Chapter 16: Alienated Zombies

"Tch! Cheapskate!"

Seeing that the other party had nothing more to say after making an offer, Fang Heng closed the private chat with a sense of disappointment.

Fang Heng was just bored, anyway.

He didn't really care about a mere 100 survival points.

But regardless, getting something for free was always the best feeling.

In the game, private chats were also restricted.

Players could conduct one private chat with a character limit every half hour via the survival radio.

However, these attempts could be accumulated, up to a maximum of five.

[Hint: Your skill: Strength Training LV+1].

[Hint: Your zombie clone is under attack].

[Hint: Your zombie clone is under attack].

[Hint: Your zombie clone is under attack].

[Hint: Your zombie clone has died].

[Hint: Your zombie clone will respawn in 24 hours].

"What the hell!"

Fang Heng, who had been lying on the grass feeling bored out of his mind, caught a glimpse of the game notification and sat bolt upright as if electrocuted.

The zombie clone died?!

Fang Heng looked through the wire fence toward the prison plaza.

A small patch of the zombies wandering in the plaza had just been cleared.

What is that?!

Among the crowd of zombies, one stood out remarkably. A faint red hue shimmered beneath its greenish-gray skin, and a strange red glow emanated from its eyes.

It’s an Evolved Zombie!

Fang Heng narrowed his eyes and immediately commanded the remaining zombie clones to stop attacking and retreat.

Evolved Zombies were the result of mutations in ordinary zombies.

Compared to ordinary zombies, all their attributes were greatly enhanced, and they even possessed special abilities.

Low-tier Evolved Zombies, for instance, might have special abilities like Strength Enhancement or Agility Enhancement.

Furthermore, Evolved Zombies might have higher intelligence than ordinary zombies.

At the very least, they would choose to counterattack after being struck.

The zombie clone that died earlier had most likely been dealt with because it provoked it.

"Troublesome thing. Good thing I didn't go back to AFK-ing just now."

Fang Heng felt a bit lucky; otherwise, all his zombie clones would have been wiped out here.

Waiting for the zombie clones to respawn would waste 24 hours for nothing.

One had to know that the game had just launched, and every second counted; a 24-hour respawn time was far too long!

The good news was that this Evolved Zombie was currently relatively quiet. As long as no one provoked it, it just stood there quietly.

He needed to find a way to deal with it, or he wouldn't be able to continue 'AFK-ing'.

Calming down, Fang Heng opened the game logs from before his zombie clone died to observe.

[Hint: Your zombie clone attacked the Evolved Zombie; the attack was dodged by the Evolved Zombie, your skill - Basic Agility EXP +1].

[Hint: Your zombie clone is under attack].

[Hint: Your zombie clone is under attack].

...

[Hint: Your zombie clone attacked an ordinary zombie, the attack hit, your Basic Training - Strength EXP +3].

[Hint: Your skill: Strength Training LV+1].

[Hint: Your zombie clone is under attack].

[Hint: Your zombie clone is under attack].

[Hint: Your zombie clone is under attack].

[Hint: Your zombie clone has died].

On average, for every one attack the zombie clone made, the Evolved Zombie could attack three times.

Moreover, the zombie clone's attacks had a high probability of being dodged by the enemy.

Besides that, the zombie clone had endured a total of 24 attacks from the opponent before falling.

Judging by the attack efficiency, the opponent's damage output wasn't high; it could only be said to be slightly stronger than an ordinary zombie.

In summary.

It was an Agility-type evolved zombie!

Years of gaming experience allowed Fang Heng to make a quick judgment.

Agility-type Evolved Zombies were actually the most troublesome because their movement speed was also significantly increased compared to ordinary zombies.

When survivors encountered ordinary zombies, they could use 'kiting' to slowly wear them down, or simply turn around and run.

But against an Evolved Zombie with high movement speed, kiting was purely looking for death; only by running without looking back did one have a chance to survive.

"It's not hard to deal with, though."

Fang Heng rubbed his chin and immediately had a plan.

He controlled his zombie clones to avoid the Evolved Zombie and first chose the surrounding ordinary zombies as targets.

Similar to his usual gaming strategy, he would clear out the 'fodder' in the surrounding circle first, and finally deal with the biggest elite monster.

Unfortunately, Fang Heng's zombie clones didn't possess high intelligence; they didn't understand the difference between an Evolved Zombie and an ordinary zombie.

So, the trouble returned.

Fang Heng had no way to AFK at all and could only stand in the distance to remote-control them, commanding the zombie clones to kill the monsters one by one.

It took a full half-hour to clear an open space around the Evolved Zombie.

Then, Fang Heng summoned the zombie clones back to his side.

In the morning, he had brought out five crossbows from the cabin; he had equipped one himself, leaving four.

Now, Fang Heng distributed all five crossbows to the zombies.

From the very beginning, Fang Heng never thought about risking his own life to provoke the Evolved Zombie.

After all, the Evolved Zombie's low attack power was only relative to the zombie clones.

It was a zombie!

If a player got scratched once, they would be infected with the virus and die 100%.

One-hit kill! Infinite attack power!

Just kidding, everyone only had three respawn chances before they would die for good, and Fang Heng cherished his life very much.

The zombie clones accepted Fang Heng's instructions. Five of the zombies picked up the crossbows from the ground and, with some difficulty, finished loading the bolts.

Fang Heng had already conducted similar experiments several times before.

Besides clubs and machetes, zombie clones could also use some more complex weapons.

For example, crossbows, firearms, and the like.

It was just that there were great limitations to using these types of weapons.

They could only be used when within Fang Heng's line of sight and under his control.

Once out of sight, when letting the zombies 'AFK', these zombies couldn't simultaneously process complex information like 'if you encounter an enemy, aim at the enemy with the crossbow, pull the trigger, and reload again'.

At most, it was 'swing whatever is in your hand to hit the opponent'.

In Fang Heng's understanding, zombies were single-threaded creatures; during the AFK phase, they could only receive one relatively complex instruction at a time.

The five zombie clones holding crossbows walked shakily toward the prison.

They stopped three meters outside the wire fence surrounding the prison.

That was close enough.

Fang Heng estimated the distance and issued the command for the zombie clones to pull the triggers.

"Whoosh!!"

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"

The five zombie clones pulled the triggers simultaneously.

The bolts flew out and thudded into the concrete ground not far from the Evolved Zombie, making a series of soft sounds.

The Evolved Zombie raised its head.

It noticed the zombie clones in the distance, then lowered its head to ponder again.

"They're my clones, at least... your aim is a bit too off..."

Fang Heng muttered to himself silently and had the clones reload.

"Fire!"

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!"

This time, one bolt hit the Evolved Zombie's shoulder.

"Woooo!!!!"

The Evolved Zombie let out a cry, and, provoked, it lunged rapidly toward Fang Heng's zombie clones.

Such fast movement speed!

It was only slightly slower than a normal person's running speed!

Fang Heng's eyelids twitched.

"Bang!!"

"Clatter..."

The sprinting Evolved Zombie slammed into the wire fence surrounding the prison and was blocked firmly.

"Roar! Hiss hiss hiss!"

The Evolved Zombie made strange noises in its mouth, struggling incessantly, trying to attack the zombie clones on the other side of the fence.

However, unfortunately, lacking ranged attacks, it could do nothing against the zombie clones on the other side of the wire fence.

"Hehe, out of options, aren't you?"

Fang Heng, hiding in the shadows, chuckled and controlled the zombie clones outside the fence to continue reloading the crossbows.

(End of chapter)