Dark Civilization Volume 1 Chapter 9

Book 1 Chapter 9: The Strength of Four Men!

"Die!"

Pressing the cruel words through gritted teeth, he slashed out the watermelon knife viciously in a blinding arc, directly at the zombie's head!

Ker-sshluk! The gleaming knife burrowed deep into the zombie's skull. The force of the cleave went unabated as it split the zombie's head wide open into two separate halves, only halting as it grinded into the ribs.

The zombie's body convulsed briefly before it flopped into a silent heap.

"Rrrargh!"

Behind him, the three clawless zombies were scrambling over.

Ye Chen spun his body around, his cold eyes glaring harshly at the zombies. With lithe movements, he rushed at the first zombie and performed a jumping kick. As the kick landed upon the zombie's chest, its ribs underneath shattered as it was sent flying a few feet away.

Undeterred, the other two zombies ferociously charged at Ye Chen, snapping their vicious maws at his shoulder.

Ye Chen offered a condescending snort; a clawless zombie has essentially lost around eighty percent of its offensive power. He waited for the zombies to approach before tossing away the watermelon knife. With lightning fast movements, he seized the two zombies by their heads before mustering all his strength into slamming them against each other!

Ker-splat!

As the two heads collided, they exploded like overly ripe melons, erupting into a shower of pasty brain matter. With smattering chunks covering his face, Ye Chen dropped the two corpses. As he locked his cold gaze upon the last remaining zombie who had just regained a standing position, he dashed towards it. With only his bare fingers, Ye Chen grasped the zombie by its face in a vice-like grip and forcefully slammed it into the wall.

As the zombie's skull was crushed against the solid wall, it caved under the unrelenting pressure….

Standing at the corner, Ye Zhu was appalled into a motionless daze as she watched everything unfold.

There were a total of four zombies! Each as strong as three adult men, a punch from them would send out a few of hundred pounds of force. Additionally, their skin was resilient and had razor sharp claws; a normal person pitted against such a monster had essentially no choice but to perish!

However, such powerful monsters were instantly pulverized in the face of her brother within a few blinks of the eye. It made her quite hesitant to believe everything that had happened. Could her brother really advance to such a terrifying degree within one short day?

As Ye Zhu was inwardly struggling with her thoughts, Ye Chen slowly walked towards the center of the room. Picking up a clean towel, he wiped away the brain matter clinging to his face and headed to the washroom for a quick shower. As the grime came off his body, the floor was dyed into a b.l.o.o.d.y mess, with smatterings of minced flesh….

After he was done cleansing himself, Ye Chen exited the washroom. His chest rose and fell in exhaustion. Earlier, he had definitely expended all his strength as he felt the fatigue wash over him. It was akin to an average man after running the fields for twenty laps.

"Let's have those corpses dissected; it's getting pretty late already so we should be heading back soon." Ye Chen told his younger sister after giving the corpses a glance.

Ye Zhu seemed to have regained herself, watching the slain zombies strewn across the floor, she rejoiced at how formidable her brother has become. Obediently nodding her head, she began harvesting the corpses for mutagenic flesh, seeming to reach a state where she was no longer repulsed by the sight exposed innards.

After finishing up, the two of them left the room. Walking through the silent corridor, they pa.s.sed by numerous broken down doors. Past each broken door, piles of dead zombie corpses could be seen giving off a ghastly vibe of h.e.l.l on earth.

Although he knew that the zombies in these rooms were all dead, Ye Chen still didn't relax his guard. A single careless mistake could very well be fatal.

Moments later, the two arrived safely at their room.

'Click!'

When the door closed, a calming sense of safety washed over them. With his mind and body relaxed, Ye Chen dropped off his knife before entering the washroom for a through rinse and a change of clothes.

On the other hand, Ye Zhu headed for the kitchen in order to wash clean the collected mutagenic flesh.

Night descended, the once glimmering sight of the city at night was no more. From the windows, numerous skysc.r.a.pers could be seen looming in the distance like towering dark behemoths. Even the numerous streetlights that once illuminated the roads ceased their brilliance. Everything was shrouded in a cold, suffocating darkness.

This world shone no longer….

Ye Chen approached to shut the windows and close the curtains. After which, he gathered a stack of newspapers and began stuffing the gaps to prevent any light from leaking out of the room. Doing so would prevent attracting the attention of any powerful beasts or wandering hordes of zombies….

"Brother, dinner's ready." Ye Zhu came out of the kitchen serving two modest dishes and a large bowl of hot soup.

Ye Chen glanced at the two dishes and soup on the table. In the mid stages of the apocalypse, a meal as decent as this was considered a luxury. After working himself hard for the entire day, he couldn't help but feel famished as he inhaled the aromatic scent of the food.

Ye Chen did not touch the food, he waited for his sister to be seated before asking: "Where's the mutagenic flesh?"

