Chapter 54: Golden-Winged Corpse

By the time the first light of dawn appeared, Ethan Carter had already followed the Winged Zombie for nearly five kilometers.

She stayed about twenty meters ahead of him, her enormous golden wings glowing faintly in the early morning light. Every so often, she would slow down and wait for him before continuing.

The whole thing made Ethan feel like he was being taken for a walk.

"Hey, beautiful. Where exactly are you taking me?"

He shouted toward her.

The Winged Zombie didn’t answer, of course.

The only response was the steady beating of her wings.

Then the outline of a massive stadium appeared between the buildings ahead.

Ethan narrowed his eyes.

West City Stadium.

It had once been one of the busiest entertainment venues in the city center. Concerts, sporting events, festivals, and other large gatherings had regularly filled the place with thousands of people.

Now it was almost completely silent.

The outer walls were cracked, sections of the roof had collapsed, and several enormous billboards hung crookedly from their supports, creaking whenever the wind passed through.

The Winged Zombie suddenly accelerated.

Her golden wings folded slightly as she dove toward a large opening in the stadium’s damaged dome.

Ethan’s expression changed.

So this is where she’s taking me.

He followed.

After slipping through a gap in the stadium’s damaged iron fence, Ethan landed quietly and immediately heard voices coming from the stands.

He dropped into a crouch behind the scoreboard and carefully looked out.

What he saw made his eyes widen.

There was someone he knew standing in the middle of the field.

Max Cole.

Max stood with his hands behind his back, calmly pacing across the grass.

Ten armed men surrounded him in a loose circle.

Inside that circle were more than a hundred survivors.

Men and women.

Old people and children.

All of them were packed together, their faces filled with fear.

But that wasn’t what caught Ethan’s attention.

Weapons.

Serious weapons.

Two of Max’s men were carrying submachine guns.

Another tall, thin man had a rocket launcher resting on his shoulder, its muzzle aimed directly at the crowd.

Ethan’s eyebrows lifted.

Where the hell did they get military hardware?

His hand instinctively moved toward the handgun at his waist.

Compared with the weapons in front of him, his pistol suddenly felt like a toy.

Ethan was already considering slipping away when a golden blur suddenly shot across the sky.

The Winged Zombie.

She plunged straight into the center of the field.

Her wings snapped outward.

The powerful gust that followed sent the two men carrying submachine guns flying.

They slammed into the concrete steps beneath the stands and went limp.

Max’s expression didn’t change.

Instead, he sneered.

"Golden-Winged Corpse."

He looked up at her.

"I was wondering when you’d finally show yourself."

The Winged Zombie hovered above the field.

Max smiled coldly.

"I knew there was a reason you kept those survivors alive. You must care about someone among them."

He raised two fingers and whistled.

Several more armed men immediately rushed out from behind the stands, rifles in their hands.

Ethan’s expression darkened.

Everything suddenly made sense.

The Winged Zombie hadn’t been leading him to a safe place.

She had been leading him straight into a trap.

"Golden-Winged Corpse?"

Ethan glanced at the hovering zombie.

"So you’ve already earned yourself a nickname in the city."

The name actually suited her.

The Winged Zombie completely ignored Max.

She beat her wings violently.

A powerful gust ripped across the field, throwing dirt, broken concrete, and pieces of debris toward the armed men.

"Stop her!"

Max reached into his clothes and pulled out the bone flute.

The moment he raised it to his lips, a shrill sound pierced the stadium.

The strange melody echoed through the empty stands.

The Winged Zombie’s movements immediately became slower.

The golden glow surrounding her wings dimmed.

Max’s eyes narrowed.

"Now!"

The tall man carrying the rocket launcher stepped forward.

He raised the weapon and aimed directly at the Winged Zombie.

Ethan’s pupils contracted.

If that hits her, she’s dead.

Without thinking any further, Ethan gathered spatial energy at his fingertips.

He activated Spatial Cut.

A thin white line flashed through the air toward the rocket launcher.

