Bai Qingqing hesitated. When zombies couldn’t find prey, they would unconsciously wander and mostly gather together to sleep.
If Shen Mingxuan hadn’t been controlled by her and was only in that kind of sleeping state, it would be difficult to handle if she opened the door and he became agitated again.
Should she give it a try?
Bai Qingqing hesitated for a few minutes but eventually decided to give it a try. After all, she couldn’t stay here forever. She needed to find a way to leave with Shen Mingxuan.
She let Xiao Zicao out. Once Shen Mingxuan became violent, she would let Xiao Zicao bind him.
Bai Qingqing took a deep breath, reached out and grasped the door, and cautiously pulled it open, then quickly moved back.
One second, two seconds passed, and nothing happened. Shen Mingxuan stared blankly at her as if he was a puppet being controlled. She activated her appraisal skill and discovered that he had directly skipped the ordinary zombie level and was now a second-order zombie.
Bai Qingqing controlled him and led him back into the tea room. She used the iron chains to firmly bind him to the furniture again and stared at him, lost in thought.
Currently, she was a fifth-order spatial anomaly and a fourth-order control anomaly. She not only had to improve her own strength but also find a way to kill zombies and hunt for crystal cores. Fortunately, she still had some lower-level crystal cores that she hadn’t absorbed, which she could feed to him for levelling up.
The original book described that zombie kings had a certain level of intelligence, had their own territory, and could control lower-level zombies to become their subordinates.
The female and male zombies from yesterday were fifth-order intelligent zombies. Their sudden act of kidnapping definitely had other motives. There must be a powerful higher-order zombie behind them, likely the zombie king of the Mist City.
The minimum level for a zombie king was sixth-order. They had little difference in appearance compared to humans but were greedy like beasts and lacked rationality. In the eyes of the zombie king, both humans and anomalies were food.
In the late stages of the apocalypse, humans and zombies would constantly engage in large-scale battles. The zombie king would launch zombie tides to attack bases, attempting to capture and imprison all humans.
Humans could only resist stubbornly. Otherwise, they had only two options: either become monsters or be treated as food and swallowed alive.
She could only help Shen Mingxuan level up by feeding him crystal cores. When he reached the fifth-order and regained his sanity, the situation should be somewhat better than it is now, at least he wouldn’t constantly think about biting her.
Bai Qingqing closed the door to the tea room and returned to the sofa, lying down.
Why did the zombie king of the Mist City kidnap Bai Tiantian? She was almost kidnapped by the female zombie as well. What was the reason behind it all? She couldn’t figure it out.
It seemed that as she changed her fate, the butterfly effect was taking place, unconsciously influencing many plot developments.
Exhausted from a busy day, she fell asleep while lost in her thoughts.
…
Liang Zhiyu and Fu Chen stood on the balcony, both unable to fall asleep.
However, within a day, Bai Tiantian was kidnapped by zombies, Xiao Yang was injured, Bai Qingqing and Shen Mingxuan went missing—too many uncontrollable things happened.
The Mist City was particularly large in terms of its area. Even before the apocalypse, it was not easy to find someone. It would take two hours to drive from one district to another. How could they search for someone in such a vast area?
If Cheng Rui were in the team, he would definitely recognize the male zombie who kidnapped Bai Tiantian. But unfortunately, he wasn’t here, and everything became a mystery.
Liang Zhiyu asked casually, “Team Leader Fu, why do you think the zombies kidnapped Bai Tiantian?”
Fu Chen glanced at him and said, “I don’t know.”
“You do.” Liang Zhiyu’s gaze was heavy as he continued, “Since you woke up after being drugged by Bai Qingqing, it seems like you’ve known many things in advance that we didn’t. When Bai Tiantian was kidnapped, you weren’t surprised at all. And that rabbit… Team Leader Fu, should I continue?”
Furrowing his brows, Fu Chen stared at Liang Zhiyu.
As an old fox, he was good at observing others and could see through their hearts. He noticed all those subtle flaws.
Liang Zhiyu casually said, “We’ve known each other for so long. Is it necessary to hide things from me?”
Fu Chen tightly pressed his lips together. He was a solitary person and didn’t like revealing his thoughts to others. Even after his rebirth, he hadn’t rashly asked them to keep their distance from Bai Tiantian.
He realized that no matter what, the team couldn’t escape the strange cycle involving Bai Tiantian. He had other plans in mind.
Their trip to the City of Death had two objectives: first, help Li Jin obtain the source of the virus, and second, try to find and kill the zombie king when it grew up, with Bai Tiantian’s assistance.
But plans never kept up with changes. Unexpected incidents occurred in the Mist City, and during their battle with the giant monster, they narrowly escaped death.
Fu Chen still didn’t plan to reveal the fact of his rebirth and frowned. “The one who ordered the zombies to kidnap Bai Tiantian is likely the zombie king. As for why they kidnapped her, I truly don’t know. We need to investigate.”
He wasn’t worried about what would happen to Bai Tiantian. The most important thing was to find Bai Qingqing. Mist City was so dangerous, and he needed to know where she was.
Seeing that Fu Chen still didn’t want to talk, Liang Zhiyu didn’t ask further.
