Category: Sickly Girl Doesn’t Die in Zombie Simulator

Chapter 132: Proper Treatment

In a verdant, untouched section of Kun City, three figures walked along a street overgrown with vines and moss.

Well, two were walking, one was being pushed in a makeshift wheelchair fashioned from woven vines.

Lin Jiayao sat in the vine wheelchair. Surprisingly comfortable and sturdy, thanks to the vines’ natural flexibility and the reinforcing fungal tendrils.

It even moved smoothly on Kun City’s uneven streets.

Lin Xiwan pushed the wheelchair, her eyes scanning their surroundings with curiosity.

Even after leaving Guangdong Province and traveling almost a thousand kilometers, she’d never seen a city like this.

Now that the immediate danger had passed, she finally had time to observe.

Most cities, whether large or small, were dilapidated, overgrown with weeds, littered with abandoned vehicles, barely a single intact window in sight.

This city, however, covered in lush greenery… if it weren’t for the ever-present danger of zombies, it would be a beautiful sight.

“Yao, how much further?” Lin Xiwan asked, her hand sliding from the wheelchair’s push handle to her sister’s shoulder, gently squeezing it.

“Almost there…” Lin Jiayao replied hesitantly.

With half the city burned down, the familiar landmarks gone, she was slightly disoriented.

And [Vascular Network] only showed her the flow of energy within the city’s interconnected flora, not the actual layout.

She’d seen several clean, water-filled reservoirs while controlling the second zombie, the Building-Tree Guardian.

Turning a corner, she spotted a large, semi-circular structure and breathed a sigh of relief.

“There’s water over there,” she said, pointing.

It was a massive, semi-circular structure, which, if not for the vines covering it, would have been an open-air football stadium.

Now, its entrances sealed by vines, it resembled a giant, natural reservoir, filled with filtered rainwater.

“There? Alright.”

Lin Xiwan pushed the wheelchair towards the stadium and then, reaching the massive entrance, blinked.

“How do we get in?” she asked, squeezing her sister’s shoulder.

Thick tree roots blocked the entrance, the gaps filled with vines. Opening it would be difficult.

“It’s okay, they’ll let us in,” Lin Jiayao said, beckoning to Huayibai. “Come closer, Yibai.”

As Huayibai reached her, Lin Jiayao lifted her and placed her on her lap.

A tendril extended from her wrist, connecting to the vines on the ground.

Having activated Vascular Network earlier, vines from the stadium’s outer wall reached towards her, stopping just in front of them.

Lin Jiayao’s tendril split, connecting to one of the dangling vines. “Sister, hold on tight,” she said.

The vines beneath their feet intertwined, forming a platform which then slowly lifted them upwards, like an elevator.

As they ascended, Lin Xiwan, through the still-intact windows, saw the interior of the stadium.

Filled with water?

Before she could process it, they reached the top, the vines retracting into the water after depositing them on the edge of the platform.

They could now see the stadium clearly.

Crystal-clear water filled the entire structure, the water level almost reaching the platform’s edge.

And through the clear water, the stadium’s interior was clearly visible, almost pristine, except for a few submerged seats covered in algae.

A rare sight in the apocalypse: cleanliness.

If it weren’t for the ripples where the vines had retracted, it would have been hard to believe there was even water there.

This place is good, but the water is a bit too… deep…

Just as Lin Xiwan was about to suggest they just take some water from the edge of the platform, more vines emerged from the water.

The vines formed a smaller, scoop-shaped platform just below them, seemingly for easier access to the water.

“Yao, did you do this?” Lin Xiwan asked, looking at the vine-scoop, large enough for several people to sit in. “Impressive~”

“But… isn’t it a waste to bathe in this? This water is drinkable. We should just take some…”

Even seeing such a large amount of clean water, Lin Xiwan, accustomed to scarcity, still thought of conserving.

Clean water was a rare commodity.

“It’s fine.”

Lin Jiayao simply nodded and then, using Vascular Network, raised the vine-scoop.

It moved past them, towards the other side of the platform.

“This way, we won’t contaminate the main water source,” she said, smiling at her sister. “There are many reservoirs like this in the city, and they refill every time it rains. There’s plenty.”

“Oh, I see… good!” Seeing the smaller pool of water separated from the main reservoir, Lin Xiwan relaxed and started undressing.

After removing her clothes, she gently lifted Lin Jiayao and undressed her as well.

Only then did she notice the two band-aids on her sister’s chest.

“I’m taking these off now. 3… 2… 1!”

Giving her sister ample warning, she carefully peeled off the band-aids.

Then she looked at Huayibai.

“Xiao Yibai, do you need help?” she asked.

“Eh? Yibai can do it herself.”

Huayibai bent down, gripped the hem of her white dress, and, with a swift upward motion, lifted it over her head.

Seeing Huayibai undressed in less than a second, Lin Xiwan’s jaw dropped. “You should… wear more clothes…” she finally managed.

“Okay!” Huayibai nodded obediently.

In reality, the white dress was its fungal tendrils, modified at Mommy’s suggestion after their second encounter.

Otherwise, removing the dress would have revealed a mass of bloody tendrils.

Now naked, Huayibai curiously peered into the vine-scoop.

Although it had seen people bathing in others’ memories, it had never bathed itself.

Beside it, Lin Xiwan dipped her foot into the water, testing the temperature.

“It’s a little cold. Is that okay?” she asked, gently lowering Lin Jiayao towards the water, her bottom touching the surface.

“It’s fine,” Lin Jiayao nodded.

With her enhanced physique, unless it was ice water, she wouldn’t catch a cold.

Lin Xiwan carefully lowered her sister into the water, the small pool overflowing slightly as they settled in.

The overflowing water trickled down the side of the platform, watering the plants below.

“Hoo…”

Sitting on the soft vines, the water level reached her neck.

But if she put her sister down, it would probably reach her nose.

So, she kept Lin Jiayao on her lap.

Cold water, but still a luxury after so long.

“Ahh…” The feeling of being immersed in clean water was incredibly relaxing.

“Splash—”

Huayibai, perhaps because it had slipped, suddenly fell into the water.

Before Lin Xiwan could react, it had already sunk to the bottom, its hands crossed over its chest, blowing bubbles, a serene expression on its face.

“Uh… what’s it doing…?” Lin Xiwan, confused, looked at Huayibai.

“It’s… happy,” Lin Jiayao said, sensing Huayibai’s excitement, searching for a suitable analogy. “Like a puppy rolling around in mud.”

“Is it… okay down there?” Although reassured by her sister’s words, she was still worried, seeing Huayibai blowing bubbles.

“It’s fine, its ability allows it to hold its breath indefinitely.”

“Oh… good…”

After observing Huayibai for a while, confirming the blissful smile on its face, Lin Xiwan relaxed.

Just as she was about to start washing her sister, enjoying the warmth of her body against hers, Lin Jiayao suddenly moved, escaping her embrace.

“Hmm? What is it?”

Lin Xiwan released her, curious.

Her sister, using her legs to turn around with some difficulty, then with Lin Xiwan’s help, settled into a position facing her, straddling her lap.

“Removing the stitches. They’re all over the burns,” she said, looking at her sister’s body.

Lin Xiwan hadn’t even noticed them.

Thin, almost invisible tendrils, acting as sutures, closing her wounds.

After a night, the burns had mostly healed, so the tendrils needed to be removed.

“Stitches…?”

She hadn’t felt any discomfort and hadn’t realized there was anything there.

Now, upon closer inspection, she saw the thin, thread-like tendrils on her arms, abdomen, and other burned areas.

As if she’d undergone major surgery.

She hadn’t noticed them with her clothes on.

“Did… did you do this? So skillful!” She looked at the neatly closed wounds on her arm, impressed.

She’d thought her sister had simply used her usual healing method.

She hadn’t realized she had other abilities.

But after witnessing her sister’s numerous and varied abilities, she wasn’t surprised anymore.

She’d expected her sister to pull out the tendrils, but instead, Lin Jiayao cupped her arm and then, lowering her head, licked it.

“Eh? Don’t you… pull them out?” Lin Xiwan instinctively pulled her arm back, creating ripples in the water.

Lin Jiayao looked up at her, a slightly exasperated expression.

“Pulling them out would hurt,” she said, stating the obvious.

Pulling the tendrils out now, after they’d fused with the flesh, would be incredibly painful.

Imagine having stitches removed without anesthetic, the thread pulled taut…

Just the thought made her wince.

So, the thoughtful Lin Jiayao would use her tongue.

Her saliva had healing properties. Removing the tendrils while also healing the wounds would minimize the pain.

She could even make a small cut on her tongue to add the numbing effect of her blood to her saliva, making it even less painful.

“Okay…”

Lin Xiwan nodded, not questioning her sister’s… methods.

She didn’t know much about healing abilities.

Relaxing, she let her sister continue.

Lin Jiayao gently cleaned the skin around the stitches with water, then lowered her head and licked.

With each lick, a few tendrils disappeared.

It didn’t hurt… Lin Xiwan only felt her sister’s soft tongue, a strangely… pleasant sensation.

Soon, Lin Jiayao sat up, and Lin Xiwan, looking at her arm, saw that the stitches were gone, her skin smooth and unblemished, the healing perfect.

Relieved, she could finally relax completely.

She’d been worried about making strange sounds while her sister was… licking her…

It was supposed to be a medical treatment, if she’d moaned or something…

Her image as the responsible, reliable older sister would be shattered.

“Eek—!”
“Mmm!”

A sudden warmth, and Lin Xiwan shuddered, her hand instinctively covering her mouth.

She saw her sister had submerged herself, her long hair spread out, obscuring her movements.

But she knew… her “reliable older sister” persona was about to be tested.

If she remembered correctly, her sister had said the stitches were all over her burns.

And she…

Was covered in burns.

Chapter 131: Giddy-Up, Horsey! p2

“Meimei, Dandan, come here and listen to this. Doesn’t it sound like the younger sister who brought you here?”

She called over the two little girls, the twins the Lin sisters had left behind.

The fungal tendrils within their bodies had been removed before Lin Jiayao left; they were no longer under her control, their memories of her abilities suppressed.

“Yes,” Dandan, the older twin, now Awakened, nodded hesitantly.

Meimei, the shyer one, seeing her sister nod, also nodded.

They both remembered that voice, a voice they both loved and feared, a voice they would never forget.

Even through the static, the calm, even tone, instantly recognizable.

Seeing both girls confirm, Wan Zi froze.

She remembered asking the sisters where they were going, that early morning.

They had said Kun City… she’d been curious then, why such a distant destination.

And now, the radio was reporting the deaths of three B-rank Voodoo Cult members in Kun City…

Holy shit… I don’t know what to think anymore…

Could it be true? Were those two part of a secret Awakened organization based in Kun City?

An organization that, tired of the Voodoo Cult’s tyranny, had finally decided to act, to eliminate them?

It sounded absurd, but more plausible than that “Little Sister Lin” single-handedly wiping out the Voodoo Cult.

It was far-fetched, but the only explanation that made sense.

Otherwise, how could three B-rank Voodoo Cult members have died in Kun City? And how could “Little Sister Lin’s” voice be on the radio, broadcasting from Kun City?

A strange sense of calm washed over her as the message repeated.

“Quickly, get some containers, collect the rainwater!”

“Send someone to the mountain, see if those Voodoo Cult bastards are still there.”

“The rest of you Awakened, come with me to the main gate…”

Wan Zi began issuing commands, the previous despair replaced by a sense of purpose, their faces, even under the dark, rainy sky, showing a flicker of hope.

And this scene wasn’t unique to the Qingzhou camp. Across Guangdong Province, in fleeing convoys and besieged camps, hope rekindled. And even in a convoy nearing Kun City…

…

“Mm…”

Yun Province, Kun City, near the border between the burned wasteland and the lush green jungle, a giant, semi-circular “vine cocoon” hung suspended in the air.

Large enough to comfortably hold several people, its interior spacious.

Inside, Lin Jiayao, coaching Huayibai on what to say for the broadcast, suddenly stopped.

A soft moan from her sister, who was lying nearby. She turned and saw her sister shift, her hand reaching out, searching.

Her sister’s peaceful expression turned to panic as her hand grasped at empty air. She sat up abruptly.

“Yao?!!!”

“Thump—”

Although the vine cocoon was spacious enough for her to stand, jumping wasn’t a good idea.

Hitting her head on the vines, Lin Xiwan sat down, rubbing her head, her gaze instantly fixing on Lin Jiayao.

“Yao!”

Without hesitation, she lunged, pulling her sister into a tight embrace.

“Sob… Yao… sob…”

To Lin Jiayao’s surprise, her sister, instead of asking questions, started crying, like a child.

Lin Jiayao didn’t interrupt but hugged her back, gently patting her back.

“I… sob… I thought I’d lost you…”

Lin Xiwan clung to her sister, her body shaking.

Hearing her sister’s sobs, Lin Jiayao felt her own eyes welling up.

“It’s okay… it’s over… it’s all over…” She gently stroked her sister’s back, her voice soothing.

Her sister’s words finally triggered Lin Xiwan’s memory.

She’d been so relieved to see her sister that she’d forgotten about the B-rank Awakened, the lightning…

She quickly pulled away, her hands anxiously checking her sister for injuries.

“Huh?”

She’d expected to find wounds on her sister, but instead, she noticed something odd about her own hands.

They had been badly injured… her entire body burned…

Even an Awakened’s regeneration wouldn’t be this fast.

But her wounds… were gone…

And as she remembered her injuries, the memories of the battle, the confusion, the questions, came flooding back.

The vines connected to her sister… the strange tendrils within Huayibai, its B-rank abilities… how had they even survived last night…?

