The Special Evolved

Under the putrid skin, the zombie's internal organs were completely rotten. Despite the reeking stench, Lin Chao looked unperturbed as he moved proficiently to pry open the ribs and probe around the decaying flesh at the heart.

"Nothing?" Lin Chao's brow was raised in surprise. He had picked apart the heart with a flying knife but did not see the expected evolution nucleus.

The evolution nucleus was the most valuable item within a zombie. It was evolved from the heart and looked like a crystal with a tough external membrane that protected it from the virus's corrosion. The inside was dark red in color as it was made up of most of the zombie's blood, and its entire heart along with a tiny amount of the virus. It contained an extraordinary force that could repair and enhance one's cells. If an ordinary person were to consume it, he would very quickly be able to become an Evolved!

Evolved people would double their strength, speed, hearing, and vision along with other general senses. It would put them on a similar level as the zombies in addition to equipping them with an immunity to the virus.

Lin Chao had come out hunting in hopes to acquire the evolution nucleus and transform into an Evolved. This was the most basic self-guarding measure one could rely on to survive in the apocalypse!

Without delay, he moved on to search for the next zombie.

Not every zombie would produce the evolution nucleus as it had various prerequisites. Usually, only one of three zombies would possess the evolution nucleus.

The seventeenth floor.

Two of the four doors here were open, and one of them was probably the old man's house. The other two doors were securely shut.

Lin Chao came to one of the opened doors and pushed it gently.

The door opened slowly with a squeak.

The unit was a mess. The coffee table was shattered with puddles of blood on the floor. Scattered furniture and household items, as well as broken porcelain bowls littered across the area.

Holding his breath slightly, Lin Chao entered with caution.

It was a small distance between here and the stairs. Without the elevated platform, it posed a greater difficulty for Lin Chao should he have to fight the zombies.

An aged elbow that had a few parts bitten off was strewn on the living room as the track of blood extended to the bedroom. Lin Chao followed the bloodied footsteps to the front of it and carefully looked inside from the door gap.

There was a woman who lay on her side with her back against the door on the large bed in the bedroom.

Taking a glance at her exposed arm from the short sleeve, Lin Chao pushed the door open and walked in with relief when he saw that her skin was fair without any deterioration. She was not a zombie.

Just as he was about to see if she could be saved coming to her side, Lin Chao's gaze froze.

A head slowly rose from the woman's embrace.

It was an infant about a few months old, about the age when it had just learned how to crawl. In spite of it, the supposedly delicate and supple skin belonging to a baby was all festering rancid carrion. It had veins popping up on its forehead, eyes rolled back to their whites, a face stained with blood, sharp teeth growing from its mouth, and was chewing a portion of the woman's intestines.

The woman's body was pushed to lie on her back from its movement with her stomach emptied, and her intestines taken out.

Roar!

The baby zombie shrieked, a roar tearing from its underdeveloped vocal cord, sharp like a piercing cry to the ears.

Lin Chao struck with his steel bar immediately.

Pang!

It went straight into the baby zombie's mouth.

The steel bar crushed its sharp teeth instantly but the baby zombie bit onto the bar menacingly as its rotten arms waved around in an attempt to grab Lin Chao.

With an icy glare, Lin Chao pulled out the steel bar and made a sweep for the baby zombie's head.

Baby zombies were not really a threat. If the woman had not been careless, she would not have been mauled to death and eaten.

Lin Chao pulled out his flying knife indifferently and cut its heart open…

Nothing.

He moved to another unit at once. The longer he was exposed outside, the stronger his scent would become from his pores and sweat, attracting the zombies.

He must act fast!

Fortunately, there were only four units on every floor here, and at least one unit had its door locked. Even if there were zombies inside, they would not know how to open the door. As the infected were elders and children, there were at most three to four zombies from the other three units in total. Their family members would have been eaten at the very beginning before having the chance of being infected.

Lin Chao was still able to kill these early-stage zombies with his Grade A3 spear skill even if he had yet to become an Evolved. After all, they had no intelligence, and their movements were simple, pouncing at anyone and anything they saw without so much as a strategy formed. They also had terrible balance and did not know how to avoid obstacles.

This meant that they would still charge toward you even if you bashed them.

From a certain perspective, this was terrifying. If it was utilized properly, however, this was their fatal weakness!

In a blink of eyes, Lin Chao completed his search on the seventeenth floor. He had killed a total of three zombies including the old man and the baby but did not obtain any evolution nuclei.

He continued to the sixteenth floor.

