Chapter 62: The Hive Zombie
“Mom—”
Before Huayibai could ask another question, Lin Jiayao covered its mouth.
“Busy now. Ask me later.” Lin Jiayao removed her hand and changed the subject. “Can you make yourself invisible to others? If not, it’s best you don’t follow me.”
Before understanding Huayibai’s nature, she had told the uninfected Awakened to watch out for a little girl with white hair.
She was going to a place with many Awakened; if Huayibai followed, there was a high chance of trouble.
“It’s okay, Mommy,” Huayibai smiled, revealing a small canine tooth. “They can’t see me~”
Can’t see me?
Lin Jiayao let the blood-red tendrils in her eyes recede slightly. As they did, Huayibai seemed to vanish before her eyes.
Even the burlap sack disappeared.
When she let the tendrils cover her pupils again, she saw a faint, red glow of spores surrounding Huayibai.
Was this also a fungal zombie ability?
But Lin Jiayao couldn’t use this stealth, or rather, cloaking ability.
It seemed she had to reach Huayibai’s level to evolve it.
Lin Jiayao still didn’t know Huayibai’s true strength. It had been too docile, and there hadn’t been a chance to test its abilities.
Perhaps equivalent to a C-rank Awakened, or higher?
Time was short; she would investigate later.
There would be plenty of opportunities.
Seeing that Huayibai could conceal itself, Lin Jiayao didn’t say anything more and headed towards her destination.
The combat department.
Both Xie Yi’s and An Xiaoxi’s memories pointed to one person who would know the answer to her question.
Jiang Chun, a capable young woman in the intelligence department, responsible for organizing and summarizing data, and also a close friend of An Xiaoxi.
If Lin Jiayao remembered correctly, Jiang Chun was also among the uninfected.
Recalling her memories of Jiang Chun, Lin Jiayao walked towards the combat department building.
…
“Rustle, rustle—”
Inside a private office on the fifth floor of the combat department building, a woman with short red hair impatiently flipped through the documents in her hand.
She flipped through them so quickly that no human could possibly read them. Of course, she herself probably couldn’t either; she was just venting.
“Thump—”
She slammed her fist on the desk and rubbed her temples in frustration.
Her name was Jiang Chun, an ordinary Awakened in Survivor’s Light. Her ability was rather weak: photographic memory.
Naturally, she was assigned to the intelligence department, responsible for recording and organizing information.
She was fine with this; she wasn’t a battle maniac, not driven to fight zombies.
Everyone in Survivor’s Light contributed in their own way. She was contributing her share, and she had always been content with that.
Until yesterday, when her peaceful, hopeful life had been shattered by a massive explosion and a powerful shockwave.
Hope had crumbled. Survivor’s Light, the organization she had believed to be invincible, even against the Voodoo Cult, was now infected with a strange new virus, and most of its members had been affected.
Even B-rank Awakened hadn’t been spared.
A terrifying virus had been spreading among them for a long time.
At first, Jiang Chun hadn’t believed it. But the increasingly bizarre events forced her to accept the truth.
First, the sudden explosion of the government center, their headquarters.
Then, the grotesque, split-open head that had rolled to her feet at the site of the explosion.
And what horrified her even more was that the people around her, even the Awakened, seemed oblivious to these monstrosities.
Initially, Jiang Chun had thought she was hallucinating, or that she had been infected by some hallucinogenic virus, or simply that she was too tired.
But when more and more grotesque corpses, covered in withered tendrils, were dug out, and most people recognized them, Jiang Chun was convinced she had finally lost her mind after five years in the apocalypse.
Only when her good friend, An Xiaoxi, found her and said she could also see them did she begin to recover.
But the more she interacted with An Xiaoxi, the more she felt something was off.
Her speech, her demeanor, it was like she was a completely different person.
And after hearing An Xiaoxi’s explanation about the fungal zombies, Jiang Chun was certain – this wasn’t her friend.
Although her voice and speech patterns were the same, her detailed description of the zombies convinced Jiang Chun – this wasn’t the An Xiaoxi she knew.
Her friend was terrified of worms and anything that wriggled; she wouldn’t be able to describe the fungal zombies and their characteristics so calmly.
And where had she gotten this information? They were almost always together, except when An Xiaoxi was working.
