Chapter 141 - 140: Patience is a Hunter’s Virtue

Chapter 141: Chapter 140: Patience is a Hunter’s Virtue

’Fight it? Hell no. Not a chance.’

’I haven’t even seen its health bar yet, which means these two things are just tentacles or something!’

’But it hasn’t fully spotted me. There’s still a chance.’

The instant the giant, chain-like branch was about to smash the rear of the vehicle, Lin Fan landed on its front. He dropped his center of gravity, the muscles in his legs tensing to their absolute limit!

BOOM—!!!

The branch whistled through the air and slammed down right where Lin Fan had been standing, letting out a deafening crash!

The armored vehicle, weighing dozens of tons, shuddered from the impact. Its rear was forced down by the immense force, groaning under the unbearable weight with a teeth-grinding CREAK!

The armor on the front of the vehicle, meanwhile, shot upward!

It was as if Lin Fan had stepped on a spring-loaded launchpad. He used the upward catapulting force to launch himself away!

But even after pushing himself to such an extreme!

He was still half a beat too slow!

The other branch had been sweeping over with lightning speed from the very beginning. Even though Lin Fan was flung through the air like a projectile from a catapult, the branch still managed to clip his ankle!

[-22]!

"Fuck!"

Lin Fan felt his foot go numb!

His entire body started spinning in mid-air!

’This damage... It shouldn’t be broken!’

He had no idea how much health he’d lose from a broken bone with his current constitution. It had been a long time since he’d been injured, so it felt a bit unfamiliar!

But suddenly, a strange feeling of being completely exposed washed over him...

’The veil!’

He didn’t know what kind of energy that branch carried, but even though it only hit his foot, the veil created by the Veil Crystal on his body had been completely torn apart!

If Lin Fan hadn’t been exceptionally sensitive to changes in energy, he might not have even noticed!

The branch that had swept past him re-locked onto his position in less than a second. It hovered in mid-air before snapping back like a giant python!

The other branch, the one that had smashed the armored vehicle, also shot up as if it had discovered something!

By now, Lin Fan had already flown more than ten meters and was still airborne, with a dense sea of zombies directly below him!

But the zombies didn’t look up, acting as if they hadn’t noticed him at all.

He could still feel the same aura as the zombies emanating from his body. The Concealment Potion was still active!

It was likely because the potion’s effect was still working that the monster, despite detecting his presence, seemed somewhat confused!

Seizing the moment of the monster’s confusion when it didn’t give chase, Lin Fan spread his limbs wide in mid-air. He used the air resistance to balance himself, streaking through the air in a long, nearly straight black line and crossing a distance of several dozen meters at an incredible speed.

After clearing the dense horde of zombies below, Lin Fan deliberately avoided landing on his injured foot. He touched down on one foot, lost his balance, and tumbled forward, rolling into a ball!

THUD!

CRASH!

He sent a zombie on the sidewalk flying and crashed right through a storefront window!

[-12]!

’Hsss... That hurts!’

He sat up from a corner of the room, rubbing his head. Though the room was pitch-black, Lin Fan’s withered-yellow vision still allowed him to make out his surroundings.

A few zombies, attracted by the sound of shattering glass, gathered in front of the broken window, peering left and right. Thanks to the potion’s effect, however, they didn’t go berserk and charge straight for him.

His face and hands had been cut in a few places by the window glass, and he’d banged his shoulder, but it was nothing serious.

Lin Fan glanced at his Life Value: [896/930] remaining.

He reached down and rubbed the ankle that had been hit. It was just a sprain, not broken.

With a thought, he unequipped and then re-equipped the Veil Crystal.

A strange veil of energy materialized out of thin air, but it refused to close, unable to completely envelop him.

The injured part of his foot seemed to be continuously emitting some kind of energy fluctuation that wasn’t his own. It was faint, but it acted like an iron rod stuck in mud, preventing the Veil Crystal from taking effect.

’What is this...’

His ankle felt fine, yet the Veil Crystal’s effect wouldn’t seal. It was like some kind of beacon, or as if he had been "dyed" with a color...

Whatever the monster had done, the Veil Crystal was temporarily unusable.

He simply switched to the Vitality Crystal to recover some health.

He checked the remaining duration of his Concealment Potion under his health bar. It showed 2:45 left...

More and more zombies were drawn by the sound of the shattered window. A few at the front were shoved through the opening and tumbled into the shop.

Lin Fan hugged the wall and carefully made his way up the nearby stairs toward the top floor.

This was a wedding photography studio. The floor was a complete mess. A huge group photo lay on the ground, stained with blood—a silent mockery.

