Chapter 7: Of all places, why the mouth?

The woman did not hesitate for a moment. As she ran past Lin Yu, she shoved him with both hands with all her might.

Had it been an ordinary person caught off guard by such a forceful push, they certainly would have lost their footing and fallen to the ground. In this situation, falling meant death.

However, although the woman threw her entire weight into the shove, it felt as if she had pushed against a massive boulder—she could not budge him. Then, she felt her right hand being grabbed, and in the next instant, she went flying.

Having survived six years in the apocalypse, there was no way Lin Yu would be outmaneuvered by a woman like this. He had seen the madness in her eyes and instantly understood her intentions. She was truly asking for trouble.

He gripped her right hand, applied a slight force, and flung her directly toward the charging zombie.

"Thud."

The woman flew through the air like a basketball, colliding head-on with the zombie. They tumbled to the ground together, and she let out a cry of pain. Before she could rise, the zombie lunged at her, its hideous jaws clamping down on her neck.

"Ah!"

Blood sprayed, and a shrill scream echoed through the air. She kicked her legs wildly, struggling in despair, and slowly perished in agony. As she lay there, her head facing Lin Yu, her mind was filled with regret as she looked at his upright figure.

Lin Yu watched the scene quietly, his heart unmoved. If this woman had not harbored malicious intentions and tried to harm him, she could have been saved. It would have been an effortless act of kindness.

His six years of struggling in the previous life had not made him heartless. On the contrary, many had willingly died for him, and he, in turn, had fought to the death to protect his brothers. The world was neither purely black and white, nor strictly good and evil. Absolute egoists often met even more miserable ends.

In his past life, it was rumored that the strongest of the top-tier, codenamed "Dawn," possessed an S-rank talent: Absolute Purification. Once activated, everyone within the skill's range was forced to face judgment by the rules. There was no escaping it. The rules judged a person's heart—dark or light. If one’s evil was found to outweigh their good, they were judged, purified, and erased from existence. Countless powerhouses would retreat whenever Dawn appeared. Of course, Lin Yu did not know the specific conditions or limitations of this talent.

Therefore, Lin Yu could be cold, but he was not unfeeling. He could stand by and watch, or he could become a beacon for all. He did not fear Absolute Purification; even absolute-type talents had ways to be broken. This was his principle, his bottom line. If humanity discarded all its values in the face of disaster, then they were no different from the zombies—nothing but disgusting creatures.

In the history of his era, when the Eight-Nation Alliance invaded the Central Plains, did the people become traitors just to survive? No, countless ancestors shed their blood and sacrificed their lives. Thus, selfish and hypocritical people were selfish in any era, regardless of the apocalypse. The apocalypse simply amplified that evil.

The world never lacked those with boundless love. In his past life, among the top-tier survivors, there were those who walked in the light, driving away the darkness and sacrificing themselves without fear. Lin Yu admired such people from the bottom of his heart.

Of course, he was no saint. Anyone who tried to harm him would be met with his thunderous retribution.

Not far away, the woman’s body stopped struggling, and her screams faded into silence. After she died, the zombie lunged toward Lin Yu like a rabid dog.

"Disgusting thing."

Lin Yu struck out with his palm, and a serpent of flame shot forth, engulfing both the zombie and the woman’s remains.

S-rank talent ability: Flame Incineration activated.
[Magic Consumption -20]

In the blink of an eye, both the zombie and the woman were burned to ashes, leaving nothing behind. With his massive magic pool of 6,500, he could afford to use simple flame abilities over 300 times.

He looked at the shops on either side of the street. Some doors stood wide open, already deserted; the occupants had likely panicked and fled at the sight of the zombies. Others were tightly shut, with owners surely cowering inside. But without food, death would find them sooner or later.

Lin Yu ducked into a medium-sized supermarket, grabbed two large backpacks, and began to scavenge. Before long, he walked out of the store, carrying the two loaded rucksacks.

"Roar!"

A muscular man lunged at him, growling, blood streaming from his mouth. Lin Yu frowned, stepped aside, and swung his steel pipe in a backhand arc, cracking the zombie's head open like a watermelon.

"Should I head to Tianhai City to find my sister now... or wait here to carry out that plan?"

After disposing of the zombie, Lin Yu faced a dilemma. He wanted to find his sister, but doing so would prevent his plan from being executed. The first few days of the apocalypse were the most critical; if he didn't seize this time to acquire more Attribute Fruits, his rebirth would have been in vain.

Soon, Lin Yu made up his mind. His sister was in her dormitory with food and water, and her own strength attribute was off the charts, giving her terrifying combat power; her safety was not a major concern.

"Since that’s the case, I’ll stay here and execute the plan."

Lin Yu whispered his decision. He remembered that there was a luxurious hotel in this ancient town, often fully booked by tourists visiting Xiyun Mountain. He planned to rest there for a day or so until the zombies evolved and developed crystal cores.

That would be his moment to act—to kill zombies and harvest cores. He wanted to take advantage of this initial, most terrifying phase of the apocalypse to hunt for cores frantically, which he would use to trade for more precious Attribute Fruits.

The journey between cities to Tianhai was mostly mountain forest, where zombies were sparse as they tended to congregate in crowded areas. If he went now, he would harvest far fewer cores and miss the prime window for growth.

***

The streets were in utter chaos. Many cars lay scattered in disarray by the roadside, billowing with thick smoke. Screams and cries filled the air.

Following his memory, Lin Yu moved with a clear goal, darting toward the hotel. With an agility attribute of 35—seven times that of an average person—he had no need to fear the zombies.

As he reached the hotel entrance, he saw a plump young woman clutching a little girl, kneeling on the ground. She pounded on the hotel’s large glass door, begging through her tears, "My niece has fainted, please, I beg you, open the door and let us in..."

But no matter how she pleaded, the two punks guarding the glass door remained indifferent. One even barked back, "Get lost, you bitch! Keep crying and attracting zombies, and I’ll kill you myself!"

Lin Yu frowned. He walked up to the glass door, tapped the handle with his steel pipe, and said slowly, "Open the door."

"Kid, didn't you hear? Get lost!" the young punk spat, a cigarette dangling from his lip, full of arrogance.

"Z-zombies!"

Suddenly, the punk’s eyes widened in terror as if he had seen something. He pointed behind Lin Yu and shrank back. Hearing this, the two people outside turned to look.

Lin Yu squinted. The young woman’s face turned deathly pale, and she held the girl tighter, her eyes filled with despair. In the blink of an eye, the zombies were upon them. Perhaps the scent of the woman’s flesh was more enticing, as the zombies prioritized her. She screamed and closed her eyes in helplessness, awaiting death.

Suddenly, Lin Yu tightened his grip on the steel pipe and thrust it forward with precision, jamming it directly into the zombie's mouth, stopping its momentum.

"Wuaah—"

The zombie’s gray, lifeless eyes stared at Lin Yu, as if to say, "You dirty bastard, this thing is so hard—of all places to poke, you had to go for the mouth?"