Chapter 257: Going Out to Find Herbs and Kill Zombies
"What the hell? People who died before the apocalypse are turning into zombies?"
Meng Ci was so shocked he couldn't help but swear.
He tried to remember if any of the stories he'd read mentioned this, but none of them had anything about people who died before the apocalypse becoming zombies.
He turned to look at Shen Que, who was equally astonished. Clearly, he hadn't seen anything like this in his past life either.
The female zombie before them had clothes that were almost completely rotted away, with large areas of her legs, feet, and arms reduced to bone.
Yet, astonishingly, after crawling to her feet, she miraculously opened her eyes.
But her eyes were pure white, as if her soul had been ripped out.
At the sound of Meng Ci's voice, she lunged at them without a second thought.
Unlike other zombies, this one moved with surprising coordination, her actions more agile.
Meng Ci hurriedly manipulated the green plants to entangle the female zombie's bone-white leg, trying to stop her advance.
But the female zombie's strength was far greater than that of ordinary zombies. With a few jerks, she snapped the vines and kept stumbling forward, growling.
Shen Que quickly used his fire powers, condensing a massive fireball and throwing it at the female zombie.
To his surprise, the female zombie wasn't heavily injured or deterred. Instead, she continued charging at Shen Que, completely ignoring his attack.
"Looks like we need to chop off her head and pull out the crystal to finish her off," Shen Que said, hurling two more fireballs as they moved.
"Hmm."
The female zombie lunged at the spot they had just vacated but missed, leaving her standing there, confused.
After a moment, the female zombie mechanically turned and continued toward Meng Ci and Shen Que.
Knowing these zombies never looked down, Meng Ci controlled several plants to form a green barrier in front of her. Just in case, he summoned two more plants.
As expected, the female zombie tripped and fell flat on her back.
Meng Ci seized the chance, wrapping the female zombie in a web of vines, binding her tightly.
Shen Que moved in quickly, pulling a large knife from his spatial ring. He approached the female zombie and, with one slash, cut off her head.
Even though the female zombie's head was severed, her body continued to twitch for a moment before falling still.
Without hesitation, Shen Que smashed her skull with the blade and yanked out the crystal.
The female zombie's body fell with a loud thud once the crystal was removed.
Meng Ci came over to examine the crystal in Shen Que's hand. It was larger and darker than the crystals from ordinary zombies.
After more than an hour, the group of zombies realized something was wrong and, displaying surprising intelligence, began to retreat back up the mountain.
The psionics, drained of most of their mental energy, decided not to chase after them.
They had already taken out the crystals but still needed to handle follow-up tasks.
Under the soldiers' direction, they gathered the zombie corpses and collected dry wood to set them on fire.
Once the fire died down, they headed back.
Arriving at the points redemption center, everyone started converting their crystals into points.
The staff noticed that the crystals Meng Ci and Shen Que had were larger than usual, so they awarded them extra points.
Shortly after, the authorities announced changes to the points redemption system.
According to the new rules, different types of crystals would earn varying amounts of points.
The psionics paid attention to the announcement, realizing they'd need to be more selective about which zombies they killed.
Two months passed, and the city and other heavily infested areas had been completely cleared.
The protected scientists, experts, and medical personnel began to play their part, researching a vaccine.
Thanks to Shen Que's letter, which was shared nationwide, bases across the country started searching for the herbs described in the letter while continuing to fight zombies.
With fewer zombies around, Meng Ci and Shen Que started to relax.
With both of their powers having improved, they became more laid-back.
Now, they would only go out once every two or three days, occasionally killing a few zombies and searching for the herbs mentioned in Shen Que's letter.
However, Shen Que had only heard of the herbs and couldn't describe them accurately since he'd never seen them.
Both Meng Ci and Shen Que knew not to rush and kept a calm approach.
As time went on, the number of zombies significantly decreased.
Government departments no longer organized frequent joint efforts to fight zombies. Instead, the focus shifted to searching for the herbs.
On this day, Meng Ci and Shen Que headed out with Eagle and Eggplant.
Driving their jeep, they kept an eye out for any zombies that might appear.
Lone zombies, hearing the roar of the car, would excitedly run over, eliminating the need for Meng Ci and the others to go looking for them.
Opening the trunk, Eagle and Eggplant leaped up, each taking down a zombie without requiring Meng Ci and Shen Que to intervene.
However, when encountering large groups of zombies, Meng Ci and Shen Que would get out of the vehicle to join the fight.
Eagle and Eggplant let out excited roars, using their sharp claws and teeth to tear into the zombies' bodies, skillfully extracting the crystals.
Disgusted by the blood on the crystals, they wouldn't pick them up with their mouths, instead waiting quietly for Shen Que and Meng Ci to collect them.
Or Shen Que would use his spatial powers to retrieve the crystals remotely.
Unexpectedly, this time, as they waited, the two felt a gust of wind, and the two crystals on the ground vanished into thin air.
"Awoo, awoo!"
Eagle and Eggplant were anxious, letting out continuous howls as if asking their owners if they had taken the crystals.
Noticing this, Meng Ci and Shen Que quickly opened the car doors and got out.
"No way, right?" Shen Que groaned.
"Why are people grabbing crystal stones... everywhere!" Meng Ci said with a sigh.
Bitter Gourd and Eagle had already picked up the scent of the crystal stones, and they excitedly chased after it.
Worried the two animals might be in danger, Meng Ci and Shen Que didn't waste a second, leaving the car behind and sprinting after them.
Thanks to their powers, they sprinted at lightning speed and caught up with Bitter Gourd and Eagle in no time.
Rounding two dilapidated buildings, Meng Ci saw a man and a woman, both dressed in dark clothes and looking nervous. Bitter Gourd was barking furiously, and the eagle was circling above, screeching at them.