Chapter 31: The Second Zombie
“Ding—Ding—”
After testing her new abilities, Lin Jiayao curiously tapped her two thick bone sickles together, producing a crisp clinking sound.
It sounded like metal striking metal.
Mask’s bone density had clearly increased significantly.
The bone claws, spikes, and tail whip extending from Mask’s neck now had a jade-like luster, losing their rough, bony texture.
If one didn’t look closely, they might mistake them for unpolished white jade.
Lin Jiayao couldn’t accurately gauge the hardness of her bones now; she didn’t have the means to test them on the spot.
Better check the extraction point first.
Lin Jiayao looked towards it.
「Extraction Time 29:57」
【Extraction Point: 1km】
Only half an hour?
Lin Jiayao blinked, looking at the empty bank and the scattered banknotes on the floor.
What could she do in half an hour?
Should she just extract, get the evolution, and then check the new zombie?
If the new zombie wasn’t satisfactory, she could just log back into Mask and continue.
Deciding to do just that, the thick bone spikes under Lin Jiayao’s neck began to break apart, transforming into dozens of segmented bone spikes, each a finger-width thick and 1.5 meters long.
There were too many bone spikes now for Lin Jiayao to retract them all, but she didn’t need so many for walking.
So, her current state was dozens of bone spikes protruding from behind her hair, swaying and clicking as she moved, while only about twenty served as legs.
“Click, click, click—”
Lin Jiayao walked along the sidewalk towards the extraction point. A kilometer was only two and a half minutes away, even without controlling a Sprinter.
If she controlled a Sprinter, it would probably take less than a minute and a half.
Soon, she saw the marked extraction point: a sewer maintenance hole with a missing cover.
Before, Lin Jiayao might have been afraid of such a dark opening.
But with Bone Spike Lurker, she could easily tell that there was nothing inside.
Controlling Mask, she crawled into the maintenance hole and down the shaft. Soon, the extraction countdown appeared.
【Extracting in: 7.8】
While waiting, Lin Jiayao took the blood crystal from the safehouse and broke it in half.
She put one half into Mask’s mouth and the other back into the safehouse.
After the countdown, Lin Jiayao found herself in a dark space.
She could see Mask’s silhouette and the red glow in its mouth.
Beside Mask was the illusory safehouse, one grid containing blood crystals, one empty, and the other two containing empty water bottles.
The pistol was with her sister, so Lin Jiayao hadn’t checked the safehouse before entering.
“Ah… I forgot to throw away the bottles…”
Lin Jiayao scratched her head in the consciousness space.
The bottles were the large purified water bottles she had taken from Haixin District. After cleaning herself in the camp and putting the empty bottles in the safehouse, she hadn’t had a chance to discard them.
And just now, she’d been too focused on Mask’s evolution and forgotten.
After a moment of thought, Lin Jiayao took the two empty bottles from the illusory safehouse and attached them to the bone spikes extending from the back of Mask’s neck.
The illusory bone spikes passed through the bottles, securing them in place.
“Perfect.”
Lin Jiayao, having turned Mask into a makeshift storage rack, looked at the three empty slots in the safehouse and nodded with satisfaction.
Then, she left the consciousness space and returned to her body.
Opening her eyes, Lin Jiayao saw her sister lifting the blanket.
Her sister’s waist pouch was unbuckled, her shirt removed, leaving only her sports bra. The wound on her waist was still gruesome.
“Did I wake you?” Lin Xiwan, noticing her sister was awake, stopped being quiet and crawled into bed, looking at Lin Jiayao with a smile.
Compared to her aloof demeanor around others, with Lin Jiayao, Lin Xiwan was more like the younger sister.
“No, I wasn’t asleep yet,” Lin Jiayao replied, ignoring the evolution panel that popped up.
“You should go back to sleep. I’ll go shopping for some easier-to-find supplies this afternoon.” Lin Xiwan smiled, shifted her legs to hold Lin Jiayao’s legs between them, and closed her eyes.