The window on the opposite side was also completely shattered, as if someone had crashed out through it.

The carpet near the window was soaked with rain, giving off a musty smell.

Lin Fan stepped onto the carpet and cautiously approached the window, gazing into the distant night sky.

The two bucket-thick, "python-like" branches were still twisting and hovering in mid-air. One of them had already reached across the road and was scanning the area only a few dozen meters away from Lin Fan.

Lin Fan’s presence among the mass of zombies interfered with its search. The energy clinging to his ankle seemed only to prevent his stealth effect from working; it didn’t allow the monster to directly lock onto his position.

Seeing that the branch wasn’t heading straight for him, Lin Fan finally breathed a sigh of relief.

He had only one reason for coming here: someone was fighting the ten-thousand-HP monster. Naturally, he had to sneak over and see if he could pick up any scraps.

Even if he couldn’t, with a pocketful of crystals and potions, he was confident he could escape unscathed.

As for the old man in the armored vehicle...

’Where would you even find an old man in the apocalypse?’

’Lin Fan hadn’t seen a single person over sixty in his entire residential complex. Why would one appear in an armored vehicle?’

’And then there were those tentacles on him. Damn, over a thousand damage. Even for that ten-thousand-HP monster, over a thousand damage must have been a nasty hit.’

’Judging by the man’s condition and his words, those thin tentacles seemed to be what the monster used to control humans, or rather, to connect with their minds.’

’If that’s the case, then the old man’s words can’t be fully trusted...’

’In any case, when I get the chance, I’ll have to find... find that "Qingzhou" and get to the bottom of this.’

He looked at the two massive branches slithering back and forth in the distance, then at the park where the trees had been wiped clean by an explosion, and at the pitch-black crater...

Should he retreat, or...

He slowly backed away until he was sitting on the sill of the west-facing window. After opening it, he saw a residential complex behind the storefront, with a few zombies wandering on the sidewalk.

He just sat there quietly on the windowsill, occasionally checking if the Veil Crystal would work while waiting for the Concealment Potion to wear off.

The ten-thousand-HP monster’s true form was down in that distant crater. Between the earlier explosion and his spear thrust, even with ten thousand HP, it must have been severely wounded.

He didn’t want to give up such a rare opportunity, so he decided to take a gamble.

The distance between him and the crater was about six or seven hundred meters.

He would bet on whether the branches could detect him after the Concealment Potion wore off...

If they could, he’d turn right around and jump out the window. He refused to believe the branch-tentacles could catch him in the complex with an entire building between them.

If they couldn’t, he would sit right here, wait an hour for the potion’s cooldown to finish, pop another one, and sneak over during the next ten-minute window!

At Lin Fan’s thought, the long spear appeared in his hand. He rested it on his lap, his fingers unconsciously stroking the shaft as he watched the tips of the branches hovering a few dozen meters away outside the opposite window, waiting for time to run out.

00:03... 00:02... 00:01...

The timer hit zero. The icon of a pale, bloodshot eye instantly vanished, and the deathly, rotten aura in Lin Fan’s chest completely dissipated, replaced by the heat of his own heartbeat and rushing blood.

In an instant, all the senses that had been suppressed by the potion’s effect came roaring back to life!

The thick stench of blood, rot, and damp mold filled the air, rushing into his nose with his first breath and making Lin Fan’s brow furrow in disgust.

His withered-yellow vision gradually faded to black until his entire world was plunged into darkness.

As his vision darkened, Lin Fan’s heart grew even more tense. He raised his spear, aiming it at the shattered window opposite him, which faintly reflected some distant light, and waited patiently...

One second, two seconds, three seconds...

A minute passed. Nothing happened.

The zombies downstairs continued to shamble about tirelessly, their movements creating the sound of scraping broken glass mixed with low howls.

As for the two branches outside, whether it was due to their limited length or because Lin Fan was truly outside their detection range, they didn’t come stabbing in.

This made Lin Fan let out a deep sigh of relief.

But he still didn’t close the window behind him. Even though the monster showed no sign of movement, he was ready to flee at a moment’s notice.

The cool night breeze was no threat to someone with his constitution. He sat quietly below the windowsill, waiting for an hour to pass.

Time seemed to stretch on in the silence.

For the first ten minutes, he remained absolutely still, like a statue, his senses heightened to their peak to catch any change in his surroundings.

Only after confirming that the monster wasn’t stirring did he relax slightly. He took a crushed chocolate bar from his pocket and put small pieces into his mouth, chewing silently, trying his best not to make a sound.

...