Chapter 223: Chapter 211: The Abnormal Scene on the Monitor
Quinn had lost his former strong, refined appearance. In its place was an untamed wildness and a murderous glint in his eyes that could only be honed by long-term slaughter.
"To clip Morgan Sterling’s wings, Seth Warren and Heath Holden had their people lure us into a zombie horde. I had no choice but to lead my men into this mall to take shelter." Fire blazed in Quinn’s eyes as he spoke, and he gnashed his teeth when he mentioned Seth Warren and Heath Holden’s names, as if he wanted to eat their flesh and drink their blood.
Caleb Bloom sighed. "The apocalypse is upon us. Humanity should be banding together. It’s hard enough just to awaken a superpower, so why are we fighting amongst ourselves?"
"Where there are people, there is war. Before, it was competition in business and at work. Now, it’s a scramble for resources and food. Caleb, I remember your team having quite a few people with superpowers. How did you end up hunting zombies with Morgan Sterling’s men?"
Caleb Bloom had originally thought that since Quinn was one of Morgan Sterling’s most capable subordinates, there were many things he couldn’t comfortably discuss with him. But then Quinn asked, "Did you offend the leader? Is that why he sent you out with that group?"
Caleb Bloom was taken aback. "What do you mean?"
"Although they’ve all awakened superpowers, they’re arrogant as hell and rarely go out on missions to hunt zombies. They just laze around the base, eating and doing nothing, using their status as superpower users to cause trouble. It’s a shame. I mentioned it to the leader several times, but he never took it seriously. I guess we just don’t see eye to eye."
"So, you’re saying Morgan Sterling deliberately sent me out with those people? He intended to have me killed?"
Caleb Bloom told Quinn about the recent events at the base. Quinn just scoffed and shook his head.
"That sounds exactly like something he would do! On the surface, he’s solicitous and harmless, acting like he’s great friends with everyone. But behind their backs, he’s a petty, scheming snake!"
Caleb Bloom asked curiously, "Aren’t you his subordinate?"
Quinn froze. "Subordinate? Heh! Yes, a subordinate. Everyone thinks of me as his subordinate now. But before the apocalypse, we were brothers. We graduated from the same university and were business partners for ten years. I founded the Morhaven Safe Zone with him."
"Unfortunately, my superpower leveled up slowly. With the same number of Crystal Cores, he reached the Second Level while I was still at the first. He felt the gap between us was growing too wide. After that, he started going out on hunts with his own men, while I was left to do guard duty at the base."
Caleb Bloom was astonished. "I see! Sigh... The human heart is hard to fathom, especially in an apocalypse like this. But why have you been here all this time instead of returning to the base? At least the base is safe!"
"Return to the base? We can’t even get out of this mall."
"What? If you’re stuck here, how can you survive?" All Caleb Bloom wanted right now was to get back to the base. ’My daughter has been missing for seven days, and Morgan Sterling has my wife and son locked in a water prison. I can’t rest easy until I get back.’
"The chain supermarket on this floor still has power. Although some of the fruits and vegetables have gone bad, there are still plenty of crackers, snacks, instant noodles, and bread. There’s also a lot of water, and even a good amount of frozen meat in the freezers. That’s how the few of us have managed to stay alive. It’s just that... I started with ten men. Every time we went to the supermarket for food, we lost someone. Now, there are only three of us left."
"In this whole mall, only the floor with the power distribution room still has electricity. The place we’re in now is the security room. As long as a camera hasn’t been destroyed, we can see everything that happens in the mall from here. That’s how Amos Rooney was able to save you. It’s just a shame about the dog."
"If that’s the case, we can totally find a safe route on the monitors and sneak out during the day."
Quinn sighed. "It’s no use. There’s a very powerful zombie in the mall. Not only is it incredibly fast, but it can also summon wind and rain. The zombie horde here seems to obey its call. What’s more, there isn’t just one of them. Even with you, there are only four of us. We’re no match for them at all."
The woman next to them suddenly pointed at a computer monitor and said, "Boss, look! She’s appeared again!"
"’She? Who?’" Caleb Bloom looked at the screen and saw a woman who had suddenly appeared. She was deathly pale, her head bowed, and her messy hair obscured half of her face. She wore a white dress, her frame so thin she looked like a bag of bones.
Yet, she cradled her swollen belly with one hand, her head still bowed, stroking her stomach over and over again like a loving mother communicating with her unborn child.
"She’s pregnant!" Caleb Bloom suddenly exclaimed, but Quinn and the man and woman beside him immediately stopped him from speaking.
"Shh! Don’t make a sound!"
"Are you trying to get us killed?!"
Caleb Bloom didn’t understand why, but he covered his mouth along with the other three. He then continued to watch the monitor with them.
The pregnant woman was walking brazenly through the middle of the zombie horde. The zombies nearby seemed not to see her, continuing to wander about aimlessly.
’I had a million questions, but I didn’t dare to speak. The woman was obviously pregnant.’
’The pregnant women they’d encountered in the hospital, the ones with zombie babies in their wombs, had looked like normal people but were unable to move, rooted to the spot.’
’But this one was different. She was strolling through the zombie horde like a normal pregnant woman taking a walk, one hand on her back, the other stroking her belly.’
Suddenly, a lump bulged violently from her enormous belly. It was like when a baby kicks inside the womb, making the shape of a tiny hand or foot press against the mother’s skin, except this bulge was a bit large, and the movement was far too frequent and fast.
It would happen every few minutes, a rapid, sliding bulge moving across the pregnant woman’s stomach.
And yet, the pregnant woman showed no discomfort. She stopped walking, abruptly grabbed a passing zombie, and easily tore its head clean off with her bare hands. She brought the zombie’s head to her mouth and took a couple of bites, then dug out a Crystal Core, popped it into her mouth, and chewed and swallowed.
The entire process took only a second or two. As soon as she swallowed the Crystal Core, the violent movements in her abdomen ceased.
The four of them stared at the monitor for an hour. Every time the pale-skinned woman’s belly started to bulge, she would kill a nearby zombie and consume its Crystal Core and brain matter.
"Is... is that even human?"
Caleb Bloom couldn’t help but ask, his breathing ragged as he watched the scene on the monitor. But before the other three could react, the pregnant woman looked up.
At first glance, her eyes looked no different from a normal human’s. But on closer inspection, in the dim light of the monitor, her pupils were revealed to be yellow, vertical slits, like a cat’s.
And at that moment, those eerie, vertical pupils were staring right at them through the screen!
Even through the screen, a cold sweat broke out on all four of their backs.
KSHHHHHH!
Suddenly, a black shadow flashed by, and the monitor dissolved into a screen of static.
"Did the camera break? Why can’t I see anything?" Quinn murmured, but he couldn’t shake the sense of dread that had settled over him.
’A dark gloom pressed down on Caleb Bloom’s heart, making it hard to breathe. What in the world was that person? No, what was that *thing*? A zombie? But her behavior was more like a human’s! Then again, what kind of human would chew on a zombie’s head and eat its brains raw?’
"Shh! Don’t talk!" Quinn suddenly made a hushing gesture, mouthing the words to the other three.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
CRACKLE!
Suddenly, the sound of something collapsing came from outside the door—something that had never happened since Quinn and his team had taken refuge in the security room.
Inside the security room, the four of them listened as a host of new footsteps—some shuffling, some rapid—appeared outside. They didn’t dare make a sound, even consciously slowing their breathing.
If they were discovered now, it would be a death sentence.
