Chapter 20

: Stolen Prey
Translator: 
Law 
 Editor: 
Hitesh_
The flesh of superpowered human beings was sweet and tasty, and the energy contained in their crystal nuclei was pure, unlike the zombie nuclei which had too many impurities.
Just like zombies, humans sought zombie nuclei as well. The most profitable job in the bases at that time was zombie-hunting indeed.
Lin Qiao didn’t think that this level-three zombie would actually be quite weak. Although this fight was simple and violent, it was over quickly.
The energy contained in the zombie nucleus soothed her entire body but failed to quench her hunger. She still wanted to eat.
‘I want meat! Meat! Meat!’

While roaring in her head, she took a simple glance at the intelligent zombie, then turned and left.
…
The sky was already brightening, and the surrounding area was becoming clearer. She couldn’t see a lot of colors, but she could still sense the change in the light. After finishing off this intelligent zombie which had shown up out of the blue, Lin Qiao turned around and continued moving forward, in search for a drivable car.
Not long after she had left, a few people showed up and surrounded the dead intelligent zombie, their faces filled with surprise and confusion.

Is it dead? How come?
Liu Hongshi said in amazement as he stared at the corpse on the ground. The other two didn’t respond, only observing the dead zombie with somber expressions.
Lin Yong took a look at the zombie, then pointed at its head which had been cut open and said,
It was killed by another intelligent zombie. The edge of the wound on its head is rough, clearly created by bare hands. Only intelligent zombies at level-three or above can cause damage like this.

Liang Caiyan frowned slightly and nodded.
Liu Hongshi’s face was a little dark as he stared at the dead zombie and said,
We’ve been chasing it for so long, only for it to be killed by another zombie! Our efforts have been wasted!

Lin Yong’s face was also dark with anger, but he didn’t say a word.

This should be the only level-three zombie in this area. Has some newcomer seized its territory?
Liang Caiyan asked with confusion.
Every high-level zombie was territorial. A level-three zombie would find an ownerless area, occupy it, and claim it as its own territory. If another level-three zombie wanted to live in this area permanently, it would need to drive the original level-three zombie away.
The weak had always been prey for the strong, and this was the most primitive law applicable in this world.
The strong would live while the weak would die.
Hence, if two high-level zombies fought over a territory, the weaker one would always die unless it ran fast enough. Thus, if the newcomer was a higher-level zombie, the original territory owner would flee right away without any doubt!

This zombie wasn’t wounded by a superpower because there was no trace of it left in the surroundings. Its enemy wasn’t a superpowered zombie but a level-three one just like it. However, that other zombie managed to cut its head so neatly, which is quite strange,
said Lin Yong.
The other two looked around them. As Lin Yong had said, there was no damage done to the surrounding area by any superpower, and there was no other wound on this intelligent zombie’s body either. This zombie was killed with one clean move! A level-three zombie without any superpower couldn’t possibly achieve this.
Besides, this dead zombie was just a breath away from becoming a level-four zombie. Among all level-three zombies, it was already close to level-four, just lacking in a superpower. It shouldn’t possibly have been killed by a same-level intelligent zombie so easily!

Could it be a level-four zombie with super strength?
Liang Caiyan thought of this possibility and said hesitantly.
Lin Yong nodded with a serious look.
Liu Hongshi sounded shocked as he said,
What? Level-four? We’ve been in this area for so long with no hint of a level-four zombie showing up! Could it be wrong?

Liang Caiyan glanced at him and said,
Do you think a level-three intelligent zombie could kill it so easily and neatly? Even if a level-three zombie could kill it, a great and long fight would be inevitable! But look around you, no any trace of a fight at all! Does it look like a big fight happened here?

Liu Hongshi had no answer to this.
She was right. What kind of level-three zombie could kill a nearly level-four zombie so easily and quickly?
However, he wasn’t about to give up as he said,
Then, what should we do now? Go after that level-four zombie?

As soon as he said this, the faces of the other two immediately darkened!
They had had their sights locked on this zombie and had chased it for a month already, but it fell into another zombie’s hands in the end!
This result was so unacceptable that they felt like vomiting blood!
However, they were no match for level-four zombies with their current powers. They were all superpowered—two at level-three and one at level-four. However, when facing zombies of this level, they were all defenseless.
Human beings didn’t have the high speed and great strength of zombies. In addition to their speed and strength, zombies had beast-like instincts. Therefore, a high-level zombie could defeat three average superpowered human beings easily at one time!
…
On the other side, Lin Qiao found quite a few cars abandoned by the roadside, but couldn’t start any of them even after trying many times. She struggled for quite a while but failed to find even one drivable car.
She couldn’t help but feel a little frustrated as she found no food or car.
Suddenly, she thought of the rabbit in her space.
Right! She needed to see if the rabbit had died from poisoning after eating the mutant strawberry!
At the thought of this, she immediately entered her space.
She looked around as soon as she entered her space, but couldn’t see Wu Yueling. She then located the child by using her sense of smell, after which, she walked into the thick grass.
She didn’t go to Wu Yueling though, and instead went to find the rabbit.
In fact, she didn’t need to use her sense of smell at all, because she somehow had a foresight like a sixth sense in her space, and it was especially potent.
She had a sense of where Wu Yueling was, and she confirmed it by sniffing. She also had a faint sense of the rabbit and the few baby mice which hadn’t opened their eyes yet. The sense of the baby mice was exceptionally weak, and she would have missed it if she wasn’t seeking it specifically.
The few baby mice were tenacious. They had been left here for so long, but hadn’t starved to death.
Lin Qiao thought that she might just eat these few furless little things to satiate her hunger if she couldn’t find any other food.
She walked to the rabbit quietly and saw that it was burrowing, as she had expected.
It didn’t die! That meant that the strawberries were edible!
Lin Qiao happily looked at the hunched rabbit digging vigorously with its pair of forepaws. She could tell for sure that this rabbit had created more than one burrow.
The rabbit was so focused on its digging that it hadn’t felt the presence of the zombie behind it.
Lin Qiao observed it for a while and stopped worrying. Then, she stood up and walked over to Wu Yueling.
Wu Yueling was sleeping right by the lake, curled up in a clearing by the edge of the grass, having wrapped herself in the blanket.
A faint smile appeared on Lin Qiao’s stiff face as she saw that the little grass toys that she had made scattered around the kid. However, she couldn’t see how eerie that smile would be for any other person who happened to look at her.
She took another glance at Wu Yueling, then turned around and flashed out of her space. As soon as she reappeared where she had disappeared from outside, she began running swiftly toward the strawberry field.