Fan Ding shook his head blankly.
Everyone was transported to this Death Arena at the same time. If you don't know what's going on, how could I possibly know?
However, Fan Ding quickly realized this was his chance, and tentatively asked.
"Can you give me back my sword? I'll go outside and take a look."
"Do you think I'm an easy target and, um... an immature person in your mind?"
Lv Bai tilted his head slightly, feeling a bit puzzled.
As he spoke, he glanced at the longsword in his hand, and a series of information appeared before his retinas.
[Weapon: Eight-sided Han Sword]
[Characteristic Entries:
(Lightness: You won't feel the weight of the sword when swinging it)
(Durable: Sharpness does not decrease with use)]
[Evaluation: Randomly acquired from Armory II (Silver), it's quite an excellent standard weapon.]
Lv Bai's pupils slightly contracted when he noticed the suffix "Silver."
Is everyone's Ability Pool level random, or... did I draw it?
He nonchalantly asked Fan Ding, "Why did you choose such a garbage item?"
"What kind of powerful abilities do you expect to draw from a Silver Ability Pool?"
Fan Ding, provoked by this, blurted out in anger.
But under the continuous wailing coming from afar, the surge of anger in Fan Ding's heart quickly cooled down.
He looked around, struggling to appear calm, but in reality, lacking confidence: "...Maybe we should find somewhere to hide first?"
Although he still didn't understand what exactly was happening on the campus, the increasingly frequent screams and cries of agony were truly unnerving.
Even the air carried a faint, nauseating scent of blood.
No matter how one thought about it, this wasn't something that should happen on a campus.
"Help... help me!"
Cries for help came from afar, drawing closer.
A boy with a bloody, ragged neck stumbled from around the corner.
Lv Bai could barely recognize him as one of the delinquent boys who had just left.
Upon seeing Lv Bai, the delinquent boy, like a drowning man, desperately tried to grasp his last straw.
He collapsed to the ground, clutching Lv Bai's leg tightly.
"Help me... They're crazy, everyone is crazy... biting anyone they see!"
He spoke haltingly, and Fan Ding couldn't extract any complete information from his words at the moment.
"Calm down first, what exactly happened? How did you get these injuries?" Fan Ding leaned in, shaking the delinquent boy by the shoulders.
Thanks to his extensive consumption of media before the teleportation, Lv Bai made a bold guess.
Zombies?
Looking at the boy's bite-marked neck, Lv Bai silently pulled his leg away from the boy and tightened his grip on the longsword.
"Ugh~"
Several figures emerged from behind the old banyan tree, their wailing sounded like something scratching your throat with its hand.
They were barely recognizable as the delinquent boys from before, their school shirts half-unbuttoned to their navels.
Of course, Lv Bai wasn't in the mood to play disciplinarian.
Their gray, bloodshot eyes, bulging veins on their faces, and disgusting mucus dripping from their mouths...
All indicated one thing—
Damn it, they're zombies!
Fan Ding's face turned dark: "What the hell are these things?!"
Lv Bai wasn't given much time to think.
The moment their eyes met, the zombies lunged at him.
In that split second, Lv Bai confirmed one thing.
These were indeed zombies,
but not the slow and stiff kind he remembered.
Simply put,
in his vision, it was like several Olympic sprinters dashing toward him.
The zombies seemed to be exerting an incomprehensible force on their muscle tissues, exploding with incredible speed.
Their speed was absurdly fast.
The distance between them was less than ten meters, and under explosive speed, it was gone in an instant.
During that brief moment, Lv Bai only had time to make an upward slash with his sword.
Psh~
The blade penetrated flesh.
The fastest zombie was pierced through the throat on the spot.
No, it wasn't so much that he pierced it; rather, the zombie thrust its neck onto the sword tip.
But piercing wasn't the end.
The powerful momentum still propelled the zombie towards Lv Bai.
In that brief moment, Lv Bai strangely found himself not panicking, quickly making the right decision.
He swung the sword horizontally, using the zombie's throat as the pivot point, severing the head while simultaneously stepping aside.
Thud!
The headless body continued its momentum, crashing heavily to the ground, no longer moving.
Catching this in his peripheral vision, Lv Bai felt a bit relieved.
Yes, decapitating is still effective.
Unfortunately, there was more than one zombie.
Before Lv Bai could adjust his stance, he was tackled to the ground by the oncoming zombies.
He only felt like he had collided head-on with a speeding car, nearly dizzying him.
But for zombies, facing fresh ingredients often requires no preparation.
Without a hint of hesitation, two zombies directly bit down.
Neck, thigh.
Blood oozed from the bitten areas.
There's no denying that the pain from biting is far more intense than from sharp weapons like swords.
