Chapter 96: Curing Burnout Part 2
Lin Jiayao decided to try absorbing the remaining 100g.
She took the thumb-sized crystal from the safehouse and put it in her mouth.
Like rain on parched earth, the crystal instantly dissolved, flowing towards her eye sockets.
But before it could even reach her eyes, it was absorbed, her face itching intensely, as if new skin was forming beneath.
She scratched at her face and felt something peel away, a handful of flesh and skin.
“Gurgle…”
Rubbing the bloody mass between her fingers, her heart sank.
No…
Goldie’s head… wasn’t going to shrink like the “green fatty,” was it? With black, shell-like holes covering her neck and shoulders…
Oh god, please no!
She quickly rinsed her hand in the water, then touched her face again, and more flesh peeled away…
This flesh seemed… redundant, as if it would have fallen off anyway, even without her touching it, washed away by the next rain.
If she really became like the “green fatty”…
Then she could only thank Goldie for her service and move on.
She submerged her face in the dark water and washed it.
Then she realized that not only the skin on her face but also the holes in her eye sockets were crumbling.
She even tried to probe the holes with her tentacles, but they just… dissolved.
Feeling the emptiness within Goldie’s body, like a void, Lin Jiayao leaned against the sewer wall.
Now she was facing a serious dilemma.
Should she use more blood crystals to complete Goldie’s evolution?
Looking at the three-hour extraction time, she clenched her fist.
Fine, so what if it’s ugly? As long as it’s strong, I can always use the extra blood crystals to upgrade the other zombies.
It wasn’t that she was prejudiced against Hive Zombies, but no sane person would be attracted to a gelatinous blob filled with brains.
If anyone actually looked at a Hive Zombie’s black holes and slimy flesh and felt… anything other than disgust… then they should join the Voodoo Cult; they’d find like-minded individuals there.
Focus on combat power, eliminate the “corn cob,” and then worry about aesthetics.
If A4 consumed the Hive Zombie’s blood crystals, it might inherit the abilities without the grotesque transformation.
Thinking this, Lin Jiayao took the two blood crystal stones from the safehouse.
Well, if they were meant to be spent, they were meant to be spent.
She reluctantly pushed them into her eye sockets.
From the previous evolution, she knew this was where the blood crystals were needed most.
The crystals melted instantly, the liquid flowing into the holes in her eyes, a searing pain, like molten lava.
“Cough… Aaagh—!”
The pain was unbearable; she clawed at her eyes, but there was nothing there.
“Ugh—”
The burning sensation spread from her eyes, down her throat, through her entire body.
“AAAAAH—”
The unrelenting pain was almost too much to bear. She punched the ground and then, suddenly remembering something, looked at the system window in the upper left corner.
Switch!
She quickly shifted her consciousness back to her main body.
“Gasp—”
Back in her body, Lin Jiayao inhaled sharply, the phantom pain lingering.
Her heart raced, her mind still reeling from the shock.
So painful…
A zombie wouldn’t feel this; but her human consciousness couldn’t handle it; she’d had to escape.
After lying still for a moment, not knowing if Goldie’s evolution was complete, Lin Jiayao felt her heart rate slowly returning to normal.
I need to calm down…
She felt a hand on her waist, tucked inside her shirt, resting on her stomach.
Her sister’s habit; pinching her cheeks while she was awake, holding her waist or stomach while she slept.
Lin Jiayao gently pulled her sister’s hand out from under her shirt and tried to turn over, to face her.
But she couldn’t; her sister’s legs were tightly wrapped around hers.
Her movement, however, woke Lin Xiwan, who rubbed her eyes sleepily. “What’s wrong… Yao?”
“I want to turn over…” Lin Jiayao mumbled.
“Oh… okay.”
Lin Xiwan sleepily lifted her leg slightly, helped her sister turn over, then put her leg back down, holding Lin Jiayao’s legs between them, a gentle nudge.
Like an automatic lock.
Lin Jiayao snuggled closer, hugging her sister, her face buried in her chest.
Lin Xiwan, still half-asleep, pulled her closer, her left arm around Lin Jiayao’s head, and drifted off again.
Lying in her sister’s embrace, soothed by her warmth and scent, Lin Jiayao’s anxiety faded.
Sister… lend me your strength…
She inhaled deeply, the scent of soap and her sister’s familiar fragrance calming her mind, her heart rate slowing.
I should be ready now…
She closed her eyes.
“Crack—”
The moment she opened her eyes in Goldie’s body, she heard a cracking sound, like a shell breaking.
And then she could see.
The murky sewer was clearly visible.
After a moment of surprise, Lin Jiayao realized she didn’t feel any discomfort; even the earlier emptiness was gone.
And most importantly… she could feel her eyes.
Not the insect eyes, but real eyes, able to move and focus.
She moved her eyes, but her vision didn’t change.
Even looking straight ahead, she could still see her peripheral vision clearly, as if it had been integrated into her main field of view.
She touched her shoulder; it was cold and smooth.
She touched her neck; no holes.
I didn’t become a “green fatty”?
Focusing, she could sense her Hive and the insects within. She decided to summon a few to see what she looked like now.
She could sense that the insects had undergone the most significant change, but she needed to test their abilities.
“Buzz—”
“Whoosh—”
“Thwack—”
Following her usual method, she willed an insect to fly out from one of the holes.
But she only saw a flash of gold, one of its perspectives showing a rapid approach towards a wall before she lost control.
It had smashed into the wall, a small crater in the concrete, its body lodged within.
So fast?
What was that golden flash?
After a moment of stunned silence, she recovered.
She summoned another insect, this time letting it crawl slowly out of a hole.
After it fully emerged, she carefully controlled its wings, making it fly slowly in front of her, facing her.
Lin Jiayao looked at the smaller, golden insect, surprised.
Through its eyes, she saw her current form.
Her previously dirty, matted blonde hair now flowed smoothly down her back, gleaming faintly.
Her face was still that of a little girl, but her skin was no longer the dull gray of a decaying Biter but a normal, albeit bloodless, pale.
She looked… more refined.
But that wasn’t the most significant change.
Her eyes.
The empty sockets had been replaced.
But they weren’t normal eyes, with whites and pupils.
They were like rotating hives, four distinct surfaces, each with different holes serving as “pupils.”
The first surface had a single, dark hole.
The second had six smaller holes arranged in a circle.
The third had eight even smaller holes intersecting in the center.
And the fourth, from which the golden insect had emerged, had concentric circles of holes radiating outwards.
She could sense that each surface could summon different types of insects.
This ability…
Lin Jiayao clenched her fists, her eyes cycling through the different “summoning modes” as she smiled.
Her chances against the corn cob had just increased dramatically.
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