Apocalypse King System
Chapter 168 168: Mutated Zombies

Derick's heart stirred as he looked at the slight bulge in the woman's abdomen. Nodding silently, he untied the restraints on the woman's body. This request was something he could fulfill. He wasn't afraid of the woman suddenly turning into a zombie; even if it happened abruptly, he could ensure that no one would get hurt.

"Thank you. You're a good person," the woman said, sitting up and expressing her gratitude in a soft tone.

Derick shook his head. Was he a good person? Not really. He was more like a bad person. There were quite a few who had died at his hands, both human and zombie. He only did what he felt was right and what he wanted to do.

The woman seemed a bit weak as she walked toward the entrance of the research facility. Derick followed behind, step by step, until they exited the facility and returned to the surface.

In the sunlight, the woman didn't seem as weak. Watching her enjoy the sunlight, Derick suddenly remembered the words spoken by Yang Yiping.

Retaining human consciousness while having the body of a zombie might, to some extent, be considered a success. However, at that point, were they still truly human? Was it really evolution, and not some kind of aberration?

"Sunlight... I've never felt it's so beautiful," the woman said, gently touching her abdomen, walking towards the wire fence not far from the research facility's entrance.

Throughout the entire journey, neither Derick nor Xu Qing, who followed closely behind him, spoke. The sunlight revitalized the woman, but the zombie virus seemed to spread even faster. Derick could feel that the woman's human aura was diminishing.

Beside the wire fence, the woman stood quietly. Suddenly, she turned around. Derick noticed that at this moment, the woman's eyes had turned into a completely lifeless gray.

"Sorry. You saved me, and I didn't even get the chance to ask your name. Could you please throw me out there? It's too quiet here. I shouldn't disturb this peaceful place with my presence," she said.

"I'm Derick."

Derick fell silent for a moment, unsure of what to say. Lifting his arm, the woman slowly flew up, clearing the wire fence and landing on the other side, where there were numerous zombies.

Watching the woman disappear into the zombie horde, becoming one of them, Derick took a deep breath, his gaze turning cold.

"Let's go... and check on our esteemed Dr. Yang!"

"Ugh... cough, cough, cough!"

Just as Derick returned to the underground research facility, he heard a series of painful retching sounds. Following the noise, his sight was blocked by a group of women.

Walking to the front, observing the female warriors, each of them was on high alert, holding weapons. Derick instinctively looked towards the corner, his expression momentarily astonished.

The experimental table was in disarray, with broken test tubes scattered around. The floor was littered with empty bottles and used syringes.

In the corner, Dr. Yang Yiping, wearing a white coat, looked distressed, continuously retching. Under the bright lights, his blood vessels bulged on his face, eyes bloodshot, and his hands were tightly gripping his neck. In any case, he didn't look like a normal person.

Derick was puzzled. How did Yang Yiping end up like this in just the short time he was away? If a 15x concentration showed accurate results, it couldn't have gone so wrong with a 20x concentration.

"What's happening to him?" Derick asked in confusion, looking at the female warriors nearby. Although his intention was for Yang Yiping to experience being a test subject, this was too sudden.

Hearing their master's inquiry, the female warriors seemed taken aback for a moment and quickly explained, "After you left, this doctor went crazy, injecting himself with a syringe. We don't know where things went wrong, but then he started retching, going mad, and ended up like this."

Derick was surprised. Did Yang Yiping go insane? The human body has a balance mechanism, and injecting so many different drugs would undoubtedly disrupt this balance, leading to problems if certain indicators went out of bounds.

Although Derick didn't know what Yang Yiping injected himself with, judging by the dozen or so syringes on the ground, he knew that Yang Yiping was on a path to self-destruction.

Looking at Yang Yiping curled up on the ground, Derick suddenly had a sense of déjà vu from Resident Evil 3 with Dr. Isaacs.

Because of being infected by zombies, returning to the lab to inject oneself with the virus serum multiple times—how eerily similar.

Even the outcome was similar; both ended up playing themselves to death.

Seeing Yang Yiping's current state, Derick decided to give up on the idea of taking action. He looked at the still intact incubator nearby, waved his hand, and tossed Yang Yiping directly inside. The electronic door of the incubator locked, eliminating any possibility of him getting out.

Walking to the side of the incubator, Derick looked through the glass at Yang Yiping inside. At this point, he no longer resembled a human, with bulging blood vessels, a distorted expression, and swollen exposed arms. Derick wondered what concoction he injected himself with, knocked on the glass of the incubator to check its sturdiness, and felt relieved.

The glass was specially made and not easily penetrated even by sniper rifle bullets. Now that the electronic door was destroyed, opening it would require brute force. Derick believed that with Yang Yiping's abilities, he wouldn't be able to break free, unless he mutated into a Level 4 or above zombie, and even then, he would be confined here forever.

After ensuring that Yang Yiping couldn't escape, Derick lost interest in staying further. He turned around and walked out of the research facility, returning to the surface, basking in the sunlight. Taking a deep breath, he suddenly asked, "Xu Qing, did you record all the videos?"

"Yes, Master, everything is recorded. Do you need it now?"

Derick waved his hand in refusal, then turned his gaze towards the direction of the wire mesh fence, sighed, and flew back to the hospital.

Xu Qing neatly stowed away the USB drive and glanced at the figure of her master flying away. For a moment, she seemed a bit infatuated, then turned and beckoned to the other female warriors.

"Let's go. We're heading back. Take a good break this afternoon. We might have to go outside the wire mesh to kill off the remaining zombies."

Xu Qing, as the captain, took the lead, with the other female warriors following behind. The hundreds of women swiftly ran towards the hospital. Behind them, countless zombies were lurking near the wire mesh. Among them, an inconspicuous female zombie had a slender figure with a slightly widened waist, indicating a bit of weight gain. However, it wasn't severe. The zombies approaching during the journey instinctively avoided this figure. The eerie silhouette of the female zombie walked farther and farther away until it eventually disappeared into the vast sea of corpses.

It seemed like she wanted to explore a broader world.

Returning to the second floor of the hospital base, Derick, wearing slippers and assisted by several maids, sat down on the sofa. Angelica, who was concentrating on writing something, looked up and asked, "How did it go? Is it resolved?"

Thinking of everything he witnessed in the underground research facility, Derick nodded with a heavy heart. Judy, who was sitting beside him, noticed Derick's displeased expression. She crawled into his arms and asked with concern, "Master, did something happen to make you unhappy?"

Angelica also noticed that her brother's expression was off. She set down her pen and walked over, placing her hands on his without saying a word.

Derick recounted everything he saw and heard in the research facility. The women in the living room turned pale upon hearing it. Judy, being timid, directly nestled into Derick's arms, her small head tucked like a little quail, continuously murmuring.

"So scary, too scary. Fortunately, I wasn't caught."

Derick comforted her by patting the back of the loli girl. He whispered, "Don't be too scared; this is just an isolated case. Besides, isn't there still me? Anyone who dares to have such twisted ideas will be dealt with."

"That woman is indeed pitiful, especially her unborn child. They didn't get a chance to see this world, and the child died before being born," Lisa sighed beside them.

"In fact, not being born might be a kind of happiness, especially for a baby in this apocalyptic world. It's a burden, both for the baby and the parents," Angelica reasoned. Her words carried a certain truth—babies were too vulnerable in these times.

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