Level 4 Crystal Core

This zombie's strength was superior to hers.

Jiang Chu gritted her teeth as she looked at it. It had been less than two months since the apocalypse began. A Level 3 ability user was already outstanding among humans, but this zombie standing at the top of the food chain had clearly evolved a step faster. There was a significant gap between the early stage and the mid-to-late stage of Level 3.

In the next moment, a second female zombie identical to the first appeared before her eyes, followed by a third.

"This is... clones." Jiang Chu was shocked; it was a cloning ability.

Having made her calculations, she no longer retreated but calmed down. Although the ordinary zombies around could be commanded by this Level 3 zombie, they were still just ordinary zombies. With her necklace, these zombies wouldn't become a threat. Therefore, the real enemies she had to deal with were the female zombie and its clones.

Soon, a circle of female zombies had surrounded her. Level 3 zombies already possessed rudimentary intelligence and the ability to think independently.

On a rooftop ahead, several living people were suddenly thrown down. The female zombie was quick, no longer paying attention to Jiang Chu as it immediately lunged down to catch them. Its clones tore the four living people into pieces, not leaving a single scrap. Eating humans was like cattle eating grass; it was pure instinct.

Jiang Chu didn't act rashly. Those living people thrown from the roof were already certain to die. The most important thing was: who had thrown them? She looked up and saw a figure leaving, likely the Zombie Whisperer.

The original body of the Level 3 zombie shuddered, its roar becoming even more violent, shaking the earth. Unexpectedly, it created two more bodies.

She sneered. Counting them up, the original female zombie plus the clones now totaled twelve bodies, and it had even reached Level 4! This served as a reminder that zombies ate humans, and she happened to have a zombie-devouring card in her hand. Whether it was Level 3 or Level 4, wouldn't it still be devoured?

Twelve identical zombies approached her like tigers stalking prey, their eyes looking at her as if she were a delicious meal, flashing with human emotions: certainty and greed. At its roar, other zombies also began to move toward Jiang Chu. It seemed the necklace only worked on Level 1 and Level 2 zombies; its effect was limited against Level 3 and above. When a Level 3 zombie summoned them, the ordinary ones still had to obey.

Jiang Chu smiled faintly. She would deal with the zombies first, then go after the one hiding in the shadows. She pulled out the Devour card and threw it toward the female zombie.

"No matter what ability you have, you're still going to die." She curled her lip; she was the one certain of victory now. Her slanted eyes flashed with a startling light, and her high ponytail left a few loose strands on her beautiful face. She smiled, her red lips parting slightly: "Go to hell."

The card emitted a faint glow. The female zombie froze in shock, seemingly failing to react to what was happening, but an unnamed fear rose in its eyes.

In the next second, with Jiang Chu as the center, all zombies within a fifty-meter radius fell to the ground lifeless, including the Level 4 female zombie and its clones. Their heads all cracked open with a hole, and their crystal cores vanished without a trace.

[Host has used the Devour card for the second time; the skill has expired. Detected a total of 1,613 zombies devoured; 806 crystal cores have been entered into the Host's inventory. The Level 4 crystal core is the Host's trophy; please check and receive it.]

Jiang Chu’s lips curved; this trophy was indeed attractive. She used two hundred and one crystal cores to exchange for the Sealing skill, sealing this residential area for three hours. The area was enveloped by an invisible shield; zombies outside couldn't get in, zombies inside couldn't get out, and neither could humans. For these three hours, this place was completely locked down.

She needed to catch the Zombie Whisperer here. If she couldn't catch them, she would kill all the zombies, and the Zombie Whisperer hiding among them would also die. The system's skills were comprehensive; the enemy's location was still being reported in real-time in her mind.

[Location known, effective for 48 hours.]

Jiang Chu understood. She put the necklace back on and used her Ice ability like slicing vegetables to harvest the other zombies outside the fifty-meter range. With the Level 4 crystal core and the two Level 2 cores promised by the black market, her ability would advance another level.

Jiang Chu was fully prepared. She searched the building where the Zombie Whisperer had just appeared, while silently calculating the time. The Level 4 zombie had just been destroyed by her; the Zombie Whisperer hiding underground had surely noticed and knew they had been discovered.

So, if Jiang Chu were the Zombie Whisperer, she would now summon the zombies to create obstacles. But upon discovering the zombies weren't actively attacking her, the most likely move would be to blend into the zombie swarm and try to escape the residential area. Her so-called search was merely a feint.

Jiang Chu stood by a second-floor window and spotted several figures trying to escape at the gate of the residential area. She jumped down, and her ice froze those three zombies. She approached the three zombies and sneered. Wearing a zombie skin was indeed hard to distinguish, but ordinary zombies had no intelligence. The appearance was hard to tell apart, but the behavior was not. These three zombies—no, these three people—were huddled in the zombie flow, but their direction was toward the main gate.

"Found you."

Jiang Chu’s pleasant voice reached their ears like the death knell of a demon. The three of them roared, wanting to struggle, but because they were frozen, they couldn't make a sound.

Jiang Chu didn't intend to kill them yet; if she were to kill them, she would make sure they provided their last bit of value first. Most people at the Zombie Whisperer outposts were ordinary people and prisoners. Those wearing these skins were considered part of the inner circle, so they naturally couldn't be treated like the prisoners in Linjia Village or the jail.

Jiang Chu used her Ice ability to move them into a room, then the ice melted, and over a thousand ice spikes grew from the walls, surrounding the three people, leaving them with nowhere to turn. They could even feel the sharp ice spikes waiting behind them, ready to deliver a fatal blow at any moment.

"Is this one of your outposts?" Jiang Chu held a blade against one man's neck. "Stop pretending; I saw through your zombie act long ago."

The man with the blade at his neck didn't last long before breaking. Under the zombie skin, he asked with indignation and fear, "How did you find out? Clearly... clearly there were no flaws."

The indignation was for her cutting off their escape and killing the zombie they had painstakingly nurtured. The fear was because she could destroy so many zombies in an instant, even easily killing the Level 4 one, and they hadn't even seen her move. It looked like an Ice ability, but how had she done it? Earlier, when they tried to run out, an invisible wall seemed to have blocked their path. This left them both desperate and terrified, unable to understand what kind of monster this woman was.

"No flaws, haha." Jiang Chu laughed. It was true that most people wouldn't see through it. Three people looking exactly like zombies blending into a swarm of the undead—ordinary people would be too busy running for their lives to observe closely. No flaws was an impossibility.