She ignored the floating blue text and the strange voice inside her head entirely, as her glowing crimson eyes were glued to the severed head of the mutated zombie lying on the pavement.
She reached down with her pale, clawed fingers, tore into the hard bone of its forehead, and pulled out the shiny orange core.
The energy pulsing inside this single crystal was multiple times larger than all the red cores she had eaten up to this point.
It was almost ten times larger.
She did not hesitate to lift her hand and swallow it whole, just as she had done with the previous cores. But rather than easily dissolving in her belly, the massive wave of power exploded outward into her blood.
Her body felt as if it were being filled with intense pressure, inflating her cells until she reached the very brink of explosion.
As the overwhelming energy burned through her veins, various blurry images began flashing rapidly through her head.
The thick, impenetrable veil blocking her memories seemed to loosen a bit, offering quick glimpses of things she could not fully understand.
But before her simple mind could grasp any of those fleeting memories, all of them disappeared back into the dark fog, leaving only a single word resting on her tongue.
Summer.
That was her name.
[Congratulations, you have been fully assimilated with the System.]
[You can open your status screen by calling your name...]
"Ss-ummer..." The name felt strange and unfamiliar in her mouth, but the moment she finished speaking it out loud, an unknown, warm happiness flooded her mind.
She liked that name.
In response to her voice, a clear blue interface expanded directly before her eyes.
[Status]
Name: Summer
Evolution: Ordinary Zombie (0/10)
Level: 1 (0/100)
Skill(s): None
HP: 50
Mana: 10
STR: 5 | AGI: 10 | CONST: 5 | INT: 1
Summer studied the floating screen in front of her face, and the precise meaning behind each term instantly rooted itself into her brain as if she had always known them.
She was a zombie. For some inexplicable reason, she found that reality deeply ironic, though she completely failed to understand why she felt that way.
Since such complex thoughts only made her head ache, she decided to ignore the feeling and focus her attention on the useful information instead.
From now on, she could gain experience points by killing other apocalyptic creatures. Each level up would give her fixed free points, which she could use to increase her attributes.
Zombies could evolve into higher, far more dangerous forms by devouring their own kind.
However, not all zombies possessed the ability to grow. Just like the giant creature lying headless beside her, there were only selected zombies who mutated unknowingly into higher forms through raw consumption.
Summer was not entirely sure if her so-called system was anything special compared to those natural mutations.
Most likely, it was not, since there were clearly other zombies who could evolve and gain immense power without any system at all.
Perhaps there were certain unique advantages she simply had not unlocked yet due to her low level.
Either way, fighting against an evolved zombie just now had made her fully understand how terrifyingly powerful those higher forms could be.
She had only managed to win the battle because that giant monster was incredibly dumb and straightforward in its attacks.
Who knew if there would be smart, cunning zombies in the future, just like her?
Summer let out a quiet, raspy chuckle as a slight grin appeared on her face. It would be fun to defeat such opponents.
Currently, her evolution status listed her as a simple Ordinary Zombie. To evolve into the next stage, she would have to hunt and kill ten ordinary zombies.
Luckily, the condition did not require her to hunt feral ones, or that would have been far too difficult to accomplish in her current state.
Killing that feral zombie earlier had merely provided enough raw energy to open her status screen in the first place.
The rich power of its orange core was likely entirely consumed just to awaken her system interface.
Summer turned her head and glanced once more at the massive, bulky body of the fallen giant.
For a brief moment, a sudden wave of worry hit her, and she wondered if her own physical appearance would eventually turn into a hulking, grotesque monster like that as she evolved.
She pouted her lips, deeply disliking the mere thought of becoming a giant, ugly brute.
That was when her attention was caught by a strange, translucent square box hovering silently in the air right above the dead monster’s chest.
Curiously, she reached out her hand and touched the glowing box. The moment her pale skin made contact, the square container dissolved into particles of light, and two heavy objects dropped directly onto the concrete with a loud thud.
It was a heavy pair of gauntlets and a pair of dark leather boots.
As she stared at the items, small status windows popped up right over them.
[Iron Brawler Gauntlets]
Quality: Common
Active Ability: Creates enlarged invisible hands around the user, increasing attack power and defense by ten times the user’s Strength attribute.
[Swift Strider Boots]
Quality: Common
Active Ability: Increases the movement speed of the user by two times the Agility attribute. Allows the user to jump up to five meters high and creates a powerful shockwave upon landing.
Summer stared at the descriptions in shock as she recalled the fight on the flyover. These were the exact same powers and abilities that the giant mutated zombie had used against her earlier.
Would killing mutated creatures drop gear and equipment like this every time?
[Not all mutated targets drop equipment. Some will drop skills.]
Summer almost jumped out of her skin in fright when the clear, calm voice rang out directly inside her mind. She scrambled back a step, her crimson eyes darting around the empty street.
"You... who?" Her spoken words were still raspy, slow, and slightly incoherent, yet her underlying intent was completely clear.
[I am the Zombie Girl Evolution System. I will be guiding you from now on... Host.]