Fortunately, the citizen closest to the zombie was not weak in strength and reaction.

Although he did not have time to dodge and fell backward, he managed to put his hands on the ground and close his legs concurrently. Like a rocket, he kicked himself into the air and hit the zombie’s chest.

With a muffled crack, the zombie’s chest caved in visibly. He bounced back and flopped heavily to the ground like a kite with a broken string.

However, before the frightened citizens could disperse, the hollow-chested zombie stood up again. His eyes protruded out of his sockets, his mouth was split open from ear to ear, and more thorns spewed out from the depths of his throat. The dancing tentacles release a faint but nauseating and scalp-tingling sound.

Sizzle sizzle, sizzle sizzle…

That was the most difficult part of dealing with the zombie.

Perhaps, a zombie that mutated from an ordinary person did not have too strong an attack power.

However, his melee skills were definitely top-notch.

What was worse, there was more than one zombie now.

In just half a minute, ordinary citizens numbering in the two digits, at the very least, had been scratched or bitten by the rat-type monsters while fighting.

In the beginning, no one paid any attention to the superficial wounds.

Oftentimes, before they could even squeeze out the pus and sterilize their wounds, they would enter a new round of battle. In the process of punching and kicking, they would speed up the circulation of their blood, causing the terrifying zombie virus to instantly invade their blood, spinal cord, central nervous system, and cerebral cortex.

In the blink of an eye, the wounds of these citizens resembled that of the first citizen who had undergone a mutation, turning black, purple, and swollen.

Black and purple lines appeared around their wounds like the tentacles of a demon. They moved as fast as lightning, crawling all the way up to their distorted faces while they were in fear and pain.

A large amount of inky viscous liquid spurted out from the depths of their pupils continuously. Soon, it flowed out of their eyes and merged with the vile lines that flowed from their wounds.

Within three to five seconds, no more than ten seconds, a zombie that did not have a mind of his own but the most primitive appetite was born.

If it were just the zombies, humans could still deal with it.

But do not forget, the biggest threat at the moment was the rat tide!

Soon enough, both superhumans and ordinary citizens discovered that the rat tide was strange and terrifying!

Clearly, ordinary rat-type monsters did not form the rat tide. Instead, they were undead creatures with Blood Flower spores in their bodies!

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

All of a sudden, dozens of rat monster carcasses that had been burned to ashes and shrunken black masses suddenly exploded like landmines.

From the dismembered rat-type monster carcasses, clusters of blurry red mist spewed out.

The red mist seemed to have its own will. It was terrifying as it aimed for the heads of the surrounding citizens.

All the ordinary citizens who inhaled the red mist felt as if they had been scratched and bitten by the rat-type monsters. While they coughed violently, “ink” gushed out of their pupils, and their bodies began to swell and fester. Clusters of thorns and tentacles grew out from their wounds and their throats, turning them into zombies in an instant!

“How did this happen?”

“We destroyed the zombie virus and won the Monster War!”

“Has the virus always existed and the war never ended?”

Under the double impact of the rat tide and the zombie virus, the highly-organized and orderly crowd finally became chaotic and showed signs of caving in.

Since their victory in the Monster War, the citizens of Dragon City had enjoyed a good year of peace and tranquility.

On one hand, the precious peace soothed the humans’ physical and mental wounds, allowing them to devote all their strength to urban reconstruction and economic construction. That made their civilization better and more prosperous.

On the other hand, one year of peace had unknowingly eroded their will to fight, especially among most ordinary citizens. That led them to lower their vigilance, giving them the illusion that the nightmare had passed and peace could last forever.

After all, not everyone was a cultivation and combat maniac like Meng Chao.

He was willing to ravage his nerves, muscles, and bones and plunge half of his body into a monster’s throat. Before the monster’s fangs could cut him in half, he would have stabbed the monster’s heart into pieces.

To most ordinary citizens, having a stable job, a warm family, and a normal but happy life was enough.

As a result, many people lost their will to fight in peaceful times. They forgot how to deal with the beast horde and zombies that suddenly appeared at the center of the city.

So, they did not do well. A year after the end of the Monster War, they were seeing flesh and blood flying everywhere, bones protruding, and organs exploding once again. The number of casualties instantly exceeded a hundred.

However, the biggest impact that people suffered was not on a physical level.

It was on a mental level.

Commanders with rich combat experience often knew that when an army was exhausted to the limit after a long journey, they would immediately give the order to attack.

As long as the army was well-trained, the soldiers would often be able to withstand the pressure of fatigue and hunger. They would overdraw their lives, break through their limits, and complete their mission.

Conversely, if they were allowed to sit down and rest, even if it was only for ten to twenty minutes, they would be done for.

When the soldiers’ muscles and nerves that had been stretched to the limit suddenly relaxed and entered a resting state, their fatigue would flood their bodies and brains like a tide.

At that moment, no matter how talented the commander was, how prestigious he was, or how undefeated he was, it would be impossible for his army that had already let its guard down to instantly return to a tense state. They would throw themselves into an incomparably cruel battle.

Therefore, if any commander wanted his soldiers, who had gone beyond their limits after a long journey or a series of battles, to enter a resting state, he would have to repeatedly scout the area and carefully ensure that his army would not be ambushed by the enemy during the resting process.

The current Dragon City had just enjoyed a year of victory and peace. It was just like an army that was in the process of resting.

Many citizens had grown tired of the protracted war. All they wanted was to rest and enjoy a peaceful life ahead of them.

In the past few decades, to boost morale and stabilize order, the Survival Committee and the Supernatural Tower had repeatedly instilled in all citizens that the Monster War was the final war, and the monsters were humanity’s greatest enemy. As long as the monsters were eliminated, the Other World would become a paradise for humanity.

However, the scene in front of them completely shattered that overly optimistic idea in a cruel way.