RIACMET chapter 121

 

When they pushed open the security door to the second-floor stairwell, they were greeted by a bizarre scene.

The entire second-floor corridor was packed with zombies, stretching all the way to the stairwell at the far end. The doors to the medicine storerooms were wide open, and they were all filled with zombies.

It felt like the entire building was about to collapse.

Strangely, though, none of the zombies were moving. They seemed to be asleep, completely unresponsive to Jiang Nian’s superpower or the team’s flashlights. With their heads tilted back and their mouths open, they exhaled slowly.

From their gaping mouths, thin white mist drifted out—soft, glowing, and varying in density.

There were many zombies, and the collective breath they exhaled bathed the entire second floor in a faint, eerie white glow.

The strangest part was that all the mist drifted toward the center of the hallway.

There, a female zombie stood—a disheveled woman in a bloodstained lab coat. Her head was tilted upward, and her mouth was wide open. Unlike the others, however, she was absorbing the mist exhaled by her own kind.

Closest to her were several superpowered zombies.

A strange wave of supernatural energy pulsed from her body. The whole scene was chilling and mysterious—uncanny and deeply unsettling.

“This…hiss…”
Huang Qian took a sharp breath.

“Damn, what kind of power is this? Did she inherit it from the Black Mountain Demon himself?”
Liao Yu muttered under his breath, his face pale with unease.

The rest of the team felt just as creeped out.

The zombies with crystal cores had become weaker because they had been drained of energy.

Zombies grow stronger through the energy stored in their crystal cores. Once that energy is gone, they regress, temporarily reverting to early-stage zombies.

“She’s using her power to forcibly absorb energy from the crystal cores of her own kind, with a layer of mental hypnosis on top,”
Jiang Nian calmly reminded them. This matched what he had suspected earlier. The female zombie’s power was accompanied by a mental attack.

The rest of the team couldn’t sense it thanks to the protective range of Jiang Nian’s ability, but he could feel it clearly when facing her directly.

After a quick analysis, he confirmed that she was using hypnosis to drain their crystal core energy. As long as he didn’t fall under her spell, the situation was under control.

They exchanged signals and glances. Rather than charging in immediately, they held their breath and observed.

The main reason was that this female zombie’s ability was too dangerous. She could hypnotize her own kind and forcibly drain their crystal core energy, completely ignoring the attributes of other powers.

No one knew if she had this ability while she was human or if it mutated after she turned into a zombie.

Everyone considered this possibility, and Zhao Lei whispered,

“If a human had this kind of power, they wouldn’t need to fear zombies anymore. They could just suck ’em dry and wipe them out.”

No matter how strong a zombie was, once its core was drained, it became fragile and easy to kill.

Lu Ningzhou added,

“Right. Besides, zombies don’t have a purification specialist like Brother Nian. They’d have no defense and would just stand there like fuel tanks.”

“…”

The team all agreed that the idea was terrifyingly effective. Jiang Nian agreed, but his mind was already racing in another direction.

This ability was certainly great for weakening high-tier zombies. But even if it could be transplanted, only one person at most would be able to use it.

However, if the energy could be extracted, converted, and studied for the purpose of crystal core transplantation, it could be used to create an army of superpowered humans.

That would be far more valuable.

No matter how powerful a person was, they had limits.

“…”

Jiang Nian’s eyes locked onto the female zombie as thoughts tumbled through his head. A slow excitement began to rise.

A crystal core becomes fragile when its energy is depleted. Likewise, if it’s over-absorbed or compressed beyond its limit, it will explode.

In his past life, there were individuals with superpowers who compressed their crystal cores too much until they self-destructed. Same principle.

However, if the energy extraction hits a critical point and is released again…

Then, it’s no longer just a storage device, but an energy medium.

If the crystal core could freely absorb and release energy, it would function just like a dielectric.

“…”

Everyone else remained silent, still observing.

Jiang Nian swallowed hard, suppressing his rising excitement. He lowered his voice and told his teammates,

“Target the other zombies first. Don’t rush her. I want to see if she can release the energy she absorbed again.”

He needed to make sure this wasn’t just a fluke.

“Absorbed and then released? What do you mean?”

Cheng Jing paused mid-sentence, a realization hitting him like a wave. His breath caught in his throat.

Jiang Nian picked up where he left off:

“Yes. If she can absorb energy from crystal cores and release it, then her crystal core is functioning as an energy medium.”

Seeing the others start to understand, he added,

“I’ll explain more once we’re back aboveground. Long story short, this pretty zombie’s crystal core is extremely important. We have to get it!”

“Got it!”

“Understood!”

“…”

His teammates all nodded in unison. She was that valuable; there was no way they’d let her escape.

“…”

Just then, the mist exhaled by the zombies began to thin and then stopped altogether. Having absorbed a massive amount of energy, the female zombie suddenly turned her head toward them—

—and screamed without warning.

“!!!———”

The sound ripped through the hallway like shattered glass.

Everyone felt a sharp, stabbing pain in their ears. Without Jiang Nian’s protection, they would have been stunned or mind-controlled on the spot.

The shriek was so loud that people aboveground could probably hear it, too.

The zombies, snapped out of their trance, turned their heads toward the team as if they had just woken up from a dream and lunged forward.

Some were still superpowered, but with their energy drained, they were weak and sluggish.

Gunfire and waves of supernatural energy instantly exploded across the corridor.

Even though the female zombie was clearly the leader, her attack type was unique, and Jiang Nian couldn’t counter it directly.

As the other zombies were cut down one by one, the female zombie let out another sharp shriek. Then she raised her hands and placed them on two mutant zombies beside her.

She released the white energy mist she’d absorbed from her palms, injecting it back into the zombies.

“Shit! She can return the energy!”
Liao Yu yelled in shock. It was one thing to guess, but seeing it with his own eyes was something else entirely.

The normally stable crystal core energy could now be drawn in and expelled freely, like internal martial arts in old wuxia dramas.

It was insane.

Bang!

Jiang Nian had seen enough.

He raised his gun and fired straight at the female zombie’s head, interrupting her “casting” mid-channel.

Then, with a spark of joy in his voice, he said,

“All right, let’s do this!”

He raised his weapon again and charged toward the swarm of zombies.

At the same time, the two mutant zombies who had just been recharged underwent visible transformations.

One’s arms mutated into a massive axe and a long blade.

The other’s previously decayed body swelled and hardened at lightning speed.

They roared and charged.

As the zombies activated their powers again, it became harder to aim. Calmly, Jiang Nian fell back into a defensive position, his gaze never leaving the crushed figure of the female zombie now lying on the ground.

That wasn’t just an ordinary crystal core.

It was a turning point for humanity in the apocalypse.

In this moment, he felt an overwhelming sense of responsibility—alongside something else.

That unmistakable feeling…

It was as if he were the protagonist of this story, seizing the initiative and claiming the resources that could change everything.