"What a fierce man!"
Watching the visually impactful scene up close, the other Reincarnators couldn't help but think this.
"Stop staring, let's get to work. The zombie horde is charging."
Zhou Ming opened the car door, got out, and used the Ghostly Labyrinth Gu on the approaching zombie horde.
Instantly, the zombies, who were running straight towards the car, began turning left and right, as if an invisible maze had appeared before them, causing them to wander aimlessly.
Some zombies even tried to climb over a non-existent wall, making climbing motions, but unfortunately, they couldn't climb air, so their actions became a comical display of grasping and lifting their feet in place.
'Hmm, it seems the zombies aren't completely dead; they still count as living beings. And because of their extremely weak Souls and consciousness, the Ghostly Labyrinth's effect is even stronger on them.'
Zhou Ming thought to himself, then activated the Ghost Soldier Gu, summoning ghost soldiers with green faces, fangs, illusory armor, and cold weapons like swords and spears, who charged into the zombies.
The Rank Three Ghost Soldier Gu summoned ghost soldiers with the combat power to slay a Rank One Gu Master, much stronger than individual zombies. One strike could chop off a zombie's head.
The zombies' scratches could only dissipate a small portion of the ghostly Qi black mist on the ghost soldiers, making their bodies slightly more illusory.
'The zombies' attack methods are very limited, and their Qi and blood are severely insufficient, so they can't impact much Yin Qi. The damage they inflict on the ghost soldiers is too weak.'
'Soul Path Gu worms naturally have an advantage against living dead like zombies!'
Zhou Ming flung out a Bloodsucking Vine Gu, which wrapped around a zombie. The barbs on the vine pierced into the zombie's body and began to suck blood.
However, the blood on the zombie was too viscous and very stale. The waves of resistance transmitted from the Bloodsucking Vine Gu quickly made Zhou Ming stop this disgusting behavior.
'So disgusting!' Zhou Ming's face turned green as he threw Corpse Refining Gu at the zombies, refining the almost defenseless zombies into actual zombies.
Then, he let them self-immolate in the sunlight, while also having them randomly attack nearby zombies before being completely burned to death by the sun, in an effort to spread the flames and cause greater destruction.
Sections of the zombie horde were blocked by Zhou Ming's Ghostly Labyrinth Gu, and then various internal confusions erupted, causing them to fight each other. R-rated scenes of flying limbs and organs constantly played out, so graphic that they could give a child nightmares for three days and leave lifelong psychological trauma.
The other directions were blocked by his teammates, turning the area around the car into a zombie exclusion zone. Groups of zombies charged forward and fell in droves.
Of course, this was also because a long time had passed since the zombie virus outbreak, and a large number of internal conflicts had already occurred within the zombie population, leading to a significant reduction in their numbers.
Otherwise, given the population density of this city, they would have truly understood what a "tide of corpses" meant.
At this moment, a low cry suddenly erupted from behind: "Watch out!"
At the same time, a whooshing sound came, and a red rope suddenly wrapped around Zhou Ming's neck.
Iron Vine Gu!
Zhou Ming, of course, wouldn't be hit by such a childish attack. A greenish-black vine flew out, moving even faster to wrap around the red rope first. With a pull, it dragged over whatever was at the other end of the rope.
It was a mutated creature, as thin as a monkey, with half its face covered in disgusting tumors, and a long tongue dangling out of its huge mouth, which was three times larger than a normal person's.
That's right, that red rope was precisely this mutated creature's tongue.
"Holy crap! Smoker! Are you seriously giving me Left 4 Dead now?!" Xiang Zenan, while shooting, still managed to turn his head to look over, complaining with all his might.
Zhou Ming ignored him. The Iron Vine Gu bound the mutated creature tightly, and he threw out a Corpse Refining Gu, which exploded into a black light that enveloped the creature.
Unlike the ordinary zombies at the beginning, this mutated creature struggled even more violently after being hit by the Corpse Refining Gu. However, tightly bound by the Iron Vine Gu, it couldn't make any significant movements.
Soon, black fur grew wildly on the mutated creature, completely covering its body within a dozen seconds.
The mutated creature stopped struggling, and a subtle, mysterious connection formed.
[Killed 1 Advanced mutated creature, gained 100 reward points]
The Main God's prompt slightly surprised Zhou Ming. Did this trash really qualify as an Advanced mutated creature?
Zhou Ming immediately recalled what the mission information said: "The strength of Advanced mutated creatures varies greatly and needs to be evaluated based on their degree of mutation."
It seemed his luck was indeed good; he encountered a very weak Advanced mutated creature, almost no stronger than an Elementary mutated creature.
Looking at the giant mutated creature fighting Whale Shark, Zhou Ming didn't think the one being beaten by Whale Shark would be a Super mutated creature.
Well, it seemed the gap between Advanced mutated creatures was indeed quite large.
"Thanks!" Zhou Ming waved at Qin Wumeng, who had warned him, and directed the black-furred zombie to charge into the zombie horde.
A zombie's strength is determined by the corpse's integrity. Even if this was a black-furred zombie, because its strength "in life" wasn't strong, it wouldn't become much stronger out of nowhere after death. It needed to be fed fresh blood for a period of time before its strength gradually increased, allowing it to truly display combat power comparable to the King of Beasts.
