Three and a half hours later, in a small alley that was both secluded and unexpectedly bustling.
"Why do all the Lickers in Ashen World’s Raccoon City like to gather together? I clearly remember that most of the time when I played the game, I would only encounter Lickers on their own..."
Zhang Yanhang sighed as he looked at the six Lickers in front of him, and behind him, there were also four Lickers climbing down the walls, making a total of ten Lickers besieging him.
What was more critical was that there were already eight Lickers’ bodies lying at his feet. They had been scattered all around, and he thought he might have a chance to defeat them one by one, but as soon as he fired his gun and killed one of them, the others swarmed him like sharks smelling blood.
"Is this the Middle Layer? It’s really incomparable to the Outer Layer."
Indeed, Zhang Yanhang had now reached the Middle Layer. He had just finished clearing the First Tier and Second Tier stages and was feeling overconfident, so he wanted to try the intensity of the Middle Layer and see if he could steamroll through it like he did in the Outer Layer. The result, he had just entered and was immediately besieged by a large group of Lickers.
Moreover, according to Zhang Yanhang’s Perception, there were still more Lickers continuously heading in his direction. Their enthusiasm was a bit too much; probably because they had never seen a living human since birth.
As Zhang Yanhang was contemplating this, a leading Licker lunged at him, its crimson, razor-sharp tongue shot out. A pale blue glow emerged on Zhang Yanhang’s body, and he grabbed the Licker’s tongue with his bare hands, then turned around and smashed it directly into the nearby wall.
Accompanied by a dull thud, the brick wall shattered, and the Licker fell silent. However, at that moment, two more Lickers climbed up behind Zhang Yanhang. The one on the left entangled Zhang Yanhang’s neck with its tongue, and the one on the right tied up his right hand.
Temporarily ignoring the zombie that had wrapped around his neck, Zhang Yanhang pulled out his M4A1 rifle and unleashed half a magazine on the Licker that had bound his right hand. The remaining seven Lickers took this opportunity to close the distance on Zhang Yanhang, completely surrounding him. Though they were just mindless zombies, they were unexpectedly clever in this situation.
After he gifted the remaining half magazine to the Licker that had wrapped around his neck, Zhang Yanhang didn’t have time to reload and stuffed his gun into his Waist Bag, swinging his fists and initiating a counter-charge at the Lickers.
There was no other choice; at this moment, he had to take the initiative to strike. Otherwise, once more than five Lickers entangled his limbs, he would find himself in an awkward situation, unable to exert strength to free himself.
The three Lickers nearest to Zhang Yanhang opened their mouths unanimously, and their scarlet, razor-sharp tongues shot toward Zhang’s waist, left leg, and right leg, likely aiming to disrupt Zhang’s balance and provide an opportunity for the other Lickers to swarm. But Zhang, as if possessing "Fore-knowledge," dodged their onslaught with a sidestep.
At close quarters, in the blink of an eye, Zhang had smashed his fist down onto the head of the Licker closest to him. With nearly half a ton of force behind his punch, the Licker’s unprotected, fragile brain offered no resistance.
Accompanied by the strange sound of cracking bones, the mangled brain tissue and filthy blood splattered on the ground and walls of the alley, forming an oddly charming pattern of blood.
The two Lickers that had previously surrounded Zhang with their partner now lunged at him, but this time they didn’t extend their trademark crimson tongues. Instead, they attacked with bites, much like Ordinary zombies would.
Faced with this baffling mode of attack that essentially nullified their strength, Zhang’s hands clamped down on their muscular necks like two iron vices. As the two Lickers caught by the neck struggled futilely to break free, their bodies thrashing as their tongues shot out toward his mouth and other vulnerable parts.
Unfortunately for them, Zhang had changed significantly. With the blessing of "Technique Immunity," there were no weaknesses in his body; every inch was tightly covered by an Energy Shield. To harm him, one would have to break through a shield stronger than his own defensive power, which also possessed 80% of his Life Value Limit as Shield Value.
Ignoring the desperate struggles of the two Lickers in his grasp, Zhang Yan crashed their heads together, resulting in a loud "thud" as their vulnerable brains collided and burst like ripe watermelons, blood spraying everywhere. Zhang’s Shield was coated in a strange layer of dark red mixed with grayish white.
Although his vision was slightly obscured, Zhang was now relying almost entirely on "Seeking Fortune and Avoiding Evil" to sense the movements of his enemies, so the slight visual impairment was actually inconsequential. Nevertheless, uncomfortable was still uncomfortable, so he couldn’t help but wipe it off.
What warmed his heart was that the remaining four Lickers did not take the opportunity to attack. "It seems that even monsters can express kindness (or fear) towards humans. How nice," Zhang Yanhang silently mused, and then he pounced on the remaining four Lickers.
Zhang was not particularly surprised that the Lickers could exhibit behaviors such as ganging up and altering their attack patterns—after all, their oversized brains were there for a reason and could provide some utility, even if not as much as an animal’s, at least on par with an insect’s level of Intelligence.
More crucially, unlike Ordinary zombies which were completely uncontrollable, the Lickers, due to differences in their brains, surprisingly retained a sense of pain. Moreover, as Biological Weapons manufactured by the Umbrella company, the Lickers had to have a minimal level of Intelligence for manipulation.
The Tyrant, another Biological Weapon, was similar in this respect, also equipped with Intelligence. However, models like the T-103 were generally controlled through programmed algorithms implanted in chips, activating to eliminate enemies only upon command. After all, as expensive bioengineered creations of the Umbrella company, it would be more unusual if they did not respond to direct commands. ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ novelFɪre.net