Her sister must know.

She stared at Lin Jiayao.

And just as Lin Jiayao took a deep breath, about to speak, her sister covered her mouth.

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” she said, looking at her sister.

“Hmm?” Lin Jiayao blinked, puzzled.

“Your secrets,” Lin Xiwan smiled. “It’s okay if you don’t want to share them.”

“Sister trusts you.”

From the moment she’d been rescued by that bone-white zombie, and then later, her sister being rescued by a zombie seemingly controlled by the same Awakened, she’d had her suspicions.

But her sister had been acting normally, so she’d dismissed them.

And now, after everything that had happened, it was clear her sister was hiding something, something she couldn’t, or wouldn’t, reveal.

But she didn’t care; she trusted her sister completely.

Lin Jiayao blinked again, this time not from confusion, but from the tears threatening to spill. She’d been so worried… and now…

All thanks to that battle, to her actions.

Fighting alongside her, even to the death, whether they were zombies or not… it no longer mattered to her sister.

They knew they could trust each other with their lives.

Actions spoke louder than words.

And Lin Jiayao would no longer hide her abilities from her sister.

She would tell her everything, within the system’s limitations.

She had practiced this conversation with Huayibai and had heard the system’s warning.

She could reveal anything except the system’s existence.

Not even indirectly, not even hinting at it.

“I… I had a dream… I dreamed I became a zombie, wandering in Yangzhou City…”

“And then one day… I realized I could actually control the zombie in my dream… I even went to the camp… I saw familiar faces…”

Slowly, haltingly, she described her dreams, controlling zombies, rescuing her sister, meeting Huayibai, fighting giant monsters in America, facing tsunamis and terrifying sea creatures in Japan…

Her sister listened, her mouth agape, then even more shocked to hear that after each dream, she gained an ability…

Lin Jiayao demonstrated each of her abilities, explaining how she had used the building-trees to defeat the B-rank Awakened.

Even after she finished, Lin Xiwan still stared at the bone claws extending from her sister’s hand, stunned.

“Sister?”

Lin Jiayao gently nudged her frozen sister.

“Uh…” Lin Xiwan snapped out of it, rubbing her temples and taking a deep breath. “Let me… process this… just… give me a moment.”

Lin Jiayao knew her story was… unbelievable; she didn’t expect her sister to accept it immediately.

After a long silence, Lin Xiwan, having absorbed the information, looked at her sister.

Under her sister’s gaze, Lin Jiayao’s heart pounded nervously.

How would her sister react?

Would she be angry… or disappointed…?

“So… you’re saying… your legs… they might recover? If you keep gaining these… physical enhancements?” Lin Xiwan asked, gently stroking her sister’s legs.

“Uh…” Lin Jiayao blinked, then nodded. “Theoretically… yes.”

“That’s wonderful~” Lin Xiwan beamed, cupping her sister’s face and gently rubbing her cheeks. “You’ll be able to walk again!”

“That’s… that’s the idea…” Lin Jiayao didn’t resist, then, after a moment, asked, “Don’t you have any other… thoughts… about my abilities…?”

“Other thoughts?” Now Lin Xiwan was curious, her expression mirroring her sister’s earlier confusion.

Then, realization dawning, she sighed dramatically. “So… my dear little sister is so powerful now… she doesn’t need my protection anymore…”

She squeezed her sister’s cheeks playfully, pretending to cry. “Sister is no longer needed… sob…”

She would miss seeing her adorable little sister hiding behind her, seeking her protection.

Of course, she wasn’t truly sad.

The stronger her sister, the higher her chances of survival. Knowing she was now capable of protecting herself was a huge relief.

Loving her sister meant always putting her first; they shared the same values.

And if she were in her sister’s shoes, unsure of her own nature, whether she was even still human, she, too, would hesitate to reveal such things, to avoid causing unnecessary worry.

She would have told her eventually, just… not yet.

But then, she looked at Huayibai, who was watching them intently.

Sensing her gaze, Huayibai flinched and quickly moved out of reach.

“Come here,” Lin Xiwan said, her voice firm.

“Eep…” Huayibai glanced at its Mommy, who seemed… embarrassed, then, its face crumpling slightly, it shuffled closer.

“Snuggle—”

The moment its face was within reach, Lin Xiwan grabbed it, her fingers playfully pinching its cheeks.

“So you and Yao were already acquainted… in your ‘dreams,’ huh? A B-rank, pretending to be a D-rank… deceiving me…”

She continued to pinch Huayibai’s cheeks, her mock-accusatory tone making Huayibai giggle.

“Whimper… Yibai is sowwy… Yibai won’t do it again… whimper…”

The fungal tendrils beneath Huayibai’s skin cooperated, flushing red, creating the illusion of a blush.

Where had it learned this? From watching Mommy, of course.

A live demonstration. Monkey see, monkey do.

“Speaking of deception… I’ve… remembered a few things…” Lin Xiwan’s eyes narrowed, turning to her sister.

“It seems… a certain someone, despite being so powerful, pretended to be a weak, helpless little girl, clinging to me for protection… I wonder who that could be? Hmm? Who indeed?”

She looked at her sister, a mischievous glint in her eyes. “Was it… you~?”

“Ahem…” Lin Jiayao blushed, a genuine blush, not a fungal flush. “Yibai, could you… excuse us for a moment…?”

She couldn’t be… punished… in front of her “daughter.” It would ruin her image.

“Okay!”

Huayibai, thinking it had escaped, eagerly climbed out of the vine cocoon and jumped to the ground, landing face-first with a “thump.”

Alone in the cocoon, the two sisters looked at each other.

“I… I didn’t mean to, Sis…” Lin Jiayao said, trying to explain her earlier deception, her words weak and unconvincing.

“Oh? You didn’t mean to?” Lin Xiwan smiled, a playful glint in her eyes, shifted closer, and opened her arms wide. “Come on then, show Sister how you pretended to be so weak and helpless.”

“Huh?” Lin Jiayao blinked, confused.

“Show me… how you did it… It’s your punishment~” she said, her eyes crinkling with amusement. “Do it, and I’ll forgive you~”

Then, seeing her sister hesitate, she added softly, “Or do you want Sister to be angry at you… forever…?”

Lin Jiayao, her lips pursed, looked at her smug sister.

Since her sister had deliberately moved away, she had to crawl towards her, until she could smell her familiar scent, before stopping.

“Hmph~” Her sister’s grin widened, her arms opening even wider.

Lin Jiayao, looking at her sister, slowly extended her right hand, her index and middle fingers forming a pincer, and pinched her waist hard.

“YOW!!!” Lin Xiwan yelped, jumping back.

“Good girl, good girl, aah, let go! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I won’t do it again!”

Not satisfied, Lin Jiayao tickled her sister mercilessly until she collapsed, helpless with laughter.

Looking at her sister, sprawled on the ground, Lin Jiayao finally felt slightly better.

Where had she learned that… that annoying little act…?

Just as she was replaying her sister’s irritatingly smug tone, a hand grabbed her, and she fell onto her sister.

“Hmm?”

Her sister had pulled her down, into a tight embrace.

“No matter what, you’re still my precious little sister, and I love you more than anything… that will never change, understand?” she said, her earlier playfulness gone, her voice soft and sincere.

Her sister’s playful anger had dispelled any lingering doubts or worries.

No matter what they became, how strong or weak, their bond wouldn’t change.

And that was all that mattered.

She was still the loving older sister, and her sister, despite her cold demeanor and sharp words, still loved and relied on her.

“Mwah~”

“Ptoo, ptoo—Ew! Yao, your forehead is so dirty! Covered in blood and ash!”

“You’re the one who kissed me!”

“So gross! Mwah, mwah, mwah~ Come on, is there any clean water in Kun City? Sister will give you a bath~”

“Stop kissing me! And yes, there is!”

“Mwah, mwah, mwah~”

“Stop it!!!”

Chapter 131: Giddy-Up, Horsey! p1

Lin Jiayao, while checking the outside through the gaps in the vines, waited for her sister to wake up. Yesterday’s fire, having consumed everything flammable, had finally died down, leaving a thick layer of ash. The affected area was completely devastated, not a single building left standing. How did I sleep through all that?, she wondered.

Taking advantage of the quiet, she opened the Hideout and clicked on the [Zombie Loot Box]. Yesterday’s events had been so sudden; she hadn’t had a chance to use it after the last extraction. Seeing twelve blood crystal stones in the warehouse, she took two and put them in the Loot Box. She saw the 12-hour extraction time, but before the zombie projection could appear, a faint sound from the real world, detected by Bone Spike Lurker, interrupted her.

She quickly closed the interface and saw Huayibai, sitting up groggily, rubbing its eyes.

While it was still disoriented from the anesthetic, she picked it up by its collar and placed it in her right palm.

“Eek…” Huayibai’s arms and legs flailed briefly, then, seeing who was holding it, it went still.

“You’ve worked hard.” Lin Jiayao gently nuzzled Huayibai’s head with her finger and placed a blood crystal, larger than Huayibai itself, in her palm.

“Thank you, Mommy,” Huayibai chirped, then immediately began gnawing on the crystal.

While her sister was still asleep, Lin Jiayao asked Huayibai about the situation at the Voodoo Cult’s headquarters. Although she was confident that two B-rank zombies would be more than enough, confirmation was always reassuring.

Huayibai’s responses, slightly disjointed as it focused on the blood crystal, painted a picture of utter chaos.

Both A4 and Mask had had their evolutions interrupted by an RPG, sustaining significant injuries. To fuel their interrupted evolutions, they’d gone on a rampage, indiscriminately devouring everything.

Huayibai had been climbing down a building when the “blonde Mommy,” its evolution complete, had shot into the sky like a crimson meteor, leaving Huayibai behind.

And the “white Mommy,” although slower, had been even more destructive. By the time Huayibai arrived, the area was a forest of bone spikes.

And the “white Mommy” was gone, as if deliberately avoiding Huayibai.

Left alone to clean up, weakened by the lingering effects of the anesthetic in Lin Jiayao’s blood, it had fainted, only waking up just now.

And during its unconsciousness, a few, maybe a dozen, Voodoo Cult members had escaped Chongyu.

Huayibai felt guilty for failing to complete Mommy’s task perfectly.

But Lin Jiayao wasn’t concerned. She patted Huayibai’s head, praising it.

The Voodoo Cult’s headquarters had been destroyed, its foundation shattered, the few survivors no longer a threat. And Chongyu City had become a fungal paradise, populated by Huayibai’s infected.

The Voodoo Cult, annihilated overnight, the news not yet reaching their members outside the city.

Thinking of the Voodoo Cult members still active in Guangdong, Lin Jiayao asked Huayibai, “Do you know where their radio station is? How to use it?”

“Yes!” Huayibai, having consumed the blood crystal and returned to its four-or-five-year-old form, nodded eagerly.

“Go make an announcement. Hmm… let me think…”

Lin Jiayao considered her message.

…

Qingzhou University camp. Dark clouds hung low over the campus. No sun again today.

But for the camp, its water supply poisoned, the overcast sky was a blessing.

Rain meant water.

“Sister Wanzi…” a young woman, holding a sniper rifle, whispered, her chapped lips barely moving. “…Should we… attack the mountain and retake the water source?”

Her hair was tangled, her face grimy; she looked like she hadn’t washed in days.

They had been holding out for several days, the Voodoo Cult, thankfully, without reinforcements, content to maintain the siege.

But the poisoned water supply was taking its toll.

The little remaining water was reserved for the fighters, and even they were severely dehydrated.

They were at their limit; one more day, and they would collapse.

Wan Zi, hearing the girl’s words, remained silent.

This girl, originally an ordinary person, had been given administrative tasks, practicing at the shooting range occasionally, showing no particular talent, her hands even unsteady while holding a rifle.

But during the siege, she’d revealed a surprising aptitude for sniping.

She had even single-handedly taken down one of the Voodoo Cult’s D-rank Awakened, forcing them to abandon their assault and maintain the siege.

Now, Wan Zi had to make a decision.

Abandoning their defenses and attacking the mountain would mean heavy casualties.

Their camp was mostly non-combatants, the elderly, the sick, the children…

She looked back at the faces in the administrative building lobby, their grime-covered faces looking at her expectantly.

They knew she had to make a decision, that sacrifices were inevitable…

Looking at their hopeful eyes, Wan Zi’s hands trembled.

Although she’d always called herself the “temporary leader,” ready to step down if someone more capable appeared, she had grown attached to this place over the years.

Otherwise, she wouldn’t have stayed.

And now… ordering them to their deaths, sacrificing most of them to save a few…?

She didn’t know what to do.

She knew they would follow her orders, regardless of her decision, whether to fight or flee.

And that was the burden, the weight of responsibility, that made it hard to breathe.

“Rat-tat-tat—”

A burst of gunfire from the distance, hitting the building, harmless but still making everyone jump.

Some, their resolve weakening, started crying, the despair spreading through the room.

This had been the Voodoo Cult’s tactic from the start, a burst of gunfire every ten minutes, like clockwork, a constant reminder of their precarious situation, wearing down their defenses.

The increasingly oppressive atmosphere made Wan Zi’s decision even more difficult.

If the Voodoo Cult’s reinforcements arrived, they were all dead; even if they broke through and reached the mountain, if the reinforcements arrived, they were still dead.

She didn’t know what she was fighting for, perhaps just the instinct to survive, to protect these people, to keep them alive for as long as possible.

“What time is it?” she asked softly.

The room fell silent, only a few soft sobs breaking the tense quiet.

“9 AM…” one of the male Awakened replied, glancing at his watch.

