The woman's eyes were wide, fixed in the horror and fear she felt at the moment of death. Her pupils slowly dilated, and her body softly slumped to the floor.
"Jillian!"
In the darkness, Cynthia quickly spun around, just in time to see a shadowy figure plunge a Dagger into the girl's skull.
She was horrified, her eyes bulging with rage.
The monster had appeared!
An intense chill radiated from Cynthia's body. Her ability was Frost-based, and as she clenched her hands, ice crystals condensed, forming two sharp Ice Cones that extended outward.
She instantly darted forward, stabbing toward Ethan.
Her speed was incredible, like a hunting cheetah. The Ice Cones ripped through the air, creating small sonic booms, their lethality greater than a bullet.
Ethan chose not to engage head-on. He dodged backward, instantly vanishing into the wall.
"What? He..."
Cynthia instantly lost her target and was momentarily stunned.
Where did he go?
In her moment of hesitation, a Dagger shot out from the wall, striking directly toward the crown of her head.
The Dagger was incredibly fast.
Cynthia had no time to react.
By the time she tried to dodge, the blade was already embedded in her skull, extracting her Crystal Core.
Another corpse fell...
Everything happened incredibly fast, in the blink of an eye.
"Jillian, Cynthia, what's wrong with you two?"
At that moment, anxious shouts came from the end of the hallway.
It was Nathan and the others, who had sensed the anomaly and rushed over. Unfortunately, they were a step too late.
What they found were two bodies. They also had no wounds, but their Crystal Cores had been removed.
The method of death was exactly the same as the previous five!
An intense, chilling sense of the unnatural permeated the group.
Two more people were dead...
"Where is the monster? Where did he go?"
The remaining five scanned the area, their expressions solemn, terrified of being ambushed themselves.
The surroundings had returned to silence, as if nothing had happened. If it weren't for the two corpses at their feet, they would have thought they were hallucinating.
It was utterly bizarre!
This made them realize the monster hadn't left; it was still lurking in the darkness. As soon as someone relaxed their guard, they would be killed.
Nathan also realized something else: the two hundred survivors in the mall had no casualties so far. That meant... his target was only the Evolved.
Perhaps Jillian's intuition was right—the monster had been following them the whole time...
At this point, Alex's eyes were bloodshot, and he was panting heavily. The immense pressure was driving him to the brink.
"Where is the monster? Get your damn self out here! What kind of skill is ambushing people? Come out and fight me one-on-one!"
No matter how loud he yelled, the hallway only offered echoes, darkness, and silence; there was no response.
"Alex, calm down!"
Nathan urged in a deep voice, "Yelling won't help anything. Use that time to analyze how the monster is killing people."
"Nathan, did you notice anything?" asked the remaining female Evolved among the five.
Nathan nodded.
"Yes, I did notice something."
"Oh?"
The others' eyes brightened, and they looked at him, awaiting his explanation.
Nathan spoke deliberately.
"Don't you think Cynthia's position when she died was strange? She was facing the wall. That means... before she died, she was trying to attack the wall!"
"Attacking the wall?"
The others were puzzled, but quickly formed an outlandish idea. "Could the monster be... in the wall?"
"No, he's not in the wall; he has the ability to pass through objects—and that includes human flesh, of course." Nathan analyzed.
The four others thought this was plausible. Otherwise, the dead wouldn't have lacked wounds while their Brain Pellets were removed. They had actually considered this possibility before, but found it unbelievable.
"Does such an ability truly exist?"
"Of course. And he was able to move vast amounts of supplies in a short time. Combining these two facts suggests he belongs to the Spatial category, or has even awakened a Domain."
"What? A Domain?"
The four were shocked again.
Tech Corp researched the apocalypse, capturing and sampling numerous zombies and mutated beasts for experimentation. They discovered that a very small minority of them could awaken bizarre abilities, including a Domain.
A monster with a Domain could appear and vanish like a ghost, killing people invisibly. Some researchers defined such zombies as 'Phantom Zombies.'
"Have we encountered a Phantom Zombie?" Alex's eyes were full of terror.
"Yes, and it clearly possesses high intelligence and excels at stealth and evasion. This type of zombie is extremely dangerous. We must eliminate it before it grows into a Zombie King, or it will become an impossible threat!" Nathan said with determination.