An Xiaoxi was never this assertive, never this decisive in directing others.
And she hadn’t returned to their apartment last night; she didn’t know where she had gone – she had never stayed out all night before.
She hadn’t even gone to the radio station – the most important propaganda tool of Survivor’s Light, a place where An Xiaoxi had never been late.
It was highly likely that An Xiaoxi had also been infected.
Although she didn’t understand why An Xiaoxi would reveal the secret of the fungal zombies, Jiang Chun remained wary.
Two other things bothered Jiang Chun today.
Only thirty-one uninfected Awakened remained.
And she estimated there would be fewer soon.
The two missing were an Awakened couple. They had hanged themselves. By the time others noticed the lights in their apartment had been on all night, their bodies were cold.
They couldn’t bear the news of Survivor’s Light’s effective collapse.
Jiang Chun knew there would be more suicides soon.
Survivor’s Light, once a beacon of hope, would become a haven for the infected.
The irony was crushing.
But she could do nothing but wait for the reconnaissance teams to return.
“Knock, knock, knock—”
A knock at her door made her jump.
Although not all Awakened had been present at the time, the infection rate was clearly over fifty percent.
Whoever was knocking had a fifty percent chance of being an infected Mimic.
Even knowing the infected wouldn’t attack her, she couldn’t shake the fear.
“Come in.”
She reached under the desk, opened a drawer, and gripped a pistol.
But when the door opened, Jiang Chun froze.
It was An Xiaoxi.
What was she doing here?
Was it really her? Or… it?
Jiang Chun gritted her teeth, a wave of anger washing over her. She tightened her grip on the pistol.
If this truly was an infected, pretending to be her friend, it was the ultimate betrayal.
She forced her expression to remain neutral as An Xiaoxi sat down in front of her desk.
She swore, if this “An Xiaoxi” started acting cute and friendly like her friend usually did, she would shoot this monster without hesitation.
“I have two questions,” An Xiaoxi said, looking at her calmly. “I hope you can answer them.”
Questions?
Jiang Chun stared at An Xiaoxi’s unfamiliar, cold expression, her breath catching in her throat.
It seemed… An Xiaoxi was truly gone.
The monster before her wasn’t even bothering to pretend anymore.
“Where can I find a Hive Zombie cluster, or a location with a high concentration of Hive Zombies?”
“And, have the remaining members of Survivor’s Light found a way to deal with the spores?”
Jiang Chun, still reeling from the loss of her best friend, looked up sharply at the second question.
“You’re not a zombie? You’re being controlled? Which organization are you with?”
She rapidly fired questions at “An Xiaoxi.”
She was certain the being before her wasn’t a zombie; it had human intelligence.
“Why should I answer your questions?” But Jiang Chun wasn’t foolish. Even knowing this was an Awakened controlling a fungal zombie, she wouldn’t answer so easily.
She needed to know their purpose.
“I need Hive Zombie blood crystals to evolve my new zombie. As for the second question, I just don’t want Survivor’s Light to collapse too quickly. Otherwise, the Voodoo Cult will be looking for new entertainment,” An Xiaoxi replied calmly.
Hearing this, Jiang Chun was silent for a moment, then released her grip on the pistol. “When… when did she…?”
Jiang Chun didn’t specify who “she” was, but “An Xiaoxi” seemed to understand, thinking for a moment before replying, “About three days ago. She fully transformed into a fruiting body.”
“Three days ago…” Jiang Chun murmured, leaning back against the sofa and looking at the ceiling.
After a long silence, she looked back at “An Xiaoxi” and forced a smile. “At least… she was real before.”
Knowing what she needed to know, Jiang Chun didn’t waste any more time.
Sitting up slightly, she said, “There are many types of zombies with hive minds, but not all are classified as Hive Zombies. What kind of blood crystal evolution are you looking for?”
She was familiar with control-type Awakened; they were like zombie Pokémon trainers, using their strong mental powers to control zombies, even nurturing a weak Biter into something more powerful.
Hive Zombies and special zombies were highly sought after by control-type Awakened, but their powerful mental resistance made them almost impossible to control.
The only way to obtain one was to feed a Biter Hive Zombie blood crystals and evolve it.
