Invincible through Touching Corpses

Chapter 362: The Secrets of Mutated Zombies

Looking at the small fortress below, Lin Xinghai asked Little Fatty beside him, "These must be the forces guarding the Abyssal Passage, right? Do you know roughly how many troops are inside?"

He was genuinely curious about this, because knowing the size of the garrison would allow him to roughly gauge the danger level of the Abyssal Passage.

"Uh... they’re just the troops stationed at the outer passage, so they’re only considered a reserve force. There are about 10,000 of them, and roughly 5,000 of those are mecha," Little Fatty replied, recalling something his father had once told him.

Lin Xinghai couldn’t help but draw in a sharp breath. A force of 10,000, half of them mecha... and this was just a reserve unit.

"So the real garrison is underground?" Lin Xinghai guessed.

"Yeah, but I don’t know the specifics of their deployment," Little Fatty replied.

Lin Xinghai fell silent. ’The Abyssal Passage is far more terrifying than I first expected!’

As the military transport flew over the perimeter of the passage, everyone aboard felt an indescribable sense of oppression while looking down into the dark, bottomless pit.

Suddenly, a series of rumbles from artillery fire echoed up from the passage below. From their vantage point, they could even see faint flashes of light in the darkness, but they vanished in an instant.

"What’s happening?" Lin Xinghai asked, growing a little tense.

"More Mutated Zombies must have come out of the Abyssal Passage. But since the gunfire stopped so quickly, it was probably just a small-scale attack that’s already been dealt with," Little Fatty speculated.

Although he knew a great deal, it was all secondhand information from his father. He had never been to the Abyssal Passage himself, so he could only make educated guesses about many things.

Just then, Lin Xinghai seemed to notice something. His gaze shot to the edge of the passage on their left, and his pupils constricted.

There, three Hunters were rapidly scrambling up the side. In the blink of an eye, they reached the surface. After a cautious scan of their surroundings, they quickly fled.

And those three Hunters weren’t the only ones. Following them were three Giant Arms, two Spitters, and one Death Claw.

These Mutated Zombies were all extremely sensitive to danger. Once they reached the surface and sensed the threat, they began to flee almost without hesitation.

Lin Xinghai glanced at the three large patrol squads, but was shocked to see them acting as if they hadn’t noticed a thing.

’Logically, the military must have surveillance equipment deployed nearby. It’s impossible for them to have missed these Mutated Zombies.’

’And while the patrolling mecha weren’t directly in the zombies’ escape path, if they gave chase immediately, they might not catch the three Hunters, but catching the rest of the Mutated Zombies shouldn’t be a problem.’

"What’s going on? How can they just stand there and watch those Mutated Zombies escape?" Lin Xinghai demanded in a low voice, unable to suppress his anger.

"Because those are all Tier One Mutated Zombies. If the patrol team was nearby, they would have certainly killed them."

"But since they’re too far away, they won’t abandon their posts over a few Tier One Mutated Zombies. For them, the real threat to defend against are the Tier Two and even Tier Three Mutated Zombies."

Little Fatty explained. Seeing the confused look in Lin Xinghai’s eyes, he realized this wasn’t common knowledge and continued, "Actually, Mutated Zombies are also divided into tiers."

"Tier One Mutated Zombies, the ones we usually run into, have strength comparable to our experts at the Blood Qi Realm."

"Above them, you have Tier Two Mutated Zombies, whose strength corresponds to those in the Body Shaping Realm."

"And then there are even Tier Three Mutated Zombies, with power equivalent to experts in the Divine Demon Realm."

"The main job of both the Abyssal Guard and these reserve units is to prevent Tier Two, and especially Tier Three, Mutated Zombies from escaping. If even one of those gets out, it could cause a massive problem."

"As for these Tier One Mutated Zombies... if they escape, they escape. It doesn’t affect the grand scheme of things."

At this, Little Fatty paused and lowered his voice. "My father says it’s probably to give the other Shelters a greater sense of urgency, and also to give them more experience fighting Mutated Zombies."

"That way, if an Abyssal Passage ever falls, the defense forces at those Shelters won’t just panic at the sight of Mutated Zombies."

Lin Xinghai couldn’t help but nod. He had to admit Little Fatty’s father had a point. It was hard to grasp just how terrifying the Mutated Zombies were without having fought them before.

"So, just how strong are the Tier Two and Tier Three Mutated Zombies? Can you give me the details?" Lin Xinghai asked after a moment of silence.

"Uh... I’m not really sure about that!" Little Fatty scratched his head. "I only know what cultivation realms they correspond to."

"Oh, right! I also know that a Mutated Zombie is much stronger than a human expert of the corresponding realm."

"For example, a Martial Artist in the Blood Qi Realm can’t defeat a Tier One Mutated Zombie on their own. They need to pilot a mecha to do it."

"And even experts in the Body Shaping and Divine Demon Realms can’t defeat Mutated Zombies of a corresponding level. That’s exactly why Rare Level Mecha and Legendary Level Mecha were created."

"Victory is only possible through the combined power of a mecha and its expert pilot."

"They’re that powerful?" Lin Xinghai muttered. At the same time, his desire for a Legendary Level Mecha grew even stronger.

"Don’t forget your promise," Lin Xinghai reminded him. "Once I get a spot as a Special Class Student, you’ll have a custom-made Legendary Level Mecha built for me."

"Yeah!" Little Fatty nodded, but then hesitated slightly before adding, "But I can’t get you a Legendary Level Mecha right away. You might have to wait a few months."

"Hmm?" Lin Xinghai looked at him, waiting for an explanation.

"The Biological Alloy used to build Legendary Level Mecha is actually made from the corpses of Tier Three Mutated Zombies."

"So we have to wait for the military to kill a Tier Three Mutated Zombie. Only then can my dad’s company bid on the remains to procure the materials and build one for you," Little Fatty explained.

Faced with such a logistical problem, there was nothing Lin Xinghai could do. No matter how much he pressured Little Fatty, he couldn’t produce a mecha without the materials.

However, he also gleaned another piece of information from Little Fatty’s words. ’So that means Tier Three Mutated Zombies must be rare. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have to wait a few months.’

"Definitely!" Little Fatty nodded. "They’re the equivalent of a powerhouse at the Divine Demon Realm. If they showed up frequently, we’d probably all be dead by now."

"Though... my dad did seem to mention that the appearance rate of Tier Three Mutated Zombies has been getting higher compared to a few years ago. But here at East Sea Base, we have people breaking through to the Divine Demon Realm almost every year, so we can still manage."

After hearing this, Lin Xinghai recalled what Elder Wei had told him about the secrets of the Abyssal Passage, and an unsettling thought surfaced in his mind.

"Little Fatty, do you think there might be Tier Four Mutated Zombies?"