Lost One

"Not human?!"

Zhang Tie only felt his mind go blank. Seeing Lin An already vanish from sight, he had no time to think and hurriedly followed.

"Team Leader Lin, where are we going now?"

Zhang Tie carried You Wei over his shoulder as he ran behind Lin An.

The gap between their Agility Attributes was simply too great. Even at full speed, he could barely keep up from behind.

Lin An said without turning his head:

"Wen Ya and the others are still downstairs. In a moment, go wake them up and gather everyone in the hotel."

"I'm going to look for the Bandaged Girl."

"Remember to teach Wen Ya how to use Team Communication. Tell me once everyone is here."

"Look for someone? Team Leader Lin, where are you going to look?"

"Didn't you say she wasn't human?!"

Zhang Tie instinctively called out to Lin An, but the moment he finished speaking, Lin An's back had already disappeared from sight.

Team Leader Lin really is too fast...

Helpless, Zhang Tie turned back to look at the unconscious You Wei, his eyes filled with heartache.

"Damn scum!"

He recalled the pair of legs at the entrance, and a chill flashed through his eyes.

At the top of the hotel, Lin An reached the place in just a few seconds.

After using brute force to move aside the debris blocking the stairs, he casually swept his gaze around.

If nothing unexpected had happened, the Bandaged Girl Yu Shihao and the others had taken away that day should be here.

That was assuming she was still alive. Of course, it was also unlikely that she would have died.

Although Yu Shihao had died too quickly for Lin An to pry the Bandaged Girl's whereabouts out of him, it was not difficult to make a simple deduction.

It was unlikely that the people in the hotel would dare go outside, so the "person" could only be inside the building.

The girl's appearance was so bizarre that if the people who had taken her away had not thrown her out,

then, once fear and worry took hold of them, they would certainly place her somewhere they considered safe.

The top floor of the hotel was unoccupied, and there was nowhere to escape.

Lin An was not looking for the Bandaged Girl because of some misplaced saintly compassion, nor was it out of curiosity.

He was searching for the Bandaged Girl purely because the monster had reminded him of memories from the past. It was related to what he had experienced in his Previous Life.

Unlike some of the information he had previously learned through hearsay in the Chat Channel, he had seen a girl covered in bandages in his Previous Life.

Although they had only met once, and her appearance was somewhat different from now,

he carefully compared the two after regaining consciousness. Combined with the fact that the monster believed the girl did not count as human, he realized that they might very well be the same person!

"Mo Ling!"

"Is that you?"

"Tier 3 Symbiote, Lost One Mo Ling!"

A Symbiote was a unique existence that wandered along the boundary between humans and zombies.

These individuals were usually humans infected by the Zombie Virus who had not completely transformed, becoming half-human and half-corpse!

Although they looked much like humans on the outside, they had no Player Template and could not increase their levels by killing Mutants.

While retaining their rationality, they could transform into zombies at any time. Even stranger, they could gain strength by killing Awakeners!

No one would be willing to let an existence that could turn into a zombie at any moment, and that could kill them to gain strength, remain by their side.

Therefore, Symbiotes were usually rejected openly by the entire human population.

But Symbiotes had one extremely special trait. Regardless of their level, all Symbiotes could freely walk among Zombie Crowds without being attacked by zombies.

Rumor had it that Tier 4 Symbiotes could even control zombies!

However, it was only a rumor. Until before Lin An's rebirth, he had never heard of a Tier 4 existence appearing.

Thus, many factions would secretly contact Symbiotes while concealing the matter from the public, asking them to help retrieve supplies buried deep within zombie territory!

An existence capable of ignoring zombies, even if its strength was only that of a Tier 0 Awakener,

could, in the fight against zombies, match an entire team of Awakeners based on that single trait alone!

As far as he knew, the strongest Symbiote in the Lin Jiang War Zone was Mo Ling.

In his Previous Life, while fleeing with Tang Wan's family of three, he had encountered Mo Ling. The two of them had met once before.

At the time, seeing Mo Ling walking among the Zombie Crowd in search of food had deeply shocked Lin An!

If she really was Mo Ling, perhaps he could even recruit her into his team...

Lin An's heart burned with excitement.

According to his plans, after rescuing An JingTian and his sister, he would immediately establish a Safe Zone. Without the energy provided by a Safe Zone, it would be difficult for his level to increase.

Mutants were not only difficult to find but also dangerous. In particular, after an Awakener's level rose to Second Order, the number of Mutants they needed to kill could only be described as astronomical.

