Watching the violator's trajectory, Jin Linyun understood at once. 'He's detected me and is planning to strike first.'
He couldn't monitor Qi Suian directly, but the Apocalypse Game reported the violator's position every half hour.
Based on this positional data, he had deduced the other man's intentions.
"Quiet!" he commanded the tier-three Mutated Zombie under his control.
In truth, his Spirit attribute wasn't high enough to completely control the tier-three Mutated Zombie.
However, thanks to an exploration reward from the Apocalypse Game, the zombie was obedient, even if he couldn't completely suppress its instincts.
This led to occasional, uncontrolled actions, but fortunately, they never jeopardized the bigger picture.
This time, however, he found the tier-three Mutated Zombie wasn't obeying him. On the contrary, it grew more agitated and even began to resist his control.
'What's going on? Don't tell me the violator is a zombie?' Jin Linyun wondered.
He knew nothing about the violator; the Apocalypse Game event description had been vague.
Just as he was puzzling over this, he abruptly felt something wrong with his own body.
He pulled up his status panel without hesitation, and his expression immediately soured.
At some point, the words "Mild Infection: 1%" had appeared next to his name.
"This is impossible! I haven't been scratched or bitten by a zombie. How could I be infected?!"
"It's the air!!"
"No, the violator is behind this!!!"
Jin Linyun hadn't become one of the top survivors by relying solely on his S-class Puppet Master talent; his own capabilities were a major asset.
If he had only relied on his talent, he wouldn't have survived this long.
Especially when it came to turning a Mutated Zombie into his puppet—that was impossible without considerable strategic planning.
'Did anyone really think this tier-three, dual-attribute Mutated Zombie just fell into his lap? He had gone through hell and back to acquire it.'
Therefore, he was immediately certain that his unexplained infection by the Profound Virus was inextricably linked to the violator.
"Damn it!" Without a moment's hesitation, Jin Linyun sent his tier-three Mutated Zombie to track the violator.
However, as the Profound Virus continued to spread through the air, even his tier-three Mutated Zombie grew frenzied and began struggling against his control.
Since his control wasn't absolute, there was a real possibility the tier-three Mutated Zombie could break free.
This was especially true now that the airborne contagion was making the Profound Virus within its body more active.
Before he could take further action, Jin Linyun noticed the commotion outside.
Many survivors were already beginning to turn. Jin Linyun was in a better position; he had a piece of equipment that slowed the progression of the Profound Virus infection, as well as a bottle of Secondary Profound Virus Serum.
As long as his infection level didn't reach a critical stage, he could use it to completely purge the Profound Virus from his system.
To get the most out of the serum, he would have to wait until his infection level hit 90% of the critical stage. He'd also need to be far from the epicenter of the infection first.
Otherwise, even if he cleansed himself of the virus, he would just get infected all over again.
The serum was a one-time cure; it didn't grant immunity. If he got reinfected, he'd have to find another dose.
As the chaos intensified, Jin Linyun knew the temporary alliance he had painstakingly built was finished.
'Worthy of a violator,' Jin Linyun thought, immediately fleeing with his tier-three Mutated Zombie.
At the same time, he checked the Apocalypse Game's event page for the violator hunt; the death toll was starting to climb.
Clearly, the Apocalypse Game had already registered the survivors who turned into zombies as "dead," which also confirmed that this was all the violator's doing.
'Now that I've lost my advantage, I have to run. Why would I stay here and wait to die?'
He managed to escape the infected area and was just breathing a sigh of relief. He had just taken out the Secondary Profound Virus Serum and was about to drink it when a bullet tore through his arm.
The vial of Secondary Profound Virus Serum slipped from his grasp from the combination of the impact and the searing pain, clattering to the ground.
Thankfully, the vial was sturdy and didn't shatter.
Before he could react, a shadowy beam of energy struck his tier-three Mutated Zombie.
In that instant, his link to the tier-three Mutated Zombie was severed. Right before his eyes, the zombie disintegrated into a cloud of carbonized particles.
Jin Linyun felt no anger or grief. He didn't even try to retrieve the Secondary Profound Virus Serum. Instead, his first instinct was to find cover and protect himself from further attacks.
He wasn't sure if it was the violator or other survivors.
After all, competition among survivors was common, and cases of them killing each other were not unheard of.
"I don't know who's out there, but we can talk this out!" Jin Linyun shouted.
His only answer was the THWACK of a bullet striking his cover.
He knew the cover wouldn't last long.
The thought had barely formed when he heard a sharp WHOOSH.
'A rocket launcher!' Jin Linyun was all too familiar with that sound.
He had once obtained a rocket launcher himself, but he'd abandoned it after the ammunition ran out.
A rocket launcher without ammunition was completely useless.
He could only throw himself forward with all his might. The cover behind him vaporized in the rocket's explosion, and the shockwave slammed into his back.
Searing pain spread through him. An agonized look on his face, he struggled to push himself up.
"Jin Linyun, right?"
A heavy, mechanical voice spoke. Jin Linyun looked up to see an Armored Man hoisting him into the air.
Right on cue, a notification from the Apocalypse Game sounded.
Now he could be certain: his attacker was the violator.
Jin Linyun cursed inwardly. 'How am I supposed to fight this?'
'The violator has armor, Floating Cannons, and a rocket launcher... the power gap is just too massive.'
He didn't consider himself among the absolute top-tier of survivors, but he was certainly high-level. And yet, before this person, he was completely powerless.
"I... I..." Jin Linyun tried to speak, but the moment he opened his mouth, blood gushed from it and his nose, choking his words.
"Don't bother. I recognize you. You're one of the powerhouses among the survivors."
"Don't worry, you aren't the first powerful survivor I've killed, and you won't be the last."
"But you can't die just yet," Qi Suian said calmly. He injected Jin Linyun with a heavily diluted antidote to purge the Profound Virus from his system.
Now that he had captured him alive, he was quite interested in Jin Linyun's S-class Puppet Master talent.
Any talent that reached S-class was anything but ordinary.