Wan Zi licked her dry lips. “Bring up the remaining supplies. Tonight, we’ll—”

“Thump, thump, thump—”

Rapid footsteps interrupted her. She looked towards the stairwell.

“Crash—” The door burst open, and a figure, clutching something, tumbled in, scrambling to their feet, then checking whatever they were holding.

A… radio?

Wan Zi looked at the young man who had just barged in. “You better have a good reason for this.”

“Sister Wanzi, Sister Wanzi…” he said, clutching the radio, his voice frantic, close to tears.

But there was no panic in his eyes, only…

…excitement?

Wan Zi was puzzled. What could possibly be worth such excitement now?

Suddenly, realization dawned, and her eyes widened.

The radio… could it be… a retreat order from the Voodoo Cult?

She couldn’t think of any other reason.

Unless… he’d lost his mind.

“Bring him here. Let’s hear what he has to say.”

Several men carried the sobbing, babbling young man towards her.

“Static…”

“Zzzt…”

The rectangular high-frequency radio in his arms sputtered, as if damaged from the impact.

Everyone looked at the radio.

Wan Zi checked the frequency.

As expected… it was the Voodoo Cult’s channel…

“Tap, tap—”

She tapped the radio, a burst of static, and then it started working again.

“Zzzt…”

“123, 123, hello? Hello? Can anyone hear me?”

A childish female voice, startling everyone.

The Voodoo Cult’s broadcasts were usually either a mature female voice or a casual male voice; they’d never heard a child’s voice before.

“Oh… mm… okay, Mommy… sniffle… Yibai is talking to both sides again…”

The girl’s voice lowered, as if speaking to someone else.

And her words confused everyone.

Not just the camp members, but also the Voodoo Cult members outside, listening to the broadcast, were equally bewildered.

The frequency was correct, but the conversation… nonsensical.

Had a child somehow gotten into the radio station? Impossible, that was one of the most heavily guarded locations in the Voodoo Cult.

In the apocalypse, with limited communication, the radio was the Voodoo Cult’s most important tool, a symbol of their power and reach.

Everyone stopped what they were doing, listening intently.

“Zzzt…”

“Ahem—”

The girl’s voice was replaced by a calm, clear, young woman’s voice.

A different person?

Meanwhile, in the radio station in Chongyu City, a little girl knelt on a stool, her hands on the table, wearing a broken headset, speaking seriously into the microphone.

Although she looked like a child, her voice, a carefully crafted imitation, was that of a young woman.

And her simple message, repeated over and over, was enough to shatter the reality of everyone in central and southern China.

“The Voodoo Cult’s headquarters in Chongyu City has been completely destroyed. Voodoo Cult Boss Wu Hejun, B-rank Awakened Anan, and B-rank Awakened Luo have been eliminated in Kun City.”

“All remaining Voodoo Cult members are warned to cease resistance. Two B-rank Awakened from our organization are en route to Guangdong Province. Any remaining Voodoo Cult members will be eliminated on sight.”

“Repeating, the Voodoo Cult’s headquarters…”

Across Guangdong Province, survivors, those still fleeing, those still fighting, heard the message.

They froze, stunned.

What… what was going on? The Voodoo Cult, so powerful just days ago, had been… annihilated?

Was this real? Or some sort of trick?

The faces in the Qingzhou University administrative building mirrored the expressions of countless survivors across the province.

Is this… real?

They listened to the message, repeated over and over on the Voodoo Cult’s frequency.

No cheers, no celebrations, only disbelief and suspicion.

Even Wan Zi frowned.

What was this…?

The Voodoo Cult’s headquarters and all their B-rank Awakened, eliminated? In Kun City?

Were they joking? Had the Voodoo Cult’s B-rank Awakened lined up to be executed in Kun City?

It sounded like a propaganda ploy… and those names… she’d never heard of them.

The Voodoo Cult convoy, however, reacted differently.

They looked at each other, dumbfounded, listening to the broadcast.

Our… headquarters… gone…?

What the fuck?

Initially, they’d thought it was a prank, but after an hour of the same message repeating, their disbelief grew.

They might not know the names of those B-rank Awakened, but the Voodoo Cult members certainly did.

“Big Brother, is this… real?” one of the Voodoo Cult members asked the man sitting in the passenger seat of a jeep, his expression grim, having been listening intently to the broadcast from the radio in his hand.

Even without an answer, just looking at his face, the younger man knew. His heart sank.

“Damn it…” the man cursed. “Someone must have gotten high and messed with the radio while the Boss was away.”

“Then we…?”

“Wait, don’t panic, someone will deal with this.”

One minute passed.

Five minutes.

Thirty minutes.

An hour…

After three hours, the message was still playing on all Voodoo Cult frequencies, even the music channel.

In the Qingzhou University administrative building, the despair lifted, people standing up, peering out the broken windows.

“Stay away from the windows! Sniper fire! Stay away from the windows!”

Wan Zi tried to maintain order, but she couldn’t resist the urge to look as well.

From the administrative building, they could see the distant camp gate, where the Voodoo Cult vehicles were now starting up, their engines roaring, as they sped away.

They hadn’t even bothered packing their tents, a hasty retreat…

“The Voodoo Cult… they’re… running?”

After a long silence, someone finally spoke.

All eyes turned to Wan Zi.

“Is it… true?”

The message continued to repeat on the radio, the same distorted, static-filled broadcast, but no one seemed tired of it.

“I don’t know…”

“Rumble—”

A clap of thunder, a flash of lightning illuminating the building, and then large raindrops began to fall.

“Rain… it’s raining!”

“It’s raining!!!”

They crowded around the windows, reaching out to catch the raindrops, some even leaning out, their faces tilted upwards.

After days of thirst and despair, they seemed to have forgotten about the Voodoo Cult.

Only when someone, weakened, almost fell out the window, and was pulled back by the others, did the atmosphere in the administrative building return to normal.

Even with them so exposed at the windows, the Voodoo Cult snipers hadn’t fired… perhaps they really were gone!

“Pitter-patter—”

Besides the drumming of rain, the only other sound on the fifth floor was the sputtering radio, its static intensified by the storm.

Suddenly, the young woman beside Wan Zi, the grime now washed from her face by the rain, looked at Wan Zi and asked softly, “Sister Wanzi, doesn’t that voice… sound like… Little Sister Lin?”

Little Sister Lin was the camp’s nickname for the younger of the two sisters.

The older one was Big Sister Lin, the younger one Little Sister Lin, partly because she seemed as frail as Lin Daiyu from Dream of the Red Chamber.

Wan Zi, her previous seriousness now replaced by amusement, chuckled and ruffled the girl’s hair. She was about to say that the girl had Awakened only recently, how could it possibly be…

But the more she listened, the more she doubted herself…

It did sound like her…

Beautiful female voices were common before the apocalypse, but a voice this clear, this cold, with a hint of girlish innocence, was rare, unforgettable.

The more she listened, the more convinced she became.

It couldn’t be…

But they’d only met the sisters briefly; it could be a mistake.

Hesitantly, she looked towards a corner and beckoned.

 

Chapter 130: Autopilot Surgery

“Clank… clank…”

In Kun City, the fire still raged, but in an untouched area, vines, stretching between the building-trees, were transporting a young woman with long black hair.

Soon, she reached the burning zone, where a massive fungal carpet was withering and shrinking under the intense heat, its tendrils curling and blackening.

“Yibai…”

The fire stopped here; the battle was over; Huayibai and her sister had stopped the fire-wielding Awakened.

The girl’s gaze shifted from the burning fungal mass, scanning the area.

She had to find her sister and Huayibai.

Her sister was her main concern.

Huayibai had spores within her, and more in Chongyu City and America, ready to be revived.

But her sister… she was just an ordinary Awakened; death was permanent for her.

She quickly spotted her sister, lying on the ground in an open area, a small, white figure beside her.

Found them…

Lin Jiayao controlled the vines, lifting her sister and Huayibai, carrying them through the interconnected network, deeper into the city.

After crossing a firebreak of dead trees, they were gently placed on the ground.

The inferno raged on the other side, but the firebreak held.

“Hoo…”

Lin Jiayao breathed a sigh of relief, then looked at her sister and Huayibai, lying motionless.

She had sensed her sister’s heartbeat earlier, confirming she was alive.

But seeing her sister’s injuries now made her breath catch in her throat.

Large portions of her sister’s body were burned, her hair singed.

Her right hand and arm were the worst, the flesh and muscle melted away, revealing charred bone, covered in soot and ash.

And her sister’s tightly furrowed brow, even in her unconscious state, showed she was in agony.

“Whimper…”

A soft cry from beside her caught Lin Jiayao’s attention.

Huayibai’s small body trembled, also clearly in pain.

The fungal carpet…

She gently lifted Huayibai, stroked its head, and whispered, “You did well…”

Although she didn’t know the details of the battle, she knew that without her sister and Huayibai stopping that fire-wielding man, Wu Hejun might have burned down the entire city.

Holding Huayibai with her left hand, she pricked her right index finger with a bone spike, a drop of blood welling up.

She brought her finger to Huayibai’s lips.

Huayibai was in pain; her blood, with its numbing properties, would offer some relief.

As Huayibai swallowed the few drops of blood, its furrowed brow relaxed, its trembling ceased, and it fell asleep.

Gently placing Huayibai on the ground, Lin Jiayao turned her attention back to her sister.

How… how do I heal her hand and the burns?

Awakened weren’t like fungal zombies, able to regenerate with just blood crystals.

Such severe burns… even if they healed, there would likely be permanent scarring and possibly even disability.

She quickly reviewed her abilities, her lips pursed in thought.

Suddenly, she remembered something and quickly opened the system interface, navigating to the Medical Station in the Hideout.

Her gaze fixed on the fourth option.

「4、【Autopilot Surgery 1000g】: System-assisted surgery, allowing the host to perform a perfect operation, including but not limited to limb reattachment, bone setting, internal organ repair, and intracranial hemorrhage treatment…」

“System, what exactly does ‘Autopilot Surgery’ mean? How effective is it? Explain in detail.”

「The system will utilize all available resources and the host’s abilities to restore the patient to the best possible condition given the current circumstances.」

“And it only costs two blood crystal stones?”

「Two crystals are just the activation fee. Any additional resources consumed during the surgery will be deducted from the host’s reserves.」

Lin Jiayao didn’t hesitate. She transferred two blood crystal stones.

This was the best option.

If her sister was left with any permanent damage, even if she didn’t mind, it would pain Lin Jiayao every time she saw it.

She would spare no expense to heal her.

A prompt appeared.

「Commence Autopilot Surgery?」

“Yes.”

A strange sensation, her consciousness rising, observing her body from a third-person perspective.

And her body, no longer under her direct control, began to move, the sensations still transmitted to her.

She watched as her body took a deep breath and, amidst the smoke and ash, slowly raised its hands.

Several vines connected to her arms, supplying energy.

And bone spikes, erupting from the back of her neck, extended down her spine, reaching her waist, then her thighs, finally touching the ground.

The bone spikes, forming a sort of exoskeleton, secured her hips and legs.

And then, supported by this exoskeleton, she stood up.

It wasn’t her legs moving, but the bone spikes.

She could create a similar structure herself.

But she hadn’t, worried about the structural integrity and comfort, afraid of accidentally breaking her own bones.

So, she’d always used the bone spikes directly for locomotion, never connecting them to her legs.

But now, with this system-generated exoskeleton as a reference, perhaps she could try it.

While she was still studying the exoskeleton, the system began the surgery.

The vines connected to her hands glowed green, and the vines beneath her sister’s body rose, forming a makeshift operating table.

And on the table, a variety of surgical instruments, formed from tendrils and coated with her blood, their numbing properties eliminating the need for anesthesia, materialized.

As if to increase efficiency, the system generated four identical spore clones, each performing a different task simultaneously.

The surgery was gruesome, Lin Jiayao almost having to avert her gaze several times.

It wasn’t her sister’s wounds that disturbed her, but the system’s… methods.

Whenever blood or skin grafts were needed, the system showed no hesitation, directly drawing blood and peeling skin from Lin Jiayao’s body.

But despite the seemingly brutal process, her sister’s body was rapidly healing.

She hadn’t known her own skin had such potent healing properties.

The skin grafts, placed on her sister, seamlessly replaced the burned areas, even matching her skin tone perfectly.

But it wasn’t just a simple skin graft; the system was also injecting tendrils beneath the surface.

A combination treatment.

Then, it started harvesting bone…

If Lin Jiayao hadn’t known she had Bone Regeneration, she would have interrupted the system.

Watching the system work, she learned several new techniques and combinations, a valuable lesson.

She had an abundance of abilities, and more to come; using them effectively, combining them, was key.

With five Lin Jiayos working simultaneously, the surgery was completed in less than half an hour.

The spore clones then dissolved, their essence returning to Lin Jiayao.

The vine-platform lowered, the exoskeleton retracted, and her body collapsed beside her sister.

She regained control.

“Hoo…”
“Hiss…”

She inhaled sharply, the pain from the harvested skin and bone hitting her like a wave.

Especially the missing ribs; that was the worst.

Her fingernails dug into the vines beneath her, cold sweat dripping from her forehead.

Drawing a large amount of sap from the Vascular Network to enhance Bone Regeneration, she sat there for almost half an hour, until most of her skin had healed, then finally relaxed.

It’s done…

She looked at her sister, her expression peaceful from the anesthesia, and felt a wave of relief.

She placed her hand on her sister’s chest, feeling her steady heartbeat and breathing.

She looked at the burning cityscape in the distance, the flames and smoke almost obscuring the sky, but their threat now gone.

