Category: Sickly Girl Doesn’t Die in Zombie Simulator

Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-Six: Perfect Hunt p2

Custom Waypoint?

The Hideout had been fully upgraded?

Could everything inside be upgraded?

It seemed that not only her mental power and evolution, but the evolution of the loggable zombies was also counted in the unlocking conditions of the Hideout.

This meant that Lin Jiayao could try to evolve the 【Control Center】 again, making the login cooldown and evolution time shorter, and gaining more slots.

In an instant, Lin Jiayao felt a pain in her liver.

It felt like a game developer constantly giving you “fatigue potions” and rewards, but your liver couldn’t keep up.

In any case, she should first control A4 to successfully extract, and then think about the Hideout.

Thinking this, Lin Jiayao looked at the locations of the four Extraction Points again.

None of these Extraction Point locations were close, and except for the Beijiang Bridge Extraction Point to the north, the other three Extraction Points had already left Fuzhou City.

Zhujiang Bridge was in Yangzhou City, Yuejiang Bridge was in Qingzhou City, and Lion Head Mountain Extraction Point was in Chongshan City.

According to the method of judging danger by distance, Yangzhou City to the east was the closest and most dangerous, and Chongshan City to the south was second.

Yangzhou City… was now judged by the system to be the most dangerous place?

These two dangerous places were, without exception, close to the sea, while Qingzhou City to the west and the direction to the north were relatively far from the sea.

Coupled with the continuous heavy rain, Lin Jiayao had a bad feeling.

Why was it raining again…

The continuous heavy rain was definitely not normal. Even a typhoon couldn’t last this long, and the rain had already stopped when Lin Jiayao and her sister left Fuzhou City before.

This rain was not a natural disaster, but most likely some kind of phenomenon.

A phenomenon that Lin Jiayao had not yet explored… and it was probably related to the sea.

Should she go to the seaside?

Lin Jiayao thought for a moment and gave up the idea of letting A4 take the risk.

Although A4 was already B-rank, Lin Jiayao had felt the shaking from the bottom of the sea from a long distance when she was in Dongying… That was not a strength that an ordinary B-rank could resist.

The ocean, which occupies about 71% of the Blue Star, breeds zombies that are far more terrifying than land zombies…

Exclude the seaside. Lin Jiayao still needed to keep A4 to constantly harvest evolutions from it. She couldn’t let it go to the seaside and die.

As for whether to go north or west, Lin Jiayao chose to go west.

Now that she could choose the Extraction Point herself, she would let A4 try to go in the direction of Kun Province, so they could support each other.

Uh… referring to A4 being able to support Lin Jiayao’s main body.

A4 could rush over a thousand kilometers in one day, so a mere 90 kilometers was naturally nothing.

Therefore, Lin Jiayao wasn’t in a hurry to retreat immediately. Instead, she briefly activated the wide-area super-sense and searched for stronger mutated zombies in Fuzhou City.

At this time, there were no traces of Awakened or ordinary people in Fuzhou City. It was a veritable ghost city.

Soon, Lin Jiayao marked all the C-rank mutated zombies and started running towards the Hunter closest to her.

“Thump—”
“Thump—”

Lin Jiayao’s figure kept jumping between the buildings, and soon arrived outside a bathhouse a kilometer away.

“Clang—”

Her figure flashed in the air, accurately smashing through a huge piece of glass, and landed in a room in the bathhouse. She swept a whip kick at a three-meter-tall Hunter that was crouched over a Biter corpse

“Roar—”

The C-rank Hunter only had time to let out an angry roar. Before it could see who the attacker was, it was pierced through the heart by a black sword.

The blood-red tendrils attached to the sword frantically decomposed and devoured this large Hunter. The tendrils quickly wrapped its entire body and “melted” into the sword.

The energy in it was then quickly transmitted to Lin Jiayao’s body through the tendrils connected to the sword.

Precise positioning, fast hunting, efficient devouring. Lin Jiayao was like a killing machine without emotion, repeating this set of killing actions.

She was replenishing the energy consumed by verifying some of her abilities just now, to avoid encountering any danger on the road.

There were countless treasures on every B-rank zombie waiting for Lin Jiayao to obtain one by one. She couldn’t let these B-rank zombies die in her hands. She had to be cautious.

A black and red figure was rapidly killing in Fuzhou City under the night. Later, in order to increase the recovery speed, she didn’t let go of any mutated zombies along the way. Finally, after half an hour, she recovered her body to almost peak level.

Although her body had recovered, Lin Jiayao’s mental power definitely couldn’t support her to play with instant building slicing again. The most important thing now was to get to the vicinity of the Extraction Point first.

If she “Lost” the logged-in zombie not because of battle or accident, but because she didn’t reach the Extraction Point, that would be the most infuriating thing.

After feeling that her body had almost recovered, Lin Jiayao aimed at the direction of the Yuejiang Bridge Extraction Point and rushed straight over.

“Boom—”

When her speed increased to near the apex, Lin Jiayao stomped on the ground fiercely. With a sound of the ground exploding, her body flew upwards diagonally like a cannonball.

“Whoosh—”

The fierce wind and rain swept past Lin Jiayao’s ears. In the air, the flesh of her lower torso gradually began to shrink until only the flesh tightly clinging to the bones remained.

And the armor plates on her wings, scapula, and the wing-like tendril nets began to emerge, supporting her like a hang glider and gliding forward.

She streaked across the night sky in a blood-red stream of light, gliding forward in a parabola for several kilometers.

“Boom—!”

Then, when she was about to fall to the ground, her legs began to swell and fill with energy again. She stomped on the ground fiercely, crushing a large area of the road again, and bounced out.

And this bounce made her speed so fast that it was almost blurry to the human eye. A blood-red thread nearly ten meters long was also pulled out from the tail of her tendril wings, as if the tendrils at the tail couldn’t keep up with her speed.

Under such extreme speed jumping and running, she was rapidly approaching the direction of the Yuejiang Bridge Extraction Point in Qingzhou City.

It was imaginable how terrifying the damage would be if she pounced on an enemy at this speed.

It seemed that A4 was constantly evolving towards the perfect hunter, efficient.

Now Lin Jiayao understood what Huayibai meant by the blonde mommy “flying away” and “couldn’t be caught up with”.

If the system was in control, the system could calculate the most suitable force and the most perfect landing point, which could indeed create an effect of “flying”.

But if Lin Jiayao trained more in the Training Grounds and developed muscle memory and conditioned reflexes, she should also be able to achieve that level.

But that was all for later.

In this state of high-speed “flying”, Lin Jiayao approached the Extraction Point at a speed faster than she had imagined.

Until Lin Jiayao used a large number of bone spikes to “emergency brake” on the road in front of the Extraction Point, creating a “brake track” nearly fifty meters long that looked like it had been plowed, she steadily stopped in front of the Extraction Point located on the bridge.

After seeing the Extraction Point, Lin Jiayao didn’t feel relaxed, but frowned.

The river in front of her… Was the water level rising a little too exaggeratedly?

The river was surging in an abnormally fierce manner. With the help of the heavy rain, it had already submerged the riverside path below the slope.

Although there was still a long way to go before it submerged the road and the bridge, it was not difficult to suspect that if the heavy rain continued like this, the water level would rise sooner or later.

This reminded Lin Jiayao of Yangzhou City before she left. Due to its proximity to the sea and the unprecedentedly strong typhoon, the water level had already submerged the road before Lin Jiayao left.

Although she didn’t know what the situation in Yangzhou City was now, judging from the intensity of the heavy rain around, the situation should not be optimistic.

Lin Jiayao looked at her extraction time. There were still about three hours left, thanks to A4’s ability to run.

Anyway, whether she extracted early or late, the mental consumption was about the same. Thinking that she had already reached the Extraction Point and could earn a little, Lin Jiayao activated the wide-area super-sense.

Most of Qingzhou City turned into countless threads in Lin Jiayao’s eyes. Her vision could almost penetrate all the threads and detect all the blood crystals inside.

Not surprisingly, in addition to the roaring zombies, there were many survivors wandering around in Qingzhou City. She even heard the sound of a camp, and Lin Jiayao could even hear their conversations.

It should be the Qingzhou University Camp.

Not surprisingly, this super-sense ability was definitely a fusion of Blood Crystal Vision and Bone Spike Lurker’s evolved version. Lin Jiayao wondered if she could choose this evolution.

Although the consumption was a bit high, it was really useful.

Coupled with Lin Jiayao’s own 【Hemophagy】 talent, she could almost achieve true “full map perspective” and “full map pursuit”.

Lin Jiayao slowly calmed down and began to carefully identify the large amount of information transmitted to her ears, locating the zombies with higher evolution levels.

But soon, a different piece of information was captured by Lin Jiayao.

