Virus King - Chapter 98

Chapter 98: The Heart of Jiangcheng! Traces of the Tyrant! An Unexpected Reunion with Old Classmates?

TL: Yang

[Title ‘Zombie Hunter’ has met advancement conditions, and has now progressed to ‘Zombie Slayer’!]

[Zombie Slayer (D-Rank): All attributes +10, Critical Hit Rate against zombie creatures +10%, and all skill effects +5%!]

(PS: Upon slaying more than ten thousand zombies and killing four types of mutated zombies, the title will evolve to the C-Rank title, ‘Zombie Executioner’.)

The notification from the Cosmic Will didn’t stir even the slightest reaction on Chen Bai’s face.

He stared at a trail in the distance, his brows furrowing slightly.

The fierce wind howled around him, whipping his dark green robe and the plague cloak behind him that wrapped around his entire form.

In this moment, the entirety of Jiangcheng seemed to be beneath his feet.

Suspended on the rooftop of a skyscraper over thirty stories high, one step forward would plunge him into a sheer abyss.

Yet Chen Bai showed no hint of fear. He only looked out at the city, now stripped entirely of all signs of civilization, briefly orienting himself before suddenly leaping forward through the air once more.

His streamlined figure, streaked in dark red, carved a glowing arc as he sailed across the hundred-meter gap—just like a superhero in a film.

He moved freely through the jungle of steel and concrete, weaving between towering high-rises!

Landing on the roof of a nearby building, Chen Bai again began searching, lowering his gaze—and there it was, another distinctive mark on the ground!

It was a deep gouge left by claws during a rapid leap.

Chen Bai hadn’t anticipated this kind of discovery so soon after leaving East Mountain and entering Jiangcheng’s city center, intending to head east to rendezvous with Meng Meng in Wuchang and retrieve the Demon Hunter profession scroll.

Barely entering Jiangcheng’s central area, he had already found something so significant!

With his experience from the previous apocalypse, Chen Bai recognized at a glance that these claw marks on the building were left by a mutated zombie—one known as a “Tyrant.”

Mutated forms were extremely rare at the start of the apocalypse.

Even before the outbreak, the appearance of a creature like the Flesh Mountain was already extraordinary.

In normal circumstances, Chen Bai might not have paid much attention to the appearance of a mutated creature.

However, the blueprint for upgrading the Zombie Claws still lay unused in his inventory!

A weapon crafted from a C-Rank blueprint was not something Chen Bai could afford to ignore.

He had previously asked the members of Group Chat No. 001 to help him gather a Tyrant’s Claw, an Aberrant’s Heart, and a Lord’s Brain.

But thus far, there had been no progress.

It was clear that in addition to the difficulty of slaying these mutants, finding them was an even greater challenge!

Yet now, when he wasn’t even looking, they had practically come to him without any effort!

Of course, although he had come across signs of this creature’s presence, it only indicated that it had recently roamed this district.

To pinpoint its exact location, Chen Bai would still need to search thoroughly.

For anyone else, this would have been almost impossible!

These mutant zombies, enhanced significantly in strength and agility, moved at tremendous speeds, far surpassing ordinary zombies.

Finding such a top-tier killer amidst the steel jungle was no small task.

But Chen Bai was different.

Zombies, much like wild beasts, had lost all intelligence and rational thought, driven only by their primal instinct to feed!

Once they detected the presence of prey, they would swarm like ravenous hyenas.

Confirming his plan, Chen Bai launched himself off the building.

The thunderous crash seemed to awaken the city, breaking its eerie silence.

What Chen Bai didn’t notice, however, was a familiar structure on either side of the airspace he had just crossed.

The Ritz-Carlton Hotel!

This was the five-star hotel he had once planned to make his stronghold before the apocalypse began.

But after encountering Song Ziqiong and finding the superior East Mountain villa district, he hadn’t needed to stay at the hotel.

However, before he left, he had run into a few familiar faces!

They were none other than his dorm mates from university!

Chen Bai had always assumed that his dormmates, who were absent nearly every night, were spending their youth in internet cafes, playing games all night long.

Turns out, they had actually been catering to high-stakes card games at luxury hotels, making a cut from the winnings.

If the apocalypse hadn’t happened, they would’ve easily pocketed ten or twenty thousand a night, a smooth income.

But, the apocalypse did happen.

In a three-hundred-square-meter luxury suite on the thirteenth floor of the Ritz-Carlton, several figures sat silently in the room. Gone were the sounds of indulgence, luxury, and chaos; only a deathly silence remained, pressing down on them all.

“How much food do we have left in the room?”

“The last three bottles of red wine are gone, and the baskets of baguettes in the fridge have all been eaten!”

The muffled voice added to the heavy, stifling atmosphere among them.

In total, there were more than twenty people in the room.

Both men and women, all young.

Even amid the apocalypse, their lavish attire gave away their status. Every recognizable brand of luxury item adorned their bodies, though now those luxuries meant less to them than a single pack of instant noodles.

A man at the head of the group exhaled slowly, scanning everyone before he spoke.

“If that’s the case, then we have no choice but to follow the original plan. We’ve all seen the posts on that Cosmic Will forum.

“The coins that drop from these zombie monsters can be used to buy food from Cosmic Will! With so many of us, we should be fine! We’ll split into two groups of ten or so guys each, and leave the girls here in the room. How’s that sound?”

Everyone nodded.

Li Feng, standing nearby, immediately fawned, saying, “With Brother Jiang leading us, we’re bound to survive this apocalypse! Who knows, maybe one day we’ll even rival that ‘White Emperor’ of Jiangcheng, right?”

A glimmer of excitement flickered in everyone’s eyes.

These wealthy, spoiled second-generation heirs, hiding in the room for days without daring to confront the zombies outside, hadn’t bothered spending their coins on watching video recordings of battle tactics.

But now, after days without their usual entertainment, they had been browsing the Cosmic Will forum, gaining some understanding of the apocalypse.

Naturally, they were aware that the two initial strategy videos had been posted by a strong figure from Jiangcheng!

The young man in the lead, known as Brother Jiang, sighed.

“I’d really like to know who this White Emperor is. When we’ve got some spare coins, we’ll definitely check out the video. I’m curious where someone like that emerged from in our city!”

“…”

Suddenly, Lin Qizheng spoke up.

“Do you guys think… could that ‘White’ be our schoolmate, Chen Bai?” (Bai = White)

“What?! The ‘King of Looks’ from Jiangcheng University?”

“Oh, come on! That pretty boy with those skinny arms and legs? Whether he could even take a punch from me is a whole different question!” sneered a tall, brawny young man.

Lin Qizheng chuckled but sneered inwardly, “If you’re so tough, why haven’t you volunteered to go fight zombies? And you’ve been eating more than anyone else!”

Though he couldn’t shake a peculiar feeling—especially recalling that series of strange events he’d witnessed just before the apocalypse hit—Lin Qizheng dismissed it as pure coincidence. After all, the character “Bai” wasn’t an uncommon name; it was unlikely to be him, right?

“All right! Everyone get ready, grab your weapons, and let’s head out!” Brother Jiang ordered, pulling a fire axe from a nearby emergency cabinet.

But before he finished speaking, a dark green figure flashed past the window!

Everyone froze, instinctively looking out.

Then, a thunderous crash rang out from the long street below, capturing their attention.

The rumbling echoed.

In that instant, they all clearly saw that the figure was… a person!

Someone who had leapt from the rooftop of a building, a dizzying thirty or forty meters high, and landed directly on the ground!