Zhang Su fell silent when he heard that Cheng Xu No.1 still wanted to keep trying.
Everyone hoped Cheng Xu could directly control 004, and Zhang Su wanted it the most. He wasn’t just the leader of Celestial Horse Island—if he subdued 004, the camp would gain a huge boost in power, plus there was that important challenge quest on him, which would give him a hefty reward.
There won’t be some bullshit like Cheng Xu No.1 subdues 004 but the challenge doesn’t count, right?
Going by past experience, Zhang Su judged that wouldn’t happen. The challenge quests could be harsh, but they never pulled that kind of shady crap.
But the problem was right in front of him. Never mind how to control it after subduing 004—they couldn’t even figure out how to let Cheng Xu No.1 safely get close to 004. 004 fought with no pattern at all, all instinct and razor?sharp perception, relying on speed and strength. No exaggeration, it could crush Cheng Xu just by poking a finger at her!
"How far away do you need to be, and about how long will it take you to communicate and gain control?"
Zhang Su flicked his lighter with a pop. The bright flame lit up a corner of the night, intimidating the restive 004 in the distance while he asked Cheng Xu about the situation, trying to plan something workable.
After a round of half?guessing, half?groping conversation, Zhang Su got some numbers.
"Twenty meters. Time is uncertain... Anyone got a good idea?"
The max distance for Cheng Xu No.1 to communicate with other Zombies was twenty meters. Luckily, distance didn’t affect the effect—one meter or twenty meters were the same—but there was no way to determine how long it would take to kick in.
"Huh? Brother Su, over there... a few Zombies are coming."
Right in this tense moment, five Zombies staggered out of the village that had just taken shell fire. But to everyone’s surprise, those five didn’t rush the crowd—they headed for 004, which was closer.
"Wait, does that pheromone attract normal Zombies too?"
"Probably not. Maybe they just simply think that’s a big bro they can throw in with..."
"Fuck, this big bro is violent as hell!"
While they were talking, the normal Zombies had already gotten close to 004. They really had no eyes.
had just gotten burned by the flamethrower and was full of rage. Now a few little punks ran right up in front of it hopping and screaming. It didn’t care what they were thinking—grabbed them one by one, used them as hammers to pound the other three to death, then pressed its palms together...
Two Zombies were smashed into pure mush, all kinds of tissue showering down from between 004’s palms like casually crushed leaves and clods of dirt.
Roar!
Having vented its anger, 004 let out a very satisfied howl.
"Bro, imagine if we could use that thing—it alone could hold back that five?hundred?thousand Zombie horde! Of course, premise is there aren’t any crazy powerful Mutated Zombies in there..."
Zhao Dezhu said.
Zhang Su stared hard at 004, eyes flickering. As if he didn’t want that. He said mildly, "If it could be as easy to use as 003, our camp could sleep easy in the future... I’ve got an idea: let the tank carry Cheng Xu No.1 to approach 004. At least that way we can ensure safety. What do you all think?"
In his mind, watching the time slip away bit by bit, Zhang Su was getting a little anxious. The biggest difficulty of this challenge quest was time. One hour was really tight!
"Uh, Brother Su, we gotta test how it reacts to the tank first. If it runs the moment it sees the tank coming, that’s for nothing."
Zhou Haotian offered his opinion.
"Then we test. Old Pan, go. Slow the speed a little."
This was easy. Say test, then test. Zhang Su was anxious, but haste would ruin things—necessary steps couldn’t be skipped.
"Got it!"
The 99 Heavy Tank started up, grinding fragile clods under its treads and leaving two tracks across the ground.
As the tank slowly approached, 004 grew more and more agitated, starting to pace left and right on the spot. It seemed to know the power and trouble this metal lump represented, and didn’t attack rashly. When the tank got within a certain range, it made a big leap...
Everyone jumped, thinking it was going to crack the metal can open, but instead it bounced farther away, extremely cautious and careful.
"Alright, come back. This won’t work!"
Zhang Su pinched the bridge of his nose. Even if 004 really jumped the tank and pounded on it, that would be better than it simply dodging off to the distance...
He finally understood the helplessness Duan Wuhu’s group had felt on the road. This thing was seriously hard to handle.
Sure enough, anything with intelligence became tricky.
He’d rather face an Mutated Zombie with unknown abilities than fight some powerful Zombie like 004 with remnants of consciousness.
"Fuck... this mutt."
