Chapter 1356: The Comprehensive Upgrade of the Virus

As time gradually passed into the afternoon, several hundred Survivors remained cautious, holding their guns aimed outward. Yet the Zombies never appeared…

But just then, on a section of the Protective Wall, a Survivor on watch suddenly put down his binoculars.

To be precise, they slipped from his hands…

He stared blankly at the end of the street, and this abnormal reaction drew his companion’s suspicion: “What’s wrong? What happened?”

As he spoke, the companion shifted his gaze to the binoculars at his feet. But before he could pick them up, he realized-they were no longer needed…

What the sentry had seen was already within naked eye range.

A red mist, spreading like toxic gas, and the mass of Monsters shrouded within it…

Some flew in the sky, others climbed atop tall buildings…

“What is that?” He straightened up, muttering.

The sentry finally managed to let out a piercing scream: “Enemy attack!!!!”

Ling Mo and the others finally understood what they had been waiting for.

It wasn’t the Central City Zombies, nor the Spider Queen, but a brand new… Infection.

Before those Monsters arrived, the red mist had already swept over Miracle Base.

“Ah!” A Survivor had barely inhaled a bit before suddenly screaming in agony, dropping his gun and convulsing on the ground.

But no one paid him any mind… because those around him were experiencing the same symptoms.

“Quick, cover your mouth and nose!” Lucy shouted.

But Su Qianrou’s face was pale: “It’s useless, the gas will seep in through your pores.”

She pointed at a superhuman on the wall; that person had already covered his mouth and nose, but still collapsed the moment he came into contact with the red mist.

“Gah!”

A Zombie circling in the sky suddenly let out a shriek, then dove fiercely at a Survivor on the wall.

“Pfft!”

A blood hole silently appeared in its forehead, and it toppled down.

“Area 1 has lost contact…”

“Area 3 has lost contact…”

“No news from Area 5…”

Ling Mo turned his head, looked at everyone, and made a decision: “We’re retreating into the building.”

Just then, the sounds of fierce fighting suddenly came from behind the Monsters.

Ling Mo looked back and immediately saw countless Tentacles moving at incredible speed.

One after another, variation zombies burst from hiding, pouncing on the Monsters like the fiercest hunters.

Blood splattered everywhere, and the Monsters quickly shifted their attention from Miracle Base to the variation zombies.

“Are they helping us?” Xu Shuhan said in astonishment.

Xia Na stared intently in that direction, shook her head, and said, “No. They’re hunting.”

“Take this chance to fall back! Hurry!” Ling Mo snapped back to his senses and shouted.

The Survivors, panicked and bewildered, were jolted awake and sprang into action.

Miracle Base’s Protective Wall-lost…

A few minutes later, Ling Mo and the others had retreated into the Laboratory Building.

“The command building is packed with people too, but most are showing symptoms of infection.”

“Number 1 Dormitory Building as well.”

“The warehouse too!”

Reports kept coming through the Communicator to Su Qianrou, who relayed them word for word to Ling Mo.

But what puzzled her was that, despite the drastic turn of events, Ling Mo seemed only surprised, not despairing.

“Ling Mo, this might really be the end for humanity. Do you remember when the virus infection first appeared? Back then, there were billions of humans, and X City had tens of millions. But in the end, only a few thousand survived around me.” Su Qianrou spoke softly, still maintaining her composure, but not because she wasn’t in despair… 𝘙ἈNО𐌱Ë𝐒

In fact, when she saw that red mist, she had already lost hope-she was only living on inertia.

After struggling on the edge of life and death for hundreds of days and nights, compared to ordinary people back then, she had learned a thing or two.

“How are the infected persons?” Ling Mo asked.

When the red mist appeared, he too was stunned for a moment, but then many things became clear.

Why had the Central City Zombies changed their behavior, and what was the “enemy” Old Zheng said they couldn’t resist?

Actually, the answer was simple: the virus was upgrading.

The virus had always been upgrading, but previously it was inside the Zombies. When that method could no longer satisfy the virus’s needs, it reverted to its original upgrade method: spreading through the air, a full-scale outbreak. This was even easier to understand when Ling Mo sensed it through the Female Zombies.

And the Central City Zombies served as the medium for the virus’s new outbreak.

If he hadn’t controlled Xiao Bai to disrupt the virus’s “plan,” there would have been no buffer period.

The virus would have spread through the city like a nuclear explosion, infecting all humans and Zombies in an instant.

However, since it’s an infection, it doesn’t necessarily mean death.

Most importantly, Ling Mo had already experienced being reinfected through Xiao Bai.

But the real key was, why did Old Zheng say he was a variable?

Ye Lian had just said something in his Consciousness Web: “You are between Zombie and human.”

He was an anomaly after the last virus outbreak…

So it wasn’t the Central City Zombies that wanted to eliminate him, but the virus itself. When the virus tried to fully upgrade, it sensed his anomalous existence “inside” the body, like sensing an illness.

But the virus has no consciousness; its intentions can only be carried out through hosts. Yet the hosts it chose couldn’t fully execute its will, which is why only Old Zheng and the others were sent to deal with Ling Mo.

Of course, this last point was just Ling Mo’s guess, because judging from the Spider Queen’s actions, Zombies weren’t completely incapable of resisting the virus. And Zombies also had the will to resist.

In a sense, at this moment, human Survivors were actually on the same front as Zombies like the Spider Queen.

“Infected persons?” Su Qianrou was stunned by Ling Mo’s question, but still answered responsibly, “Many of them are struggling desperately.”

“Are they showing signs of mental confusion? Or loss of cognitive ability?” Ling Mo asked again.

Lin Luanqiu, standing nearby, shook her head: “No, I’ve already asked them some questions. Although they show obvious violent tendencies, they’re still clear-headed and can restrain themselves.”

Hearing this, Su Qianrou’s expression suddenly changed, and a spark returned to her eyes: “Ling Mo, you mean…”

“Virus upgrade in humans.” Lucy finished for Ling Mo.

Ling Mo nodded, “That’s right. Upgrading is different from turning into a Zombie, because humans already have the virus inside them.”

Lucy nodded in agreement and said, “To use a not-so-precise analogy, the virus in Zombies is type A, while in humans it’s type B. Ling Mo is right.”

“Yes, infection means the type A virus in Zombies upgrades to A+1, even +2, and humans go from B to B+1, B+2. In other words, there may be some changes, but it’s not the same as turning into a Zombie.” Ling Mo said.

After he finished, Su Qianrou began pacing back and forth, clutching her hands, muttering, “So that’s it… I see… Then as long as they get through this period, humanity might not be wiped out…”

“No, I think you’re wrong.” Wang Lin, who hadn’t spoken since Old Zheng’s death, suddenly looked up and said, “After the virus upgrades again, we’re no longer human…”

Ling Mo’s heart stirred at these words… He was that one and only variable.

And what about the Zombies? Could there be a variable among them too?

For some reason, Ling Mo suddenly turned his head and looked at Ye Lian standing by the window.

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