Chарtеr 16 Еnсounter with a Fоurth-Тier Zombiе
After miхing thе Соrрsе Grass with Sрirit Sрring Wаtеr and mashing it intо mud, Mo Qianqian, аdhеring to thе рrinсiрlе of саutiоn, did not immediаtеly аpply it tо her bоdy.
Instead, shе used а woоdеn stick to sсoop а smаll аmоunt and brought it tо hеr nоsе to sniff.
A fаint, deсaying оdor lingerеd within, not pаrticularly рlеаsant.
Shе thеn carefullу toоk а tiny bit of thе corрse grаss mud аnd sрreаd it on the bаck of hеr hаnd.
Just likе testing a new skincare produсt in thе 21st century to сhеck for allеrgiеs.
Ten minutes later, with no unusual sensations such as pain or burning on the back of her hand, she finally began applying it all over her body.
Half an hour later, Mo Qianqian, covered in a layer of black corpse grass mud, walked out of the desolate apartment building.
Coincidentally, as soon as she stepped out of the apartment building, she spotted a zombie wandering about a dozen meters away.
Her hand crossbow was already loaded, and just as she was about to shoot, an idea struck her.
This was the perfect opportunity to test whether smearing this corpse grass mud all over her body could completely mask the scent of a living person and deceive the zombie’s senses.
So, suppressing her disgust, she approached the zombie step by step.
Soon, the distance between her and the zombie was less than ten meters.
Under normal circumstances, at this distance, the zombie should have long since smelled the scent of a living person and lunged at her.
But at this moment, the zombie showed no reaction at all, still wandering aimlessly as before.
Summoning her courage, Mo Qianqian continued to approach the zombie.
Just in case, she kept the firing end of her crossbow aimed at the zombie’s head.
If the zombie showed even the slightest sign of movement, she would be able to blow its head off in the first instant.
Soon, the distance between her and the zombie was only five meters.
Three meters…
One meter…
She was almost shoulder to shoulder with the zombie, yet it still showed no sign of suddenly attacking.
Mo Qianqian smiled.
The corpse grass mud she had smeared on herself wasn’t in vain. Though it smelled unpleasant and probably looked quite unsightly—like being covered in cow dung—given its effectiveness in repelling zombies, it was worth the mess.
With the loaded hand crossbow pressed against the zombie’s head, Mo Qianqian took a few steps back before pulling the trigger.
She stepped back to avoid getting splattered with the zombie’s blood and decaying brain matter.
That would have been truly disgusting.
Mo Qianqian picked up the dropped crystal core and, in high spirits, headed deeper into the city.
The further she ventured into the city, the denser the zombies became.
At first, when encountering groups of zombies, Mo Qianqian felt a bit nervous.
She walked cautiously, afraid of attracting the zombies’ attention and getting surrounded.
Later, after encountering more groups of zombies, she gradually grew calmer.
She even began picking and choosing which zombies to hunt when facing a horde.
She targeted the second-tier zombies within the groups.
One second-tier crystal core was equivalent to ten first-tier crystal cores.
As for first-tier zombies, she no longer bothered hunting them.
It wasn’t that she was overly picky.
It was simply that her crossbow bolts were depleting too quickly.
For this hunting trip, she had prepared over fifty crossbow bolts.
Not a small number, but it couldn’t keep up with the sheer number of zombies.
Along the way, she retrieved and reused every crossbow bolt she could.
However, the hand crossbow was quite powerful, and a wooden bolt could only be used three to five times at most before becoming unusable.
Now, only thirty-two bolts remained in her small cloth bag.
Mo Qianqian gazed at the desolate and dilapidated city’s main road, lost in thought for a moment.She had been walking along the city’s main thoroughfare, heading deeper into the urban area, for over forty minutes.
She didn’t know exactly where the Grim Reaper Mercenary Corps was located in the city’s depths.
But she was fairly certain she hadn’t taken the wrong general direction.
Along the way, she had already come across several sites where large numbers of freshly killed zombies lay scattered.
Moreover, the Crystal Cores had been extracted from all these zombie corpses.
If her guess was correct, these were likely the handiwork of the Grim Reaper Mercenary Corps.
As she pressed forward, Mo Qianqian encountered another horde of zombies.
This time, however, it was different from the previous encounters.
It seemed a three-way battle had taken place here.
Ahead, aside from the dense swarm of zombies, there were also numerous human corpses strewn across the ground.
Peering through the gaps between the zombies, she noticed the distinct combat uniforms worn by the corpses and the armbands on their sleeves.
In this three-way clash, one side was undoubtedly the zombies. The other two sides could be identified by the armbands on the corpses.
They were the Grim Reaper Mercenary Corps and the Angel Mercenary Corps.
She had arrived too late, missing the excitement of the Angel Mercenary Corps ambushing the Grim Reaper Mercenary Corps.
She wondered if among the corpses littering the ground was the Grim Reaper Mercenary Corps’ leader, Mu Shengzhou, who had met an untimely demise.
Tsk, what a pity for such a handsome man.
But it didn’t matter. According to the original plot, a portion of the Grim Reaper Mercenary Corps had survived.
She had walked all the way from the city’s outskirts without encountering any members of the Grim Reaper Mercenary Corps leaving.
If nothing unexpected had happened, the survivors of the Grim Reaper Mercenary Corps were likely hiding somewhere in the heart of the Urban Ruins.
In fact, they might very well be blocked from escaping by the zombie horde before her.
Mo Qianqian chuckled softly and shook her head. If the survivors of the Grim Reaper Mercenary Corps were truly trapped by these zombies, then she had just gained another bargaining chip in her negotiations.
As these thoughts flowed through her mind, Mo Qianqian calmly walked through the zombie horde.
She had done this many times along the way—navigating through swarms of zombies. While not exactly achieving a state of perfect calm, she was at least highly skilled and accustomed to it.
She even had the leisure to pick and choose among the zombies, searching for higher-tier ones to hunt.
Distinguishing zombie tiers was straightforward.
First-Tier zombies were heavily decayed, resembling walking masses of rotting flesh. Their joints were stiff, their movements extremely slow, and their bodies constantly dripped mucus and decaying tissue.
Second-Tier zombies were slightly cleaner than First-Tier ones. Their movement speed and joint flexibility were significantly higher, making them easy to identify with the naked eye.
As for Third-Tier zombies and those above, Mo Qianqian hadn’t encountered any yet.
From a distance, a particularly unusual zombie within the horde caught Mo Qianqian’s attention.
This zombie showed little decay and stood out as relatively neat and tidy among the swarm.
It was even cleaner than the few Second-Tier zombies she had hunted earlier.
So… Third-Tier?
Mo Qianqian wasn’t entirely sure, but her crossbow was already loaded and aimed at the zombie.
Just then, the zombie turned its head and looked in her direction.
The moment she met its pale red eyes, Mo Qianqian’s heart skipped a beat.
Pale red eyes were the mark of a Fourth-Tier zombie!