TL: Moonlit
The figure in the black robe saw Wen Qingling lost in thought and spoke up, “Qingling, we can cooperate.”
Wen Qingling snapped back to attention and coolly looked at him. “What kind of cooperation do you think we can have?”
The black-robed figure fell silent for a moment. “I know you must still hold a grudge against me. I was also foolish to have believed in Xu Shengfei at that time. She has caused us all this trouble. You hate her, and I hate her too. We can join forces to get rid of her. What do you think?”
Wen Qingling responded, “Do you think I need someone’s help to eliminate someone?”
The black-robed figure was left speechless by the question. If he weren’t a zombie, seeing the current Wen Qingling, he might mistake him for a human. But he was a zombie, and his sense of smell and racial instincts told him that Wen Qingling was not human. Wen Qingling was just like him, a zombie. He only appeared more human, while the black-robed figure appeared more monstrous.
The only thing the black-robed figure could think of was that Wen Qingling must have also used the blood anemone to become human.
The black-robed figure’s voice was hoarse as he struggled to speak, “Xu Shengfei turned you into a zombie and repeatedly sent corpse servants to attack your base. You won’t let her off the hook, and if you find her, she won’t be alive until now.”
Wen Qingling stared at him for a long time before saying, “Do you know where she is?”
The black-robed figure shook his head. “I only have a general direction, the exact location is unclear. It may require devouring more Undead to obtain a more precise location. If you need it, I can help you anytime.”
Wen Qingling asked, “Is this helping me?”
The black-robed figure corrected himself, “It’s also helping myself.”
Wen Qingling looked at the other black-robed figures. “Can they also sense the location of the ‘Mother Corpse’?”
The black-robed figure replied, “No, I was the first one to regain consciousness, so my sense is the clearest.”
Wen Qingling asked, “Judging by your numbers, it seems that not all zombies undergo mutations by consuming the Undead, right?”
After the two recent attacks by the Undead, there were plenty of Undead bodies, and there were certainly many zombies that had consumed their flesh and blood. However, among those, only their group had experienced mutations.
The black-robed figure admitted, nodding, “That’s right, not all zombies can undergo mutations. Moreover, their consciousness only partially recovers, and their thoughts are still confused. Currently, only my thinking is the clearest.”
This was similar to the fact that not all humans could awaken extraordinary abilities.
The randomness and uncontrollability of this process meant that even human researchers had not been able to understand the rules after studying it for a long time. The rules and conditions for zombie evolution and mutation were even more elusive.
It all depended on luck. Wen Qingling said, “If you want to cooperate, your ‘general direction’ won’t convince me.”
The black-robed figure nodded, “I will obtain a more precise location as soon as possible.”
As for how to obtain it, that was the black-robed figures’ affair.
Wen Qingling stared at him for a long time. This person was also a wolf in sheep’s clothing. He had regained consciousness and even attacked the Undead. He was someone who would do anything for power. However, he didn’t belong to the civilized zombies. He would eat and discard as he pleased, and Wen Qingling couldn’t control him.
Wen Qingling said, “I hope your definition of ‘as soon as possible’ is fast enough.”
They were mutated zombies. Besides attacking the Undead, they posed no threat to civilized zombies or other zombies. Wen Qingling had no reason to expel them. If they were willing to stay in Ling City, then so be it. As long as they didn’t break the rules, Wen Qingling wouldn’t interfere. He was a benevolent leader who could accommodate zombies.
Wen Qingling had other things to attend to now. He returned to the base and sat cross-legged on the city wall, motionless, from evening until the early hours of the next day. Civilized zombies coming and going into the base would occasionally glance at him with inquisitive eyes. Could sitting quietly like this really determine the position of the Undead’s leader?
It might actually be possible. Who was their leader? Even the Level 8 evolved being, the “General,” feared him. What hidden abilities did he possess? No one knew. All they knew was that their leader had been provoked by those detestable Undeads.
By the time it was almost noon, a powerful spiritual force that covered the entire Ling City finally detected a clue. Wen Qingling, who had been motionless, suddenly sprang into action and disappeared from the sight of the civilized zombies. He rushed in a certain direction.
When he reappeared, he was standing on a rooftop. Below him were four civilized zombies walking together, carrying a captured mutant pig. They chatted casually as they walked, “I wonder when we’ll be able to capture the leader of the Undead. Constantly being on the defensive is not a solution.”
