Around morning, a sudden throbbing forced Ark awake.

As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw Yu Lian sitting in the corner, staring at him silently. Yu Lian, with her cleaned body and new clothes, looked no different from the past... except for her eerie crimson eyes.

The sensation Ark felt yesterday came from Yu Lian's instinctive desire. If Yu Lian could speak now, she might say, "I am hungry." And of course, the food she needed was the special kind of virus gel from zombies' heads.

From Yu Lian's performance yesterday, that special gel could trigger a new kind of mutation of the virus within her body, and it was very effective.

During the dark hour while Ark rested, he sent the other four bound zombies under his control to hunt down zombies to cultivate their strength and increase his power.

"Since she desires it now, of course, I have to satisfy her needs for it."

Thinking about it, Ark had mixed feelings. He needed to take the initiative in hunting zombies, a stark contrast to the average survivor's instinct to avoid them at all costs. Most importantly, a mutated zombie now followed him.

After sending his bound zombies on a resupply mission and bringing some food to him, Ark pulled out a brand new knife from the bag. The machete he had been using was completely snapped; it would affect his combat capacity and could no longer be used.

He tried to feed a slice of ham to Yu Lian but noticed she had no interest in taking of it. The only food she really needed seemed to be that special gel.

"Come on, let's go find you some food," Ark sighed, pulling Yu Lian up as he took her downstairs.

The city was completely silent, everything was barren except for the zombies wandering in the streets. The number of places where zombies gathered was quite many and still too dangerous for Ark, even with the aid two bound zombies. He could only take Yu Lian to those who were singled out from the rest.

During the cautiously scavenging process, Ark couldn’t help but think about the problem they were facing. For wandering zombies, their only food source was the survivors who risked their lives searching for food. Most veteran survivors were extremely cautious. Even if they didn’t collect much, their chances of survival were greatly increased.

So would these zombies, met under same conditions where they couldn't find food, trigger a cannibalism effect like what happened to Yu Lian's case? Maybe in some places, it was already happening, and mutated zombies like Yu Lian being existed.

For survivors like him, this undoubtedly added another layer of trouble layered on top currently facing into.

After strengthening their spiritual connection, Ark was able to manage to control Yu Lian much more easily than yesterday. After power-leveling his other four bound zombies during the dark hour, their strength increased, bringing them half a step away from Yu Lian's level of strength, and Ark’s mastering his ability of control Yu Lian was further enhanced.

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Different from average zombies, Yu Lian not only had natural instincts but also a strong will to attack and communicate her needs to Ark. Adding to her powerful strength, completely binding her would only limit her full potential and abilities, leading to resistance. Therefore, Ark only maintained a spiritual connection to a minimum to ensure he never became her target and did not restrict her freedom.

Because of their existing spiritual connection between each other, even though Yu Lian could move freely on her own will, yet she did not leave from Ark’s viewpoint and strangely followed beside him closely.

Fortunately, this was the prosperous part of the suburb. The population was not very dense, and Ark soon found some wandering zombies at the next intersection.

As soon as she saw the zombies, Yu Lian couldn’t wait to rush ahead, displaying her nimble movements and brisk attacks. After seeing her go up, Ark also quickly carried his knife and rushed along with her.

Just a minute later, the zombies were taken out, and Yu Lian's eyes became even more ecstatic after devouring the gels. At the same time, Ark also felt both his spiritual and physical power strengthen. Though the change was less obvious, it was gratifying progress for Ark.

When Yu Lian was fighting, he also felt an overwhelming surge of bloodlust.

After bringing Yu Lian hunting in different places for the morning and the other four bound zombies during the dark hour, they killed more than a dozen zombies, satisfying their needs.

But something surprised Ark. After seeing a dozen zombie virus gels devoured, Yu Lian started showing signs of fatigue, and also her mood became unstable. If not for their solidified spiritual connection between them, Yu Lian might have already run off.

Seeing the signs that not favoring to the situation, Ark quickly found a residential building and brought Yu Lian into one of the abandoned rooms.

At this point, Yu Lian had already become irritated and clenched on her fist, yet her strength kept showing her weakening, and her whole body went limp. Ark carried her to the bed, as he checking her body temperature, feeling burned coming from her forehead, a frighteningly high fever.

"Is it because of eating too much? Has the virus become unstable or the virus forced to mutate again?"

Just as Ark starting to worried about Yu Lian, an instant sense of fury and pain swept through his body, everything before him covered by a layer of blood.

Obviously, the virus was starting mutating and drastically changing within Yu Lian's body, it also affected him through their bound by the spiritual connection.

"So painful... If I disconnect the spiritual connection now during the change, Yu Lian would be out of control and berserk!"

Ark thought as he can only bit down on his teeth and tried to endure the pain.

His body felt hotter, his head full of cold sweat, his whole body twisting from the inside. Especially the bulging feeling from his head, like something was tearing its way out. If it weren't for his constant use of his ability, enabling him to have a strong will, he might have lost concentration and cut off the spiritual connection by now.

At the same time, Yu Lian gasped for air rapidly, her pale cheeks overtaken by an abnormal reddish hue. The eerie redness of her eyes became much brighter than before. In the moment, he opened his eyes, and Ark saw she finally closed her eyes, became calmly silent, and fell on the bed.

Ark was surprised at first, tried to suppress the urge to vomit, and then quickly calmed down. For this particular virus, he only had theoretical guesses about its mutation of the virus. Although worried, there was not much he could do for the moment. At least through their bound spiritual connection made it pull through, Ark could surprisingly feel Yu Lian's normal vital signs.

Her body was still simmered with a kind of forceful power, unable to take it all at once, triggering a self-defense mechanism that led her to faint temporarily.

While waiting for Yu Lian to wake up, Ark was still endured physical torment that comes after.

After a few hours of meditating through the pain, Ark finally felt a sense of heat circulating throughout his body. Though it calmed down, the remaining power seemed saturated with living cells, muscles, and nerves, strengthening his whole body. Ark clenched his fist, feeling a surge of power. As for other changes, he guessed they would have to wait until Yu Lian woke up.

On cue, Yu Lian slowly opened her eyes. But the moment they opened, Ark was shocked. After this mutation, Yu Lian's crimson eyes were gone, and restored to their normal appearance before the disaster.

To be exact, they turned from that eerie redness to a translucent black, not only more profound but making her whole appearance look icier. Even the dangerous aura around her from before was now hidden and suppressed. People who hadn’t met her and experienced her strength would probably think of her as a normal surviving girl instead of a mutated zombie!

This virus mutation that occurred within her body was more like an evolution! An evolution relying on combining the same kind!