Xu An was the first to react among the four. She shouted towards Zhou Haimei's direction.
"Mei Jie, be careful!"
As the words fell, Zhou Haimei narrowly dodged another axe thrown by the behemoth.
Xu An couldn't help but curse, "Damn, how many axes does this thing have on it?"
As the monster emerged from the shadows of the stone pillar, its massive form was gradually revealed.
The colossal body was actually formed by countless piles of corpse fragments, as if assembled with LEGO bricks.
Xu An's scalp tingled, and she immediately recalled a post-apocalyptic movie she had seen before the apocalypse. It featured a giant monster that liked to use axes, but that monster had a thick bandage wrapped around its head. That one was much more pleasant to look at compared to the thing in front of her.
But just as Xu An shouted, the behemoth, which appeared to move slowly, surprisingly possessed agile speed.
In an instant, a withered, rotten hand claw, much larger than that of a normal person, appeared before Xu An, scything past her scalp with the stench of decaying flesh.
Without a moment's hesitation, Xu An drew her saber and slashed at the monster before her.
If she had hesitated for another second, she would have been decapitated by now.
After dodging the attack, she didn't stop, continuing to deal with the zombie in front of her. However, she was alone and outnumbered, and how could she be a match for this monster? For a time, she was forced to retreat step by step.
"Stop freezing, hurry up and help!"
Xu An, mustering all her strength, managed to withstand a blow from the giant zombie. After catching her breath, she quickly called out to the other three.
After a period of recovery, Zhou Haimei and Lin Zhuoran had already regained their composure.
They simply hadn't found an opportunity to act. Xu An and the monster were locked in a fierce struggle, and Zhou Haimei feared that instead of helping Xu An, she would become a hindrance.
Hearing Xu An's call now, Zhou Haimei didn't hesitate and immediately joined the fray.
Lin Zhuoran, with the same thought as Zhou Haimei, followed closely and also joined the battle.
Only Yu Qin watched the monster before her, her legs trembling uncontrollably.
She couldn't even stand up on her own. Yu Qin had never felt so useless, so incapable.
When danger arrived, not only could she not help, but she would also cause trouble for others. Yu Qin lay on the ground, crying helplessly.
Xu An had no time to deal with the fragile and sensitive emotions of a young girl. Her own life was on the line, so she had no energy to think about anything else.
She saw Yu Qin still lying on the ground, her brows furrowed. She didn't expect Yu Qin to help her, but she just hoped the girl wouldn't cause her any trouble.
"Get out of the way!" After Xu An blocked another attack directed at Yu Qin with her shoulder.
Xu An seemed unable to hold back any longer, her tone carrying a hint of sharpness.
"Go hide somewhere else, don't stay here."
With that said, Xu An continued to wield her long saber, firmly drawing the monster's attention onto herself.
They hadn't refrained from using firearms, but they were useless against the monster.
Xu An had tested it a few times and found that this monster seemed somewhat impervious to both blades and bullets.
Just as Xu An was about to risk revealing it and take out her laser gun, she suddenly noticed that when Zhou Haimei attacked, the monster would instinctively shield its eyes.
Normal zombies wouldn't have this subconscious reflex to dodge.
Xu An took a few steps forward, making a motion similar to a run-up. As she ran, she shouted to Zhou Haimei.
"Mei Jie, help me."
As if they shared a telepathic connection, Zhou Haimei immediately understood what Xu An was planning. She half-squatted down, and Xu An didn't waste the three seconds Lin Zhuoran had bought them.
She took a large stride, stepping onto Zhou Haimei's raised knee, and then, with the momentum of her run-up, she actually took several steps in mid-air before slashing directly at the monster's eyes with her long saber.
Just as Xu An had predicted, the giant monster cried out in pain and retreated three steps, its withered, skeletal palm covering its eyes.
And within Xu An's space, the long dormant Space Tree stirred again.
The Space Tree informed Xu An that there was a glowing mushroom inside the monster's head.
This time, Xu An attacked with even more vigor. After all, she hadn't encountered this mushroom in a long time. Furthermore, Xu An now knew that this mushroom might be related to the reborn individuals on the lighthouse.
All these reasons caused Xu An to fight with increasing ferocity.
And the giant zombie monster, after its eyes were disabled, seemed to have its vital point struck.
Not only did its movements become sluggish, but its originally massive body began to disintegrate.
The rotten flesh fragments fell like leaves from tree branches, scattering across the ground.
As the corpse fragments gradually fell away, the original form of the massive zombie was gradually revealed.
It was a creature that resembled a monkey, its entire body covered in a scarlet hue.
After seeing it, Lin Zhuoran couldn't help but let out a startled cry.
Yu Qin fainted from sheer terror, while Zhou Haimei turned to look at Xu An. Their gazes met in the air, and they understood the information in each other's eyes.
"This thing should be what they're looking for, the mutated one?"
Xu An knew very well that Weng Quan wasn't looking for a mutated monster, but rather the little mushroom in its mind that caused the mutation.
However, Xu An did not expose Weng Quan's "lies" to her on the lighthouse.
When they came down, Weng Quan and the others had instructed them that due to the ferocity and savagery of the mutated creatures, they could be decapitated after being killed, and their heads could be placed into the specially made mustard seed spaces of the lighthouse.
When Xu An heard Weng Quan mention the mustard seed space, she was momentarily startled, thinking her own space had been exposed.
But only after he took out a uniquely shaped ring from the pocket of his white coat did she feel relieved.
The mustard seed space provided by the lighthouse was in no way comparable to Xu An's own space.
It was a space of less than ten square meters. Due to the instability of the materials, there were no special preservation or time-stagnation skills within it.
In fact, due to the instability of the space, there was even a possibility of items being lost from it.
The space existed within that small ring, and Xu An had to manually press a switch to store items within it.
After understanding the full capabilities of the mustard seed space, Xu An was finally relieved. It seemed her own space truly surpassed the technological level of this world and was unparalleled.
"An An, should we...?"
Zhou Haimei said, her eyes darting towards Lin Zhuoran.
No matter how much she trusted her friends, their positions were different now.
The items they carried were too advanced for the survivors on land.
Zhou Haimei wasn't a naive sweet girl. Simply because someone claimed to be Xu An's friend did not mean she could let down her guard against them.