The others inhaled sharply, feeling utterly terrified.
Alex seemed to recall something and offered a word of comfort.
"Don't panic, everyone. The researchers said that zombies with a Domain generally have weaker physical bodies—that's their fatal flaw."
"Oh, well, that's something... No wonder he won't come out face-to-face and only dares to ambush us."
The group relaxed slightly.
Alex nodded.
"The key problem now is how to flush him out!"
"Indeed. With our current strength, if that zombie doesn't want to come out, we might never find him." Nathan analyzed, but quickly changed his tone. "However... perhaps we can use a tactic. No matter how intelligent that zombie is, he can't be smarter than a human."
Humans survived on Earth for a million years because of intelligence. For example, if you can't catch a wild rabbit while hunting, you design a trap to capture it.
Subsequently, after discussion, the five devised a plan to lure the enemy.
One person would act as bait, pretending to wander off alone to lure the zombie out, and then the others would attack simultaneously.
Acting as bait carried significant risks, so they needed the strongest member.
Nathan took responsibility.
"I will be the bait. I'll go to the first-floor lobby. The rest of you stay here on the sixth floor. The view is good here. Once the target is spotted, attack immediately."
"And remember, a Domain zombie has a weak body. Try to engage in close combat to prevent him from escaping again!"
"Nathan, it's too dangerous for you to be the bait alone. Let me go with you. The zombie will still attack if there are two of us," the tall, muscular man Robert insisted.
Nathan nodded.
"Alright then. Robert and I will go to the first floor as bait. Alex, you take the others and watch from up here. The three of you must not split up."
"Understood, Nathan! Don't worry!"
Alex thumped his chest.
Having been led around by the nose and losing seven teammates, he was feeling suffocated. Now, the bugle call for a counterattack had finally sounded!
Immediately, the group, full of fighting spirit, began to move.
Little did they know, Ethan was right next door, less than thirty meters from them. With the zombie's acute hearing, everything was heard clearly.
Nathan's plan to lure the enemy was heard in crystal clarity.
"Not bad for loudly conspiring..."
Ethan's figure flickered, reappearing in the hallway where the group had just been standing.
He thought these people had some intelligence... but not much.
...
Now, only five Evolved remained. Three had condensed Crystal Cores and were quite powerful, while the other two were still at the Brain Pellet stage, only physically stronger than ordinary people.
Ethan could easily handle them, even in a direct confrontation.
At that moment, Nathan and the tall man, Robert, reached the first-floor lobby.
The crowd of survivors rushed up to them.
"Captain Nathan, we've searched the entire mall, but we haven't found a trace of the monster."
"Of course you haven't found it; that thing is highly unnatural."
Nathan looked at the survivors with a degree of envy. The monster didn't attack ordinary people; it only targeted the Evolved. These people were completely safe...
"Oh?"
The crowd scratched their heads.
"Captain Nathan, what should we do now?"
"Don't worry, we'll solve him soon." Nathan was confident.
...
On the sixth floor of the mall, Alex and the two others—a man and a woman—stood by the railing, watching intently, not wanting to miss any clue.
"Keep a close watch. If Nathan is attacked, immediately go down to assist."
"Understood, no problem."
The two nodded emphatically.
Unbeknownst to them, Ethan's figure emerged from the hallway and headed straight toward the trio's backs.
The female Evolved, however, had sharp instincts. She suddenly felt an unease, as if something was behind her.
"Who's there?"
She immediately turned around.
But the sight before her froze her expression.
She saw a tall, slender young man, impeccably dressed, handsome and striking, slowly walking toward her. This kind of appearance easily won a woman's favor.
"Phew—you scared me. I thought it was the monster," the girl sighed in relief, patting her full chest.
"Monster? What monster?"
Ethan didn't agree with the term...
Alex and the other man also looked over, subconsciously assuming Ethan was a survivor.
"You're doing well, finding your way up to the sixth floor."
"Well, I had nothing better to do."
Ethan smiled slightly, stepped forward, and joined the three, leaning on the railing to look down at the first-floor lobby.
Since they were so close, the female Evolved caught the faint scent of laundry detergent. She turned her head and saw Ethan's handsome profile—sharp, defined, and flawless.
