Chapter 17: Outsmarted by His Own Schemes
Five squads, more than two hundred fifty new recruits—each armed with a standard-issue dagger, a bottle of water, and a small bag of dry rations—melted into the dense night as they entered the ruins of SanXi Town, fanning out in all directions.
Many headed straight for the crumbling ruins of the town, eager for the hunt. But Chen Ning didn’t follow. His reasoning was simple: the Black Shark Corps had already scoured this area months ago, wiping out most of the zombies. Whatever remained were just a few strays that had wandered back after the troops left. And with so many trainees rushing in at once, there would be more hunters than prey— arguments and fights over kills were bound to break out.
Chen Ning surveyed his surroundings, then moved swiftly toward the western outskirts of town.
Hidden in the dark, Liu Xi and his two subordinates, Xu Qiang and Gao Feng, watched him closely.
When they saw Chen Ning heading west, Liu Xi lowered his voice. “Heh, this guy is clever. He actually knew to head west to track down and hunt zombies.”
Xu Qiang and Gao Feng—strong but not particularly bright—looked confused. Gao Feng scratched his head. “Young Master Liu, why’s west the best direction to hunt zombies?”
Liu Xi explained patiently, “The western side’s terrain is more open. The nearest human settlement—Blackwater Town—is also to the west. When the virus broke out, people there turned into zombies. Given the zombies’ instinct to move toward human presence, most of them would’ve wandered this way. Hunting from the west guarantees more kills.”
Xu Qiang’s eyes widened. “Damn, Chen Ning really is sharp!”
Liu Xi sneered. “Just clever enough to get himself killed. We’ll tail him. Once he’s done the hard work of hunting, like the mantis stalking the cicada, we’ll swoop in like the oriole behind—finish him off and take his zombie cores.”
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TL Note: like the mantis stalking the cicada, we’ll swoop in like the oriole behind (螳螂捕蟬，黃雀在後)
When you are concentrating on your own gain, you may be blind to the bigger threat behind you.
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Both Xu Qiang and Gao Feng grinned. “Haha, brilliant, Young Master Liu! Kill Chen Ning and claim his kills—two birds with one stone!”
Liu Xi smirked. “Less talk. Move.”
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Chen Ning jogged at a steady pace, covering five kilometers westward before slowing.
Suddenly, the tall reeds ahead rustled. Something was moving inside.
He froze, drawing his dagger, and crouched low as he crept closer, like a cat stalking its prey. Step by step, he pushed aside the reeds—until he spotted it.
A female zombie.
Her clothes were in tatters, long hair matted with blood. She crouched over half a fawn’s carcass, noisily tearing chunks of meat from the bone.
Chen Ning’s eyes narrowed. Just an ordinary low-level walker. He tightened his grip on the dagger and silently advanced.
Crack.
A dry twig snapped beneath his foot.
The zombie stopped, then slowly turned its head toward him. Half of its face had rotted away, exposing gleaming white bone beneath. Blood smeared down its chin and chest. The empty, dead eyes locked onto him, and sweat dampened Chen Ning’s palm.
But after two tense seconds, it sniffed the air—and then turned away, returning to its meal.
It’s the virus in my blood, Chen Ning realized. The zombie smells it… and thinks I’m one of them.
Taking the chance, Chen Ning struck.
In three silent steps, he closed in. The dagger flashed—clean and swift.
Swish!
The headless corpse crumpled to the ground, the zombie’s head rolling to a stop beside Chen Ning’s feet. It wasn’t completely dead yet—its eyes stared up at Chen Ning in stunned disbelief, then belatedly registered that he was the one who had attacked it. A furious expression twisted its features, jaws snapping open and shut in a futile attempt to bite him.
Unfortunately for the zombie, without a body, its movements soon ceased entirely.
Chen Ning pried open the skull, retrieved a bean-sized yellow crystal—the brain core of a Level 1 walker—and slipped it into his pouch before moving on.
The data said roughly a thousand zombies were scattered across SanXi Town. Yet after this one, Chen Ning encountered none.
He sat on a flat stone, ate some rations, and drank a mouthful of water. The moon hung high; dawn was still six hours away. I need more kills, he thought grimly. Otherwise, I’ll never make it into the Butcher’s elite squad.
A faint sound came from his left.
“Who’s there?” he barked, snapping to his feet.
“Don’t panic, Chen Ning—it’s me, Qin WenXuan. We’re on the same team.”
A tall, thin man in camouflage emerged from behind a tree. Chen Ning recognized him—indeed a fellow trainee.
Even so, Chen Ning stayed wary. This was an assessment, and everyone here was a competitor. It wasn’t unheard of for desperate recruits to kill others for their zombie cores.
He sheathed his dagger but kept his eyes sharp. “What’s up?”
Qin WenXuan, dagger still in its sheath, smiled casually. “Just checking in. Any luck?”
Chen Ning frowned but answered, “Only one kill so far.”
