The group turned off the main street, following a narrow passage squeezed between two rows of collapsed buildings. Ahead, the mouth of a pedestrian tunnel appeared, its upper half partially buried by rocks and debris, leaving only a dark, pitch-black entrance just wide enough for a few people to pass through if they lowered their heads.
The air in front of the tunnel mouth turned sharply cold.
The scent of mold mingled with the smell of long-stagnant mud, with a faint, indistinct metallic tang lingering in the air.
Thanh Dao closed her eyes, standing still for several heartbeats. A moment later, she opened them and gave a slight shake of her head:
"No life fluctuations detected, but there is significant interference from metal, stagnant water, and old rotting corpses."
Everyone fell silent for a brief moment.
Thuong Sinh took half a step forward.
He drew his sword from its scabbard, the tip angled low, the steel reflecting the dim light from outside the tunnel. "Narrow space, easy to control. If anything rushes out, I will handle it first."
No one objected.
Van Binh smirked, though his eyes were more serious than before: "Then I'll stay close to you."
Lam Thanh Moc lightly raised her hand. Slender vines crept out from the cracks in the side walls, silently spreading along the path behind them like an invisible perimeter layer.
The formation adjusted quickly.
Thuong Sinh in front.
Van Binh close to his right.
Van Thieu holding the center.
Thanh Dao and Lam Thanh Moc in the middle.
So Sinh bringing up the rear.
As the first footstep entered the tunnel, the light was instantly swallowed. The sound of their footsteps was dull and heavy, echoing from all directions. Their feet splashed into the stagnant water on the ground, making small, rhythmic sounds.
Thuong Sinh lowered his body, each step light and careful. The sword in his hand did not tremble in the slightest. After walking more than ten meters, the surrounding temperature dropped significantly.
On the mottled walls, there were dense claw marks; in some places, patches of long-dried flesh still clung to the concrete.
Van Binh caught sight of it and swallowed hard: "This place... probably wasn't very peaceful before."
Thuong Sinh did not reply. Just as they reached the middle of the tunnel, a faint patch of dim, natural light shimmered ahead.
The exit.
Thanh Dao let out a soft sigh: "Once we're out of this tunnel, we'll be in the center of the park."
Looking out from the darkness, fallen trees leaned at odd angles, weeds grew taller than a person's head, and stone-paved paths shattered by roots came into view.
The light outside the tunnel mouth grew clearer, but the atmosphere did not lighten at all.
Thuong Sinh came to a sudden halt right at the boundary between light and shadow. He frowned; he could smell blood. It wasn't thick, but it was much more pungent and acrid, mixed with the scent of rust and damp earth—the scent of something that had recently finished hunting.
At that moment, the familiar blue screen suddenly appeared before his eyes.
[ Detected organism not belonging to common zombie samples ]
There was no classification, no name—only a cold line of warning.
Thuong Sinh narrowed his eyes and signaled for the group to stop. Behind him, Van Thieu immediately understood, and the team drew closer together.
"What is it?" Van Binh lowered his voice, no longer talkative as before.
Thuong Sinh didn't answer immediately; he tilted his head to listen. From within the park, amidst the tall weeds, came a low growl.
It wasn't the unconscious shriek of an ordinary zombie; the sound had a rhythm, as if they were signaling to each other.
Then, another sound came.
From a different direction.
Thanh Dao's pupils contracted, and her face paled: "There's more than one!"
Lam Thanh Moc frowned slightly: "They aren't rushing randomly; they are gathering."
Hunched figures began to stumble into view from behind the leaning trees. Their bodies were larger than normal, their backs slightly arched, and their footsteps were heavy but not clumsy. As they moved, the weeds were clearly flattened beneath them.
So Sinh whispered: "They don't look like the normal crowd."
Thuong Sinh tightened his grip on the sword hilt.
"This pack is much stronger."
Van Thieu looked at the tunnel entrance behind them, then at the vast expanse of the park ahead, immediately grasping the enemy's intention.
"They are using the open space to squeeze us."
Thuong Sinh nodded, stepped out, and slightly raised his sword.
"Don't go deep. Lead them into the tunnel and deal with them one by one."
Thuong Sinh no longer hesitated. He swung his sword and struck the stone floor with force.
Clang—!
The metallic ring resonated, tearing through the silence.
Immediately, every head in the park turned toward them in unison.
The closest creature let out a short roar and charged straight ahead. No staggering, no hesitation—they ran.
Thuong Sinh turned and retreated into the darkness of the tunnel, his voice low:
"Get ready."
Heavy footsteps slammed onto the stone floor, a thumping sound echoing through the narrow tunnel, getting closer and closer. As one creature lunged into the tunnel, the ground beneath Van Thieu's feet shook as he stomped hard. The concrete floor near the entrance surged upward, forming a barrier that blocked the following creatures, causing them to collide and fall back from the momentum.
Now, in the narrow space, only one creature was trapped with Thuong Sinh's group.
Thuong Sinh was the one to confront it. He didn't rush forward. He watched as the massive zombie lunged directly at his position, its long arms sweeping ahead. He shifted his body half a step.
The bony arm grazed the wall, sending concrete fragments flying. At that exact moment, Thuong Sinh's sword thrust directly into the opponent's chest.
Clang!
A dry, metallic collision sound rang out.
The sword could not penetrate. Thuong Sinh's expression changed as the creature roared and lowered its head to ram forward.
Boom—!
Thuong Sinh was forced back two steps, his heels grinding hard against the stagnant water. He twisted his wrist, letting the sword slide to the side, and delivered a diagonal slash to the neck.
