A heavy, prolonged silence weighed down so much that it almost became suffocating. Xia Na's words, and the lifelessness in her eyes, immediately plunged Ling Mo's heart into the abyss, and his mood became extremely somber.
"I'd rather die... than become a zombie..." Xia Na said in a somewhat dazed low voice, slowly standing up while leaning on the bed. Meanwhile, Liu Yuhao stared at her blankly, obviously shocked to the core.
When she was knocked out, Xia Na's long knife had been left behind, but she quickly turned her gaze towards Liu Yuhao, and a sudden flash of determination appeared in her eyes. She swiftly reached out and snatched the kitchen knife from Liu Yuhao's hand.
But as soon as she moved, Ling Mo snapped back to reality and grabbed the knife back. Xia Na was exhausted and couldn't resist Ling Mo's strength.
"I don't want to turn into a zombie! I don't want to become one of those monsters!" Xia Na's eyes became scattered again, and she frenziedly shoved Ling Mo, trying to grab the knife from his hand.
However, Ling Mo fiercely threw the kitchen knife to the ground and grabbed Xia Na's shoulders tightly, saying sternly, "Don't be foolish! You haven't turned yet, right? There must be a way!"
"Ah! Give me the knife, give me the knife!"
Xia Na was beyond reasoning, and she screamed hysterically. Ling Mo, hopeless, knocked her out with a quick gesture to the back of her head and then caught her limp body in his embrace.
"Infection... Xia Na..." Liu Yuhao, shivering, stood up and looked at Xia Na, who had fainted in Ling Mo's arms, unable to form a full sentence out of disbelief.
Even Wang Cheng's face turned ashen as hope left him. Without Xia Na, his chances of living that parasitic life again were almost nil.
"Could Xia Na turn into... something like Lu Xin?" Liu Yuhao suddenly turned his gaze to Ling Mo, muttering the question.
Indeed, Lu Xin's appearance was more terrifying than that of zombies. If it really came to that, let alone Xia Na, even Ling Mo felt he couldn't accept it. Seeing Liu Yuhao's nearly collapsing gaze, Ling Mo sighed inwardly and slowly said, "Calm down. The one who's suffering the most right now is Xia Na. Don't you want to think of a way for her?"
"A way?" Jolted by Ling Mo's words, Liu Yuhao regained some awareness, but tears streamed down involuntarily, "What can be done..."
"According to Lu Xin's condition, and the time we parted with him, we can roughly estimate that symptoms appear about half an hour after infection. In any case, try to think of something within this half-hour, it's always better to try than to just sit and wait for death." Compared to Liu Yuhao, who was nearly on the verge of a mental breakdown, Ling Mo was much calmer, primarily because he had a Mutated Zombie, Ye Lian, by his side.
Hence, in Ling Mo's view, there was still hope in becoming a zombie, but if the whole body decomposed, then there truly was no salvation.
"Maybe... we could amputate this hand..." Liu Yuhao suddenly had a ruthless glint in his eyes as he suggested.
Ling Mo shook his head: "It's useless, too much time has passed."
"Then what else can we do?" Liu Yuhao's expression became bleak once again.
While Ling Mo's mind was immediately starting to analyze the situation. Lu Xin was infected by a mutated zombie and in the inability to withstand the virus' intensity, it led to her entire body rotting. By the time it reached Xia Na, it should be considered a secondary infection; the virus she received was diluted in Lu Xin's body. Even so, the concentration was still higher than that found in ordinary zombies.
Could Xia Na's body withstand it? The answer was unknown.
Ling Mo looked down at Xia Na in his arms, with a hint of reluctance in his heart. The words he had just said were merely comforting; in reality, he also didn't know how to stop Xia Na's mutation. In fact, he was clear in his heart that Xia Na would definitely mutate; the only difference was whether she would turn into a regular zombie or something like Lu Xin.
As Ling Mo was caught in a dilemma, Xia Na gradually came to her senses. However, in her semi-conscious state, instead of immediately pushing Ling Mo away, she seemed to be drawn to something and burrowed into Ling Mo's embrace.
Ling Mo was startled and quickly looked down at Xia Na, then realized he had underestimated the virus's infective ability. Xia Na's eyes were half-open, with a clear hint of blood. She had already started mutating… From the moment Lu Xin used her blood to infect her with the virus until now when the symptoms of mutation appeared, less than twenty minutes had passed.
Liu Yuhao also noticed Xia Na's anomaly. He quickly reached out to pull her arm: "Xia Na, how are you?"
But Xia Na didn't respond to him at all and instead clung tightly to Ling Mo's chest, her other hand reaching straight out.
Ling Mo's scalp tingled, and he hurriedly pushed Xia Na away, but his clothes were already torn. The pushed-away Xia Na opened her blood-ridden eyes completely and lunged again at him, her mouth mumbling unclearly: "Give me…"
In desperation, Ling Mo tried to control Xia Na, and although not entirely successful, he still caused Xia Na's movements to pause momentarily.
And in that brief fraction of a second, Ling Mo understood through Xia Na's intense desire what she really wanted…
Brain gel! Xia Na actually wanted the brain gel hidden within his arms!
"Xia Na!" Liu Yuhao was shocked by Xia Na's behavior, and Ling Mo quickly grabbed Xia Na's arm, pressing her to the bed next to him. As he bent down to restrain her, he blocked the view of Liu Yuhao and Wang Cheng, and quickly took out the gel with the lowest concentration of the virus from his embrace and stuffed it into Xia Na's mouth.
"Mmm…"
Unlike Ye Lian, Xia Na was still rational, but controlled by instinct, a crazy longing for the gel had emerged. Now that she had consumed the gel, she immediately calmed down, lying on the bed with her arms spread out, her bloodshot eyes looking at Ling Mo with a dazed expression.
"How is she!" Liu Yuhao came over anxiously, but as soon as he saw Xia Na's eyes, his heart sank and he almost lost his footing.
Meanwhile, Ling Mo was nervously watching Xia Na, observing her reaction. If it weren't for Xia Na's craving for the gel, Ling Mo wouldn't have considered this possibility. Fight poison with poison? What if it accelerated Xia Na's mutation? With no certainty, he dared not try it.
But since Xia Na was longing for it, and this deep desire came from her instincts, it indicated that the gel was definitely beneficial to her.
Could it neutralize the toxins in her body and restore her to normal? As this thought occurred to him, Ling Mo's mood immediately became excited.