Scanning Zombies

Everyone present, including Fu Lie, stared at Xiao Min in disbelief. No one had expected her to suddenly kill someone. Xiao Min's expression did not change as she pulled out a handkerchief and carefully wiped down her machete.

After that, no one dared step forward and say Ye Zhao was in the wrong. They all looked at Xiao Min as if she were insane.

Even though the apocalypse had come, watching someone casually kill another person in public was still difficult to accept.

They wanted to fight back against Xiao Min too, but the woman was terrifyingly fierce. She went out every day to kill zombies, then returned to the hotel to train in the gym until dawn. She was either lifting weights or on her way to lift weights, sleeping only three hours a day. She was famously ruthless.

Besides, she had a gun tucked into her waistband now.

Xiao Min did not care how others saw her. She even shot Fu Lie a dissatisfied look. How could someone like him possibly keep her Miss Ye from being wronged?

Fu Lie: ...Why did he suddenly feel like he was being looked down on?

Feng Chao stepped forward as well, gun still in hand. "If anyone dares cause trouble again, we'll have no choice but to ask them to leave the hotel."

The troublemakers did not dare speak up again. They could only look hopefully at Fu Lie, wishing he would step in and suppress these mobs.

Fu Lie rubbed his brow, but he also knew that if they wanted to hold the hotel, iron-fisted measures against troublemakers were essential. Otherwise, the entire hotel might end up paying the price.

He looked at Ye Zhao and realized that, at a time like this, only her expression had not changed at all as she looked at Xiao Min. Was she really not surprised?

Xiao Min wiped the blood from her machete until it was spotless, then returned to stand behind Ye Zhao, as though she had been born to stand there.

For a moment, the troublemakers looked at Ye Zhao as if she were a murderous demon too.

Fu Lie said, "Miss Ye, now that the matter has been settled, let's go."

Even Fu Lie had made his stance clear that he would not interfere. After that, no one dared say another word.

Ye Zhao looked at Xiao Min, who was now capable of standing on her own, and handed her a milk candy. "I'm leaving. Goodbye."

Xiao Min accepted it and clenched it in her palm. "Miss Ye, don't worry. I understand."

Ye Zhao nodded with satisfaction. It was good that she understood. Live well, and if life ever felt too bitter, eat a piece of candy.

Feng Chao also came forward to thank Ye Zhao. He was deeply grateful that she had saved his life, and now she was giving him a gun before leaving. With it, he believed the chaos caused by Ye Zhao's departure would soon be contained.

Fu Lie's team was well-trained, and the zombies outside had been lured away. The group of more than twenty escorted Ye Zhao through the city streets until they found the vehicles they had abandoned in the middle of the road. Everyone quickly got in and drove away.

Xiao Min stood on the rooftop, watching the vehicles leave as she tightly gripped her machete.

She had to grow stronger. She definitely had to grow stronger!

Four military jeeps sped down the middle of the road. Drawn by the noise, zombies chased after them wildly, but were quickly left behind. Once they lost their target, they scattered again.

Ye Zhao sat in the back seat, looking out at the ruined city and the corpses left unattended.

The convoy's journey was relatively smooth, with no direct conflicts breaking out. Whenever they encountered large groups of zombies, they either detoured around them or used Drones to lure them away.

Fu Lie's eyes were bleak as he said, "What do you think humanity's future will be like? Do we still have hope?"

Ye Zhao glanced at Fu Lie, not understanding why he was asking her such a grand question. She answered honestly, "I don't know."

Fu Lie asked, "What was it like in the future you saw? Did humanity develop a vaccine against zombies?"

"I can only see the near future, and I can't decide what I see."

Fu Lie paused, then said, "That's already very good."

Not until evening did Ye Zhao and the others finally reach the base. She leaned against the window and saw that many people had gathered outside the base. Most had set up tents where they were, or simply lived in their cars. Though there were many of them, they did not seem disorderly.

They had been told not to walk around freely. Unless necessary, they could only move within the area around their own vehicles.

This greatly reduced the impact caused by people mutating and significantly protected everyone's lives.

Ye Zhao got out of the vehicle with the others and went for an examination first. Only after confirming that she had no wounds did she get back into the car and enter the base.