It’s finally over… I can finally rest…

Mental and physical exhaustion threatened to overwhelm her. The battle and the system’s surgery had drained her.

She moved closer to her sister, lay down beside her on the vines, and gently wrapped her arms around her waist.

The vines, under her control, extended and intertwined above them, forming a protective cocoon, a makeshift room.

Although not completely sealed, it shielded them from the fire’s glow and the falling ash. Using vines for shelter… she had learned that from the system.

Then, several vines lifted the cocoon, suspending it in the air, gently swaying in the breeze.

And Lin Jiayao, cradled in her sister’s arms, the gentle rocking motion lulling her to sleep, drifted into a state of semi-consciousness, her body healing.

Although she knew there were still things to do – like dealing with the Voodoo Cult’s headquarters – she was simply too exhausted.

She would decide later, after resting.

“Yao…” Her sister, still under the influence of the anesthetic, murmured her name in her sleep, her hand reaching out, grasping at the air, before falling still again.

The next morning, when Lin Jiayao woke up, her sister was still asleep.

But her condition was much better than yesterday.

Lin Jiayao could tell from the way her sister’s hand, which had somehow found its way under her shirt, was now resting on her waist.

She felt refreshed and invigorated, her mood light.

Not just because of the morning sun, but also because a major threat had been eliminated.

No more running.

With the Vascular Network ability, she could keep her sister and Huayibai safe in Kun City.

They could settle down here, build a new life.

Lin Jiayao gently parted the vines and looked at the smoldering ruins in the distance.

As expected, the fire hadn’t spread this far; most of Kun City’s building-trees and vines remained intact.

Now, she just had to figure out how to explain her unusual abilities to her sister.

Hopefully, her sister would accept her “ability to control zombies in her dreams and gain their evolutions,” which sounded… like a glitch in the system.

Chapter 129: Fiery Death Match

“Blazing Fist of Fury!”

Anan roared excitedly, his eyes burning.

The sadness of losing his blood crystals had been quickly replaced by the thrill of battle. He loved giving names to his attacks; it felt powerful, and it could also confuse his opponents, making them anticipate the wrong move.

It was one of his tactics.

“Boom—”

With a swift, deceptive feint, his straight punch unleashed a swirling torrent of flames towards the girl on the fungal carpet.

The previously writhing tendrils recoiled from the approaching fire.

This concentrated blast of intense heat was too much for the fungus to absorb.

The moisture within the tendrils evaporated rapidly; direct contact with these flames was dangerous.

A hard counter.

Like pitting a Grass-type Pokémon against a Fire-type.

“Crackle—”

The fungal carpet ignited, and the girl quickly severed the connection to avoid being consumed, the flames spreading rapidly across the burning tendrils.

“Gurgle—”

The fungal carpet’s movement was slow, its size making it an easy target. Even as the girl desperately tried to retreat, Anan’s next attack arrived.

“Heavenly Tyrant’s Blazing Strike!”

“Boom—”

Another fiery punch, same attack, different name.

The blast incinerated another section of the fungal carpet. At this rate, it wouldn’t be long before it was completely consumed.

Victory seemed within his grasp.

But the girl on the fungal carpet wasn’t alone.

She had backup.

“Whoosh—”

Hearing the whoosh of a fist behind him, Anan didn’t turn but slammed his palms together.

Too fast to turn and face the attack.

“Fwoosh—”

Flat streams of fire erupted from his back, like miniature thrusters, propelling him forward several meters, narrowly avoiding the blow.

“Boom—”

The fist missed, but he still felt the force of the displaced air.

That was close… that would have broken a few bones, at least…

“Boom—”

He intensified the flames from his back, leaped into the air, the combined force propelling him upwards, hovering about ten meters above the ground.

Hovering, he finally turned to see his attacker.

“Damn… it’s you again…” He spat, the molten saliva sizzling on the ground, spreading a small fire.

That C-rank Awakened again… she dared to attack him again? Wasn’t she afraid of dying?

The woman’s face was covered in soot, her fists bloody and charred, the flesh burned away, revealing the bone beneath.

But she glared at him defiantly.

That look… he’d seen it many times, a delicious appetizer before the main course.

And they always popped so satisfyingly when cooked, like juicy meatballs exploding in your mouth.

He licked his lips.

Since she’s asking for it, I’ll give her what she wants.

“Boom—”

The flames behind him intensified, shifting from crimson to a bright blue-violet.

With a roar, he shot downwards like a meteor, a trail of blue-violet flames in his wake.

The Awakened below tried to roll away, but he was too fast.

She dodged the direct hit, but his fist slammed into the ground beside her, the force of the impact creating a wave of fire that engulfed her.

“Rumble—”

The blast threw her into a nearby building.

Although it was a hit, Anan frowned, looking towards the area he’d been burning earlier.

The path he had burned was now a raging inferno, the vines writhing and twisting before turning to ash, a hellish landscape.

But… the ground is shaking…?

He’d felt the tremors when he’d hit the ground earlier, coming from the direction of the Boss.

“Rumble…”

And the sounds of collapsing buildings, a faint, emerald green glow visible through the smoke and flames.

Something wrong with the Boss?

I have to finish this quickly. Can’t delay the Boss’s mission.

And he couldn’t let the Boss die here. If the Boss died, the Voodoo Cult would collapse. Where would he go then?

Having dealt with the C-rank Awakened, he turned his attention back to the blood-red fungal carpet.

It reminded him of the mushrooms the Boss had talked about, but thankfully, it couldn’t reach him.

He just had to… burn it from above.

Hovering in the air, he aimed his hands at the fungal carpet below.

“Focused Flamethrower!”

A bright violet stream of fire shot downwards, burning a hole through the fungal carpet.

He swept his hands back and forth, the elongated “flame swords” slicing through the blood-red tendrils.

And he could feel the fungal mass weakening with every pass.

Then, the tendrils below retaliated.

“Shhh—”

They intertwined and extended upwards, like ropes, towards him.

“Too slow, too slow, too slow!”

He easily dodged the tendril-ropes with their barbed tips. His flames couldn’t sever the thick strands, but they could ignite them.

And that was enough. He could sense these burning ropes wouldn’t last long.

“So weak! So weak! Don’t you realize you’re just increasing your surface area, idiot?!” he taunted, effortlessly dodging the hundred or so flaming tendrils now reaching for him.

This blood pool’s actions were self-destructive. The flames were spreading across the tendrils, and he could see the girl at the center of the fungal mass wince in pain.

“Stupid… a perfect example of a brainless zombie… now I can finally try… roasted mushrooms…”

“Whoosh—”

As if in pain, dozens of tendrils around the edges began to retract, but the flames clinging to them spread to the rest of the carpet, igniting it.

“Idiot,” he chuckled, watching the mushroom zombie’s self-destructive behavior.

But as the burning tendrils retracted, he felt a sudden unease.

Something’s… wrong…

He shifted, trying to move away from the flames, to escape through a gap in the burning tendrils.

But then the tendrils that had been… hesitantly approaching… suddenly lunged, wrapping around him, burning.

“Fuck!”

“Boom—”

A wave of intense heat erupted from his body, incinerating the tendrils, only a few still clinging to him.

They had only delayed him for a second, sacrificing themselves.

But a second was all it took.

He heard the whooshing sound of the retracting tendrils and moved to the side, his peripheral vision catching a glimpse of something behind him.

At the end of the burning tendril, a charred figure, its fist raised, its bloody knuckles exposed, was being pulled towards him.

“Motherfu—shit—!”

Before he could finish cursing, barely having time to unleash a stream of fire towards the figure, a fist, seemingly unaffected by the flames, slammed into his face.

“What the… huh?” He’d braced for the impact, expecting to be thrown back, but he felt no pain.

What he couldn’t see was a bright red crack, spreading across his face like lightning, and a second later, with a “Boom—”, the right side of his head exploded, his mangled remains falling into the burning fungal mass below.

But the attack didn’t stop. The C-rank Awakened, ignoring the flames burning her flesh, shouted, “Yibai!!!”

Pulled by the tendril, she reached the falling Anan and, with a roar, unleashed a devastating punch, her liquefied blood crystal-enhanced strength exploding outwards.

“Thump—”

Her fist connected with Anan’s chest, a sickening thud of flesh against bone, blood crystal veins spreading outwards from the point of impact.

“Boom—”

A second later, his heart exploded, a spray of blood and gore arcing downwards into the burning fungal carpet.

“Gurgle—”

The fungal carpet quickly consumed the remains.

But by now, the flames had spread, the entire carpet a burning inferno.

With its last bit of strength, it flung the C-rank Awakened away from the flames, the barbed tip of the tendril tearing away the burning flesh from her right hand as it detached.

And then the flames consumed it completely.

“Gurgle—”

The massive fungal carpet writhed in agony, and the woman, thrown through the air, landed on the roots and moss below, coughing up blood.

And Anan, along with the burning fungal carpet, had been reduced to ashes.

“Ugh… cough…”

The woman on the ground, after a few ragged breaths, pushed herself up, her arms trembling.

“Whimper… whimper…”

A faint crying sound from her left ear. She reached up and removed the small object clinging there.

A miniature Huayibai.

This miniature clone, attached to her ear, hidden by her hair, had been communicating with her.

And this woman… was Lin Xiwan, who had gone with Huayibai to intercept Anan.

Ignoring the burns on her body and the excruciating pain in her right hand, she gently cradled the tiny, whimpering Huayibai in her left hand.

The burning had caused Huayibai immense pain.

And since the flames hadn’t been extinguished, the pain persisted, the miniature Huayibai whimpering softly, calling out “Mommy.”

“It’s okay… it’s okay… it’s over now…” Lin Xiwan whispered, gently stroking the tiny Huayibai.

Their battle was over, but the danger wasn’t.

Her sister was still in danger. She had to go to her.

As for the questions swirling in her mind… she would ask later…

Her sister’s strange new abilities… the fungus-controlling Huayibai… the Voodoo Cult’s relentless pursuit…

But first, survival.

“Haa…”

Lin Xiwan slowly stood up, her body aching, and stumbled towards an area untouched by the flames, the path she had taken now a burning inferno.

I have to reach her… my sister…

Clutching the whimpering Huayibai, she walked through the smoke and ash, her body swaying.

But after a few steps, her injured body reached its limit, and she collapsed face-first onto the ground.

“Yao…”

Her eyelids fluttered, then closed, and she lost consciousness.

Tears, mixing with the soot and ash on her burned face, streamed down her cheeks and into the earth.

Chapter 128: Bloodbath in Kun City

“Gah… uh… uh…”

Wu Hejun, her limbs severed, her vocal cords pierced, couldn’t even scream. Her shattered bones prevented any struggle.

“Zzzt—”

A spark of red electricity in her eyes, a last, desperate attempt to fight back.

But before the lightning could even escape, two bone spikes pierced her eyeballs.

“Splat—”

The spikes twisted, and with a yank, her eyes, still connected to their bloody optic nerves, were ripped out.

The excruciating pain, nerves connecting directly to her brain being torn away, paralyzed her, only her lips and cheeks twitching uncontrollably.

“That’s… about right…” Lin Jiayao murmured, keeping Wu Hejun barely alive. “She’s already dead, but… we can make this… last.”

“Why didn’t you just kill yourself? Why keep fighting?” she asked, looking down at the still-breathing body, a cruel smile playing on her lips. “Do you really think you can still win?”

“Your fire-starter has been dealt with. The trees within a hundred meters of the burning area have diverted all their nutrients elsewhere; the fire can’t spread. You’ve lost.”

Wu Hejun’s heartbeat quickened, as if spurred by Lin Jiayao’s words.

Seeing her reaction, Lin Jiayao, controlling the bone spikes, leaned back, her posture mirroring that of a Nest Zombie, her head resting beside Wu Hejun’s.

“Thinking about your… organization?” she whispered in Wu Hejun’s ear. “Such a powerful group… built on… inhumanity… You must have enjoyed being the ‘Boss,’ didn’t you?”

Her smile widened, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. “That zombie I sent to Chongyu City… it’s B-rank now.”

She felt Wu Hejun’s body twitch.

“It’s already in Chongyu… an airdrop.”

Wu Hejun’s face, previously still, contorted again.

“And it brought… another B-rank zombie with it.”

Lin Jiayao’s final words were the breaking point. Wu Hejun snapped.

“Zzzt—”

Her body blazed with electricity, a reckless release of power, a self-destructive surge.

Lin Jiayao’s words had struck a nerve, the news of her headquarters’ impending destruction breaking her completely.

A wave of rage and hatred surged through her, a desperate desire for revenge. She would self-destruct, even if it meant obliterating her own body, taking this demonic girl with her.

But what she didn’t know was that, while whispering those taunts, the girl had also released a massive amount of pheromones…

B-rank power built within her, her body glowing brighter and brighter, and then, just as she was about to explode, the girl beside her, calm and unfazed, said a single word.

“Stop.”

The energy within Wu Hejun dissipated instantly, no longer under her control.

No… not uncontrolled, she had dispelled it.

She had dispelled her own power!

No… impossible… she hadn’t felt any mental control; she could still think clearly…

A mental suggestion?

“Zzzt—”

She tried to gather her energy again, but as it reached its peak, another soft “Stop,” and it dissipated.

She couldn’t even self-destruct.

Her ragged breathing calmed.

She seemed to have given up, resigned to her fate.

She knew that any display of fear, any plea for mercy, would only prolong the torture.

This demonic girl… she wanted to break her, both physically and mentally.

Indifference… her only escape.

It was over anyway. The moment she’d failed to stop the destroyer, everything had been lost. The Voodoo Cult, herself, the world… all gone.

