Xu Li's brow twitched, filled with disappointment at Zhou Zheng's shot.
Zhou Zheng, however, offered no explanation. He calmly held his gun, continuing to target the Toxic Corpse. He had no intention of explaining to Xu Li that he was testing the damage inflicted on different parts of the Toxic Corpse to gather data for future encounters.
Without any damage indicators, Zhou Zheng could only rely on speculation to determine the extent of the damage.
Using firearms, his own attributes couldn't enhance the damage.
Beside him, Zhou An and Lan Xi blushed for Zhou Zheng.
Dealing with Toxic Corpses required a one-hit kill, giving them no chance. The danger of Toxic Corpses lay in their fearlessness; once they spotted a target, they would relentlessly attack until the target was devoured, leaving only a pool of blood.
Sound could agitate the Toxic Corpses into a frenzy. Just like now, the Toxic Corpse that had been slowly approaching the checkpoint suddenly accelerated after Zhou Zheng's shot, stumbling forward with a roar, its claws and teeth bared, ferocious and terrifying.
Ignoring the strange looks from others, Zhou Zheng squinted his eyes, locking onto the weak spot on the Toxic Corpse's forehead.
"Bang..."
Another shot rang out, the bullet whistling through the air, instantly hitting the Toxic Corpse's head.
Zhou Zheng's keen eyes saw the bullet strike the decaying skin of the Toxic Corpse, flesh shattering and splattering. The bullet vanished into the forehead, and the Toxic Corpse fell backward, its head hitting the road heavily.
The health bar above the Toxic Corpse's head emptied as it collapsed.
[Ding, you gained 100 experience points.]
A crisp, pleasant notification sounded in Zhou Zheng's mind.
Upon hearing this notification, Zhou Zheng momentarily lost himself, then his face broke into an ecstatic smile.
Venturing out of the city was all about proving that experience could be gained from Toxic Corpses and Mutant Beasts. Now that his hypothesis was confirmed, Zhou Zheng knew exactly what it meant. Though he was currently weak, with the attributes of a level 1 Rogue being quite poor, as long as he could level up, the future would be incredibly bright.
Just one of the lowest-level Toxic Corpses had unexpectedly given him 100 experience points.
Weak point attacks often dealt double damage, which was why Zhou Zheng could kill a Toxic Corpse with a single shot.
Murmuring "Character Attributes," he saw a noticeable change in the experience points section.
[Experience: 100/500]
Everything was just like in the game, familiar and unchanged.
Zhou Zheng, who had been somewhat lacking in confidence and anxious, suddenly became incredibly self-assured, his demeanor transforming. If the previous Zhou Zheng made people feel frustrated with his lack of progress, the current Zhou Zheng exuded a sense of confidence and readiness.
The speed of the stumbling Toxic Corpses wasn't slow, only slightly less than a normal person's running speed.
Without further thought, Zhou Zheng activated "Weakness Scan" again.
Weakness Scan had a cooldown of 6 seconds, making it a relatively fast-cooling auxiliary skill.
Under Weakness Scan, this Toxic Corpse also revealed more than a dozen red points. The difference was that some of these red points had shifted locations, but the head and joints remained unchanged.
This showed that each Toxic Corpse had both common and unique weak points, and they couldn't be generalized.
Taking a deep breath, the gunfire resumed.
Among the six stumbling Toxic Corpses in the distance, the lead one had its head burst into a spray of greenish liquid, splattering into the air, and fell backward. With double damage, its health bar was instantly emptied.
Experience points increased by another 100.
Without waiting for the Weakness Scan to cool down, Zhou Zheng adjusted his aim slightly and fired again.
The bullet hit the Toxic Corpse's shoulder, tearing off a piece of decayed flesh and ripping away a piece of its severely deteriorated clothing. Beneath the decayed flesh, its collarbone was even exposed. The Toxic Corpse paused momentarily from the hit, then resumed its "woo woo" sounds, stumbling forward.
Zhou Zheng sighed, shaking his head with a wry smile.
"It seems my marksmanship still needs honing. At this stage, there's nothing better than using a gun for attack."
Against low-level Toxic Corpses, the damage from firearms was sufficient to handle them. Their defense and health, as long as the weak points were hit, resulted in almost instant kills with double damage.
Zhou Zheng took three shots to finally hit the head of the third Toxic Corpse.
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Watching the Toxic Corpse's skull being blown off by the bullet's power, Zhou Zheng, with memories of his past life, felt no fear, only a sense of tension and novelty. No matter what, the danger of Toxic Corpses was like that of a venomous snake; if scratched or bitten, the virus from the Toxic Corpses in this apocalypse was incurable, leading to a terrifying fate.
Xu Li squinted slightly, tilting his head, and softly said, "Prepare, Toxic Corpses are within twenty meters, take them down."
Zhou Zheng's marksmanship was average, not outstanding in the Siege City.
As a martial artist, the enhanced reflexes and strength made every martial artist's marksmanship precise, which was their advantage. This also meant that in the New World, there were plenty of sharpshooters. Zhou Zheng's marksmanship might have been impressive before the New World, but here, it was just ordinary.
Xu Li's command was due to his lack of confidence in Zhou Zheng.
The time it took to kill three Toxic Corpses allowed them to advance to about a hundred meters.
Lan Xi and Zhou An silently drew their alloy blades from their waists, positioning themselves protectively beside Zhou Zheng.
"The third one, 300 experience, 200 more to level up."
Zhou Zheng calculated, locking onto one of the remaining four Toxic Corpses with his gun and pulling the trigger.
The recently killed Toxic Corpses were all level 1, while the remaining ones were level 2, with significantly enhanced abilities. Zhou Zheng didn't know how the New World classified the levels of Toxic Corpses; his classification was purely based on their abilities.
At a hundred meters, Zhou Zheng was confident he could kill them before they got within twenty meters.
The magazine of the Type 03 held 30 rounds, enough for burst fire.
Using the technique from his memory, Zhou Zheng executed a three-round burst.
The three bullets, almost in a line, were fired with minimal recoil, making the shots highly concentrated. Every shooter favored this kind of three-round burst, as it conserved ammunition while achieving maximum effectiveness.
The level 2 Toxic Corpse couldn't withstand the bullet's power either.
In the three-round burst, the first two bullets hit the weak point on the head, with only one bullet missing.
The health bar above its head emptied instantly, signifying the end of this Toxic Corpse's twisted life form, as it plunged headfirst into the ground. Its stumbling momentum caused it to roll several times before finally coming to a halt, motionless.
"120 experience points?"
Compared to the level 1 Toxic Corpses, it was an increase of 20 experience points, which was quite substantial.
"Just 80 more experience points, and I'll level up."
Of course, based on Zhou Zheng's gaming experience, he knew that these low-level Toxic Corpses couldn't always provide this level of experience. As Zhou Zheng's level increased, the experience gained would decrease until it provided none at all. Meanwhile, leveling up would require more experience.
It's a cycle.
Proofreader & Editor: Peter Pan