Sickly Girl Doesn’t Die in Zombie Simulator 307p1

Chapter 307: Evolution… Success?! p1

“Abbot Tong… what should we do now…?”

The bus driver, an ordinary person, gripped the steering wheel with trembling hands. Even while driving, he couldn’t shake his anxiety.

This was understandable.

The darkness of the apocalypse, the explosions, the strange arrow…

It was remarkable he could even drive steadily and follow the arrow in this state.

“Just follow it,” Tong Xin said. She wasn’t sure what to do either.

There was no turning back now. They might as well see this through.

It was a gamble. If they were right, they would be safe and well-fed. If wrong, it would only hasten their deaths by a few months.

The convoy crept forward, the passengers nervously peering out the windows.

Tong Xin was more anxious than anyone, carefully observing their surroundings.

Although she was resigned to her own fate, she was responsible for the lives of everyone in the two buses. The slightest mistake could lead to their deaths.

Fortunately, after traveling for over a kilometer, nothing happened.

As they approached the overpass, the road became bumpy.

Under the dim headlights, they could see the road surface was cracked and broken, as if it would collapse at any moment.

But even so, the fluorescent green arrow continued to lead them forward.

The suffocating darkness and the violent bumps pushed everyone’s anxiety to the breaking point. The slightest disturbance would cause panic.

Tong Xin’s attention shifted from the road ahead to the urban ruins in the distance.

She wasn’t sure if it was just her imagination, but amidst the lingering smoke and dust, she seemed to see a dark red, wriggling liquid covering the building debris.

As if the buildings were bleeding.

“Daoist Zhang, come and take a look,” Tong Xin beckoned to an Awakened behind her. “What do you think that is?”

He was a C-rank Awakened specializing in detection, able to sense zombies within a two-kilometer radius. This distance was enough to tell what was happening over there.

“Abbot… Abbot Tong… I… I don’t dare…” The man, Daoist Zhang, his legs trembling, was clearly terrified.

His sensitivity to blood crystals was much stronger than others’. Just passing through this area, he felt a stinging sensation all over his body.

Forget about actively probing; he just wanted to dig a hole and bury himself.

He even had a premonition that if he used his detection ability now, he might be blinded by seeing something he shouldn’t.

“Alright…”

Tong Xin didn’t force him. She also felt that whatever was in that dust cloud was beyond their comprehension.

Suddenly, the bus lurched as the driver braked sharply. Tong Xin looked ahead, her eyes widening.

Besides the fluorescent green arrow, there was something else there.

Under the dim headlights and the bright moonlight, she could see that there were no tall buildings within a radius of more than ten kilometers.

Even the overpass they were on was the highest point around.

The arrow continued to point forward, but about ten meters away, on the emergency lane of the other side of the road, stood a terrifying, almost human-sized, insect creature.

And it seemed to have someone sitting on it.

A girl with long black hair, her back to them.

The girl was staring at something below the overpass, seemingly oblivious to the approaching bus.

That face…

Lin Jiayao? Was it that girl named Lin Jiayao?

Beautiful and distinctive faces were hard to forget. Even just her back and her unique aura were enough to jog her memory.

Seeing an acquaintance, and someone from Kun City, Tong Xin was relieved.

So it really was Kun City guiding them.

Tong Xin put away her weapon, quickly opened the window, grabbed the edge, and climbed onto the roof of the bus.

Standing on the roof, Tong Xin smiled and waved towards the girl, about to call out a greeting.

But then she saw what the girl was staring at.

A swirling mass of dark red, faintly glowing liquid had gathered beneath the overpass, like a giant, dark red vortex leading to another world.

A shadowy figure was gradually taking shape in the center of the vortex.

The blood crystal fluctuations emanating from the giant, dark red vortex sent a primal fear through Tong Xin.

She didn’t even realize her legs had gone weak, and she slumped down on the roof.

The urge to call out was replaced by a choked silence. She was afraid that any sound she made would be a scream.

“Screech—”

The bus suddenly braked again. Tong Xin looked ahead, her eyes widening.

The fluorescent green arrow had turned into a bright red “no entry” sign.

What was going on?

The other members of the Corpse Immortal Temple, unable to see what was happening below the overpass, began to stir restlessly.

But Tong Xin, on the roof, didn’t dare move.

“Woo—”
“Click, clack—”

Besides the rumble of the four buses, Tong Xin heard a strange crawling sound.

She stiffly turned her head from the “no entry” sign ahead to where Lin Jiayao’s insect chair had been and saw the terrifying insect creature rapidly crawling towards her.

Tong Xin also saw the black-haired girl’s face. It was indeed Lin Jiayao, the girl she had seen at the Corpse Immortal Temple.

What was she doing?

Tong Xin’s earlier relief at seeing Lin Jiayao was replaced by a primal fear of the unknown.

“Click, clack, click—”

The insect chair crawled up the side of the bus and onto the roof. The terrifying sight elicited screams from inside the bus.

Tong Xin, still slumped on the roof, slowly looked up at the terrifying insect chair and the expressionless, beautiful girl standing before her.

