Chapter 411 - 409: What Do Evolved Zombies Eat?

"Mr. Colby, did you bring any food?"

Caleb Colby took an egg-filled pancake right out of his backpack and handed it to her. "Got this from a loot box. It’s system-issued, so the taste is absolutely guaranteed."

Faye Yardley took the egg-filled pancake, then said something that terrified Caleb Colby. "I just killed a version of you right here."

"COUGH, COUGH... Yardley, you killed me? But I... wait, that’s not right. I wasn’t here."

The two of them fell into a heavy silence.

The fact that zombies could impersonate people sent a shiver down their spines.

It was one thing if the impostor was dead and gone, but the fear was that it had multiple bodies and wasn’t completely destroyed.

"The impostor can’t replicate the system backpack."

Caleb Colby breathed a sigh of relief at Faye Yardley’s words. "That’s true. Still, we don’t know if the one you killed is really dead for good. What if an impostor suddenly pops up in the team and stabs us in the back? We wouldn’t even see it coming."

"Mm."

Caleb Colby looked at Faye Yardley, his expression a mixture of emotions. ’How did she tell the difference between me and that impostor?’ he wondered. ’How could she just attack without a second thought?’

’What if she’d killed the real me?’

"What are you afraid of?" Faye Yardley glanced at him, confused.

"Yardley, how did you tell the difference? Weren’t you afraid of killing the wrong one?"

Faye Yardley sized him up. "A feeling."

’A feeling?!’

’That’s even more terrifying!’

Caleb Colby silently scooted a little bit away.

Faye Yardley shot him an annoyed glare and snorted. "As long as you’re not the fake, you don’t have to worry about me killing you, do you?"

"Haha, no, of course not." Caleb Colby scooted back a little more.

"Your body is a lot more honest than your mouth."

Faye Yardley handed the egg-filled pancake back to him and took out a steamed bun for herself, starting to eat.

The two of them ate while waiting for the others to return.

Just as Faye Yardley was checking her watch for the third time, Finn Ford and Zachary Pierce returned, one right after the other.

Caleb Colby let out a huge sigh of relief after confirming they were the real deal.

Zachary Pierce was confused. "What’s wrong? Did you two run into an Evolved Zombie that can mimic superpowers?"

"Yeah, Yardley killed a fake me." Caleb Colby couldn’t help but feel how strange those words sounded.

Finn Ford’s brow furrowed. "It seems they know about this place. We should probably find a new spot."

"Kingston isn’t back yet. We can’t move, or he won’t be able to find us," Zachary Pierce argued, thinking they should wait until everyone was present. "Besides, during my time outside, I realized there are no empty rooms. Rhovan is crawling with Evolved Zombies."

Faye Yardley suddenly asked, "What do they eat? The shops outside are all closed. Don’t they need to eat?"

The room instantly fell silent.

Finn Ford spoke up. "They must still need to eat. The zombies we killed before ate people, animals, their own kind... Now that they’ve evolved, they should still have an appetite. We just don’t know what they’re eating now."

Rhovan was a waystation for Evolved Zombies before they moved on to the "New City." They surely had to "qualify" here before they were allowed to leave.

’Evolved Zombies can’t just end up like Cultivators, surviving by absorbing nature’s spiritual energy, can they?’

The question weighed heavily on their minds.

They had to figure it out.

They had to have a source of energy.

Zachary Pierce took out some food. "Let’s fill our stomachs first, then think about what they eat."

After they finished eating and the sky had darkened, Cole Kensington still hadn’t returned.

Faye Yardley was decisive. "Let’s go. We’ll use the cover of night."

Although they were worried about Cole Kensington, they remembered his peculiar ability to merge into shadows and quickly departed.

As they left the house, they heard the CLACK-CLACK-CLACK of Mrs. Sheldon’s high heels, along with her voice calling out, "Amy! Amy! Hurry downstairs, it’s time to eat!"

Finn Ford immediately stopped in his tracks but was grabbed by Faye Yardley and pulled away.

Zachary Pierce led them through a series of twists and turns until they climbed the outer wall of a house and slipped in through a window.

They landed lightly, so as not to alert the Evolved Zombies downstairs.

The group moved through the house and entered another empty room.

They didn’t turn on any lights, letting their eyes adjust to the darkness first.

Heavy, gasping breaths came from outside the room.

And through the window drifted agonized howls. "AAAAAHHH!"

They could even hear the wet, crunching sounds of something being bitten and chewed.

It seemed that the nights in Rhovan were much less peaceful than the days.

The four of them huddled together. A beam of bright moonlight shone through the window, and they all subconsciously avoided its touch.

The howls from downstairs grew increasingly wretched.

Soon, those cries were joined by the BANGING and CRASHING of objects hitting the floor.

Hiding in the darkness, Finn Ford said softly, "It was pretty quiet during the day."

Zachary Pierce grunted. "If this is human evolution... I’d rather have remained an ordinary, happy person."

It was human nature to be selfish; it was only natural that many would yearn for immortality.

This was especially true for the intelligent, the powerful, and the influential.

And when such factions came to an agreement, ordinary people were left without a voice.

Faye Yardley carefully approached the window, avoiding the moonlight as she peered outside. To her surprise, the street below was now teeming with "people."

’It’s a good thing we were decisive and left when we did. Otherwise, we’d be trapped down there with those "people."’

A single glance was enough to tell that those "people" were anything but normal.

The agonized howls were slowly joined by more and more frenzied gasps that made one’s heart race, as well as the sounds of chewing.

BANG! SHATTER!

The glass in several windows shattered, raining down onto the street. One after another, human figures tumbled out of the broken frames.

The four of them retreated to the corners of the room, not daring to make a single sound.

Faye Yardley stopped looking out the window altogether. She had discovered that whenever the moonlight touched her skin, a feeling of bloodlust surged within her.

’I refuse to become a "beast" like the ones on the street below.’ So she avoided the light as much as possible.

’So is this why all the rooms at Mrs. Sheldon’s place have such thick curtains?’

CREAK~

In the silent room, the sound was deafening. Even with the cacophony outside, it instantly put all four of them on high alert.

"Faye, it’s me."

Cole Kensington’s voice came from the darkness.

"Kingston, how did you find us?"

Cole Kensington also skirted the moonlit patches, moving to Faye Yardley’s side. "Faye, I used our contract to find you."

"Mm. Is it safe to talk now? Is there anyone else outside this room?"

"There was only one Evolved Zombie in this house. He just fell out of the window."

So their luck was holding out, it seemed.

The group shuffled over to the doorway and opened it. A window was wide open, letting the night wind pour in and moonlight spill across the living room.

And so the five of them remained hidden in the darkness just inside the open door.

Cole Kensington got straight to the point. "During the day, I followed that guy, Paul, into the hospital."

"What’s the situation in there?"

"How was it?"