Invincible through Touching Corpses-Chapter 87 - 86: Arriving at Qingtang Town

The strength of an Ordinary Zombie is far inferior to that of the Optimized. They are only equivalent to a human with a gene optimization level of 15% to 20%.

However, there are two things that make Zombies troublesome. First, they rarely appear alone and often travel in hordes. Once their numbers increase, the level of danger naturally rises.

The second problem is that, aside from their heads, Zombies have no weaknesses. For this very reason, engaging them in close combat puts one at a great disadvantage.

Of course, ultimately, it all came down to strength.

At this moment, Lin Xinghai possessed the strength to completely crush an Ordinary Zombie.

He executed the Phantom Body Technique and rushed forward to meet it.

Seeing Lin Xinghai approach, the Zombie launched an attack without hesitation, swiping a claw toward his face.

However, it misjudged his direction.

Or rather, the Phantom Body Technique made it misjudge his direction.

The claw swiped at empty air to the right, while Lin Xinghai had already appeared on its left. Then, with a swift motion, his dagger fell.

With its vibration mode activated, the Vibrating Dagger could cut through steel as if it were mud.

SQUELCH!

The Zombie’s entire left arm was instantly sliced clean off.

With a quick change in his footwork, and before the Zombie could even turn around, Lin Xinghai severed its right arm at the wrist.

Ling Xiu and the others were watching the fight. Although they had no doubt that Lin Xinghai could kill this Zombie, they never expected it to be so quick and clean.

After all, they were all among the Optimized and possessed Perception Power. They could roughly sense Lin Xinghai’s strength and were certain he had not yet broken his second Genetic Lock.

As far as they knew, Lin Xinghai’s strength lay only in his Gun Technique. This display of skill, however, undoubtedly caused a subtle shift in their expressions.

When it came to close-quarters combat, not a single one of them could compare to Lin Xinghai.

Zhang Meiling: "He neutralized the Zombie so easily."

Huang Nuo: "It’s mainly his Speed. Look, that Zombie couldn’t even react."

Ling Xiu: "Did none of you recognize it? That’s the Phantom Body Technique."

At the mention of the Phantom Body Technique, the discussion among them instantly ceased.

As Mercenaries, they knew full well what the Phantom Body Technique represented—it was the only Profound Level Martial Arts manual in the entire Martial Arts Hall!

Moreover, a Body Technique was a type of Martial Arts suitable for every member of the Optimized, regardless of their specialization. Having a little more Speed was never a bad thing.

It was safe to say many people coveted this manual, but the difficulty of its Cultivation daunted countless others.

For a Yellow Level Martial Arts manual, you might reach the Entry Level after one or two months of hard work.

Even if you didn’t reach the Entry Level, you could eventually learn it through slow and persistent practice.

But Profound Level Martial Arts were different. That level of Martial Arts was all about talent.

Without talent, you could practice for three to five years and still not even touch the threshold of the Entry Level.

So, how could they not be shocked to learn that Lin Xinghai had mastered the Phantom Body Technique?

While they stood there in shock, Lin Xinghai had already pinned the Zombie to the ground.

With both its arms severed and its head pinned to the ground by Lin Xinghai, the Zombie was no longer a threat.

It was then that Lin Xinghai, filled with anticipation, reached out to touch the Zombie’s wound.

"Ding! Blood Qi Power detected. Absorb?"

’It actually works!’

’Previously, the targets I absorbed Blood Qi Power from were all corpses. I had wondered if it would work on a living Zombie.’

’If so, this would undoubtedly be a powerful offensive tool.’

’Just imagine it: an enemy gets a wound, I go over and touch it, and their blood is drained completely, killing them on the spot. How terrifying is that?’

’I hadn’t dared to get my hopes up about this theory before.’

’But now, seeing the system prompt...’ Lin Xinghai licked his lips and immediately selected "Yes."

But in the next moment, the smile on his face stiffened slightly, because a progress bar had unexpectedly appeared.

And the progress bar wasn’t moving quickly; it took a full 30 seconds to finish.

"Ding! You have obtained one point of Blood Qi Power."

The system prompt rang out right on cue.

At the same time, all the blood in the Zombie’s body dried up. It suffered immediate brain death and perished.

’It took 30 seconds just to kill one Ordinary Zombie. Unless the circumstances are extremely specific, the system’s Blood Qi Power absorption function is completely useless as an offensive weapon!’

’And that’s 30 seconds just for an Ordinary Zombie.’

’So what about Intermediate Zombies, High Level Zombies, or even Mutated Zombies? Will the time also be 30 seconds?’

’Or will it be even longer?’

Numerous thoughts flashed through Lin Xinghai’s mind, but a short distance away, Ling Xiu and the others were once again dumbfounded.

It was common knowledge that a Zombie would only die if its head suffered catastrophic damage.

People had even run experiments where they completely severed a Zombie’s head from its neck, and the disembodied head could actually survive for 24 hours.

This just went to show what terrifying creatures they were.

But now, Lin Xinghai had merely pressed his hand against the creature’s wound, and the Zombie had perished without a sound.

How could such a thing not shock them?

At that moment, Lin Xinghai smoothly retrieved the Elemental Crystal from the Zombie.

"Don’t just stand there gawking. Come on, let’s clean up the battlefield," Lin Xinghai said.

"Oh, right!" The others snapped out of their stupor, drew their daggers, and went forward to retrieve the Elemental Crystals.

Throughout this process, they would occasionally steal glances at Lin Xinghai out of the corners of their eyes.

Lin Xinghai noticed all these little movements, but he had no intention of explaining himself. He’d just let them let their imaginations run wild.

’With the power I’ve shown, as long as these people aren’t fools, they’ll keep this to themselves. They won’t go around blabbing and make a powerful enemy out of me.’

’Of course, I also considered that one of them might be a complete idiot.’

’But what would it matter? The word of a small hunting party isn’t very credible to begin with. If someone really investigated, I’d just attribute everything to my "Special Physique."’

’After all, every one of the system’s abilities was just a part of my "Special Physique."’

Once the others had finished collecting all the Elemental Crystals, Lin Xinghai walked over, touching the wounds on each corpse and absorbing their Blood Qi Power one by one.

Another 15 points of Blood Qi Power were added to his tally. Although this was only equivalent to 1.5 Elemental Crystals, it was a free bonus, and Lin Xinghai was quite satisfied.

As for Ling Xiu and the others, they watched Lin Xinghai’s actions as a mixture of doubt, astonishment, confusion, and curiosity swirled within them. But in the end, they all shared a silent, unspoken agreement not to say a word.

Aside from Lin Xinghai’s immense strength, the more important factor was that they had just effortlessly harvested 15 Elemental Crystals.

Although the four of them together were only allotted 6 of them, the hunt had been far easier than any they’d done before. More importantly, it had been safer.

And once they reached Qingtang Town, gains like these would be magnified infinitely.

In the face of such benefits, even if Lin Xinghai turned out to be a complete psychopath, they were willing to accept it—as long as he didn’t pose a threat to their lives.

Soon, the group was back on the road. As they moved farther from the Shelter, they encountered Zombies with increasing frequency, and their haul of Elemental Crystals skyrocketed.

By the time they arrived at Qingtang Town, they had obtained a grand total of 53 Elemental Crystals.

Gazing at the town in the distance and the Zombies shambling through its streets, Ling Xiu and the others felt like they were looking at a gold mine.