Clang!

Sparks exploded from the barrel.

The launcher itself remained intact.

But the impact shifted its angle just enough.

The rocket fired.

It narrowly missed the Winged Zombie’s body, clipped the edge of one golden wing, and exploded against a distant billboard.

BOOM!

Max spun around.

"Who’s interfering?"

Ethan’s position had been exposed.

Four armed men immediately spotted him and raised their weapons.

"Found him!"

Gunfire erupted.

Ethan moved instantly.

He activated Spatial Cut repeatedly, cutting through the legs of two men before they could close the distance.

The other two backed away, firing wildly.

Ethan was preparing to retreat when the Winged Zombie suddenly exploded with force.

Her golden wings spread wide.

The gale produced by the violent movement ripped through the sound created by the bone flute.

The strange melody was completely drowned out.

The Winged Zombie’s eyes flashed.

She dove. ℴ

Rather than attacking Max or his men, she swept across the crowd of survivors.

Her arms reached down.

She grabbed two figures huddled near the edge of the group.

Then she shot upward.

Ethan stared.

"Wait..."

The armed men were still distracted by him.

The Winged Zombie took advantage of the chaos and flew straight toward the opening in the stadium’s damaged dome.

Ethan’s mouth fell open.

"Damn it."

He finally understood.

"You used me as bait."

The Winged Zombie had deliberately brought him here because she knew Max and his men would focus on him.

While everyone was distracted, she could rescue the two people she wanted.

Ethan watched her disappear through the opening.

"This thing can actually think like a human."

She hadn’t simply attacked.

She had created a distraction, calculated the timing, and used him to draw everyone’s attention away from the survivors.

Her intelligence had clearly evolved far beyond that of an ordinary zombie.

One of the people she had rescued was slim and had her back turned toward him, so Ethan couldn’t see her face.

The other was facing him, but her face was covered in dirt and grime.

Then the system notification suddenly appeared.

[Ding! Gift target detected: Clara Hayes, 22 years old. Beauty Score: 99.]

Ethan stopped dead.

"Clara Hayes?"

The name immediately sounded familiar.

The young idol singer who had only recently debuted in the Eagle Kingdom before the Apocalypse?

Beauty Score 99?

Ethan’s eyes widened.

That’s ridiculously high.

He didn’t even have to ask how valuable a target like that could be.

Then he looked toward the sky.

"Damn Golden-Winged Corpse!"

He almost jumped in frustration.

"Using me as bait is one thing, but you actually stole my gift target?"

His irritation lasted only a second.

Because the situation around him had become much more dangerous.

Max’s men had already surrounded him.

The muzzles of several submachine guns were pointed directly at his body.

Max stared at him.

"So it was you."

His voice was cold.

"You ruined my entire plan."

Ethan didn’t answer.

He quietly gathered spatial energy at his fingertips.

He had three One-Way Teleportation uses remaining.

He needed an opening.

"Kill him!"

Max’s order came immediately.

A dozen armed men rushed toward Ethan.

Gunfire filled the stadium.

Then chaos erupted near the stands.

A group of survivors had taken advantage of the guards’ attention being focused on Ethan.

They suddenly broke from the crowd.

Some grabbed stones from the ground and began throwing them at Max’s men.

Others simply ran.

"Get back!"

"Stop them!"

"Don’t let them escape!"

The guards turned in confusion.

Max spun around.

"Damn it! A bunch of useless trash!"

For the first time, his attention was completely diverted.

Ethan didn’t waste the opportunity.

He activated One-Way Teleportation.

His body vanished.

The next instant, he appeared on the road outside the stadium.

A sharp pain suddenly shot through his shoulder.

Ethan stumbled slightly.

Blood was already running down his arm.

One of the bullets had grazed the back of his shoulder.

"Chase him!"

Max’s roar echoed from the stadium.

"Don’t let him escape!"

Ethan glanced over his shoulder.

Two men were already coming after him.

Their legs were surrounded by pale-green energy.