Having lost everything she had built, her life now in someone else’s hands, she had nothing left to lose.

“You look…” Lin Jiayao, using her bone spikes to stand, her voice returning to its usual calm indifference, “…like a stray dog.”

The girl’s cold words, coming from above, didn’t elicit any reaction from Wu Hejun, whose spirit was broken.

Her vision darkened, her heart sinking into an abyss of despair.

She stopped breathing.

“Oh?”

Lin Jiayao, standing over Wu Hejun’s broken body, noticed her still chest.

If she wanted to kill herself this way… even constant injections of nutrients wouldn’t keep her alive.

So this is how you want to die?

Did she think this would erase the years of terror she had inflicted, the pain she’d caused her sister, the countless lives the Voodoo Cult had destroyed?

Such naivete.

Lin Jiayao wasn’t merciful. Anyone who hurt her sister would pay tenfold.

She wasn’t a righteous hero, nor a villain, just an ordinary girl trying to protect the person she loved most in this broken world.

So you’ve given up…? Let’s see if that’s true.

Lin Jiayao increased the flow of nutrients, regenerating Wu Hejun’s eyes and optic nerves.

At the same time, she extended her right hand, a tendril emerging from her palm, touching the ground.

Fueled by her energy, the tendril rapidly split and multiplied, forming a head, a torso, limbs, clothes… a simulated body, a Mimic.

One she had… recorded earlier.

And by now, Wu Hejun’s eyes had regenerated, but they remained closed.

Lin Jiayao didn’t use her bone spikes to force them open, but instead, stepping back, controlled the newly formed Mimic and spoke.

“Xiao… Jun?”

A childish voice, right beside her ear.

Wu Hejun didn’t react immediately.

“Junjun, why are you sleeping here?”

And then the memories, long suppressed, flooded back, a torrent of emotions, and she opened her eyes.

Amidst the dust and debris, a cute little girl, about ten years old, with a side ponytail, stood beside her, her large eyes filled with concern.

It was her childhood sweetheart, Nangong Mian… the Nangong Mian who had brought her so much joy, who had been her constant companion during the happiest years of her life.

Seeing this figure from her past, tears welled up in her eyes, her heart, which had been dead just moments ago, now filled with a bittersweet longing.

Even knowing it was an illusion, she wanted to savor this moment, to hear Mian’s voice again.

“Sob… sob…”

Her breath hitched, tears and blood trickling from her lips, her eyes filled with a desperate yearning, but she could only manage a choked sob, her voice hoarse and broken.

“Come on… you’re five years old now… you have to wake up… no more sleeping in… didn’t we promise to go to the same middle school?”

The girl’s eyes crinkled into a crescent moon smile, her every movement, every expression, every inflection and tremor in her voice, every detail a hammer blow against Wu Hejun’s heart.

“Here, let me help you up.”

Tears streamed down her face as the girl reached out, her hand extended in a comforting gesture.

This has to be a hallucination… brought on by the pain and the near-death experience…

But to die in such a beautiful hallucination… I have no regrets…

She struggled to raise her hand, reaching towards the girl, her fingers trembling.

And just as their hands were about to touch, the girl stopped.

“Uh…”

Her smile faltered, replaced by a look of confusion.

“Shhh—”

A sharp bone spike, emerging from behind her, pierced her heart, exiting through her chest, a spray of blood.

The warm blood splattered Wu Hejun’s face, and though harmless, it felt like acid, a burning sensation.

“Gah… aah…” Wu Hejun stared at the bone spike protruding from the girl’s chest, her eyes wide with rage and disbelief, a guttural scream escaping her lips.

A face slowly emerged from behind the girl, its chin resting on her small shoulder, its gaze fixed on the now sobbing Wu Hejun, a cruel smile playing on its lips.

“Waaah… Junjun… help me… it hurts… waaaah…”

The girl’s weak cries, the blood trickling from her mouth, enraged Wu Hejun further.

“Yes… that’s it… that expression… so you know how it feels… perfect…” Lin Jiayao, controlling the bone spike, twisted it within the girl’s chest, blood and gore dripping.

She reached into the wound and pulled out a heart.

“Oh dear, you’re so badly injured… we need to get you some treatment,” she said, her voice filled with mock concern, looking at Wu Hejun, her acting skills impeccable, disturbingly so. “Here, eat something to replenish your strength.”

As Wu Hejun’s heart pounded, her breath coming in ragged gasps, Lin Jiayao held the heart and shoved it towards her mouth.

“Eat! Eat!!! Didn’t you want to see her? Didn’t you destroy Survivor’s Light for her? Now she’s here, right in front of you! Why aren’t you eating?!”

As “Nangong Mian’s” heart was forced into her mouth, Wu Hejun, having endured unimaginable physical and mental torment, was driven to the brink of madness, her eyes vacant.

But it wasn’t over yet. Lin Jiayao, her own emotions now rising, suddenly stopped.

Using her bone spikes to stand, she controlled the now-healed “Nangong Mian” and had it kneel beside Wu Hejun.

“Junjun?”

Hearing the familiar nickname, a flicker of recognition in Wu Hejun’s vacant eyes, she turned her head with difficulty towards the seemingly unharmed “Nangong Mian.”

“Uh… Mian…” she whispered.

“Good, you’re still awake.”

“Nangong Mian” took the crude bone blade offered by the figure behind her, placed its left hand on Wu Hejun’s neck, and then, like sawing wood, began to slowly cut.

Death by a thousand cuts, delivered by the very person you longed for.

But before the head was completely severed, Wu Hejun’s breathing stopped, her face contorted in a grotesque grimace, a mask of agony and rage, her expression frozen in death, a disturbing sight.

But beside this twisted corpse, a young woman stood, her face calm and serene, a stark contrast to the horror beneath her.

Lin Jiayao had never felt so… at peace.

Even the gruesome surroundings, the stench of blood, the gore on her hands and face, couldn’t taint this feeling.

It’s over… the Voodoo Cult…

From today onwards, no more being hunted, no more running. Even central and southern China would be safer now.

And most importantly, she and her sister could finally… rest.

But one last, small problem remained.

The fire-wielding man, still rampaging near her sister.

…

“Boom—”

“Burn!!! Woohoo!!!”

Kun City, previously a serene landscape of green, glowing faintly, was now scarred by a swathe of crimson, the flames accompanied by manic laughter.

“Boom—”

The man at the center of the inferno, his chest riddled with empty injector needles, the source of his power seemingly depleted, his arms outstretched, blasting flames in all directions, igniting the surrounding trees, the force propelling him forward.

The fungus on the building-trees and vines, sensing the flames, released a shower of white spores in self-defense.

But the spores were incinerated before they even reached the crimson flames… This wasn’t ordinary fire.

And these flames, not just incredibly hot, also spread rapidly, a single spark igniting a massive inferno.

At this rate, he could burn down most of the city within ten minutes.

But things didn’t go as planned.

Having propelled himself several kilometers with his flames, he heard a buzzing sound from behind.

“Buzz—”

A loud buzzing, louder even than his own flames.

A familiar sound, one he’d endured for six hours.

“Just what I need!” He raised his hand slightly, the flames intensifying, burning through the vines above, the fire spreading upwards.

He thought the insect was bringing him more blood crystal serum… they were supposed to signal him… why was it here now?

Had something happened?

He couldn’t carry a walkie-talkie in his current state; he might have missed a message.

“Whatever… I’ll go check it out.”

He redirected his flames downwards, propelling himself upwards, towards the hole he had burned through the vines.

As he emerged, a massive object blocked his vision.

“Wha—”

“Thwack—”

The massive object slammed into him, the force of the impact sending him crashing downwards.

But as he fell, the flames engulfing him incinerated his attacker, turning it to ash.

“What the fuck…?”

He pushed the burning head off his body and scrambled out from under it.

Although not as strong as a dedicated strength-based Awakened, he was still C-rank; he wouldn’t be crushed by something like this.

What… what just happened? Why had their own plane attacked him?

But as he pushed the insect’s head aside, he’d felt that it was… unusually light… hollow…

His flames shouldn’t have incinerated it that quickly…

Something was wrong.

He looked up, searching for anything unusual, and spotted a figure clinging to the vines on a nearby building.

“C…” He grinned, the flames around his body receding, now flowing beneath his skin like glowing red cracks, a network of fire.

Since it wasn’t strong, this would be quick.

It was a pity he had a mission; otherwise, he would savor this “barbecue.”

He focused the flames in his palms and, aiming at the dangling C-rank Awakened, pushed forward with both hands.

“Burn!”

“Boom—”

A five-meter-wide wave of fire erupted, a fire dragon, incinerating everything in its path.

But to his surprise, the woman, like Tarzan, swung from vine to vine, quickly evading his attack.

A muscle-type?

He frowned, annoyed.

Muscle-type Awakened, especially speed-based ones, were annoyingly difficult to catch.

Tough and fast, like cockroaches.

His least favorite type of opponent.

But there was still a whole rank difference between them; he had many ways to kill her.

He lashed out with both arms, the fire dragon now a giant whip, cracking through the air towards the swinging woman.

“Boom, boom, boom—”

The fire whip, leaving a trail of charred vines in its wake, moved much faster than the woman.

As the flames closed in, the heat scorching her hair, about to incinerate her, Anan suddenly frowned.

Something behind him.

“Whoosh—”

He spun to the left, his left arm lashing out behind him, the fire dragon splitting in two, a smaller, thinner stream of fire now aimed at whatever was behind him.

“Crack—”

“Hmm?”

The moment the fire whip connected, he knew something was wrong.

It hadn’t ignited anything; instead, it was being… absorbed.

He looked towards the source and his eye twitched.

What the hell…?

A massive area to his left was now covered in blood-red tendrils, and among them, a little girl, her legs connected to the fungal carpet.

And on the carpet… several large, empty military supply crates.

That’s… Voodoo Cult equipment!

My blood crystals! My precious serum!

“That’s the stuff I just took from the warehouse! Motherfucker! That’s mine!”

Ignoring the C-rank Awakened he’d been chasing, he charged towards the fungal carpet, his body engulfed in flames.

Afraid?

Fear wasn’t in his vocabulary. No matter how powerful, how evolved, could a mere carbon-based lifeform withstand his flames?

Dream on!

“Boom—”

He unleashed a flaming punch, aimed at the little girl on the fungal carpet.

Chapter 127: Death by a Thousand Cuts

The collapsing sky, the trembling earth, the towering inferno, and the girl, bathed in an ethereal glow, like a vengeful deity – these images flashed through Wu Hejun’s mind, a torrent of fragmented memories from her prophetic visions.

The increasing pressure, the fading will to resist, made it almost impossible for her to stand, her head forced downwards.

Like bowing in submission.

If she didn’t resist, if her forehead touched the ground, the force, like a hydraulic press crushing an egg, would crush her skull.

I’ll die…

I’ll die!!!

No… I can’t fall here… this isn’t her true power! She’s just using the forest!

If I can just hold on, Anan can burn this city down… he can do it… he has most of the precious, rare blood crystal serum injectors, he has more than enough energy…

She hadn’t ordered him to burn the forest in a circle, to cut off the girl’s energy supply; she had seen the outcome of that strategy in her fragmented visions.

Burning just a small section of the forest wouldn’t stop them; they were interconnected, their roots intertwined.

As long as their roots remained connected, the forest’s regenerative abilities would outpace her attacks.

The only way to win was to force the trees to divert their energy, to spread it thin, weakening their focus on the girl.

I just have to hold on, wait for Anan…

This destroyer… isn’t invincible.

And this level of pressure… it can’t kill me!

Don’t panic, Wu Hejun!

“Zzzt—”

Steeling her resolve, she unleashed her power, her body crackling with red lightning.

The light intensified, like a miniature blood-red sun, outshining the emerald green glow on the girl’s right.

Like a clash of superpowers in a comic book.

“Crackle—”

A bolt of red lightning shot towards the girl’s head, a flash of light momentarily disrupting her vision, but causing no real damage.

She needed a more… substantial projectile.

“Zzzt—”

Firing the “flashbang,” Wu Hejun scrambled towards a nearby, vine-covered car.

“Screech—”

She slid behind the car, her legs, rapidly regenerating, almost able to support her weight.

Crouching behind the vehicle, she raised her hand, aiming at the car, concentric rings of electromagnetic energy forming, crackling with power.

Die—!

Just as she was about to unleash her attack, she noticed something.

Hadn’t there only been a green glow where that girl was standing?

But now, the green was fading, replaced by countless tiny, flickering red lights within the vines and trees.

Like… hundreds of glowing red eyes staring at her from the darkness…

What… is that…?

She hesitated.

“Pop—”
“Pop—”

A series of soft popping sounds, and she saw what those red dots were.

Eggs?!

Countless eggs were hatching within the vines and trees behind the girl, small, red insects emerging.

What the… fuck… is this ability?!

Wu Hejun had survived five years in the apocalypse, built a powerful organization, encountered countless zombies and Awakened. Her organization had cataloged almost every type of zombie in central and southern China.

But she had never seen anything like this…

She couldn’t comprehend it.

Even the building-trees were understandable, but these insects…

She aborted her attack; a railgun wouldn’t be effective against such a large number of insects, it would just waste her energy.

“Buzz—”

The insects swarmed towards her.

“Damn it…”

“Boom—”

She unleashed her defensive ability, a series of electromagnetic rings erupting from her body, forming a hemispherical shield of lightning.

Any insect that touched the electric field was instantly incinerated.

“Haaa—”

With a roar, she pushed the electric field forward, the dense web of red lightning advancing, consuming the insects in its path.

“Useless! Useless! Useless! Useless!!!”

“Let’s see!!!”

