Chapter 1910 Types of Zombies
A bullet zipped across multiple zombies in one go, and it hit the shoulder of the special class zombie that they were chasing. But once that happened, the abomination of a zombie screamed and caused many regular class zombies to start swarming around it so that they could offer the protection that it sorely lacks. However, when that happened, Yinn was already one step ahead of her.
She used the headlights as a way to gain access to the special class zombie as she swung with the rope gun that each of them possessed. With that, the Grey Bear Squad Leader was swift enough to send another bullet into the zombie's head before she could deploy extra raven zombies to populate the night skies.
This was immensely crucial since they did not wish to attract any more attention by lighting the skies with bullet fire. Unfortunately, as much as they hope to keep a low profile, Click was not being subtle at all.
"BURN YOU ROTTING FLESH! BURNNNNNN!!!" Click was laughing within the System channel since she still had to follow the rules of engagement set by her squad leader. The use of her flame thrower had halted the advance of the zombies that were chasing from behind, giving the Grey Bears some breathing space to kill the special zombie, which they had already did.
Hence, Page stopped Click and told her that they had to continue moving. Click was nevertheless not happy about the need to move away so soon when she was finally seeing scores of zombies being burned into crisps. "Alright, alright. Let's go." Click literally clicked her tongue as she kept her flamethrower back into her storage ring and started running once more.
After sprinting for some considerable distance and killing any zombies that were needed, the Grey Bear Squad was not just in the clear but also found a pit stop, a refuelling station in the middle of the highway, and they decided to stay there for the remainder of the night before travelling once more. There were no doubts that there were a few zombies within the gas station, but the Grey Bears disposed of them mercilessly and systematically.
To the Mechanoids, they were just a type of monster that needed to be dispatched regardless of the situations they were in. Especially in this case, where there was a mother zombie hiding within the toilets, holding her zombified baby. The Mechanoids could discern that the mother zombie was trying to hide her child from danger by showing her side and back rather than her front. It displayed a different kind of behaviour compared to the rest of the regular class zombies the squad had encountered.
It was something that Half Ghoul Lord Derek had stated before, explaining that this kind of zombies had been influenced heavily by their past life's emotions, making them prone to a change—a deviation in the usual behaviour displayed by the general horde. It was considered to be one of the first steps into the realm of special class zombies.
Give it time and perhaps stronger exposure to certain elements. Be it the environment or the situation they were in, these zombies would have the chance to grow into the abominations the Mechanoids had encountered. The only problem was that Derek did not exactly have a name for the stages of those who were entering the realm of special class.
This was not because Derek did not have enough zombie samples that had pushed for such a special class, but it's due to the fact that different zombies had different acceleration growth. Derek did an experiment previously by putting several zombies into various stressors, but in a controlled environment so that he knew that the growth was the only thing that would be affecting them. The results varied so greatly that some grew into the special class within a day or two, while others took at least a week or two. Later, Derek tried even stricter controls, like choosing zombies based on their type (like sleeping zombies or roaming zombies) and later age, gender, and even their build. It was to the point, he tried to choose whether the zombie was bald or filled with plentiful hair.
Yet, Derek could not find a proper conclusion despite the samples that he had, but what the Half Ghoul Lord could do was to somehow control the type of special class zombie that the regular class zombies who had been affected by the stressors Throw the zombies into a BBQ pit long enough, and they turned into a fire element type, able to spew fire.
If the zombies were exposed to the sea currents for an extended period of time, they would be able to harness the powers of the sea too. The zombies using earth powers were a little difficult, and it seems like the easiest way to get them to do that was to expose them literally to the power of the earth. And the way to do that was through landslides and earthquakes. (Of course, the System was able to simulate it long enough to get the zombies to use the earth element.)
The only irony was the Snow Zombies. As their names suggest, they had to be exposed in snow for a disgustingly long period of snow to get them to earn their powers. And as the name suggests, they could not create ice but snow, even though they should be of the same element. But Derek had found that there were literally Ice Zombies that could create only ice and not snow. This meant that it was what they were exposed to that allowed them to produce such an element.
So, for the past two special class zombies that the Mechanoids had encountered, Derek had deduced that the first one had an affinity for eating zombie arms, particularly right arms. Maybe to the point where it grew way more hands than it should have. As for the latter, birds, especially ravens and eagles, were part of its exposure. Maybe the zombie was a feeder to those ravens, or it was an avian trainer, thus seeking out those birds.
However, upon seeing these two zombies through the Mechanoids and System's reports, Half Ghoul Derek had just realised that he was barely tapping into the potential of the zombies and how the special class could vary more than just supposedly known basic elements.
"Maybe, if I expose a zombie with enough swords, it could produce zombified swords. That would be a crazy support character for the rest of the zombies since it might have the ability to create swords as its 'offspring' and the regular class zombies did not have to rely on scraps of metal left on the battlefield. They can have their very own live sword armoury." Derek remarked and all Yinn could say was to give it a try.
"Maybe you should get the zombie to keep swinging its sword. And it might be a sword master too."
"I doubt that swinging a sword repeatedly will make them a swords master."
"Don't you humans (or in your case, past humans) have a saying that goes, 'I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.' I believe with this quote, your zombie might be a lethal sword wielding monster." Yinn chuckled as her Mechanoids replied that the entrances and exits refuelling station had been reinforced with barriers and obstacles, allowing them to rest for the remaining portion of the night.
"You are not wrong. I will look into it." Derek said and wished them well that they could get to a city area soon so they could see if they were able to deduce the condition of the cities. And while he was not wishing to jinx them, he also hoped that they were able to have some decent challenges along the way as well, not just the swarming of regular class zombies.
With that, the conversation between the two minions had ended, and Yinn started to take some bearings on their position.
"We should be able to see some form of civilisation a few clicks further south." Tellie said as she took out the map of the Zombie World and compared it with Jin's World."
"The System also approved the use of the online shop that most Pandarens used. But instead of Panda Coins, it accepts System points as part of their transaction." Click said she was the first to access it so that she could replenish what she had used and even buy an extra storage ring. (At this rate, she might even be holding storage rings on her toes.)
"That's great. Everyone, please restock if needed. We are going loud tomorrow. And Click, do not just get ammunition and spare parts. Use some Squad funds to either buy some oil or enough spare parts to 3D print a pump so that we can get one of these cars to move. I do not want to waste too much time walking around and being swarmed all day long." Yinn ordered, and Click nodded her head.
"Sorry if I am a little useless." Page commented, feeling that she was the only one that was not able to do much since her specialty was closer to using manipulation on mechanical living beings. While she had ungodly strength as part of her repertoire as well, she felt that she was not working at her maximum potential."
"Nah, its okay. I bought some spare parts in case we got into bad situations. Going to create additional nanobots for you to control if things really go south." Click said, and Page thanked her. Once everyone had did their restocking, they all sat cross legged and used their dantian engine to produce extra power for their batteries until dawn came.
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