Chapter Eighteen: Bloody Battle!

After observing for a few seconds, Ellie made her move, leaping down from the upper floor. This was the third floor, a height of nine meters—enough that, while a fall might not be fatal for an ordinary person, it could easily result in broken bones or ruptured ribs. Yet, from every angle, Ellie was nothing like a human. For her, such a height perhaps posed far less danger than one might imagine.

Fan Li clenched his fists, his attention wholly fixed on Ellie. Without doubt, this was an opportunity to gauge Ellie’s true power—a test that would determine his confidence to venture outside for future explorations.

Just before landing, Ellie’s body gradually slowed, drifting down like a feather suspended in midair. She touched the ground unharmed.

As expected! When facing those ordinary zombies earlier, Ellie had barely exerted herself.

The hulking zombie seemed to catch a scent. Ellie was not a zombie; though her appearance diverged sharply from humanity, she was, unmistakably, flesh and blood. For zombies, nothing was more tantalizing than fresh meat. In its ravenous hunger, the hulking zombie had already slaughtered several of its own kind, but their decaying flesh reeked with foulness, which frustrated it greatly.

Now everything was different. Ellie’s presence excited the hulking zombie; Fan Li watched as its body transformed rapidly, the fabric of its trousers ripped apart by swelling muscles. In the blink of an eye, the hulking zombie grew from two meters tall to a towering two and a half meters. Its skin was a grotesque grayish-purple, knotted and twisted, every inch and every pore defying human form, arranged in a manner brimming with unimaginable brute force.

Fan Li was at a loss for words. Today, the hulking zombie had stunned him time and again; just when he thought it could not be any more terrifying, it began a second metamorphosis upon sensing fresh flesh.

Two and a half meters tall, every muscle taut to the extreme—like an overinflated balloon that might burst at any moment!

Ellie lacked facial features, but that did not mean she was oblivious to the enemy’s presence.

It was reminiscent of questions posed by scholars in peaceful times: must all life in the universe possess a head, two arms, and two legs? On distant planets, a stone, a tuft of grass, or a grain of sand might well be another form of life, with its own society and culture.

Now, though Ellie had no human features, nothing hindered her from launching an attack.

Indeed! It was not the hulking zombie who acted first. Still intoxicated by the thrill of discovering food, it had only changed shape, making no move to attack. Ellie was different—her intent was clear from the start. She was hungry, and the giant before her could fill her stomach in one go.

At this moment, both monsters regarded each other as food, neither willing to retreat.

Ellie lunged forward; her slight frame looked frail against the hulking zombie—like an egg thrown against a rock from Fan Li’s perspective.

A sharp crack sounded as Ellie collided with the zombie’s chest, but unlike the scene where ordinary zombies were knocked flying, the hulking zombie stood firm as a mountain—without so much as a step back.

“As expected, Ellie’s strength is too weak compared to this opponent,” Fan Li murmured, beginning to understand the direction of the zombie’s mutation: a pure powerhouse, forsaking intelligence and speed for overwhelming strength.

Its transformation had reached the pinnacle of raw power.

Ellie’s strength meant nothing before such might.

The hulking zombie seemed unbothered by Ellie’s attack, lowering its head, its gaze fixed on its “delicacy.”

From days of observation, Fan Li knew zombies’ eyes were often clouded, pale as if splashed with white paint, yet they retained the ability to see and track foes.

The hulking zombie had spotted Ellie. It stretched out a hand wide as a fan; if it caught her, she would struggle in vain to break free.

This worried Fan Li greatly, fearing his first monster would be wasted in such a battle. Ellie could easily have avoided this confrontation.

Ellie clung to the zombie, refusing to give up her assault. Her fists had proven useless, but she possessed a sharper weapon—her teeth.

Just as the giant hand reached for her, Ellie suddenly sprang up, climbing to the zombie’s neck. Her mouth opened, and her bizarre, razor-sharp teeth began to spin, like the blades of a meat grinder, biting into the zombie’s throat.

Blood spurted forth.

Her teeth were unstoppable; the skin, seemingly harder than concrete, was pierced. Putrid blood oozed down its chest, and a ghastly wound formed. With one bite, Ellie had chewed away a fifth of the zombie’s neck.

But the hulking zombie was unconcerned by such injuries—unless its neck was severed outright, this wound was negligible.

That was the zombies’ most fearsome trait: unless struck fatally, they always had a chance to recover.

The hulking zombie cared nothing for its blood or wounds, nor did it mind Ellie gnawing at its neck. Its only fury stemmed from not yet tasting the fresh meat.

At that moment, a sinister aura radiated from its body—darkness, chaos, madness. Sensing the disturbance on its shoulder, perhaps recalling previous experiences, it did not attempt to seize its prey with its palm. Instead, it balled its fist and swung back in a crushing blow.

Ellie was greedy; Fan Li’s feeding had made her forget the danger at her side. This time, she failed to dodge—the fist struck her body, and in Fan Li’s sight, Ellie was hammered away like a nail, sent flying into a distant shop.

Glass shattered with a crash. Ellie’s figure was blasted inside, her fate uncertain.