There was only one unit that had its door open while the other three were tightly closed. This did not mean that they were alive. Who knew if they were killed by the zombies around them before they managed to escape?

There was a skull and skeleton outside of the door that was open. A middle-aged zombie roved about the dead body wearing casual loungewear that was mostly tainted in dried blood.

As it discovered Lin Chao, the middle-aged zombie sprinted over with a bellow.

Lin Chao was disconcerted and was about to fight back with his steel bar but another zombie rushed out from the opened door with a roar. It was a woman with disheveled hair and a fearsome face that was falling off.

There were two of them!

Slightly alarmed, Lin Chao instantly chose to retreat.

Both zombies were quick, arriving at the staircase one after another. However, like the old zombie, they had no intelligence and did not know how to jump or avoid obstacles. If they were in a village, they would probably trip over the tall door sill when they bolted out of the door.

The zombies fell down one after the other but did not give up, pulling themselves forward with their arms as they persevered like a vengeful ghost.

Lin Chao decided to attack then and there.

Having the absolute geographical advantage, these groveling zombies could not even catch his legs. He bashed them as he stepped back and soon enough, both zombies were terminated.

Lin Chao went for their hearts at once.

Nothing still!

Rather annoyed, Lin Chao thought that his luck was terrible as he could not find an evolution nucleus despite killing six zombies including the one yesterday. Powerless, he could only continue scouring downward.

Fifteenth floor, fourteenth floor…

Lin Chao had killed a total of fifteen zombies when he was done with the thirteenth floor but similar to the rest, he did not find any evolution nuclei.

This is way too unacceptable even if the god of bad luck is with me. Not a single evolution nucleus despite killing more than ten zombies… Unless... is it because the virus content within early-stage zombies isn't high enough to produce evolution nuclei? Lin Chao felt that his hypothesis was possible.

He did not continue downstairs. Even if he killed more zombies, it was not guaranteed that he would obtain the evolution nucleus.

Had he given up?

Of course not. Aside from killing normal zombies and acquiring the evolution nucleus, there were two more approaches to becoming an Evolved.

First was extracting the intact genes that were less infected from the normal zombies and transplanting them to himself. The stimulation of the genes could turn him into a Half-Evolved, giving him double the strength, speed, and other attributes when compared to an ordinary person. It would still give him half the power of an Evolved.

However, transforming into a Half Evolved was a risky move. Everyone's genes differed greatly. Transplanting the genes once or twice was fine but too many times would break the biological order in one's gene and bring chaos, collapsing them later before causing abrupt death.

This was why Lin Chao did not previously take this method into consideration.

The second way was to hunt for special zombies.

There was another type of zombies ranking above the regular zombies. Their strength and speed were five times that of an ordinary person's and even if Lin Chao possessed Grade A3 spear skills, he still dared not take them on directly! The contrast was far too huge; they needed only a blink of an eye to pounce, to the extent that human retinas could not even properly capture their movements. How could one even evade their attacks?

Moreover, the special zombies had distinct abilities. Some would not die even if their heads were crushed while others had electrical immunity, underwater breathing, and various other abilities.

Nearly a hundred percent of these special zombies had the evolution nucleus within them. In fact, they had a special evolution nucleus!

Acquiring the special evolution nucleus could upgrade a person into a special Evolved who had a far better physique than a regular Evolved and allow them to inherit the zombie's special ability. The abilities acquired would also be strengthened as the person made progress.

During the apocalypse, all of the world's top hundred warriors was a special Evolved. When their various capabilities evolved to the limit, an amazing transformation would occur. For example, one could manipulate electricity and battle using the electrical power from friction produced by internal microwaves later if one initially had electrical immunity.

Special zombies are a rare breed. Among a hundred thousand zombies, there would probably only be a single special zombie that mutated.

Lin Chao had planned to become a normal Evolved before hunting for a special zombie but with the way things seemed now, he would have to bring his plan forward.

Returning to his floor, he knocked on the door. Lin Shiyu should be up at this time.

The door opened with a crack. Lin Shiyu's eyes were slightly rimmed red as she grabbed Lin Chao's arm and chomped on it once she opened the door.

Lin Chao did not try to dodge, allowing her to sink her teeth in with her tiny mouth. There was no pain. Her seemingly aggressive action was actually a gentle one that left only a light mark… and some saliva.

"I won't forgive you if you dare do something so dangerous again!" Lin Shiyu glared at him.

Lin Chao made a slight smile.

What he did was normal. It was not even dangerous as he had planned everything out before he left the house. He was not acting recklessly.