Mutant!
Wenya's information combined together looked just like the rumored mutants of his past life.
Even though they weren't Awakeners, they possessed extraordinary abilities.
Such people were extremely rare among humans, with only one in ten million possibly appearing.
Actually, some speculated in the previous life that even before the Apocalypse Game was loaded, these people already existed.
Usually, these individuals were Taoist priests, shamans, or people with super-sensory abilities.
Unlike Awakeners, who possessed powerful physical and supernatural abilities, mutants often had mutations in their willpower attribute.
Their willpower could naturally exceed the normal human limit of 10 points without any enhancement.
According to the system's judgment rules, any single attribute that exceeds 10 points without enhancement classifies one as a mutant.
After the apocalypse, mutants would initially display as level 1 in their level information, different from the ordinary player's level 0.
Moreover, because they weren't trained, they couldn't control their mental power, causing it to overflow.
This was why Lin An felt the weak psionic fluctuations.
As mutants, they lacked great strength but possessed powerful mental power.
Their mental power, being innate, was not restricted by the system, allowing them to freely provide it to other Awakeners, acting as "power banks."
Mental power was crucial for combat endurance.
Take Lin An for example.
His awakening talent currently only had "Strength Burst."
As an auxiliary talent, merely a first-order Awakener talent skill, it could temporarily provide him with an all-attribute boost of +2.
Players gained all-attribute +1 with each level-up.
Awakeners gained all-attribute +2 with each rank-up.
This meant that his strength, when activating his skill, would increase by the equivalent of two player levels.
Or one Awakener rank.
This highlighted the strength of talent skills.
Although "Strength Burst" was an auxiliary talent consuming minimal mental power, his current 14-point willpower (mental power) would be exhausted after about four consecutive uses.
For offensive skills like Lava Ray or Lightning Strike, ordinary Awakeners would exhaust their mental power after two uses, relying on physical combat afterward.
However, with a mutant providing mental power support in the rear, a fully-powered Awakener would gain more than an additional rank's worth of strength!
So during the apocalypse, such people were highly sought after by various factions.
In the apocalypse, nothing was more important than strength.
Fortunately or unfortunately, no one wanted to be someone else's tool willingly.
Once discovered, mutants were often confined and monitored.
Fortunately, they would be protected as precious "resources" in the apocalypse.
Unfortunately, mutants would lose their freedom of will entirely.
Speaking of which, Lin An himself, in a sense, was also a mutant after his rebirth.
Before awakening, his willpower attribute had reached 12 points.
Of course, whether Wenya was truly a mutant was still Lin An's guess.
Rather than guessing, he might as well take action directly.
Without hesitation, Lin An turned off the Judgement Eye and started walking back.
The distance between them was only about 300 meters.
With his current speed, it wouldn't take long.
He always had the idea of building his own force.
Not only was establishing a safe zone crucial for surviving in the Apocalypse Game, but after three months of the apocalypse, the Apocalypse Game would assign tasks to players who had established safe zones.
Completing these tasks would enhance their strength.
Such tasks usually required significant manpower and resources, which solo players could hardly complete alone.
If Wenya were confirmed to be a mutant, he would naturally bring her under his command.
With a mutant's inclusion, not only would his strength significantly increase, but it would also virtually boost the strength of all the Awakeners in his faction by an entire rank.
A potential mutant was worth his action.
...
On the car roof, Li Zhiping stared straight at Wenya, who looked cautious.
He opened his mouth, making incomprehensible growling sounds from his throat.
His bloodshot eyes bulged.
It had been seven minutes since he was infected with the zombie virus.
With his weak willpower and physical fitness, he was on the verge of losing his sanity.
"Itchy…so itchy…"
Li Zhiping instinctively repeated the simple words, frantically scratching at his body with his hands.
His nails tore through his skin.
A large piece of flesh was scraped off, falling onto the car roof.
As if he couldn't feel the pain, he scratched faster and faster, seemingly deriving pleasure from it.
One piece, two pieces.
Pieces of skin fell like paper scraps.
Wenya suppressed her terror, clutching the small folding knife tightly in her right hand.
She instinctively stepped back but found no escape route.
"Roar!"
The zombies below smelled the scent of flesh and blood, growing more frenzied.
Wenya bit her lip hard, her delicate skin devoid of any blood color, her face pale.
From the moment Li Zhiping asked her to check his wound, she had some inkling of this moment.
Fortunately, she grabbed this bunch of keys while escaping.
The keys were in a bunch, with a small folding knife attached.
This half-palm-length tool knife was the only weapon she could find on the car roof.
"Ahhhhh!"
Li Zhiping, with large patches of skin peeled off, suddenly let out a wail. A foul stench of decay emanated from him.
Bones creaked, and in an instant, he transformed into a zombie.
"Roar!"
His eyes bulged.
As a zombie, Li Zhiping's mouth opened wide, his lips tearing apart as he roared and lunged at Wenya.
Crouch!
Wenya hurriedly crouched down, trying to dodge the bite.
But with no combat experience despite her regular fitness, she only managed to barely turn aside.
For an ordinary person, staying rational in the face of a zombie attack was already commendable.
"Bang!"
Wenya couldn't fully dodge and was directly knocked down on the car roof by the sudden outburst of Li Zhiping.
Her back hit the car roof with a dull thud.
Under the immense force, her fair skin turned purple and blue, and her shoulder blade even slightly cracked.
The searing pain.
Wenya groaned, her eyes resolute.
Unlike those who would freeze in fear, she gripped the knife tightly in her right hand, desperately stabbing it into the back of Li Zhiping's head.
The foul-smelling mouth was right in front of her, and Li Zhiping's blood-red eyes were filled with the desire to feed.
"Shh."
The tool knife plunged into the back of Li Zhiping's head.
The blade penetrated from the vulnerable area above the neck, the only part not protected by the skull.
Like a machine shutting down.
The zombie Li Zhiping's body stiffened, collapsing dead in an instant.
Wenya, barely surviving, struggled to push Li Zhiping's body away, gasping for breath.
Her chest heaved, drenched in cold sweat.
Her forehead, covered in sweat, was tangled with disheveled hair.
She didn't care about tidying it up, feeling a deep sense of lingering fear.
Just a little bit more, and she would have been devoured by the zombie.
Even the most brutal method of death would be minor compared to this cruel fate.
Wenya, feeling weak, wobbled as she tried to stand up.
Her shoulder blade ached intensely, making her feel extremely fragile.
"Bang!"
"Roar!"
A sudden change occurred.
The space on the car roof was already cramped.
After Li Zhiping's death, blood flowed all over the car roof.
In her dazed state, Wenya lost her balance as she tried to stand, falling onto the car roof.
"Ah!"
Wenya cried out in pain.
The zombies below, like sharks smelling blood, frantically grabbed at her hair. Her hair, along with her scalp, was being torn.
Like a drowning person being dragged underwater.
Wenya struggled desperately, but the blood-slicked car roof was too slippery.
In the blink of an eye, half her body was dragged off the car roof.
Her eyes showed despair and unwillingness.
The zombie's mouth was inches away.