“Ah this… buzz… but I have to ask my Mommy… buzz…”

This sound should have been quickly buried in the information flow, but because the voice was too familiar, Lin Jiayao still found it.

Through the ultra-long-distance vision, Lin Jiayao could see that this was a small silver thread woven object making the sound. There were a circle of humans standing around this instrument.

This was… a radio?

Huayibai?

Hadn’t she already written down those planting methods and ended the call?

Why was she still chatting on the radio?

Lin Jiayao quickly switched her consciousness, returned to her main body, and opened her eyes.

As soon as she opened her eyes, she could only see darkness, and even breathing was a little difficult.

Of course, this wasn’t because she was injured or sick, but just because of some external factors.

She slowly raised her head and looked in the direction of Huayibai on the next bed.

Unexpectedly, Huayibai was also sitting cross-legged on the bed, looking innocently in Lin Jiayao’s direction, her hands nervously pinching her white stockings.

Like a child who had done something wrong and was waiting for punishment.

In order not to disturb her sister’s rest, Lin Jiayao and Huayibai exchanged thoughts using a small strand of mycelium(tendrils) buried in each other’s bodies.

“What’s wrong?” Lin Jiayao asked silently, looking in Huayibai’s direction.

“I… don’t know…” Huayibai was so nervous that she even forgot to speak with the mycelium and spoke directly in a trembling voice.

Although Huayibai’s voice was very soft, it was still captured by the sleeping Lin Xiwan.

Lin Xiwan was very relaxed now and sleeping soundly, but the high alertness brought about by the long escape was still maintained.

The moment she woke up, Lin Xiwan subconsciously hugged her sister to her chest with her left hand, and then quickly propped herself up with her right hand, also bringing Lin Jiayao to sit up.

After protecting her sister in her arms, Lin Xiwan opened her eyes and looked around in a daze.

“Hmm?” Seeing that there was nothing wrong around, Lin Xiwan breathed a sigh of relief. She hugged her sister and leaned against the wall, then rubbed her eyes with her freed right hand.

“Ha… what’s wrong? Why are you all awake?” Lin Xiwan yawned and looked at her sister and Huayibai sitting in the hazy moonlight.

“There seems to be something going on with Huayibai…” Lin Jiayao said directly, as there was no need to hide these things from her sister, “But I don’t know what happened. I have to ask Huayibai.”

“Something going on?”

Hearing this, Lin Xiwan was a little confused.

They were very safe here. Even if someone came, the building-trees would resist first. There shouldn’t be any danger.

But hearing her sister say this, Lin Xiwan still loosened her legs that were clamping her sister, helped her sister adjust to a more comfortable sitting position, let her lean on herself, and then Lin Xiwan rested her chin on her sister’s shoulder, the two of them cheek to cheek, and looked at Huayibai together.

Under the gaze of the two, Huayibai, under great pressure, pursed her lips and said weakly:

“When I was about to end the call, a voice said ‘request to interrupt’, and then started talking to itself.”

“Someone you know?” Lin Jiayao asked.

Lin Xiwan knew that Huayibai wouldn’t talk to a stranger for no reason. It was very likely that it was someone Huayibai knew before.

“Yes.” Huayibai nodded at her mother, and said with a crying face, “It’s Aunt Jiang, she used to give me candy…”

“Aunt Jiang?” Lin Xiwan was confused.

And Lin Jiayao, after recalling for a moment, asked, “Is it from Survivor’s Light?”

Huayibai evolved from Survivor’s Light. If she had any acquaintances, it could only be people from Survivor’s Light.

A woman, surnamed Jiang, without a doubt, it was Jiang Chun, the red-haired big sister who played the speaker in the ten-thousand-person speech that Lin Jiayao took Huayibai to listen to that day.

As for why Huayibai had the memory of Jiang Chun giving her candy, it was also easy to explain.

Huayibai’s memory didn’t come out of thin air. Like other mycelia, she would devour the host’s memory.

When Huayibai was still an ordinary mycelium, she had already occupied a human body. Then, by chance, she gained her own thinking ability, but she instinctively still thought she was the original “Huayibai”.

According to when Lin Jiayao intervened in Survivor’s Light, before the B-rank Awakened Gu Wangran self-destructed to warn the world, Huayibai’s identity seemed to be the little granddaughter adopted by the B-rank Awakened in the apocalypse.

But… why would someone from Survivor’s Light suddenly contact Huayibai?

Did they hear her voice? Recognize Huayibai?

Lin Jiayao guessed, but she didn’t directly ask Huayibai. Instead, she beckoned to Huayibai.

“Hmm?” Huayibai was a little puzzled by her mother’s action, but she still obediently moved towards her mother and climbed onto her mother’s bed.

After Lin Jiayao’s hand could reach Huayibai, she reached out and rubbed Huayibai’s head, smiling and comforting her:

“It’s okay, take your time.”

Lin Jiayao’s attitude seemed to give Huayibai great courage, and Huayibai was no longer so cautious.

While enjoying her mother’s touch, she said:

“Aunt Jiang… as soon as she spoke, she asked if Huayibai’s organization was in the seed bank, and then said something like, if it wasn’t in the seed bank, there wouldn’t be so many kinds of seeds…”

“It seems that when Huayibai was talking to that Aunt Wan Zi, she was guessed to be in which place… but neither Aunt Wan Zi nor Aunt Jiang said this place.”

“Hmm…” Lin Jiayao rubbed Huayibai’s head and comforted her, “It’s okay. Survivor’s Light had pioneers who came to Kun Province before. Their understanding of this place is no less than ours. It’s normal to guess.”

While Lin Jiayao and Huayibai were communicating, Lin Xiwan, who was holding her sister, slowly widened her eyes.

Survivor’s Light? They… were still alive?

And Survivor’s Light’s B-rank Awakened Jiang Chun was still alive!

This was definitely good news for the survivors of China, at least much better than the people of the bottomless Voodoo Cult surviving.

Lin Xiwan also wanted to know the situation of Survivor’s Light. She couldn’t help holding her breath at this time, her sleepiness completely gone, and she listened carefully to the conversation between the two.

“What did she say after that?” Lin Jiayao saw that Huayibai was not afraid, so she continued to ask.

“Well… she said she wanted to talk to my superior, and asked me to report it. Then I told her that I didn’t have a superior, but I had a mother.”

Lin Xiwan and Lin Jiayao took a deep breath at the same time, but they still suppressed the urge to complain.

It could only be said that this way of thinking was very Huayibai.

 

Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-Six: Perfect Hunt p1

“No.1: 【Mask】 (Available) (Estimated Reset 51:41)”
“No.2: 【Building-Tree Guardian】 (Available)”
“No.3: 【Goldie】 (Available)”
“No.4: 【A4】 (Available)”
“No.5: 【Unnamed】 (Available)”
“No.6: 🌐 (Available)”

At this moment, Lin Jiayao, lying on the vine bed, was burying her face in her sister’s chest.

And her own legs, as usual, were tightly clamped by her sister.

After finding the most comfortable position, Lin Jiayao opened the login interface and saw the status of the zombies she could currently log into.

Mask would be back in Xin City in about an hour. Although this speed was not as fast as A4’s, it was still quite fast.

It was just that Lin Jiayao couldn’t imagine how Mask was running. What had it become after evolving?

However, Lin Jiayao didn’t want to waste an hour waiting just to see Mask. Right now, there was another B-rank zombie, A4, waiting for her “inspection”.

Lin Jiayao reached out, her finger tapping on A4, and her consciousness slowly sank into darkness.

“Whoosh—”
“Hah—”
“Whoosh—”
“Thump—”

Lin Jiayao’s consciousness had just transferred. Before she could even open her eyes, she heard a cacophony of hundreds of thousands of noises exploding in her ears.

But this sensation didn’t bring Lin Jiayao any discomfort. Before she could do anything, she had already adapted to this state of heightened senses.

This was the effect of A4’s original golden evolution, 【Hunting Rhythm】, which could always keep Lin Jiayao in the optimal hunting state, with top-notch self-regulation ability.

She slowly clenched her fists. It still felt like human fists… but the energy contained within was different from before.

She still didn’t open her eyes, simply feeling the wind around her and her own strength, and then subconsciously comparing it to her other B-rank zombie, No. 5.

In terms of agility and speed, it was definitely a complete victory over No. 5.

But in terms of strength and defense, Lin Jiayao, who had controlled many zombies, could tell from experience that A4 in its current state was far inferior to No. 5.

“Hiss—”

Lin Jiayao slowly took a breath and opened her eyes.

In Lin Jiayao’s eyes, everything around her had lost its original color. Whether it was tall buildings, zombies, or even the flowing wind, they all had different colors and shapes in Lin Jiayao’s eyes.

This should be the advanced version of Blood Crystal Vision.

