Chapter 21: Don’t Mess with the Wheelchair
With ten minutes left, Lin Jiayao reached the extraction point—a large passenger terminal.
Before extracting, she consumed the 50g of blood crystals she had collected from killing zombies in the past few hours.
Nest Zombies with a large amount of blood crystals weren’t easy to find. Except when they were out foraging or attracted by Wailers, they usually stayed near their food source, consuming blood crystals and evolving, barely moving.
And their nests were often in hard-to-reach locations.
The first Nest Zombie Lin Jiayao encountered had made its nest on the 35th floor rooftop of a skyscraper.
Besides the 50g of blood crystals in her mouth, Lin Jiayao also put two bottles of purified water in the safehouse.
One for drinking, and the other for cleaning herself.
Personal hygiene wasn’t a waste of resources, especially now that these precious supplies, once so risky to obtain, were readily available to Lin Jiayao.
She only needed to have a zombie put them in the safehouse. Later, when she could control more zombies, she could bring back even more supplies, almost like going shopping.
After all, zombies didn’t attack each other without reason, unless they were extremely hungry.
At least, that was true for lower-level zombies. Lin Jiayao hadn’t encountered more advanced ones yet, so she couldn’t be sure.
After the extraction countdown ended, Lin Jiayao returned to her room in the Hengyang Stadium camp, along with a pistol and two large bottles of water from the safehouse.
Back in her room, she was surprised to find that Mask’s login interface was locked.
And beside Mask was a status countdown.
「Evolving 7:59:58」
It seemed the blood crystals she’d had Mask consume before returning were taking effect. The zombies could evolve at the extraction point even while she was back in her body.
Eight hours… almost as long as the cooldown for the next zombie to unlock.
It was just as well. Lin Jiayao needed sleep. She could control Mask when she woke up and see how the other zombie’s evolution turned out.
Although controlling zombies seemed effortless, it was mentally draining for Lin Jiayao.
But she couldn’t control another zombie immediately tomorrow. She still had to figure out how to meet with her sister and make her own survival seem more plausible.
Her current state was too similar to the high-level Mimics described on the radio: no detectable blood crystals, human-like behavior, and the ability to use zombie evolutions.
As she pondered, the system panel appeared before her.
「Please retain your evolution」
「1、【Bone Hardening Lv.1 (Gray): Slightly increases your bone defense】」
「2、【Bone Regeneration Lv.1 (Gray): Your bones regenerate faster. Consuming blood crystals doubles the regeneration speed】」
Looking at the system prompt, Lin Jiayao thought she was seeing things.
Only two options?
Could a zombie be completely depleted of evolutions?
If she didn’t continue evolving the zombies, she wouldn’t be able to gain any more evolutions for herself?
Would there eventually be no rewards at all?
As if sensing her doubt, the system, unusually, offered an explanation.
「When there’s a gap in evolution options, the probability of obtaining a hidden reward greatly increases」
“Hidden reward?” Lin Jiayao asked silently.
「[Safehouse] quality improvement, or improvements to other unlocked areas – these rewards have a very low chance of appearing after each extraction for the host to choose from」
The safehouse could be upgraded? She had a chance to upgrade system facilities after each extraction? She’d just been incredibly unlucky? And this blank space meant she’d missed the “greatly increased probability” again? This reminded her of certain mobile games from before the apocalypse. Did “greatly increased” mean the probability had gone from 1% to 2%?
“Sigh…”
Lin Jiayao, with no confidence in her luck, shook her head and chose [Bone Hardening Lv.1].
Hardening her bones would not only increase her defense, but also make her bone spikes stronger, less likely to break when used as weapons.
This evolution only caused a slight warmth in her body. Afterwards, she felt her bones harden, even her strength seemed to increase slightly.
If before they were slightly harder bones, now they were like bones forged from ordinary steel.
Lin Jiayao took the pistol from the safehouse, engaged the safety, and placed it in a small cloth bag next to the wheelchair armrest.
Within easy reach.
Then, she put all her assets—500g of blood crystals—into the safehouse, leaving only 5g in her pocket.
If she was going out, she had to keep her valuables safe.
As for the mineral water, she didn’t take it out to show off; it was a precious resource and might arouse suspicion.
Lin Jiayao didn’t seem to realize that, compared to the two bottles of water, her face and beautiful legs were more likely to attract unwanted attention.
But now, she was no longer as worried about leaving her room alone.
Compared to ordinary people in the camp, she was far stronger.
She might look like a frail, beautiful girl in a wheelchair, but in a fight, she could probably kill an ordinary person within a meter in less than a second.
And in a camp like this, where those in power still had some semblance of humanity, Lin Jiayao was safe.
Lin Jiayao pushed her slightly rickety wheelchair, passing among the explorers who had returned to the camp for the night.
She was immune to their strange or greedy gazes. She simply pushed her wheelchair quietly towards the restroom.
With her wide-range Bone Spike Lurker, she was already familiar with the layout of the area, even though she’d never left her room.
And the leader in charge of the first floor seemed to consider her an Awakened. Lin Jiayao didn’t bother correcting him; she was happy to let them misunderstand.
Although most people on the first floor had been informed of her potential identity, there were always some idiots who had just returned at dusk and hadn’t gotten the message.
Right now, Lin Jiayao sensed footsteps approaching her from behind.
From the sound, she could tell it was a large, at least 150-pound man, or a short, fat one.
Then she felt a hand reaching towards her shoulder.
“Hey there, pretty newcomer? Come, let uncle check you out.”
A sleazy, almost eunuch-like voice, disgusting to the ears, came from the man behind Lin Jiayao.
“Sigh…”
Lin Jiayao sighed softly.
The apocalypse had caused too many people to completely lose their morals, turning them into creatures of pure instinct, like animals.
As long as no actual harm was inflicted, it was within the camp’s less-than-perfect rules for the man behind her to touch her.
Even if there was harm, as long as blood crystal compensation was paid, it could be considered a settlement.
This was a rule tacitly agreed upon by the camp management for easier control.
Lin Jiayao hadn’t had any trouble before because she was under the protection of her Awakened sister.
Now, however, Lin Jiayao found this rule quite useful.
At least it kept the ordinary people here in line.
Before the hand touched her shoulder, Lin Jiayao raised her left hand, without even looking back, and grabbed the man’s wrist.
Not giving him any chance to speak, she squeezed.
Unseen by everyone, several bone spikes extended from her palm, piercing through the bones in his wrist.
In everyone’s eyes, Lin Jiayao had simply extended her hand, squeezed lightly, and the man’s wrist snapped, his hand falling to the floor beside the wheelchair.
“AAAAAH—”
Pain overwhelmed the man’s senses. He collapsed on the ground, clutching his left hand and howling.
For a moment, the first floor, except for the man’s screams, was as silent as a morgue.
“Here’s your compensation.”
Lin Jiayao didn’t turn her wheelchair, but flicked the blood off her left hand in disgust. With a flick of her right thumb, 5g of blood crystals landed beside the man’s severed hand.
“Keep the change,” she said casually.
She continued pushing her wheelchair towards the restroom, the stainless steel handrim on the left stained crimson with blood.
The bloody wheelchair and its creaking sound sent shivers down everyone’s spines.
Before Lin Jiayao emerged from the restroom, no one dared approach. The man was dragged away by his companions, leaving only a dark red pool of blood on the floor.
The onlookers quickly dispersed. This kind of thing wasn’t unusual to them.
But in their hearts, a new “rule” was added.
Don’t mess with the girl in the wheelchair.
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