Chapter 682: This Is Not Our Style!
“Swish!”
Li Yalin grabbed a cushion and started tearing it apart. Xia Na dodged the flying cotton and fabric pieces while apologetically smiling at Ye Lian, saying, “It’s alright…”
Ye Lian gently removed her hand and said, “He is… very tired…”
“I can see that,” Xia Na nodded. “Let him sleep. He’s usually so alert. If it weren’t for you covering him, Ye Lian, he would have definitely woken up…”
“You can also… cover him.” Ye Lian smiled slightly.
Xia Na glanced at Ling Mo, who was sleeping soundly. Feeling a bit sorry for him, she coldly snorted, “Yeah, I’d cover him with a pillow and smother him, then we could have meat.”
“Ah!” Ye Lian exclaimed, “You’re… you’re joking…”
“This isn’t a joke, it’s called kidding around… Wait, no, I wasn’t kidding!” Xia Na muttered. She was in a state of confusion, with her human nature and zombie instincts constantly alternating, making her a bit different from usual.
Ye Lian looked somewhat perplexed but quietly sat down next to Ling Mo and asked, “You… how are you all doing?”
Xia Na smiled, “Much better than before. Thanks to you all. When that high-level zombie showed up, I was vaguely aware of it. If I had been forced to act then, things wouldn’t have turned out as well as they did.”
As she spoke, she glanced at Ling Mo again, “And now he’s exhausted… trying to show off!”
Ye Lian’s big eyes blinked, completely unsure how to respond.
The first part was clearly concern, but the second part…
This isn’t typical zombie behavior…
“What about you, Ye Lian? After breaking through, do you feel anything special?” Xia Na suddenly asked, curious.
She knew she couldn’t reach the dominant level in this evolution, but since she had leveled up again, breaking through was just a matter of time. It was good to ask in advance…
Ye Lian fiddled with her fingers, organizing her thoughts before speaking haltingly, “It’s… a bit different from before…”
She pointed to her eyes, “Here…”
Then she pointed at Ling Mo, “And… him…”
“Eh, what does this have to do with Ling-Ge?” Xia Na became even more puzzled.
She could understand the change in Ye Lian’s eyes immediately; the contracted pupils were an obvious sign of mutation.
But how could Ye Lian’s evolution be connected to Ling Mo?
“I…” Ye Lian bit her lip and whispered, “I… understand him a bit more…”
Xia Na paused for a moment, then a look of realization crossed her face. “Ah, I get it!”
Her red and black eyes darted between Ye Lian and Ling Mo, and she nodded. “Your connection has deepened!”
Ye Lian nodded first, then shook her head. “It’s not just… that…”
She gestured as she spoke, finally making Xia Na understand what she meant.
“So… you can feel the human emotions he expresses?” Xia Na summarized, seeking confirmation.
“Mm-hmm!” Ye Lian nodded excitedly.
Xia Na thought for a moment, then posed another question. “Do you have similar emotions yourself? If you can feel his, shouldn’t you have your own?”
At this point, Xia Na’s eyes also showed a hint of anticipation.
She already retained her humanity. As for turning back into a human completely… Black Na wasn’t interested at all.
She enjoyed being a zombie—the thrill of seeing blood, the complete control over her body, and the sheer joy of fully engaging in battle were experiences normal humans couldn’t understand.
But the complex emotions in a human’s mind were also very appealing to Xia Na.
Under Xia Na’s eager gaze, Ye Lian slowly shook her head. “No… I don’t…”
“I know… what he means because… I remember some things… but… I don’t have them myself…” Ye Lian said.
Xia Na immediately looked a bit disappointed. It wasn’t going to be that simple, after all…
In Ye Lian’s case, it couldn’t be called true feeling.
It was like learning words from pictures. She knew what the fruit in the picture was and what it was called, but until she tasted it herself, she wouldn’t truly know it.
Ye Lian’s understanding of human emotions was only at the level of learning words from pictures.
“Don’t worry,” Xia Na said, leaping forward to grasp Ye Lian’s hand, “At least you’ve made a lot of progress, right? Now, when you see him trembling with anger, you won’t think he’s just cold anymore…”
“Mm!” Ye Lian smiled slightly.
“Huff… huff…” In the pitch-dark stairwell, Xu Shuhan was clutching the handrail, wobbling as she climbed.
Her mind was still clear, but precisely because of this, the physical reactions she was experiencing felt even more intense.
In the darkness, it seemed like there were rustling sounds everywhere, drilling straight into her brain.
