The Last Gentleman

[Rhythm Change]

Roots turned into legs,

The undead crawled swiftly like a spider, leaving no time for thought or hesitation.

However,

In the face of all this, Yi Chen felt an unprecedented resolve... he had staked everything on this surreal battle before him.

"I never thought I could easily survive this crisis from the beginning.

I was supposed to die directly in the lab, but instead, I unexpectedly gained the 'right' to be reborn... to truly seize this chance, a heavy price must be paid."

Clenching his fists,

Lifting both legs,

Even though the barbed hooks embedded in the roots had deeply sunk into his flesh.

Yi Chen could feel every piece of muscle in his foot being stripped away bit by bit... an excruciating pain that would have rendered most people powerless or even unconscious on the spot.

"Pull it out!!"

A roar emerged from deep within his throat.

Swish!

He broke free from the shackles, dark red blood splattering across the ground.

The freed soles of his feet displayed clear, finger-sized holes, still packed with shredded flesh and fragments of petals.

Throughout it all, Yi Chen emitted no scream; he even held his breath in restraint.

The decisive moment between life and death was imminent.

The undead was right before him.

The true threat wasn't just the mycelium seeping from its mouth;

The roots growing from its back spread wide, aiming at his arms, waist, and legs,

Attempting to pierce and lift him into the air for feeding.

In that instant,

Perhaps the pain heightened his adrenaline,

Or perhaps the close proximity to danger fully triggered his potential.

"I must find an opening!"

[Focus Mode]

The undead in his line of sight seemed to freeze,

As if transformed into a high-definition image for detailed analysis in his mind.

Jumping back to dodge, no!

Rolling sideways, no!

Breaking through from one direction, no!

Each imagined move to break free was dismissed one by one,

Until he found the best response.

The entire process of thinking and analyzing took almost no time.

"Exhale..." He took a deep breath.

Facing the undead just inches away,

Yi Chen neither evaded nor backed away; he didn't even assume a defensive stance.

Instead, he performed a dangerous, inexplicable move.

[Step Forward]

With a quick lunge, he went "face-to-face" with the undead.

And,

This unexpected advance threw off the undead's simple-minded rhythm,

Its left and right roots missed completely, merely grazing his arm.

However,

While he dodged the piercing roots, another danger remained,

The mycelium from the undead's mouth was about to reach his face.

At that moment,

Yi Chen gripped his axe with both hands,

One hand on the handle's bottom,

The other close to the axe head,

This allowed for a significant increase in chopping force and shortened the attack distance... ideal for close combat.

Fueled by adrenaline, his arms bulged with thick veins,

His forward right leg angled his body slightly forward,

Lowering his center of gravity,

His body bent into a bow shape,

Both arms raised, axe poised to strike!

The silver blade traced a perfect arc in the air,

Just before the mycelium could reach his face,

He delivered a precise vertical chop onto the undead's skull.

The rotten, hole-ridden head couldn't withstand such a blow.

Crack!

The skull split open completely,

Then cleaved through the green moss-merged brain,

Splitting the jaw, down to the neck—all in one fluid motion!

The entire head was split in half by the axe.

Due to the silver's effect, black smoke poured from the wound... the mossy brain dissolved entirely, melting into drops of green liquid that dripped onto the ground.

This signified the total erasure of the undead's newly formed "basic consciousness," regressing it to a mindless, primitive creature.

At this moment,

Crack!

The fleshy sphere rooted in Yi Chen's shoulder sensed danger and swiftly spun around.

It shared a visual snapshot of the situation behind him.

The roots that had missed their target earlier were now piercing back toward him.

"Dodge!" the fleshy black ball warned.

Yi Chen quickly executed a seamless dive and roll to evade... swish!

During the roll, his body seemed to be grazed.

As he stood up at the end of his roll, his left arm hung limply, completely unresponsive, with only slight movement in his fingers.

Looking closely, he saw his upper arm had been punctured with a hole the size of a coin, with moss residue infecting the wound.

Drip, drip...

Blood trickled down his arm, mixing with the blood pooling from his feet, staining the ground red.

Waves of intense pain and blood loss threatened to overwhelm him, ready to tear his consciousness apart with even a moment's slack.

"No... I can't die!" Yi Chen shook his head vigorously, forcing himself to stay awake.

Ssssss! A strange noise echoed.

Five meters away, the split head of a reanimated corpse stopped burning from the silver wound.

Fresh buds and tendrils sprouted from the wound, intertwining as they grew, forming a cluster of flowers at a 90-degree angle between the two halves, serving as its new head.

Fixating on Yi Chen once more, the corpse charged at him like a mindless beast.

Its body contorted, steps exaggerated, and the roots on its back flailed wildly.

Yi Chen had to rely on enhanced vision to track each swinging root, his eyes bloodshot from concentration as he rolled, sidestepped, and leaped back.

He seized every opening, striking back.

'7... 6... 5...'

Yi Chen severed the tendrils one by one, though his movements had slowed slightly due to the punctured foot and his useless left arm.

During this process, his waist and thighs suffered punctures and tears, and he could collapse at any moment.

"Only... two left."

Clenching his teeth, he prepared to dodge the next attack.

Buzz!

A ringing echoed in his ears, like drums pounding in his brain.

His vision blurred instantly, and he began to lose sensation in his body.

He attempted to dodge, but only managed halfway before he stumbled forward.

Swish!

The corpse's root grazed his right shoulder, narrowly missing, and sliced into the black fleshy ball on his shoulder.

A thick, strange black fluid oozed from the hairy wound, and the eyeball within was instantly dyed black, staring unblinkingly at the corpse.

With a single glance, the corpse felt a primal reaction.

*Fear.*

An intense instinctive fear immobilized the corpse.

At that very moment, Yi Chen, in a dazed state, stumbled forward yet somehow managed to stay upright... With sheer determination, he focused again.

Thoughts escaped him; he had only one goal— "Kill the target."

His handaxe was already raised, his body twisting as he swung with all his remaining strength, tapping into survival instincts.

He locked his gaze onto the bulging part of the corpse's waist.

Swoosh!

Driven by survival instincts, the roots on the corpse's back moved to protect this vital spot, hardening their surface.

The silver blade descended...

Crack!

The sound of breaking wood echoed across Cemetery No. 4.

Two hardened roots flew through the air, and the infected purulent mass beneath the skin was completely sliced open...

At the moment the strike finished, Yi Chen's willpower could no longer sustain him.

His vision went dark, and he collapsed to the ground alongside the corpse.

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