Chapter 513 – The Origin: Virus

“Humans won’t just sit back and let themselves be wiped out… Whether they’re ordinary people or superhumans, there’s a fundamental difference between them and zombies…”

As she spoke, a strange look flashed in Lucy’s eyes, and she forced a slight smile. “Zombies and humans are fundamentally opposed. Right now, humans are struggling to survive under the heavy pressure of zombies. But what about the future? As long as humans exist, there will always be a battle for survival resources between humans and zombies.”

“Hmm…”

This was indeed a common human sentiment, and Ling Mo couldn’t refute it.

Although humans were gradually gaining a foothold, the evolution of zombie groups was also quietly progressing.

Currently, it seemed that the evolution of zombie groups was still confined to local areas, but in reality?

In regions with human activity, zombies were still evolving. So, what about those areas completely overrun by zombies?

The virus not only gave zombies a strong environmental adaptability but also allowed them to choose different evolutionary directions based on their environments.

These were advantages humans couldn’t match…

“Our current human advantages are intelligence and firearms. But I always feel that, maybe one day, superhumans will become the trump card in humanity’s hands, even more so than firearms. After all, firearms are ultimately just firepower, but facing Senior Zombies, the cost is too high. Instead, superhumans with different abilities are more suitable for dealing with those Senior Zombies.”

Lucy continued.

“I understand all that… But what does it have to do with this elixir?” Ling Mo asked.

“Every zombie has the potential to become a Senior Zombie. But do ordinary people have the potential to become superhumans?” Lucy suddenly asked, then gave Ling Mo a meaningful look.

“You mean…” Ling Mo’s eyes widened as he turned his gaze to the elixir.

Lucy nodded and said, “When he first proposed this idea, I found it hard to believe too… The emergence of superhumans and zombies happened around the same time. Some people realized their newfound abilities early on, while others took longer… For example, in our group Fire, some people awakened their superpowers on the second day of the Cataclysm.”

“Yeah…” This matched Ling Mo’s suspicions perfectly.

“Do you believe that the appearance of superhumans has nothing to do with the virus?” Lucy stared at Ling Mo, then sighed. “At first, it was hard for everyone to accept. Could this damn virus really be the source of our powers? But aside from the virus, we couldn’t find any other reasonable explanation.”

“I understand what you mean, and I’ve heard similar theories…”

Ling Mo said, “Basically, it means that all humans were already infected with the virus before the Cataclysm, right? It’s just that the virus hadn’t mutated yet… When the virus began to evolve and mutate, most humans turned into zombies…”

“Yes, a small portion of humans might have been completely immune to the initial mutated virus, or the virus in their bodies didn’t mutate… In any case, they weren’t infected. And among this group, some people’s viruses underwent a different kind of mutation and evolution, giving them superpowers…” Lucy said, pursing her lips with difficulty.

It was indeed hard for superhumans to accept the notion that “you’re also a mutant.”

Most humans didn’t want to be associated with zombies in any way. This suddenly arisen species had utterly destroyed them, taking away everything they had.

Many people had probably been scared to the point of wetting themselves or crying uncontrollably. The despair of seeing neighbors, friends, and even family members, with hideous faces, lunging at them, trying to tear them apart, was something no one could easily accept.

Some people might still be living in that shadow, leading to common phenomena like personality disorders…

Lucy herself deeply understood this.

She had once been an ordinary girl who loved to cry and laugh, clutching a box of tissues while watching late-night romantic dramas…

But now, just thinking about her slow mutation made her shiver all over.

Lucy silently clenched her fists. After calming herself, she continued, “With this idea in mind, that researcher proposed whether it could be possible to turn ordinary people into superhumans by following this line of thought. At the very least, make superhumans stronger, so they can evolve rapidly like zombies. Only then can superhumans become the backbone of humanity, supporting humans in the ongoing survival battle.”

If it weren’t for seeing this elixir, Ling Mo would have certainly expressed disbelief.

Everyone has ideas, but to actually develop something like this is not so simple.

But now, it seems that there are indeed experts among the common people…

“Who is this researcher…”

Lucy struggled for a while before gritting her teeth and saying, “Originally… the research wasn’t completely finished, so I couldn’t tell you. The mysterious reward I promised you was actually a commitment. As long as the research succeeded, I would give you this potion. Even if I were no longer around, I…”

She seemed to realize she had said too much and, after a dry cough, continued, “Anyway… we in Fire owe you, but you didn’t hold it against us. I’m very grateful…”

“I know, if you had the upper hand, you wouldn’t be so nice about it. At the very least, you’d extort us a bit…” Lucy gave Ling Mo a resentful glance. “But still, thank you.”

Ling Mo showed no sign of guilt at being called out, instead, he nodded, “Hmm!”

“The one you have now is only a semi-finished product, more like a powerful recovery potion. It’s like a stimulant, able to instantly reduce pain and greatly boost physical strength. But to put it bluntly, it’s also like drinking poison to quench thirst, overdrawing the body, and serves as a life-saving measure in deadly battles. Zhen Zhiyuan and the others stole this as an extra layer of insurance for themselves. I just didn’t expect that they would dare to take such risks for profit…”

Lucy stared at the bottle, sighing, “Who knows what kind of side effects it might have…”

“That researcher, you just met him. He goes by the name Jianqi, but that’s an alias. I don’t know any other information about him.”

Upon hearing Lucy’s words, Ling Mo’s expression suddenly froze for a moment.

What a coincidence?

When he had previously shaken hands with Jianqi, that spine-chilling feeling seemed to return to him.

He pondered for a moment, tightened his grip on the bottle, and thought to himself, “If it’s him, maybe this elixir wasn’t stolen by them after all…”

Although it was just a feeling, Ling Mo rarely experienced this prickly sensation anymore.

The last time he felt it was when he was extremely weak, facing a mutation zombie for the first time with his main body.

That oppressive strength, the beast-like danger, might be hidden under that smiling face…

“Since…”

At this moment, a somewhat stuttering voice suddenly came from behind Ling Mo: “If people can… become superhumans… can zombies… become human?”

Ling Mo immediately turned around and found Ye Lian staring at him and Lucy with wide eyes, full of curiosity.

Due to her zombie instincts, although Ye Lian was very gentle, she always kept a distance from Lucy.

She rarely looked at Lucy like this, let alone spoke to her voluntarily.

Even Ling Mo was startled, but what shocked him more was Ye Lian’s question.

Ye Lian had actually understood the conversation just now?

And she was pondering such a question…

“Zombies, becoming human?!”

Lucy’s eyes widened, her heart pounding.

For a moment, she almost thought she had been exposed, her hand instinctively reaching for the machine gun beside her.

But considering Ye Lian’s combat abilities… she quickly stopped herself.

“Wh-Why are you asking that…”

Lucy stared at Ye Lian with a complex expression, nervously asking.

Although she was very suspicious of Ling Mo and his group, she hadn’t yet made the leap to directly associating them with zombies.

Instead, because of her own guilty conscience, she had been cautiously guarding against being discovered by them.