Chapter 38: Pretending to be Ordinary Mutated Fox

She ignored him, pretending as if she didn't understand his words. She looked around curiously. 

Her senses immediately recognized the tiles, hospital bed, and many things from the observation room. She had fallen down to some kind of hole after she was infected by the zombie virus.

Judging from the way she wasn't eaten until only her bones were left, her zombie transformation must have been quick. Zombies didn't like eating other zombies. The main leads must have solved those zombies. 

The tunnel interior had parts where they were wide enough, stretching more than five meters. And in other parts, they were as narrow as they could be.

It would have been scary if the soil and stone suddenly fell down. They could have been buried alive.

There was one thing that made her become incredibly quiet. Who was that person who had opened the door to her observation room? Her enemy or someone else? Or just a series of coincidences to push the plot?

"Hey, are you listening to me?" Cassias spoke again. She continued to ignore him.

"Eat," He said, and she subconsciously opened her mouth at the smell of crystal core. When she came back to her senses, she was a bit disgruntled. 

Did he think that he could coax her with just a few crystal cores? It was… not enough.

Then her eyes abruptly widened. She hadn't noticed it before because she was too immersed in the strange development of things. But now, she sensed something was wrong with the crystal core.

Impatiently, she chomped down on it when Cassias offered her another one, not even minding the fact that he truly treated her like a pet now.

These crystal cores had spiritual energy in them! It wasn't a lot, but definitely better than simply just absorbing them directly from the world. Her heart trembled at the realization.

Maybe this round of reincarnation was her chance at snatching her life back. If she could cultivate using those crystal cores, it meant that she might someday be strong enough to figure out this world and break out of it.

"What is in your little brain?" Cassias tapped the top of her head. 

She let out small yipping sound, her paw tapping his hand repeatedly. She couldn't speak, and hopefully Cassias would understand what she wanted.

She needed more crystal cores.

Taking advantage of the male lead as much as she could became her goal now. Just think it was him repaying his lifetimes of debts to her. If not for her, how could he get together with the female lead? Zerra thought, as she brainwashed herself.

Since he had decided she would be his pet, he needed to raise her. Did he think she was cheap to raise? Hmph! 

She didn't have too many qualms about accepting her new role. A glint flashed in her eyes. Well, just wait. As long as she became strong enough, then someday…

Cassias must have noticed her unusual behavior. Luckily, in the apocalypse, mutated animals slowly would gain intelligence. Since he had the knowledge from his previous life, he wouldn't find her acting a bit human-like as strange.

"You need more? Alright." As if he could read her mind, Cassias took out some more crystal cores. 

She enjoyed the crystal cores and ignored Cassias again. After she turned into a zombie and strangely retained her consciousness, she could easily chomp on the hard crystal core.

They tasted like soft marshmallow.

Cassias was quite thoughtful and gave her some water to drink. 

He took some water for himself, and his complexion noticeably changed for the better after he drank it. Zerra became curious, and she also licked the water. It was indeed refreshing, but the crystal cores were better.

After eating a small hill of crystal core, Zerra skipped level one and unsurprisingly broke through level two zombies. She scrutinized Cassias and found out she couldn't gauge his current strength. What level was he now? Above level two?

She never got an answer.

It was late at night when they were awoken by a groan from Laziel. The man sat up from his lying position, stretched, and yawned. 

"Cassias?" He was still somewhat disoriented.

Cassias nodded at him. Laziel blinked rapidly, realizing that he was still alive and kicking at this time. He touched his own face and sniffed himself. His nose twitched at the rancid smell.

"I didn't turn into a zombie?" He asked in astonishment.

Cassias raised his eyebrows. "Well, you want to?"

When he approached them, Zerra blinked mischievously. She bared her teeth at Laziel, snarling at him.

He jumped in shock, his hand subconsciously reached out to stop any possible attack, but… water splashed on her. Zerra froze in shock, found herself becoming a wet fox all over.

Laziel had awoken his power, a water ability user. He looked at his own hands in disbelief. "I finally awakened a superpower!"

Full of emotions and excitement, he clenched his fist and punched the air, and let out a strange laughter. For Zerra, it sounded like a horse's neigh, nearly making her have ears problems.

Zerra snarled in dissatisfaction. Cassias put a towel to dry her wet fur and removed the small bandages. Magically, her wounds all had healed.

Cassias's warm fingers soothed her a bit. Perhaps it was exhaustion. She slowly closed her eyes, falling into another deep slumber.

"Eh, the fox's eyes changed to hazel color now?" Laziel stared at the fox curiously after his excitement subsided.

Nyra was awoken by his shouts. Her face broke into a smile when she saw Laziel. She sighed, "You… always making people worry. How do you feel?"

Laziel turned around and scratched his head, feeling sorry that he had just noticed Nyra there. His position earlier indeed had his back to her, so he didn't immediately realize her presence.

In a cheerful mood, he told her, "Eldest sister. I awakened a superpower. See that wet fox over there? It's because of me!"

Laziel pointed at Zerra, who was curling up inside a towel wrap. If she was awake right now, she would have jumped out of the towel and rewarded Laziel with a few more bites of her sharp teeth as a show of her sisterly affection.

Nyra had a relieved look on her face. "Water ability?"

"Is it bad?" Laziel asked nervously, glancing at Cassias and Nyra alternately.

It was Cassias who explained to him, "Not bad, but logically, if you control water, it wouldn't have attack power until you reach a high level of mastery."

Afraid that her younger brother would be disappointed, Nyra added, "Water ability is very useful. We lack water, and with so many water sources that could have been polluted, we can only rely on water ability users like you."

After the small conversation happened, they were alarmed when the ground beneath them shook again. 

"What is happening?" Laziel was alarmed. He grabbed his sister's hand.

"Let's go. Don't stay here anymore." Cassias warned them as he picked up the unconscious fox Zerra, bringing his flashlight out. 

In the chilly night, the group moved again.