Lux swung a vicious vertical strike at the zombie's head. Under normal circumstances, this heavy blow would have shattered the skull in a single hit—but it failed.
Just as the katana blade was about to make contact, the zombie's head suddenly split into two halves, mutating into a massive, two-petaled maw filled with countless sharp teeth. It snapped shut and viciously bit down on Lux's katana.
A violent shock surged through Lux's arms, followed by a skin-crawling crunching sound. His hands suddenly felt lighter—the front half of the katana blade had been chewed to pieces by the monstrous mouth formed from the zombie's head.
"What the hell is this thing?!"
Staring at the broken blade in his hands, Lux froze for a split second as HK416's panicked shout rang out through the tactical headset.
"Lux! Watch out!"
Lux saw the foul-smelling, blood-reeked jaws lunging toward him.
At the same time, two crisp gunshots rang out. He felt several bullets carrying scorching shockwaves graze past his skin and slam accurately into the mutant zombie's body, forcing it back several steps.
Using the covering fire from MDR and HK416, Lux retreated five meters at full speed—yet a sharp headache struck him.
Those five meters were already his absolute sprint, and despite charging through the gunfire, the mutant zombie hadn't fallen far behind at all.
If MDR and HK416 stopped firing, he would be caught instantly.
But continuing to retreat would only lead the mutant zombie straight back to the others, inevitably costing blood—and putting HK416 and MDR in grave danger.
Its head had transformed into a horrifying predatory organ that could even chew through a katana blade. Clearly, the head was no longer a weak point. At the very least, he needed to cripple its mobility.
Running any further would only lead to total annihilation.
Realizing escape was meaningless, Lux took a deep breath. He abruptly stopped, twisted his body, and faced the mutant zombie head-on.
Seeing Lux halt, the pursuing zombie accelerated yet again.
Lux dropped into a low crouch and gripped the broken blade with both hands, unleashing a full-power horizontal slash.
This all-out strike severed both legs of the mutant zombie cleanly. Due to excessive momentum, its upper body flew straight past Lux's head and crashed heavily into the gelatinous mass of blood and flesh.
"Oh! Beautiful! Lux, that was awesome! Shame I couldn't take a photo!"
MDR shouted excitedly while continuing to tap the trigger, peppering the mutant zombie's upper body.
Even under MDR's fierce fire, the mutant zombie still crazily opened its massive jaws, stuffing the blood-and-flesh sludge into its mouth.
"Lux, evade to the right. The target is not yet neutralized. I assess that standard ammunition is ineffective. I will switch to an armor-piercing rifle grenade."
After instructing Lux to dodge, HK416 swiftly removed the high-explosive grenade and loaded the once-per-day armor-piercing grenade, then pulled the trigger.
A dull, teeth-grinding boom erupted.
The armor-piercing round pierced straight through the wildly thrashing mutant zombie, blasting a massive hole through its body.
Only then did the mutant zombie finally stop moving.
"Whew… that scared the hell out of me."
[Ding. Congratulations, Commander. You have successfully eliminated the elite zombie 'Splitter.' Reward acquired: 100,000 resource points]
The cold, mechanical voice of the system echoed in Lux's mind, plunging him into ecstatic joy. Surviving a disaster truly did bring blessings—killing this kind of special mutant zombie even granted extra resource points.
Even so, the immense reward couldn't completely wash away the fear of nearly being devoured alive.
Wiping the cold sweat from his forehead, Lux quickly returned to HK416 and MDR.
"You two protected me again. Thanks. But we need to get back to the truck immediately and leave this area."
Lux spoke seriously. From that brief clash, he had more or less understood why this school was so horrifying—why the ground had turned into a frozen crimson sea.
Most likely, after thousands of students turned into zombies, they had all been torn apart and eaten by that Splitter.
The blood-and-flesh sludge on the ground was probably what it left behind.
As for why there were no other zombies here, it might be because this mutant exerted some kind of territorial pressure—or simply because all the zombies in this densely populated high school had already been eaten.
Either way, more zombies would eventually be drawn here. He intended to get back to the truck, drive it over, pick everyone up, and get out fast.
"Sir, thank you for everything. We'll part ways here—I'm going to find my daughter. You're the great benefactor of my family."
Bob said solemnly.
"To hell with parting ways. Get back with me and drive the truck over. All the zombies here were eaten by that mutant, so we don't need to worry about the truck being overturned by a horde."
"But gunfire might attract zombies from nearby areas. And if your daughter has other survivors with her, we can't just abandon them. Escorting a large group on foot back to the truck is unrealistic. Better to drive the truck over and take everyone with us."
Lux shot Bob a look.
"Ah… then I'll go in and notify the people upstairs first…"
"And what if there are still stray zombies in the stairwells? Let's go back to the truck first, drive it here, and I'll go notify them."
Lux said, exasperated.
"But your blade is broken. What if we run into another one like that?"
HK416 asked worriedly.
"That shouldn't happen. That thing probably ate most of the zombies in the entire campus. If there were others like it, they'd have devoured each other to evolve further. A dominant mutant like that should be one per area at most."
Lux replied confidently—mainly because the sense of unease he'd been feeling vanished the moment the Splitter died.