CHAPTER 1856: CHAPTER 1849: A GOOD "MAN" WHO DOESN’T SMOKE

Tang Ye let out a cold laugh. In just this short amount of time, he had already locked onto all the Level 7 zombies hidden among the crowd. There were fifteen on the surface, while the remaining eight were underground.

In fact, Tang Ye didn’t even need his perception to scan; if someone observed closely, they would notice some clues. The zombies disguised as normal people and real humans behaved differently. Although zombies could disguise themselves, no matter how much they disguised themselves, only a few could change their flesh and blood molecules to emit the blood aura of new humans like the silver-armored zombies. Most zombies could only disguise themselves as normal humans at best, as there is a significant difference between the blood aura of new humans and regular humans.

Ordinary humans can’t work continuously like new humans; they always need rest. But at the Dried Leaves Sanctuary’s construction base, there were no easy tasks. Whether it was carrying sand and cement or moving bricks, it was all physically demanding, and what about those people disguised as zombies?

Their stamina seemed endless; their initial speed remained unchanged even after working long hours without rest, working even more diligently than the typical new human.

Heh.

Tang Ye laughed coldly.

With a wave of his hand, signaling the officer behind him to follow, Tang Ye headed towards the nearest Level 7 zombie.

When Tang Ye first approached, that Level 7 zombie glanced up but quickly lowered its head, pretending it hadn’t seen anything. As Tang Ye reached its side, it worked even harder and faster, to the point where the large shovel it used to shovel the cement was almost leaving afterimages.

Tang Ye quietly gazed at it, not looking away. As time ticked by, perhaps being stared at like this made the zombie feel a bit unnatural; its facial muscles began to twitch slightly.

The officer behind Tang Ye, seeing him staring at this "worker" like this, hurriedly approached, smiling, and said: "Sir, this is one of our construction crew members. Works very diligently, can handle the workload of several others, and eats very little."

"Oh~" Tang Ye chuckled upon hearing this, yet what that laughter held was anyone’s guess.

For ordinary zombies, human food was barely as good as munching on poop; of course, they ate little!

They might not even eat!

Looking at the officer, Tang Ye nodded while smiling and asked: "So, what’s his name?"

"Name..." The officer scratched his head, smiling awkwardly, "I haven’t actually asked......" He turned to the zombie disguised as a human and said: "What’s your name?"

However, this zombie couldn’t speak. After realizing the officer was calling for it, its face showed confusion, tilting its head, not clear if it was nodding or shaking its head.

"What do you mean? Speak!"

The officer’s inquiry embarrasses the zombie. Its mouth opened and closed, emitting a few indistinct syllables before lowering its head again.

"Are you mute?" The officer’s smile stiffened upon seeing this, and instinctively, he reached for the riot stick at his waist used for disciplining workers, but after a glance at Tang Ye, he could only lower his hand. Then Tang Ye said: "Forget it, don’t make things difficult if he doesn’t want to speak."

"Yes, yes." The officer nodded repeatedly, then saw Tang Ye walking towards the next person.

"Work hard; the leadership is kind-hearted; you’re off the hook today." He said this to the zombie before quickly following Tang Ye.

Upon reaching the second zombie worker, the officer immediately spoke up: "Sir, this one is also a capable asset in our construction base, has won the diligence award for several weeks in a row, and is now the team leader of a construction team." As the officer spoke, the second Level 7 zombie disguised as a human seemed to understand he was praising it, lifting its head to flash a stiff smile at him, then nodded towards Tang Ye.

"Hmm, not bad!" Tang Ye said nothing more, just nodded. This Level 7 zombie had been here much longer than the previous one, not only having become a leader but even understanding some human language. However...that’s all there was to it. You’d expect a normal person being praised like this to at least say something humble, right?

This guy just smiled, clearly not one to speak human language.

Patting the shoulder of this Level 7 zombie, Tang Ye smiled to encourage him, then turned towards the third human-disguised zombie.

Arriving in front of the target, this zombie too, like the previous two, was working diligently. But the situation was different, as three workers were heading over to slack off, having seemingly worked a bit and wanting a break next to it. Why? Because where this zombie worked had steel container boxes behind and to the left of it, an ideal spot for slacking off!

Smokin’ a cigarette here is just bliss!

"Damn, I’m exhausted. That work’s brutal."

"Consider yourself lucky. You get food and pay. Back in the day, it’d be a blessing not to be beaten half to death just for a meal, much less getting paid."

"Hey, I’m not complaining!"

"Alright, let’s settle here."

"Here, one each."

"Good stuff, where’d you buy it?"

"Heh, got paid a couple of days back, bought a pack."

"Nice, surprised you’re being so generous, you dog."

"With the mayor’s reforms here, life’s gotten way better. How’s that song go again?... The peasant turns into the master~ become the master~"

"Get lost."

The three workers laughed and cursed while not minding the dust-covered ground as they plopped down, distributing the cigarettes. The man with burn marks on his arm offered a cigarette to another colleague. They didn’t know this ’colleague’ was actually a zombie! It held two large barrels over five feet tall each, filled with water, ready to pour into the machine.

"Hey brother, want a smoke?" The hand holding the cigarette extended towards it, but the zombie acted as if it hadn’t noticed, not even glancing over.

"Hey!" The cigarette man shouted again, but this "person" didn’t budge, not even nodding or shaking its head.

"Take a break, smoke a cigarette," another worker called out. Only then did the zombie glance over, its face expressionless, eyes vacant.

It gazed back and forth between the cigarette man’s face and hand, finally shook its head without a word, and continued with its work.

The man glanced at his two buddies, shrugged, lit his cigarette, and muttered: "In this day and age, a good man who doesn’t smoke? That’s odd..."