Matthew advanced, dragging the iron bar. His target was a zombie cat the size of a Doberman. In his eyes, it was just a mutant feline, yet he wasn't reckless and approached step by step through the dark night as the zombie cat devoured a rat the size of a rabbit. The rat squealed loudly as its flesh was torn from its body.
The sound of the metal scraping across the crumbling pavement didn't distract the zombie cat. After all, it was still a low-level zombie, and what was approaching was another zombie.
The instant he reached the zombie cat's side, Matthew slowly raised the metal bar above his head and swiftly brought it down. The metal struck the ground, and the zombie cat, who had reflexively dodged the attack, continued eating the entrails of the rat, which had stopped squealing. What happened was pure instinct, as if the zombie cat had simply dodged a falling object, which is why it paid no attention to Matthew, who had moved closer, raised the metal bar, and stabbed the zombie cat in the head, stopping it from eating the rat.
In the end, the zombie cat was still a low-level zombie. As if mocking the previous scene, now Matthew was the one devouring the cat's entrails and body.
With his strong teeth, he crushed even the bones, tearing them out with each bite.
Bloody and putrid liquid dripped to the ground, but he no longer felt disgust or resentment as he devoured zombies to improve his own body.
When he had devoured most of the zombie cat's body, notifications appeared. [Sense of hearing has improved]
[Host's spine has evolved]
[Coins: 7 brains]
Matthew didn't have time to rejoice. He grabbed his metal bar and ran towards a ruined building, hiding in a corner.
Outside, the powerful flapping of the creature's wings could be heard as it began to patrol the surroundings.
"I think that thing appears when I devour other zombies. Does it detect the upgrades the system offers me?"
Although that question appeared in Matthew's mind and was an indirect question to the system, the system didn't respond. In the end, he decided to consider for the moment that the creature was capable of perceiving the upgrades the system granted him each time he devoured a zombie.
Hours passed, and when the danger had subsided, Matthew left the building that had sheltered him and continued exploring the surrounding area. This time, he entered a building that sold various tools for the home and other purposes. He took one of the knives he found, just one, because the rest were excessively rusted.
"Stainless steel," he thought as he gripped the knife.
Then he continued exploring the surroundings for hours on end, finding only more of the same. There were no survivors, and most things in the city were dilapidated, making it clear that the city had been abandoned for decades or more.
Matthew decided he would leave the city in two days. He wanted to explore the outside world and find zombies that were easy to hunt and that would provide him with upgrades. "I think the scarcity of zombies above rank F is due to this ruined city having been abandoned for a long time."
Matthew entered a small building and waited for the night to end; that night the flying creature had circled over the city.
At dawn, without letting his guard down, he checked that there were no potential threats and left the small building to finish exploring the rest of the city.
...
Hours passed, and he thought he wouldn't find anything useful. It was after midday when he came across a sort of armory. Inside, there were weapons deteriorated by time, but also a jet-black spear, which he didn't hesitate to take. It was a rather heavy spear, so it wouldn't be very useful at the moment, but he still didn't want to leave it behind because he believed it would be very useful to him in the future.
He heard a noise coming from the back of the armory. There, he found a chained zombie, and nearby were some keys. The zombie's body was robust but not very tall, with long hair and a beard, now quite dirty.
"The dwarf race, like in some fantasy books I read before arriving in this hellhole. Apparently, he was a blacksmith. He chained himself up so as not to hurt anyone," Matthew thought as he looked at the deteriorated body of the Dwarf zombie, [rank F+].
That a zombie with such a deteriorated body was still rank F+ was a sign.
Matthew didn't even hesitate and began devouring the zombie, who didn't even put up a fight.