“What else！！！”

“You’ve got!!!”

“Bitch!!!”

With a furious roar, she accelerated the thirty-meter-radius electric sphere, launching it towards the swarm.

“Crackle—”

“Zzzt—”

The insects were incinerated on contact, the massive electric sphere, seemingly unstoppable, hurtling towards the girl.

“Hahahaha!!!”

Seeing the swarm annihilated, Wu Hejun chuckled, relieved.

See? Just don’t panic.

These abilities… all show, no substance.

Don’t be fooled by the prophecy, its fragmented visions not always accurate, don’t listen to that voice!!!

Her confidence returned, the red glow in her eyes stabilizing.

And someone else, bathed in the emerald green light, also felt a surge of confidence.

Such abundant energy… an endless supply…

This level of power… Lin Jiayao hadn’t felt this even with the B-rank fifth zombie.

And with this… sap… she could amplify Crystal Resonance to B-rank levels!

Just before the electric sphere reached her, she had used [Vascular Network] to connect to the surrounding vines.

The connection had been instantaneous, surprisingly easy.

She had initially thought the Vascular Network just prevented the trees from attacking her, allowing her to create Building-Tree Guardians.

But she had become… the network’s controller. Sharing their abilities, possessing consciousness and intelligence, she had been recognized as… a superior being.

And so, instinctively, the building-trees had poured their energy into her, protecting her from the lightning strike, regardless of the cost.

The protective shield wasn’t her own ability, but theirs.

And after almost thirty seconds of semi-consciousness, she had adapted, strengthening her connection to the network.

Just now, using only a small amount of the tree’s energy, with [Blood Crystal Zombification], she had summoned a massive swarm of red insects.

Although quickly destroyed, it had given her a sense of the trees’ power.

With such abundant energy, she could focus it all on a single ability, amplifying it to B-rank levels.

Like now, facing the approaching electric sphere, Lin Jiayao extended her hands.

Tendril Proliferation. Myriad Tendrils.

“Gurgle—”

A surge of sap flowed through the vines into her body, converting into a massive wave of tendrils that erupted from her hands.

She had become a conduit, a living transformer, absorbing and then redirecting the energy.

“Rip—”

The tendrils burst through her palms, tearing her skin, spraying blood.

Like a cast fishing net, the tendrils, fueled by the tree’s energy, spread outwards, forming a massive blood-red web.

The web caught the electric sphere, halting its advance.

More tendrils emerged, replacing those incinerated by the electricity, pushing back against the electric sphere, forcing it back with their sheer mass.

The probing attack was over.

“Thud—Thud—”

“Buzz—”

Several sharp bone spikes erupted from the back of Lin Jiayao’s neck, extending towards Wu Hejun, accompanied by a loud buzzing as Crystal Resonance, fueled by the trees’ energy, restricted Wu Hejun’s movements, pinning her to the ground.

Wu Hejun coughed up blood, watching helplessly as the bone spikes approached.

“Zzzt—”

Just as red lightning began to crackle around her body, the first bone spike pierced her shoulder.

She froze, as if stunned, her left hand, which had been charging an attack, falling limply to her side.

Warning alarms blared in her mind.

Those spikes… dangerous…

Not ordinary bone spikes!

She struggled to stand, to escape, but as she looked up, despair washed over her.

Countless bone spikes now surrounded her… the one she’d severed earlier, just one of many.

As if the hunter was toying with its prey, the spikes, waiting for her to raise her head, began to close in, one of them piercing her neck, severing her spine.

Instantly, she lost control of her body.

But she was still conscious, watching helplessly as her body stood, pushing aside the bone spikes, walking towards the girl.

No… No… NO!!!

Panic surged through her as she struggled to regain control, but it was futile.

Her body and her mind were now separate entities, trapped within the same shell.

“We… we have no quarrel…” she mumbled, but a bone spike, erupting from her spine, pierced her throat, silencing her.

“No quarrel?”

The bone spikes supporting the girl’s body shifted, bringing her closer to the now kneeling Wu Hejun.

Hearing those words, Lin Jiayao almost laughed.

The arduous journey, the countless near-death experiences, the mental strain of constantly logging into zombies, seeing her sister injured…

And now she was saying they had “no quarrel”?

Lin Jiayao, controlling the bone spikes, paced in front of Wu Hejun, who could only stare at her with wide, terrified eyes, unable to move or speak.

“Yes, no quarrel… no quarrel…” The girl murmured, then, as if suddenly remembering something, stopped pacing and looked at Wu Hejun, a faint smile on her face. “You want to… regain control of your body, don’t you? Alright.”

Wu Hejun watched as the bone spike in her neck was slowly withdrawn.

“Gah… ugh… AAAAAH—”

The excruciating pain of shattering bones made her scream, blood spurting from her mouth.

Even her B-rank mental fortitude couldn’t withstand this; she was about to lose consciousness.

Let me faint… let me faint… death would be a mercy…

But just as darkness threatened to consume her, the girl with the angelic face bent down and cupped her face in her hands.

“Don’t die yet. I still have so much to tell you about our… ‘quarrel.’”

And as she spoke those chilling words, a tendril pierced Wu Hejun’s heart, a surge of blood crystal energy keeping her conscious, preventing her from escaping the pain.

“Let me see… how did our ‘quarrel’ begin…? Let me think…”

The girl closed her eyes, then opened them, a cruel smile on her face. “It started with… that woman, at the first camp we encountered after escaping Guangdong Province.”

“The one the Voodoo Cult took over.”

“What was she like? Hmm… let me describe her to you.”

Four bone spikes gripped Wu Hejun’s limbs and, as she screamed, her voice hoarse and broken, slowly pulled, severing them.

Chapter 126: Demon God Descends! p2

“Sister, keep running, don’t go into the buildings,” Lin Jiayao said, patting her sister’s back. “There are vines above us, they can’t see us.”

“Okay.” Lin Xiwan changed direction, not replying, continuing to run.

In her panic, she hadn’t noticed the dense network of intertwining vines above.

A natural camouflage. As long as they stayed beneath the vines, they would be hidden.

But the buzzing behind them grew louder.

Especially for Lin Jiayao, her heart pounding, her breath catching in her throat.

Suddenly, she looked up, a vision flashing through her mind:

A thick, red bolt of lightning, striking her from the sky, her body pierced, her sister and Huayibai beside her instantly incinerated, reduced to black ash.

Two seconds!!!

“Sister! Move!”

Ignoring everything else, she extended a bone spike, piercing Lin Xiwan’s arm.

The wound instantly closed, thanks to her healing ability, but the sudden, tingling and numbing pain made Lin Xiwan lose her grip.

“Yao?!”

Feeling her sister slip from her grasp, Lin Xiwan stumbled, her momentum carrying her forward, tumbling across the slippery moss-covered ground.

“Yao!”

Clutching Huayibai, she looked up and saw her sister kneeling on the ground ahead.

“Yao…”

She seemed unharmed… Lin Xiwan breathed a sigh of relief.

But before she could stand, a blinding white light filled the sky.

And then, a blood-red beam of energy, like a spear of light piercing through the vines, struck the small figure kneeling on the ground before her.

“Boom—”

The massive explosion threw Lin Xiwan backwards, the current from the lightning strike coursing through the damp ground, a searing pain, her body numb.

But the physical pain was nothing compared to the agony in her heart…

What… happened…?

Yao… because she’d dropped her… she’d been hit by that… unstoppable force…

Flames erupted where the lightning had struck, mirroring the inferno in Lin Xiwan’s heart.

“Yao!!!”

She dropped Huayibai and, ignoring the danger, ran towards the flames, her mind consumed by grief and rage.

“Buzz—”
“Rumble—”
“Zzzt—”

The giant insect’s buzzing wings, the crashing of buildings, the crackling of burning trees… the once-silent concrete jungle had become a hellscape.

And another figure, even faster than Lin Xiwan, a blur of motion, raced towards the flames.

“Mommy!”

Even Huayibai, its mind flooded with extraction messages, ignoring its fear of fire, ran towards its Mommy.

A premonition of something terrible… if this Mommy died… then all the other Mommies would leave too… and she would be alone…

“Zzzt—”

Another flash of white light, a red lightning bolt striking Huayibai, its body instantly engulfed in flames.

Lin Xiwan, her breath catching in her throat, stumbled, watching in horror as Huayibai collapsed, a burning heap. She fell to her knees, her strength gone.

The people she cared for… destroyed before her eyes…

She knelt there, trembling, her lips pale, her gaze fixed on the two burning figures, despair crushing her.

That power… unstoppable… beyond the capabilities of a C-rank Awakened…

A B-rank…

Overwhelming, terrifying, inescapable.

“Thump—”

Two figures jumped down from the flying insect, landing near the flames where her sister had been.

Seeing them, Lin Xiwan gasped, a surge of rage replacing her despair, and she slowly stood up.

“Not a single B-rank… Boss, aren’t you being a bit too cautious?” a man’s voice, a hint of amusement. “Seems like there’s nothing for me to do here.”

“This… this isn’t right… this shouldn’t be so easy…”

“Boss, there’s another one alive over there. Want me to take care of it?”

The man was about to walk past Wu Hejun when she raised her right hand, its palm facing downwards, towards the flames.

“Holy shit…” he muttered, quickly stepping back, not wanting to be in the line of fire; the Boss wouldn’t hesitate to fry him along with the target.

“Zzzt—”

“Buzz—”

He’d expected another attack, but at the last moment, her hand, as if pulled by an invisible force, shifted, aiming at the ground beneath her.

“Boom—”

A burst of lightning erupted beneath their feet. But just as it reached them, a red flash from Wu Hejun’s body neutralized the attack.

“Hmm?”

She frowned, feeling a strange pull on her hand, as if something had forced it downwards.

So, it wasn’t that simple after all…

The fire had triggered a shower of white spores from the building-trees, like snowflakes falling onto the flames, slowly extinguishing them.

And amidst the mist and the white spores, a figure, sitting on the ground, head lowered, made Wu Hejun’s heart pound.

It’s her!!! It has to be her!!! The destroyer from the prophecy!!!

“Zzzt—”

“Buzz—”

As she raised her hand, another buzzing sound, and an invisible force pulled her hand back down.

And as the white spores settled, the figure became clear.

What… what kind of monster is this…?

A young woman, her clothes surprisingly intact, sat on the ground, holding a vine in each hand, the vines’ tips embedded in her arms.

A glowing green membrane covered her body, a protective shield, seemingly fueled by the building-trees, having shielded her from the earlier attack.

“Hoo—”

The girl’s head was lowered, as if unconscious, but more and more vines were connecting to her, strengthening the link.

And countless vines extended downwards, gently wrapping around the scorched Huayibai and the approaching Lin Xiwan, pulling them towards a nearby building-tree.

“You can control this forest? No wonder… no wonder… such a vast energy reserve…” Wu Hejun looked at the girl, connected to the urban jungle, not with fear, but with a smile.

At least now she knew its ability; countering it would be easy.

“Anan, burn it.”

“So that’s why you brought me here, Boss…”

The man behind her, Anan, his body glowing with a bright red light, as Wu Hejun fired a lightning whip, anchoring herself to a building-tree, lifting herself off the ground.

“Burn it all!”

Anan’s fists blazing, he slammed them into the ground. With a deafening “Boom—”, cracks spread outwards, reaching the girl.

“Boom—”

Lava-like flames erupted from the cracks, but they couldn’t penetrate the girl’s emerald green shield.

“I understand…” Anan said, looking at the unharmed girl, then turning to Wu Hejun with a smile. “Give me ten minutes, Boss.”

His body erupted in flames, a seven-meter-wide fireball, as he ran towards the girl, leaving a trail of blood-red fire in his wake, flames that couldn’t be extinguished by the white spores.

This wasn’t ordinary fire caused by lightning… this was an Awakened’s ability.

As he ran, the building-trees around him trembled, several massive Building-Tree Guardians emerging, their eyes fixed on him, giving chase.

The entire city, the interconnected jungle, had been roused by his flames.

“Zzzt—”

“Don’t chase him,” Wu Hejun said, her smile gone, her eyes cold. “You should be more concerned about me.”

“Boom—” A bolt of lightning struck one of the vines connected to the girl, forcing her to summon more.

If she lost her connection to the vines, her shield would disappear, and she would be incinerated.

But Lin Jiayao’s head remained lowered, as if unconscious.

Meanwhile, inside a nearby building-tree, Lin Xiwan watched as Lin Jiayao, protected by the vines, withstood the lightning strikes, a puzzled look in her eyes.

This… was her sister’s new power…?

When did she become so strong?

No… that’s not right… her sister was clearly unconscious, she wasn’t even moving, it was the vines protecting her!

The situation was dire. She could see that her sister was being protected by the vines, the woman was trying to sever the connection, and the man was setting everything on fire.

From her vantage point high within the tree, she could see the flames spreading rapidly.

The vines… they were protecting her sister, and that man… he was trying to burn them all!

He was trying to create a city-wide inferno, to prevent the vines from protecting her sister.

Quickly assessing the situation…

“Cough…”

A cough from beside her startled her. It was Huayibai, its charred body now covered in writhing, blood-red tendrils as the burned skin flaked away, rapidly regenerating.

This ability… it was more than just… elasticity…

Huayibai had lied, that much was clear.

But at a time like this, she didn’t care about its lies, only its actions.

It wanted to save Lin Jiayao, to save her sister.

That was all that mattered.

Lin Xiwan quickly opened her waist pouch, kept one blood crystal for herself, and shoved the other two into Huayibai’s mouth.

Huayibai devoured them instantly, and within seconds, the charred skin peeled away, its body restored.