Only by killing high-tier Mutants would they have a chance of progressing further.

Therefore, the energy provided by a Safe Zone was crucial.

One step behind meant falling behind at every step.

A year later, Lin Jiang City would completely fall. After that, the entire war zone would teeter on the verge of collapse because of its lack of high-tier Awakeners.

The correct choice was to establish a faction as early as possible and recruit the powerful individuals who were still weak in his Previous Life.

Especially since, by the time Lin An was reborn, human civilization was already facing the crisis of its great edifice collapsing and civilization being destroyed.

Although Lin An had no lofty mission to save humanity, as a member of the human race, if the entire civilization were wiped out, it would be difficult for him to keep the people he wanted to protect alive in the Doomsday Game.

Moreover, on the day any Safe Zone was completed, it would suffer a Zombie Tide attack under the System's intervention!

As the greatest test for establishing a Safe Zone, the first Zombie Tide would contain at least ten thousand zombies!

Lin An was not even sure whether the Safe Zone he established with the Doomsday Base Vehicle would attract an even larger Zombie Tide.

Therefore, if he could persuade a Symbiont to serve him, it would greatly reduce the pressure from the Zombie Tide!

The rooftop was not large, and Lin An soon found her in a pile of abandoned debris.

Beneath the garbage and half-eaten packaging covering the ground, the bandages around the girl's body were soaked through with dark-red blood.

The clean, neat medical bandages were stained with grime from the trash.

The girl lay motionless, her eyes tightly closed.

If not for the faint rise and fall of her chest proving she was still alive, she would have looked almost exactly like a corpse.

It seemed that the people who had brought her up had studied her for a while before giving up.

"Mo Ling?"

Lin An slightly furrowed his brows and softly called the girl's name.

He could not be certain that the face hidden beneath the bandages truly belonged to Mo Ling.

After a while, there was still no response. The girl showed no reaction whatsoever to the sounds around her.

"Eye of Judgment!"

Pale-blue mist rose as stars revolved.

"Beep, special life-form detected: Tier 0 Symbiote (dying)"
"Threat assessment: None"

She really was a Symbiote.

Dying? Lin An grabbed the girl's slender wrist, a trace of worry flashing through his eyes.

It seemed the people who had brought her up had not given her even the slightest bit of food.

To resist the erosion of the Zombie Virus, Symbiotes consumed an enormous amount of energy.

After so many days without any energy replenishment, it was no wonder the girl had fallen into a dying state.

Lin An focused and mobilized his own Mental Strength, tentatively and slowly sending it into the girl's body.

Ever since his Mental Strength had been completely drained by the Soul-Devouring Hand, he had unexpectedly discovered that the Mental Strength he had previously been able to use only by expending a skill could now be used freely.

After experiencing this a few more times, he faintly felt that perhaps he would be able to project his Mental Strength and fight like an Awakener with Mental Strength.

It was an unexpected boon, and it happened to be useful now.

Otherwise, he truly had no idea how he was supposed to wake the unconscious girl.

In a dying state, she could no longer eat.

The invisible Mental Strength surged like water, slowly flowing into the girl's body.

After a long while,

"Ugh..."

With a pained groan, the girl slowly awoke.

Like a wary beast, she quickly pulled her wrist back after waking and stared at him vigilantly.

"Mo Ling?"

Lin An tentatively called her name, and a flash of astonishment instantly crossed the girl's eyes.

"Who are you?!"

"How do you know my name?!"

Mo Ling's spine was half-bent. Hesitant, she looked as if she was ready to flee at any moment.

Just as I thought!

Lin An was delighted. He had not expected it to really be her!

"Don't be nervous. I mean you no harm."

"You're safe now."

Mo Ling looked around. Seeing that she was on a rooftop with nowhere to flee, she remained wary nonetheless.

Lin An did not mind her reaction.

Although the two had not interacted much in his Previous Life, he had heard quite a few rumors about the Lost One.

This was the exclusive title of a Tier 3 Symbiont!

Mo Ling's parents had both died when she was young. After reaching adulthood, she survived alone among the Zombie Crowds for seventy-seven days before some survivors discovered her.

Lin An had never been fond of wasting words. After seeing that Mo Ling was awake, he asked directly:

"Are you willing to join my team?"

"I can guarantee your safety, and I can save your sister Mo Yu from becoming a zombie!"

!!

Mo Ling's entire body tensed as she stared fixedly at Lin An.

"Who... who are you?! How do you know that Mo Yu became a zombie?!"