This time, the blade sank deep. Black blood sprayed out, but the creature did not fall. It jerked violently, using its massive hand to sweep powerfully toward Thuong Sinh.
The distance was too close; he had to release his grip on the sword. His figure blurred for a split second.
"Phantom Steps"
An afterimage remained in the original spot. The powerful sweep passed through the air where the afterimage was, shattering more concrete into debris. Thuong Sinh reappeared shifted to the right, his hand catching the sword hilt mid-air, his gaze turning deathly cold.
He stomped his foot, Essence surging into his arm. The blade vibrated slightly, and the surrounding air was pulled into a thin vortex of wind.
"Blade Wind · Slash"
The sword intent took form—not large, but incredibly sharp—cutting diagonally from shoulder to hip.
Shred—!
The creature's body was torn open, its two halves collapsing heavily onto the tunnel floor, finally becoming completely still.
Before they could catch their breath, two more creatures broke through Van Thieu's barrier and swarmed in from the tunnel entrance, their footsteps pounding the ground, eyes glowing red in the darkness.
"Two more!" Thanh Dao blurted out.
Lam Thanh Moc raised her hand, vines erupting from cracks in the wall to entwine them, but they only managed to slow them down for a single heartbeat.
One creature stomped hard, snapping the vines, and lunged directly toward the formation behind.
"Thuong Sinh, get out of the way!" Van Binh screamed.
Without waiting for a reply.
He swept his teeth, clasping his hands in front of his chest. This time, the lightning didn't scatter; it condensed into a solid mass. Gold and white light flashed incessantly, making the air in the tunnel vibrate faintly.
"Don't block my way!"
Boom—!!!
A pillar of pure electrical force slammed directly into the two lunging zombies.
The lightning exploded in the narrow space, its blinding light swallowing the section of the tunnel. The bodies of the two creatures convulsed violently, their muscles stiffening, their steps frozen mid-air. Their mouths hung wide open, but they couldn't make a sound.
"Now!" Van Binh roared hoarsely, sweat pouring down his forehead.
Thuong Sinh had already retreated half a step—not far, just enough.
The sword in his hand spun once, the tip lowered, and his body shot forward like an arrow.
"Phantom Steps"
His figure split into two blurred images, gliding across the stagnant water. The first strike slashed directly through the neck of the creature on the left.
Pfft!
The head flew off, the body still twitching from the lingering electrical power.
At the same time, So Sinh let out a dull roar.
His body expanded, his claws lengthened, and he lunged from the side, piercing through the head of the remaining creature and pulling violently to the side.
Rip—!
The body and head were torn apart, black blood splattering against the tunnel walls.
The two corpses fell almost simultaneously.
Thud. Thud.
The echoes lingered in the tunnel as the electrical light faded, leaving only the smell of scorched flesh and blood mixed in the cold, damp air.
Van Binh panted heavily, his hands trembling: "Damn it, that was enough for one day."
Thuong Sinh sheathed his sword. He didn't turn around immediately; his gaze remained fixed on the tunnel entrance before slowly scanning the two corpses at his feet. The slashes were clean, but their muscles and bones were noticeably thicker than those he had faced before.
"Three of them," Van Binh wiped the sweat from his brow, his voice dropping low. "Gathering together like this in a place like this?"
No one answered. So Sinh had retracted his claws, his body returning to normal, but his expression was unpleasant. He looked down at a corpse and lightly kicked the severed head of the zombie with the toe of his boot.
"Not like those wanderers out there," he said deeply. "Faster. Stronger."
Van Thieu finally stepped forward. His eyes scanned the tunnel entrance, then looked out toward the park.
Outside, amidst the cracked stone paths, corpses lay scattered everywhere. Some were completely torn apart, others only had half a body left. The wounds didn't look like they were made by human blades, but rather like they had been directly ripped apart by something much stronger.
Van Thieu pointed outside.
"There are old corpses everywhere. They were here to eat the others."
The air in the tunnel felt a layer colder.
Thanh Dao swallowed hard, her eyes quickly scanning the pile of corpses in the park.
Van Binh's eyes widened: "Zombies... eating zombies?"
"Nothing is impossible," Van Thieu said in a deep voice.
Right then, Thuong Sinh took another half-step forward, his gaze stopping at a corpse near the path. At the chest area of the dead zombie, the black flesh was split open, revealing something between the ribs.
A red glow.
It wasn't blood, but a small crystal, deep crimson in color, its surface uneven. Inside, something seemed to flow slowly, emitting a faint light.
Thuong Sinh frowned slightly. He used the tip of his sword to gently push the dried flesh aside. The red crystal rolled out, falling onto the stone floor with a faint clink.
"What is that?" Lam Thanh Moc instinctively asked.
Thanh Dao stared at the red stone, her senses opening for a moment, her face changing slightly.
"There's a vibration."
Thuong Sinh leaned down. He didn't touch it, only observed it closely. In his eyes, the familiar blue screen flickered slightly, but this time it didn't display information.
Only a faint, blurry line flashed and disappeared.
[ Detected unclassified substance ]
Thuong Sinh stood up straight.
"Effect unknown," he said. "But it's likely something left behind after they consumed each other."
Van Thieu looked around at the other zombie corpses.
In several other bodies, similar red glows shimmered, hidden beneath rotting flesh.
"If that's the case," Van Thieu said slowly.
"Then it's not just us getting stronger. They are also evolving."
The air in the tunnel was so silent that only the sound of the wind blowing through the entrance and dry leaves brushing together outside could be heard.
Thuong Sinh looked at the red stone on the ground once more.
"Collect them."
"We must report this when we return."
The other members nodded slightly. He looked up, peering deep into the park.
"This thing must not be allowed to fall out of control."