The moment the aching ringing faded from my ears, I pushed myself up and rushed towards the destroyed shutters. Three of the Ghouls lay on the ground, torn to shreds—flesh opened like split sacks, innards cooked black and melted into the concrete.
Fast. Limping. One clawed its way along the wall, the other practically leapt down the stairwell.
Like terrified lambs.
Like intelligent predators retreating to adapt.
"Hurry..." My voice barely carried. I couldn’t hear it, not clearly, but I felt the weight of it in my throat, low and sharp.
Behind me, Roulan was already pulling herself upright, blood streaking her sleeve, her hair matted to one side. Tang Wei was checking Deng Hua’s arm, burned, but not bleeding. Chen Xun crouched beside Qinglan, offering her water. She didn’t take it.
I took two steps toward the shredded Ghoul closest to the shutter.
Its torso was almost gone. Shell fragments were embedded deep. One leg was missing below the knee, bone jutting out like cracked marble. But its head—
Its head was still trying to move.
The jaw was gone. No tongue. Just a quivering cavity of scorched meat.
And yet, it was making a sound.
Not a growl. Something like... clicking. I crouched beside it. It turned toward me, what was left of its face twitching like it wanted to reform. The faintest whisper escaped the ruin of its throat.
My gauntlet blade extended.
The strike was clean.
A downward slice that carved straight through the skull and brainstem.
The twitching stopped.
"They’re not afraid,"
[You Killed A Stage Two - Mutated Human]
The next moment, I noticed Jiang Roulan from the corner of my eye with a surprising girl, Jiang Me, slamming down a huge rock on the Ghouls’ head.
With a wet squelch, the monster’s head exploded like a watermelon!
[Liang Mei Killed a Stage Two - Mutated Human]
I almost forgot about the system for a moment when killing the two Ghoul’s but now I knew these things could offer me so much, I wanted to kill more.
[Mu Qinglan Killed a Stage Two - Mutated Huma]
I almost forgot about the system for a moment when killing the two Ghouls. But now?
These things were worth more than Crawlers, more than normal infected. Not just a threat.
The thought didn’t even feel strange. Just logical. Natural.
Tang Wei helped Liang Mei sit against the side of a crate, carefully checking the deep cuts along her back. Blood loss was slowing. The bandages we had wouldn’t last long, but she’d live—for now.
Roulan crouched beside her, still gripping that same rock in her hand like she wasn’t sure if she’d need it again.
I walked over to Mu Qinglan.
She didn’t look at me.
Her hand was still raised—The Endless Night hanging loosely, blood dripping from its tip. She hadn’t moved since the kill notification appeared. Her eyes were fixed on what was left of the Ghoul she’d split open. Her breathing was calm, almost too calm.
Just the tiniest flick of her eyes.
"I’m not hurt," she said finally.
"That’s not what I asked."
She swallowed. "It was smiling. Before it died."
I looked at what was left of its face. It wasn’t.
But maybe it had been.
"They were mimicking voices before. Now they’re mimicking... emotion?"
"Why?" she asked quietly.
Rather than learn, is it to remember?
She didn’t say anything else. Neither did I.
[Shells Reloaded — 8 Buckshot][Auto-Cycle Complete]
I rolled my shoulders. Crushing Moon felt heavier now, like it was feeding off the tension in the air.
The system pinged once more.
[Notice: 2 Mutated Entities Escaped — Adaptive Traits Detected][Tracking Unavailable — Interference Detected][Warning: Estimated Time Until Re-Engagement — Unknown]
"They’re going to evolve again," I muttered.
Chen Xun turned to me, frowning. "What?"
"They’re not dead. Two got away."
Tang Wei’s grip on her shotgun tightened. "Then we hunt them before they come back."
"No," I said. "We let them think we’re weak. Let them come to us."
Because next time, I wouldn’t let any of them crawl away.
Because of the constant battles back to back, our current state wasn’t good, and even if we wanted to return home tonight, it would be impossible.
The last of the notifications faded.