The previous Blood Crystal Vision had a very large limitation. It could only see the location of blood crystals, but it wouldn’t show any obstacles.

So, at the beginning, A4, which hadn’t evolved Hunting Rhythm, just relied on instinct, bumping into walls like a fool.

Now, the buildings in her eyes had become grids composed of brown threads, and the zombies staying in the buildings were also outlined by blood-red threads.

Blue threads of rain were dripping, gray wind was “flowing”, and Lin Jiayao finally understood what the restless buzzing in her ears at the beginning was.

It was the sound of zombies walking or breathing.

Lin Jiayao slowly lowered her head and looked at her hands.

Golden threads formed her hands. As her fists clenched tightly, two huge, sharp blades hooked by golden threads burst out violently from her arms.

“Buzz—”

This time, it wasn’t the curved blades of the previous C-rank, but slender, sharp swords that looked like elongated triangles.

After the golden threads hooked into the shape of sharp swords, they didn’t stabilize within the blade, but uncontrollably spread golden threads around.

When these threads fell on the brown threads representing the building or the blue threads representing the rain, they would directly cut these threads and grids without any hindrance.

This was just one of A4’s several forms, a relatively simple attack form.

“Swish—”

Standing on the roof, Lin Jiayao, aimed at a corner of a building ten meters away, and flicked her right arm upwards.

The golden threads burst out with a whooshing sound, directly cutting the brown threads representing the building in half. The cut was so smooth that there wasn’t a single extra piece of rubble. This corner of the building directly slid down along the cut and fell towards the bottom.

Such a fierce attack power…

“Hiss—”
“Crack, crack—”

Lin Jiayao slowly exhaled, and her whole body began to twist and mutate.

Since she was going to test it, she might as well try A4’s strongest form.

“Chila—”

The blades that originally only extended from the arms to the back of the hands also broke through the flesh at the elbows, forming a curved blade behind the elbows.

From her shoulders and deltoid muscles, elongated armor plates, also expressed with golden threads, spread out, constantly covering downwards from the shoulders.

Like a set of armor, the important parts of Lin Jiayao’s exterior were quickly covered by solid armor plates, while her legs were broken and bent.

Her originally straight legs became two curved arcs covered by exoskeletons, looking like the legs of a Hunter, but more elegant and agile.

“Crack—”

And from her back, from the gaps in the armor and the spaces in the shoulder armor, streams of blood-red tendrils sprayed out, forming two wings like a cloak, expressed as red threads.

In this super-sensory thread perspective, Lin Jiayao could very intuitively feel the changes in her body.

If she had to find a creature similar to her current form… Lin Jiayao felt it was more like a Starcraft Protoss “Zealot” with a more slender and streamlined armor.

Or perhaps a “Kai’Sa”(League of Legends) with biological armor that was more aggressive and bloodthirsty?

After the armor was completely covered, Lin Jiayao slowly held her breath.

In her eyes, all the threads quickly faded, and that extraordinary perception was also rapidly detaching. Starting from afar, the world returned to a hazy gray color.

Dark clouds completely covered the dusk sky, and heavy rain poured down. All the threads disappeared without a trace. All that remained in Lin Jiayao’s ears was the pattering of rain.

Naturally, the golden threads on Lin Jiayao’s body also completely disappeared, replaced by a set of black armor plates with blood-red threads and terrifying, pulsating tendrils.

Except for the waist and joints that needed a lot of movement, most of her body was covered with this layer of black biological armor plates. The connections of the armor were blood-red tendrils used to transmit energy.

And the wings behind her were red tendril nets filled with energy, two tendril nets fluttering behind her, like wings or a cloak.

This mode was A4’s most balanced form. Besides this, Lin Jiayao knew of another berserk form that was extremely damaging to herself, and a speed form that enhanced the wings to pursue ultimate speed.

It was like an Ultraman transformation.

But it was undeniable that A4, after evolving to B-rank, could hunt in the city or any terrain with its super-senses and extremely strong physical qualities, becoming a veritable king of hunters.

If nothing unexpected happened, A4 would still be Lin Jiayao’s strongest zombie in terms of individual combat capability.

Lin Jiayao took a deep breath and looked down at the building a hundred meters below.

She was still standing on the roof of the previous building.

She might as well use this building to test A4’s attack power.

A scarlet light flashed in Lin Jiayao’s crimson pupils, and the super-sensory state that transformed everything in the world into threads covered the surroundings again.

But this time, this super-sensory state didn’t spread as wide as before, but only covered a radius of a hundred meters around Lin Jiayao.

In this fixed-point super-sensory state, Lin Jiayao felt her mental power rapidly draining. The building beneath her feet was already completely wrapped in brown and other colored threads.

Even the raindrops, symbolized by blue threads, falling from the sky began to slow down, almost to a standstill.

Of course, this wasn’t time stopping.

It was that Lin Jiayao’s thinking was accelerated in the fixed-point super-sensory state.

“Whoosh—”

In this slow-motion state, Lin Jiayao’s movements were not greatly affected.

As she waved her arms, the elongated water droplets touched by the golden thread swords were cut in half, and the threads shattered and exploded in slow motion.

Lin Jiayao’s body had already traced a golden-red intersecting thread, and she stomped down fiercely. The originally stable brown threads of the building began to collapse, and Lin Jiayao’s body also fell in slow motion.

“Ch—”

The flesh on her abdomen, not covered by armor, everted, and two bone spikes constructed of white threads ejected, hooking her body and moving it towards the outer wall, breaking free from the influence of the slow-motion fall.

“Chichichi—”
“Kakakaka—”

For a moment, only the sounds of bone spikes bursting could be heard. Lin Jiayao’s body flashed and moved between the buildings, reaching the first floor in less than half a minute.

But this was only the half-minute that Lin Jiayao perceived. In the world at normal speed, the speed of the raindrops falling was almost the same as her falling speed.

“Thump—”

Lin Jiayao landed heavily in front of the building, shattering the ground, and asphalt and stones splashed.

At this moment, Lin Jiayao turned off the extremely energy-consuming fixed-point super-sensory state.

“Crack—”
“Kakakaka—”
“Swish—”

Behind Lin Jiayao, a buzzing sound that seemed to be the superposition of hundreds of slashes sounded, and streaks of blood-red blade light flashed from top to bottom of the entire building.

Even at the end, there were several circular cutting blade lights on the outer wall of the building, as if someone had drawn a blade and slashed in the center of the building.

“Pitter-patter—”
“Rumble—”

This wasn’t thunder, but the sound of rain shattering into smaller water droplets hitting the ground, and the rumbling and cracking of the tall building.

In just a few seconds, Lin Jiayao, controlling A4, directly chopped a whole building into pieces like cutting tofu with a random knife!

“Boom—”

As if to add to the excitement, a thunderclap exploded not far away. Accompanied by the sound of thunder and lightning, the building, which had been broken into dozens of pieces, collapsed.

And Lin Jiayao, with a few backflips and rolls, moved away from the center of the collapsing rubble.

“Huff… huff…”

Lin Jiayao was breathing heavily, and the swords and armor on her body could no longer be maintained and retracted directly.

Waves of dizziness enveloped Lin Jiayao, but they still couldn’t stop the excitement in Lin Jiayao’s heart.

Such swift and fierce attack methods, such powerful individual combat capabilities, just hitting a “target” could make Lin Jiayao feel the exhilarating thrill of battle.

This was a feeling that No. 5’s crushing power, ultimate defense, and the powerful blood crystal pressure released through the vascular network couldn’t bring.

If No. 5 relied on its size and huge blood crystal reserves, relying on ultimate defense and Debuff (blood crystal pressure) for ultimate crushing.

Then A4, No. 4, was all about ultimate speed and ultimate flashiness.

Who wouldn’t like such a flashy and powerful evolution?

Of course, facing large-sized and group targets, A4 was not invincible, and even seemed a little weak.

Like the building in front of her, and the brain hive queen that Goldie encountered before, No. 5 could probably flatten them with a single blood crystal pressure, but A4 couldn’t do it so easily.

Even Wu Hejun’s electromagnetic cannon(railgun), with larger “projectiles”, could easily smash a building.

It could only be said that each had their own specialty. If it was against small and medium-sized single targets, No. 5 wouldn’t kill as fast as A4.

One was ultimate group attack, the other was ultimate single-target hunting. Lin Jiayao was starting to look forward to what kind of surprise the B-rank Mask would bring her.

The building over there was still collapsing, and dust was flying everywhere. After the excitement passed, Lin Jiayao began to look for an Extraction Point.

She had been having too much fun and almost forgot to extract.

When Lin Jiayao saw the Extraction Point, she was stunned.