One of the civilized zombies said, “Being impatient won’t help. Even the City Lord wants to get rid of the Undead’s leader, but that person’s whereabouts are elusive, and they are cunning. Unless the City Lord has precognitive abilities, it will be difficult to catch the Undead’s leader.”
Another civilized zombie sighed, “Just as one threat subsides, another arises. The newly emerged monsters are also fierce. They even prey on the Undead. We need to strengthen our defenses to avoid being attacked.”
The first civilized zombie spoke again, “Those flea-like Undeads may come again. If they couldn’t get their hands on the blood anemone, they won’t give up…”
Wen Qingling leaped down from the rooftop and appeared before the four civilized zombies. Startled, the four of them almost dropped the mutant pig they were carrying. Fortunately, they recognized Wen Qingling in time and urgently grabbed onto the pig’s leg.
The two zombies at the front stammered, “C-City Lord, why did you suddenly appear here?”
Wen Qingling looked at them with a calm gaze and said, “Don’t you know you were being followed?”
All four civilized zombies were taken aback and quickly put down the mutant pig to look around. They scanned the area but couldn’t see anything other than wandering zombies. If there were humans, they wouldn’t be able to go unnoticed, and if they were the Undead, they could easily be identified. However, there was nothing else here except for ordinary zombies.
The four civilized zombies looked uncertainly at their City Lord. What had been following them?
Seeing that the civilized zombies also hadn’t noticed anything, Wen Qingling couldn’t help but praise Xu Shengfei for finding a helper with a brain this time.
Wen Qingling walked over, and the ordinary zombies that had been aimlessly wandering were startled and hurriedly avoided him. Wen Qingling walked back and forth, deliberately choosing the paths that the zombies were avoiding. This caused the zombies to panic and scatter, howling in fear.
The four civilized zombies: “…”
What was their City Lord doing? Why did he suddenly feel the urge to tease these ordinary zombies?
After seemingly playing a prank, Wen Qingling finally stopped. He pointed at one of the ordinary zombies and said, “You, come here.”
The designated ordinary zombie was ragged, with a decaying appearance. Its grey eyes were vacant and lifeless. It was a regular zombie without a soul or consciousness. It seemed to be completely unresponsive to Wen Qingling’s words.
Wen Qingling said, “I’ve been observing you for a long time. You’re so audaciously following us. Are you too confident or do you think I’m blind?”
The other zombies couldn’t help but feel a sense of danger. Before they had a chance to withdraw their abilities, the skinny young man among them suddenly experienced a violent surge in his powers. Blood flowed from his nose and mouth, and the level of his powers, which accumulated painstakingly through crystal cores, instantly plummeted.
“What’s going on?!”
The skinny young man stared at the person wrapped in a black robe. He couldn’t utter a word and fell unconscious.
Everyone in the meeting room became alert, and their gaze focused on the person in the black robe.
A hoarse and unpleasant voice came from under the robe, “Why panic? It seems that our spy in Ling City was discovered by Wen Qingling.”
One of the attendees said, “Didn’t they say he had a low sense of vigilance towards zombies? How did he suddenly expose our spy? It was going well before. Our spy collected a lot of information for us. Now that our spy is gone, Wen Qingling will surely become more vigilant. The same tricks won’t work anymore. How will we obtain the blood anemone? We can’t let Wen Qingling and his people get their hands on such a treasure easily.”
They had infiltrated Ling City through undercover zombies and overheard a lot of information about the civilized base. They knew that those who turned into zombies could regain consciousness and their human form through the blood anemone. This information was relayed by the undercover zombies. They were also aware that almost everyone in the civilized base cultivated blood anemones, which they regarded as a luxury delicacy.
However, they didn’t know where the blood anemone came from. They only knew that the people from the civilized base would go to Wen Qingling to buy the seeds when they needed blood anemone. Therefore, they all believed that Wen Qingling happened to obtain the mother plant of the blood anemone by chance. This led them to exploit the situation both internally and externally.
As for the differences between the blood anemone plants, they were unaware. They thought that as long as it was a blood anemone, it could turn zombies into humans and provide antibodies against the zombie virus. In fact, unless Wen Qingling revealed it, even Jiang Lan and Wen Zheng would find it difficult to distinguish between the blood anemone grown from seeds and the ones nourished with Wen Qingling’s blood.
