Apocalypse: I Can See Health Bars
Chapter 5: Looting a Mutant Monster

Chapter 5: Chapter 5: Looting a Mutant Monster

"What is that thing?"

This monster of flesh and blood, something I’ve never seen before, was way creepier than a smiling face in a peephole!

Zombies, no matter how disgusting, were just walking corpses. You got used to them after a while.

But this monster...

’It’s a little strange. I’ll take another look...’

Mustering his courage, he pried open the freezer lid again. His other hand gripped a bone cleaver, veins bulging and knuckles white, ready to strike at a moment’s notice.

The freezer lid lifted. Under the light, a bizarre, black creature with twisted limbs stood on a ripped body bag, its head tilted upward.

Lin Fan took a closer look and recognized it. It was one of the three dogs that had died earlier.

The black Rottweiler.

But now, its head had inexplicably split into four ’petals,’ each lined with jagged teeth. Its entire skull had twisted and deformed into a hideous maw, a truly terrifying sight.

As the lid opened, cold white vapor spilled from the freezer’s corner. The humid air quickly coated the grotesque, crimson maw with a layer of white frost...

A red health bar was displayed prominently above its head.

[285/500]!

’This...’

’It’s frozen solid...’

Lin Fan grabbed a nearby metal rod and prodded the monster. It was hard as a rock, clearly frozen through.

’I can’t believe it. It’s frozen into a statue, but not only is it not dead, it still has more than half its health!’

’It’s a good thing I can see health bars. Otherwise, I would’ve seen it frozen stiff and let my guard down. If it had ambushed me, I would’ve been a dead man for sure.’

Lin Fan immediately cranked the freezer’s dial to the -40 degree flash-freeze mode, then slammed the lid shut to cool the thing down even more.

While he waited, he ran back upstairs to his apartment, found a few broken pieces of tile, and started throwing them at the windows of the building across the street, aiming for windows progressively farther away.

The sound of shattering glass echoed, first nearby, then farther away. The zombies on the street, drawn by the noise, began to shamble toward the far end of the street.

The diversion was a success. As the zombies on the street gradually wandered off, Lin Fan let out a long sigh of relief and jogged back to the shop.

He rummaged through one of the boxes he’d packed and pulled out an angle grinder.

’The zombies are gone. Cutting up some frozen meat shouldn’t make too much noise...’

Right now, it was the only thing he had that could quickly do any real damage to a lump of meat frozen at -40 degrees.

Lin Fan plugged in the angle grinder and once again lifted the freezer lid.

He had to finish this monster off for good while it was still frozen.

The monster inside was still in the same pose. Only after confirming it really couldn’t move did Lin Fan dare to carefully inspect the inside of the freezer.

The body bag beneath its feet was badly ripped open. The other two body bags were also torn, and the corpses inside had been gnawed on.

The inner walls of the freezer were also covered in scratches of varying depths. It was clear the monster had tried to escape. But by the time it "woke up," most of its body was already frozen, and it ultimately failed to get out, becoming completely frozen stiff.

Thanks to that, Lin Fan now had the opportunity to claim an easy kill.

BZZZZ—

Lin Fan hit the switch. The rapidly spinning grinding disc cut into the monster’s crimson, flower-like maw as if it were cutting through wood.

Bits of flesh splattered onto his apron, and an unpleasant, charred smell seeped through his mask and into his nostrils.

[-1][-1][-1]...

After a moment, one "petal" of the "flower" was sawn off, and the monster’s health bar dropped to [253/500].

’Just as I thought. Like with the zombies, simply cutting its body only deals a tiny amount of damage.’

However, since the monster’s head was completely split open, Lin Fan couldn’t figure out where its weak point might be.

’I’ll just have to start cutting from the top.’

While keeping a close eye on the monster for any signs of thawing, Lin Fan carefully finished cutting off its entire maw.

The monster’s health bar was now at [126/500].

Lin Fan shut the freezer lid for now. To be safe, he’d let it freeze a while longer. In just the last two or three minutes, condensation had already started to form on the monster’s body.

Meanwhile, Lin Fan sat on the freezer lid, pondering this new information.

’The world outside doesn’t just have zombies, but also mutated animals. This 500-HP Mutant Dog in my freezer might be a special case, or it might not.’

’But either way, it means the outside world has become even more dangerous.’

’Mutated animals... maybe even mutated plants...’

Lin Fan quickly slapped his cheeks, cutting off his own train of thought.

’No, stop thinking about it. Back to work.’

’I have to deal with this thing quickly. It’ll be a disaster if the power goes out.’

So he continued cutting downward, layer by layer. As he got to the torso, the cross-section became wider, and the limited diameter of the grinding disc made it difficult to cut through in one pass.

So Lin Fan had no choice but to dismantle the Mutant Dog piece by piece, like an ice sculptor at work.

’Now I’m a real evil scientist, always chopping up corpses...’

Finally, as he was cutting the twelfth piece of the fourth layer, the damage ticks that had been a constant [-1] suddenly became [-10]! [-10]!

In just a few seconds, before Lin Fan had even finished cutting through the piece, the Mutant Dog’s health bar hit zero: [0/500].

At the same time, a transparent package appeared over the mutilated corpse. With a mere thought from Lin Fan, it flew into his body.

[Obtained: Canned Meat x1]

[Obtained: Scrap Metal x1 (Crafting Material)]

[Obtained: Feral Potion (Small) x1]

[Feral Potion (Small): Slightly increases the user’s strength, reaction speed, sensory acuity, and overall recovery rate. (Can be used directly from inventory or by manual injection.) Duration: 10 minutes. (Ineffective if used again within 1 hour.)]

’Canned food? Nice! Crafting materials? What the heck? A potion? I can even use buffs now?’

Lin Fan looked at the drops with a puzzled expression, then casually took out the scrap metal and the potion.

The scrap metal was just as its name implied: a tangled mass of metal weighing about 1 kg. Since the description said it was a crafting material, it would probably be useful later.

As for the potion...

It was a white, disposable auto-injector. The name [Feral Potion (Small)] floated above it, with the description in smaller text below.

’This thing... is amazing!’

’It’s basically a full-body enhancement buff. Even with a one-hour cooldown, this thing could be a lifesaver in a critical moment!’

He checked his own health bar again and saw that it had increased!

[120/120]!

An increase of ten points!

Even though it was a whole hour of work, considering the risk, this was practically a freebie!

He was a little disappointed that the other two corpses didn’t have health bars. It seemed not all animals that died from disease would mutate.

Of course, it was also possible they were frozen solid before they had a chance to mutate.

Still, just to be safe, Lin Fan spent another hour busily dismembering the other two corpses, completely eliminating the potential threat.

He closed the freezer lid and piled some junk on top of it. ’I’m never using this freezer again anyway, so I’ll just leave them in there.’

Lin Fan found something to clean the flecks of meat off the angle grinder, then picked up his toolbox and headed out the door toward home.

It was getting late. He planned to head home, get something to eat, craft some weapons, and then go check out Apartment 402 for supplies!