“Extraction Time 3:51:22”
【Zhujiang Bridge Interchange Extraction Point: 37.9km】
【Yuejiang Bridge Extraction Point: 92km】
【Lion Head Mountain Extraction Point: 56.3km】
【Beijiang Bridge Extraction Point: 94.4km】

Four Extraction Points?

Was she seeing correctly?

And they were in four different directions: east, south, west, and north.

The time required for extraction was 4 hours for each, but the distance of each Extraction Point varied greatly.

Through so many extractions, Lin Jiayao had long understood a rule.

Excluding the factor of the zombie itself being crippled, under the same time, the shorter the extraction distance, the greater the probability of encountering danger on the way to the Extraction Point.

“System, why are there 4 Extraction Points this time?”

Lin Jiayao still had plenty of time to choose, so she asked the system in her heart.

“Has the host not looked at the Hideout?”

Uh… she really hadn’t.

After stuffing two blood crystals into the Zombie Loot Box, Lin Jiayao hadn’t opened the Hideout today, so naturally, she hadn’t noticed the changes in the Hideout.

“Three of the host’s logged-in zombies have reached B-rank. The Hideout automatically upgraded. All buildings have reached an upgradeable state, and a new building, 【Custom Waypoint】, has been gifted.”

“【Custom Waypoint Lv.1: Gives you more Extraction Points, and you can choose one of them to extract from. It also marks the specific name of the Extraction Point】”

…

 

Chapter 135: Radio Communication

“Hello? Hello? Can anyone hear me?”

A simple call on the radio reached the Qingzhou University camp, where order was slowly being restored and attempts were being made to purify the water supply. Anyone else listening on that frequency would have heard the exchange clearly.

“Hello? Hello?… Kzzt…”

A middle-aged man with a prosthetic left leg sat in the radio room, staring at the device, a flicker of surprise in his eyes.

He’d been a soldier before the apocalypse, having lost his leg in a car accident years earlier. Even with his military training, surviving the apocalypse with a disability had been… challenging, to say the least.

His survival, until he’d found refuge in the Qingzhou University camp, had been mostly a matter of luck.

Because of his pre-apocalypse hobby of amateur radio operation, Wan Zi had given him the task of managing the camp’s radio communications—a cushy job, basically just sitting around.

He felt like they’d kept him out of pity, giving him this… unessential task.

He had requested to be transferred to the farming team, but Wan Zi had insisted that no one else knew how to operate the radio equipment. So, he’d been stuck here for years.

They said the radio was the best way to communicate in the apocalypse, but ironically, most people who knew how to use one were dead.

Besides occasionally broadcasting Wan Zi’s recruitment messages, he also regularly scanned different frequencies.

And today, on the previously silent Voodoo Cult channel, he’d heard a rather… unprofessional call.

No, not unprofessional, it sounded like someone who had just learned how to use a radio.

“CQ, CQ, CQ, this is BG7YD, your signal is 59, please respond.”

He tried contacting them again on the same frequency, but there was no response.

After patiently waiting for a minute, just as he was about to try again, a voice came through.

“I hear… kzzt… you!”

Even through the static, the little girl’s excited voice was clear.

The man took a deep breath, deciding to abandon his professional jargon and adopt a more… child-friendly approach.

“Hello? Little friend, can you hear me? If so, please respond.”

“Kzzt… I heat… kzzt… …you…”

Heat… ?

He paused, confused, then, based on the first word, guessed she meant “I hear you.”

With the static and the intermittent signal, understanding a complete sentence was difficult; that’s why he’d used standard radio protocol initially.

Before he could figure out how to respond, the little girl asked, “Where… kzzt… are you, Uncle…?”

A direct question about his location.

Although her tone was polite, he frowned slightly.

Both the Voodoo Cult and Survivor’s Light used amateur radio frequencies, easily intercepted by anyone with a receiver.

Answering her question would be like broadcasting the Qingzhou University Camp’s location to any remaining Voodoo Cult members listening on that channel.

That could bring trouble; he couldn’t risk it.

Instead of answering, he tried to ascertain her purpose.

“Hello? Your signal is weak,” he said, pressing the transmit button. “What is it you need?”

He took a sip of water from a nearby cup, his nerves slightly on edge.

Whatever her reason, he couldn’t reveal the camp’s location.

This time, the response was quick.

“Kzzt… I’m looking for… kzzt… wait… oh…”

“I’m looking for Sister Wanzi at the Qingzhou University Camp.”

“Pfft—”

The man nearly choked on his water.

He hadn’t expected this, that she was actually looking for this camp.

Well, now everyone listening knew there was a camp at Qingzhou University.

They were famous now.

This was beyond his authority now.

He picked up the walkie-talkie.

“Wan Zi, this is Yang Dan. Do you copy? Over.”

After a while, Wan Zi’s tired voice came through.

“What is it, Brother Yang?”

She addressed him respectfully, both due to his age and his military background.

Yang Dan, hearing the exhaustion in her voice, sighed softly. “The stream…”

“It’s no use, the Voodoo Cult has a blood-poison Awakened, the entire stream is contaminated.”

“This…”

He sighed again.

The entire stream… that meant they had to dig a new channel from the mountaintop and remove the contaminated section.

A massive undertaking… there were no glaciers in southern China, the water came from mountain streams fed by mist and rain.

Even before the apocalypse, with heavy machinery and a professional team, it would take at least two weeks; now, relying solely on manual labor, it would take at least two months.

And their food supplies wouldn’t last a month.

Their self-sufficient days… were over.

A wave of despair washed over him.

The little girl’s voice on the radio reminded him of his current task.

“Wan Zi, are you free to come to the radio room? Someone’s looking for you… on the Voodoo Cult channel…”

“What is it? Wait… someone’s looking for me on the Voodoo Cult channel?!”

Her voice was filled with surprise. She’d just heard from a young man’s radio that the Voodoo Cult had been destroyed.

They’d all assumed it was the work of the Lin sisters’ organization.

And now, someone specifically asking for her? This confirmed that the voice on the radio earlier had indeed been Little Sister Lin.

“Tell her to wait, I’ll be right there.”

He could hear her rapid footsteps through the walkie-talkie; she was hurrying.

He put down the walkie-talkie and spoke into the radio. “This is the Qingzhou University Camp, our leader, Wan Zi, will be here shortly. Please stand by. Over.”

Since their location was no longer a secret, he didn’t bother hiding it.

Across Guangdong Province and throughout southern China, those listening to the Voodoo Cult’s frequency were puzzled.

Donghai City, inside the Donghai City Broadcasting Station, a woman with a strange black ring around her neck sat in front of the radio equipment.

Hearing the conversation, she frowned slightly and then, extending her right hand, which was slightly swollen from the fungal tendrils beneath her skin, pressed the transmit button.

“Captain Long, there’s activity on the former Voodoo Cult channel. You can hear it on a regular radio. It seems to be communication with a camp leader.”

After a while, a tired voice replied.

“Kzzt… I understand, I’ll go listen…”

Inside a luxurious hotel in Donghai City, Bu Xiaolong, holding a walkie-talkie, his face etched with exhaustion, walked out.

He’d lost track of how many days he’d been awake, snatching only a few minutes of sleep whenever he could.

But thanks to his tireless efforts, the Symbiosis Project was finally making progress.

They had tried countless methods to deal with the pervasive fungal infection, now deeply rooted within many of them.

And the test subjects were volunteers who had learned of their high spore counts and had agreed to participate in the experiments.

They hadn’t found a way to completely eradicate the fungus. Some people’s organs were even composed of fungal tissue; removing it would kill them.

But the experiments weren’t entirely fruitless.

They had discovered that both fire and electricity could repel the tendrils and even inhibit their growth.

Based on this, Jiang Chun, the new leader of the Awakened, had proposed a bold plan.

The Symbiosis Project.

And the project’s testing ground was this hotel, its spacious lobby ideal for setting up equipment and storing materials, protected from the elements and well-ventilated.

They were producing simple black collars. These collars, when charged, emitted a low-level electrical current that prevented the fungus from reaching the brain.

Even some of the tendrils that had already reached the brain had retreated.

As long as the fungus didn’t reach the brain, contained within the body by the collar, even if it replaced all their organs, their consciousness would remain intact.

As long as the solar-powered collars remained charged, they could maintain a symbiotic relationship with the fungus.

These collars, seemingly a restriction, were actually a liberation.

They had discovered that the fungus enhanced their physical capabilities, even ordinary people no longer feeling as tired after prolonged physical labor.

Their strength, speed, and blood crystal absorption rate had all increased… They could even enhance themselves by absorbing blood crystals, strengthening the fungus within.

In a way, it was a form of evolution.

Those like Bu Xiaolong, naturally immune to spores and the fungus, hadn’t benefited from this.

The improved, solar-powered collars had been distributed to about a third of the infected. In another week, Survivor’s Light could officially declare the crisis over.

