Fang Chang’s eyes widened.
A player? A newbie?
He realized who the woman was. She was just like him—a player forced to travel between worlds.
His Game ID was 0972, which proved there had to be more players than just him. From 0000 to 9999, there were ten thousand players on Earth. They carried out missions in different worlds at different times, so the odds of running into one another were slim.
Fang Chang hadn’t expected to meet another player who could save his life at such a critical moment.
He nodded with difficulty. “Save me, and I’ll agree to your conditions.”
The woman immediately smiled. It was a faint smile, and there was something gentle about it.
“You’ve been infected with the virus, but your situation is very unusual. The virus bonded with your cells and caused some kind of mutation, giving you the traits of a zombie without erasing your consciousness. It’s an extremely rare case. The differences between worlds must mean that the human body is built differently on a microscopic level. A virus that’s deadly in this world has somehow become a catalyst inside you.”
The woman had gone on at length without treating him, and Fang Chang started to panic. “I agreed to your conditions! You have to save me, too!”
The woman replied matter-of-factly, “Save you? You’re not in any danger of dying. What am I supposed to save you from?”
“Huh?” Fang Chang was dumbfounded. “A zombie scratched me. I’m infected, and I’ll turn into a zombie any minute now. And you’re saying I’m not in danger?”
The woman waved a finger in front of Fang Chang’s eyes. “You’ve got it wrong. You’re not about to turn into a zombie. The way you are now, you’re already one—a special type of zombie.”
“How is that possible?” Fang Chang shouted back. “If I’m a zombie now, why haven’t I died? How am I still conscious?”
The woman explained, “I told you—you’re a special type of zombie. You’re not from this world, and the structure of your body differs from that of the people here in a number of ways on a microscopic level. So when you were infected with the zombie virus, you didn’t lose consciousness, and your vital systems weren’t damaged.”
Fang Chang couldn’t believe it. He’d been on the brink of death—how had things ended up like this?
“No way! Maybe you can’t actually treat me, so you’re making all this up on purpose?”
The woman remained calm. “Then tell me, what would I gain by lying to you?”
Fang Chang was at a loss for words. “I…”
There really wasn’t much to gain from someone as broke and destitute as him.
When he fell silent, the woman cleared her throat and continued. “The zombie virus has reached some kind of agreement with your body. It lives in symbiosis with your cells. As it draws energy from them to grow stronger, it also alters them. The dizziness and nausea you felt earlier were caused by the virus bonding with your cells and reshaping them, which used up a huge amount of your energy. You’re past the worst of it now. Otherwise, how would you have enough breath to argue with me?”
“Huh?”
Fang Chang came to his senses. His stomach was empty, and he was craving flesh and blood, but the weakness was fading.
No wonder he’d had the energy to argue just now. He was already recovering!
The woman still showed little emotion. Perhaps Fang Chang’s attitude didn’t matter to her. She went on, “If you don’t believe me, feel your body. Haven’t you gotten thinner? I can tell you have less body fat than a normal person.”
Fang Chang sat up and felt himself all over. His slightly chubby body was now all sharp angles and prominent bones. Just as the woman had said, he’d lost a shocking amount of weight!
He still found it hard to believe. “If I’ve become a zombie, why is the system still here?”
Zombies were dead things. If he’d really become one, wouldn’t the system have judged him dead? Shouldn’t the system have disappeared, too?
The woman answered with ease. “The system doesn’t judge whether a player is alive based on the body alone. It also considers their consciousness. Yours is perfectly intact, so the system recognizes that you haven’t died. It just thinks you’ve encountered an opportunity in the mission world and entered some kind of special state.”
Fang Chang suddenly understood. “So even though I’ve become a zombie, I’m not dead.”
The woman nodded firmly. The light on her head bobbed, making Fang Chang’s eyes ache.
“Then…” Fang Chang remembered what the woman had said earlier and hesitated. “Then I could’ve survived without your help after all?”
The woman was completely straightforward. “That’s right!”