Even if she covered her ears, she could still hear the sound of her own blood flowing.
Even her own breathing sounded so irritating, making her incredibly agitated.
“This is unbearable…”
Xu Shuhan didn’t know which floor she had reached. She leaned against the corner of the staircase, slid down along the wall, and crouched there, holding her head.
Xia Na’s words echoed in her mind again: “You’ll get used to it…”
“Is this the side effect of maintaining sanity? If I lost my sanity and was controlled by zombie instincts, it wouldn’t be this unbearable…” Xu Shuhan couldn’t help but think.
But as soon as she thought of those ordinary zombies with their twisted expressions, tearing apart living people, Xu Shuhan couldn’t help but shudder.
“No… I don’t want to become like that, I can’t…”
Xu Shuhan kept shrinking into the corner, her nails scratching long white marks on the ground, the scraping sound pulling her back from dangerous thoughts of giving up.
“That… fellow… human…” Ye Lian clearly didn’t know how to refer to Xu Shuhan properly. Without having fully mutated, Xu Shuhan was at most a half-fellow…
Xia Na, hugging her knees, sat in front of Ye Lian and said, “Her? It all depends on her willpower. She’s already pretty lucky to still have a chance to struggle. Ling-Ge has been living with us for so long, he’s learned quite a lot.”
“But… I still hope she can hold on.” Xia Na was silent for a few seconds, and then her tone changed suddenly.
“That’s annoying, Nana! Stop trying to take over all the time…”
“How is it taking over? Half of this body is mine to begin with.”
“Tch, isn’t your half a spiritual body? Why don’t you try undressing with one hand?”
“You’re holding onto the other side of my clothes, how am I supposed to undress?”
Watching Xia Na argue with herself and her hands flailing about, Ye Lian dumbly shrank back and quietly covered Ling Mo’s ears.
The room turned into complete chaos: Li Yalin was relentlessly tearing apart all the cushions, while Xia Na was fighting with herself. Amid the flying cotton stuffing, Ling Mo continued to sleep soundly with his eyes closed…
In the corner, the large cocoon wobbled for a moment, then went still again…
“Boom!”
Another window suddenly shattered, sending a rush of hot air mixed with thick smoke and flames outwards.
The entire shopping mall had turned into a massive furnace, with thick black smoke constantly pouring out.
The nearby buildings were also affected and had caught fire.
The streets were packed with zombies attracted from all directions, but aside from the occasional zombie that ran out engulfed in flames, none of them approached the fire willingly.
The flames could draw them closer, but simple fire was no longer enough to make them rush in like moths to a flame.
Unless there was prey…
But those half-charred zombies didn’t seem very appealing. Their dying instincts drove them to charge into the zombie horde, but no zombies were willing to tangle with them.
Those who got accidentally caught up were usually the weakest among the crowd.
These small disturbances happened on the periphery and didn’t cause much of a commotion.
“Bang!”
At the back door of the mall, a large, chaotic mass suddenly crashed down from an upper window.
This charred heap twitched slightly, and then a blackened hand suddenly emerged.
The exposed muscles beneath the burnt skin were pink, and parts of the fingers had turned into charcoal.
As soon as it appeared, the hand clawed rigidly at the air before grasping the ground.
As the hand slowly dragged forward, a figure crawled out from the charred mass.
“Cough…”
Struggling, it finally pulled itself out, emitting a harsh, raspy sound from its throat.
Not just the hand, its entire body was burned in the same way.
Its head was bald, with bulging eyes that seemed to be just two rolling eyeballs.
The irises were still purple, but the whites of the eyes had turned completely red.
Under its burnt, missing lips, its ghastly white teeth were visible.
A piece of flesh dangled from its left cheek. It reached up with its hand, sharp nails scraping down along its temple.
A spark flew out, and as it grabbed the piece of flesh, it yanked it off forcefully.
The already sunken cheek caved in further, increasing its terrifying appearance.
Skin that even knives could hardly cut had been burned to this state.
If it weren’t a King level, it would have perished in the flames long ago.
“Cough! Cough!”
It suddenly opened its mouth, letting out a hoarse, choking scream.
The skin on its face tore open, oozing thick blood from the wounds, looking absolutely horrifying.
“Stop screaming.” A voice suddenly interrupted.
The Bird Zombie immediately turned its head towards the source of the voice.
In the shadows between two buildings, a figure had appeared unnoticed.
The figure was short and slender, but their head seemed disproportionately large.