Meanwhile, the girl in the stained school uniform continued moving rapidly across the city. Her body, with a massive backpack, leaped from rooftop to rooftop with practiced precision like a parkour master while cold wind swept through her hair.

Below her, the ruined streets remained flooded with wandering undead chasing after the distant explosions she created earlier.

She did not even glance downward anymore. Her eyes remained fixed toward the direction of the school.

Toward the thing hidden there. The thing her parasite reacted to so intensely.

Then suddenly—

She froze mid movement atop a rooftop. Her pupils narrowed instantly.

Three buildings away... Something stood among a crowd of wandering zombies.

At first glance, it looked ordinary. A student zombie wearing torn clothes stained heavily with blood.

But then she noticed it.

It’s the upper-left shoulder, massively bloated; obvious swollen flesh pulsed unnaturally beneath torn skin while dark veins crawled outward across its chest and neck.

The girl’s expression immediately darkened.

"...A Malignant Zombie."

Disbelief flickered through her eyes briefly.

"Already out of its cocoon?"

The creature slowly dragged itself through the street while surrounding undead unconsciously followed nearby.

The girl immediately remembered what these monsters truly were.

Malignant Zombies were different from ordinary undead. They did not transform immediately after infection. Instead, most of them were humans who already carried severe cancer before the apocalypse began.

The virus interacted strangely with their mutated cells.

Instead of turning instantly...

Their bodies entered a cocoon-like transformation stage.

Then once they awakened... They became something much worse than ordinary zombies.

And far more dangerous.

The girl immediately clenched her teeth tightly.

"I have to eliminate it now."

Her eyes turned colder.

"Or else it’ll accelerate the evolution of nearby zombies."

Malignant Zombies possessed terrifying mutation inducing effects.

The longer they survived inside large zombie populations, the faster nearby undead evolved. If left alone... Entire hordes could rapidly mutate.

And with a school nearby containing thousands of undead students...

The consequences would become disastrous.

Without hesitation, the girl immediately changed direction and landed atop another rooftop closer to the creature.

Several zombies wandered there.

The moment they noticed her—

Slash!

Her machete instantly tore through the nearest zombie’s head.

Before the others could react, she rushed forward violently.

One zombie lost half its skull.

Another collapsed with its jaw split apart.

The rooftop quickly fell silent.

Then immediately afterward, the girl shut the rooftop access door firmly behind her.

Bang!

Almost instantly, growling erupted behind the metal door while undead inside the building began slamming against it repeatedly.

But she ignored them completely.

Instead, she calmly walked toward the rooftop edge.

Then slowly took out a handgun behind her backpack.

Far below...

The Malignant Zombie continued limping through the streets.

Even from three buildings away...

The girl aimed carefully.

Bang!

The bullet crossed the distance instantly.

The Malignant Zombie’s leg exploded apart violently.

The creature stumbled sideways, then bang. Another shot burst half of its head open.

Dark flesh scattered across the street.

Yet...

The monster did not fall at all.

Instead, it slowly turned toward her direction despite most of its face being destroyed.

Bang!

Both arms exploded next.

The creature’s body twisted unnaturally while nearby zombies became agitated by the gunfire.

Still...

The Malignant Zombie remained standing.

The girl narrowed her eyes.

"...Annoying."

Then suddenly—

The creature pointed directly toward her rooftop.

Even with half its face missing... It somehow sensed her location.

Fortunately, she remained several stories above it.

Still...

The gunshots already created another problem.

Behind her—

BANG! BANG! BANG!

The rooftop door shook violently.

The zombies trapped inside the building began smashing against it continuously now.

The girl ignored them... Instead, she calmly fired again. Bang!

This time, however... the Malignant Zombie moved.

Even with its ruined face and shattered body parts, the creature jerked sideways unnaturally and avoided the fatal shot.

The girl’s eyes narrowed harder.

Then without hesitation—

Bang!

The final bullet pierced directly through what remained of its skull.

The Malignant Zombie finally collapsed heavily onto the street below.

Silence followed briefly.

Then the girl slowly turned around.

The rooftop door behind her bulged violently inward from the undead pushing against it.

Growls echoed nonstop.

The metal hinges already bent.

Then suddenly... Something moved behind the girl.

