Chapter 239: Mighty Dave |
After Bai Mu finished off the Buckethead Zombie, he stripped off its suit, socks, and hole-ridden leather shoes, donning them himself. The outfit provided no bonus stats, and it was so tattered and foul-smelling that a normal person would vomit after just a couple of whiffs. However, it effectively masked his human scent, preventing him from drawing the attention of other Zombies.
His tolerance for foul odors and gruesome scenes had always been exceptionally high. If necessary, he would leap into a cesspit without a second thought. Wearing this putrid suit had absolutely no negative effect on him. Viewed from behind, he looked exactly like a Buckethead Zombie.
Relying on this disguise, he systematically slaughtered every Zombie he encountered along the way, using them to grind experience for his Secret Sword Art.
The Zombies were relatively sparse near Crazy Dave's backyard, but after walking for thirty minutes, he began encountering massive hordes.
One such group numbered in the dozens. Leading the pack was an ordinary Zombie carrying a red flag painted with a human brain and smeared with a bit of blood. The horde of Zombies trailed aimlessly behind this rallying banner.
Within these swarming masses, Bai Mu spotted not only the familiar Buckethead Zombies and Conehead Zombies, but also Football Zombies dressed in full gridiron gear and Screen Door Zombies clutching iron grates. The sheer variety of these undead mutations made it clear that these were much higher-level threats.
Because they moved in such tightly packed groups, taking them head-on was virtually impossible. At best, he could toss a few Cherry Bombs into the fray. However, kills secured by explosives wouldn't yield any experience points for his sword techniques, nor did these creatures drop any loot. Engaging them would be a complete waste of resources.
As a result, Bai Mu actively avoided the hordes. Relying on the telltale sounds of shuffling footsteps and low moans, he navigated through the dense fog in careful bursts. Whenever he stumbled upon a straggler, he swiftly cut it down, gleaning whatever meager experience points he could.
His journey proved perilous but ultimately safe. Even when he accidentally bumped into the dim-witted Zombies, his putrid disguise allowed him to bluff his way past them unnoticed.
An hour later, he was closing in on his destination. Crazy Dave's house was actually quite close to the target location. If the fog hadn't been so stifling, he figured he could have made the trek in just thirty minutes.
Currently, he was lying flat on the roof of a red house, cross-referencing his map. Below him, a massive horde of Zombies lumbered down the street. As Bai Mu studied the shifting silhouettes in the fog, something suddenly drifted toward him through the air.
The shadow startled him. The first thing he noticed was a bright red balloon. Dangling from its string was a diminutive, childlike Zombie with something resembling a bamboo dragonfly propeller jammed onto its head. It drifted right past Bai Mu's eyes. He truly hadn't expected the Zombies to boast an air force, let alone one this absurd, floating around on party balloons.
Bai Mu stayed low, silently watching the bizarre creature float away. He waited patiently for the horde to pass before climbing down from the roof and resuming his trek toward Mighty Dave's Auto Repair Shop.
It didn't take long for him to find the Auto Repair Shop. The place was fairly easy to spot, consisting of a single, modest repair bay. A bread van was parked inside with its doors locked shut. The faint scent of motor oil lingered in the air, and a spilled toolbox lay scattered across the workshop floor.
To his surprise, the workshop was completely devoid of Zombies. It was empty and eerily quiet. He approached the van without a hitch, unlocked it with the keys, and retrieved the Sunlight Sunflower resting on the backseat.
The smiling Sunflower was rooted securely in a flower pot. It radiated a comforting, warm aura when approached, and just like the other Garden Plants, it possessed distinctly human facial features.
Bai Mu cradled the Flower Pot in his arms. With this secured, his Main Quest was officially halfway complete.
Although he had reached this point with relative ease, it didn't mean this Script was simple. In truth, had he engaged in a direct confrontation with any of the roving Zombie patrols along the way, he would have been quickly swarmed by dozens of brawny undead.
This was especially true for the fully armored Football Zombies. They possessed the towering builds of professional athletes, and their sheer combat prowess was likely on par with a Charger. Bai Mu had only managed to traverse the area so smoothly because this type of urban survival environment was incredibly familiar to him.
Even so, his Stamina had still dropped by thirty percent, primarily drained from hacking down the scattered Zombies along his route.
After retrieving the Sunlight Sunflower and storing it safely in his inventory, he began searching the workshop for any traces of Mighty Dave. This Side Quest was entirely optional, but since he still had plenty of energy to spare, completing it would undoubtedly be beneficial.
There were no signs of blood in the workshop, but the place had been thoroughly ransacked. An uncapped drum of motor oil, a heavy wrench discarded on the floor, and a rolling shutter that had only been pulled halfway down...
It looked as though Mighty Dave had fled the scene in a severe panic. Bai Mu crouched down and pressed his hand against the discarded wrench. It still held a faint trace of residual body heat.
Using the trajectory of the spilled toolbox, he deduced the general direction Mighty Dave had gone. Stepping out through the workshop's back door, he found himself in a compact, apartment-style living space.
The moment he stepped inside, his eyes landed on several lifeless Zombie corpses. The room's door had been smashed completely off its hinges, and the windowpanes were shattered into glittering fragments. A heavily bent steel water pipe lay discarded on the floor, serving as grim evidence of the brutal, close-quarters brawl Mighty Dave had fought here.
After thoroughly sweeping the area, he failed to find Mighty Dave's body, but he did stumble upon a quest item.
[Name: Mighty Dave's Bandana]
[Type: Quest Item]
[Description: El Toro Fuerte never takes off his mask, and Mighty Dave never removes his bandana.]
Handing this item over to Crazy Dave would technically fulfill the requirement of finding clues about Mighty Dave's whereabouts.
However, Bai Mu wasn't satisfied with just this. Considering how quickly he had moved, he felt there was still a very real chance of rescuing Mighty Dave alive.
Sensing that the mechanic couldn't have gone far, Bai Mu quickened his pace and sprinted out into the dense fog. Within a few steps, the unmistakable sounds of a vicious brawl reached his ears. Groping his way through the mist, he stumbled upon rows of mangled Zombie corpses littering the roadside. Following this trail of carnage, he soon spotted a hulking behemoth of a man wielding a steel pipe, engaged in brutal, hand-to-hand combat with a swarm of undead. This man undeniably lived up to the name "Mighty" Dave; his frame was packed with bulging muscles. With a single, devastating swing of his pipe, he struck a Buckethead Zombie so hard that the bucket on its head spun rapidly like a top.
Despite his sheer strength, the man's condition was visibly deteriorating. He was gasping for air, his face drenched in sweat, as over a dozen Zombies forced him into the corner of a narrow alley. A massive Football Zombie suddenly lunged forward, tackling his leg and snapping its jagged teeth in a vicious attempt to tear a chunk out of his thigh. Before it could bite down, Mighty Dave grabbed the creature, hoisted it entirely off the ground with terrifying force, and violently suplexed it headfirst into the pavement behind him.
The man's sheer combat prowess was practically superhuman. He was absolutely worthy of the title "Mighty."
'The entire Dave family is completely insane,' Bai Mu mused to himself. Of course, he didn't just stand on the sidelines enjoying the show. Instead, he stealthily crept up behind the distracted horde. Unleashing his Secret Sword Art, he claimed a Zombie head with every single strike, ruthlessly carving a bloody path through the rear of the encirclement.