Apocalypse: I Can See Health Bars
Chapter 20: Making a Clean Sweep

Chapter 20: Chapter 20: Making a Clean Sweep

Lin Fan took several steps back to create some distance. Seeing the zombie’s joint was injured and it was struggling to get up, he quickly rolled up his sleeve to check his own wound.

Two semi-circular teeth marks had appeared on his right forearm. They were already a deep purplish-blue, and the surrounding skin was slightly torn, with beads of blood seeping out...

Luckily, the zombie hadn’t managed to bite through his arm guard. Otherwise, that bite probably would have torn off a chunk of flesh!

But the zombie wasn’t much better off. In his moment of desperation, Lin Fan’s kick had shattered its joint. Its entire upper body was bent to one side, looking extremely stiff!

[239/300]

It had also lost 32 HP from Lin Fan’s kick.

The zombie gnawed for a moment, but finding no flesh and blood inside the arm guard, it blankly tossed it aside. It staggered towards Lin Fan, its injury having robbed it of its previous agility.

Now, the only weapon Lin Fan had left was a bone-chopper!

’But this blade is too short!’

Based on the zombie’s grip strength and bite force, unless he could split its head open in a single strike, sticking his arm out would be like serving himself up on a platter.

’This won’t work! I have to think of a way!’

Lin Fan was cornered in the living room. Whether he tried to return to the balcony or get to the front door, he would have to pass through the zombie’s attack range.

’This... Huh?’

An old-fashioned wooden chair caught his eye.

’I’ve got it...’

A plan formed in Lin Fan’s mind. He sidestepped a few more paces, putting the living room coffee table between himself and the zombie.

The zombie’s movements had slowed considerably. Blocked by the coffee table, it had no choice but to go around, which gave Lin Fan the chance to get to the hallway and grab the chair.

The chair had probably been left here for an elderly person to rest on. It was made of solid wood—an old piece, and very sturdy!

Lin Fan’s right arm throbbed with increasing pain as he exerted himself, but he gritted his teeth, grabbed the back of the chair, and hoisted it up.

Once the zombie moved to a suitable spot with no obstacles in between, Lin Fan suddenly pushed off with his feet, charging at the zombie with the chair held high!

Seeing this, the zombie bared its fangs and claws, preparing to capture this enemy who was delivering himself to its doorstep!

Lin Fan charged right up to the zombie. Before it could even bring its arms in, he tightened his grip on the chair with both hands and thrust it forward with all his might!

Fueled by the immense force from his running start, the two legs of the wooden chair stabbed deep into the zombie’s body!

One pierced its chest! The other, its abdomen!

Both legs burst out from the zombie’s back, bringing with them two streams of blackish-brown ichor. It was an incredibly bloody scene!

[-19]

[220/300]

Lin Fan’s charge also knocked the zombie over. Pinned by the chair, it fell to the ground and couldn’t get up, no matter how much it struggled!

’It worked!’

’Luckily this was just a normal zombie. If it had been a Mutated Zombie like the one from 402, I probably would have lost half my life, even if I had managed to escape.’

Still, Lin Fan had achieved his goal.

He couldn’t avoid combat forever, nor could he always have the upper hand. This injury was a valuable experience for him.

It wasn’t just a firsthand experience of a zombie’s bite force and grip strength, but also the sense of crisis from taking damage and losing HP for the first time.

His previous zombie kills had all gone too smoothly—so smoothly that Lin Fan had grown complacent.

He had even started to think zombies weren’t so terrifying, becoming careless enough to leave his spear behind just because it was inconvenient.

’I have to remember this lesson.’

Lin Fan walked over to the other zombie he had already killed, planted a foot on its chest, grabbed the handle of the steel pipe, and wrenched it upward.

The zombie corpse’s jaw was torn upward, freeing the steel pipe, which Lin Fan pulled out.

The zombie that had been knocked down was still pinned to the floor by the chair. Seeing Lin Fan approach, it futilely stretched out its arms, trying to recapture the prey it had so clearly caught just moments ago.

But this time, Lin Fan wouldn’t give it the chance!

WHAM!

[-45]!

WHAM!

[-56]!

SQUELCH!

[-119]!

[0/300]

Three strikes from the pipe killed the zombie. The cleanup of 501 was successfully completed!

[Acquired: Fresh Pork x2]

[Acquired: Fresh Beef x2]

[Acquired: Fresh Mutton x2]

[Acquired: Blade (Crafting Material) x1]

Lin Fan’s max HP also increased to [162/170].

’And Fresh Meat...’

’Don’t tell me this guy was a butcher.’

Lin Fan grumbled to himself.

When he had killed that first zombie, he didn’t have time to see what it had dropped.

Checking now, he found it was just some ordinary [Scrap Metal] and [Purified Water (Small)], as well as a bag of [Rice (Small) x1].

Lin Fan found some bedsheets in the bedroom and wrapped each corpse individually.

He threw them out the balcony window.

Su Qing, who had been keeping watch upstairs, had seen the entire sequence of Lin Fan being attacked and then jumping into the apartment. Her heart was in her throat with anxiety.

The clanging and banging of the fight, mixed with zombie roars, traveled up from downstairs.

She wanted to go to the door downstairs to check on the situation, but she was worried that Lin Fan might return to the rope and no one would be there to help...

So she could only cling to the balcony window frame, anxiously craning her neck to look down.

Now, seeing movement below as two corpses were thrown out the window one after the other, she realized Lin Fan must have killed both zombies!

Only then did she run downstairs and knock carefully on the door.

"Lin Fan? Are you okay?"

Su Qing called out as she knocked. Before she could knock more than a few times, Lin Fan opened the door.

One of his arms was missing its guard, and the sleeve was rolled up, revealing a fist-sized dark bruise on his right forearm.

The moment the door opened, Su Qing saw the conspicuous wound on Lin Fan’s arm.

"Ah! You’re hurt!"

She instinctively grabbed Lin Fan’s wrist, pulling his right arm closer to get a better look at the wound.

She gently touched it. It felt tight and hard, different from normal skin.

As if she had suddenly realized something, Lin Fan clearly felt her grip on his arm weaken. Fine beads of cold sweat broke out on Su Qing’s forehead, and he could see the fear in her trembling eyes.

"...Lin Fan... You’re not going to..." Su Qing looked up, her trembling eyes locked on Lin Fan’s, as if he had already turned into a man-eating beast.

"Are you scared?" Lin Fan knew she saw his injury and was afraid he would turn into a zombie, too.

Seeing that she was shaken with fear but still hadn’t let go of his arm, he asked, "Why don’t you let go..."

"I..." Su Qing wavered at Lin Fan’s words. Her grip loosened for a moment, then immediately tightened again. Biting her lip hard, she shook her head repeatedly while muttering in a small voice:

"I trust that you won’t... You... Even if you turn into a zombie... you won’t eat me, right...?"

Su Qing’s imagination was running wild, getting more and more exaggerated until she had scared herself to the point of tears...

"I..." Lin Fan was a little speechless. ’Give me a little credit, lady,’ he thought.

He rolled his eyes and joked menacingly, "If I do turn into a zombie... I’ll definitely eat you first..."

Seeing that he had actually scared Su Qing a little, he quickly tried to smooth things over and lighten the mood.

"Don’t worry. It’s just a little swollen. The skin isn’t even broken. It was through the arm guard..."

As he spoke, he pressed a set of keys into her hand. "The keys to 501. Take them. We’ll come back to move the stuff later..."