Arc 4: Chapter 27
“Refining gu?”
Lin Yuan’s eyes widened, and he subconsciously shrank closer to Lu Ye’s side.
Suddenly it seemed to feel like the whole city was submerged in some evil murky substance, with death taking root in the land.
“In other words, it’s using other zombies to upgrade its own level. But how did it think of this idea?” Lin Yuan was confused. There was no mention of this kind of zombie in the plot.
Lu Ye’s cold eyes never moved away from the skyscraper as he explained: “Zombies have a stronger and more primal instinct to survive and adapt than humans, not to mention intelligent zombies like T6s. They’re desperate for vitality.”
Lin Yuan tilted his head in confusion: “Vitality?”
It seemed quite contradictory that corpses would be associated with the word vitality.
“En, vitality.” Lu Ye looked down at Lin Yuan and his cold fingers grasped Lin Yuan’s slender hand like he was holding a priceless treasure. “The essence of life is to survive and reproduce, and zombies aggressively do both. Sui Sui, don’t you agree?”
Lin Yuan thought for a moment and felt what Lu Ye said did make some sense. He nodded.
Lu Ye went a step further and pulled Lin Yuan into his embrace, and rested his chin on the youth’s shoulder: “Now there’s no longer a central civilization bound by morality or law, it’s where the strong can prey on the weak, and the fittest survive. Just like those power users in the base一after they gain powers, they act superior to others.”
“But zombies are only motivated by instincts. They instinctively bite humans in order to ‘reproduce’, and they devour their own kind in order to become stronger. Because they are desperate to survive, zombies have evolved very fast.”
Lin Yuan agreed with this hypothesis. From what he saw, most of the power users in the base were still level 2, with only a few level 3. But when he left the base, T3 zombies were not rare, and there were already hundreds of T4, and even T5s, and a T6 with a mental power. The discrepancy was tragic.
As Lu Ye said, while humans were fighting for profit and pleasure, zombies were evolving.
Seeing that the day was ending, Lu Ye and Lin Yuan held hands and left the rooftop.
They moved away from the city center and planned to go back to the base once morning arrived.
At night, the temperature was bitterly ice-cold, so Lin Yuan turned into his wolf form and hugged Lu Ye to sleep. Now that his transformation power had advanced, his wolf form was over three meters tall and his physical attributes had became more powerful.
Listening to the steady breathing next to his ear and the warmth radiating from the wolf’s body, Lu Ye twisted in Lin Yuan’s hold and hugged the wolf's neck, burying his face into the soft fur.
The next morning, Lu Ye and Lin Yuan returned to their drop off spot. They waited for about two hours until they saw Min Chengze and his team arriving, looking quite embarrassed. Noticeably, Meng Mingqian and his group were not with them.
Lu Ye frowned slightly and a trace of displeasure flashed through his eyes.
Although they were not too close to the city center, for every minute they stayed longer, the T6 zombie had a higher chance of completing its advancement, and their situation was more dangerous.
“Why did you act separately?” Lu Ye’s sight swept over Min Chengze and the rest and his tone was obviously cold and irritated.
Chu Minghe stepped out to speak and said gently: “Mr. Lu, it’s like this. After you and Mr. Lin left, we decided as a team that there were too many people in the big group, which might attract zombies, so we divided into our own teams. They should be arriving soon.”
Lu Ye chuckled coldly. He said: “I thought it was because neither you nor Meng Mingqian was willing to submit to the other that you decided to act separately.”
Chu Minghe stiffened, because Lu Ye was right. They couldn’t come to an agreement on who would lead the group, so they went their separate ways.
“We’re all part of the same team, the most important thing is to complete the task safely.” Chu Minghe tried to avoid the topic.
Lu Ye didn’t respond, but the air around him had dropped to a freezing point.