Speed Ability users.

Their speed was frightening.

They were actually faster than Ethan’s full sprint.

"Are you people ever going to give up?"

Ethan gritted his teeth.

He had no choice.

He activated One-Way Teleportation again.

His body disappeared and reappeared several streets away.

The two Speed Ability users continued after him.

Ethan teleported again.

This time, he appeared on the rooftop of a residential building.

He immediately checked his energy.

His One-Way Teleportation uses were completely exhausted.

The spatial energy inside his body had also fallen to a dangerously low level.

Footsteps thundered from the building below.

They had followed him.

Ethan cursed under his breath.

He spotted an open window nearby, rushed toward it, vaulted through, and rolled across the floor of a bedroom.

He quickly got to his feet.

I have no choice.

He leaned against the wardrobe and prepared to enter the Survival Space.

Then he heard something outside.

Flap.

Flap.

Ethan froze.

He slowly turned toward the window.

Golden light flashed through the curtains.

He cautiously moved closer and looked outside.

The Winged Zombie was hovering in the air.

She had followed him.

The two people she had rescued were still in her arms.

Ethan watched silently.

The Winged Zombie looked toward the bedroom where he was hiding.

For a moment, their eyes seemed to meet through the glass.

It almost looked as though she was checking whether he was safe.

Then she turned away.

Her golden wings spread wide.

She flew toward the southern part of the city center.

The morning sunlight caught her wings, making them shine like gold.

Within seconds, she disappeared behind the surrounding buildings.

Ethan stood there in silence.

"Are you a friend or an enemy?"

He touched the wound on his shoulder.

He genuinely couldn’t figure her out.

The footsteps below were getting closer.

Max’s men were already searching the building.

Ethan heard Max shouting from somewhere downstairs.

He stopped thinking about the Winged Zombie.

He had more immediate problems.

His body disappeared.

The next moment, he was inside the Survival Space.

Ethan immediately pulled out one of the bottles of Healing Essence Debbie had prepared for him.

He drank it.

Warm energy spread through his body, rapidly restoring what he had lost.

His depleted energy soon returned to its peak.

He then cleaned the bullet wound on his shoulder and treated it properly.

Ethan frowned as he thought about everything that had happened.

"Max has heavy weapons, Speed Ability users, and a large group of armed men."

He looked toward the entrance of the Survival Space.

"The city center is much more dangerous than I expected."

Then another thought crossed his mind.

Clara Hayes.

Beauty Score 99.

A potential gift target with an absurdly high value.

"I have to find her."

Outside the Survival Space, the sound of furniture being smashed echoed through the building.

Max was clearly searching every room.

But he wouldn’t find Ethan.

Ethan closed his eyes and began circulating his energy while waiting for his injuries to recover.

Once he was ready, he would return to the city.

He had two problems now.

First, he had to figure out how to deal with Max and his armed group.

Second, he had to find Clara Hayes somewhere in the enormous city center.

And unlike the first problem, the second one was not something he could afford to ignore.

---

Meanwhile, in a high-rise building in the southern part of the city center, the Winged Zombie stood silently beside a bed.

The two people she had rescued were there.

One was lying unconscious on the bed.

The other stood beside her.

The grime covering the young woman’s face had been wiped away.

Her features were delicate and striking, almost doll-like.

She was Clara Hayes.

The Winged Zombie slowly raised one cold hand.

Her fingertips gently touched the cheek of the woman lying on the bed.

A strange emotion flickered through her dark green eyes.

It was difficult to understand.

It wasn’t the hunger of a zombie.

It wasn’t hostility.

It almost looked like concern.

The Winged Zombie stared at the unconscious woman in silence.

Why had she risked so much to rescue these two?

Why had she deliberately brought Ethan into the stadium and used him to draw Max’s attention away?

And who exactly were these two women to her?

For now, Ethan had no idea.

But whatever connection existed between the Winged Zombie and the two women, it was clearly far more complicated than he had imagined.