Chapter 116: A B-Rank Zombie! p1
“Whirr—”
A black jeep, its paint scratched and faded, sped down the Guangkun Highway.
In the passenger seat, a young woman leaned against the window, enjoying the sunlight.
If not for the occasional need to swerve around overturned vehicles and potholes, it would have been a picturesque scene of a leisurely road trip.
Lin Jiayao, seemingly basking in the sun, was actually looking at the evolution retention interface.
These were the options from Goldie’s successful extraction.
「Please retain your evolution」
「1、Crystal Storage Tentacles Lv.1 (Purple): Allows you to generate tentacles to store excess liquefied blood crystals. The tentacles can also store brains」
「2、Vigor Lv.3 (Gray): Slightly increases your mental strength」
「3、Blood Crystal Zombification Lv.1 (Purple): Allows you to create Blood Crystal insects directly from blood crystal fluid, without requiring a Hive」
The third evolution was new.
A few days ago, she would have chosen the safer second option without hesitation.
Back then, she hadn’t acquired the Liquid Blood Crystal Veins ability from the fourth zombie and couldn’t liquefy blood crystals.
But now, she could generate blood crystal fluid herself. With enough blood crystals, she could create insects like Goldie, without needing a Hive.
And without those disgusting black holes on her skin – the head-Hive zombie she’d seen also seemed to cultivate its insects externally, its tentacles supplying the blood crystal fluid.
Although Goldie could do this too, it was less efficient than using the internal Hive; external cultivation had a longer growth cycle.
After considering Goldie’s insect abilities, Lin Jiayao chose the third evolution.
This time, she didn’t feel the usual warmth, just… a change in her right hand.
She could now control the flow and shape of the blood crystal fluid within her body.
Suddenly, she realized a problem.
She could only generate blood crystal fluid by consuming blood crystal stones and letting them dissolve in her bloodstream.
So, to release the insects she created, she had two options:
Cut herself and let them crawl out, or use Symbiotic Link’s tendrils to… expel them from her mouth.
Both options were… unpleasant.
But still better than having holes in her skin.
No, there was another way to store a large number of Blood Crystal insects.
Huayibai.
Lin Jiayao looked at the rearview mirror. The reclined passenger seat didn’t obstruct her view, and Huayibai, after Lin Jiayao had woken up, had climbed onto the seat back.
She looked at Huayibai’s small form.
Although Huayibai had human organs, they were essentially just… decorations.
Lin Jiayao had seen it tear open its own body and stuff books inside; its organs could transform into fungal tendrils.
So, she could inject the blood crystal fluid, before the insects fully formed, into Huayibai’s body, replacing its blood and organs; it would be completely undetectable. And if she needed to store more, she could just… inject more.
This way, she could have a small army of insects stored within Huayibai, ready to be released through a small incision whenever needed.
It seemed like a good plan…
“Mommy…” Huayibai, who had been watching Lin Jiayao through the rearview mirror, noticed her mother’s gaze and her faint smile. It wanted to ask something but hesitated.
It felt like Mommy was planning something… unpleasant…
Seeing Huayibai’s slight flinch, the apprehension in its large eyes, Lin Jiayao sighed softly.
Huayibai wasn’t just a mindless fungal mass, it had sentience, the mind of a child.
Looking into its eyes, she couldn’t bring herself to do that.
It felt… wrong.
She would just create a few insects inside her own body and test them; her regeneration ability was strong; a few small cuts would heal quickly.
She looked away, towards the Hideout icon.
The Zombie Loot Box hadn’t finished yet, so she would wait for that before logging in.
She now had ten blood crystals; with no pressing construction needs in the Hideout, she could afford to spend some on the Loot Box.
After all, the more you spent, the stronger the assigned zombie.
She had only offered a machete with a few blood crystal fragments last time, and it had yielded just a Sprinter.
Ten more minutes.
Not enough time to log in. She decided to practice against the head-Hive zombie in the Training Grounds.
The Training Grounds could perfectly simulate that small section of the city and the giant head-Hive zombie.
Within ten minutes, Lin Jiayao had “died” more than ten times, her fastest run only thirty seconds.
Especially after the head-Hive zombie activated and released its swarm…
She had used almost all her tentacles to create insects and could barely hold them off for a few seconds – there were simply too many of them.
And her control over the insects wasn’t very precise; Goldie, without any brains to consume, couldn’t micro-manage them effectively.
She could only issue basic commands; they were essentially just cannon fodder, a one-for-one trade.
“Hoo…”
Exiting the Training Grounds, she sighed.
She couldn’t defeat it with Goldie alone.
Perhaps, next time, she could try adding Huayibai to the simulation.
Leaving the Training Grounds, she opened the Zombie Loot Box interface.
The Loot Box, hovering beside the Control Center, was open, but it wasn’t glowing gold, but white.
She hadn’t expected much from a Sprinter anyway; the white glow didn’t disappoint her.
She opened it.
[Obtained: Broken Vape Pen x1]
Lin Jiayao: “…”
She’d been expecting a few grams of blood crystals, or perhaps some useless trinkets.
But a broken vape pen…?
She skipped the loot and looked at the evolution options.
「Please retain your evolution」
「1、【Fearless Charge Lv.1 (Blue): Channels blood crystal energy, allowing you to charge towards a designated target with increased speed and resilience, ignoring pain and fear】」
「2、【Bite Lv.1 (White): Strengthens your bite muscles, teeth, and claws】」
「3、【Robust Lv.3 (Gray): Makes the host’s body more robust, moderately increases healing ability, grants immunity to most mixed toxins and blood-borne toxins】」
Looking at the options, Lin Jiayao paused.
