Chapter 5: Bone Spike Lurker
Just as the outline of the stadium came into view, the zombie behind Lin Jiayao could barely move.
The sunlight was approaching its fiercest point of the day.
The zombie slowly knelt behind the wheelchair, blood crystals beginning to precipitate from its mangled body.
The girl in the wheelchair’s eyelashes fluttered, and she slowly opened her eyes, surprised to see the reward selection interface in front of her.
Evolutions could be retained even without extraction?
Lin Jiayao thought back. Indeed, the system had only said that extraction could preserve the zombie; it hadn’t said that evolutions couldn’t be retained without successful extraction.
This was a kind of safety net.
Even if the next zombie was unlucky enough to “die on arrival,” she wouldn’t have to worry about not gaining anything.
Lin Jiayao bent down, picked up the fingernail-sized blood crystal that had solidified on the ground, and carefully placed it in her pants pocket.
Then, she pushed the slightly wobbly wheelchair towards the stadium…
…
“Brother, have you heard? The entire squad from the neighboring resort camp is lost…”
“Of course, I went to exchange supplies yesterday; I’m the one who spread the news…”
“Oh, oh, so they can’t hold that resort now? That’s a good place.”
“Let’s just worry about ourselves…”
Two guards were chatting idly inside the main gate of Hengyang Stadium.
The weather was exceptionally good today. Many explorers and scavengers had gone out together in the morning after they opened the gate.
If they could find some useful supplies or kill a couple of “sheep” in this good weather, they’d be set for the next few days.
“Sheep” referred to low-level zombies stuck by obstacles, directly killed by ultraviolet light, or unable to move.
If they were lucky, they might yield 1-2g of blood crystals.
“Ha—”
One of the guards yawned and casually glanced into the distance.
Their job was the most boring.
The surrounding zombies had all been cleared, posing little threat.
They just had to guard the gate until dusk.
In previous years, they would occasionally encounter wanderers or people escaping, but they had hardly seen any in the past year.
Suddenly, the guard who had been squinting into the distance froze, pointing stiffly ahead.
“Is that…”
In his line of sight, a strange-looking object was slowly moving towards them.
He and his companion quickly raised their rifles and aimed at the strange “object.”
After a while, when the “object” got a little closer, they finally saw what it was and lowered their guns, looking at each other in bewilderment.
A… wheelchair?
A wheelchair in the apocalypse?
Someone still using a wheelchair in the apocalypse?!
It was the fifth year of the apocalypse!
Even most healthy people hadn’t survived this long, how could someone in a wheelchair?
Something was definitely fishy…
Before they could solidify their thoughts, they froze again.
They saw the wheelchair user’s appearance.
Long hair, slightly yellowed due to long-term malnutrition, cascaded casually down her back.
Black short sleeves and sweatpants, which looked remarkably new compared to other people in the apocalypse, clearly well-maintained.
But the most striking feature was her angelically perfect face.
By the time they came to their senses, the beautiful girl had already pushed her wheelchair to the gate.
This caused the two guards’ adrenaline to surge. They hadn’t even realized how the girl had gotten so close.
It was as if they had been bewitched.
“Speak!” The guard in charge raised his rifle and shouted at the girl in the wheelchair.
The other guard placed his hand on the alarm.
If the girl made any sudden movements, he would sound the alarm and notify the Awakened inside the camp.
“I’m from the resort,” Lin Jiayao said as she slowly reached into her pocket.
Because her movements were slow, the guards’ tension didn’t continue to escalate.
In fact, after hearing the girl’s sweet voice, they no longer thought the girl in front of them could be a Mimic.
And the girl’s words “from the resort” reminded the guard who often went to exchange supplies of something.
“I remember now. A few years ago, wasn’t there talk of a girl in a wheelchair going to the resort, but no one saw her much afterward? Could you be…” The guard in charge said, slowly lowering his rifle.
“If we’re talking about the same resort villa, then it should be me.” Lin Jiayao gave a harmless smile and held up the blood crystal. “I accidentally offended the Blood Gang, so I’m changing residences.”
Hearing the girl’s words, the guard’s expression turned to one of understanding.
No wonder she didn’t stay at the good resort and came to the stadium; it turned out she had offended the Blood Gang.
Seeing the pistol on the girl’s lap, that was probably her reliance for coming here alone from the resort.
He wondered how she had evaded the Blood Gang; he could ask when he went to exchange supplies next week.
“9 grams.” The guard took the blood crystal, weighed it on a small electronic scale, and announced the number. “You have an 18-day limit.”
The stadium was only guarded by three Awakened, and the accommodation and food were much worse than at the resort, so 1g of blood crystal could buy two days here.
Of course, like the resort, residents could exchange days for “goods” within the camp, such as guns, bullets, and medicine.
Just like how Grandma Zhang had somehow exchanged 5g of blood crystals for an Explorer badge, which unfortunately was now lost on the slope.
“Mm.” Lin Jiayao nodded, not objecting to the number of days the guard announced.
The guard took out his walkie-talkie and called out, “New arrival, 18 days.” After a while, a haggard-looking middle-aged woman walked to the gate.
“I’ll take you there.” The middle-aged woman was also a little surprised when she saw Lin Jiayao, but didn’t say much, just silently pushed the wheelchair towards an empty partitioned room inside the stadium.
The woman didn’t stop until she reached the door of a former office. “This is the only room left on the first floor.”
Perhaps because it was daytime, there weren’t many people in the corridor, but there were still many prying eyes.
“Thank you,” Lin Jiayao whispered her thanks to the woman.
Looking at the frail, beautiful girl, the woman couldn’t help but move her lips.
“Do you need me to buy you bullets?”
From her perspective, even if the girl lived for 18 days, she wouldn’t survive outside the camp afterward.
Subconsciously, she assumed the girl was looking for a place to commit suicide—this wasn’t uncommon, as the camp would at least cremate the body.
Outside, there was no law or humanity. Inside, you were a law-abiding camp resident because of the Awakened keeping order, but outside, no one cared about your life or death.
Perhaps because of her own past experiences, the woman couldn’t bear to see such a beautiful girl suffer any defilement.
“No, thank you.” Lin Jiayao shook her head, offering no explanation, and directly reached out to open the door, pushing her wheelchair into the room.
After closing the door, Lin Jiayao let out a slow breath.
What everyone hadn’t noticed was that a small bone spur protruded from the palm of Lin Jiayao’s left hand, which she had kept on the wheelchair’s armrest.
The bone spur, pressed against the steel armrest, connected to the vibrations from the ground, sensed all the faint footsteps and whispered conversations around her.
【Bone Spike Lurker Lv.1】
Leave a Reply to Midnight2630 Cancel reply