When the 99 Heavy Tank turned around to head back, 004 moved again, shamelessly edging up. As the tank returned to the crowd, 004 also went back to its previous spot.
Truly, when the enemy retreats, I advance; when the enemy advances, I retreat...
"Give me a bomber, I’ll blow it to bits!"
Wu Baokang ground his teeth. He’d never seen an enemy this troublesome.
"If we had a bomber we wouldn’t be talking shit here. Cut the fantasies and use your brain to figure out what the hell to do."
"Lure it, obviously. What else? With it keeping this distance, not even an Immortal could kill it!"
"It’s crafty as a monkey, how do we lure it... Hey, what’s it doing?"
Right as everyone was arguing, 004 made a move that baffled them.
It stretched out a long arm and stabbed it into the ground with a pop. Then it scooped out a basin?size chunk of earth and hurled it toward the crowd with a whoosh!
Over a hundred meters meant nothing to 004, but for that clod of dirt it was pushing things.
"What the hell... Hey, shit!"
Lu Yubo was just about to scoff that a cold, dry clod of dirt didn’t have much killing power, when they saw 004 immediately follow the chunk it had lobbed, charging forward like the wind!
Turned out the clod wasn’t meant to cause damage at all, just to distract. Who knew where it had picked up these shady tricks...
was incredibly fast, charging the crowd like a wild bull, the momentum terrifying. Even without any special attacks, just that kind of rush could take quite a few lives.
"Good timing!"
They’d just been wondering how to lure it, and here it was biting the hook.
Whoosh!
Zhang Su didn’t say a word, stepping forward into its charging path. He lit the lighter in his hand—one column of fire shot out. He’d only worried about it hiding and not attacking; as long as it came into the flame’s range, there’d be a chance!
Swish...
Unfortunately, once it got within thirty or forty meters, 004 slammed on the brakes, did a backflip with a big leap, and went back to a spot over a hundred meters away.
The moment you light up, Grandpa runs. What can you do to Grandpa? Nyeh nyeh nyeh...
Everyone felt speechless and helpless.
"Ahhhh..."
"This is fucking insane, I’m going to lose my mind!"
Same as before: hit once then run. Facing absolute speed, they really had no way to deal with it.
"Roar, roar, roar!"
Cheng Xu stepped forward, patted Zhang Su’s arm, then pointed at 004, gesturing rapidly.
"You’re going up to talk to it yourself?"
Zhang Su froze for a second. It did seem likely that if Cheng Xu No.1 approached 004 personally, 004 probably wouldn’t get triggered. But Cheng Xu No.1 would be in extreme danger, so he immediately shook his head.
"No way... 003 is an idiot. It’s basically a lunatic—there’s no talking to it. If you go up yourself, we can’t guarantee your safety at all!"
If they wanted Cheng Xu No.1 to deal with 004, the only option was controlling 004, or letting Cheng Xu operate from hiding. Otherwise, with her body clearly even more fragile than a normal Zombie, 004 just needed to flick her with its pinky and she’d disintegrate on the spot!
The S-level reward was tempting, but if it meant sacrificing Cheng Xu No.1, and still wasn’t guaranteed to succeed, Zhang Su had no intention of gambling.
At this point, the worst?case outcome seemed to be just driving 004 away, which wasn’t unacceptable.
"Huh?"
Suddenly, Zhang Su felt a faint wave of heat brush past his ear. His heart gave a jolt—how had he forgotten that!
"Come here, Xinyu, you take this. If that thing dares to come over, you scare it off!"
Zhang Su handed the lighter and the Black Crystal to Zheng Xinyu, then his lips curved up slightly. "Since the lighter can’t hurt it, let’s test its full power!"
"Its? Don’t tell me..."
"Oh shit, Brother Su, don’t tell me you’re going to use a Fire-breathing Zombie plus a flame amplifier!"
"Looks like that’s exactly what he’s planning. My god, can that even work?"
Seeing Zhang Su head straight for the box truck, everyone’s faces changed.
Efficient flame utilization—using that on a Fire-breathing Zombie?
That would be freaking insane!
Everyone doubted it in their hearts. To be honest, Zhang Su wasn’t sure either—he’d gotten the Black Crystal but hadn’t had time to test it. Who knew if it could amplify a Fire-breathing Zombie’s flames? After a few seconds of thought, he decided to trust the technology of the civilization that had brought this Zombie catastrophe!