"Damn it, neighbor! It's a Giant Zombie!"
Dave appeared out of nowhere, holding two flower pots. The pots contained a Garden Plant that Bai Mu had never seen before. Judging by their color and shape, they were a type of corn—large potted corn that resembled catapults. They were about the same size as a Peashooter, both standing half a meter tall.
"If only it were night, I could call out the Doom-shroom for help!" exclaimed Dave.
"Neighbor, help me stall the Giant Zombie! I have to set up the Cob Cannon with the Kernel-pults! Otherwise, our house is going to be destroyed!"
[Main Quest Updated: Help Dave prepare the Cob Cannon and kill the Giant Zombie.]
[Countdown until Cob Cannon is ready to fire: 60.00 seconds.]
[Countdown until Cob Cannon is ready to fire: 59.23 seconds.]
...
An unexpected variable had occurred. After Bai Mu repelled the entire zombie horde, the expected sequence of events did not trigger. He did not receive Dave's usual praise and comforting words, the Script did not conclude, and he was not sent back to the Community.
A new enemy was rushing to the battlefield, an anomaly so unprecedented that Paradise had actually altered the hazard rating of the Script mid-mission.
"A Giant Zombie..."
Before the creature even came into view, its presence was announced by the sheer noise it made.
This monster was entirely different from the petty undead he had just dealt with. They could not even be mentioned in the same breath.
He heard a furious roar echoing from the distance. The low, oppressive sound was like a massive boulder crashing down from the heavens.
The ground trembled slightly. It was not the violent shaking of an earthquake; rather, it felt like a multi-ton truck rumbling down the adjacent street, its heavy engine humming as it crushed the asphalt beneath its tires.
As that colossal weight bore down, even the tiny pebbles by the roadside seemed to tremble in fear.
This was undoubtedly a heavyweight zombie, in the most literal sense of the word.
In that moment, the image of a terrifying monster flashed through Bai Mu's mind.
It was one of the few Mutants that had ever brought him perilously close to death's door.
Even after many years, Bai Mu had never forgotten the heart-pounding terror of that encounter.
He had run into that towering, three-meter-tall behemoth on his way back to his hometown. The encounter took place at a power station. He had been running low on gas at the time and was just looking to scavenge some supplies.
Because of the profound impression this horrifying creature left on him, Bai Mu had named it the "Iron Skeleton" based on its physical traits.
True to its name, the Iron Skeleton had multiple mutated areas across its body that formed a material as hard as steel. That metallic luster was fused directly to its bones. It was not a monster mutated from a human, but rather a rare silverback gorilla, likely an escapee from a local zoo.
At the time, Bai Mu only had a couple of handguns. The pistol rounds were practically useless against the Iron Skeleton. It charged right through the hail of bullets, sprinting straight at Bai Mu as it roared, chunks of fresh flesh still wedged between its teeth.
The Iron Skeleton bounded forward on all fours like the ape it was. When it ran, the steel frameworks of the entire power station vibrated with its every movement.
Being targeted by it felt exactly like the Grim Reaper chasing you down with a scythe. You could clearly sense that your death was imminent—an indescribable, primal fear rooted in the deepest depths of your DNA.
Bai Mu had nearly been torn to shreds by the Iron Skeleton, but in the end, he managed to survive through a mix of sheer luck and absolute composure.
He found the gasoline he was looking for and, using himself as bait during the chase, lured the Iron Skeleton into the power station's incineration room. Utilizing the roaring flames of the ignited gasoline and the weakened steel scaffolding, he burned the beast to death right then and there.
Its steel-like skin could not protect it from the extreme heat, but even so, the fire raged for a full half-hour before the creature finally stopped thrashing and fell silent.
Bai Mu still remembered that grueling half-hour. He had hung from the highest light fixture, listening to the frantic roaring and the deafening sounds of the beast smashing everything in sight. He had been drenched in a cold sweat. By the time he returned to his vehicle, his arms and legs were shaking uncontrollably from severe muscle fatigue.
This Giant Zombie had not even shown its face yet, but it was already giving Bai Mu the exact same feeling he had experienced when facing the Iron Skeleton.
However, he was no longer the man he had been back then. He was far more mature, significantly calmer, and infinitely more experienced in combat.
If he were thrown into the exact same environment to face the Iron Skeleton under the same conditions again, he knew he could handle everything with chilling composure. The ultimate victor would still be him.
