A drizzle of rain fell soft and persistent. On the highway, which resembled a desolate ruin, festering zombies dripped with pus as they wandered aimlessly.
They lunged at the humans trapped inside cars, tearing and chewing in a frenzy. Amidst the chorus of terrified screams, a slender girl wove her way through the chaotic horde with effortless ease.
An umbrella shielded her deathly pale face; the surrounding zombies spared her not even a single glance.
Yet there is always an exception. Whether blind or merely in a rush to chase the living fleeing ahead, one zombie lunged straight toward Lin Buyu.
With her umbrella held in her left hand, Lin Buyu extended her right, thrusting it cleanly straight into the zombie’s head.
Mindless walking dead… time to end this.
Cyan blood trickled down her penetrating fingers, dripping onto the asphalt.
This exact scene unfolded directly in the viewports of a military off-road vehicle stalled further back.
“R—Ran-ge, is that a human or a zombie?”
The man addressed as Ran-ge kept his eyes locked on that outstretched hand—slender, pale, and ruthlessly precise.
She possesses human reasoning.
“A super-high-tier zombie.”
The words left his lips, drawing a collective gasp of horror from everyone inside the vehicle.
How could they possibly run into a super-high-tier zombie here? The area was suffocatingly dense with undead, and after fighting all day, their elemental abilities were nearly depleted.
If they were forced to engage a super-high-tier zombie right now, death was an absolute certainty.
Fortunately, their reinforced vehicle was built tough enough that ordinary zombies couldn’t breach it.
“What do we do now?” someone asked, panic lacing their voice.
Jiang Ran’s pitch-black eyes were like deep, bottomless abysses. After taking one last look at the super-high-tier entity, he yanked the steering wheel around. “We run.”
With their powers exhausted, handling ordinary zombies was manageable, but against a super-high-tier threat, fleeing was their only option.
In truth, that creature might not just be super-high-tier—she could be something far more terrifying: a super-high-hazard entity.
The roar of the starting engine immediately caught the attention of the horde. Countless zombies surged toward them, pressing forward in a dense, writhing mass, scaling over one another like a human pyramid.
Lin Buyu cast a casual glance over. Ah, the only living souls with a chance of getting away.
Drawing upon the last vestige of her psychic power, she seized control of the horde pursuing the vehicle.
Because her crystal core had been ripped away, she could only hold them in place for a few dozen seconds.
Yet those few dozen seconds were precisely the window Jiang Ran and his crew needed to break free.
Focused on driving, Jiang Ran didn’t look back, but the passengers remained glued to the rear window.
One of them asked in bewilderment, “What’s going on? Why did those zombies suddenly freeze for so long?”
The image of that girl in filthy clothes—piercing a zombie’s skull with a single flick of her wrist—flashed through Jiang Ran’s mind.
Seeing the vehicle successfully make its getaway, Lin Buyu tilted her head to the side and cracked a stiff, awkward smile.
Even as a zombie, I really am a good person deep down.
This was Lin Buyu’s second day having transmigrated into this book.
She had landed inside an apocalyptic novel, taking over the body of a formidable Zombie King possessed of immense psychic power.
Keyword: had.
Just yesterday, her status as Zombie King had been usurped by another zombie.
It was now one year into the apocalypse.
The top tier of evolved zombies looked virtually indistinguishable from normal humans, save for their unnaturally pale complexions.
In this ruined world, all superpowers and psychic abilities were tied directly to the crystal core nestled within the brain.
For any other zombie, losing their core meant instant, absolute death—but not for the original owner of this body.
The person who had tricked her and seized her throne as the new Zombie King was none other than the original host’s step-sister.
She had used scheme after cunning scheme to trick the original host out of her core and sever her head.
Yet the step-sister could not absorb the core’s power at all.
When Lin Buyu first transmigrated into this world, the body and head were completely detached. With the system’s assistance, she reattached her head, leaving behind a faint cyan scar around her neck—the mark of a zombie’s pale teal blood.
“Whew.”
Lin Buyu let out a long sigh. Life was always full of unexpected twists and unwanted surprises. Still, as a former special forces commander, she had the mental fortitude to roll with the punches.
Ever since her arrival, a voice inside her head had been buzzing continuously.
To put it simply, someone from the Time-Space Bureau offered her a deal: as long as she agreed to save this world from collapse, they would restore her comatose younger brother back to her original world.
She accepted.
The system laid out the task for her, and after processing it all, Lin Buyu asked, “So all I need to do is eliminate Jiang Ran and his future villain henchmen, and this world won’t crumble?”
The system replied in a cool, detached voice: “Jiang Ran’s power is far too immense. If he detects you and decides to destroy the world ahead of schedule, the losses will be catastrophic. The Time-Space Bureau’s directive is for you to eliminate his minions first, then reform Jiang Ran to prevent him from taking the world down with him in the end.”
Lin Buyu got the message. The ultimate boss naturally required special treatment.
However, reforming him required winning his trust first.
With her current appearance, how was she supposed to gain the big boss’s trust? Wasn’t he supposed to despise zombies above all else?
Although she looked mostly human, her corpse-like pale skin and the bulging cyan veins on her neck would betray her instantly. Anyone could tell at a glance that she was an advanced, highly evolved zombie.
Communicating directly through her mind, the system naturally sensed her concern. “Rest assured. Since we selected you, we will provide assistance. You only need to consume zombie crystal cores to restore your skin tone and physical appearance back to that of a normal human.”
Alright, simple enough. Zombie hunting it is.
She knew how to handle that. She had read plenty of novels, and word was that zombies were slow and clumsy like stiff corpses. Why would she fear a bunch of brainless walkin’ dead?
Once the instructions were delivered, the system promptly entered sleep mode. Unless core plot developments occurred, it wouldn’t speak up.
Lin Buyu threw a few more questions into the silence, but received no response. She sorely wished she could spit right in the system’s face. It hadn’t even bothered to tell her where to find Jiang Ran.
For now, her main task was to hunt zombies and gather cores. She couldn’t stand her own gruesome appearance any longer either.
In this world, zombies didn’t rest by day or night; the moment they sensed human vitality, they would grow restless.
Lin Buyu swung a pipe, hacking her way through hordes of wandering zombies along the road.
She eagerly cracked open their skulls, only to find them completely empty.
Looking into the vacant brain cavities, Lin Buyu stared in disbelief.
No crystal cores? What useless trash! Disappointed, she tossed the zombie heads aside.
The second one… the third one… all worthless, lower-tier zombies.
Fuming, she kicked a roadside guardrail nearby. With a loud clang, the metal rail flew off into the distance.
Lin Buyu blinked. Huh, this zombie body actually packs quite a punch.
Exhausted from the mindless killing, she simply lay flat on the highway to rest—and ended up lying there for three straight days.
Three days later, a loud explosion echoed from afar. Lin Buyu scrambled up and looked toward the horizon.
She realized that a zombie’s eyesight was remarkably sharp.
Even across several kilometers, she could clearly see a figure standing atop a high-rise building.
The man held one hand downward, crackling arcs of lightning bursting from his palm. He looked remarkably handsome, clad entirely in sleek black attire with a sharp, dangerous aura.
An ability user.
Lin Buyu’s interest was instantly piqued. Where ability users gathered, high-tier zombies were sure to follow—and high-tier zombies had crystal cores.
Hahaha, time to go hit the jackpot!