“Same here,” Qin said. “According to the intel, there are a thousand zombies here. Two hundred fifty trainees—so on average, four kills each. If we stay at one, we’ll never make it into the elite group.”
Chen Ning eyed him. “What are you suggesting?”
“Partnership.” Qin grinned. “We team up, we’ll bag more together.”
Chen Ning preferred to work alone. He hadn’t even joined forces with Bai Yuhao—the top fighter of their squad—so he had no interest in partnering with an average one like Qin. He was about to refuse.
But Qin, sensing his hesitation, quickly added, “I found a higher-level zombie earlier. Too strong for me alone. But together, we could take it down.”
Chen Ning’s eyes sharpened. “What level?”
“A Level 3 Charger—about one-eighty tall, long limbs, a tongue like a whip. It crouches low but strikes fast—like a leopard.”
A Charger!
Chen Ning had never faced one before during their live training, but he knew they were deadly—far tougher than regular walkers or stiffs.
And a Level 3 core was worth four points. Enough to push him straight into elite ranking.
“I’m in,” he said. “Where is it?”
Qin pointed. “That way. I didn’t dare get too close.”
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They crept through the moonlit woods until they reached a small ravine. There it was—exactly as described.
The Charger crouched on all fours, its long crimson tongue lapping the brain fluid from a corpse dressed in the same camouflage as theirs—a fallen recruit.
Chen Ning’s jaw tightened. So someone already tried… and failed.
He whispered, “I’ll draw its attention from the front. You circle behind it.”
Qin’s eyes gleamed. He was just thinking about how to make Chen Ning take the role of luring the zombies to create an opportunity for him to ambush them. Unexpectedly, Chen Ning took the initiative to propose it himself, and without hesitation, he said, “Got it.”
As Qin slipped into the shadows, Chen Ning imitated the shambling gait of a zombie, lurching toward the creature.
Qin, hiding behind a tree twenty meters away, frowned. That’s his plan? Pretend to be a zombie?
The Charger lifted its head. Four limbs braced against the ground, it turned to face him—its posture eerily spider-like.
Unlike common zombies, higher-tier ones possessed intelligence. This one had already caught both scents—human and undead—coming from Chen Ning. Its milky eyes narrowed, uncertain.
Five meters… three… two…
The closer Chen Ning came, the more suspicion filled the creature’s gaze.
He could feel it too— one more step, the charger will attack to probe him. No more pretending, he has to strike first to gain the upper hand!
He exploded forward like a tiger, dagger flashing straight toward its face!
“UWAHHH!”
The Charger realized it had been tricked and flew into a rage. It instantly reared up on its hind legs, grabbing the dagger Chen Ning thrust at it with both hands.
Chen Ning’s dagger was firmly seized by the Charger zombie’s claws, unable to advance even an inch further.
The enraged Charger zombie lunged forward, attempting to sink its teeth into Chen Ning. But at that very moment, a figure dashed from behind the zombie, swinging a blade fiercely toward the back of its skull. Qin WenXuan moved.
Crack!
Green brain fluid splattered as the Charger fell, collapsing over the corpse it had been feeding on. The stench of decay thickened in the air.
Both men stared at it, panting. The cracked skull revealed a faint glint—the core of a Level 3 zombie, the size of a broad bean.
“Close call,” Qin muttered.
“Yeah.” Chen Ning noticed Qin’s burning gaze locked on that core.
Then Qin turned to him, smiling faintly. “Chen Ning, you should do the honors. Take it.”
“Alright.”
Chen Ning crouched and reached toward the exposed core—yet a strange unease prickled at the back of his mind.
He wants that core badly. So why let me take it?
The thought had barely formed when—
Pchkk!
Agony ripped through his back.
A dagger had driven deep between his ribs.
Chen Ning gasped, turning his head. Behind him stood Qin Wenxuan—face twisted with cold satisfaction.
Blood trickled from Chen Ning’s lips. “I thought… if we worked together, we’d both rise higher…”
Qin yanked out the dagger and stepped back, cautious of a dying counterattack. His grin widened. “Heh. Between your Level 1 core, mine, and this Level 3 Charger—that’s six points total. More than enough to guarantee me a place among the elites.”
Chen Ning staggered backward, fell hard onto the dirt. Blood soaked his chest.
Qin, convinced of victory, raised his dagger again—ready to finish him off—
Then a mocking laugh echoed behind him.
“Well, well… killed a Charger, did you? Impressive. Hahaha…”
Qin’s face froze. He spun around—and saw Liu Xi, Xu Qiang, and Gao Feng stepping from the shadows.
Chen Ning’s heart sank further. Out of the wolf’s den… and straight into the tiger’s jaws.
But then—he noticed something worse.
The Charger’s body lay atop the fallen trainee’s corpse. Their mingled blood and brain fluid were seeping together, merging into a sickly green-red sludge.
And beneath that unnatural fusion—something was starting to move.
Two corpses… were quietly, impossibly… evolving.
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