Chapter 71

Upon entering the collapsed former Jizhou base, Xue Ling realized something extraordinary about herself.

She possessed claws sharper than any zombie.

Their first encounter was with two large infected dogs.

This was Xue Ling’s first time seeing infected animals. After being infected, they showed similar symptoms to zombies, with their skin and flesh becoming dried and hardened.

But there were also differences. The dogs’ forms had become deformed, their eyes clouded with a greyish tint.

They attacked anything that moved, whether dead or alive.

The two infected dogs they encountered had deformed skulls, their teeth twisted and protruding. Their skin had torn away, exposing dried muscle beneath. It was a grotesque sight.

These dogs were likely once pets of the wealthy at the base, used for guarding. They still wore collars and leashes, their necks rubbed raw, leaving only a ring of exposed flesh.

Xue Ling was startled by the sudden appearance of the infected dogs and instinctively raised her hand to block their attack.

She felt her fingers slice through one dog’s neck as easily as cutting through tofu.

As she regained her composure, the infected dog’s head rolled off and fell at her feet.

The other infected dog was dealt with more slowly by Wen Jiuze.

He used a machete to nearly sever the dog’s neck, then shot it twice in the exposed wound, stopping its movement.

Watching the force with which Wen Jiuze struck the dog’s neck, Xue Ling couldn’t help but wonder if the neck of the dog he faced was a hundred times tougher than the one in front of her.

She walked over and tested it, easily sinking her darkened fingers into the dog’s neck.

Curious, she grabbed Wen Jiuze’s hand and tried to stab at the dog’s neck, but she couldn’t penetrate it. She felt clear resistance.

She widened her eyes in shock and turned to Wen Jiuze, showing him her hand to express her astonishment.

When did she become so powerful?

She had thought the middle-aged administrator’s zombie suit was weak, but it seemed that she was the special one!

Wen Jiuze explained, “In the Gobi Lab, Wen Yi gave you a drug that, by accident, caused you to undergo a transformation. Since then, you’ve become a super zombie.”

At that time, when Xue Ling lost control, he had isolated her from everyone else, and only Wen Yi knew about the change.

Being more lethal as a zombie wasn’t a good thing when she lost her rationality.

But now, Xue Ling would be glad about it.

Without thinking, she blurted out, “Doesn’t that make me the ultimate weapon? If I cut off my arm, it would become the sharpest weapon without needing any sharpening!”

It was way more useful than the machete Wen Jiuze had!

Wen Jiuze was silent for a moment, then suddenly grabbed her arm and raised his machete as if to chop it off.

Xue Ling screamed in panic, struggling to pull away. Wen Jiuze didn’t use much force, letting her pull her arm free while the machete swished through the air.

“Chop off your arm? Are you out of your mind?” he scolded.

Xue Ling: “…”

She hid her hand behind her back. She hadn’t meant to actually cut off her arm, she was just joking. Why was he so mad?

She was sure that Wen Jiuze was upset by what she said.

But a moment later, he casually put the machete away, signaling for them to move forward, his anger seemingly gone.

They were currently exploring the fallen area on their own. Once they understood the situation, they would allow the rest of the team to follow.

Despite being frightened by his sudden anger, Xue Ling decided to keep quiet for now and focus on the task at hand.

Wen Jiuze turned back to her and extended his hand, but Xue Ling walked past him, her hand behind her back.

Then, using the short-range communicator strapped to her wrist, she quickly typed out a message.

The calm, mechanical female voice sounded, “Step behind me.”

Wen Jiuze: “…”

This portable wristwatch-like communicator had functions similar to a tablet, although inputting commands was a bit more troublesome.

Xue Ling tapped rapidly on a few buttons at the side. “I’ll let it slide this time.”

Wen Jiuze also pressed a button. “I’m just trying to dispel some of your dangerous ideas.”

Xue Ling responded, “You think I have more dangerous ideas than you?”

Wen Jiuze pulled her aside to keep her from stepping on a corpse.

Several mutated zombies native to Jizhou City were sprawled across the ground ahead. These zombies had been infected by radiation-mutated zombies, possibly from multiple generations of infections.

They were unlike the regular zombies Xue Ling had seen before, with various degrees of physical deformities.

The one she nearly stepped on had a grotesquely swollen head, while another had a spine bent at an unnatural 180-degree angle. Nearby lay a zombie with legs of uneven length, its body split in two.

Xue Ling couldn’t help but wonder—how did that last one even manage to walk?

The upper half of the bisected zombie was still alive, its mouth opening and closing intermittently.

However, these zombies did not attack Xue Ling or Wen Jiuze.

In this area, both humans and zombies faced a greater threat: the infected animals that had taken over the fallen zone.

Outside this region, zombies were a menace to humans. Here, they had become targets for the infected animals.

It seemed that a new ecological chain was forming within this massive zone of mutation.

“Be careful not to let these mutated creatures bite or scratch you,” Wen Jiuze warned. “You already have enough going on inside your body without adding a mutation virus to the mix.”

Xue Ling shot back, “You be careful too. If you mutate, you’ll end up with one arm long and the other short.”

Wen Jiuze lightly smacked the back of her head.

Despite Xue Ling’s precarious and worsening condition, Wen Jiuze had insisted on bringing her into this dangerous zone. His nerves were understandably frayed.

Xue Ling turned around and gave him a heavy slap on the shoulder. “Relax. I’m the one with the advantage here. It’ll be fine.”