“Somewhere relatively close… Guanzhou City. Our reconnaissance team encountered an organized horde there. Although we didn’t see the main entity, we’re certain there’s a Hive Zombie there, but we don’t know the specific type.”
Jiang Chun thought for a moment. “There are very few recorded Hive Zombie types. Sometimes, our reconnaissance teams can’t even tell if it’s a normal horde or one controlled by a Hive Zombie.”
“So, these three locations are just possibilities: Qi City, Shizhuang City, and Xiaan City.”
“And, if you’re looking globally, there’s another location: Wisconsin in North America. We intercepted a distress signal from there when the satellites were still working. Apparently, that state is overrun with Hive Zombies, but it’s too far; there’s no way to get there.”
“Thank you,” Lin Jiayao said as “An Xiaoxi”, nodding politely, stood up to leave.
But just as “An Xiaoxi” reached the door, Jiang Chun called out to her.
“Although I don’t know who you are, thank you for the information about the fungal zombies,” she said, taking a deep breath. “We’ll get through this.”
“I wish you victory,” An Xiaoxi said with a slight nod before leaving, Jiang Chun alone in the office.
Dealing with the infection… rebuilding Survivor’s Light…
Was it really that simple…?
Meanwhile, Lin Jiayao, leaving the office, wasn’t as burdened by Jiang Chun’s worries.
She had never intended to maintain the pretense of being an ordinary person. Being perceived as a zombie controlled by an Awakened was a better cover.
And as for who that Awakened was, as long as she didn’t reveal it, they would never know.
Dismissing the events in the office, Lin Jiayao walked towards the extraction point, thinking about the cities Jiang Chun had mentioned.
One definite Hive Zombie in China, but possibly not many.
A large number of Hive Zombies, but not in China.
And three possibilities, which she disregarded.
Lin Jiayao wasn’t a gambler.
If she wanted to guarantee finding a Hive Zombie, Wisconsin was the obvious choice.
Others might not be able to cross the Pacific and travel across America to Wisconsin, but Lin Jiayao could log in directly.
Distance was meaningless to her.
Having gotten her answers, extraction was now a simple matter, just a short distance.
Reaching the designated extraction point, the kitchen of an old café, Lin Jiayao had about thirty minutes until the deadline.
Before extracting, she looked at Huayibai, still following her with the burlap sack, and said, “Make sure you read those books.”
This child needed to read more; otherwise, their next encounter would be filled with more inane questions.
“Mm-hmm, okay, Mommy,” Huayibai nodded quickly, then asked curiously, “Mommy, are you leaving again?”
“Yes, I have something to do,” Lin Jiayao nodded.
“Okay, I’ll wait for you to come back.” Huayibai stood obediently, its eyes fixed on Lin Jiayao, but didn’t say anything more.
Its forlorn expression seemed to ask why Mommy was leaving again so soon.
Lin Jiayao dragged a stool from the café into the kitchen, sat down, and waited for the extraction countdown.
After the countdown ended, she entered the familiar black consciousness space.
She had nothing to transfer to the warehouse, so she skipped that step and returned to her body.
“Boom—”
The moment she returned, a clap of thunder startled her. She remembered the approaching typhoon in Yangzhou City.
Listening to the howling wind and the rattling windows, she couldn’t help but worry.
I hope the storm passes quickly, so Sister can return safely.
After a silent prayer, Lin Jiayao opened her eyes and looked at the evolution screen.
「1、【Symbiotic Link Lv.1 (Blue): The split fungal tendrils can connect to other hosts, absorbing or transmitting small amounts of nutrients】」
「2、【Tendril Binding Lv.1 (White): Fires two tendrils, ensnaring your opponent】」
「3、【Death Rattle Lv.1 (Blue): Upon losing a host body, you can condense your remaining energy for a final spore dispersal】」
Clear skies and white clouds. The perfect weather for evolution.
Number 3 seemed too depressing – a last resort ability. So, Lin Jiayao chose number 1, the other blue option.
After making her choice, she opened the system’s login interface again and selected the third zombie, its location still unspecified.
She looked at the right side of the map, found America, took the pistol from the warehouse and put it in the safehouse, and then clicked on Wisconsin.
Then, darkness consumed her once more.
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