Chapter Sixteen: The Terrifying Doctor

"Harder, push harder!"

A gigantic metal drill, radiant with seven colors, was plunged deep into the mass of flesh. Thanks to the transformed tool wielded by the flamboyant Li Zang'ai, the group no longer had to dig through layers upon layers of zombies with shovels. Instead, they drove the immense drill into the bloody flesh, boring a slanting tunnel downward.

Yan Luo, Wang Dongwei, and Xu Han pressed their bodies against the metallic drill, forged from Li Zang'ai's hardened hair, while Tang Tianjie and Chu Qingfeng used shovels to fend off zombies attacking through the freshly carved passage.

Though Li Zang'ai's current form resembled a drill, he could not spin—just a massive metal cone. Pushing the drill through the wall of zombies was arduous in the extreme.

Ten points of rage, unleashed!

Emotion is power.

Just as before, when joy fueled Yan Luo, exhaustion vanished and he dug with ease. Now, with rage liberated, veins bulged on his forehead, arteries throbbed in his neck, muscles tightened, every fiber extracting strength.

When anger surges, the thyroid floods the body with hormones, organs operate at fever pitch, lungs expand violently, flooding blood with oxygen—all of it channeled to muscles and vital organs. Because the brain is at the top, the oxygen supply to it lessens, impairing judgment and control, but muscles are richly oxygenated, fueling intense aerobic respiration and granting strength beyond the norm.

This is the power of anger!

Yan Luo braced against the base of the drill, his spine taut as a drawn bow, force transmitting through his body, driving the drill deeper.

"We're through!"

Suddenly, the way ahead opened up. The metal drill, having pierced the wall of flesh, dropped straight down.

With muffled thuds, the adjusters followed, leaping through the hole.

"Finally, the core."

Surrounded by the stench of rotting zombies, Yan Luo gasped for breath, his body exhausted from unleashing ten points of rage. The taste of blood rose in his throat—his "Life Source" panel on the phone app fell from 100% to 91%.

"Is this... the boss's core?"

They stood in a cavity nearly five meters across. Chu Qingfeng stared in awe—the floor, ceiling, and walls were no longer made of zombies, but of bright, blood-red flesh, covered by a translucent membrane.

Countless veins and arteries, some crimson, some dark blue, stretched from the flesh-covered walls, converging at the center upon an old man.

Disheveled white hair, a hunched frame, suspended like a tormented Christ nailed to a cross, myriad veins pierced his back, linking him to the cavity's heart. His head drooped, eyes wide open, whites filling his sockets, pupils contracted to tiny black dots.

Through some veins, liquid could be seen flowing toward the old man.

Li Zang'ai's hair rapidly shrank back to its original state.

The Fate Talent—a power that cannot be maintained for long.

"Dr. Smith from the diary?"

"Kill!"

Seeing the boss motionless, Li Zang'ai, seasoned by countless online games and knowing bosses drop loot, drew his machete. Cold steel flashed! The blade sliced across Dr. Smith's chest, unexpectedly splitting it open.

A torrent of filthy blood burst from the old man's chest, drenching Li Zang'ai's face.

The old man, suspended by veins at the center, his tiny black pupils trembling, seemed to "come alive" from Li Zang'ai's strike.

"Damn!"

Chu Qingfeng's face twisted in dismay. The boss had been asleep—if they'd seized the moment to attack together, they could have inflicted serious damage. The veins connecting to the boss's back were clearly for nutrient supply.

Seven people acted at once, severing veins, attacking the boss—aiming for head, heart, hands, feet.

Perhaps they could kill the boss core outright!

Li Zang'ai's impulsiveness had ruined his plan.

"This flamboyant killer—from his subtle expressions along the way, it's clear he's ruthless and cruel. Were it not for the guide, he'd be uncontrollable... If he survives, he'll be a menace to others... As for Tang Tianjie... Luck beyond human bounds... Such people should not exist in this world."

Chu Qingfeng decided silently.

This internal monologue lasted but a moment. The awakening elder was clearly the diary's key figure: Dr. Smith. The bloodthirsty gleam in his eyes betrayed a total loss of humanity.

The chest wound Li Zang'ai inflicted writhed with dark red flesh, sealing at lightning speed! The veins on his back lengthened, and the boss descended from the cavity's center to the ground.

Li Zang'ai suddenly felt a chill surge through his body. Before he could react, it was as if a steel rod slammed into his stomach, sending him flying. A sharp pain pierced his gut and exited his back!

Blood sprayed from his mouth. Looking down, he saw that a bundle of ten fleshy veins had formed a tentacle, impaling him and pinning him to the flesh-covered floor.

"That speed and power!"

Chu Qingfeng felt his skin crawl. The boss's attack on Li Zang'ai was so swift, none could react! The old man's withered arm hurled the youth aside, the bundle of veins shooting forth, and within five seconds, the formidable Li Zang'ai was gravely wounded and near death.

"If anyone has combat talents, use them now!"

The guide Mu Bai, phasing in and out of reality, called out—he ignored Li Zang'ai for now; a gut wound was not immediately fatal.

"My talent is 'Homebody'—staying still lets me heal injuries, not a combat skill..." Zhu Xiaoyong, the fat homebody, wailed.

"Useless!"

Tang Tianjie cursed, gripping a Colt M1911 but refraining from firing—everyone knew a handgun was useless against the boss. In his left hand he held a round object: an M67 grenade, his last one.

"Clang!"

Wang Dongwei swung his shovel at Dr. Smith, but the gaunt old man flicked it aside with a metallic ring, the shovel spinning into the flesh carpet, handle first. Yan Luo attacked with a fire axe instead of a shovel.

"Bang!"

Again, the boss fended off the blow with his arm. The axe blade bent from the impact, the boss's arm bursting open, but the wound healed instantly. From behind, over a dozen veins coalesced into a muscular tentacle and whipped toward Yan Luo.

"Careful!"

The five-meter-wide space was cramped. Chu Qingfeng lunged, intercepting the tentacle with his shovel, but the force sent him staggering, the shovel flying from his grip, pain nearly blinding him.

The boss's whip-like tentacle, splitting into blood-red veins, coiled around his right leg—

A tearing sound, as if ripping cloth, and his leg was torn off! Blood sprayed from his hip, muscles and bone exposed.

"Ahhh!"

Chu Qingfeng howled in agony.

"Black Coffin Seal!"

Suddenly, a black coffin materialized in the void, slamming shut around the boss.

Xu Han gritted his teeth. His Fate Talent, at level one, could summon coffins to collect corpses—by some measure, Dr. Smith was now a corpse. The coffin sealed the boss inside, but immediately it stood upright, shaking violently, its surface cracking.

"Hiss, hiss, hiss..."

Countless veins shot forth like arrows, piercing the coffin and bursting out!