“Fine” was Wen Jiuze’s favorite word. Occasionally, Xue Ling used it to reassure him as well.

The infected dogs were not the most terrifying creatures in this zone. The sheer number of people who had once lived here, coupled with the resulting garbage and corpses, had created a breeding ground for rats.

The sight of a swarm of infected rats pouring out of a sewer opening was enough to make anyone’s skin crawl.

Their overly fat and ridiculously long tails dragged behind them like snakes.

Reacting immediately, Wen Jiuze grabbed Xue Ling, hoisting her onto his shoulder, and ran out of the area.

The sheer number of rats made them too troublesome to deal with, and since they hadn’t come to exterminate rodents, they couldn’t afford to waste time.

Besides rats, cats were another common sight in human cities.

Unlike the cautious and adorable creatures one might expect, the infected cats were deformed, with dull fur.

One such cat suddenly lunged at them from a dark corner. Wen Jiuze reacted swiftly, slashing at it with a blade.

The knife failed to cut through the cat’s body. On its second attack, Xue Ling stepped forward, slicing open its abdomen.

This was Xue Ling’s first time handling an infected cat barehanded. Lacking experience, she was nearly splattered in the strange substances that spilled from the cat’s stomach.

Wen Jiuze shielded her, but half his body, including his hair, ended up reeking of decay.

Xue Ling grimaced. “Next time, I’ll know better and definitely dodge it. Wait—don’t hold me yet.”

Wen Jiuze reached out and grabbed her tightly.

Now smeared with the stench, Xue Ling stared at him: “….”

What was even the point of shielding me earlier?

The infected cat, nearly split in two by Xue Ling, was still mobile. It maintained its grotesquely split form, running off with its stomach hanging open.

Seeing this, Xue Ling felt her sanity waver slightly. Could all the infected animals end up like this?

As they continued, they encountered infected birds and various animals, both common and uncommon in urban areas.

For the first time, Xue Ling, who had always moved effortlessly through zombie-infested cities, found herself utterly disheveled.

When they were finally nearing the cryogenics center, they encountered several infected horses.

Xue Ling could hardly contain her frustration.

What were those rich people thinking, building a horse ranch next to the cryogenics center?!

These infected horses were so grotesque that just looking at them was mentally exhausting.

Their chests and stomachs were split open, with bird wings, claws, and bits of fur from various small animals spilling out.

Xue Ling couldn’t help but imagine—had the infected horses swallowed these creatures but failed to digest them, leading to this blockage and overflow from their chest cavities?

After struggling through the ranch and finally entering the cryogenics center, Xue Ling was once again overwhelmed by what humans had created.

She had once remarked that the lab at the 8027 site in the desert didn’t match her expectations of a high-tech, mysterious facility. Now, this was what she had imagined.

The center featured an impeccably sterile design in white and silver, with advanced and minimalist aesthetics. Machines, retinal scanners, password locks, countless security doors, and futuristic cryo-chambers were everywhere.

The people encased in the cryo-chambers looked more like the dead than the two grotesque zombies outside.

Turning around, she found an even more sci-fi-like sight—the researchers here had preserved specimens of mutated zombies and animals in the laboratory.

Some were suspended in unidentified liquids.

While Xue Ling wandered around, curiously exploring every corner like a country bumpkin visiting a grand estate, Wen Jiuze, who had cleared out countless labs and research facilities, ignored everything. He began packing up the center’s materials.

He focused on retrieving the core cryogenics technology, flipping through its details.

His entire purpose for coming to Jizhou City was this.

With this cryogenics technology, Xue Ling could extend her life, buying time until they could find a way to save her.

Wen Yi often called him a brute who knew nothing except how to make threats, but over the past year, Wen Jiuze had learned more than anyone could have imagined.

The medicine that Wen Yi gave to Xue Ling, the experiments she conducted for him, every report she provided, and every sleepless night—Wen Jiuze reviewed all of these, trying to understand them.

It was as if, by understanding them, he could find a way to restore Xue Ling.

He flipped through the piles of data and records on cryogenic technology, attempting to understand and analyze whether they could achieve the results he hoped for.

But this was a new field, and he understood little, only realizing that this cryogenic technology wasn’t as completely safe and harmless as he had initially thought.

In his hands was a case report detailing the failure of reviving someone after cryopreservation.

He had foolishly hoped that Xue Ling could continue her stagnant life through freezing, merely gambling on a possibility.

Xue Ling walked back and saw him looking at the documents. She hesitated before asking, “Are you studying? Here, on the spot?”

She remembered telling him to go to the lab to fetch some materials. Wen Yi had given him instructions, but he hadn’t wanted to look at them. Now he was learning on his own?

A sense of urgency, like that of a student trying to compete, made Xue Ling grab a report.

“Then I’ll look too.”

She felt lightheaded from the contents and even had a moment where she thought she might be hungrier. Luckily, there was no one around, and she quickly snapped back to reality.

Suddenly, Wen Jiuze beside her asked, “I want to keep you in this frozen state, waiting to be awakened after who knows how many years. Are you afraid?”

Xue Ling didn’t answer whether she was afraid. Instead, she slowly typed out a message: “I’ve been thinking… Every choice I’ve made for you has ended poorly. But now, I still want to make one more choice for you.”

“Wen Jiuze, will you freeze with me? Together?”