Chapter 79: Hive Zombie Battle p1
Lin Jiayao slowly opened her eyes to a world of emerald green.
A dilapidated basement. In the darkness, her eyes, like night vision goggles, saw everything clearly.
No, not her eyes.
“Buzz—”
Her “vision” crawled out of her sockets, fluttering around her on wings.
Countless glowing green insects emerged from the honeycomb-like holes in her eye sockets, buzzing softly.
Their vision synced with hers, providing a 360-degree panoramic view.
Lin Jiayao slowly stood up, left the building, and looked out at Wisconsin in the darkness.
The abrupt shift from day to night was slightly disorienting.
The different time zone and the unfamiliar body made her feel like she had traveled through time.
She habitually checked the extraction point.
「Extraction Time 1:59:22」
【Extraction Point: 13.1km】
Nothing unusual about the numbers; perhaps today’s journey would be relatively easy.
Wisconsin tonight wasn’t as lively as her first visit. It was eerily silent, not even the chirping of insects.
This wasn’t surprising. It fit the pattern of Wisconsin’s zombie distribution.
Wisconsin seemed to be divided among several Hive Zombies, each controlling its own territory, constantly absorbing other zombies into their ranks.
She didn’t know if Hive Zombies fought amongst themselves for territory, but there were definitely large, zombie-free zones between their territories.
That eight-person team had been very efficient in hunting the Hive Zombie; they must have a larger base somewhere.
But they’d clearly underestimated the obese Hive Zombie’s resilience.
Did this mean that the “green fatty” was just a variant? What did “normal” Hive Zombies look like?
Lin Jiayao knew too little about Wisconsin, or even America in general. She would have to explore.
And Wisconsin was just a medium-sized, relatively poor state, with a low population density.
To find truly powerful mutated zombies, she needed to go to more densely populated areas.
Mutations were a matter of probability; the more people, the higher the chance of mutations.
And a city with a population of tens of millions, after five years of zombie evolution and internal conflict, would produce far more powerful zombies than a small town with only a million.
A simple analogy: if each person represented 1g of blood crystals, the difference between a city of a million and a city of ten million was significant.
Of course, reality was more complex; she also had to consider aquatic life and insects.
Not just humans could be infected by blood crystals; even fungi could mutate, let alone plants and animals.
“Buzz—”
The insects around her buzzed softly, their wings vibrating.
In a pre-apocalypse city, this sound would be barely noticeable.
But in the silent Wisconsin night, it was loud.
Any human present would instantly recognize it as the sound of a Hive Zombie.
Lin Jiayao’s left tentacles spread out, wrapping around the AK74M in her right hand – she had specifically kept this rifle for Goldie, her third zombie.
Hive Zombies weren’t strong in direct combat; she had to ensure Goldie had a weapon for self-defense.
Glancing at the adjacent streets, Lin Jiayao decided to revisit the site of the collapsed building.
A large number of zombies had been killed there, their unclaimed blood crystals scattered across the debris.
Although she’d collected ten blood crystal stones, that was still a small fraction of the total.
There had to be more buried in the rubble.
It had only been a few days. Even if another team had come to scavenge, they probably hadn’t finished yet.
She had her green insects as scouts; she could check and see if there were any leftovers.
Even if she was discovered and her “scouts” were destroyed, she could easily escape from a few hundred meters away.
Walking along the sidewalk towards the ruins, Lin Jiayao stopped about 300 meters away and entered a coffee shop.
300 meters was about the limit of her control range.
She crouched behind the counter, her small body completely hidden.
Leaving two of the glowing green insects in her eye sockets, she sent out the rest.
These insects were expendable; as long as she had blood crystals, she could replenish them.
The emerald green insects, leaving the coffee shop, dispersed, flying towards the ruins from different directions.
…
“Ha—”
“Straight flush.”
“Fuck!”
A bonfire burned atop the ruins, surrounded by five or six men.
They held playing cards, laughing and cursing around a large table, small piles of blood crystals scattered on it, only one man with a full blood crystal stone in front of him.
They were gambling with blood crystals as stakes, and the bets were high.
Besides these men, there were several excavators, idle, and parts of the ruins had already been cleared.
But they weren’t working; they seemed to be just guards, not the main excavation team.
And from the surrounding buildings, UV lamps shone down, encircling the ruins in a protective barrier.
Although the men seemed relaxed, their defenses were well-prepared.
“Shit, I’m out.” A man with purple hair swept up his blood crystals and cursed. “Haven’t won a single hand. If I lose any more, I’ll have to join the demolition team to earn some crystals.”
“Ooh—Jack’s sore loser again~”
“Go dig in the dirt then, maybe you’ll find a few crystals before the construction team arrives in the morning.”
“Hahahaha—”
The purple-haired man’s outburst amused the others around the bonfire.
“Assholes.” Jack glared at them, picked up his Saiga-12 semi-automatic shotgun with a 20-round drum magazine, and walked towards the street.
Their mocking words had stung his pride. He decided to try his luck somewhere they couldn’t see him.
If he found something, he would return to the table and show them who was boss!
He kicked at the piles of rubble, searching aimlessly.
They couldn’t use the excavators until the engineering team arrived; that was the Boss’s rule.
The reason was obvious: to prevent the night watch from looting all the blood crystals.