The moment it recovered, Huayibai’s eyes snapped open. “Mommy!” it cried, running towards the window.

“Yibai! Wait!” Adrenaline surged through Lin Xiwan, but her mind remained clear.

They couldn’t fight that woman below; they would be killed before they even got close.

And her sister, protected by the vines, seemed to be holding her own against the woman, for now.

But if the fire spread throughout the city, the vines wouldn’t be enough.

“Huayibai, what’s your ability? Quickly.” Lin Xiwan grabbed Huayibai, her grip tight, her voice urgent. “If you want to save her, tell me!”

Startled, Huayibai, desperate to save its Mommy, quickly replied, “Division, control.”

“Level?”

“B.”

A concise summary of its abilities.

Division… control…?

B… B-rank…?

Looking at the approaching fire, Lin Xiwan’s breathing calmed slightly.

“Can you defeat that woman below?” she asked.

“No, she’s too fast.”

“Buzz—”

A faint buzzing sound.

A giant insect…

“What about the… fire man?”

“I… I can try…” Both fire and electricity were Huayibai’s weaknesses, but compared to the unpredictable lightning, fire, at least, was a tangible threat, something it could interact with.

Lin Xiwan quickly looked up through the vines. The insect was hovering above, seemingly waiting for the fight below to end.

“Yibai, can you control that insect?”

“Yes!” Huayibai nodded vigorously.

“Hold on tight,” Lin Xiwan said, taking a deep breath, looking at the erupting flames below.

“Thump—”

Her heart pounded, a surge of power as she punched through the wall, creating a large hole.

Carrying Huayibai, she climbed rapidly, using the vines as handholds… her goal to reach the insect and have the B-rank Huayibai deal with the fire-wielding man.

No matter how dire the situation, she would fight, for her sister…

Hold on, Yao!

Reaching the rooftop, she leaped towards the hovering insect, her body a projectile, a hundred-meter drop if she missed.

The mist obscured her vision, but she had to try.

“Thump—”

She hit the insect’s leg and clung to it, her arms wrapped around it.

“Yibai!!!” she shouted, her voice strained.

Huayibai’s body exploded, transforming into countless tendrils that rapidly spread across the giant insect, covering it completely, as Lin Xiwan watched in stunned silence.

Yibai… was that even human anymore?

Is this what B-rank Awakened could do?

Hope flickered within her.

With the forest protecting her sister… they weren’t completely helpless.

The tendrils pulled Lin Xiwan into the insect’s abdomen, and then it turned and flew towards the fire-wielding man.

I have to stop him… This is our chance…

Shortly after the insect left, Lin Jiayao, who had been motionless on the ground, her head lowered, slowly looked up.

Her eyes were now emerald green, even her hair seemed to be taking on a greenish tinge, her body likewise.

Having connected to the Vascular Network, even her blood was being replaced with sap.

The moment she’d connected, she, the only sentient being in the network, had become its controller.

The building-trees, the vines, the other plants, they had instinctively recognized her, with her similar abilities but with the added advantage of consciousness and intelligence, as a superior being.

Like a Hive Zombie’s queen.

The sheer number of controllable units was mentally overwhelming.

But as their “leader,” the building-trees now protected her, keeping her safe even while she was unconscious.

“Hoo…”

She exhaled slowly, her green eyes fixed on Wu Hejun.

Her calm gaze seemed to unsettle Wu Hejun.

“How dare you look at me like that… cripple…” Wu Hejun narrowed her eyes, a faint electromagnetic field charring the grass around her. “A powerless cripple like you, you can’t even touch me… or are you planning to roll up in your wheelchair and tap my knee?”

She grinned mockingly, either emboldened by having seemingly countered the prophecy or trying to convince herself, and shouted at the green-eyed girl, “Ten minutes, and you’re dead! You’ll be buried with this disgusting forest!”

But her trembling hands betrayed her fear. She hadn’t been able to instantly kill it, and that unsettled her.

“Zzzt—”

Electricity crackled around her, and then, her eyes widening, she saw the crippled girl’s body straighten as roots and bone spikes extended from her back, countless glowing green vines connecting to her, her entire body bathed in an emerald light.

The sight, the long, supporting bone spikes, the glowing vines spreading out behind her like a massive fan, made the girl look divine.

“Cripple…”

Wu Hejun gritted her teeth and raised her right hand, red lightning sparking.

“Playing god…”

And then, she saw the girl, her expression still blank, raise her right hand.

“You—”

And a single, clear word:

“Pulse.”

“BOOM—”

An emerald green flash!

An irresistible force pressed down, shattering Wu Hejun’s kneecaps, forcing her to the ground, the asphalt cracking beneath her weight.

She knelt before the girl she had just mocked.

“Rumble—”

And not just her, but also the surrounding buildings, shaking and collapsing as the girl spoke that single word, debris and vines raining down, as if the sky itself were falling.

Like a demon god descending.

Wu Hejun, her body trembling uncontrollably, knelt there, looking up at the girl, her mind reeling, the oppressive aura almost crushing her.

The reckoning had arrived!!!

Chapter 126: Demon God Descends! p1

“Whirr—”

A giant ladybug with a blood-red carapace sped through the night sky.

Anyone with night vision, looking up, would have seen the massive mushroom, connected by countless tendrils, on the insect’s back and the car dangling beneath it.

This bizarre, monstrous insect had been flying for almost six hours. A dark city appeared on the horizon.

The once-great city, its outer buildings collapsed, seemed deserted.

But amidst the desolation, a single area glowed with light, even a few factories were still operating, their tall chimneys spewing black smoke.

If you ignored the surrounding ruins, it looked like a pre-apocalypse nightscape, factories working overtime.

The insect’s loud buzzing drew attention from below.

In a nearby factory courtyard, a drug-fueled party was in full swing.

Pleasure and indulgence were their only goals.

But now, even the loud music couldn’t drown out the insect’s buzzing wings. Almost everyone looked up.

“B-Boss… is back…?” a shirtless Voodoo Cult member slurred, swaying unsteadily, then collapsed, passing out.

But not everyone was this intoxicated.

A C-rank Awakened, his eyes glowing with a blood-red light, squinted at the approaching insect, then his eyes widened.

“That’s not the Boss’s plane! It’s that giant insect from before!!!” He scrambled towards the nearest alarm, smashed the protective glass cover, and pressed the red button.

“Wooo—”

The air raid siren blared, jolting everyone to attention.

The insect in the sky was hostile.

They all remembered the destruction and terror it had caused… it had even… even… what had it done again?

Those who had been… re-educated… seemed to have selectively forgotten certain memories, like how even their B-rank Boss hadn’t been able to defeat that zombie…

A C-rank Awakened, designated as the temporary commander, rushed into the broadcasting room and issued orders.

“Enemy attack! Everyone, don’t bunch up, maintain a safe distance, put on your masks, grab your weapons…”

As the Voodoo Cult members scrambled to prepare, the giant insect began to circle above.

“What do we do? What do we do?” Huayibai paced inside the insect’s abdomen, glancing at the two figures near the back.

It could sense that the two figures were rapidly evolving, nearing completion.

According to Mommy, once they were done, they would return to Guangdong Province, and it wouldn’t be able to stop them…

What should I do? Should I crash the flying car into them like last time, to provoke them?

But they weren’t grouped together like last time… they had learned their lesson.

Huayibai frantically scanned the area, hoping to see that… sparkly woman, so she could… spit on her.

The best insult it could think of.

As the insect circled, it released a large number of spores.

It had been completely infected by the fungus, its fruiting body fully matured; spreading spores was effortless.

It had used this tactic before, to lure out that woman and force her to attack.

But no matter how many spores it released, that sparkly woman didn’t appear, no other powerful presence…

What do I do? If no one attacks, my two Mommies will finish evolving and leave…

It looked at the two “strange-looking” Mommies.

“Crack, crack—”

The Mommy covered in white bone spikes, the hard cocoon around her cracking, a terrifying aura emanating from within.

Even without seeing it, they knew something monstrous was about to emerge.

And the other Mommy… even more… dramatic.

The blonde Mommy’s body was now a mass of writhing, intertwining blood-red tendrils, a mixture of blood crystal fluid and glowing green liquid flowing within.

Like a tangled ball of yarn, dyed crimson and emerald, its energy more contained than the bone-covered Mommy.

“Drip—”

But even so, the red fluid dripping from her body instantly dissolved anything it touched.

But perhaps because of Huayibai, whenever the red fluid landed on its “flying car” and began to corrode it, a drop of green fluid would appear and repair the damage.

And thankfully, the red fluid didn’t harm Huayibai’s tendrils, so it remained unharmed.

Just as Huayibai was racking its brains, a rocket, trailing flames, suddenly shot towards them.

“Whoosh—”

Due to the insect’s speed, the rocket missed, exploding behind them.

“Hmm…”

Seeing the relatively powerful rocket, Huayibai had an idea.

Perhaps… it could use these rockets…?

According to Mommy, she just had to injure the two Mommies without directly attacking them herself.

How about missiles?

Huayibai quickly reduced the insect’s speed and altitude, circling a tall building.

At this speed and distance, they should be able to hit, right?

Two more RPGs, trailing orange flames and smoke, were fired from different directions.

“Whoosh—”

Feeling the approaching rockets, Huayibai, inside the insect’s abdomen, pursed its lips.

Sorry, Mommy!

“Rip—”

Huayibai’s tendrils tore through the insect’s body, splitting it in two, the two evolving figures inside falling from the sky.

And as they fell, Huayibai’s tendrils rapidly detached from the insect, a long, thin tendril hooking onto the nearby building.

“Rumble—”

“Boom—!”

With Huayibai’s precise maneuvering, the two rockets detonated just as the two falling figures were passing, the explosions sending them flying in different directions.

One sprayed blood, the other… scattered bone dust and ash.

It had literally… scattered Mommy’s ashes.

But Huayibai wasn’t unscathed. Even with its evasive maneuvers, the explosions had scorched and torn away a large portion of its tendrils.

Only a small mass remained, clinging to the building’s side, like a fleshy growth.

Looking at the scattered blood and ash, Huayibai breathed a sigh of relief.

I have to tell Mommy the good news!

Mommy, Mommy, I blew you up, blood everywhere, your ashes scattered to the wind!

Mommy will be so proud!

Thinking this, it happily wriggled on the building’s wall.

Although it didn’t understand why Mommy had wanted it to injure its other Mommies, it had completed the task.

Huayibai didn’t understand, but Lin Jiayao had her reasons.

She was exploiting the system’s mechanics.

Once an evolution was confirmed, the process was completely handled by the system; all Lin Jiayao had to do was wait for the six hours.

But what if the evolution was interrupted, the zombie injured, losing blood crystals before the process was complete?

Then the system would ensure the zombie acquired enough blood crystals to complete the evolution within the remaining time.

Otherwise, its own six-hour rule would be violated.

This meant that Mask and A4, their evolutions interrupted, would go on a rampage, driven by an insatiable need for blood crystals, until they had enough to evolve.

And if she could have them encounter Wu Hejun in that state… even a B-rank Awakened wouldn’t be a match for the system’s wrath.

After completing the task, Huayibai didn’t immediately report back but instead directed the spore-infected Voodoo Cult members to circle the area.

As they ran, these soon-to-be-mushroom-people, both ordinary humans and Awakened, spread spores.

The spores, landing on the ground, sprouted tiny red mushrooms. And if anyone stepped on them, the mushrooms would instantly transform into tendrils, ensnaring them.

Huayibai was creating a containment zone, trapping the Voodoo Cult members.

But as it infected more and more people, absorbing their memories, it noticed something unusual.

Several of them shared a similar memory.

A giant insect landing in a plaza, surrounded by Voodoo Cult warriors.

And that sparkly woman, climbing into the insect’s open abdomen.

From these fragmented memories, Huayibai pieced together a complete picture.

“Going… to… Kun City… two… B-ranks…”

Kun City?

Huayibai immediately stopped and then, inside the jeep, opened its eyes, looking at the woman in the front passenger seat.

“Thump, thump—Thump, thump—”

The jeep shook violently as it drove over the uneven terrain, the chassis protesting.

Vines, roots, moss, and fungal carpets covered the ground, the tires occasionally losing traction, their progress slower than walking.

“Should we… just get out and walk? We can’t drive through this…” Lin Xiwan sighed, looking at her sister.

But then, she noticed her sister’s expression, previously calm, suddenly change, her gaze fixed on Huayibai in the back.

“What’s wrong?”

Following her sister’s gaze, she looked at Huayibai, who was pouting slightly, a look of… guilt…?

Lin Jiayao’s mind raced.

What’s going on?

If Huayibai wasn’t mistaken…

That Voodoo Cult lunatic, along with another B-rank Awakened, was coming to Kun City?

And the Voodoo Cult’s headquarters was practically undefended?

They had sent most of their forces to Guangdong. With Wu Hejun and the other B-rank gone, they were vulnerable.

Isn’t she afraid of… my team?

Run?

Her first instinct was to flee. If Wu Hejun was coming to Kun City, then they would just avoid Kun City. They were still on their way.

But she quickly dismissed the idea.

Being able to pinpoint their destination so accurately… she must have used some sort of precognitive or tracking ability…

How could she possibly outrun a prophecy?

If they stayed, they had the entire city’s worth of building-trees as allies, her Building-Tree Guardian form, the Vascular Network…

If they ran, they would be alone, vulnerable, nowhere to hide.

“Sister, carry me, we have to run,” she said, looking at Lin Xiwan, her voice urgent.

“Hmm?” Although confused, Lin Xiwan sensed the urgency in her sister’s tone.