She liked to hold her sister’s legs while sleeping; they were soft and comfortable, and it helped her sleep better.
Since her sister couldn’t feel her legs anyway, it wouldn’t disturb her sleep.
Watching her sister close her eyes, Lin Jiayao also closed hers.
Although she couldn’t feel her legs, she felt her waist shift and knew her sister was holding them again.
If it wouldn’t disturb her, her sister would probably hug her like a large doll while sleeping.
Closing her eyes, Lin Jiayao looked at the evolution interface and froze.
「Please retain your evolution」
「1、【Bone Hardening Lv.2 (Gray): Moderately increases your bone defense】」
「2、【Bone Regeneration Lv.1 (Gray): Your bones regenerate faster. Consuming blood crystals doubles the regeneration speed】」
「3、【Bone Mimicry Lv.1 (Purple): You can freely manipulate your bones to change your form and memorize the current mimicry for quick transformation next time】」
A new evolution?
She could mimic any form with her bones, as long as she could transform into that form first?
Lin Jiayao raised an eyebrow, a chill running down her spine even under the warm blanket.
She recalled Mask’s various insect-like forms.
Did this mean that after choosing this ability, her main body could also use her bones to mimic those creepy crawlies…
Ugh…
Just imagining the scene made Lin Jiayao shudder.
No, no, no, her main body definitely couldn’t use abilities like Mask.
Just mimicking a curved blade would be like… well, like a certain bladed-weapon enthusiast.
And this was a purple evolution…
Lin Jiayao finally convinced herself and chose this evolution.
This time, besides a warmth spreading through her body, there were no other strange reactions.
She wouldn’t test it out now; her sister was right beside her.
Better check the second zombie first.
Lin Jiayao quickly opened the login interface.
To her disappointment, Mask, with half a blood crystal in its mouth, hadn’t entered an evolution state.
Lin Jiayao selected number 2.
A virtual world map unfolded before her. Lin Jiayao was surprised to find that the area representing Yangzhou City was completely dark.
And she couldn’t select it.
Was it because Mask had logged in from Yangzhou City? Would Yangzhou City remain unavailable until Mask died?
Lin Jiayao frowned. Her vision of multiple zombies clearing the path for her was shattered.
But she could still choose nearby cities along the route.
Just as she was about to select a neighboring city along the highway, something occurred to her.
The markers on the map seemed to represent zombie login points. Every lit-up city meant there was a zombie she could control.
Then why was Donghai City, which was supposed to be completely purged, lit up?
Was the purification a lie?
Or could it be…
Mimics…
Lin Jiayao took a deep breath, her hand trembling as she slowly moved the cursor from the neighboring city to Donghai City.
Click.
Darkness instantly engulfed Lin Jiayao, but a moment later, she opened her eyes again.
This time, she saw a wide, unfamiliar, but clean street.
“Chizuru, Chizuru, Kuriyama Chizuru, I’m talking to you! Watch where you’re going!”
A slightly spoiled female voice reached her ears. It was Japanese, but somehow, Lin Jiayao understood.
“We still have to clean another district today, so get your act together! Didn’t you say you wanted to pursue that Awakened from China? I heard he’s been selected for Project Hyacinth! You have to hurry.”
Listening to the Japanese, Lin Jiayao slowly looked down and saw her fair hands, bare beneath her short sleeves, and her long legs clad in jeans.
Legs that were standing.
And on her right wrist was a pure black bracelet, displaying a row of green squares.
I… I’ve become human?
Lin Jiayao stiffly turned her head to look at the woman beside her, dressed similarly.
“Don’t scare me, Chizuru, what’s wrong?”
Suddenly, a smile spread across Lin Jiayao’s face, and fluent Japanese flowed from her lips.
“It’s nothing. I was just thinking, maybe I can get closer to that Awakened today~”
It was a sweet, cloying tone that Lin Jiayao would never normally use.
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