BXBX NOVEL Chapter 794: Even Zombies Need Hobbies
This was quite a headache. Even the virus gel had no effect on her-how could she possibly evolve?
Moreover, her physical condition was somewhat different from what Ling Mo had expected. She wasn’t very strong, but she was fast. No zombie was like this when they first mutated.
Zombies were always much stronger than humans from the moment they mutated. A common zombie could utilize 100% of a human’s strength, while humans could reach at most 75%, and that was after long-term training. In fact, for ordinary people, using 60% of their strength was already quite impressive.
Additionally, 75% was only a theoretical limit for non-mutated humans. Once this number was exceeded, muscle atrophy would occur, but zombies didn’t have this problem. Only Enhancement ability superhumans, whose bodies had been modified by mutation viruses, could perfectly stimulate their physical functions like zombies, or even explode with strength beyond their own limits in a short time. However, most Enhancement ability superhumans could only apply this strength to a specific limb, as though this potential was locked there.
Ling Mo guessed that this was probably why superhumans, although they also had the virus inside them, were not infected.
In reality, so-called superhumans were simply people who had undergone partial mutation. Enhancement ability superhumans had mutations in certain parts of their bodies, while mental ability superhumans had mutations in their brains…
Before her mutation, Xu Shuhan had also been an Enhancement ability superhuman, but after mutation, this ability should have been overridden…
“I remember… you weren’t known for your speed before, right?” Ling Mo suddenly asked.Xu Shuhan nodded, puzzled. “Yeah…”
“So now, when you move, how does your body feel?” Ling Mo asked again.
Xu Shuhan’s mutation had another significant meaning for Ling Mo. It was to verify the possibility of zombies recovering their humanity-or at least partially regaining their emotions. So his questions, although seemingly a bit anxious, were quite reasonable.
Xu Shuhan clearly didn’t understand Ling Mo’s intention. She bit her lip and pondered for a while before slowly replying, “How should I put it… I feel… very light, as if I have no weight at all… My feet are very flexible, almost like I don’t feel myself using them… Oh, right!” she suddenly exclaimed, “If I move for too long, I get very hungry! Extremely hungry!”
“A lighter body and enhanced feet…” Ling Mo nodded thoughtfully. “It seems different from common zombies. Her condition seems more like a super-enhanced version of an Enhancement ability superhuman. Not only are her legs strengthened, but her body has also adjusted accordingly. As for the intense hunger… that must be due to excessive energy consumption. So the virus gel just replenished her consumed energy but wasn’t enough for her to reach evolution… Huh, she really is a super glutton…”
He handed her another piece of gel and asked, “So, what are your thoughts now? Do you feel any different from when you were human?”
“I…” Xu Shuhan seemed hesitant to answer but her gaze fixed on the gel.
“I don’t know…” she licked her lips and said.
Ling Mo nodded, “I see… Let me ask you differently. You don’t seem to want to eat me and even appear resistant. Why is that?”
“Well… I’m not sure how to explain it… I just feel it would be terrifying?” Xu Shuhan replied, “Actually, I’m not too sure. When I see you, I want to eat you, but there’s a voice in my head shouting ‘no’… She shouts so loudly that it annoys me, and I always feel like it’s another version of me.”
“What!”
Ling Mo almost burst out. He looked at Xu Shuhan in shock and asked, “Are you developing a split personality too?”
If that were the case, it would indeed be quite amusing!
“Ah? Of course not…” Xu Shuhan shook her head and said, “I just feel like my thoughts are a bit inconsistent… How to put it, it’s like having two different perspectives on the same thing. But overall, I know that I still retain parts of being human…”
“So, in other words, you still have some human judgment on certain matters, understanding how to view them from a human perspective, but you don’t have the corresponding emotions yourself… In the end, emotions didn’t remain…” Ling Mo sighed deeply. Although it was different from Xia Na’s situation, Ling Mo felt even heavier in his heart.
Still a failure…
But at this moment, Xu Shuhan looked at Ling Mo with some surprise and then added, “However, I do feel fear. I can experience terror and feel a sense of relief afterward, like a burden has been lifted, at least my heart doesn’t beat as fast.” As she said this, she suddenly smiled, and this smile was different from before-less heavy and more pure…
“This… doesn’t seem too bad.” Xu Shuhan concluded for herself.
