The sudden tapping sound agitated the zombies on the floors above and below, causing them to swarm toward the source of the noise.
The Mutant Beast, which had been resting, opened its eyes and stood up.
Seeing this, Lin Jiao and Xu Bin instinctively pulled their heads back.
This Mutant Beast had excellent vision. If it spotted them, it would definitely charge up.
At that moment, however, the Mutant Beast looked toward the 8th floor. The circular design of the Department Store allowed it to see Lu Feng striking the railing with his steel blade from its current position.
A piercing shriek instantly erupted from the Mutant Beast's mouth.
It leaped violently onto the railing. Then, to Lu Feng's astonishment, it jumped to the railing of the next floor up, latched on with its sharp claws, and scrambled onto the 7th floor.
"Holy shit..." By the time Lu Feng reacted, the Mutant Beast had already leaped again, climbing onto the 8th-floor railing.
He finally got a clear look at the Mutant Beast.
Its overall form resembled a dog, but it was much larger, with sharp claws on all four limbs and a crimson glow radiating from its eyes.
The zombies on the 8th floor, also drawn by the sound, swarmed closer.
Lu Feng didn't hesitate for a second. He spun around and dashed into the doll shop, pulling out the lighter he had prepared earlier.
In that same instant, the Mutant Beast pounced, chasing Lu Feng into the doll shop.
Lu Feng glanced back at the Mutant Beast that had followed him in and lit the lighter without a moment's hesitation.
Almost instantly, a spark flared, igniting the gas. Flames erupted and spread like a wildfire.
At the same time, with a single thought, Lu Feng vanished from the doll shop.
For a split second, the Mutant Beast looked utterly dumbfounded. The next moment, a deafening explosion erupted.
BOOM!~
The violent explosion shook the entire building, and a terrifying torrent of fire, like a long dragon, surged unstoppably in all directions.
The Mutant Beast bore the brunt of the blast. It was instantly engulfed by the flames, letting out a single, agonized shriek before falling silent.
The doll shop's entrance was blown to smithereens, and a group of zombies that had just swarmed to the doorway were also consumed by the explosion, their bodies torn to pieces.
「Outside Qingfeng Tea Headquarters.」
Lin Jiao and Xu Bin had been monitoring the situation below. The massive explosion left them both stunned.
That was on the 8th floor, right where their boss was.
Then, they saw the terrifying dragon of fire burst out, shattering the 8th-floor hallway railings and sending the mangled remains of zombies flying out to crash onto the ground floor.
They exchanged a look of disbelief.
Lin Jiao was filled with awe. "That... such immense power. What did he use?"
"Maybe a thermobaric bomb or some similar weapon? But those are almost impossible to find now!" Xu Bin said blankly. Of course, that was just his guess. But one thing was certain: 'This boss has more than just a lot of food.'
After waiting a moment and seeing no further movement below, the two cautiously made their way downstairs to check on the situation.
...
Lu Feng logged out of the game, instantly reappearing in his apartment.
Almost simultaneously, he witnessed the scene of the entire doll shop exploding and being engulfed in flames.
He could even see clearly as the Mutant Beast's body was torn into several pieces by the force of the blast, blood splattering everywhere before being instantly seared dry by the fire.
A series of notifications also appeared in his mind:
[Harmful Substances Cleared!]
[Congratulations, you have slain a Mutant Beast Slaying Dog and gained 100 EXP!]
...
[Congratulations, you have slain a zombie and gained 5 EXP!]
[Congratulations, you have slain a zombie and gained 5 EXP!]
...
[Congratulations, you have leveled up!]
Clearly, the 100 EXP came from the Mutant Beast.
Compared to the 5 EXP from a zombie, this amount of experience was definitely boss-level. No wonder the survivors were helpless against it, even with guns.
At the same time, Lu Feng once again felt that warm current flow through his body, a comfortable and wonderful sensation.
Moreover, this time, he could distinctly feel an increase in his constitution and strength.
He immediately opened his character attributes to check the stats:
Character: Lu Feng
Gender: Male
Level: 4
Strength: 7.5 (Average Person: 5)
Agility: 7.5 (Average Person: 5)
Stamina: 7.5 (Average Person: 5)
Spiritual Power: 0
EXP: 75/800.
After leveling up, all his physical stats had increased to 7.5.
7.5 might only seem like 2.5 points higher than the average of 5.
