Chapter 19: Mutual Torment
The sun was almost completely set, leaving only a sliver of red light on the horizon.
Under a counter in the lobby of Standard Chartered Bank’s Yangzhou branch, Lin Jiayao slowly raised her head and gently shook it.
“Crack, crack—”
After stretching her bone spikes, Lin Jiayao looked towards the extraction point.
「Extraction Time 4:59:57」
【Extraction Point: 20km】
20km wasn’t too far considering the time she had.
Especially since Lin Jiayao could control a Sprinter through Mask and run it to the point of exhaustion. At that pace, 20km was only a 30-minute run.
But the direction… seemed to be leading out of the city.
Towards the intercity highway.
Why was the extraction point so far out?
Lin Jiayao wasn’t sure, but she knew that the further she went, the harder it would be for Mask to help her sister. Tonight might be the last time.
She had to pave the way during these five hours.
To save time, Lin Jiayao activated Lurker hearing to check for any evolved Sprinters nearby.
While crawling and searching, Lin Jiayao soon spotted a Sprinter wandering under the blood-red sunset at the end of the street.
This Sprinter seemed to have absorbed enough blood crystals; its limbs were unusually well-developed, like a gymnast’s.
The lack of skin covering its muscles made it look grotesque rather than beautiful.
The skin and nose on its face had almost completely atrophied, leaving only dried-up eyes and exposed sharp teeth.
“Click, click, click—”
Lin Jiayao waved her bone spikes and crawled towards it.
The Sprinter glanced at Lin Jiayao and then looked away, seemingly uninterested.
Just as it turned to leave, Lin Jiayao thrust a bone spike into its waist, climbed up its body to its face, and then used two bone spikes to snap its neck.
Thick, dark red, foul-smelling blood gushed from the Sprinter’s broken neck. The 4g of blood crystals that emerged were quickly placed into the safehouse.
“Crack—”
Connecting a bundle of bone spikes to the Sprinter’s spine, Lin Jiayao took control and stretched its arms, the bones cracking.
This body was much stronger than the freshly evolved Sprinter she had controlled on the first day.
Lin Jiayao bent slightly and sprinted towards Anju Huayuan, in the opposite direction of the extraction point.
Along the way, she passed the Yangzhou Tower Park camp. It was now deserted, only zombies wandering in the open space.
The corpses previously tied to the fence had been gnawed down to skeletons.
“Rest in peace,” Lin Jiayao murmured to herself.
Although she didn’t believe in God, she still hoped there was a place like heaven to accept these tormented souls who shouldn’t have suffered so much.
As she turned onto the small street leading to Anju Huayuan, Lin Jiayao slowed down.
She wanted to check on her sister.
But as she entered the complex, she sensed footsteps through her Bone Spike Lurker.
Footsteps…in her sister’s apartment. Had she woken up?
Although the footsteps were slightly unsteady, the heartbeat was almost normal. Her sister had fully regained consciousness.
This discovery brought Lin Jiayao immense relief.
It was nighttime. Her sister was familiar with the apocalypse and definitely wouldn’t move around at night; that would be suicide.
After dealing with the Wailers blocking the bridge, she would grab more canned food from the supermarket on her way back and leave it along her sister’s route.
She could also leave some Nest Zombie corpses – there was no one from the Yangzhou Tower camp to interfere now.
Lin Jiayao was about to turn and leave, but she stopped.
Through her Bone Spike Lurker, she heard her sister pacing inside the apartment, sobbing softly.
Lin Jiayao could hear her muttering something.
“Yaoyao, you must wait for me… Yao…”
The Sprinter controlled by Lin Jiayao twitched almost spasmodically; this was the consequence of Lin Jiayao’s distraction.
She desperately wanted to turn around, run back, and tell her sister that she was still alive, to not worry.
But she couldn’t. She couldn’t explain why she had zombie evolutions but was still human. The high-level Mimics described on the radio matched her characteristics almost perfectly: seemingly human but with zombie evolutions, no detectable blood crystals in her blood, completely unidentifiable.
Lin Jiayao retracted her bone spikes, forcing herself to ignore her sister’s voice, and sprinted towards the bridge.
Now wasn’t the time for this.
If she didn’t clear the area, her sister still wouldn’t be able to return; she would still be trapped in Haixin District.
After running for almost 5km, Lin Jiayao finally saw the bridge connecting Haixin District to the other areas.
Yangzhou Bridge.
She hadn’t inherited the Sprinter’s night vision, but with Bone Spike Lurker, she could still pinpoint the locations of the Wailers.
Four in total, scattered in different locations, but within sight of each other.
Wailers possessed at least Lv.1 Bone Spike Lurker, allowing them to sense approaching objects.
These basic evolutions could be achieved simply by consuming blood crystals from other zombies.
Just like the Sprinter Lin Jiayao had first controlled, evolving bone spikes after consuming the Lurker’s blood crystals.
Sensing Lin Jiayao’s approach, the Wailers all looked in her direction.
But they quickly lost interest and looked away.
However, when Lin Jiayao got within about 10m of one of the Wailers, it suddenly turned and let out a piercing shriek.
“Eeee—”
The sound made Lin Jiayao’s head tingle, but it didn’t affect her.
This was likely a unique signal or pheromone used to repel other zombies.
But it was useless against Lin Jiayao.
Black veins bulged on the Sprinter controlled by Lin Jiayao. It punched the Wailer in the head.
Instantly, the other three Wailers turned their attention to Lin Jiayao.
But this time, unlike the one in front of her, they emitted signals to summon other zombies.
“Aeeeee—”
“Aeeeee—”
“Aeeeee—”
The sound of thousands of babies crying, like a mental contagion, assaulted Lin Jiayao’s brain.
But she had to maintain Bone Spike Lurker to see in the dark.
“Waaaa—”
Other howls echoed from the surrounding buildings. Zombies were rushing towards them, faster than during the day.
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