But because of the fungus, they would likely remain semi-isolated.

Any interaction with the outside world, or allowing outsiders in, would risk spreading the infection. So, except for those with natural immunity, no one was allowed to leave the city.

This was a decision they had all voted on; they didn’t want to be responsible for infecting others.

Although self-sufficient, many still felt a sense of loss.

What had been their original purpose in coming here?

Besides those who had been in Donghai City from the start, everyone else, Awakened or not, had come here hoping to make a difference, to contribute.

But now, trapped by the fungus… their light seemed to have dimmed.

If they couldn’t resolve this, even with the Symbiosis Project, their ideals would eventually erode, and Survivor’s Light would change.

Bu Xiaolong, now the captain of the combat unit, looked at the high-frequency radio with its makeshift antenna, handed to him by a subordinate.

The conversation coming from the radio caught his attention.

He had heard about the Voodoo Cult’s destruction, but Survivor’s Light hadn’t made an official announcement yet; it seemed their leader, Jiang Chun, wasn’t certain of its authenticity.

But this conversation… might change their minds.

Ignoring the fact that it was the Voodoo Cult’s channel, it sounded like an ordinary conversation.

A little girl asking about how to plant certain types of seeds, and several others taking turns answering her questions.

Nothing unusual.

Except… this was the apocalypse.

Most crops had been destroyed by the blood crystal infection, either becoming blood crystal entities themselves or mutated.

The few self-sufficient camps and Survivor’s Light were cultivating crops with… minor contamination, still a long-term risk.

The conversation was ending. A camp leader, seemingly nicknamed “Wanzi,” was asking about the “sisters.” The vague reference confused everyone except those involved in the conversation.

So far, Bu Xiaolong hadn’t noticed anything suspicious.

But then, during a lull in the conversation, a new voice, a mature woman’s.

“Requesting to join the conversation.”

The moment he heard her voice, a familiar image, a woman with short red hair, flashed through his mind.

“Senior Jiang Chun?”

When had the leader gone to the broadcasting station? And contacted the Voodoo Cult channel?

Before anyone on the radio could answer, Jiang Chun spoke again.

“Are you from a botanical research institute? Or a settlement near a seed bank?”

Bu Xiaolong instantly understood.

They’d been talking about… too many kinds of seeds.

As if they had access to a vast variety, choosing the most suitable ones for a high-temperature, high-humidity environment.

In other words… an excessive abundance.

Most people just planted whatever they could find. Who had the luxury of being picky?

There was only one explanation: those using the Voodoo Cult’s frequency had access to a vast number of seeds, they likely occupied a seed bank or a botanical research institute.

And seed banks and botanical research institutes… that meant… Kun City in Yun Province.

If this were a game of Werewolf, they had just revealed their roles.

“Who are you?”

Huayibai, dangling its feet in the Voodoo Cult’s radio station, hearing the familiar voice, pressed the transmit button and asked.

Meanwhile, back in the dormitory, the two sisters, having eaten their fill, lay on a vine-woven bed, sleepiness overcoming them despite it being only afternoon.

Lin Xiwan wanted to cuddle her sister and sleep, while Lin Jiayao was thinking about logging in.

A4, the fastest, almost flying, zombie, was already available, less than 24 hours after its last login.

This meant it had reached its extraction point in Fuzhou City, while Mask was still on its way to Xin City.

This was a good opportunity to check on A4’s B-rank evolution.

Unbeknownst to her, the conversation she’d thought was over was about to escalate dramatically, thanks to Huayibai.

Chapter 134: Hello, Hello?

“Is this it?”

Lin Xiwan leaned closer, confirming the inscription on the stone stele.

This was where the seed bank was located? It looked just like any other vine-covered area.

“I don’t think so. It should be further inside,” Lin Jiayao said, her memory of the aerial view not matching their current surroundings.

This was just a botanical research institute, not the seed bank itself.

Nearing their destination, they slowed their pace.

After Lin Jiayao created another vine wheelchair, Lin Xiwan pushed her towards the institute, Huayibai trailing behind them, its eyes wide with curiosity, looking at the surrounding buildings.

Through the grimy windows, they could see scientific equipment inside, and even a large library.

But the equipment was either covered in moss and fungus, or pierced by vines, clearly unusable without extensive repairs.

They continued further into the institute and reached the entrance to a botanical garden.

Peering through the ticket booth, they saw the garden’s interior.

The familiar sight of overgrown building-trees and vines, and on the ground, the withered remains of other plants.

Walking along the perimeter, Lin Xiwan sighed softly.

“It seems… all the plants in the botanical garden are dead.”

“Mm…” Lin Jiayao nodded. “They probably couldn’t compete with the mutated building-trees and vines.”

Except for the building-trees, the vines, and a few types of fungus, most of the other plants had been eliminated.

This disheartened them slightly.

It suggested that the seed bank might also have been destroyed.

But they couldn’t blame the building-trees and vines; it was just a matter of survival, of competing for resources, a natural instinct.

They continued walking, crossing a street, and then they saw it: a university.

They didn’t even need to read the name – Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences – the vibrant pink blossoms at the entrance confirmed its location.

“It’s inside there,” Lin Jiayao said, pointing towards the flower-covered entrance.

“This…?” Lin Xiwan slowed down, looking at her sister. “Can we even go in?”

“It’s fine, let’s go,” Lin Jiayao said. She could sense the familiar flow of energy from the Vascular Network; it was safe.

And even with Bone Spike Lurker activated, she hadn’t detected any movement within.

Lin Xiwan pushed the wheelchair towards the entrance.

To their surprise, perhaps because it was on the outskirts of Kun City, the building-trees and vines here were less dense, giving other plants a chance to thrive.

Although she didn’t recognize most of the flowers, perhaps even new, mutated species, the vibrant colors were a welcome sight.

They explored the vine-covered university, searching for the seed bank.

They knew it was somewhere within the university grounds, but not the exact location.

Nearing their destination, their pace slowed, a comfortable silence between them, neither mentioning their purpose.

Then they saw it, a building that stood out among the others.

Although it covered a large area, it was only four stories tall, seemingly unremarkable.

But it was covered in various plants, some even bearing fruit, the bunches of orange grapes hanging from the vines covering the glass doors particularly noticeable.

“Are those… grapes?” Lin Xiwan murmured, her gaze fixed on the strange fruit.

“Maybe…?” Lin Jiayao wasn’t sure either. “Let’s go inside and check. These mutated fruits… we don’t know if they’re poisonous.”

“Okay.” Even if her sister hadn’t suggested it, Lin Xiwan wouldn’t have eaten anything from outside, no matter how tempting.

Any fruit that survived in the apocalypse was suspect.

Carefully avoiding the thorny vines, Lin Xiwan pushed her sister through the entrance.

Inside, rows of toppled display cases, their glass shattered long ago, the contents scattered and decayed.

“Are these… it?” Lin Xiwan asked, looking at the small bottles and jars filled with withered seeds, a pang of disappointment.

Almost all kinds of seeds had been stored here, only a few, nourished by the vines, had sprouted; the rest were dead.

Shattered glass everywhere, as if the seed bank had been ransacked, not just by nature, but also by humans.

It was a well-known location; it would have been looted countless times in the past five years.

She looked up, took a deep breath, and then looked down at her sister.

Several desiccated corpses in lab coats hung from the vines above, along with others in different attire.

Many of them clutched intact glass vials, but the seeds inside were blackened, lifeless.

Lin Xiwan had lost hope; finding edible seeds in this ransacked seed bank seemed impossible.

But then she noticed her sister’s fingernail tapping rhythmically on the vine armrest of the wheelchair.

She knew her sister was using her ability and didn’t interrupt.

Perhaps… her sister could find something the others had missed?

There were four floors; even if it had been looted before the building-trees and vines took over, there might still be something left.

Lin Jiayao was using the vibrations from Bone Spike Lurker to map the building’s interior.

The complex environment and the sound-dampening vines made it difficult; after several attempts, she finally had a rough layout in her mind.

This is…

She opened her eyes and looked down at the floor.

The familiar beige tiles, some cracked and broken, pushed aside by vines and other plants.

The floor looked normal, but beneath it…

“Over there, Sister,” she said, pointing.

“What is it? Did you find something?” Lin Xiwan asked as she pushed the wheelchair in the direction her sister indicated.

“Yes,” Lin Jiayao nodded. “And it seems… intact.”

Intact?

An underground storage area?

Lin Xiwan quickened her pace, Huayibai hurrying to keep up.

Following her sister’s directions, she reached an elevator lobby.

But the elevator was long out of service, its entrance covered in moss. They had to take the stairs.

The stairwell door was gone, the entire space filled with dangling vines.

And hanging from the vines… countless desiccated corpses, almost filling the stairwell.

