Another room...

"Brother Kun, have you noticed Yang Bin's strength seems way stronger than before?" Skinny Monkey whispered.

"Yeah. I caught on a while ago. His strength right now is straight-up absurd," Zhao Kun said, frowning.

"What the hell happened? At first, sure, the guy was vicious-but in a real fight, the three of us could've put him on the ground no problem. Now? I feel like all three of us rushing him at once would just get the shit beaten out of us." Old Hei's face was dark.

"If I had to guess, it's that red crystal he dug out of the zombie's skull," Zhao Kun said slowly.

Hearing this, Skinny Monkey and Old Hei thought back...

"Now that you mention it, that does track. His strength jumped right after he swallowed that thing."

"But how did he know the zombie's head would have something like that? And he actually ate it?" Old Hei shook his head in disbelief.

"That's what I can't figure out either. Something's off about those two. They both got scratched and neither one turned.

And did you notice-this afternoon, clearing zombies, Yang Bin acted like he already knew whether a room had zombies in it or not. Every single time, he set up before we even opened the door." Zhao Kun's voice was low.

"Yeah, I caught that too. Almost asked him about it, but figured I'd keep my mouth shut," Skinny Monkey nodded.

"When you put it all together, those two are freaks. So do we keep following them or not?" Old Hei frowned.

Zhao Kun was quiet for a moment. "Until we leave this dorm building, we stick with them. At least our odds of staying alive are better."

"Mm."

"But we need to find a way to get crystals of our own. I'm not going to let him hold that over us forever," Zhao Kun said.

"Absolutely. Don't worry, Brother Kun-we'll make it happen."

Sixth-floor stairwell...

Yang Bin peered into the corridor and frowned.

The Rooftop battle had drawn some of the sixth floor's zombies upstairs, but over a dozen still lingered in the hallway. The Special Zombie stood right in the middle of the pack.

That was a problem.

He was confident he could handle the Special Zombie one-on-one now. But fighting it while surrounded by a dozen others? Not a chance.

He thought for a moment, then turned to Chen Hao. "Haozi, the Special Zombie is in that cluster. Tall one in the black shirt-see it? Think you can lure it away from the group? Pull it over here, or into one of the dorm rooms."

Chen Hao leaned out, scanned the corridor, and considered. "I can try."

"Be careful. If it's not working, pull back. Remember-your Special Ability burns Mental Energy. The second you feel dizzy, get out. If your Invisibility drops while you're in the middle of them, you're dead." Yang Bin's tone was flat, but the warning was real.

He fished a handful of pebbles from his pocket and passed them over. He'd been collecting them since they started using bait tactics. His pockets were full of them.

"Relax, Brother Bin. I got it."

Chen Hao took the stones. His body shimmered-and vanished.

Through True Vision Eye, Yang Bin watched Chen Hao creep forward, stopping about five meters from the pack.

The zombies shambled aimlessly. None reacted.

Chen Hao let out a slow breath, then flicked a pebble into the open doorway of a nearby dorm.

The clatter drew attention instantly. Two zombies lurched toward the sound and stumbled inside.

It worked. Chen Hao repeated the trick-another stone, another angle. Seven or eight zombies peeled off, lured into side rooms one by one.

Now the Special Zombie stood exposed. Chen Hao stepped back a few paces and tossed a stone right at its feet.

The Special Zombie looked down at the pebble. Its head tilted slightly, almost curious-but it didn't move. Smarter than the rest.

Chen Hao didn't give up. He retreated step by step, dropping stones as he went.

Finally, the Special Zombie's curiosity won out. It followed.

But the two ordinary zombies flanking it followed too.

Chen Hao grimaced. He'd wanted one. Not three.

He tried several more times to split them apart, but those two stuck to the Special Zombie like shadows. Wherever it went, they went.

Chen Hao looked back toward Yang Bin, helpless.

Yang Bin had been watching the whole time. He gave a quick gesture-bring them all.

Then he moved up the staircase and pressed himself against the wall at the landing corner.

With the go-ahead, Chen Hao kept dropping stones, leading the three zombies slowly toward the stairwell. Step by step, pebble by pebble, until all three rounded the corner onto the mid-floor landing.

Yang Bin's hands tightened on the iron pipe. Every muscle coiled.

The instant the first zombie appeared around the corner, the pipe shot forward-a brutal thrust straight into an ordinary zombie's skull.

The head caved. The body dropped.

He hadn't aimed for the Special Zombie on purpose. He knew one hit wouldn't kill it. And if he wasted his opening strike on a target that wouldn't go down, he'd be fighting all three at once.

Kill the easy one first. Reduce the numbers.

The other two locked onto him immediately. Both lunged. The Special Zombie was fast-terrifyingly fast.

Yang Bin ripped the pipe free and swung wide, catching both zombies across the torso.

The ordinary one tumbled backward down the stairs. The Special Zombie barely staggered-one step back-then came at him again.

Yang Bin thrust. The pipe punched into its forehead with a wet crack.

But it didn't punch through. The tip sank in, made a hole, and stopped. The bone was too dense.

Strength, speed, durability-the Special Zombie outclassed ordinary ones across the board.

And the pipe wasn't sharp. Punching clean through that reinforced skull wasn't going to be easy.

Yang Bin had expected this. He yanked the pipe free and swung again, driving the thing back.

Below, the zombie that had tumbled down the stairs was already scrambling up. It charged-and Chen Hao materialized in front of it, pipe raised, blocking its path.

Two fights. Simultaneously. In a cramped stairwell where neither of them could swing properly.

But zombies only knew one move: lunge. Over and over. With the reach advantage of the iron pipes, neither zombie could close the distance.

Yang Bin shoved the Special Zombie back. Thrust again. Another hole in its skull.

Back. Thrust. Another.

Again. Again. Again.

On the seventh or eighth strike, something cracked-a deep, splintering sound of bone finally giving way. The pipe punched through.

The Special Zombie went rigid. Then it crumpled, sliding to the floor.

On the other side, Chen Hao drove his pipe through his opponent's neck with a final savage thrust. It collapsed.

Then-snarling from below. The noise had carried. Sixth-floor zombies were coming.

Yang Bin shoved his hand into the Special Zombie's shattered skull. His fingers closed around something small and hard.

A red crystal.

"Go!"

They bolted up the stairs and slipped back into the dorm room before the horde below ever saw them.

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