The girl's heart fluttered slightly. If not for the life-and-death situation, she might have tried to get him to "serve her" right there... In the apocalypse, female Evolved were equally sought after; polyandry was not an issue.
"There really is a monster in the mall. You should stay with us. The first floor might be dangerous soon," the girl warned.
"What kind of danger could there be on the first floor?" Ethan asked casually.
Alex, who had a quick temper, was feeling impatient.
"You wouldn't understand even if I told you. Stop asking questions and interfering with our work."
"Why don't you think the sixth floor is dangerous?" Ethan asked playfully.
"I told you—"
Alex was about to curse, but then something felt wrong.
His tone wasn't like a survivor.
Could it be...
Especially the girl—she recalled how Ethan had walked up silently. Furthermore, in such pitch darkness, ordinary survivors couldn't see anything without a flashlight or cell phone light.
Yet, he was holding nothing, and was able to stand by the sixth-floor railing... looking directly down at the first-floor lobby!
The thought instantly stiffened the girl's body. A wave of cold rushed to her scalp, and the hairs on her arms stood up.
What exactly was the thing standing right next to her???
Alex reacted swiftly, lunging toward Ethan.
"Quick! That's him! Attack!"
But Ethan retreated, dodging him like a ghost.
Alex remembered the researchers' instruction: a Domain zombie has a relatively weak physique, and he himself was a Strength-enhancement Evolved.
"Still trying to run? Die!"
Alex immediately charged forward, throwing a punch. After losing so many teammates, it was time for revenge.
The muscles in his arm bulged like small mountains, nearly tearing his uniform.
The punch was incredibly powerful. He had used all his strength.
Ethan was considering testing his own strength. Last time he met Zhang Xiaoyuan, he killed him with a single punch.
So, this time, he used five-tenths of his power. He raised his hand and punched.
"BANG!"
The collision of the two fists sounded like iron hammers striking. A blast of air swept out, causing the sixth-floor railing to rattle loudly.
"CRACK!"
Accompanied by the sound of bone breaking, Alex felt an intense pain in his arm. His entire arm bone had been shattered, hanging limply at a twisted angle.
"So strong!"
Alex gasped in agony, clutching his arm with his free hand and staggering back several steps, cold sweat pouring down his forehead.
He realized now that this guy was impossibly strong, completely unlike what the researchers had claimed. That punch just now could have crushed a Tank!
In an instant, a profound sense of despair welled up in his heart.
"Damn it! Which researcher came up with that finding? If I have a next life, I'll definitely Flay him!"
That was Alex's last thought before he died.
The two teammates beside him were only at the Brain Pellet stage, with no awakened abilities; combined, they were no match for Alex.
Ethan instantly flashed forward, piercing both their necks.
...
At the first-floor lobby.
Nathan was still talking with the survivors when he heard a muffled thud from the sixth floor, followed by the sound of the entire railing vibrating and rattling.
"Something's happened!"
Nathan's eyebrows knit together, and he quickly looked up.
But after scanning the area, he couldn't find any sign of Alex or the others.
"Trouble!"
Robert, the tall man with him, realized the same thing.
"Alex and the others are under attack! We need to go help them right now."
"Wait..."
Nathan stopped him. He had just realized something else.
He might have... severely underestimated the opponent's strength.
Alex was one of the strongest members of the team, second only to Nathan. Could he, along with two other Evolved, have been defeated by the monster?
Moreover... even if they couldn't win, they should have been able to hold out for a while, right?
But it had only been a moment, and Alex and the other two had vanished!
Robert was still anxious.
"Nathan, what are we waiting for? Aren't we going to help Alex?"
"It's already... too late!"
Nathan's pupils contracted sharply. An intense sense of crisis enveloped him. He felt as if he was being watched, with death possible at any moment.
At this time, the crowd of survivors looked at each other, not understanding what was happening.
Because of the darkness, they couldn't see anything.
One of the strong men suddenly felt a chill on the back of his neck, followed by a drop of liquid falling onto his skin.
"Huh? What is that?"
He instinctively reached up to wipe it and felt something sticky and foul-smelling.
The strong man quickly shone his flashlight. After seeing his hand, his face instantly turned ashen, because his palm was covered in crimson.
"Blood... That's blood!!!"