Before Zhang Yuan finished his words, Jiao Lizhi had already gone into the clock tower building, chasing after the zombie.
Seeing this, Qin Luzi said, "Vice-captain, I will follow her."
At this moment, the members were fighting against the zombies coming from the school and outside the school. With them being trapped in the middle from two sides, they really couldn’t follow Jiao Lizhi.
So, letting Qin Luzi go with her was the best decision at the moment. Zhang Yuan nodded and said, "Keep her safe."
"Understood."
After he said this, he focused his energy on his feet. With his wind-type ability, he could enhance his speed and catch up with his sister-in-law.
Meanwhile, Jiao Lizhi had been chasing the zombie until they reached the top of the clock tower. When they stood outside the door that led to the clock’s engine room, the zombie stopped running and turned to face her.
With it standing there blocking the room, Jiao Lizhi’s eyes flickered with suspicion. By right, zombies wouldn’t be able to think like humans unless they were above level four or had a special ability.
From what she saw, this zombie did have a mutated ice-type ability. But only those zombies with psychic-type abilities were able to regain their memories from their human life when they were under level four.
When her gaze met with the zombie’s, she noticed panic and anxiety in that pair of black eyes. Seeing this, she didn’t move and asked, "What are you hiding?"
The zombie lowered its body and took a battle stance as it let out a low, threatening growl, "Grhhh...roar!"
Narrowing her eyes, Jiao Lizhi gripped her weapon tighter, ready to strike. But before she could attack, she heard faint sobbing voices coming from behind the door.
At this moment, Qin Luzi arrived and stood behind her. When he checked his map, he was surprised to find so many survivors in this clock tower. Since this was a school, the survivors inside might be children.
When the zombie saw him, it let out a roar, as if warning them to leave.
"Roar!"
Seeing this, Jiao Lizhi thought for a moment before she said, "We won’t harm the children. If you want them to survive, you have to let me and my team take them away. They can’t stay here."
"Roar!!"
The zombie let out another warning roar. This time, Jiao Lizhi was sure that this zombie hadn’t regained its memories from its life as a human or developed any intelligence. All its behavior was driven by the strongest instinct it had before turning into a zombie.
Most people who turned into zombies would yearn for power or wish that they would survive, which made the zombies emerging from these people have stronger abilities and survival instincts.
But this was the first time she met a zombie who was led by its instinct to protect children. When she thought about this, she felt respect for this teacher. Even after his death, he was still thinking about his students and protecting them.
"Sister-in-law, we can’t keep this zombie," Qin Luzi said.
Jiao Lizhi nodded, agreeing with him. Even though she felt sympathy and even respect for this teacher, she wouldn’t, and couldn’t, leave this level-two zombie alive.
No one knew what the future held or whether this zombie would continue following its instinct to protect the children.
Even if that were the case, one fact remained. This zombie wouldn’t prey on the children, but it would continue killing humans, driven by its instinct to kill and eat human flesh.
After making up her mind, Jiao Lizhi raised her hand and several ice needles flew toward the zombie. Seeing this, the zombie raised its arm to block the attack.
Stab! Stab! Stab!
Unlike before, the ice needles didn’t injure the zombie but drilled into the zombie’s arm instead. The moment the ice needles entered the zombie’s body, a layer of ice suddenly appeared on its arm and spread at a fast speed.
"Roar!"
The zombie let out a panicked roar as it thrashed around. It even tried to bite off its shoulder to stop the ice from spreading further. But before it could do that, half of its body had already turned into an ice sculpture.
When its whole body had turned into ice, Jiao Lizhi looked at the zombie’s eyes and said, "Thank you for protecting the children, Teacher. It’s time for you to rest. Farewell."
Crash! Prank!
As soon as she finished her words, she swung her scythe and beheaded the zombie. As the head rolled on the ground, the zombie’s frozen body also broke like a mirror as it fell to the ground.
Watching this from the side, Qin Luzi was stunned into silence. He never expected Jiao Lizhi to grow so much in such a short period. When she first joined their team, she was already stronger than other ability-users.
While her power was strong, the most amazing part of her was her imagination. She always found a way to maximize her ability, using less energy to deal heavier damage. This fighting style was so similar to his captain’s.
After killing the zombie, Jiao Lizhi picked up the crystal core, opened the door, and walked in. The moment they entered the room, both she and Qin Luzi were stunned by what they saw. Besides the children, there were several adults, who were the teachers and school staff.
Inside the room, the rancid stench was so thick that it was nauseating. Besides the human corpses, there were several buckets of dirty water.
Seeing two strangers entering the room, the adults quickly hid the children behind them and stared at them vigilantly.
Noticing this, Jiao Lizhi said, "We are a mercenary team and came here to clear out the zombies. You are safe now."
After a moment of silence, one of the teachers asked hoarsely, "A-are you sent by the government?"
Jiao Lizhi looked at them, flicked her hand, and the ice scythe disappeared.