CHAPTER 229: CHAPTER 229: THE SPECIAL ZOMBIE

Leng Pan moved in tandem with Lu Zhen. As soon as the monster touched the wall of fire, she swept her arms, water crystallizing into jagged spears that shot forward, piercing the creature’s limbs.

It staggered, and huge wounds the size of baseball formed on its limbs. But its wounds healed unnaturally fast, sealing with crackling violet sparks.

"Regeneration ability." Leng Pan hissed, thinking that she had a similar ability, it just didn’t work that first or efficiently.

"Baby, look at the glowing shard of crystal in its chest. Maybe we should aim for that. After all, this all started because of it." Lu Zhen was just fumbling in the dark but he believed he was up to something.

"Okay, try to distract it while I take action.

I should use the purification water now." Leng Pan said as she felt that her husband made sense.

Lu Zhen adjusted instantly, his flames condensing into a spear of molten fire. He hurled it with a roar, striking the creature square in the torso. The shard embedded within its chest flared, momentarily destabilized.

It seemed that his suggestion was right. That shard was like the heart or life force of the monster.

With his attack providing a distraction, Leng Pan seized the opening. Water surged upward from the pipes beneath the lab, wrapping the creature in a spiraling torrent. She clenched her fists, freezing the water solid.

She had a higher affinity with the water element than before since she found that crystal shard in the forest.

She had already realized that even in this abandoned town, there was still running water.

After she had immobilized the monster, she formed a shorter and thinner water arrow using the purification mist from her body.

She then drove it through the ice and pierced the shard crystal through the center.

It looked like she had history with the crystal shard because it didn’t resist.

The zombie howled like a trapped beast and tried to break out of the ice.

Leng Pan saw this as an opportunity and shouted at her husband, "Now."

Lu Zhen didn’t waste time as he slammed his fist into the frozen prison, fire erupting like a volcanic blast from his clenched fist.

Steam exploded outward, and the creature shrieked in agony. The shard within its chest shattered, scattering fragments across the floor.

The body collapsed, twitching once before lying still.

Only then did Leng Pan and her husband get a chance to examine the creature they had just fought a fierce battle with.

It was hard to explain what it was originally, but it sure ended up as a very evolved and unusual zombie.

"I think this was a failed attempt of merging a human with a special meteorite crystal." Lu Zhen states his observation but this only alarms Leng Pan.

"This lab looks like it has been buried here for many years. Also, the experiments had to have been ongoing for longer than that.

How did the people involved get their hands on such a special meteorite when the meteor shower that brought the gas and meteorites turning people into zombies or giving them superpowers only happened a few weeks ago?" This was a question that Leng Pan was eager to find the answer to.

For a long moment, silence reigned. No one knew what to say.

Leng Pan’s breath came in sharp bursts, her arms trembling from exertion. On the other hand, Lu Zhen leaned heavily against the wall, flames dimming to faint embers on his hands.

They were both spent. As it turned out, they weren’t that strong after all. There were things that were much stronger than them.

When their eyes met, neither spoke. But in that silence, an unspoken truth settled between them: the apocalypse wasn’t an accident.

It was a repeat of what happened in the ancient times when the high-tech world collapsed. Only, this time the instigators might be the awakened traitors who collaborated with aliens to wipe out humanity.

Someone had known. Someone had prepared. And this lab was proof.

Leng Pan bent down and picked up one of the shard fragments. It pulsed faintly in her palm, as if whispering to her about the power of awakening. The power of a destiny that tied her ancient past to this world falling into ruin.

Leng Pan’s jaw tightened and her fists clenched involuntarily. "We can’t let anyone else find this place."

If someone else found out about this lab, things could take a worse turn for all survivors.

Lu Zhen nodded with a grim expression, always listening to his wife, "Then we’ll burn it down when we’re done."

They both looked at the evolved zombie that had nearly torn through their defenses that lay sprawled in a grotesque heap, its body collapsing into ash-like fragments after Lu Zhen’s decisive strike and the shattering of the crystal shard that pulsed in its chest.

"We were lucky this time," he muttered, a low chuckle leaving his lips despite the blood on his knuckles. "If it had been just a bit faster... "

"Don’t say such unlucky things." Leng Pan didn’t like to hear her husband say something that might suggest misfortune.

She looked at him and realized that he had injured his knuckles and there were grazes in his arms.

She didn’t know whether they were from the zombies but she didn’t want to risk him, so she took out a bottle of spiritual spring water and used it as a disinfectant before giving him the rest to drink.

He started to feel his energy restore itself at a fast speed. She also drank some of the spiritual spring water before taking out some bandages to tend to Lu Zhen’s wounds.

She bandaged him quickly, her fingers precise.

As she tied a bow knot, Lu Zhen let out a sigh and leaned back harder against the wall. The sound of stone grinding echoed, and to their surprise, the panel he rested against gave way with a deep rumble. Dust fell in a choking cloud as a section of the wall slid open, revealing darkness beyond.

Both their instincts flared as they started at the passage that had appeared.

Lu Zhen frowned, standing straighter now despite the wound. His hand instinctively went to the jade pendant hanging at his neck, it was the same pendant transformed from a crystal shard.

At that moment, it wàs producing a slight vibration and glow as if resonating with the newly revealed entrance.

The air from the passage was stale, metallic, carrying with it the faint hum of long-forgotten machinery.

Leng Pan was about to step into the passage but Lu Zhen stopped her.

"Wait," Lu Zhen whispered. His pendant pulsed faintly with a soft green glow, casting eerie light on the walls. The corridor ahead responded with a low vibration, as if the structure itself was recognizing him or the pendant.

Leng Pan’s brows furrowed. "This place is different from the lab we have just destroyed."

"I can feel a hum deep in my blood." Lu Zhen said softly. His voice held an edge of unease.

This was new territory to both of them even with the memories they had regained.

"I’ve heard whispers from my grandfather before about hidden facilities the family once oversaw... I always thought they were made up stories meant to give the Lu family more prestige." Lu Zhen added, "Now it seemed it was true. But what has this got to do with the experiments in the lab?"

Leng Pan said nothing, she didn’t know what to say, but she drew her weapon and her grip on her weapon tightened. She didn’t like unknowns.

Together, they stepped into the corridor.

The deeper they went, the more obvious it became that this was no ordinary ruin. The walls were lined with dormant screens and sealed panels, their edges glowing faintly as if their energy reserves had been waiting for decades.

They reached a door at the end, smooth and seamless except for a recessed slot in its center. The jade pendant around Lu Zhen’s neck vibrated more violently, pulling toward the door as if magnetized.

He exchanged a glance with Leng Pan. "The pendant is probably the key." Lu Zhen said as he tried to hold on to the pendant.

"Then try it," Leng Pan was impatient to find out what was on the other side.

Lu Zhen took off the pendant and pressed it into the slot. Instantly, green light surged across the door, forming intricate patterns that looked both technological and arcane. But nothing happened. The glowing lines flickered, stuttered, then faded to red.

A monotone mechanical voice crackled to life:

"Authorization incomplete. Bloodline verification required."

Leng Pan’s eyes sharpened. "Bloodline? What the heck is that?"

Lu Zhen sighed, even though he was skeptical, he was already pulling out a dagger.

He pricked his finger and let a drop of blood fall onto the glowing lines.

The reaction was immediate. The door blazed with light, the runes rearranging into a crest Leng Pan didn’t recognize but Lu Zhen paled when he saw it.

"That’s... the ancient crest of the Li family. It hasn’t been used in generations or at least that what I thought."