Ye Zhu froze for a moment before getting up to rush into the kitchen. She returned with the mutagenic flesh served atop a plate after slicing them into bite-sized chunks, saying: "This stuff actually tastes a bit like jelly, therefore I held off on giving them a stir-fry."

Ye Chen nodded his head saying: "Mutagenic flesh should be eaten raw, cooking it would only lead to a loss of nutrients." After saying so, he took a piece and ate it.

"You should begin with eating mutagenic flesh. When the body is hungry, its digestive capabilities are at its peak. Consuming the mutagenic flesh now will lead to a better absorption of its nutrients and energy." said Ye Chen.

Enlightened, Ye Zhu also began eating a piece of mutagenic flesh. However, it was obvious that she was deliberately taking her time with each piece, hoping for her brother to have more of it. How could Ye Chen not see through her subtle gesture? Although he was aware, he did not speak up. The incidents from today had taught him that he was still not strong enough. In this apocalyptic world where chaos prevailed, he was the main pillar that kept everything aloft. If he were to fall, his little sister would likely succ.u.mb to the dangers before long….

With his head held low, he silently ate the mutagenic flesh. Moments later, he had consumed most of the pieces upon the plate. Roughly half an hour later, he was done digesting it.

Mutagenic flesh was easily digested, rapidly metabolized within the internal organs and converted into pure energy to be distributed throughout the entire body. Ye Chen felt like his body was being ma.s.saged by thousands of hands throughout, giving him a comfortable sense of pleasure as if he were drifting amongst the clouds.

Along with his increase in strength came beads of blackish perspiration. This was the result of his muscle fibres expelling the impurities trapped within his body. A scientist once said: "In theory, muscle density could be enhanced to the point of deflecting bullets!"

A fist-sized clump of cotton compressed into the size of a sesame seed would absolutely be st.u.r.dier than steel nails!

The impurities within the body would then be pushed out like water from a sponge, the sponge being an a.n.a.logy for muscles.

Other than gaining a man's worth of strength, Ye Chen could feel many other changes occurring throughout his body. The skin on his palms felt more resilient, his bones were definitely reinforced, and even his fingernails became visibly more durable. Although they were not razor sharp, he could definitely shred vegetables with them without a problem!

Ye Chen's eyes were sparkling, "With my current strength, killing a single zombie would be child's play. Even three or four zombies at once could be taken out without a hitch!"

Ye Chen was inwardly br.i.m.m.i.n.g with excitement.

If he maintained his current rate of development, it should pave the way for increasingly efficient zombie hunts, which in turn fed the cycle of his growth in power!

"That mutant ant should amount to the strength of ten zombies, which roughly equals to the combined strength of thirty grown men. Right now, I'm at four." Ye Chen was inwardly calculating the difference he had to overcome.

The standard statistics of an adult human were:

Strength: 50kg!

Speed: 100m/15s!

Reaction time: 0.3s!

Right now, Ye Chen's strength was more than 400 pounds, which translates into 200kgs of force! As for speed, he was roughly at 100m/10s. Reaction time, reaching 0.1s!

Ye Zhu who ate a minor portion of the mutagenic flesh also experienced a significant increase, measuring at just under the strength of two men.

"This is all thanks to you." Ye Chen was visibly thrilled, saying: "On the 17th floor, there were 32 rooms in total, all swept clean by us. Out of the 108 zombies we've slain, there would normally just be ten or so pieces of mutagenic flesh at most. However, through your hands you've discovered them at a rate of virtually one out of two zombies. That's pretty much a rate of two out of five instead of the regular one out of ten…."

Ye Zhu was giggling delightedly, as her eyes lit up with pride, she boasted: "But of course, your lil' sis here is clearly of n.o.ble character. Even the heavens have acknowledged this as a fact."

Ye Chen: "…."

Ye Zhu snickered with a "Heheh", saying: "I never said that you were of poor character, so don't start fretting over it now…."

Ye Chen: "……"

After resting for the night, they resumed zombie hunting the very next day. With their battle gear ready, the two headed out of their room initiating another day of zombie hunting….

The process now was much simpler. With Ye Chen's strength of four men, a handful of zombies could be taken out immediately. Only a pack of seven or more required the door strategy where he could break them one by one.

As time went on, within the blink of an eye, ten days had pa.s.sed.

During these ten days, Ye Chen and his sister were like two predators madly killing zombies day after day, slaughtering all the way to the 12th floor. There was one occasion where they experienced a close call. It happened when they rushed into a presidential suite hosting a party, inside the suite was more than thirty zombies. If it weren't for a hasty retreat, they would have ended up being torn limb from limb. Finally, they clinched victory by detonating a gas cylinder upon the vast horde of zombies.

Translator's Notes:

In Chinese, the word referring to a person's character is also a.s.sociated with luck/fortune.