But in relative terms, that was 1.5 times the strength of a normal person. A 1.5x strength multiplier was enough to completely overpower an average human, which was why the feeling of increased power was so pronounced this time.
This was a significant qualitative improvement.
In reality, many people in the real world wouldn't even reach a constitution level of 5, as 70% of the population is considered to be in a sub-healthy state.
In other words, 70% of people don't meet the standard 5-point value of an average person. They wouldn't even qualify to be cannon fodder with a power level of five.
Lu Feng then turned his attention back to the game world.
The doll shop was a complete wreck. The walls were all blackened, the doors were completely shattered, and cracks had appeared on the walls from the blast. One wall even had a large hole blown through it.
Inside the shop, many stuffed dolls had been caught in the fire and were burning fiercely. However, this had also triggered the Department Store's fire suppression system, which was now spraying down a dense shower of water.
It seemed the Department Store's fire suppression system was well-made, as it was still functional.
Lu Feng observed for a moment. Seeing nothing else amiss in the doll shop, he re-entered the game with a thought. The smell of burnt fabric and roasted meat immediately assaulted his nostrils.
The Mutant Beast was a gruesome sight. Its corpse was mangled, and half of its head was missing.
Just then, the sounds of fighting came from outside.
Lu Feng went out and saw Lin Jiao and Xu Bin finishing off the zombies that had been drawn to the area.
After the last zombie was dealt with, the two of them entered the doll shop. They stared in shock at the scene inside, the extent of the destruction a clear testament to the power of the explosion.
Then, both of them turned their gazes to the Mutant Beast's shattered head.
Xu Bin even stepped forward, split the Mutant Beast's head open with his axe, stirred the contents around a bit, and extracted a white crystal. He then grabbed a nearby doll and used it to wipe the brain matter and bloodstains off the crystal.
Xu Bin held the crystal, hesitated for a moment, and finally handed it to Lu Feng.
Seeing the crystal, Lu Feng recalled a piece of information from the game's background lore:
It was a Crystal Core, a type of life crystal.
Some mutant creatures would form these biological crystals in their heads. They could apparently be used as an energy source or as currency in the world of "After the Apocalypse," their value determined by the amount of energy they contained.
Furthermore, some special crystals had unique effects.
However, the official lore was incomplete regarding the specific details.
Lu Feng curiously took the Crystal Core and immediately used his inspection ability to view its information:
[This is the Crystal Core of a Mutant Beast Slaying Dog. It is quite valuable and can be used as currency or an energy source. Energy Value: 13.5!]
'Just as I thought.'
"Let's go. To the 6th floor!" Lu Feng hadn't forgotten their main objective. The whole point of going to all this trouble to deal with the Mutant Beast was for the jewelry store, wasn't it?
Lin Jiao and Xu Bin immediately followed behind him.
After this incident, as they looked at Lu Feng's back, a new sense of respect was evident in their eyes. The purely transactional employer-employee relationship they had at the beginning seemed to have changed slightly.
Because of the earlier commotion, quite a few zombies on the 6th floor had also been drawn to the hallway outside the jewelry store.
Without waiting for Lu Feng's command, Lin Jiao and Xu Bin had already moved forward to clear them out.
Lu Feng also gripped his steel blade and easily cut down the zombies pouncing from behind.
With his strength and agility at 1.5 times that of an average person, killing zombies had become almost leisurely for him.
[Congratulations, you have slain a zombie and gained 5 EXP!]
...
[Congratulations, you have slain a zombie and gained 5 EXP!]
...
Before long, all the zombies outside the jewelry store were cleared out. Lu Feng gained another 135 EXP, bringing his total to Lv. 4: 210/800.
The increase in his physical strength had actually sparked some interest in zombie-slaying, since leveling up boosted his physical power.
'In the future, I can come in here after meals to kill some zombies and walk it off.'
The doors to the jewelry store were opened. Lu Feng walked inside, and as he looked at the counters full of Gold, he felt like the very air smelled of money.
The amount of Gold jewelry was clearly much greater than at the last gold shop.
With a thought, he logged out of the game.
[Harmful Substances Cleared!]
He couldn't be bothered with the routine notification. He walked straight to his cabinet and took out two brand-new travel bags he had prepared earlier.
Another thought sent him back into the game. He tossed one of the bags directly to Xu Bin and ordered, "Help me pack all this Gold jewelry."