Chapter 4188: Sudden Abnormality
Qiao Mu simply uttered an "oh" and said nothing more. How could she always kill the conversation? Everyone couldn't help but twitch their mouths, glancing at her before shaking their heads and chuckling to themselves. The little stoic seemed utterly uninterested in what had happened inside; she had merely asked out of casual curiosity.
The group headed towards the west side of the city. While clearing out zombie puppets, they also rescued some civilians who had been surrounded. Qiao Mu and the Qin family members helped check if anyone had been infected by the corpse poison.
While they were busy, they suddenly heard a clamor from ahead.
"Oh no, a zombie puppet scratched several people!"
"It's charging towards us, ah!"
With cries of panic, the previously stabilized crowd began to scatter and flee in disarray once more.
"Don't run around wildly!" Qin Jiu urgently shouted.
"Hey, you guys!"
However, in such a critical moment, no one could clearly hear what others were saying. Everyone was fleeing for their lives out of instinct.
Duanmu Qing drew his sword, meeting the lunging zombie puppet and slicing off one of its tentacles. This creature was neither human nor beast; its arms were like an octopus's, splitting into countless soft tentacles, truly a grotesque sight.
"This is a Level Three Advanced Zombie Puppet," Lu Yu said gravely from the side. "Be careful, its tentacles can detach..."
Before he could finish, two of the zombie puppet's tentacles swiftly detached and flew off, lashing directly at the long sword in Duanmu Qing's hand. Duanmu Qing's heart jolted in surprise, and he spun, retreating two steps.
A spiritual flame shot out, covering the tentacle, but the thing was incredibly resilient. It thrashed around in the fire several times before finally being reduced to ash.
Having suffered two major losses in quick succession, the zombie puppet became extremely enraged. Level Three Advanced Zombie Puppets like this had developed intelligence and were very vengeful. It immediately seemed to target Duanmu Qing, swiftly crawling towards him, its remaining tentacles lashing.
"Be careful!" Qiao Mu shouted from afar, swiftly whipping out a vine branch. However, the tentacled zombie puppet's chest suddenly split open, and a small crimson-eyed zombie bird darted out, biting directly onto Duanmu Qing's left wrist without hesitation.
Qi Xuanxuan gasped, but before she could rush forward, Duanmu Qing used his sword to impale the small zombie bird, hacking it into mincemeat with a few blows.
The little fatty quickly ran to his side, took his hand, and his eyes reddened with anxiety. "Duanmu!"
"I'm fine," Duanmu Qing shook his head. He had already used his medicinal power to control the corpse aura, confining it to his wrist.
Mo Lian and Feng Chen rushed over upon hearing the commotion, immediately intercepting the advanced zombie puppet with seventeen or eighteen tentacles. One of them confined it in a wooden cage. The other spread black flames to incinerate it.
The advanced zombie puppet initially roared a couple of times, but gradually, it was roasted into a puddle of putrid liquid by the black flames. In its dying moments, its small eyes, eerily human-like, showed a glimmer of fear. Their expressions, upon seeing Mo Lian and Feng Chen, were as if they had seen ghosts. It was truly amusing; they were the ones like ghosts, yet they saw others as such!
The exhausted common folk collapsed to the ground, some burying their faces and weeping, others clutching their heads in despair. They all seemed at a loss, feeling that their future was bleak and uncertain.
"Duanmu Qing!" Qiao Mu sprinted over, grabbing his wrist. Looking down, she saw two dark, gaping blood holes from the small zombie bird's bite, with the surrounding skin already showing signs of decay.
"It's nothing," Duanmu Qing said, shaking his head. He had already used his medicinal power to control the corpse aura, confining it to his wrist.