I stared down at my gauntlets, blood and black residue already drying across the knuckles. Crushing Moon pulsed faintly in my wrists—like it wanted more. Like the weapon was alive, and disappointed the fight had ended so soon.
I turned back to the group.
Liang Mei was propped against the crate now, conscious but pale, hands trembling in her lap. Roulan hadn’t left her side, and she still clutched the rock in her hand. Her expression looked unreadable. Not shaken—but grim. Focused. Ready.
"You alright?" I asked.
Liang Mei didn’t look up. "I didn’t hesitate," she said quietly. "That thing almost got her. And I didn’t hesitate."
"That’s what kept her alive."
There was a moment of silence before Jiang Roulan and Liang Mei seemed to snap out of their strange trance and gazed up at me. She finally set the rock down, hands resting over Liang Mei’s legs.
"Doesn’t feel like enough."
I didn’t answer that because I felt the same.
This world wasn’t the same one we lived in before, and we were all guilty of taking it for granted sometimes, even after the zombies came.
Even I became complacent.
On the far side of the room, Qinglan still hadn’t moved much. Chen Xun remained close, guarding her and Liang Qiu with one hand on his dagger, eyes scanning the corners like something might crawl through the shadows at any second.
I exhaled slowly and stepped back from the ruined bodies. The mutated humans didn’t have a core; this was something I realised without the system’s help.
The floor was slick. Littered with bone shards, torn limbs, fragments of cart wheels and crushed pallets. The warehouse lights flickered above, old industrial halogens blinking like they hadn’t been maintained in years.
We couldn’t stay here long.
"We rest for thirty minutes," I said aloud. "No more."
Tang Wei nodded. "I’ll post watch."
"I’ll join her," Chen Xun offered, already standing.
I turned to Qinglan one last time. She didn’t say anything. Just sheathed The Endless Night and finally sat down, her back against a low wall with blood staining her hands. So was her throat. But her breathing had eased.
"John, that was really close."
"I know, we both had a close call..."
The shine in her eyes carried a strange emotion, which made me feel uncomfortable, so I sat beside her and closed my eyes. I couldn’t help but feel relieved we survived, but at the same time, a sinking fear grew in the back of my mind.
Mu Qinglan didn’t move when I sat beside her.
But I felt her shift slightly. Not closer. Not away. Just... different.
The intense emotions lingered in her eyes, but I couldn’t help her right now. All I could do was sit beside her and wait until she recovered.
"You’re not used to this yet, are you?"
She didn’t answer right away.
Then: "Not when it’s something that talks like you."
Her voice cracked a little, and that was the most human sound I’d heard from her in days.
"I think I almost believed it," she whispered. "Just for a second. That it really was you."
I turned to meet her gaze, but she avoided me... her soft blue eyes filled with tears.
"That’s what made it worse!"
The cold wall helped me keep calm when I leaned back, resting both arms on my knees.
"But they’re not you. Or me. They’ll never be."
She finally looked at me. "But they remember."
"Do they? For all we know, they are just mimicking us and don’t understand anything.
The silence lingered for a few more minutes. It just was. A pause between the chaos. A break in the momentum. Everyone was still too shaken to fill it.
Across the room, Roulan finally stood, stretching her legs with a soft grunt. Liang Mei was asleep now, or close to it—chin resting on her chest, breath shallow. Tang Wei stood near the door, shotgun resting against her shoulder. She wasn’t relaxed, just alert. Focused.
I saw the same thing in her eyes that I saw in mine.
They’re not going to stop.
Not until we’re all dead. Or until something worse replaces them.
A low hum pulsed in my gauntlets. Crushing Moon’s pressure gauge flicked—auto-cycling again. Shells topped off. Systems normal.
Everything inside me said I should be grateful for the quiet.
But instead, I felt uneasy.
wasn’t the end of something.
I glanced back toward the shutter—its bent frame still dripping blood underneath.
"They’ll come back," I said under my breath.
Mu Qinglan’s voice was soft. "I hope they do."