Although it was gradually getting dark, it was still early. Jiang Xing sat down to rest at the original spot for a while, feeling that her body didn't hurt as much.
She looked at the corpse lying on the ground below, then turned her head to examine the corpse with the long tongue.
This time, she turned on her mobile phone light and closely observed this different kind of corpse.
To be honest, at first glance, there was nothing peculiar about this face, and with the signature long tongue, her first thought was of the cannibals from crisis management games.
But obviously, this thing didn't look that ferocious; otherwise, she would have been scared stiff long ago.
Perhaps it was because she had been attacked by them too many times before, but looking at this deformed corpse with a shriveled brain, Jiang Xing felt nothing.
She activated the camera function, took a few photos of this "long-tongued corpse," and began to record her observations of this corpse.
According to these two observations, ordinary corpses seem to have vision, hearing, and smell, but their sense of smell appears weak, mainly relying on vision and hearing to find humans.
As for this long-tongued corpse, based on her previous experience in novels and games, it should be an evolved version of the ordinary corpse, and it even showed signs of heading in the direction of a predator.
She did not rule out the possibility that this thing was moving according to instinct and the occasional arm or leg swing already didn't fit the structure of a human anymore.
As for the brain...
Jiang Xing accidentally noticed that a small bottle of mineral water was tightly grasped by the hand pierced by the long tongue. In the gap where the brain should have been, she was surprised to find that, unlike the previous corpses she had seen, the bones inside the skull were all broken, and in the gaps of the broken bones, a shriveled brain could be faintly seen.
She thought, the wound caused by a small knife wasn't that deep, so how did it almost die just by her using a mobile phone to hit it...
It turns out it wasn't that she smashed it to death, but rather its own brain proactively ran out...
So, is this really an evolved version following the predator path?
After all, as a typical zombie, the three iconic traits of predators are: exposed brain, long tongue, and big claws. The impression this gives is too real; it's hard for Jiang Xing to imagine otherwise.
In other words, the one-eyed zombie she saw earlier was also evolving toward the predator, but that one only had a true long tongue, and its claws were still not fully formed.
Jiang Xing got up, and that one-eyed zombie seemed to have been stunned by the light from her mobile phone!
With a testing mind, Jiang Xing pointed her mobile light at the zombie below and turned it on abruptly.
But, disappointingly, aside from the corpse on the ground moving slightly, there was no adverse reaction, nor was that one-eyed zombie particularly sensitive to the light.
Jiang Xing had to bend down and prepare to deal with the body. She guessed the body must weigh a lot, and even if it didn't look too realistic, she was sure she had already lost her sense of smell.
She grabbed one of the corpse's legs, intending to drag it, but unexpectedly, she ended up pulling the entire leg off.
Jiang Xing: "…Do I really have such great strength?"
Of course, the answer was no.
It turns out the one-eyed zombie had just pierced through the back leg of this corpse a few times, and the corpse's body was already rotten and weak, so it was easy for Jiang Xing to pull the leg off.
This leg still resembled a human's, and Jiang Xing casually tossed it into the ventilation duct next to her.
She saw the zombies below suddenly start moving, and they began to fight over that leg.
Do corpses prey on each other? No, they don't. Clearly, under the feet of these corpses, there was a corpse that she had killed before, and that body was not bitten or chewed.
Could it be that this "long-tongued corpse" was evolving? If they devour this type of corpse, will they also evolve?
Thinking this, Jiang Xing silently put down the corpse. One "long-tongued corpse" was terrifying enough; if another appeared, it would definitely be unmanageable.
With no other choice, she could only cooperate with the corpse for now.
But just waiting there wasn't an option. The underground parking lot was vast, and the ventilation ducts were surely more than one opening. Looking at the gradually darkening sky, Jiang Xing decided to change locations.
She was about to leave when her phone suddenly vibrated with a notification. She clicked to check and found that someone was messaging her at this time — her friend.
Jiang Xing hesitantly decided to answer, then realized it was indeed from the local security chief, Uncle Chen.
Previously, she had seen the security guards protecting those who were evacuated entering the shelter. And when the group went silent earlier, she thought they were all dead, not expecting to see any signs of life.
Though she had no idea how Uncle Chen was doing, at least it seemed he was still fine. He liked chatting and was always friendly with everyone who entered and left the shelter. If he saw someone carrying a bag of fruit, he would ask if there were any apples or other fruit, giving off a very easygoing vibe.
After some catching up, Jiang Xing learned that the last few messages she sent were all received. Even if it was just good luck, hearing from a familiar voice gave her a moment of relief.
It turned out Uncle Chen was stationed at the underground warehouse entrance because he didn't get the order to retreat to the shelter. He had been driving alone around the shelter entrance, blocking the path with some corpses tied to the car bumper. Once he saw that all was calm, he parked the car, got out, and attempted to make contact with the outside world.
All the communication methods were down, but when he saw Jiang Xing's message, he knew she was trapped in the underground parking lot, and that was his concern.
His car was parked in the parking lot, and although most of the nearby corpses had wandered off, from what Uncle Chen described, the underground lot was still teeming with danger. Being a veteran, he was used to dealing with risky situations, but he wanted to meet up with Jiang Xing.
The ventilation duct exit where Jiang Xing was located was roughly in the middle of the parking lot, while Uncle Chen's car was positioned at the far right side of the underground parking lot, close to where Xiaojin and the others had mentioned.
The simplest and most effective way was to lure the corpses to the far left.
And the best executor of this task was Jiang Xing, who was already in the ventilation duct.
If it had been earlier, Jiang Xing might have readily agreed, but as she held her phone, her mind was in turmoil.
If she wanted to leave this place, leave the company, she would definitely need to get to the car. But who could guarantee that, after getting the car, they wouldn't just abandon her?
She knew these people were not like Mo Xing. They were generally kind-hearted, but at the end of the day, everyone was just ordinary colleagues and acquaintances. There wasn't a deep emotional bond, so even if they drove off directly, she wouldn't be able to stop them.
Yet, there was no better solution at the moment.
Jiang Xing remained silent, looking at the corpse struggling nearby, then at the corpse down below, and could only make up her mind and take a gamble.