“Tong Xin… is it?”

The girl’s voice was surprisingly gentle, slightly easing Tong Xin’s fear.

Tong Xin struggled to stand, but her legs were weak and unresponsive.

“Yes… yes…” Maintaining a docile, kneeling position, Tong Xin nodded towards Lin Jiayao.

Lin Jiayao gave a faint smile. “You’ll be going through Udong Interchange on the Hangrui Expressway. Take the Dong Ring Expressway and enter the city from the south.”

“That’s where we receive outside camps.”

Hearing Lin Jiayao’s words, Tong Xin nodded rapidly. “Yes… yes…”

“I’ll need you to make a few more Painted Skin Corpse Locks for me later,” Lin Jiayao said, also nodding. “I won’t keep you any longer. Continue on your way, you’ll be there soon.”

“Yes… yes… okay…”

Tong Xin was relieved.

Both the black blood vortex and the terrifying pressure from Lin Jiayao had kept her from asking any questions.

She was afraid that a single wrong word would get her thrown into that black blood vortex.

Even after Lin Jiayao left the roof and the convoy started moving again, Tong Xin was still in a daze.

Although the other party’s tone and instructions had been gentle, the terror she felt was greater than facing a horde.

It wasn’t until the convoy had completely left Zhijing City that Tong Xin came back to her senses, her Taoist robes soaked with cold sweat.

She had to get back in the bus and tell the driver to change their route.

And she had to make more cute, little girl Painted Skin Corpse Locks for the other party to choose from, using all her crafting skills.

She felt the pressure of a superior inspecting her work.

After instructing the driver to pay attention to the road, Tong Xin went to the last bus in the convoy and began searching for materials to make the Painted Skin Corpse Locks.

Meanwhile, Lin Jiayao, having redirected the convoy, breathed a sigh of relief.

It was a good thing she had placed green fluorescent bugs at every intersection. Otherwise, if that convoy had stumbled into the evolution site, and she hadn’t noticed, they would have been in serious trouble.

But fortunately, they had passed safely… It was just that the situation with A4 was still tricky.

During the time the convoy was stopped at the highway entrance, A4 had undergone another failed fusion and exploded, the massive explosion collapsing the building where Lin Jiayao had been standing before.

There wasn’t even a single high point left to stand on, except for the overpass.

This overpass was more resistant than other buildings, which surprised Lin Jiayao.

And this overpass was closest to the center of the explosion.

Of course, it definitely couldn’t withstand another explosion, and the Blood Crystals stored in A4 were not enough to support another fusion.

This time, it had to succeed.

During the second explosion, Lin Jiayao tentatively injected another 200ml of her own blood into A4.

The increased dosage last time had clearly affected the evolution process.

A4 had even almost condensed into a human form. Of course, the final, failed explosion was also almost twice as powerful, turning a radius of more than ten kilometers into ruins.

Although the evolution failed, Lin Jiayao’s mental power could still firmly control A4.

But if it failed again next time, Lin Jiayao might have to face a seriously injured A4 and the need to collect another four hundred Blood Crystals.

Lin Jiayao couldn’t get stuck here. Who knew when she would encounter another end-stage blood crystal with its sanity intact in the Simulator, like Yun Naina.

So this time, Lin Jiayao would increase the dosage and gamble.

“Phew…”

After exhaling slowly, Lin Jiayao exchanged another twenty bags of Blood Crystal Serum from the remaining one hundred and twenty Blood Crystals.

These Blood Crystal Serums were not for A4, but for Lin Jiayao herself.

—

One bag after another, Lin Jiayao continuously poured Blood Crystal Serum into her mouth.

After drinking all twenty bags, the serum was stored within Lin Jiayao’s [Liquid Blood Crystal Veins].

The excess manifested as [Bone Crystal Threads], extending from the back of her head.

This turned the underside of Lin Jiayao’s long hair crimson.

Lin Jiayao slowly raised her hand, and a translucent, humanoid figure, formed from mycelium, began to materialize, connected to the fungus in her palm.

Soon, a large amount of blood was drawn into the translucent fungal humanoid.

This fungal being, about the same size as Lin Jiayao, was like a human-shaped container, filling with blood.

As the blood was continuously extracted, a faint blue glow emanated from Lin Jiayao’s heart, a soft whirring sound audible in the quiet night.

This was the [Turbine Heart Pump] working at full speed, producing blood.

“Whirr—”

The rate of blood production couldn’t keep up with the extraction.

Lin Jiayao’s face visibly paled, turning an ashen white.

This was a sign of excessive blood loss.

The faint blue glow in her chest, due to the [Turbine Heart Pump]’s overload, gradually turned a pale red.

500ml… 1000ml… 2000ml…

The human body could store about 4000ml of blood. In just a few minutes, Lin Jiayao’s blood had been completely replaced once, yet the fungal blood-person before her was only half full.

After resting for a few seconds, the dizziness from blood loss subsiding, Lin Jiayao’s complexion returned to normal thanks to her powerful blood production and recovery abilities.

In the next second, after a rapid cycle, the blood in her body was again injected into the fungal blood-person.