This was Wisconsin, hunting Hive Zombies! A feast that came only once every six months.
Something similar had happened a few years ago. Apparently, the Boss hadn’t punished anyone, just established this rule, and the matter was dropped.
And after that, more and more people had joined their group, and they had taken control of all the human settlements in Wisconsin.
The guards were still allowed to dig for crystals on their own, within reason.
But the blood crystal yield this time was unusually low, and eight members of the attack team had died. He’d better not take too much.
Just as he was about to jump down to the street and start digging, he glanced towards the end of the dark street.
He froze.
Through the gaps in the UV lamps, he saw several glowing green “fireflies” in the darkness.
The “fireflies” hovered in the air, seemingly observing him.
Jack’s heart sank.
Seeing “fireflies” at night in Wisconsin, especially green ones, wasn’t a good omen.
Whether blue, green, or any other color…
They were the eyes of demons… searching for prey!
“Bang—Bang—”
He quickly fired two shots into the open space ahead, the mixed buckshot and slugs from his 12-gauge scattering across the ground.
After alerting his teammates, he scrambled up the rubble pile.
Hearing the gunshots, the others quickly gathered the blood crystals from the table, discarded their cards, grabbed their weapons, and ran towards the sound.
“Jack! What’s wrong? What happened?!” The largest man quickly pulled Jack up as he climbed.
Knowing the urgency, Jack said quickly, “Green lights, it saw me.”
Then he ran towards the other side of the ruins.
Hearing his words, the others’ faces paled, and they followed.
On the other side, several modified muscle cars were parked on a clear section of road.
They jumped into their cars, abandoned the ruins, and sped off.
Having survived in Wisconsin for so many years, they were all too familiar with those glowing green lights.
Seeing them didn’t just mean encountering a zombie.
It meant encountering a horde—at least.
So they abandoned their post without hesitation and sped towards their base.
Lin Jiayao, hidden in the coffee shop, watched them flee, slightly surprised.
Why did they all run?
She had been considering escaping herself after seeing the UV lamps and being spotted by the armed man.
But they had run away on their own?
There were still many zombie corpses and blood crystals buried under the rubble. They were just abandoning them?
After the sound of the cars faded, Lin Jiayao hesitated.
Uh… now what?
They’re all gone.
She sent her insects to scout the ruins from above.
She could sense a small amount of blood crystals still buried beneath the debris.
At least two blood crystal stones worth, within easy reach.
Looking at the empty ruins, she hesitated briefly and then clenched her fist.
I’m already here.
As long as I get the crystals into the safehouse, it’s a win.
“Buzz—”
A swarm of glowing green insects emerged from the holes in her eye sockets, filling the coffee shop with an eerie green light.
The insects flew out, past the UV lamps, and towards the ruins.
Taking advantage of their small size, they crawled into the gaps between the debris, towards the blood crystals.
1g… 3g… 1g… 5g…
Insects carrying small crystals emerged.
They flew back to the coffee shop, their legs clutching the crystals.
The crystals piled up in front of Lin Jiayao, fusing together, slowly forming blood crystal stones.
One… two… three…
After collecting all the easily accessible crystals, she had three blood crystal stones.
She immediately put them into the safehouse, stood up, and, carrying her rifle, ran towards the extraction point on her small legs.
The thrill of being a looter.
Consider it a commission for eliminating that disgusting green fatty.
This third zombie login had been incredibly profitable; her safehouse was almost full without even trying.
Three blood crystal stones, occupying three grids, leaving only one slot free.
This was more than enough; she didn’t want to get greedy. A safe extraction was her priority now.
But Goldie’s small, frail body limited her speed, even when running at full tilt.
The oversized helmet on its head wobbled precariously, threatening to fall off.
She had to use more than twenty insects to fill the gap between the helmet and Goldie’s head to keep it in place.
Finally, she found a more practical solution: carrying the long, modified AK in her arms while running. This allowed her to move slightly faster.
She ran towards the extraction point, hoping to reach the surrounding area first.
But when she was about 6km away, she saw a zombie on the road.
Or rather, on a car.
In the middle of an intersection, an ordinary Biter in tattered clothes stood on an overturned car, swaying like a scarecrow.
The moment she saw it, Lin Jiayao stopped, backed away, and prepared to detour through another street.
In Wisconsin, there was no such thing as a lone zombie.
With so many Hive Zombies, the zombies were divided into groups, each controlling its own territory.
Seeing a zombie meant she was nearing a Hive Zombie’s territory.
Remembering the “green fatty” from the other day, and now without any grenades, Lin Jiayao didn’t want to risk another encounter.
If she controlled enough human brains, she could challenge a Hive Zombie for control.
But now, her third zombie, freshly evolved, was no match for a Hive Zombie that had been here for who knew how long.
A detour was the best option.
Just as she was about to turn, the Biter seemed to notice her. It stood on the car, emitting a guttural growl.
“Gurgle…”
Pus and blood dripped from its mouth as it opened its jaws, about to roar.
Lin Jiayao stopped, aimed the AK’s holographic sight at the Biter’s head, and quickly fired three shots.
“Bang—Bang—Bang—”
The muffled shots from the suppressed AK echoed through the air.
The first two shots missed, but the third, adjusted for the distance, hit the Biter’s head.
Its fragile skull shattered, and it collapsed, falling off the car.
Leave a Reply