Slipping into the apartment, Su Jin headed straight for the window and quickly drew the curtains shut.
Fortunately, the curtains in the other rooms all appeared to be drawn.
With the living room curtains closed, the interior plunged into near-total darkness.
In pitch darkness, his speed and agility would reach their peak.
Reasonably speaking, against a zombie like this, he ought to rely on illumination to boost his strength in order to deal effective damage.
In this environment, however, there was no way to raise the light level by much. Rather than trying, it was better to switch completely to night mode, maxing out his speed and agility.
Leaping up to the ceiling, Su Jin grabbed the stem of the chandelier, holding his breath as he observed the space below.
The living room had high ceilings. The muscular zombie had already turned back from the doorway, pivoting around as it searched for its target.
Su Jin's heart tightened instantly. This behavior was extremely abnormal!
Normally, an ordinary zombie without external stimuli would wander aimlessly with slight swaying once it lost its target.
It would never move with such fluidity. This zombie possessed a strong drive to hunt down enemies!
With the air in his lungs depleted, Su Jin flicked his right hand, tossing a small item he had snatched from a table before drawing the curtains into the distance.
The muscular zombie reacted to the sound, dashing toward the bedroom!
The moment its back was turned to him, Su Jin raised his gun and fired!
The bullet struck its back right where the heart was, but from the sound, it seemed to have hit bone.
The zombie spun around violently, simultaneously ripping the wooden bedroom door to shreds and hurling the doorknob in its grip straight at the chandelier.
The chandelier was struck and crashed to the floor.
The instant the zombie grabbed the door, Su Jin had already let go and dropped down.
Under cover of the crash, he rolled to the side and hid behind the sofa.
Once he stabilized himself, what he saw next scared the living daylights out of him!
The zombie was still searching for its target in the dark... but one of its hands was already clutching its heart.
Actively hunting enemies, using tools, and even protecting its weak points... This was the most highly evolved zombie he had seen to date!
As the muscular zombie continued its search, Su Jin gritted his teeth, raised his gun, and aimed at its waist.
A single shot severed the elastic waistband of its sweatpants.
Holstering his gun, he moved instantly, running along the wall to reach the diagonally opposite corner.
Right at the junction of the walls, Su Jin spread his legs, bracing himself high in the corner.
The zombie lunged at the sofa only to hit empty air, losing its target once again.
Su Jin reached into the briefcase slung across his chest, took out a box of medicine at random, and tossed it to the floor.
The zombie charged toward the sound and smashed its fist down onto the medicine box.
After that, one medicine box after another began falling down.
The zombie threw itself left and right, pounding so hard the entire room shook!
By the time the fifteenth medicine box dropped, the zombie's massive butt crack was exposed before Su Jin's eyes.
With three more boxes dropped in succession, the sweatpants around the zombie's legs finally accelerated their slide down.
In the middle of striking at the third box, the muscular zombie tripped over its own legs and tumbled to the ground in an awkward heap, pinning one of its arms beneath itself!
The opportunity had arrived, and Su Jin didn't hesitate for a second!
Holding his breath, he kicked off the wall and shot forward like an arrow.
At the same time, he drew the screwdriver from his waist, using the downward momentum of his fall to drive it viciously into the zombie's back right behind its heart!
The muscular zombie lay on the ground, completely still.
There was no joy on Su Jin's face. Kneeling on the zombie's back, he coughed up a mouthful of blood.
Then his body slumped to the side as he slipped off, coughing uncontrollably.
Blood splattered across his face. Su Jin lifted a hand to cover his face, the bitterness in his heart far outweighing the physical pain.
Too hard... It was just too hard...
He had thought his abilities were sufficient.
Yet that zombie earlier had severely injured him with a single blow. He hadn't even had the strength to take a second hit.
Covert mutants that couldn't be screened, rapidly evolving zombies, and hordes that had practically overrun the entire world.
How could humanity ever win a war like this?
Firearms were still effective—highly effective, in fact—but could humanity rebuild industry in the future?
