Using supernatural characteristics as bait, even Xia Xuebing was tempted. But after a moment's thought, she realized she didn't have transformation abilities, so even if she obtained supernatural characteristics, she couldn't use them.

Give them to Green Little Grass?

Xia Xuebing silently shook her head. Through her observations during this period, she had seen through Green Little Grass's character—he couldn't be called a bad person, but he wasn't exactly good either. It was fine to use Green Little Grass, but she shouldn't develop emotional attachments, otherwise she would definitely be disappointed.

She looked at the bald soldier. The other party was very bold, so it wasn't surprising that he voluntarily stepped forward.

When the base was first established, the bald soldier already had over ten people under his command. Even Black Bear had to try to win him over.

If the bald soldier's transformation ability wasn't so weak—merely turning into a rooster—he would definitely have a position among the base leaders!

There were several other transformers among the soldiers. They hesitated, wanting the supernatural characteristics, but felt that Li Xuan wouldn't give them the good ones. After all, Li Xuan himself was an ability user, and he had two transformers by his side.

The supernatural characteristics offered as reward might be like the ones Scar Tiger had absorbed—characteristics that provided no combat enhancement, only auxiliary functions.

Their transformation abilities weren't strong to begin with—otherwise they wouldn't be ordinary soldiers. Absorbing an auxiliary supernatural characteristic wouldn't change their current situation.

Risking their lives for an auxiliary characteristic simply wasn't worth it!

But when the bald soldier stepped forward, making them miss this opportunity, they still felt regret in their hearts.

Xia Xuebing ordered, "Give him our best armor!"

The bald soldier took off his deformed armor and changed into intact armor. His ordinary large machete was also replaced with the Tang sword from Xia Xuebing's hand.

The reason he stepped forward was precisely for the supernatural characteristics.

Different from the other ability-user soldiers' thinking, he believed auxiliary characteristics could also be useful. Only by obtaining one characteristic first could he more easily obtain supernatural characteristics later.

If he missed this opportunity, he didn't know when he'd get another chance to obtain supernatural characteristics!

After preparing everything, the bald soldier grasped his sword and slowly walked toward the cave.

Whoosh~

As soon as the bald soldier took his first step inside, he took a deep breath, every muscle in his body tensing, his heartstrings pulled tight.

A faint wind blew from deep within the cave, carrying a slight smell of gunpowder and stench.

Thump~

The sound of footsteps was clearly audible.

The bald soldier knew in his heart that if the Human-Faced Malicious Tiger was still alive, it must have noticed him by now.

He tightened his grip on the Tang sword, sweat beads oozing from his palm.

Advancing bit by bit, broken white bones appeared in his field of vision.

The bones were severely shattered, making it impossible to tell whether they were human or animal bones, but the bald soldier knew clearly that most were human bones.

Compared to animals, zombies preferred eating humans.

As for why? How would he know—this came from official data.

As he went deeper, the shattered bones became more numerous, with bone fragments on the ground, walls, and even the ceiling.

Finally, the bald soldier reached the end, where a black mass appeared in his vision, its surface covered with a charred substance.

The Human-Faced Malicious Tiger!

The bald soldier silently swallowed hard, his eyes fixed intently on the Human-Faced Malicious Tiger on the ground.

One minute.

Two minutes.

The Human-Faced Malicious Tiger remained completely still, as if truly dead.

The bald soldier didn't rashly advance. Instead, he took two throwing knives from his waist, aimed at the Human-Faced Malicious Tiger, and threw them forcefully.

Whoosh~

The knives cut through the air and embedded themselves in the Human-Faced Malicious Tiger's body.

The Human-Faced Malicious Tiger still showed no movement.

The bald soldier murmured quietly, "Is it really dead?"

He bent down, staring directly at the Human-Faced Malicious Tiger, picked up some broken bone fragments from the ground, and threw them at the tiger.

"Too bad, I don't believe you're dead."

Stones, bones—anything that could be thrown was picked up by the bald soldier and hurled at the Human-Faced Malicious Tiger.

The tiger's fur was already charred, so stones and bones could still cause some damage to it.

After countless throws, when the Human-Faced Malicious Tiger's body was nearly smashed to pieces, it suddenly moved, letting out a low roar as it charged at the bald soldier.

"I knew you weren't dead!" The bald soldier pulled a small explosive from his chest.

This was a small explosive specially made for him by the Top Student. It wasn't very powerful but could produce a loud noise.

He threw the small explosive. The moment the Human-Faced Malicious Tiger saw it, human-like fear appeared in its eyes.

Boom!

The explosion echoed through the cave, shattered bones vibrated, and gravel on the ground jumped up from the shock.

Seizing the opportunity, the bald soldier advanced instead of retreating, striding forward and swinging his Tang sword at the Human-Faced Malicious Tiger.

Crack!

A cold light flashed.

This time, his blade successfully cut into the Human-Faced Malicious Tiger's flesh, hitting bone for real!

At this moment, the Human-Faced Malicious Tiger was in extremely poor condition—its skin completely charred, exposing blackened muscles, with some parts missing flesh entirely, leaving bones exposed to the air.

It swung its front paw, trying to infect the bald soldier.

Thud!

The front paw missed. At the critical moment, the bald soldier transformed into a rooster, his body shrinking, narrowly avoiding disaster.

The rooster flapped its wings, fleeing outward.

The Human-Faced Malicious Tiger wouldn't let him escape so easily, pouncing forward fiercely.

Just as it approached the rooster, the rooster turned back into human form. The bald soldier turned around, holding a long sword aimed directly at the Human-Faced Malicious Tiger's head.

While throwing stones and bones earlier, he had secretly placed a long sword here precisely for this moment!

The Human-Faced Malicious Tiger was mid-air, unable to maneuver, so it could only lift its head to avoid the fatal blow.

Crack~

The blade pierced the Human-Faced Malicious Tiger's neck, getting stuck in the bone.

The bald soldier transformed into a rooster again, passing underneath the Human-Faced Malicious Tiger, quickly changing back to human form, and using all his strength to leap out. He felt this was the fastest he had ever moved in his life!

Snap! The bald soldier picked up the Tang sword he had dropped and quickly turned around.

The Human-Faced Malicious Tiger was retreating, trying to figure out how to free itself from the long blade stuck in its neck bone.

If it were any other body part, it could simply abandon the trapped section—it wouldn't die anyway, and could just consume more flesh later to regenerate the outer shell and move normally.

But this time was different—the blade was stuck in its neck.

If severed, it would be left with only a head.

Both man and tiger fought with all their might. In the end, the bald soldier was slightly faster, swinging down his Tang sword.

Crack! The bone split!

Twice! Three times! Four times!

The tiger head fell to the ground!

The Human-Faced Malicious Tiger's head struggled on the ground. It still wasn't dead, still struggling, but without a body, it was no longer dangerous.

The bald soldier collapsed sitting on the ground, gasping for breath heavily.

"I succeeded! I actually defeated the malicious tiger!"

Although he knew he had only defeated an extremely weakened malicious tiger, he was completely satisfied.

After resting for a while and calming his emotions, the bald soldier used the long sword to push the malicious tiger's head outward.

"Boss, I succeeded!" the bald soldier said to Li Xuan.

Everyone outside had heard the commotion from the cave. The soldiers looked at the bald soldier with admiration.

In the apocalypse, people admired the strong because the strong could survive longer.

"Well done."

Li Xuan raised his claw and picked up the tiger head.

With a gentle squeeze, the tiger head cracked open, revealing four supernatural characteristics.

The Head of the North River Zombie Kings from the original fate was thus dead.