After she finished speaking, she seemed much more relaxed, but Ling Mo was plunged into shock.
She retained… fear?!
Fear, as an emotion, is something only humans and creatures possess. Zombies and mutation beasts, due to the virus transformation, only retained the desire for killing and evolution, developing their own set of “emotions” based on these instincts. But within this new set of “emotions,” fear remained absent…
Xu Shuhan still felt fear and understood terror, indicating that she had successfully retained a human emotion!
Even if it’s just one, it’s a huge success!
Ling Mo almost instinctively pulled out a cigarette. After several attempts, he couldn’t light it…
“You… you seem to be… shaking?” Xu Shuhan asked curiously.
“It’s nothing… It’s nothing…”
Ling Mo took a deep breath, burying his head in his hands. A few seconds later, he suddenly lifted his head.
There really is hope!
“It really is possible…” Ling Mo muttered to himself again…
Xu Shuhan looked at him and remained silent for a moment. Given her current condition, she didn’t quite understand why Ling Mo was acting this way. However, seeing the growing brightness in his eyes and the genuine smile on his face, she vaguely realized that it was best to let him have some quiet time.
After a while, Ling Mo’s expression returned to its usual calm. However, his gaze now seemed to reflect a stronger conviction.
“Are you… feeling better now?” Xu Shuhan cautiously asked.
“I was never unwell.” Ling Mo replied with a smile.
“Really? I thought… I scared you when I said I could feel fear.” Xu Shuhan probed. That seemed to be the only explanation she could come up with…
“This is a good thing! I should congratulate you.” Ling Mo said sincerely.
“Why? I don’t want to feel fear at all!” Xu Shuhan exclaimed, her eyes wide. As a zombie, having a smaller than average courage hardly seemed like something to celebrate!
Ling Mo was momentarily taken aback and then quickly understood.
Right, humans have many emotions, but she happened to retain fear…
It’s one thing for a person to be timid; after all, caution can prevent many mishaps…
But for a zombie to be timid… Ling Mo couldn’t help but find it a bit absurd. If she wasn’t careful, she might end up scaring herself.
“Uh… you don’t need to worry about it too much. Consider it part of your personality,” Ling Mo consoled.
He lit his cigarette and asked, “When you were escaping, you seemed overly frightened, but you became calm inside the illusion. Your thinking also appears clearer now…”
Ling Mo vaguely felt that Xu Shuhan had somehow turned misfortune into a blessing, which made him even more curious about the world inside the illusion.
“Do you want to hear about it?” Xu Shuhan asked, somewhat surprised.
“Go ahead, tell me. I need to confirm a few things anyway,” Ling Mo thought for a moment and said.
Yu Shiran and the others had already engaged that man and woman, buying them some time for now.
But why was Wang Lin with Niepan’s people? Ling Mo wanted to understand this indirectly first.
As Wang Lin was Xia Na’s younger female cousin, Ling Mo naturally placed some trust in her. But he had absolutely no idea about the situation with the person with the dark circles.
Listening to just one side of the story, Ling Mo found it hard to ascertain the truth. It was better to start by probing Xu Shuhan.
Considering his current hostile relationship with Niepan, he had to be cautious…
Xu Shuhan licked her lips and suddenly extended her hand, “Give me another piece.”
“…Your appetite is really something else…” Ling Mo commented as he took out another piece and handed it to her, “It’s a good thing that there’s only one zombie like you born in a year, or the zombie hordes wouldn’t afford to feed you…”
“If you keep talking like that, I won’t say anything,” Xu Shuhan warned.
“Heh… You’ve mutated, yet you still have a temper…” Ling Mo chuckled.
Xu Shuhan then began to rummage through her clothes. After a moment, she pulled out a recorder.
“When I was human… I really liked this, didn’t I?” she asked Ling Mo uncertainly.
“Seems like it…” Ling Mo responded.
Xu Shuhan smiled casually, “I think even as a zombie, one should have hobbies. But aside from eating, I can’t think of anything else I want to do, so I might as well pick up my human hobbies.”
With that, she pressed the start button of the recorder and ceremoniously cleared her throat.
“Today is my first day as a mutated zombie… And I got lost… While foraging… No, while searching for the human Ling Mo, I entered a hospital. Here, I experienced the first significant event since my transformation…”