Every modern product relied on global cooperation to be manufactured.
The endless zombies had already severed every supply chain.
Even if existing munitions factories could be reclaimed, what about raw materials?
Industry was nearly impossible to restore, while human evolution required hunting vast numbers of creatures stronger than themselves...
Not knowing how long the chaotic thoughts swirled in his mind, Su Jin picked up the silver spear, studied it before his eyes, and muttered to himself.
"Company... I'm working for you after all. Give me a little help, would you? What kind of internship is this damn hard..."
[Ask not what the Company has done for you, but what you have done for the Company.]
A line of bold characters suddenly flashed across his vision before vanishing. Disregarding his injuries, Su Jin bolted straight up!
In that instant, all stray thoughts vanished from his mind, replaced only by a surge of furious rage blazing straight to his chest!
Looking all around, Su Jin cursed furiously, "You bastards have been watching the whole damn time, haven't you?! Do you watch me shit, too? Say something!!"
Before his eyes lay only empty air. Su Jin blinked, lapsing into a daze.
Something was off... While notifications from the Company did disappear, they never vanished after a single split-second flash.
Besides, there was no way the Company would respond to that sort of grumbling. When he had free time, he often muttered about the Company.
Even in his most desperate moments, the Company had never made a sound.
Most importantly, the tone was wrong. The Company's messages were always cold and detached, never in that kind of snarky style!
Could it be that I lost too much blood and wanted the Company's help so badly... that I hallucinated?
To hallucinate something like that—what a wretched joke.
Dizziness washed over him. Clutching his head, Su Jin swayed on his feet, then took several deep breaths.
A hallucination. It probably really was a hallucination. His physical condition was just too poor right now.
With this interruption, Su Jin's mind was cleared of all distractions. He looked down at the corpse on the floor.
Taking out a sharp knife from his briefcase, he crouched down and began cutting into the muscular zombie's back, slice by slice.
He skillfully severed the sinews and pried open the bone.
With the heart exposed, Su Jin reached in and scooped out two flesh bulbs.
Examining the two flesh bulbs held between his fingertips, Su Jin couldn't help but sigh with wonder.
No wonder this muscular zombie was so powerful—a single corpse had actually grown two flesh bulbs!
Still, these two flesh bulbs looked remarkably alike...
Using his blade to cut the fascia connecting the two flesh bulbs, Su Jin held up one of them, caught in an agonizing dilemma.
His current condition was terrible. Consuming another flesh bulb would definitely trigger some wondrous changes.
Most likely, it would be a turn for the better, making him stronger.
However, if some bizarre physical mutation occurred... he might not even be able to remain human.
Furthermore, he might fall unconscious for an entire night.
Yet without using it, returning to the residential complex in his current state would be exceedingly difficult.
Before long, his mind was made up.
Su Jin stowed one flesh bulb away and walked to the window with the other clutched in his hand.
He pulled open the window; outside, the setting sun burned like fire.
Had that much time passed already?
Su Jin lowered his gaze to the flesh bulb in his palm, then squeezed hard!
The flesh bulb burst, and scorching energy instantly surged into his body.
Su Jin's eyes went wide as he collapsed to his knees, blood vessels rapidly spidering across the whites of his eyes!
As a raspy gasp escaped his throat, the muscles beneath his skin twitched violently, as if hundreds upon thousands of earthworms were coiling and churning within.
Every fiber of flesh and blood felt as though it had been set ablaze. Su Jin gave a violent yank, tearing his clothes to shreds to reveal his lean, muscular torso.
"Ah...!"
This second transformation was starkly different from the first—vivid and fiery, without the slightest haze over his consciousness.
Amid his astonishment, Su Jin's back suddenly swelled!
The slanting sunset shone upon the knotted muscles of his back, casting a ferocious shadow... like the snarling visage of some ferocious beast etched into his sinew.
With a low roar, Su Jin snapped a punch sideways, smashing into the wall.
The tiles shattered and slowly peeled away... leaving behind a deep, heavy fist imprint in the wall.
Chapter 56