“System, can I charge… without legs?” she asked mentally.
She suspected the system was messing with her.
「Of course. The host can crawl and charge, it would just be slower.」
“Heh.”
Ignoring the system, she chose Lv.3 Robust.
The upgraded Robust granted immunity to some toxins, a useful evolution.
And it was free, so she wasn’t complaining.
After selecting the evolution, she felt a familiar warmth spreading through her body, and the red marks and bruises on her legs, from being tied up, quickly faded.
The healing sensation made her instinctively reach down and touch her right leg.
Still no feeling.
Sigh…
Every time the warmth flowed through her legs, she felt a flicker of hope, only to be disappointed.
I’ll check on the fifth zombie, the purple-skinned giant, and see if it has evolved to B-rank. A B-rank evolution would be a significant boost.
Thinking this, Lin Jiayao lay down, her head resting on Huayibai’s lap, and opened the login interface.
Lin Xiwan, meanwhile, was starting to feel carsick, staring blankly at the road ahead, occasionally adjusting the steering wheel.
Even for a C-rank Awakened, driving for so long was tiring. She didn’t even notice her sister lying down.
But they still had a long way to go; she couldn’t rest yet.
She was the only one who could drive; she couldn’t expect her sister or Huayibai to take over.
Huayibai was too small; its feet couldn’t reach the pedals if it could see over the steering wheel, and if its feet could reach the pedals, it wouldn’t be able to see.
Although driving while tired was dangerous, the highway had been relatively safe.
But the Qingzhou University Camp… they weren’t so lucky.
They were now in a desperate battle.
With its large population, including many elderly, sick, and disabled who could only farm, clean, or cook, organizing an evacuation had been difficult.
And they didn’t have enough vehicles or supplies for everyone.
A self-sufficient camp’s demographics weren’t as… combat-ready as those of scavenging camps. In other words, they lacked fighters.
Wan Zi, the camp leader, had chosen to fortify their defenses, creating the illusion of abandonment, even destroying their crops, preparing for a siege.
Surprisingly, most of the Awakened hadn’t abandoned the camp, only about a dozen had fled.
This was unusual.
But that was the advantage of a self-sufficient camp; a stronger sense of community and belonging; they didn’t want to abandon the life they’d built.
Everyone in the camp, from the elderly to the children, had been given at least a pistol and a grenade.
An army of civilians.
Initially, Wan Zi had hoped they wouldn’t be discovered so quickly. After all, the university wasn’t in the city center, but on the outskirts.
She didn’t think the Voodoo Cult was that efficient, able to scour every village and town.
She’d been wrong. A giant insect had circled overhead, dropping a signal flare, shattering any illusions of safety.
After a campus-wide alarm, the entire camp was on high alert, preparing for the inevitable Voodoo Cult attack.
And indeed, guided by the flare, the Voodoo Cult had arrived quickly.
The battle had raged all night, both sides suffering heavy losses, but the Qingzhou University Camp had held, the Voodoo Cult, lacking reinforcements, surrounding them but not pressing the attack.
They were waiting for reinforcements.
And the Voodoo Cult could wait; they had reinforcements. But the Qingzhou camp didn’t. They were trapped.
And the ruthless Voodoo Cult had even sent people to poison the stream that fed their reservoir.
The Qingzhou University Camp was now facing a slow, agonizing death, people succumbing to despair or sacrificing themselves for the others, taking their own lives to conserve resources.
Such tragedies weren’t limited to Qingzhou; they were happening in almost every remaining camp in Guangdong Province.
Perhaps those in the south, their camps flooded and destroyed by the typhoon, had been the lucky ones; at least their deaths had been swift.
Today, under the scorching sun, the highways and camps of Guangdong were once again battlegrounds, a desperate struggle for survival.
And in Japan, a few time zones away, another tremor…
The Dhṛtarāṣṭra Ino Cult had “revived” their deity, the God of Ino, sending ripples of fear through the other factions in Tokyo.
…
“Master, another tremor in Chiba… We’ve lost contact with our members there…”
“I understand. You’re dismissed.”
“Hai.”
Inside a large estate in the mountains, an elderly man, sitting in a tea room, dismissed his subordinate.
As he raised his teacup, he heard footsteps approaching.
He put down the cup and waited for the knock.
“Knock, knock, knock—”
“Master, Noto, an executive from the Yamashita Clan, requests an audience.”
“Hmm? Send him in.”
The Yamashita Clan… another powerful faction in Tokyo, known for their violence and ruthlessness, unlike their cult, which relied on religious indoctrination. He hadn’t expected them to send an executive.
This piqued his interest.
If he wasn’t mistaken, he was also here because of… the things from the sea.
Even the ruthless were now afraid.
The executive entered, his usual arrogance replaced by a subservient demeanor. He bowed slightly.
“Our leader invites you to a joint conference in three days,” he said, his tone respectful.
“Why?” the Master asked, sipping his tea, feigning ignorance.
“Don’t play dumb, you usurper. Chiba has sunk! Didn’t you see the tsunami?” The executive knelt, his finger jabbing at the table. “Chiba is gone, Tokyo is next! Old man!”
The old man’s arrogance had angered him; his true nature, barely concealed, now surfaced.