of metal from outside, even from a distance.
“Wu Wen!”
Having experienced the jiangshi’s toughness firsthand, Anna knew just how difficult it was to deal with. Her concern for her best friend completely suppressed the lingering fear from earlier. She decided to deal with the strange hallway later—after they survived this ordeal.
As they sprinted out of the mansion, the scene before them made them freeze in their tracks.
The sounds of battle had stopped.
The gleaming, silver-coated chainsaw lay on the ground near the mansion’s entrance, its blade broken and unusable.
Luo Di was sprawled on the ground ten meters away,his right hand clutching his left upper arm, where three finger-wide holes had pierced through his muscle. The wounds were blackened, oozing blood and pus.
However,on the ground nearby was a severed arm wrapped in a tattered sleeve. Foul black blood pooled around it. Judging by the rough cut, it had been severed by the chainsaw.
At the cost of his chainsaw and his own injury, Luo Di had managed to cut off one of the jiangshi’s arms.
Anna and Gao Yuxuan were stunned by Luo Di’s feat,but only Luo Di himself knew that it was Wu Wen’s relentless efforts to distract the jiangshi that had given him the opportunity to wield the unwieldy chainsaw effectively.
Wu Wen’s combat skills were far beyond what one would expect from a high school student.
“Ahhh—”
Thick black mist poured from the jiangshi’s mouth. Losing an arm had only made it angrier, and it now locked its sights on Luo Di, its primary target.
Its cloth shoes lifted as it charged forward with terrifying speed.
Luo Di, still struggling to get up, seemed unable to dodge in time.
At the critical moment,something glowing flew through the air from the mansion’s entrance, tracing a perfect arc before smashing into the jiangshi’s side.
With a deafening crash of shattering glass and a monstrous roar, flames erupted, spreading across the jiangshi’s body as the intense smell of alcohol filled the air.
The improvised Molotov cocktail didn’t engulf the jiangshi entirely, but the flames managed to burn parts of its body.
The Yang-infused fire naturally countered the Yin energy of the undead.Though the pus oozing from the jiangshi’s skin helped suppress the flames, the burns were still effective.
Seizing the opportunity, another object was thrown—this time, not at the jiangshi but at Luo Di.
Smack!
He caught it firmly.
It was a bottle of 60-proof vodka, its cap still intact.
Though it didn’t meet the 70–75% alcohol standard for medical use, it still had some disinfectant properties. Without hesitation, Luo Di poured the vodka over his wound.
The pain was excruciating,and the corpse poison wouldn’t be so easily neutralized.
At that moment, a gentle hand rested on Luo Di’s shoulder. The touch brought him back to the memory of the day before their break, when Wu Wen had first invited him to join this field practice.
A soft voice came from behind her mask:
“Leave the rest to us. A maimed jiangshi is nothing we can’t handle. Don’t underestimate your teammates.”```
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