Chapter 428: Everyone Treats Her Like a Vase
Chapter 428: Everyone Treats Her Like a Vase
The Strength-Type Ability Users on the first floor shout and panic, drawing the attention of the water zombie. But the chaos doesn’t last long—once some of them realize how dangerous the creature is, they all start rushing toward the second floor.
An Ran immediately senses that things are going wrong.
Sure enough, with so many people flooding upstairs, the water zombie with skin like pickled pepper chicken feet follows. Everyone is already unstable and filled with fear, and their panic only makes things worse.
Outside the mall entrance, Zhan Lian turns and hurls a flying knife at the water zombie standing in the doorway—but the knife has no effect.
“Feifan! Head into the mall!”
Zhan Lian fights as he retreats.
Luo Feifan tosses a massive fireball behind him, slowing down a cluster of copper-skinned zombies, then turns and dashes toward the entrance.
Meanwhile, Yun Tao, Liang Ziyu, Wang Wei, and An Ran’s fat thorn ball continue holding the line at the gate, determined not to let it fall.
Inside, the water zombie grabs and devours a person climbing the stairs. Then it raises its head and locks eyes on another potential meal farther up.
It doesn’t seem to have much intelligence, but it can still follow movement and noise. The humans’ panic practically leads it up the stairs.
“Don’t let it go upstairs!” An Ran suddenly stands and shouts a warning to the crowd.
A man rushing past shoves her aside and snaps, “Move it! Don’t block the wa—”
Before he can finish, An Ran slaps him hard across the face.
Her voice rings out, sharp and commanding: “You move! Get out of the way!”
If a tiger doesn’t show its claws, people treat it like a housecat. If she doesn’t fight back, they’ll keep treating her like a decorative vase.
The crowd of Strength-Type Ability Users continues stampeding toward her, but An Ran holds her ground, glaring coldly at the water zombie climbing the stairs.
Zhao Ru stands up beside her, looks at her seriously, and asks, “What are you planning to do?”
“Like you said—everything in the world balances itself. Nothing is invincible. Even near a viper’s nest, you’ll find herbs that can cure its venom. So why would this water zombie be unstoppable?”
As she speaks, An Ran’s fat thorn ball rolls up the stairs, stabbing at the water zombie again and again.
Zhao Ru looks over at her. An Ran stands perfectly straight, unmoving, even as the zombie continues its slow ascent. The others all back away in fear—but not An Ran.
Zhao Ru doesn’t move either. She’s terrified, yes—but isn’t that life? Her great-aunt is dead. She’s drifting through the apocalypse with no one. Who is she really living for?
If she has no one, then why cling to this life at all?
She turns back to An Ran, who is now commanding her mutant plant to absorb the water from the zombie’s body. It works—but only slightly. The water zombie isn’t made of clean water; its body fluids are laced with corrosive elements that can melt human flesh.
Even so, the fat thorn ball absorbs it eagerly.
But the results are limited. The water zombie, like Zhao Ru herself, seems endless—no matter how much the thorn ball draws out, it doesn’t stop. As long as it’s “full,” its water keeps regenerating.
Then, amid the chaos, Luo Feifan arrives. He hurls a fireball at the zombie’s back—boom—steam hisses upward in a thick white plume, and the zombie pauses in its climb.
An Ran’s fat thorn ball, scorched by the blast, tumbles down the stairs and retreats quickly.
Zhan Lian leaps into action. He grabs the water zombie by the waist and slams it down the stairs. Then he jumps again—this time landing directly on top of it, trying to crush it with all his strength.