Chapter 349: The golden fruit 60.

The creatures collided with each other.

Bai Li struck one.

Yan Cijin struck the other.

But the monsters did not die.

They recovered instantly.

One opened its mouth.

A burst of black liquid shot toward Bai Li.

She shifted her body slightly.

The liquid passed by and burned a hole in the wall.

Yan Cijin looked at it.

"I definitely do not want that on me."

"Then do not get hit."

"Excellent advice."

The monster attacked again.

Bai Li stepped inside its reach and drove an elbow into its throat. The creature staggered. Yan Cijin followed with a strike to its spine.

It collapsed.

The remaining monsters attacked at once.

For several seconds the floor was filled with movement.

Bai Li and Yan Cijin moved in a tight circle, never allowing the creatures to separate them. When one came from behind, the other handled it. When two tried to flank them, they switched positions. Their movements were so smooth that the monsters seemed unable to understand why their attacks kept missing.

Eventually, the last creature fell.

Yan Cijin looked at the bodies.

"They are getting tougher."

Bai Li nodded.

"And less predictable."

"That part I noticed."

Bai Li picked up a core.

Its surface was covered in dark cracks.

Inside, golden light moved like smoke.

Yan Cijin watched it.

"The cores are changing too."

"The fruit is pulling energy through the whole building."

"Which means the closer we get, the stronger everything becomes."

"Yes."

Yan Cijin laughed softly.

"Good. At least we know what to expect."

Bai Li looked at her.

"Do we?"

Yan Cijin paused.

"No."

"Exactly."

They moved on.

The thirty-eighth floor held something unexpected.

A cinema.

The entrance was still visible beneath the growth covering the walls. Movie posters hung in pieces behind thick vines. The theater doors were sealed with layers of hardened resin.

There was a smell coming from inside.

Rot.

And something sweet beneath it.

Yan Cijin stopped.

"Do you smell that?"

Bai Li nodded.

"Something is feeding."

They opened the doors.

Rows of seats stretched into darkness.

At first nothing moved.

Then several heads slowly turned.

Dozens of zombies sat inside the theater.

They were not ordinary zombies.

Some were missing limbs.

Others had grown strange horns or plates along their shoulders. Several had golden lines across their skin.

But none attacked.

They were all facing the screen.

Yan Cijin looked at the blank screen.

"What are they watching?"

Bai Li looked closer.

A faint golden image was flickering across it.

Not a movie.

A tree.

A golden tree.

Its branches moved in a slow wind.

At the center of the image hung a single fruit.

Yan Cijin stared.

"Is that the fruit?"

Bai Li nodded.

The image vanished.

Every zombie in the theater turned toward them.

Yan Cijin sighed.

"Well, that was our cue."

The zombies stood.

There were at least twenty.

Most were level two.

Bai Li looked at Yan Cijin.

"We go through."

"Straight?"

"Straight."

The theater erupted.

The zombies rushed toward them.

Bai Li charged first.

The first zombie swung a heavy arm.

She ducked and drove her shoulder into its chest. It flew over three rows of seats.

Yan Cijin jumped onto the backs of the chairs, moving above the crowd. She struck downward, using the narrow space to keep the zombies from surrounding her.

A zombie grabbed at her ankle.

She kicked it away.

Another grabbed her sleeve.

Bai Li appeared beside it.

The hand fell away.

"Thank you."

"Watch your footing."

"I am."

The fighting became chaotic.

Seats broke.

Metal rails bent.

Zombies crashed into the screen.

One enormous creature jumped onto the stage and roared.

Bai Li landed directly in front of it.

The creature swung both arms.

She blocked the first, slipped beneath the second, and struck its abdomen.

The creature barely moved.

Yan Cijin appeared behind it.

She struck the back of its neck.

The monster staggered.

Bai Li attacked again.

This time the creature fell.

The remaining zombies hesitated.

That brief hesitation was enough.

Bai Li and Yan Cijin moved together.

Seconds later, the theater was silent.

Yan Cijin stood among broken seats and looked around.

"I think that was the most depressing cinema experience I have ever had."

Bai Li collected another core.

"You have never been in a zombie apocalypse before."

"Fair point."

They left the theater.

The corridor outside felt strangely peaceful.

For a while, nothing attacked.

They walked side by side.

Yan Cijin looked at Bai Li’s face.

There was dust on her cheek.

"Hold still."

Bai Li turned.

Yan Cijin reached up and brushed the dust away.

The movement lasted only a second.

Both women became slightly still.

Yan Cijin pulled her hand back first.

"You had dust."

Bai Li nodded.

"I know."

"You did not."

"I knew you would notice."

Yan Cijin looked away.

"You are annoying."

Bai Li smiled.

They continued.

The thirty-ninth floor contained a flooded shopping plaza.

Water covered the entire ground level.

Something moved beneath it.

Bai Li tested the surface with the edge of her weapon.

Ripples spread.

Then something slammed into the floor from below.

The water jumped.

Yan Cijin stepped back.

"It is below us."

The floor exploded.

A massive serpent emerged.

Its head was covered in scales and golden veins.

Its body disappeared into the flooded darkness.

It was easily twenty meters long.

Level two.

Bai Li looked at it.

"That one is large."

Yan Cijin smiled.

"You said the bear was large too."

"This one is larger."

The serpent lunged.

They split.

Its jaws closed on empty space.

Bai Li struck its neck.

The serpent whipped its body toward her.

Yan Cijin attacked the tail.

The monster crashed into a row of stores.

Water poured through the broken walls.

The serpent opened its mouth again.

A golden mist came out.

Bai Li grabbed Yan Cijin and pulled her behind a pillar.

The mist passed over them.

The concrete pillar began dissolving.

Yan Cijin looked at it.

"Definitely toxic."

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TO BE CONTINUED.