“Ugh…”

Even Lin Xiwan, used to the horrors of the apocalypse, found the sight unsettling.

They would have to crawl over the bodies to descend.

But the vines… they were connected to the Vascular Network.

Lin Jiayao touched one of the vines, and the others, as if coming alive, shifted, carrying the corpses upwards and sideways, clearing a path.

The stairs weren’t wheelchair-accessible, so Lin Xiwan lifted her sister.

This time, not a princess carry, but facing her, her left arm supporting Lin Jiayao’s bottom, her head resting against Lin Xiwan’s chest.

“Don’t look if you’re scared,” she said softly, stroking her sister’s head.

No matter how powerful her sister’s abilities, to Lin Xiwan, she was still her frail little sister, in need of protection.

Then, she took Huayibai’s hand with her right hand. “Hold onto Sister’s hand if you’re scared.”

Even she found this corpse-filled stairwell creepy.

Holding her sister and Huayibai’s hand, Lin Xiwan carefully descended the stairs to the basement level.

As they descended, the darkness deepened, and Lin Xiwan’s steps faltered.

The basement below was pitch black. Even her enhanced vision couldn’t penetrate the darkness.

But before she could ask her sister, she saw the vines below begin to glow, a faint, eerie green light, as if infused with energy.

Lin Jiayao, using Vascular Network, was channeling energy into the vines.

Although the green light was unsettling, it illuminated the way.

Reaching the basement level, they left the stairwell, and the space opened up.

A large, open area with various rooms: sorting rooms, counting rooms, even an x-ray inspection room. Many doors had their nameplates missing; their original purpose unknown.

And even more corpses than in the stairwell, the green light making the scene even more gruesome.

But at the edge of the corridor was a large, open space, a massive, broken wooden door.

And behind the broken wooden door was a large metal door, a metal plate welded onto it with the words “Main Drying Room.”

The highest concentration of corpses was here, piled up in front of the metal door. Lin Xiwan had to carefully step over them to reach it.

The scene unnerved her.

It seemed they had been fleeing from something, trapped at this last door, unable to open it even in their final moments.

She tried the handle; the door wouldn’t budge.

But she knew she could break it down.

“What’s inside, Yao?” she asked softly, her voice barely a whisper in the green light.

“A large drying room… and four massive cold storage units, larger than my detection range… each about thirteen meters high,” Lin Jiayao said, lifting her head from her sister’s chest.

“Four… such large cold storage units?” Lin Xiwan was surprised. She hadn’t expected such a large space down here.

Although the cold storage units, without power, would no longer be cold, such a large, dry, undisturbed seed vault… there had to be viable seeds remaining.

Even the vines hadn’t been able to penetrate the sealed doors. Even in their final moments, the researchers hadn’t opened this last door.

If they could get inside… they could survive on the edible seeds, at least for a while.

But why hadn’t they opened it? Even outsiders had reached this point; those inside would have had ample opportunity to access the vault.

They knew better than anyone the purpose of a seed bank.

It wasn’t for short-term survival, but for the long-term preservation of species, a backup for when plants or animals went extinct, a chance for those genes to flourish again.

And now… she was about to open this door.

“Hoo…” Lin Xiwan felt the weight of the moment, the potential within. She took a deep breath and clenched her right fist. “Yao, Yibai, cover your ears.”

She took a glowing vine, wrapped it around her fist, a makeshift green gauntlet.

Then, holding her breath, she felt her heart pound, blood crystal tendrils extending from her heart and into her right fist.

“Break!”

“Thump, thump, thump—”

She punched the metal door repeatedly, the vines shattering, sap spraying, reabsorbed by the other vines, each blow leaving a blood-red, glowing dent.

And a second later, the dents exploded outwards, like precisely placed charges, ripping the door from its hinges, taking a chunk of the wall with it.

Beyond the dust cloud, a vast, open space, free of vines, like a warehouse.

Several large doors in the corners, four leading to cold storage units, one to a drying room.

Lin Xiwan, still carrying her sister, took Huayibai’s hand, and walked towards the nearest cold storage door.

The door, seemingly unlocked due to the power outage, swung open easily with a gentle push.

Stepping inside, she saw a sight that made her gasp.

Even Lin Jiayao, who had seen the layout through Bone Spike Lurker, was impressed by the scale of it.

Rows upon rows of fifteen-meter-tall blue storage shelves, filled with glass jars and stoppered bottles of seeds.

The vibrant colors within the jars suggested they were still viable.

And below, on the floor, tracks for robotic arms – before the apocalypse, this place had been fully automated.

“So… so many…”

Lin Xiwan whispered, awestruck.

This was, after all, Asia’s largest seed bank, funded by a major nation. This scale… wasn’t surprising.

Huayibai also stared, its eyes wide.

So… much… yummy food…

To Huayibai, these were just jars of different flavored snacks. It could almost taste them, its mouth watering.

“Slurp—”

It looked at Mommy, who was pointing towards a section filled with jars of rice, wheat, and fruit tree seeds.

Quite high up. After confirming the location with her sister, Lin Xiwan put her down, jumped, and carefully climbed the sturdy shelves.

Reaching the designated shelves, she carefully retrieved a few jars and then returned to the entrance.

Since she was carrying her sister, she handed the jars to Huayibai.

“Xiao Yibai, can you hold these? Let’s find a place to stay for the night.”

Having found the seeds, the location now marked, they could return anytime; Lin Xiwan felt a surge of hope, already imagining their future.

The only problem was that neither she nor her sister knew how to farm. They would need to find food before they could grow their own.

And she was hungry now. After finding a place to sleep and storing their belongings, she would take her sister to find something to eat.

Water was plentiful here, but food… they might have to try their luck inside the building-trees.

Before leaving, Lin Jiayao had Lin Xiwan stop at the broken entrance.

After her sister used her vines to carry the corpses and debris, concealing the doorway, making it look like there had never been an entrance there, they left the basement and returned to the ground floor.

Leaving the seed bank, they walked towards a nearby dormitory building they had seen earlier. They could probably find a clean room to rest there.

And luckily, since the building-trees and vines here had established themselves early, most of the building’s contents hadn’t been looted.

Inside the dormitory, however, Lin Xiwan found something unexpected.

A whole, unopened ham.

Still in its plastic packaging, seemingly forgotten.

Although covered in mold, after peeling away the hardened outer layer, the savory scent of the meat filled the air.

The large ham provided a much-needed, and delicious, meal. After eating their fill, they looked at the seeds, a new worry surfacing.

Although Lin Jiayao had access to countless memories, none of them had any knowledge of farming.

She’d even asked Huayibai, but it had also shaken its head; the memories absorbed by the Blood Orb Fungus were fragmented; unless she consumed a large number of people with specific expertise, it was unlikely to be helpful.

Then, Lin Xiwan had an idea.

“Should we… ask someone on the radio?” she asked, looking at her sister.

“The radio?” Lin Jiayao blinked.

“Yes,” Lin Xiwan nodded. “If the broadcasting station in Kun City is still intact, we can contact someone, maybe even Sister Wanzi in Guangdong. They would definitely know how to farm… oh, wait, no electricity… sigh…”

Her plan had been simple: announce the Voodoo Cult’s demise and contact Sister Wanzi’s camp.

If they were still alive, they would surely be willing to share their knowledge of farming. But without electricity…

“Ask on the radio…” Lin Jiayao murmured, then, “Okay, I’ll try.”

“Huh?” Lin Xiwan looked at her sister in surprise. “You… have access to a radio station?”

“Yes, one of Huayibai’s clones is at the Voodoo Cult’s headquarters, it can use their radio.”

“Oh… wait… the headquarters? It’s… gone? Already?”

“There are no more B-ranks there. Huayibai could easily take it,” Lin Jiayao said casually.

“Wow… Xiao Yibai is so powerful,” Lin Xiwan said, glancing at Huayibai, impressed.

A B-rank’s power was beyond her comprehension. Although not offensively oriented, Huayibai’s ability to create clones and deploy them anywhere was incredibly useful.

“Then I’ll have Huayibai contact the Qingzhou University camp and see if they’re still there. If they are, we can ask them about farming,” Lin Jiayao said.

“Okay,” Lin Xiwan nodded.

They both looked at Huayibai.

“Yibai, try broadcasting a general call, see if anyone responds.”

“Okay!” Huayibai nodded and closed its eyes.

…

Somewhere, a little girl, kneeling on a chair in a radio station, spoke into a microphone.

And across southern China, from Donghai City to Guangdong Province, a childish voice echoed from countless radios.

“Hello? Hello? Can anyone hear me?”