Looking for Bai Tiantian meant they would have to battle the zombie king, and they weren’t sure how many high-level zombie subordinates the zombie king had.
“Who should we look for first tomorrow?”
In a low voice, Fu Chen said, “Bai Tiantian won’t be in danger. Let’s look for Qingqing first and search around the original location.”
Liang Zhiyu agreed with his thoughts. Personally, he was more inclined to find Bai Qingqing. Since Bai Tiantian, who had been kidnapped by zombies, was said by Fu Chen to be safe, then she shouldn’t be dead.
…
Bai Qingqing had been hiding in an abandoned factory for a few days, but Shen Mingxuan still looked like a monster. Unless she used her anomaly to control him, he was anything but obedient.
Crystal cores were already in short supply. She led the Chili Monster out to sweep through zombies, killing some low-level zombies and obtaining a bunch of first and second-order crystal cores. She fed them to the Chili Monster to level up, leaving only two to feed Shen Mingxuan.
Zombies had a lifespan of only a few years, and they could prolong their lives by devouring their kind or humans to level up. She couldn’t find people to feed Shen Mingxuan, so she treated crystal cores as his food.
However, before feeding him, she needed to train him.
She had never raised a zombie before, so it was a fresh and exciting experience for her. She found a pet-raising guide among the supplies she threw into the space.
In fact, many cute and well-behaved pets became that way through their owners’ persistent training. Zombies now had almost no intelligence, similar to pets, so they could be trained using pet training techniques.
Bai Qingqing opened the door and walked in. Shen Mingxuan, with his head hanging low, immediately roared and tried to rush towards her to bite. The contrast between the towering zombie man and the fragile, beautiful girl was striking.
“No roaring!” Bai Qingqing said coldly, raising her eyebrows and cracking the whip on the ground.
The zombie couldn’t understand her words. He only sensed the scent of a human in front of him, which made him extremely hungry and eager to pounce and bite.
Bai Qingqing held the whip in one hand and a crystal core in the other, staring at him. “Do you want this?”
Although the second-order zombie still lacked rationality, it was no different from a pet. It was filled with desire for crystal core-like food. Its crimson eyes fixed on the crystal core in her hand, struggling even more.
Bai Qingqing still remembered the third-order zombie she encountered in the underground parking lot. At that time, it already knew how to hunt humans and dig out crystal cores. Shen Mingxuan should be able to understand her commands, albeit barely.
She flicked the whip beside him and held up the crystal core to show him. “Be obedient, and this is yours.”
Using both rewards and punishment, Bai Qingqing used a moment of his calmness to offer the crystal core to him. He opened his mouth and swallowed it down, as if he had tasted something delicious.
This back-and-forth happened a few times, and he started to think like a small animal, understanding that the human in front of him was feeding him.
Bai Qingqing breathed a sigh of relief and wiped the sweat off her forehead as she stepped out and collapsed on the sofa to rest.
Although Shen Mingxuan was someone she was familiar with, anyone would feel fear and apprehension when faced with someone turning into a monster. Otherwise, how could people immediately distance themselves from their loved ones who became zombies?
Even for the closest of relationships, most people would choose to flee and abandon those who turned into zombies.
She looked at the black whip, her mind filled with random thoughts. Shen Mingxuan had once looked down on and belittled her, considering her a vulgar and scheming woman. He never expected that he would turn into a zombie and be tamed by her like a pet.
Bai Qingqing found solace in this irony. If he regained his memories in the future and recalled these scenes, he would probably feel humiliated and uncomfortable.
She wasn’t familiar with the Mist City territory, and considering that she was targeted by a fifth-order zombie, she didn’t dare to wander around aimlessly. Moreover, she had a zombie that she couldn’t abandon and had to take care of. She only hunted zombies for crystal cores in the surrounding area.
She wondered how Fu Chen and the others were doing now. Were they looking for her, or did they go to find Bai Tiantian first?
After a few more days, Bai Qingqing returned to the abandoned factory after killing zombies. She first took a shower in the space, checked on the planted vegetables and fruits, and had the Chili Monsters continue watering and fertilizing them. Then she came out of the space.
Not seeing Bai Qingqing for a day, Shen Mingxuan, like an unhappy puppy, let out a low growl. There was a commotion coming from the tea room.
Bai Qingqing opened the door and saw Shen Mingxuan locked in the corner. He hadn’t taken a bath for several days, and he was extremely dirty and messy, emitting a foul smell.
Bai Qingqing frowned as she looked at the man. If a pet got dirty, it needed to be washed, but she couldn’t possibly wash him herself.
Shen Mingxuan saw her entering the room and bared his fangs at her, clearly unhappy.
Bai Qingqing took out a third-order crystal core, and he looked at it with the same longing expression as a pet dog seeing dried meat. He whimpered and growled.
“Squat down,” Bai Qingqing commanded.
Shen Mingxuan was familiar with this command. He obediently squatted down, looking at her with anticipation, waiting to be fed.
Bai Qingqing unexpectedly noticed that his pupils had turned into a misty silver-grey colour. The colour of his pupils was incredibly beautiful, and staring at them carefully gave the feeling of having one’s soul sucked away.
Leave a Reply