Chapter 19

: The Energy of A Zombie Nucleus
Translator: 
Law 
 Editor: 
Hitesh_
Lin Qiao stared at this intelligent zombie vigilantly, while the latter stared right back at her. She had noticed that there were no other zombies around, making this place a little empty… and now she knew why.
The other zombies in this area should either have been cleaned out or scared away by this intelligent zombie.
Low-level zombies were instinctively afraid of high-level zombies. Therefore, once a high-level zombie showed up in an area with limited self-control, low-level zombies would all instinctively avoid it and run as far away as possible.
Moreover, this was an intelligent zombie with an I.Q. comparable to five to ten-year-old children. It already knew how to make a sneak attack, which meant it was quite smart.
Just as Lin Qiao was taking in the details of the surrounding environment, the intelligent zombie in front of her moved suddenly.
It bent its legs and thrust them against the ground to pounce on Lin Qiao at an incredible speed. Within just one-tenth of a second, it had rushed up to Lin Qiao from meters away, its ten shiny, sharp fingernails stabbing at her.
The claws of high-level zombies were incredibly sharp, even harder than diamonds. Lin Qiao knew this because she had a pair of claws just like that of her own.
When the enemy attacked so suddenly and swiftly, Lin Qiao only had time to turn her body and launch a punch. At that moment, her zombie instincts weren’t working, and all she had were her old combat skills which had automatically taken over.
Fortunately, her reaction was fast enough as she had been vigilant against the enemy, and her punch landed squarely on the intelligent zombie’s side face.
Bang!
The intelligent zombie flew sideways, landing heavily in a walled corner seven or eight meters away and rolling twice on the ground.
After making these rolls, the intelligent zombie immediately bounced back up and faced Lin Qiao. It supported its body with arms, with its legs bent like an animal as it stared fiercely at her.
However, there was also confusion in its fierce eyes.
It was struck dumb by Lin Qiao’s punch!
It clearly sensed that Lin Qiao wasn’t strong, nor was she at a higher level than itself. Logically speaking, Lin Qiao should have been no match. And yet for some reason, she had not only thwarted its attack, but also landed a punch on its face.

Wooo!
The intelligent zombie uttered a roar deep from its throat as it pondered over this. Its voice was weird and unpleasant to hear, containing an oppressive warning that sounded like the warning from a higher-positioned being to a lower-positioned one. This warning promised that if the one who had been warned refused to obey, it would be punished.
This kind of roar was only effective amongst zombies. A lower-level zombie would be frightened the moment it heard this roar, and would either surrender or run in panic.
Clearly, this zombie intended to suppress Lin Qiao in this way.
However, Lin Qiao seemed to not hear this roar as she just looked at him quietly.
She flexed and extended her fingers while feeling surprised that she had actually punched this zombie seven or eight meters away. It seemed that besides her sharp claws, she also had great strength!
Fortunately, her reactions were not much slower than those of this intelligent zombie. After that first punch, Lin Qiao was slightly more confident about her fighting abilities.
She looked at this intelligent zombie and suddenly smiled wickedly, letting out a roar of her own.

Roar!

Her roar was also deep, but slightly higher-pitched than the roar of the intelligent zombie.
That was clearly provocative!
‘Damn! Don’t you wanna bite me? Come on! Fight me if you can! Let’s see how good you really are!’
As Lin Qiao expected, the intelligent zombie in front of her was enraged as soon as it heard her roar. The provocative meaning in her voice was too obvious, and it made this high-level zombie feel badly offended.

Roar!
It burst into a loud roar, then thrust its four limbs against the ground and again rushed at her, even faster than before.
Watching it pounce on her like a fierce wild dog, Lin Qiao bent her legs slightly. She aimed at her enemy at the same time as it launched at her, finally leaping high to dive down on her from the air.
She lowered her body to give herself some space, then suddenly lifted her hands as the zombie flew overhead. Then, she grasped its legs and tugged them backward before smashing it violently onto the ground.
Thud!
A muffled noise was heard as the zombie’s fleshy body bumped against the ground. As it was flying over Lin Qiao’s head, this intelligent zombie never expected its legs to be grabbed. In that instant, it felt its forward motion pause and reverse, followed by it being suddenly turned upside down.
It was smashed heavily down onto the hard ground on its back. The impact shook its entire body and made it feel like its bones were falling apart.
Lin Qiao had a great strength, and for this move, she had utilized all of it. On hearing the thud as the zombie smashed onto the ground, she knew that it must have suffered severely, but she didn’t stop because of that. The next second, she flexed and then extended her fingers, popping out her dark claws and swiftly stabbing the zombie’s head.

Roar…
The intelligent zombie didn’t even manage to utter its roar before Lin Qiao directly cut off half of its head.
Thick brain matter splashed all over the ground, with a green rhombus crystal piece that was around the size of a thumb mixed in the brains.
Zombie nucleus!
From Lu Tianyu’s memories, Lin Qiao had learned about the different levels and corresponding colors of zombie nuclei, as well as their functions. She now knew that she was able to absorb the energies in zombie nuclei, mutant animals nuclei, and the crystal nuclei from human beings.
She felt this was very similar to the settings of the post-apocalyptic fictions that she had read online.
Ranging from low-level to high-level, the colors of zombie nuclei were white, transparent, grey, green, blue, yellow, orange, red, purple, and black. The nuclei of ordinary zombies were all white, while the nuclei of the highest leveled, level-nine superpowered zombies were black.
She scratched away the brain matter of this intelligent zombie with her sharp nails, then picked out its nucleus and pinched it with her fingers.
The zombie nucleus was searing hot, but that did not concern her.
That was because in the next instant, she sensed that the heat had turned into a warm current which flowed into her body through her fingers, circulating in her entire body, from her head to her feet, before returning to her brain at last.
The warm current didn’t stop flowing ceaselessly through her body.
She felt very comfortable. All of her body parts that the warm current reached were aching at first, then comforted and refreshed as if someone was massaging her.
She felt all of her pores open, and a few minutes later, the green zombie nucleus in her hand slowly shrank and then disappeared.
After the warm current ceased, Lin Qiao let out a long breath.
Having been nourished by this wave of energy, she felt that her body had become lighter, and the luster on her claws had gotten brighter. She retracted her claws and made fists, but felt no changes in her strength.
Zombie nuclei were energy sources, and absorbing energy felt seriously good indeed! No wonder intelligent zombies would attack lower-level zombies. However, intelligent zombies liked the crystal nuclei of human beings even more.