Chapter 653: Zombies Evolve in Groups
“Little Mint, can you take out the crystal core from its head and show it to me?”
An Ran leaned toward the peephole again, giving a quiet instruction to Little Mint, who had been sitting silently nearby.
The wood-type zombie outside was still weak—it had only just evolved—so extracting its crystal core was well within Little Mint’s ability.
Her reasoning was simple: based on Little Mint’s current power, she could extract biological material from a distance—such as human brain tissue, the cores of mutated plants, or the crystal nuclei inside an ordinary zombie’s skull. But her ability had limits.
If the target’s ability level was higher, or if the mutated plant was too large, or the zombie too advanced, Little Mint wouldn’t be able to pull out anything at all.
For example, she couldn’t extract anything from Zhan Lian’s or An Ran’s brains.
Little Mint stood, walked to the door, and placed both hands flat against it. Within seconds, a green crystal nucleus—cat’s-eye bright—rested in her palm. She handed it to An Ran.
That confirmed it: this wood-type zombie was newly evolved and not particularly strong.
But An Ran knew better than to relax. If a freshly mutated wood-type zombie could already disrupt her link with all the plants in the building, what would happen once it evolved further? The stronger it became, the more terrifying its abilities would be—and for An Ran, that would mean danger beyond control.
This kind of zombie had to be killed early. If one ever reached the level of the Flesh Flower in Xiang City, no one would be able to handle it.
After the wood-type zombie outside died, An Ran felt her connection with the surrounding plants begin to return—but only slightly. She could sense a small area just beyond the doorway again, while everything else remained in darkness.
Frowning, she murmured, “I have a bad feeling. There might be more than one wood-type zombie inside this hotel.”
“Zombies evolve in groups now?” Zhao Ru drew a deep breath.
Northern crises always came in swarms—either none at all or a whole string of them. The Grand Fortune Hotel was already a mess, and now wood-type zombies were appearing on top of it. How was anyone supposed to survive this?
She considered leaving altogether. Staying inside was like waiting to die. But when she walked over to the chained window and looked down, she froze.
Outside, at the base of the Grand Fortune Hotel, a massive wall of ice had been erected. Soldiers and ability users were reinforcing it—obviously determined to keep everyone inside.
Below, Jiang Peng stood near An Ran’s window, holding up a bright red banner that flapped against the snow-white wind. The words stood out vividly:
Goddess, you must make it out alive!
The people outside clearly knew what was happening. Every exit on the lower floors had been sealed with metal plates and chains. No one was getting out—not even Chen Chaofa. Unless his corpse was found, no one would be allowed to leave, not even An Ran herself.
So Jiang Peng could only encourage her this way—through that single banner in the snow.
Zhao Ru sighed and slumped into the chair at the vanity. “We’re trapped. No way out.”
“An Ran, An Ran—your husband’s here!”
Liu Shasha peeked through the peephole and waved frantically for An Ran to come over.
An Ran pushed her gently aside. Before she could even look, she heard Zhan Lian knocking firmly on the door.