Mutant

A mutant!

Taken together, Wen Ya's information looked remarkably like the mutants rumored about in her previous life.

They were clearly not Awakeners, yet possessed Transcendence abilities.

Such people were exceedingly rare among humanity—perhaps only one appeared among tens of millions.

In fact, people had speculated in their previous life that this type of person had existed even before the Doomsday Game was loaded.

They were usually Taoists, Spirit Mediums, or people with extrasensory abilities.

Unlike Awakeners, who possessed powerful martial power and supernatural abilities,

mutants generally had mutations in their Willpower Attribute.

Their willpower could naturally exceed the ten-point limit of ordinary humans without any enhancement.

According to the System's judgment rules,

anyone with a single attribute exceeding ten points before enhancement was considered a mutant.

After Doomsday Advent,

mutants would display as Level 1 in their level information from the very beginning, unlike ordinary Players, who started at Level 0.

Furthermore, because they had not undergone training and could not control their Mental Strength, their Mental Strength would leak away.

That was why Lin An had sensed faint Psionic Fluctuation.

As mutants, they lacked great strength but possessed powerful Mental Strength.

And because their Mental Strength was innate, it was not bound by the System.

Thus, they could freely provide it to other Awakeners, acting as "Power Banks."

And Mental Strength was crucial for sustained combat.

Take Lin An, for example.

His Awakening Talent had currently only manifested as "Strength Burst."

As a support Talent Skill, merely being a First-Order Awakener Talent Skill allowed it to temporarily grant him +2 to all attributes.

Meanwhile, Players only gained +1 to all attributes for each level they rose.

Awakeners, on the other hand, gained +2 to all attributes every time they advanced by one order.

That meant that after activating the skill, his strength increased out of nowhere by the equivalent of two Player Levels.

Or by one First Order of an Awakener's rank.

This showed just how powerful Talent Skills were.

Although "Strength Burst" was a support talent and did not consume much Mental Strength,

with his current fourteen points of Willpower (Mental Strength), he would be drained after using it around four times in succession.

If it were a damaging skill instead,

such as Lava Ray or Lightning Spell,

an ordinary Awakener would run out of Mental Strength after casting it roughly twice and would then have no choice but to rely on physical combat.

But if a mutant provided Mental Strength support from the rear during battle, an Awakener going all out would effectively gain more than an entire order's worth of strength!

That was why, during Doomsday, people like them were desperately fought over by every major faction.

In Doomsday, nothing was more important than strength.

Fortunate—or unfortunate—

no one was willing to be someone else's tool.

Once a mutant was discovered, they were often restrained and kept under guard.

Fortunately, they would be protected as precious "resources" in Doomsday.

Unfortunately, mutants would completely lose their free will.

That aside,

in a sense, the reborn Lin An was also a mutant.

Before he Awakened, his Willpower Attribute had already reached twelve points.

Of course, whether Wen Ya truly was a mutant was only Lin An's guess.

Rather than guessing, he might as well take her first.

Without hesitation,

Lin An turned off the Eye of Judgment, turned around, and headed back on foot.

They were only three hundred meters apart.

At his current speed, it would take only a few seconds.

He had always planned to build his own faction.

Not only would establishing a Safe Zone help him survive better in the Doomsday Game,

but three months after Doomsday, the Doomsday Game would assign tasks to all Players who had established Safe Zones.

Completing those tasks would increase their strength.

Such tasks usually required massive amounts of manpower and resources, and solo Players could hardly complete them alone.

If Wen Ya was confirmed to be a mutant, he would naturally bring her under his command.

With a mutant joining them, not only would his own strength receive a tremendous boost,

but in a sense, it would be like giving every Awakener in his entire faction an extra First Order of strength out of nowhere.

A suspected mutant was worth making a move for.

On the roof of the car, Li Zhiping stared fixedly at the wary Wen Ya.

His mouth hung open as meaningless growls came from his throat.

His bloodshot eyes bulged slightly.

Seven minutes had already passed since he was infected with the Zombie Virus.