Chapter 133: A Promise Between Sisters

“Huff… huff…”

Lin Xiwan’s face was flushed, her lips pressed tightly together, her breathing heavy, as if trying to suppress something. Her arms were spread wide, gripping the edges of the vine-scoop. Her grip tightened, the vines crumbling under the pressure, water spilling out.

The dripping water momentarily distracted her. She looked down, only a hazy mist visible below.

At this height, the ground was obscured, the mist making it seem like they were floating among the clouds.

She wanted to talk to Huayibai, to distract herself, but Huayibai was lying limply at the bottom of the pool, its body swaying gently with the water, its limbs like jelly, as if boneless. If not for the occasional bubbles escaping its lips, Lin Xiwan would have thought something was wrong.

“Swish—”

Her sister’s hands emerged from the water.

Lin Xiwan instinctively reached out, supporting her sister’s waist and lifting her out of the water.

“Gasp—”

Lin Jiayao inhaled deeply, then took a few more breaths.

She couldn’t hold her breath for long yet, unless she used a tendril as a snorkel… but that seemed unnecessary and… strange.

After settling onto her sister’s lap, Lin Jiayao looked up and paused.

Her sister was leaning back against the vines, her head resting against the edge, her eyes closed, seemingly enjoying the sun.

Following her gaze, Lin Jiayao felt the warmth of the sun on her face.

Only the upper part of the scoop received direct sunlight; the lower part, shaded by the vines and the mist, was cooler.

Huayibai, however, seemed to enjoy the cool shade, its feelings of contentment and relaxation transmitted to Lin Jiayao through their connection.

“Does it hurt?” Lin Xiwan asked softly, her ears still red, her voice slightly hoarse, wanting to know if her sister was alright.

“Hmm? Oh… no, it doesn’t hurt,” Lin Xiwan replied, her mind slightly hazy, her sister’s voice echoing faintly.

“Then I’ll continue?” Lin Jiayao looked at her sister’s upper body; the healed skin was smooth and unblemished, no visible scars.

“Huh?” Lin Xiwan, her head still resting against the vines, looked at her sister, confused.

There was more?

After a moment, she nodded reluctantly. “Mm…”

“Really doesn’t hurt?” Seeing her sister’s expression, Lin Jiayao wasn’t convinced. If it did hurt, she could add a bit of numbing blood; a small amount shouldn’t affect her sister too much, not as an Awakened.

“It doesn’t hurt,” Lin Xiwan said, avoiding her sister’s gaze.

It didn’t hurt, but it was… itchy.

An unbearable itching, and the sensation varied depending on where her sister touched her.

A different kind of itch for every spot.

But she had endured it so far; she was developing a tolerance.

The rest should be easier.

Lin Jiayao, seeing her sister’s averted gaze, her eyes narrowed slightly.

“Maybe I should add a bit of neurotoxin then, just to be safe. It won’t hurt, just a slight tingling sensation,” she said.

By now, she was certain her sister was just being brave; she must still be feeling some pain.

“Gurgle—”

As she submerged herself, before she could even open her eyes underwater, she was suddenly lifted out of the water.

“No, no neurotoxin! It really doesn’t hurt!” Lin Xiwan said quickly.

Lin Jiayao, pushing her wet hair back, looked at her sister, puzzled.

Her sister’s expression… was that panic?

She seemed genuinely afraid of the neurotoxin.

Lin Xiwan was terrified of the neurotoxin.

The itching was already unbearable; adding numbness… she wasn’t sure she could handle it.

“Oh.” Lin Jiayao nodded and was about to submerge herself again when she realized her sister was still holding her.

“Really don’t need it?”

“Really.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.”

“Okay…”

After several reassurances, finally convinced her sister wouldn’t use the neurotoxin, Lin Xiwan carefully lowered her back into the water.

“Form is emptiness, emptiness is form…” she muttered, her eyes closed, steeling herself.

Like being at the dentist, hearing the drill whirring, never knowing when the next jolt of pain would come.

Her heightened senses amplified every sound, every ripple in the water as her sister moved.

Even the light touch of her sister’s hands on her thighs as she adjusted her position sent shivers down her spine.

She couldn’t help herself and peeked down.

Through the gap between… well, let’s just say her natural endowments, she could clearly see her sister’s face.

The sunlight, filtering through the water, reflected off her sister’s skin, making her seem almost… luminous.

A beautiful girl, bathing in the sunlight, a captivating sight.

But the location of her sister’s tongue… was… compromising.

Her inner thigh!

Even though she had been expecting it, bracing herself, she still couldn’t suppress a shudder as her sister’s tongue touched her, her legs instinctively clamping shut.

It wasn’t intentional, a purely involuntary reaction.

And her sister’s head was now… trapped…

Thankfully, she’d eased her grip in time, her C-rank strength not fully unleashed; otherwise… well, it could have been messy.

“Gurgle, gurgle—”

Lin Jiayao, startled by the sudden pressure, choked, the air escaping her lungs, forcing her to surface for air.

“Cough… sorry, it was an accident… won’t happen again…” Lin Xiwan said, seeing her sister’s slightly annoyed expression.

Lin Jiayao, seeing her sister apologize, didn’t say anything more and took a deep breath, submerging herself again.

She saw that her sister, to prevent another… accident, had placed her hands in the water, one on each knee, her legs slightly apart.

A… suggestive position.

But Lin Jiayao didn’t dwell on it, her eyes focusing on the next set of stitches.

She was also inspecting the system’s handiwork, ready to complain if she found any scars.

Time passed, even Huayibai, blissfully floating in the water, eventually surfaced.

Opening its eyes, it saw a strange sight.

What is Mommy doing?

It blinked, confused, scratching its head.

Is it something yummy?

It tilted its head, observing its Mommy’s actions, not daring to interrupt.

Finally, it understood.

Mommy is eating something yummy!

It could clearly see Mommy’s tongue licking those thin, thread-like things, seemingly… collecting them.

Yibai can do that too!

It swam over and tapped Mommy’s shoulder.

Mommy looked at it, a questioning look in her eyes.

Huayibai proudly puffed out its chest and pointed at the few remaining tendrils on Lin Xiwan’s thigh, offering its assistance.

But Mommy just shook her head and pushed it away.

“Huh?”

Confused, it didn’t understand.

Wouldn’t it be faster with two people working together?

It could even share some of its own tendrils with Mommy; they could do that.

But it quickly dismissed the thought.

Pushing off the soft vines with its small feet, it stood up, creating a splash.

“Yibai…”

Lin Xiwan, noticing it had surfaced, greeted it weakly.

“Sister Xi!”

Under Lin Xiwan’s persistent tutelage, although Huayibai hadn’t changed its way of addressing Lin Jiayao, it had finally learned to call her sister “Sister Xi.”

But it noticed that Sister Xi didn’t look well.

“Sister Xi, are you… okay?” it asked, concerned, taking a few steps towards her.

“I’m fine…” Lin Xiwan raised a hand dismissively.

But before she could finish, a sudden sharp intake of breath, as her sister’s fingers brushed against a particularly… sensitive… spot.

“Hmm?” Huayibai blinked.

Was Sister Xi really okay?

“Are you… done…?” Lin Xiwan asked, changing the subject.

“Yes!” Huayibai nodded.

It had let every tendril within its body absorb the water infused with its Mommy’s essence. It felt wonderful, revitalized.

And this place… it felt like home. The climate was perfect, the other fungi here docile and friendly.

“Sister Xi, I want to go… somewhere… I’ll be back soon.” Perhaps wanting to analyze the local fungi, to surprise its Mommy with a gift, Huayibai decided to find a fungal colony and study it.

“Be careful… and come back soon…”

Knowing Huayibai was a B-rank Awakened, Lin Xiwan wasn’t too worried about its safety.

And right now, she was slightly distracted.

“Mommy, I’ll be back soon~”

Huayibai called out to its submerged Mommy, and receiving no response, repeated it, this time underwater.

“Gurgle, gurgle…”

Although the words were muffled, Lin Jiayao understood, nodded, and then continued working.

Almost done. She wanted to finish quickly.

Her tongue was numb, almost to the point of cramping.

Having received permission from both parents, Huayibai climbed out of the vine-scoop, onto the platform, grabbed its dress, and put it on.

As it did, a pair of thin, white stockings and a pair of fungus-formed shoes materialized on its feet.

Dressed, Huayibai looked down at the mist below and jumped, its flexible body easily handling the impact, landing without injury, just a slight ripple as its form solidified.

Shortly after Huayibai left, Lin Jiayao’s arm emerged from the water, waving slightly.

Seeing her sister didn’t seem to notice, she pulled herself out, using her sister’s shoulder for support.

“Hoo… Done,” she said, sitting on her sister’s lap, her chest heaving from holding her breath underwater; she hadn’t yet evolved the ability to breathe underwater.

There had been a water-breathing evolution earlier, but she hadn’t chosen it.