As for now, it couldn't move freely in the zombie horde, only able to deal with five or six zombies at a time. Therefore, it was immediately submerged in the zombie horde upon charging in and ultimately couldn't escape the fate of being gnawed away.
Zhou Ming didn't care about the zombie's consumption. White-furred and black-furred zombies held no value for him and couldn't be taken away. Refining them into consumables was their best destiny.
Moreover, he now had another, better material waiting.
His gaze turned towards Whale Shark. The giant mutated creature was being slammed to the ground by Whale Shark, clearly breathing more out than in, on the verge of being put out of its misery.
Zhou Ming didn't want to snatch Whale Shark's reward points. While constantly creating cannon fodder to block the zombies, he waited for Whale Shark to get the kill.
It wasn't until a tragic roar, and Whale Shark lifted his fist from the mutated creature's split head, continuing to charge into the zombie horde without losing momentum, that Zhou Ming used the Corpse Refining Gu.
Soon, with another roar, a tall black-furred zombie stood up and charged into the zombie horde.
This black-furred zombie's combat power was much stronger than the previous one. It attracted a large number of zombies by itself, directly reducing the pressure on Zhou Ming and his team by half.
"Quick, while my zombie is holding back the zombie horde, call Whale Shark back, and let's go!"
Zhou Ming signaled his teammates to get in the car. He no longer wanted to drag things out here.
The wide street was not like an office building; zombies coming from all directions would only gather more and more, even attracting zombies from half the city.
Being stuck here would be like falling into a quagmire; continuous fighting was meaningless.
"Whale Shark, come back quickly! We're waiting for you to drive!"
"Stop killing! Killing 1000 ordinary zombies only gives one reward point; it's not worth your effort!"
Gong He was the last to get in the car, shouting at the enthusiastic Whale Shark.
Whale Shark, in the zombie horde, paused, then turned to see his teammates already in the car, watching him fight the zombies as if it were a show. He suddenly felt like a monkey in a zoo and lost interest in continuing the fight, leaping into the car.
The black-furred zombie, burning with raging flames, jumped over and stood in front of the car, blocking the zombie horde like a thick, sturdy wall.
Whale Shark floored the accelerator, and the car shot forward, like an arrow released from a bowstring, leaving the zombies behind in an instant.
Zhou Ming took one last look back, only to see the black-furred zombie submerged in the zombie horde, the blazing flames gradually extinguishing, no longer moving.
"If unnecessary, we should try not to stop before reaching New Sunset City. This kind of fighting is meaningless; it will only delay our time and increase the variables of the mission."
The car sped along. Zhou Ming rested his arm on the car window, speaking in a calm tone.
There was no dissenting voice. Even Whale Shark, who had just fiercely pummeled an Advanced mutated creature and usually acted unruly, didn't raise any objections.
This was partly because Zhou Ming's words were indeed reasonable, but it also indicated that, without realizing it, Zhou Ming had already gained considerable influence within the team.
Whether it was his analysis of the mission content and search for clues in the office at the beginning, or his later bizarre secret art of refining and controlling zombies, as well as the various abilities Zhou Ming inadvertently displayed, all subtly elevated Zhou Ming's position in the team.
The distance from Shanquan City to New Sunset City was about 1200 kilometers. If they drove continuously without stopping under normal circumstances, they could arrive in about a dozen hours.
Unfortunately, this was impossible. Not only were there zombies blocking the way everywhere, but the presence of various abandoned cars and miscellaneous roadblocks meant they couldn't just drive straight through.
Especially in the city, the problem of blocked roads was particularly severe, forcing the Reincarnators to choose various detours, and sometimes even requiring them to get out of the car to manually move roadblocks for the car to pass.
It took them a full three hours to finally drive out of the urban area and onto a wide, straight, but not smooth highway. Then, two hours later, they drove into a gas station by the roadside.
"Phew, good thing, good thing. The car almost didn't make it here," Gong He said with a relieved expression as he refueled the car after clearing out the zombies at the gas station.
"I can't believe none of us five noticed the fuel level. A big failure."
Beside him, Xiang Zenan was using another fuel pump to fill a plastic barrel with gasoline. Considering that gas stations encountered on the road might not have conditions as good as this one, they decided to fill up on gasoline and drive straight to New Sunset City.
"Actually, is there really no need to rush this mission? There's no time limit for completion. Wouldn't it be better if we took this opportunity to find and kill more mutated creatures to earn some reward points?" Xiang Zenan stuffed the fuel barrel into the car's trunk and expressed his confusion to Gong He.
"Sigh, kid." After filling up, Gong He patted Xiang Zenan's shoulder. "Honestly, when we were in the city earlier, how many moves would it take you to deal with the mutated creature Whale Shark killed by yourself?"
"Huh?" Xiang Zenan was completely stunned: "Not everyone is as fierce as Whale Shark! My Zanpakuto has just taken shape; I don't even know its true name yet!"
The true name of a Zanpakuto holds immense power. Knowing and calling out the blade's true name allows one to unleash the Zanpakuto's true form and power.
"Never mind, I get it," Gong He sighed and said, "My advice is to cling to the strong, coast along if you can, lie down if you can, and don't think too much about anything else; it's useless."