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nChapter 23

nWang Xiong followed Meng Jie into the house and immediately saw the corpse of the giant zombie lying on the table.

nAt this moment, the giant zombie had already been violently dissected by Meng Jie. Due to the lack of experimental equipment, the dissection process was quite rough.

nYu Fei and Bai Lu, who were standing at the door, felt their stomachs churn just by glancing at it. Fortunately, they hadn’t eaten anything for several days…

nMeng Jie and Wang Xiong did not mind it.

nMeng Jie’s nonchalance was due to her professional qualities.

nWang Xiong’s nonchalance was purely a pursuit of strength. No matter how disgusting a scene was, it was not as important as the path of advancement for an Awakened.

nThey came to the corpse of a giant zombie.

nMeng Jie pointed to the bloody mess and said, “Due to the lack of necessary equipment, I can’t observe the cellular tissue of the giant zombie at the microscopic level. So, my research focus is mainly on three aspects.”

nFirst, the physical strength of the giant zombie.

n“After testing its muscle strength, it can be concluded that the giant zombie’s physical strength is roughly twice that of an ordinary zombie.”

nIn terms of attributes, it was around 12 points, not much different from Wang Xiong.

nOf course, Wang Xiong was shorter, so having the same strength meant he was more suitable for combat. He also had more combat experience, so in a one-on-one battle, the giant zombie was definitely not his match.

n“The second aspect is the evolution of the giant zombie.”

nMeng Jie picked up a bloody, bag-like object and held it up in front of Wang Xiong.

n“Do you know what this is?”

nWang Xiong shook his head and Meng Jie gave the answer, “It’s the stomach of the giant zombie.”

n“Compared to an ordinary zombie, the structure of the giant zombie’s body has undergone significant changes. But the most significant change is the stomach sac.”

n“The digestive capabilities of a giant zombie is very strong, and its stomach can secrete enzymes that specialize in digesting flesh and blood. This can allow them to quickly digest the food swallowed into their stomachs.”

nWith that, Meng Jie put the stomach sac aside and continued, “Because of the lack of necessary equipment, I can’t observe more. But I speculate that the nature and function of these enzymes are probably to supplement the mysterious factors inside the giant zombie’s body by digesting the mysterious factors in the flesh and blood of living creatures, thereby inducing evolution in both zombie and even giant zombies.”

nSo, the logic of zombie evolution is easy to understand. Their original intention in hunting humans is for evolution!

nWang Xiong furrowed his brow and thought for a moment before saying, “So, Meng Jie, are you suggesting that ordinary people’s flesh and blood also contain mysterious factors?”

nMeng Jie nodded and said, “Yes, indeed! After the emergence of the Tower, it continuously released mysterious factors. These factors have merged with the air. So, every time we breathe, we inhale a certain amount of mysterious factors. However, the quantity of mysterious factors in ordinary people’s bodies is small, and they are not integrated with their cells, so awakening phenomena do not occur.”

n“To put it bluntly, awakening is like buying a lottery ticket. It might also be related to one’s innate physique. Everyone absorbs the mysterious factors, so why do some people become Awakened while others don’t? We still don’t have an answer to that yet.”

n“But I have an idea now… Is it possible to develop a safe method to increase the concentration of the mysterious factors in ordinary people’s bodies and force them to awaken?

nWang Xiong could not provide any answers.

nMeng Jie could not proceed with her experiment to this stage either—mainly due to the lack of equipment.

nHowever, it was undeniable that Meng Jie felt that this was indeed an extremely valuable research topic.

n“Oh, by the way, the above two points are irrelevant to you. I think what you’re most concerned about is the way the Awakened evolve, right?”

nMeng Jie smiled kindly at Wang Xiong and saw him smiling and nodding sheepishly.

nMeng Jie decided not to keep him in suspense.

nWith a flick of her hand, she took out a transparent, prism-shaped crystal from her pocket.

nThis made Wang Xiong raise his eyebrows.

n“What’s this?”

n“Corpse Crystal. I call it a Corpse Crystal.”

nAs she spoke, Meng Jie pointed at the giant zombie’s dissected brain.

n“It was found in the giant zombie’s head…”

nWang Xiong felt that this scene was somewhat familiar.

nThinking about it carefully, it dawned on Wang Xiong.

n“Isn’t this the setting in the novel?”

n…

nWang Xiong was a fan of web text and had come across post-apocalyptic literature.

nZombies had crystals in their brains. Humans undergo awakening and evolution by consuming the crystals.

nThis plot is a little lousy…

n“But that’s what happened.”

nMeng Jie had never read a novel. She had merely described her research findings.

n“When I was dissecting the giant zombie, I found this thing in its brain.”

nHowever, due to the lack of experimental equipment, I can’t determine what this thing is. I can only be sure that firstly, this crystal is harmless. Secondly, it contains relatively pure mysterious factors.

nMeng Jie had mentioned this before.

nThe source of both zombies and the Awakened ones was mystery factors.

nTherefore, Meng Jie believed that the hope of an Awakened being evolving would also rest on the mystery factor.

nAnd the corpse crystals found in the giant zombie’s brain were a pure polymer of mystery factors.

n“Therefore, my hypothesis is that this thing can strengthen the concentration of the mystery factors in the bodies of the Awakened ones and make them stronger. It might even allow ordinary people to become Awakened ones… However, without professional experimentation, I can’t be sure of the effect of this zombie crystal on you.”

nWith that, Meng Jie put away the Corpse Crystal.

nWang Xiong panicked.

n“Give it to me, Sister Meng! It’s useful to me!”

nMeng Jie shook her head. “Nothing I said has been professionally tested. So I’m sorry, I won’t give you the corpse crystals for you to use casually.”

nWang Xiong scratched his head anxiously. “But…”

nBefore he could say anything else, Meng Jie’s hand had already touched Wang Xiong’s shoulder.

nShe said gently but solemnly, “Presently, you are our hope. So I’m sorry that I can’t let you take the risk of swallowing the Corpse Crystal.”

nWang Xiong opened his mouth, but he could not say anything else.

n…

nAfter waking up from his afternoon nap, he obtained all his attributes.

nAfter eating some canned fruits, Lu Ming peeped through the window as he ate. He saw Wang Xiong setting off again—he was really busy…

nAnyway, Lu Ming felt that Wang Xiong and he were two extremes.

nHe was definitely unwilling to go out, while Wang Xiong was definitely unwilling to stay at home.

nIgnoring Wang Xiong, Lu Ming turned and saw Zhang Lixin and Li Gang (the father of the family of three rescued yesterday) cleaning up the street. Li Gang’s wife, Yu Fei, and Bai Lu also helped. It was a busy scene.

nAfter eleven days, there were finally people on the streets again.

nLu Ming did not feel anything.

nHe didn’t go out. It really had nothing to do with him if there was anyone outside.

nHe closed the window and began his afternoon exercise.

nThe slingshot was fired!

nHe just didn’t know if he should pity it. There would be no shooting of zombies today.

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