With his already weak willpower and physical constitution, he was now on the verge of losing his mind.

"Scratchy... so scratchy..."

Li Zhiping instinctively repeated the short words as both hands rapidly scratched at his body without stopping.

His nails tore through his skin.

He ripped off an entire chunk of flesh, which fell onto the car roof.

As if he could not feel any pain.

He scratched faster and faster, as though it brought him pleasure.

One patch, then another.

Sheets of skin fell away like scraps of paper.

Wen Ya suppressed her fear and gripped a Utility Knife tightly in her right hand.

She instinctively stepped back, only to find there was nowhere left to retreat.

"Roar!"

The Zombies below smelled the scent of flesh and became even more frenzied.

Wen Ya bit her lip tightly. Her delicate skin had lost all color, and her small face was deathly pale.

From the moment Li Zhiping had asked her to inspect his wound, she had vaguely anticipated this moment.

Fortunately, she had grabbed this set of keys while fleeing.

The keys were on a ring, with a small folding knife hanging from it.

This Utility Knife, only half a palm in length, was the only weapon she could find on the car roof.

"Aaaaah!"

After large patches of flesh peeled away, Li Zhiping suddenly let out a miserable wail, and waves of foul rotting stench spread from his body.

His bones creaked, and in the blink of an eye, he transformed into a Zombie.

"Roar!"

His eyes bulged.

The zombified Li Zhiping opened his mouth as wide as possible, tearing the corners of his mouth apart as he roared and lunged at Wen Ya.

Crouch!

Wen Ya hurriedly dropped into a crouch, trying to evade the biting lunge.

But despite working out regularly, she had never experienced combat and could only barely twist her body aside.

For an ordinary person, remaining calm instead of breaking down under a Zombie attack was already fairly impressive.

"Bang!"

Unable to dodge in time, Wen Ya was knocked directly onto the car roof by Li Zhiping's sudden pounce.

Her back slammed against the roof with a dull thud.

Under the immense force, her snow-white skin bruised purple and blue, and even her shoulder blade seemed faintly cracked.

A piercing pain shot through her.

Wen Ya let out a muffled groan, her gaze resolute.

Unlike those who could only freeze in terror when facing Zombies, she gripped the knife with all her strength in her right hand and viciously drove it toward the back of Li Zhiping's head.

The foul, gaping mouth was right before her eyes, and Li Zhiping's scarlet eyes held nothing but the desire to feed.

"Thud."

The Utility Knife sank entirely into Li Zhiping's head.

The blade entered from above the fragile back of his neck, the only area of the brain not protected by the skull.

Like a machine losing power.

With his brain destroyed, the zombified Li Zhiping stiffened, then instantly went limp and died.

Having survived the ordeal, Wen Ya struggled to shove Li Zhiping's corpse away and gasped for breath.

Her chest heaved violently, and cold sweat drenched her body.

Her sweat-soaked forehead was framed by disheveled hair.

She had no mood to fix it, only feeling waves of lingering fear.

She had come so close to being devoured alive by a Zombie.

Even death by a thousand cuts, one of the cruelest ways to die, paled in comparison to such brutality.

Wen Ya's entire body had gone weak as she staggered, trying to stand.

A piercing pain shot through the shoulder blade in her back, and she felt extremely weak.

"Bang!"

"Roar!"

A sudden change occurred.

The space on the car roof had already been cramped.

After Li Zhiping died, his flowing blood covered the entire roof.

With her mind clouded, Wen Ya tried to stand straight but lost her balance and fell onto the car roof.

"Ah!"

Wen Ya cried out in pain.

The Zombies beneath the car roof were like sharks that had smelled blood.

Several rotten hands frantically grabbed her hair, tearing at it along with her scalp.

Like a drowning person being dragged underwater.

Wen Ya struggled desperately, but the blood-covered car roof was far too slippery.

In the blink of an eye, half her body had been pulled off the roof.

Despair and unwillingness filled her eyes.

The mouths of the Zombies were inches away.