Initially, because she’d been mostly inland, and it seemed unnecessary.

But now she realized these abilities had… hidden benefits.

For example, [Shallow Water Breathing Lv.1], although seemingly just about breathing underwater, would also enhance her lung capacity and stamina.

I have to consider these hidden benefits when choosing evolutions.

While thinking about this, she looked at her sister and paused.

Her sister’s arms were still spread wide, resting on the vines, but her eyes were unfocused, her lips slightly parted.

Like a broken doll.

“Sister?”

She’d never seen her sister like this. Hesitantly, she reached out and touched her cheek.

“Sister?”

She called out again, and her sister finally seemed to “reboot”.

“Fell asleep?” Lin Jiayao asked casually, splashing water on her sister’s face, cleaning the grime.

“Ah… mm… yes, I fell asleep,” Lin Xiwan said, her voice slightly drowsy, her sister’s soft voice having pulled her back.

She’d said “asleep,” and it was… sort of true… her soul had left her body, ascended to somewhere…

She’d never experienced anything like that before.

But she had completed the task without making any… unnecessary noises, her willpower rivaling that of Guan Yu undergoing surgery without anesthesia.

Seeing that her sister’s expression was normal, she relaxed, sliding slightly lower into the water.

“Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle…”

She didn’t play around any further but quickly finished cleaning both of them, then carried her sister to the vine platform and sat her down.

Then, taking their clothes, she rinsed them in the vine-scoop.

Without any detergent, it was just a quick rinse, removing the visible dirt, ash, and bloodstains.

After rinsing their clothes, the water in the scoop was now murky, mostly blood.

“Splash—”

Lin Jiayao, using her abilities, opened a small hole in the bottom of the vine-scoop, draining the dirty water.

Although dirty to them, to the building-trees and their vines, this was nutrient-rich fertilizer.

After hanging their clothes on some sunlit vines to dry, Lin Xiwan returned to her sister’s side.

They sat there in comfortable silence, watching their clothes swaying gently in the breeze, the sun warm on their faces.

After a while, Lin Xiwan sighed softly and smiled. “It’s been so long since I’ve felt this… relaxed.”

“Yes,” Lin Jiayao agreed.

It had been so long…

Perhaps the most relaxed she’d felt in the five years since the apocalypse began.

No worries about survival, no arduous exploration missions, no impending disasters, no relentless pursuers…

No fighting, no blood, no separation, just the two of them, enjoying the peace and quiet, the warmth of the sun, the lush greenery surrounding them.

And no one, besides Huayibai, would disturb them. They were alone in this city, the only sentient beings, as far as they knew.

Sitting there, naked, amidst the greenery, they were like… Eve and… Second Eve… in the Garden of Eden.

No Adam; there were no men here.

Lin Jiayao could create one from fungal tendrils, but it would be just a hollow shell, and she had no desire to create… that.

It was completely unnecessary.

Lin Xiwan, sitting on the vines, her legs dangling over the edge, the mist and the intertwined vines below creating a dreamlike landscape, looked at her sister.

“Is there any… food here…?” She took her sister’s hand.

“Food?” Lin Jiayao thought for a moment, then shook her head.

Although she had been here before, during a battle, she didn’t remember the details.

Whether there was food here… she wasn’t sure.

But she did remember seeing a place, on the other side of the city, untouched by the fire, its pink blossoms a stark contrast to the surrounding greenery.

A large sign, covered in thorns, with the words – Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

According to the information she’d gathered in Survivor’s Light, the largest germplasm resource bank in China was located within this institute.

They might find preserved seeds there… if it hadn’t been destroyed.

She told her sister about this, and Lin Xiwan’s eyes lit up.

“That’s… the place Survivor’s Light was planning to go to?” she asked, squeezing her sister’s hand excitedly. “Should we… go there… after our clothes are dry?”

“Okay,” Lin Jiayao nodded.

Even if her sister hadn’t suggested it, she would have gone there anyway.

And she could guess her sister’s reasoning.

She had always admired Survivor’s Light. Even though it had fallen, as long as it wasn’t officially declared dead, there was still… hope.

After all, she had listened to their broadcasts for almost four years.

Although their broadcasts were now just warnings, no one knew the true situation there; as long as the radio station was still active, there was still a glimmer of hope.

Knowing the seed bank hadn’t been destroyed made Lin Xiwan even more excited. “Hopefully, it’s still intact… I remember seeing a lot of agricultural universities near there when I was filling out my university applications. Maybe…”

“Oh, right, university applications… that’s what you do after the gaokao, you choose your preferred universities based on your scores… I don’t think I ever explained that to you, haha…”

Lin Jiayao smiled faintly, listening to her sister’s excited ramblings.

It was like… back in the resort camp, after a long exploration, her sister would tell her everything she’d seen and heard, pouring out all the things she’d kept bottled up.

“Yao.”

Lin Xiwan suddenly stopped talking and looked at her sister, her expression serious.

“What is it?”

“If… if we find wheat seeds there, or other seeds… let’s settle down here, okay?”

Although she was phrasing it as a question, the longing in her eyes was clear.

She wanted to find a safe place, a permanent home, for her, her sister, and Yibai. Even a simple life of farming and gardening would be better than constantly fighting for survival.

And this place seemed perfect.

No other humans, just a vast network of plants, and her sister could even control them.

If they could become self-sufficient here… it would be a true haven, a place where they could live in peace, forever.

“Okay,” Lin Jiayao said with a smile, readily agreeing.

A permanent home… that wasn’t a bad idea.

Staying in Kun City would be much safer than constantly traveling.

And with the system, she didn’t need to travel to find zombies and evolve; she just needed to log in and extract.

Distance was meaningless.

She could just live here with her sister, log in daily, exhaust her mental strength, and then sleep, her power steadily increasing.

Without any unforeseen circumstances, she could even reach the legendary A-rank in this peaceful environment.

And as for Japan… that shouldn’t affect them here. And there hadn’t been any news from the north, which was a good sign. And the smaller neighboring countries, with their lower population densities, were unlikely to produce any truly powerful mutated zombies.

Safe and sound.

Hearing her sister’s agreement, Lin Xiwan beamed, like a groom hearing “I do,” and kissed her sister’s cheek.

“So cheesy…” Lin Jiayao gently pushed her away, but her sister, exaggerating, fell backwards.

And her hand, still holding Lin Jiayao’s, pulled her down with her.

They lay there, side-by-side, their legs dangling over the edge of the platform, and laughed.

Suddenly, Lin Xiwan remembered something. “Where’s Huayibai? It hasn’t come back yet?”

She had been so engrossed in her conversation with her sister that she’d forgotten about the little girl.

Lin Jiayao activated Bone Spike Lurker.

“It’s nearby, don’t worry, it’s safe.”

Huayibai seemed to be crouching beside a building-tree, talking to… the white fungus growing on it?

“Good…”

They lay there, chatting, and as the sun rose higher, Lin Xiwan moved them to a shaded area.

Soon, their clothes were almost dry. After helping her sister dress, Lin Xiwan also put on her clothes.

Placing her sister back in the wheelchair, they descended, the vines gently lowering them.

Back on the ground, they saw Huayibai, still crouching near a building-tree.

Beneath the canopy, the sunlight wasn’t as intense, the air damp and cool.

Their hair was still slightly damp; it would probably take a while to dry completely in this humidity.

Lin Xiwan pushed the wheelchair towards Huayibai.

“It’s okay… your abilities are too weak, I won’t hurt you… oh… that little green one is stronger, I’ll talk to it next time…”

Huayibai, seemingly talking to a small white mushroom on the tree’s roots, stopped as they approached.

“I’ll talk to you later. Mommy is here.”

It stood up, smoothed its skirt, and turned, looking at Lin Xiwan and Lin Jiayao.

“Sister Xi! Mommy!”

It ran and hugged Lin Jiayao. Mommy, freshly bathed, smelled even better now.

Even among all the different fungi here, Mommy’s scent was the best.

“Don’t rub against me, be good…”

After petting Huayibai, Lin Jiayao looked at her sister and then pointed.

“It’s… over there.”

“Okay.” Lin Xiwan nodded, also petting Huayibai’s now dry, fluffy hair.

Pushing her sister’s wheelchair, she followed Lin Jiayao’s directions towards the seed bank.

It was quite far, and their current pace was slow; they might not reach the Institute of Botany until nightfall.

So they changed their mode of transport; Lin Jiayao abandoned the wheelchair and let her sister carry her, Huayibai clinging to her back, the three of them running now, much faster.

Finally, before sunset, they saw a different color, a pink hue amidst the greenery, and a stone stele they hadn’t seen before.

“Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences…”

Lin Xiwan read the inscription aloud and exchanged glances with her sister.

They had arrived. The largest seed bank in Asia.

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.