Chapter 430: Intelligence

Chapter 430: Intelligence

After returning to the Shelter, Zhang Yi and his team rested in the living room.

The women brought out hot drinks and food to help them regain their strength. Zhou Ke’er stood behind Zhang Yi, gently massaging his shoulders to ease his tension.

Despite successfully repelling another zombie tide, Zhang Yi’s face showed no signs of relief. A heavy cloud of unease loomed over him.

This unusual expression caught the attention of Fatty Xu, who had been bragging with Uncle You moments before.

“Boss, why do you look so grim?”

Others also noticed Zhang Yi’s serious demeanor and turned their concerned gazes toward him.

“Yeah, what’s on your mind? You look so tense.”

“If there’s a problem, let’s discuss it together!”

Zhang Yi exhaled deeply and addressed the group:

“We managed to take out most of yesterday’s horde. But today’s tide was even larger in number.”

“This suggests the zombie virus is spreading quickly. It’s possible that those who recently died are being turned into zombies.”

“If that’s true, it’s only a matter of time before all of Tianhai City is overrun by the undead. I can’t imagine how we’ll survive when that happens.”

Zhang Yi’s words drained the smiles from everyone’s faces.

The group fell silent, each person lost in thought as worry etched itself onto their expressions.

Seated in her wheelchair, Yang Xinxin took a sip of her cappuccino and spoke calmly:

“However, this trend doesn’t seem obvious yet. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be sending only a few thousand zombies at us each time.”

She paused, her usual light-hearted demeanor giving way to a rare solemnity.

“But if we don’t uncover the truth behind these zombies, they’ll undoubtedly become an enormous problem for us in the future.”

Lu Keran sighed deeply.

“If only it were summer—then these zombies would just rot away into skeletons.”

Zhang Yi shook his head. “What’s most concerning isn’t their numbers but the fact that they appear to have a controller. They aren’t just mindless monsters.”

“On top of that, they’re incredibly hard to kill. Burning or dismembering them is the only solution, which makes dealing with them all the more difficult.”

Yang Xinxin added, “So the real issue lies in dealing with whoever—or whatever—is controlling them?”

Zhang Yi chuckled bitterly. “Easier said than done. How do we find them? Every time we engage, the zombies retreat before we can finish them off.”

“I can’t even confirm if there’s a controller among the horde. After all, Superhuman abilities are so unpredictable.”

He shrugged. “There’s no logical way to deduce it.”

Investigating the subway depths, where these zombies seemed to originate, was an option. But Zhang Yi was reluctant to leave the Shelter’s protective range unless absolutely necessary.

As the group debated, Zhou Ke’er, standing quietly behind Zhang Yi, spoke up.

“I think I might have a theory.”

Curious, Zhang Yi craned his neck to look back, only for his view to be blocked by two rather prominent obstacles.

“Oh?” he prompted, motioning for her to continue.

Typically, Zhou Ke’er, as the group’s doctor, didn’t involve herself in combat strategies. But her expertise in virology made her insights especially valuable in this scenario.

Encouraged, Zhou Ke’er explained:

“I’ve been studying the zombies’ bodies these past two days and found something peculiar—a virus-like entity.”

“It can survive extreme cold, even temperatures as low as minus 100 degrees Celsius, and it invades the nervous system to control the host’s body.”

“However…” She frowned.

“It doesn’t match the modern biological definition of a virus. Its structure seems to fall somewhere between a virus and a cell. It’s more akin to a cell but can behave like a virus, hijacking the host’s body for control and reproduction.”

Zhang Yi, having abandoned his academic knowledge long ago, was thoroughly baffled.

“Ke’er, can you simplify that?”

The trio of men present clearly didn’t grasp her explanation, judging by their bewildered expressions.

Zhou Ke’er chuckled awkwardly.

“Alright. Let’s just call it the zombie virus for now. The apocalypse has rewritten many biological concepts, likely due to gamma-ray exposure.”

“Simply put, this virus exhibits behaviors similar to colony organisms or even eusocial animals.”

“When the zombies are in a horde, their actions display coordination and even rudimentary intelligence. But in isolated lab samples, the virus shows diminished reproductive instincts and lower responsiveness.”

“This leads me to suspect the virus operates like a biological collective, with a mother organism possibly controlling the horde remotely.”

“Remotely?” Zhang Yi straightened up, intrigued.

Zhou Ke’er quickly clarified, “Not over vast distances. Animals communicate through pheromones, for instance. This mutated virus might have its own method of transmitting signals.”

“So,” Zhang Yi mused, “if we kill the mother organism, the infected zombies might die as well?”

Zhou Ke’er shook her head.

“That’s uncertain. At the very least, they’d lose their current level of coordination and intelligence.”

Intelligence.

The word hit Zhang Yi like a thunderclap.

His eyes lit up as he finally identified the nagging sense of unease that had been plaguing him.

“I think I get it now!”

He crossed his arms and addressed the group:

“Have you noticed that while the zombie tides appear aggressive, their tactics show a faint hint of intelligence?”

“Yet their strategy feels juvenile—almost as if they’re learning, step by step.”

“It’s like watching a toddler trying to form sentences, learning one word at a time.”

The group pondered his observation, nodding as it began to make sense.

The zombies behaved clumsily, charging directly into flamethrower attacks without adjusting their approach. Yet they avoided Zhang Yi’s Dimensional Gate and retreated when the situation turned unfavorable.

They had some intelligence—but not much.

“Wait a moment, Zhang Yi,” Liang Yue interjected, her arms crossed and eyes sharp with caution.

“Are you suggesting our enemy might be an intelligent zombie?”

“Perhaps a mutated virus has taken over a human body and evolved into a mother organism?”

“Essentially, it’s recently gained intelligence and is learning how to fight like humans do.”

Zhang Yi found her theory plausible.

The zombies’ tactics didn’t resemble those of rational humans, but they also weren’t entirely mindless.

“If such a being exists, it could very well be a Zombie King,” Zhang Yi speculated.

“After all, we’ve confirmed two ways to gain Superhuman abilities—facing near-death experiences or through external stimuli like the Ice Soul.”

“So it’s not impossible for someone to gain powers after death.”

A fleeting image crossed Zhang Yi’s mind, but he kept this thought to himself.

Author's Note