C9 The Young Female Evolver Had Actually Become a Zombie!

The young female Evolver could no longer suppress her cries of agony.

Clutching a weapon that was long and slender like a staff, she mustered all her strength to draw a thin sword from within and cast it at Jiang Loong's feet. With a low growl, she implored, "Just kill me, quickly!"

Jiang Loong retrieved the sword but hesitated to comply. "Isn't life precious? Why beg for death? Base City is teeming with experts. Surely, someone can save you!"

"There's no time!" she insisted, her voice laced with pain. "Kill me now! If you wait, and I turn into a zombie, you'll be the first I come for!"

Her voice was heavy with suffering, and the telltale marks of infection on her face grew more pronounced as her body underwent rapid changes.

"Enough talk! Do it now! I refuse to become a zombie! Please, act fast!"

The girl was sobbing, tears streaming down her face.

Jiang Loong gripped the sword's hilt, deep in thought. He had been in this world for a week and knew all too well the likelihood of the young Evolver before him succumbing to zombification.

Only a high-ranking Evolver could potentially halt or purge the virus from her system, but such individuals were rare, and none were to be found in the nearby Base City.

As she had said, her transformation was imminent—a harrowing and excruciating fate. Indeed, a merciful death seemed the kinder option.

Yet, even if Jiang Loong ended her life now, there remained a chance she could still turn.

"These foolish zombies think they can challenge us? What a farce. It's a pity the boss and the others only managed to take down one mutated zombie. Those mutants are cunning! What's that? Crying upstairs? Let's check it out!"

A voice suddenly rose from below.

Someone was entering.

In an instant, Jiang Loong whisked Tongtong and the Rank 1 mutated zombie into his spatial domain.

The trio made a swift entrance through an outside window.

Two men and a woman entered, all appearing quite young, around twenty years old.

Immediately upon entering, they spotted the young female Evolver lying on the ground.

Jiang Loong, standing a short distance away, was outright ignored by them.

"Isn't that the prodigious Evolver? If I recall correctly, you awakened your extraordinary talent at ten and became an Evolver by fifteen. You were so close to joining the Heaven Seeking Palace! What happened to you? Why are there corpse spots on your face? You're not turning into a mutated zombie, are you?"

All three saw her, but the woman among them began to taunt her.

Hearing this, Jiang Loong sensed that there was a previous conflict between the two women.

The young girl, upon seeing the trio, instantly stopped crying, her gaze turning icy as the spots on her face faded away. Simultaneously, the stick in her hand glowed with a red hue.

Their expressions turned to alarm.

"It's Flame Blast! We need to get out of here!"

They had entered through a window and hadn't budged since. They made a quick escape, leaping back out the window before Jiang Loong could even react.

"Come on, attack! Snap out of it! Hand me the sword!"

Jiang Loong was taken aback. The girl Evolver was urging him, the glow from her stick now gone.

It dawned on him that the girl Evolver was on the brink of turning into a zombie. She had merely been bluffing to frighten the others.

Yet, her single action had been enough to send them fleeing. It seemed they were not Evolvers, merely Awakeners.

The transformation had claimed over three-quarters of the girl's body and was still spreading.

She was requesting her sword.

Jiang Loong understood she was reluctant to harm him and was opting for a self-inflicted end.

Exhaling deeply, he returned the sword that rightfully belonged to the girl Evolver.

With a look of gratitude, she gripped the sword's hilt and aimed the point at her heart. But as she prepared to plunge the blade into herself, a figure appeared out of nowhere and swiftly took the sword from her grasp.

"I almost fell for your act! Thinking of taking your own life now? I'm not about to let that happen."

A male voice rang out, belonging to one of the trio who had hastily arrived and departed.

"What a privilege to witness a genius girl turned into a zombie. It's quite the spectacle! Hold off on the anger. We can't take you down as you are now. Even as a zombie, you'd be out of our league. But there's a process to this transformation! When you're at your most vulnerable, I'll make sure to strip you of your clothes first."

"Don't rush to curse me. I've got no interest in you as you are! And that's not all, I plan to yank out your teeth, slice off your tongue, and chop off your limbs. How about that? I've caught a mutated zombie alive, after all! I should at least let everyone have a gander, right?" The man cackled without restraint.

"Brother Liang, you're the man! We'll invite a crowd to watch, preferably those who know her, those familiar with her. It'll be so much more entertaining! I'm already itching to start!" chimed in another man.

"Enough laughing! We've got another one here! What's the plan for him? Do we just kill him off?"

The woman beside them glanced at Jiang Loong, prompting the men to turn their gaze toward him as well. One of them said, "He's just a regular guy. Let's just finish him."

He spoke with such ease, as if discussing the weather rather than the taking of a life.

To the Awakeners, particularly the high-ranking ones, ordinary people might as well not be human at all.

In this post-apocalyptic world, human life held little value.

Jiang Loong had realized this truth long ago. Yet, in this moment, it hit home even harder.

Back in Base City, people could feign civility, upholding a semblance of law and order. But beyond its walls, their true colors showed, their ambitions growing. Survival of the fittest was the real rule in this new world.

The hearts and minds of people shifted on either side of those high walls.

These three had laid bare the worst of humanity, fully embodying the essence of the vile.

Yet, they remained unaware that Jiang Loong was far from an ordinary individual.