A long red flesh appendage slowly emerged from her back.

It resembled a massive tongue made entirely from exposed muscle tissue and veins. The fleshy tentacle writhed slowly through the air while saliva like liquid dripped from its tip.

The girl calmly rolled her neck slightly. Then she smiled faintly. "...I’m gonna let loose a little."

...

Meanwhile...

Inside the school restroom...

Clayne stood frozen in front of the final cubicle.

Because inside...was not a zombie like other cubicle.

It was a cocoon.

A massive disgusting cocoon nearly filling the entire cubicle space.

Wet flesh pulsed continuously beneath thin membranes while veins spread across the walls and floor around it. Thick liquid dripped from the ceiling while faint heartbeat sounds echoed nonstop from inside the cocoon.

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

The entire thing looked alive.

Without hesitation...

Thunk!

Clayne immediately threw a sharpened spiritual metal rod directly into it.

The weapon pierced deeply into the cocoon.

Dark fluid sprayed outward instantly.

Clayne immediately stepped backward carefully to avoid getting splashed.

Still, the cocoon violently twitched. But it continued beating. Thump. Thump. Thump.

"...What the hell is this thing?"

Thunk!

Another metal rod pierced through the flesh.

This time, the cocoon convulsed harder. Yet it’s obvious that it still remained alive.

Clayne’s eyes narrowed immediately. Then suddenly... He looked downward.

At the bathroom tiles.

Without hesitation, Clayne crouched and dug his fingers into the floor.

With his cultivator strength, he believed he could rip tiles apart easily. At least six times stronger than normal humans now. But the tiles proved tougher than expected. His fingers failed to pry them out cleanly.

"...Damn it."

Frustration flashed across his face.

Then—Boom!

Clayne punched the floor hard.

Cracks instantly spread across several tiles.

"Finally." He said.

Immediately, he grabbed one cracked section and ripped it free.

The broken tile shard had extremely sharp edges.

Without hesitation... Whoosh!

Clayne threw it directly into the cocoon.

Splurt!

The sharp tile pierced deeply through the flesh membrane.

Then suddenly, an extremely disgusting pungent smell exploded outward.

The cocoon trembled violently.

And inside... Something moved.

Clayne’s eyes narrowed immediately.

Through the torn opening, he could vaguely see it. An embryo. A massive half formed creature curled within the cocoon. It cried weakly and eerily.

The sound resembled a dying infant mixed with distorted animal noises.

The sight instantly made Clayne’s scalp crawl.

Without hesitation... Whoosh!

Another cracked tile shard shot forward. This time, it pierced directly into the embryo’s head. The creature suddenly convulsed violently.

Then...

Rip!

The cocoon tore apart.

Something emerged. And the moment Clayne finally saw it, he was immediately shaken badly.

The creature possessed a gigantic embryo-like head almost half the size of a human body. Its skin remained pale and wet while undeveloped flesh dangled from its malformed body.

Its eyes had not fully formed. Yet its mouth opened impossibly wide. The thing prepared to scream.

But before any sound emerged...

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

Several tile shards slammed directly into its face and mouth. The creature immediately lost balance and collapsed jaw first back into the broken cocoon. Then suddenly, its body began melting. Boiling even.

The flesh rapidly dissolved into bubbling liquid while steam rose violently from the cubicle floor.

Clayne immediately backed away.

"...Acid?"

The dissolved flesh spread across the floor while slowly corroding parts of the tiles beneath it.

Without hesitation, Clayne left the cubicle entirely.

Then quickly moved toward the sinks.

He immediately removed the tiny cultivation world from his backpack carefully before spreading it beside the sink area near broken glass where faint sunlight entered.

Then he grabbed several cracked tile fragments and placed them into the miniature world.

Almost instantly... Spiritual Qi gathered toward them.

The broken tiles slowly absorbed surrounding spiritual energy just like the glass shard earlier.

The fragments began glowing faintly while nearby beasts inside the miniature world instinctively avoided them nervously.

Seeing this, Clayne immediately grabbed the spiritually infused tile shards again.

Then heard a crashing sound, his eyes sharpened and became cautious. He carefully and slowly returned toward the broken cocoon cubicle.

And the moment he looked inside again, Clayne became shaken once more for what he saw.