Lin Yuan sensed Lu Ye’s anxiety and understood why he spoke harshly. He was also in a hurry to leave. His soft and warm palm held the young man’s cool hand and he coaxed soothingly: “Lu Ye, we’ll be okay. Don’t be too worried…”
Lu Ye quietly held his hand and looked down at Lin Yuan’s clear sky-blue eyes, and his heart seemed to be warmed by the sun.
“En.” He hummed lowly. He clenched Lin Yuan’s hand and said firmly: “Sui Sui is right. We’ll be okay.”
They waited for an unknown amount of time. As the sun rose higher and higher, their suppressed anxiety bubbled more and more.
Suddenly, Lu Ye’s head jerked in the direction of the city and Lin Yuan’s nose caught the smell of blood.
Lu Ye shouted to everyone: “Get in the car and drive! Zombies are coming.”
Everyone was shocked by this sudden development but they all believed him, after all, they had already been saved by Lu Ye once. The problem was that Meng Mingqian’s team had not arrived yet.
Someone asked: “If we leave, what about Meng Mingqian’s team?”
Lu Ye responded coldly: “If you don’t want to leave, roll off the car.”
Min Chengze ordered sternly: “Let’s go! Drive!” Hearing this order, everyone obediently got on the car.
The engine roared to life but the car didn’t manage to drive far before something hit it forcefully and the driver reflexively braked.
The people in the car saw a zombie crawl over the windshield. Its gray and empty eyes stared at them and its face was bloody and distorted.
Min Chengze reacted quickly and a sharp metal pole flashed through the air, aiming to pierce the zombie’s head.
But the zombie just swatted its hand and the metal pole shattered into fragments.
Everyone was shocked until Ming Chengze shouted: “It should be T3 or higher, everyone be on guard!”
In the car, Lu Ye’s stomach churned with regret, he should’ve taken Lin Yuan away from this place the moment he discovered those zombies. He was too arrogant in thinking they still had time.
The T5 in front of them roared, as if it was mocking them.
Lu Ye’s mental power drilled into the T5’s body, but just as he was about to control it, a foreign mental power suddenly attacked him.
Lu Ye’s brain throbbed with a splitting headache as the foreign power was rampaged in his mind and tried to control him. His mental power resisted intensely against the invasion, and he clenched his right hand into a fist. In the next instant, vines erupted from the ground and tightly bound the T5’s limbs, then pulled in all directions.
The sound of tearing bones and flesh made everyone’s blood run cold, and the resulting smell was disgusting.
Lu Ye made his vines wrap around the T5’s crystal nucleus and absorb its energy, giving him the strength to force out the foreign mental power in his brain.
This all happened in seconds, and everyone else was left with a hard time processing this scene.
Without the time to even catch their breath, cacophony of roars sounded behind them.
A dense zombie tide was surging towards them like a wave, and there were even some people running towards them desperately. They were Meng Mingqian and his team.
“Go!” Lu Ye hollered angrily.
But the driver and the other people in the car hesitated. If they drove away right now, Meng Mingqian and the others would definitely die.
The people outside were even crying: “Save us! Save us!!”
“Wait for us!! Don’t leave us!!”
Lin Yuan thought to himself, nothing good would come out of being in the car with Meng Mingqian and the rest of these people. He immediately opened the door and jumped out of the car, turning into a three meter tall wolf.
“Awoo!” Lu Ye!
Lu Ye understood and quickly climbed onto his back: “Sui Sui, just focus on running.”
Lin Yuan howled that he understood and shot forward like a bullet.
Min Chengze and his team still waited for Meng Mingqian and the others to get in the car before starting the vehicle.
But the moment the driver pressed the gas, it was too late. A group of T3s piled on top of the car. Everyone had no choice but to use their powers to fight a way out.
Lin Yuan and Lu Ye were also struggling. They were being chased and attacked by T4s, but the worst part was that the foreign mental power had never stopped harassing Lu Ye's mind and trying to take over.
One of the power users in the car was bitten on the shoulder by a zombie, and his bloodshot eyes turned towards Lin Yuan who was still in sight.
He suddenly gathered all of his energy and fired it at Lin Yuan’s hind leg.