Outside the base, a group of people watched the convoy enter, immediately breaking into discussion.

"Damn it! It must be those rich people again. This is so annoying. Why can't they let us in?"

"I heard people inside the base turn into zombies every day too. Didn't everyone get checked? Why are they still getting infected?"

"Mommy, I want to go home! I want fried chicken!"

"Be good, Mao Mao. Home is dangerous. We can't go home anymore..."

Although they could only remain outside the base, several layers of tall, thick wire fencing had been set up around its perimeter. Ordinary zombies could not get through, and it was much safer here than at home. So even if they could not enter the base, they did not want to leave.

But every day, they watched the people around them mutate and die. Amid the terror filling their hearts, endless confusion arose. Was the human world over...?

Ye Zhao was assigned to the hospital, where a doctor gave her a full-body examination.

She did not resist it. She wanted to know exactly what condition her body was in as well.

Of course, it would have been better if no one mutated in the middle of the night.

Ye Zhao had locked her door before sleeping. Perhaps the hospital, a place that represented danger, had kept her from sleeping too deeply. When she heard gunfire in the middle of the night, she woke at once and rolled out of bed.

The people staying on the same floor also emerged from their rooms. Though frightened, they were not overly panicked, clearly experienced with this sort of thing. Each of them was holding a weapon as well.

Ye Zhao stood at her door with her machete in hand. Two armed guards patrolled the corridor, maintaining order. "Everyone stay in your rooms! Don't run around! Don't run around!"

Standing in the doorway, Ye Zhao watched as one of the guards suddenly mutated and lunged at the nearest source of food. The other noticed nothing and was still loudly warning everyone.

A woman who had witnessed the same scene cried out, "Watch out behind you!"

The next second, the guard who was about to be bitten was kicked away. Ye Zhao had already appeared behind the mutated guard, her machete about to chop off his head.

In that instant, a thought flashed through Ye Zhao's mind. She could Scan dead fish and shrimp, so what about dead people?

She decisively tapped the Game Panel and used the [Create] skill to Scan the zombie.

The words [Scannable] appeared on the mutated guard's body. She chose to Scan him.

[Scan successful: Create Zombie*1. Required Creation Points: 100.]

[Note: Zombies created by the Player will no longer retain the ability to spread the zombie virus. They will also be mentally connected to the Player and will completely obey the Player's commands.]

Ye Zhao: ...shocked.jpg.

It actually worked!

Just that one Scan had increased her experience by twenty percent!

Ye Zhao had always held a preconceived notion. Just as immortals could conjure gold, silver, and jewels, she had never considered that they could transform into living people.

She was the same. She had always thought she could create all sorts of objects, but had never imagined she could create zombies too.

After all, those were zombies!

If even zombies could be Scanned, then what about people? Could they be Scanned too?

Her machete rose and fell, and the mutated guard's head was already severed.

A crisis vanished before it could unfold.

The guard lying on the ground saw his dead teammate's head, its pair of gray-white beadlike eyes staring wide open—the mark of mutation. He burst into tears, suddenly unsure whether he should thank Ye Zhao for saving his life.

Several people standing at their doors also stared in amazement at the girl in hospital clothes standing in the corridor.

"Why was she so fast?"

"She's incredibly strong too. I've killed zombies before, and it took several blows to kill one. She actually chopped off a zombie's head in one strike."

"...Could she be an ability user?"

"No way, there really are ability users?"

Ye Zhao ignored the chatter around her. She stepped closer to the guard on the floor and used her skill to Scan him.

[Player level insufficient. Cannot Scan living organisms.]

Very good. It seemed people really could be Scanned and created, as long as her level was high enough.

That possibility, which she had never considered and had not even dared to imagine, could actually be achieved.

Having gotten a taste of the benefits of Scanning zombies, she only needed to Scan a few more to level up!

Ye Zhao immediately carried her machete downstairs. She moved so quickly that she was almost a blur, charging forward whenever she saw a zombie. Unfortunately, after Scanning several zombies in a row, the skill only displayed [Already Scanned].

It seemed that, according to the game's calculations, all zombies were the same species and could only be Scanned once.