She rarely spoke like this, not to her.

Lin Xiwan didn’t hesitate. Gripping the A-pillar, she climbed out the window, then, using her strength and agility, flipped over the hood and reached the passenger side, lifting her sister out.

The Voodoo Cult’s modifications, unlike other camps’, hadn’t included barred windows.

As she carried her sister, Huayibai also scrambled out, surprisingly nimble.

“Over there.” Lin Jiayao pointed, directing her sister towards where she remembered the Building-Tree Guardian being.

Based on her limited experience in the Training Grounds, using Kun City as the setting, and her observations during the extraction with the Building-Tree Guardian, she was vaguely familiar with the city’s layout.

She could navigate to the guardian’s location – it had been near the city’s edge; even wandering aimlessly, she would eventually find it.

She had to reach it and hide before Wu Hejun arrived.

If she could avoid a confrontation, she would. If not… then she would fight.

“Over there?” Lin Xiwan looked in the direction her sister was pointing. “What about the car?”

She didn’t question her sister’s judgment, just… the car and all their supplies…

They’d already lost so much; she didn’t want to abandon another vehicle unless absolutely necessary.

“Leave it.”

“Uh… okay.” Lin Xiwan shifted her sister onto her right shoulder, Huayibai onto her left.

“And Yibai’s backpack… never mind.”

“Boom—”

She kicked off the ground, her enhanced speed carrying them through the city’s concrete jungle.

As she ran, she memorized the route, so they could retrieve the supplies later.

She remembered Huayibai had two blood crystal stones in its backpack, and there was still food and water in the jeep; if they found a safe place to rest, she would retrieve them.

What Lin Xiwan didn’t know was that Lin Jiayao, upon hearing about Wu Hejun’s approach, had already instructed Huayibai to consume those two crystals.

“What’s happening…?” Lin Xiwan asked, shouting to be heard over the wind.

“Flying… insect…” Lin Jiayao replied.

Hearing this, Lin Xiwan’s pace quickened.

Good thing she had trusted her sister’s instincts; she had sensed an airborne threat!

Their last encounter with a giant insect had brought the Voodoo Cult; Lin Xiwan was still injured from that fight.

Had they been tracked somehow? Perhaps by a Voodoo Cult Awakened capable of tracking their blood or the vehicle?

Whatever the reason, escape was their priority.

But the closer they got to the city, the wetter and more slippery the ground became, a layer of mist further hindering her movement.

She had to discard her worn-out shoes, running barefoot through the concrete jungle.

And… the deeper they went, the more uneasy she felt.

The green glow she’d seen in the distance… it wasn’t from lights… but from the trees and vines themselves…

This meant…

They were blood crystal-infected plants, and this city… it might be deserted…

She slowed down, wary of potential dangers.

This was an unfamiliar city; caution was essential.

Lin Jiayao, however, seeing several two-meter-wide, circular depressions filled with water, relaxed slightly.

These weren’t natural puddles, but footprints.

The Building-Tree Guardian’s footprints.

Her memory hadn’t failed her; even at night, approaching from a different direction, she had found the right path.

Just as she was feeling relieved, a chilling sound:

“Buzz—”

A faint, but distinct, buzzing from the distance, echoing through the night.

And Lin Xiwan, her hearing enhanced, also heard it.

The familiar sound made her stumble.

She instinctively ran towards a nearby building, hoping to climb the vines and hide from the flying insect.

Buildings were usually good hiding places from aerial threats, but these weren’t ordinary buildings.

They were living, breathing building-trees.

Disturbing their vines, trying to enter their… bodies, would mean facing the zombies they harbored.

Chapter 125: Arriving in Kun City

「Please retain your evolution」
「1、【Feign Death Lv.1 (Blue): Allows you to temporarily conceal your life signs and blood crystal aura, making you undetectable】」
「2、【Bone Hardening Lv.2 (Gray): Moderately increases your bone defense】」
「3、【Bone Spike Lurker Lv.4 (Gray): Increases Lurker precision and range to 200m. Can simulate terrain within 100m】」

Feign Death?

With Huayibai’s help, Mask’s extraction had been a breeze, less than ten minutes.

Huayibai, controlling the giant insect, had carried Mask directly to the extraction point. Flight was definitely a broken ability; Mask’s usual extraction points were ten or twenty kilometers away, easily reached by air.

Back in her body, Lin Jiayao looked at the evolution options.

She chose the first one. She’d already tested Feign Death, successfully ambushing and eliminating a C-rank Awakened without a fight.

And in critical moments, with a suitable hiding spot, it was basically a short-duration invisibility.

It felt like it should be a purple-quality evolution, downgraded to blue perhaps only because it didn’t alter her physical appearance. She was still visible, just… undetectable. A significant limitation.

After selecting the evolution, Lin Jiayao felt a momentary breathlessness, then the familiar warmth spreading through her body.

“Hoo…”

She exhaled and opened her eyes.

Nothing to do now.

Mask and A4 were being transported by Huayibai, both in an unloggable evolution state, and Goldie was also evolving.

And the fifth zombie, in Japan, was already B-rank; logging in was too mentally taxing, especially now, so close to Kun City. She needed to conserve her mental strength.

Communicating with the building-trees using [Vascular Network] would also consume energy and blood crystals; she didn’t want to arrive without a “ticket.”

And the second zombie was already in Kun City, near the outskirts, a valuable asset. She didn’t want to risk logging in and having it respawn outside the city.

Her only available slot was the sixth, still empty.

But after that B-rank encounter, she was hesitant.

Even a B-rank had been so difficult… what if she randomly logged into an A-rank?

Would she even survive? Or return brain-dead?

Until her mental fortitude was strong enough, she wouldn’t risk it. She still had evolutions to collect from her existing zombies.

Once they reached Kun City, found a safe place under the protection of the building-trees, she could safely log into her B-rank zombies and collect their evolutions.

If all went well, they would be staying in Kun City for a while, plenty of time for logging in and recovering.

In a month or two, perhaps, she would have acquired all their evolutions… she couldn’t even imagine how powerful she would be then.

An exciting prospect.

First, they had to reach Kun City safely.

She wasn’t worried; they had been lucky so far; her plans were proceeding smoothly.

Once Mask and A4 reached the Voodoo Cult, they would be too busy to notice her.

Everything was going according to plan!

And for the next few hours… Lin Jiayao had nothing to do…

She opened her eyes, looked at the road ahead, illuminated by the headlights, and felt… a strange sense of… emptiness.

Was this… free time?

Her mental strength was still high; she wasn’t even tired.

Ever since getting the system, she’d been either logging in, resting for a login, or running from something, always busy.

Even during their two-day stay at the camp, she’d been constantly logging in and recovering, never truly relaxing.

This unexpected idleness made her feel… restless.

Instead of wasting time sitting here, she could be practicing in the Training Grounds…

Just as she was about to close her eyes, she felt the jeep slow down and stop.

What’s happening?

Without opening her eyes, she activated Blood Crystal Vision.

No blood crystals.

She scanned the surrounding area. Nothing, besides the faint glow within the car.

Not enemies…

While she was scanning, her sister had gotten out and opened the trunk.

The smell of gasoline reached her, and she opened her eyes.

Just refueling.

Huayibai, in the trunk, eyes closed, controlling its other bodies, lay still, its small chest rising and falling gently.

As Lin Xiwan finished refueling and climbed back into the driver’s seat, she noticed her sister was awake, watching her.

“Awake?” she asked, reaching out in the darkness to gently pinch her sister’s cheek.

“Mm.”

Lin Jiayao nodded as her sister restarted the engine.

The dashboard lights illuminated her sister’s face, revealing dark circles under her eyes.

Sister hasn’t been resting either…

If Lin Jiayao’s rest had been limited, then her sister’s was even more so.

She had only truly rested at the Qingzhou University Camp; even when she slept, it was a light, vigilant sleep.

And after the battles and the long drives, she was clearly exhausted.

But Lin Jiayao couldn’t do anything; she couldn’t drive. Even with bone spikes, she would crash.

And Huayibai driving…?

Although Huayibai claimed it could drive… she knew better.

Four Sprinters per hundred kilometers.

“Sister, there are no zombies nearby,” Lin Jiayao said, placing her hand on her sister’s hand on the gearshift. “Why don’t you rest for a bit?”

“No, we’re almost there, I’ll rest when we’re safe,” Lin Xiwan smiled at her sister and then, starting the engine, stepped on the gas.

Her sister’s concern and comfort made the long, monotonous drive more bearable.

With just one vehicle, and Lin Xiwan driving almost non-stop, they’d made good progress. A convoy, with ordinary drivers, would have been much slower, requiring regular rests.

And she was afraid that if she slowed down, the Voodoo Cult would catch up… they were a persistent nightmare.

Her sister’s safety was her main concern.

She couldn’t bear the thought of leaving her alone, or of being left alone herself.

That was unacceptable; she only wanted them to be together, always.

Thinking this, she squeezed her sister’s hand.

“Hmm?” Suddenly, feeling a strange tingling in her sister’s hand, Lin Xiwan blinked, slowed down, and looked at her.

“Did you… level up?” She asked, unsure, then, feeling the distinct pull of blood crystals, slammed on the brakes. “You leveled up?!”

How was that possible? Her sister had just become an Awakened!

This was Lin Jiayao’s pre-planned “reveal.” She’d simply released the blood crystal fragments from the safehouse into her mouth and let them dissolve, storing the fluid.

“Level up?” Lin Jiayao blinked innocently, feigning confusion. “Level up… what?”

“I know why you were feeling weak earlier… oh my god… I didn’t even consider that…”

Lin Xiwan rubbed her forehead and then explained, “You’ve reached D-rank, the level your poor sister has been stuck at for so long.”

She patted Lin Jiayao’s head. “Don’t worry, it’s a good thing.”

Although her sister seemed nonchalant, Lin Xiwan was stunned.

She had leveled up?

Just like that?

She’d always been the one protecting her sister, and now… suddenly… her sister could protect herself?

Although not a bad thing, she felt a strange sense of… redundancy.

And also, a huge wave of insecurity.

She had struggled for years, painstakingly reaching D-rank, then, near death, finally reaching C-rank.

And her sister had leveled up… while sleeping.

It felt like… she’d been fishing diligently for years, catching nothing, and then a child, with a simple string, had suddenly pulled out a huge fish.

Humiliating.

But the insecurity quickly faded, replaced by pride and affection. She ruffled her sister’s hair enthusiastically.

“You’re so amazing! As expected of my little sister!” She kissed her sister’s cheek, then asked, “Did you develop any new abilities?”

Leveling up so quickly, and a new ability… that would be… excessive.

But her sister’s talent was a good thing. Perhaps, in a few years, her sister would be the one protecting her.

Hmm…

She tried to imagine being held protectively in her sister’s arms…

Couldn’t quite picture it.

She playfully rubbed her sister’s cheeks again.

“Mmmppph—”

Only when her sister, annoyed, pinched her waist did she stop, laughing, and restart the car, accelerating.

Having played with her sister, Lin Jiayao no longer felt restless.

She would enjoy this break, accompany her sister on this night drive.

It would only be five or six hours.

And she could also wait for the Zombie Loot Box’s Nest Zombie to extract and collect the rewards.

“Still no signal on the radio…?”

“No, it’s been quiet…”

“I’m hungry, Sister…”

“We have food…”

Lin Jiayao’s presence and their conversation lifted Lin Xiwan’s spirits; she smiled.

At least she wouldn’t be driving while drowsy now.

After about three hours of smooth driving, Lin Jiayao opened the Zombie Loot Box interface.

As expected of a Nest Zombie, it had yielded three blood crystal stones… it must have extracted right in its nest.

Since she’d invested two, it was just a one-crystal profit and a retained evolution.

Sadly, the Nest Zombie’s evolutions were usually disappointing. She’d even gotten a white [Bite Lv.1].

But she had also acquired a useful, and fitting, ability: the purple [Danger Sense Lv.1].

Nest Zombies were notoriously difficult to kill, not just because of their… appearance, but also their abilities.

Agile and with precognitive danger sense, some higher-level individuals could even predict and dodge bullets, like cockroaches of the zombie world.

And this dodging ability came from [Danger Sense].

It allowed her to sense how she would be injured two seconds before it happened, enough time to react.

A potentially game-breaking ability, perhaps downgraded to purple because of its two-second limitation.

After selecting the evolution, Lin Jiayao continued chatting with her sister. Gradually, Lin Xiwan’s grip on the steering wheel tightened, and she slowed down.

“Thump, thump, thump—”

The jeep shook violently; the road was incredibly rough and uneven.

In the headlights’ beams, she could see vines and tree roots blocking the path ahead, the sides of the highway shrouded in darkness.

“What… is this place…? Are we in Yun Province?” Lin Xiwan’s speed had dropped to 40 km/h.

Seeing the familiar vines, Lin Jiayao was almost certain they had entered Yun Province.

She hadn’t realized the building-trees’ vines could extend so far.

“Yao, look over there, what’s that?” Lin Xiwan pointed to a small dot on their right.

A faint, green, glowing dot in the distance.

“That is…” Lin Jiayao activated Blood Crystal Vision, scanned the area, and then, looking at the distant light, said, “A building.”

“A building? Glowing?” Lin Xiwan blinked, then her eyes widened. “Is that… Kun City?!”

They had reached Kun City!

Not only were there plants everywhere, but also lights in the distance!

This likely meant there were people, a settlement!

“Should we… get closer…?” Perhaps because she could finally stop driving, Lin Xiwan’s voice was filled with excitement.

“Yes, let’s get closer,” Lin Jiayao nodded, relieved.

Kun City… they were almost safe.