Judging by the prompt from Paradise, his task was merely to stall the Giant Zombie.
It seemed his exceptional performance had triggered some sort of "hidden score" mechanic within Paradise, intentionally ramping up the difficulty.
But as the saying goes, fortune favors the bold. The rules of Paradise dictated that higher risks yielded greater returns; the harder the mission, the richer the reward. Since he would inevitably have to face situations like this sooner or later, his job was not to complain, but to adapt and overcome.
A turbulent mind could never help you defeat an enemy; only the weapon in your hand could do that.
Within seconds, he analyzed his objectives. The Cob Cannon required sixty seconds to deploy, and the Giant Zombie would take thirty seconds to reach the battlefield. He only needed to stall the creature for thirty seconds before Dave's cannon could blast the monstrosity into oblivion.
Out on the lawn, Dave was already making his preparations. He swiftly dug up two Kernel-pults with his shovel. At the same time, he excavated two fresh holes in the mud, one behind the other, and replanted the two Kernel-pults firmly in the grass.
Following that, he pulled out several mirrors from his jacket. They were typical girls' vanity mirrors, three in total. He utilized their reflective surfaces to gather scattered sunlight for the Garden Plants.
"Damn it! If only the Sunflower was here! I really shouldn't have left the Sunflower in the car!" Dave grumbled.
The middle-aged man, who was literally wearing a saucepan on his head, proceeded to fish out a pile of utterly baffling tools from his seemingly magical pockets.
These items included a watering can, chemical products that looked like fertilizer, and a half-eaten chocolate peanut energy bar.
Alright, the energy bar probably had nothing to do with the Cob Cannon. Dave simply stuffed the remaining half into his mouth in one bite and got to work.
From Bai Mu's perspective, Dave was just wiggling his butt while watering the Kernel-pults and tossing fertilizer around. It looked suspiciously like some bizarre religious ritual.
"Do you need any help with the preparations, Dave?" Bai Mu asked.
"Just don't let the Giant Zombie bother the Kernel-pults!" Dave replied. "That's what we need you to do!"
When it came to actually preparing the cannon, there really didn't seem to be anything Bai Mu could contribute.
The answer was clear then. He silently slung his three guns over his back, stepped out from beneath the eaves of the roof, and positioned himself directly in front of Dave.
The thirty-second countdown ended. A massive, deformed monstrosity marched forward with heavy, thunderous steps, stopping right before the mountain of corpses.
Its skin was just as dull and gray as an ordinary zombie's, but it stood at least three meters tall. The muscles across its entire body were knotted and bulging, looking like overinflated balloons on the verge of popping. Its deep red eyes were completely bloodshot.
In its hand, it gripped a massive utility pole. It had clearly been snapped clean off the side of the road, with twisted steel rebar and jagged concrete jutting out from the broken end.
Clinging to its back was a much smaller zombie, sporting an eerie, unnerving grin.
Standing before it, Bai Mu appeared incredibly insignificant, yet he merely met its gaze with an icy, indifferent stare.
Bang! A gunshot rang out. One of those deep red eyeballs caved in from the bullet's impact, bursting and spraying viscous fluids into the air.
A roar of agony and fury immediately followed. The Giant Zombie clutched its ruined eye with one hand while frantically swinging the utility pole with the other. The piled-up zombie corpses were smashed and sent flying by the sweeping blows. It charged toward Bai Mu like a total madman, the very earth shaking beneath its heavy footsteps.
Its sheer presence was certainly intimidating, but to Bai Mu, its movements appeared incredibly clumsy and foolish. Its agility was nowhere near that of the Iron Skeleton; it was nothing but an empty shell of brute force.
Bai Mu calmly lured it toward the opposite side of the garden. He raised the shotgun in his hands, aiming the thick 12-gauge barrel directly at the creature's head.
Boom!
The gunshot sounded like rolling thunder. It was like a heavy iron hammer smashing violently against the drum skin of the air itself.
A bright, orange-red fireball burst from the muzzle, briefly illuminating everything in the vicinity.
Dust and fallen leaves scattered across the ground. A thick, pungent scent of gunpowder smoke drifted from the barrel and the ejection port. It was the distinct smell of burning sulfur—a scent that filled him with a profound sense of reassurance.