Fang Chang immediately asked cautiously, “Then can I take back what I said before?”
The woman was still just as frank. “Sure!”
Fang Chang’s eyes welled up. Who said reincarnators were always scheming against each other? That was just baseless speculation. If you’d never experienced it yourself, how would you know what it was really like?
The first player he’d met, someone no different from a reincarnator, was this kind and easygoing!
This was great!
The world was harsh, but people were kind.
Fang Chang had an even better chance of surviving now.
The woman immediately followed up, “Are you sure you don’t need my help?”
Fang Chang tried to get up from the ground. He settled into a crouch and flashed her a carefree smile. “If my life isn’t in danger, then I don’t need your help, senior!”
The woman made sure one more time. “Really?”
“I really don’t need it anymore.”
“You really don’t need it?”
“I really don’t!”
“You won’t regret it?”
Fang Chang rolled his eyes. “You’ve asked so many times. Does that mean there’s some other risk?”
The woman was still perfectly frank. “There is!”
Fang Chang was stunned. If he hadn’t known he couldn’t beat her, he would’ve sprung to his feet and squared up for a fight to the death!
Even with his battered body, he stood tall and proud. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
The woman looked completely unbothered. “You didn’t ask.”
Fang Chang took a direct hit. Miserable and crestfallen, he could only ask helplessly, “Well, I’m asking now. Senior, what other risks are there?”
The woman tilted her head. “You’re going to eat people!”
Fang Chang’s eyes widened. “!”
“I’ve studied the zombie virus in depth. It’s a very strange virus. It kills the host’s brain, lives inside it, and controls the brain’s nerves to move the corpse. Since it’s a virus, conventional methods can’t easily kill it. Destroying the brain is like destroying the control center. The virus can no longer use the nerves to control the body, so the zombie loses the ability to move. But on a microscopic level, the virus itself is still alive.”
The woman launched into another lengthy explanation. “A virus is a kind of microscopic life. It needs energy to survive and reproduce, which means its host has to eat. Of all plants and animals, the zombie virus has an overwhelming preference for animal flesh and blood. That’s why zombies have such a powerful craving for living animals.”
Fang Chang’s mouth fell open. “Um… so… what’s actually happening to me?”
The woman froze, then came back to herself and put on a serious expression. She bowed slightly. “Sorry. My thoughts wandered a bit.”
“So you went off topic?”
The woman waved a hand. “Not at all. If your question were a book, what I just said would be the introduction.”
Fang Chang said seriously, “I’d like to skip straight to the main text.”
“All right.” The woman sounded a little resigned as she got to the point. “Your situation is unusual. The zombie virus invaded your brain, but it didn’t kill your consciousness. Instead, it entered into symbiosis with you. The system considers you alive, but in reality, you’ve become a zombie—a special kind of zombie.”
“What makes it special?”
“The zombie virus in this world can actually promote the evolution of living things. If you went to a densely populated area in a big city, you’d see for yourself. There are lots of evolved zombies there. They’re different from ordinary zombies. Their bodies are full of the virus, which takes over their dead cells. Their heads are no longer a weak point; the weak point shifts elsewhere. Evolved zombies have different ranks depending on how much virus they carry, and different types depending on where the virus gathers. But they all have one thing in common: strength and speed beyond what’s biologically possible, and sometimes even special abilities. You’ve already got the foundation to become an evolved zombie.”
After listening to that long explanation, Fang Chang had understood the gist. “You mean I’ve got the zombie virus, but I still have my own consciousness, so that gives me the foundation?”
“That’s right.” The woman nodded. “You haven’t shown any signs of it yet, but given enough time, you should be able to control the virus in your body and evolve into the form you want, gaining inhuman strength and speed, or even special abilities. But to achieve that, you’ll have to eat a lot of flesh and blood. During the evolution process, the virus will blur the lines of your consciousness. When your consciousness merges with the virus’s instincts, you’ll still be alive—but in the end, you’ll become a man-eating monster.”
