Chapter 28 – Beginning to Mutate

A long silence weighed heavily on everyone, making it almost impossible to breathe. Xia Na’s words, coupled with her lifeless eyes, made Ling Mo’s heart sink to the bottom, filling him with a deep sense of melancholy.

“I’d rather die… than turn into a zombie…” Xia Na said in a daze, slowly standing up while leaning on the edge of the bed. Liu Yuhao stood there, staring at her in shock, clearly overwhelmed by the situation.

When Xia Na was knocked out, her long knife had been left behind. But she quickly shifted her gaze to Liu Yuhao, a sudden determination flashing in her eyes, and swiftly snatched the kitchen knife from Liu Yuhao’s hand.

Just as she moved, Ling Mo snapped out of his daze and quickly seized the kitchen knife from her. Xia Na, exhausted, couldn’t resist him at all.

“I don’t want to become a zombie! I don’t want to turn into that kind of monster!” Xia Na’s eyes became vacant again as she frantically pushed Ling Mo, trying to grab the knife from his hand.

Ling Mo, however, fiercely threw the kitchen knife to the ground, grabbed Xia Na by the shoulders, and said harshly, “Don’t do something stupid! You haven’t changed yet, have you? We can find a solution!”

“Ah! Give me the knife, give me the knife!”

Xia Na, completely ignoring Ling Mo’s words, screamed hysterically. Ling Mo had no choice but to knock her out with a blow to the back of her head, catching her limp body as she fell.

“Infected… Xia Na…” Liu Yuhao stammered, standing up shakily and looking in disbelief at the unconscious Xia Na in Ling Mo’s arms, unable to form a complete sentence.

Even Wang Cheng’s face turned ashen. Without Xia Na, the likelihood of him returning to his previous idle life was almost zero.

“Will Xia Na turn into… something like Lu Xin?” Liu Yuhao suddenly turned his gaze to Ling Mo and murmured.

Indeed, Lu Xin’s condition was even more terrifying than that of a regular zombie. If Xia Na were to turn into something like that, not even Ling Mo could accept it. Seeing Liu Yuhao on the verge of a breakdown, Ling Mo sighed inwardly and said slowly, “Calm down. Right now, the one suffering the most is Xia Na. Don’t you want to try to find a way to help her?”

“A way?” Liu Yuhao, slightly awakened by Ling Mo’s words, couldn’t help but let his tears flow. “What way could there be…”

“Based on Lu Xin’s condition and the time we spent apart from him, we can roughly estimate that it takes about half an hour from infection to symptom onset. Let’s try to come up with something during this half-hour. It’s better to try than to sit and wait for death.” Compared to the nearly broken Liu Yuhao, Ling Mo was much calmer. The main reason for this was that he had a Mutation Zombie, Ye Lian, by his side.

To Ling Mo, becoming a zombie still held some hope. But if the body rotted entirely, there would be no saving it.

“What if… we cut off the infected hand?” A fierce determination flashed in Liu Yuhao’s eyes as he proposed this idea.

Ling Mo shook his head. “It’s too late; too much time has already passed.”

“Then what else can we do?” Liu Yuhao’s expression darkened once more.

Ling Mo’s mind began to race. Lu Xin was infected by a Mutation Zombie, and unable to withstand the virus’s strength, his body rotted. Xia Na, on the other hand, experienced secondary infection, meaning the virus she received had been diluted within Lu Xin’s body. Even so, the virus concentration was higher than that in a regular zombie.

Could Xia Na’s body withstand it? The answer was uncertain.

Ling Mo looked down at Xia Na in his arms, feeling a pang of compassion. The words he had spoken were merely for comfort; in reality, he had no idea how to stop Xia Na’s mutation. Deep down, he knew that Xia Na would certainly mutate. The question was whether she would become an ordinary zombie or a “monster” like Lu Xin.

As Ling Mo wrestled with these thoughts, Xia Na began to regain consciousness. In her semi-awake state, she didn’t push Ling Mo away. Instead, she seemed to be drawn to him, snuggling closer into his embrace.

Ling Mo was startled and quickly looked down at Xia Na, realizing he had underestimated the Virus’s infectivity. Xia Na’s eyes were half-open, showing a clear trace of blood. She had already started to mutate. From the moment Lu Xin used his blood to infect her until now, displaying mutation traits, less than twenty minutes had passed.

Liu Yuhao also noticed Xia Na’s unusual condition. He hurriedly reached out to grab her arm. “Xia Na, how are you?”

But Xia Na didn’t respond to him at all. Instead, she clung tightly to Ling Mo’s chest, her other hand grabbing at him directly.

Ling Mo felt a chill down his spine and quickly pushed Xia Na away, but she tore his clothes in the process. Xia Na, now fully opening her bloodshot eyes, lunged at him again, muttering indistinctly, “Give me…”

In a moment of urgency, Ling Mo attempted to control Xia Na. Although not entirely successful, he managed to cause a slight hesitation in her movements.

In that brief fraction of a second, Ling Mo understood from Xia Na’s intense desire what she wanted…

Brain Gel! Xia Na wanted the Brain Gel he had hidden!

“Xia Na!” Liu Yuhao was stunned by Xia Na’s behavior. Ling Mo quickly grabbed Xia Na’s arm, pushed her onto a nearby bed, and, using his body to block Liu Yuhao and Wang Cheng’s view, swiftly took out a piece of the lowest-purity Gel from his pocket and placed it into Xia Na’s mouth.

“Mmm…”

Unlike Ye Lian, Xia Na still retained some rationality, though driven by a primal urge, she had an overwhelming craving for the Gel. Upon swallowing the Gel, she immediately calmed down, lying on the bed with her arms spread out, her bloodshot eyes staring blankly at Ling Mo.

“How is she?” Liu Yuhao anxiously approached, but upon seeing Xia Na’s eyes, he felt a jolt of panic and could barely stand.

Ling Mo, on the other hand, was tensely watching Xia Na, observing her reactions. If not for Xia Na’s intense craving for the Gel, Ling Mo would never have considered this approach. Using poison to fight poison? What if it accelerated her mutation process? Without certainty, he wouldn’t dare to try it.

But given Xia Na’s strong desire and the fact that this desire stemmed from her instincts, it indicated that the Gel must be beneficial to her.

Maybe it could neutralize the toxins in her body, allowing her to return to normal? As this thought crossed his mind, Ling Mo became excited.