Especially witnessing oneself being devoured like this, it makes adrenaline surge uncontrollably.
The pain snapped Lv Bai out of his daze quickly, regaining control of his body.
He had no time to consider whether he'd turn into a zombie after being bitten, nor did he understand why he'd traversed here.
He only knew he wanted to go on a killing spree!
At this moment, Lv Bai's mind became extraordinarily clear.
A total of four zombies appeared, he dispatched one with a sword, but there were still three remaining.
Two pinned him down, while the remaining one targeted Fan Ding.
Lv Bai didn't think Fan Ding could handle such exaggeratedly powerful zombies, including that delinquent boy bitten earlier...
If delayed too long, perhaps they'd have to prepare to face five zombies.
But,
As long as he dealt with these two zombies before Fan Ding and the delinquent boy turned into zombies, the advantage would be his!
Fan Ding's wailing had already reached his ears; neither his body's condition nor the current situation allowed Lv Bai any hesitation.
He took a deep breath.
Bent his knees, suddenly exerting force.
With a hard knee strike towards the slant above him.
The precise force direction caused the zombie biting his neck to flip over his head.
The tightly gripped long sword then cut from bottom to top towards the zombie gnawing on his thigh.
Fortunately, the weapon drawn from the Silver Ability Pool, the Eight-sided Han Sword's sharpness didn't disappoint Lv Bai.
The flesh and bone on the zombie's neck were sliced cleanly.
Lv Bai flipped up, beheading the zombie he'd flipped before it got back up.
Having done all this, the zombie's head was still biting his thigh, blood flowing along his pants into the ground, carrying a wild savagery.
He unconsciously grinned, removing the head clinging to his thigh and casually tossing it aside like garbage.
Lv Bai didn't stop but limped towards the last zombie.
It was pinning Fan Ding down, devouring without any awareness of the impending crisis.
Until its brain was pierced with a sword, it didn't respond at all.
Lv Bai first glanced at Fan Ding, whose flesh was blurred from bites, then turned to the other side, where the delinquent boy's eyes were already rolling white, beginning to convulse uncontrollably.
Out of humanitarianism, he raised his sword and struck.
Cutting off the possibility of either turning into a zombie.
[Ding!]
[Points +1, Current Rank 27/423]
Lv Bai ignored the mechanical prompt sounding in his mind, took two steps, and turned to rest his back against the trunk of the old banyan tree.
He gripped the blood-dripping longsword, maintaining a surprisingly calm expression despite his rapid breathing.
In hindsight, he was a bit startled, as he seemed to experience little emotional fluctuation throughout.
Logically, he was a destitute Taoist from a run-down temple in his past life, even slaughtering a chicken would cause his heart to beat rapidly with tension, certainly not as calm as now after killing several "people," as if it was an ordinary task.
Was something wrong with this body, after all?
His back rubbing against the trunk, Lv Bai slid down to sit.
Such a simple movement made him gasp in pain.
There's no help for it; the human body's pain perception often surges like a tide only after relaxing.
Lv Bai gritted his teeth and adjusted to a more comfortable sitting position, relaxing.
He glanced sideways towards the playground, as if the vibrant life and vitality from the realm were still visible.
As if both sighing and self-mocking, he muttered.
"Am I going to die just minutes into the opening?"
...
However.
Almost ten minutes passed.
The situation Lv Bai anticipated of him turning into a zombie had not occurred; instead, the screams near him became increasingly frequent.
Outside the campus walls, honking and collision roars, zombie growls and human screams combined into an intricate symphony.
This meant the school wasn't the only site of a zombie outbreak.
Even without witnessing it firsthand, he could imagine how dire the situation outside was.
Having personally fought, Lv Bai was acutely aware of how terrifying these zombies were.
Modern society's vast majority can't even channel their own strength.
Like top athletes, who train for years to barely unleash the power of specific muscle groups.
As for achieving feats beyond human limits by overdrawing body potential during intense emotions, it's exceptionally rare.
After all, this kind of burst is uncontrollable for the average person and can't be sustained.
While also causing irreversible damage to the body.
Yet after brief encounters with several zombies, Lv Bai could ascertain that these zombies, whether in strength or speed, were exaggeratedly formidable.
They seemed to normalize overexertion.
A reasonable explanation is that after becoming zombies, their brains lack self-preservation consciousness to limit the body, leaving only the predatory beast-like instinct to devour prey.
In that case, ordinary people would likely need firearms to combat these zombies.
Pondering these matters, Lv Bai failed to notice that the two bitten areas developed like a fast-forwarded documentary.
Sprouting flesh buds at a speed exceeding ordinary human understanding… rapidly self-healing!