Since the battle with the Level 8 Evolved “General,” news about Wen Qingling’s blood being able to grow blood anemones couldn’t be kept a secret anymore. Almost everyone in the civilized base knew about it. However, Wen Qingling issued a gag order, forbidding anyone from mentioning anything related to his blood and the blood anemones. This led the undercover zombies to receive misleading information.
It was due to this misinformation that the previously well-hidden Undeads came out into the open. They thought that it wouldn’t be a problem to privately purchase some blood anemones or seeds from the people in the civilized base, considering the abundance of blood anemones and seeds there. However, to their surprise, when they approached the civilized zombies, as soon as they mentioned buying blood anemones or its seeds, they were immediately captured and taken to see Wen Qingling. The civilized zombies underestimated the situation and, in order to conceal their whereabouts, they had no choice but to kill the civilized zombies. This ultimately attracted Wen Qingling’s attention to the Undead.
One person lazily leaned back in their chair and said, “In my opinion, instead of waiting for an opportunity, why don’t we just spread the news about the blood anemone? Even if Wen Qingling is powerful, he will be exhausted from dealing with the greed of various factions. I don’t believe Wen Qingling can handle so many opponents effortlessly. Once Ling City falls into chaos, that will be our chance to storm the base and seize the blood anemones.”
The hoarse voice resounded again, “It’s not time yet. The news about the blood anemone might be more useful to our new partners. As long as we have them, it’s like having an army of thousands.”
Someone was puzzled, “Are we really going to cooperate with them?”
The already hoarse voice let out a low, eerie laugh that made one shudder more than a broken wind chest, “Don’t you want to see what the legendary Central Mega City looks like?”
Of course, they wanted to see!
They were all survivors of the apocalypse, living in a world where there was no tomorrow. Having the opportunity to meet the “Mother Corpse” and gain new life and power was a rare chance. These ants that had never been respected also wanted to admire the view from the heights.
Thinking that they would become superior beings from now on, they became particularly excited. “What about Ling City then?”
Someone smirked, “As long as we can take down the Central Mega City, why worry about a small Ling City? The Central Mega City has nothing to restrain us from Wen Qingling. Isn’t it beautiful to use the power of the Central Mega City to eliminate Wen Qingling?”
Everyone looked at the person in the black robe, and the black-robed figure said, “We can’t confront Wen Qingling head-on. It’s best to achieve our goals by using someone else’s hand.”
With a unanimous agreement, everyone became excited and said, “What are we waiting for? It’s time to expand to new territories.”
The hoarse voice said, “No hurry, we just need to wait for the news.”
The meeting concluded, and everyone dispersed, except for Xu Shengfei, who remained in place wrapped in the black robe. Another person also stayed, with bloodshot eyes filled with hatred, staring at Xu Shengfei and said, “How long do I have to wait to seek revenge?”
Xu Shengfei looked at him through the hood and smiled sinisterly, “He killed your father, and you hate him. I hate him even more. He turned me into something neither human nor zombie, and he turned my parents into zombies. I will definitely settle this score with him. Why rush?”
Gao Hong glared at her, “At least you didn’t die. Your parents turned into zombies, but they still have a chance to become human. But my father is dead! He was killed by Wen Qingling! He didn’t even have the chance to turn into a zombie!”
Xu Shengfei stood up, tightened her black robe, and said, “Revenge is certain, but besides revenge, what should we do? Don’t forget, our ultimate goal is to create a new era.”
Wrapped in her black robe, Xu Shengfei walked out and headed straight to a villa. The person guarding outside respectfully called her “Corpse Mother.” From inside the villa, there were creaking sounds of the door being clawed, accompanied by the low growls of zombies.
Xu Shengfei hoarsely asked, “Have they been fed today?”
The guard replied respectfully, “Preparations have been made.”
Not long after, a clean-looking woman was dragged over, struggling and screaming all the way, unable to escape the fate of being thrown into the villa to feed the zombies.
The woman’s screams continued unabated, and the dense, bloody smell seeped out from the crack under the door.
Xu Shengfei shook her head, “Ordinary people are too nutrient-deficient. The best nourishment is still the people inside the civilized base.”
They all knew that the people inside the civilized base were delicious and could accelerate their evolution. However, those people also possessed real power. If they were to engage them in direct one-on-one combat, the Undead wouldn’t be a match for the people from the civilized base. Therefore, they mostly relied on group attacks and ambushes.
The guard respectfully said, “I will try to capture people from the civilized base who venture outside.”
