Chapter 120: The Sacrificial Victim

"Please..."

Her voice trembled. She looked ahead with a mixture of fear and despair, like a star student who had suddenly failed an exam, unable to face the reality before her.

"Tell me, what did you go through? Do you remember how you became like this?"

Attempting to save her was meaningless. Her body had undergone a fundamental transformation; Fan Li even noticed that the damaged layer of flesh was regenerating at a remarkable speed. This meant she even possessed the ability to self-regenerate.

The girl recalled something vaguely, and bloody tears streamed from her eyes.

"We encountered a zombie. Not a normal one—it looked like a centipede, with seven or eight of its own kind connected behind it. They were joined together, crawling rapidly across the ground..."

"Many people died..."

"Officer, the carpenter, the owner of the flower shop... they trapped it in the basement. We all took part. Even though it was disgusting, we had to kill it, or we would all die!"

"We were cleaning up the battlefield when I smelled something delicious. I couldn't control myself; I snuck it away. I... I ate that thing. Then it felt like I was drunk. In a daze, I heard people crying and screaming..."

"I swear, I didn't know anything. I must have been crazy back then!"

They had worked together to stop a monster and discovered an irregular gelatinous substance inside its body. Without being cooked, it possessed a strong, seductive quality that compelled ordinary people to swallow it.

Fan Li’s expression remained unchanged. Combining this with the knowledge he had accumulated, he analyzed the entire process of the girl’s transformation. It seemed that after consuming it, her "evolution" had failed, leaving her in a half-human, half-monster state. As for the cries she heard in her stupor, it was highly likely that she had massacred a survivor base while in an unconscious state.

The number of people she had killed was even higher than he had imagined.

During her narration, the wound on the girl’s neck had already healed for the most part. However, dense, writhing granulation tissue had sprouted from the wound, turning over and over as if something were gestating within. The wounds on her slashed legs had also stopped bleeding; they had already scabbed over, sealing the injuries.

He could not delay any longer. The girl was regenerating at an alarming rate, and it was hard to predict whether her consciousness would descend into madness again once her injuries were fully healed.

Fan Li’s expression did not waver, but his gaze turned icy. He whispered, "It’s all over now. This is just a nightmare."

He raised his katana. This time, Fan Li did not show mercy. Her head fell directly to the ground, and the last two bloody tears slid from the corners of her eyes.

[Kill Value +50]

Fan Li saw the notification for the kill value, the corner of his mouth curling into a smile that could not hide his sarcasm and bitterness.

"Compared to monsters, do you prefer these mutants who still retain a thread of humanity?"

Even though she had mutated, her true strength had not reached the level of a suffocating threat, yet the Monster Manual still granted a substantial 50 points of kill value. But for Fan Li, this was within his expectations.

In this battle, Fan Li had gathered much important information, but the darkness and corruption underlying it all gave him a headache. By consuming the irregular gel, humans could gain the ability to fight monsters. But like a watershed in life, choosing the right or wrong path led to two very different outcomes.

The wrong path led to what the girl had become: possessing traits of both humanity and slaughter, with the ability to spread the zombie virus. Furthermore, the incubation period for infection would decrease, naturally increasing the rate of transmission.

One wave had barely subsided when another rose. Fan Li felt as if several factions were rising all around him, yet as the former masters of this land, humans had become the weakest party.

Speaking of monsters, was he not a monster himself compared to ordinary people?

Possessing the ability to see in the dark and an invulnerable body, unlike the failed case of this girl, he was perhaps a successful example. A "winner" who had obtained miraculous power while still holding onto his humanity.

But this was hard to be happy about.

The bloody text scrolled before his eyes once more.

[Seal?]

"Refuse."

Fan Li could have sealed her in the Monster Manual, but he had told her as she was dying that this was just a nightmare. If it was a dream, let it end here. Fan Li also needed time to accept everything he had seen. He warned himself that this was his first act of letting go, and it would also be his last.

Fan Li suddenly felt a sense of fatigue. He closed his eyes and, like a mourner, sat down beside the girl’s body.

*Thump!*

He did not know how much time had passed when Fan Li suddenly felt a tap on his shoulder. He opened his eyes to see a bag of potato chips held out before him.

Cucumber flavor.

Compared to other flavors, these chips with their refreshing scent were Ellie's favorite. Sensing her master's dejection, she had taken out her most prized treasure. After spending a long time together, they had built up enough rapport. Aside from occasionally showing a wicked side, Ellie was mostly very well-behaved.

Fan Li shook his head and pushed the chips back. Ellie did not insist; she simply tucked them back into her bag.

In the world of monsters, there was no pretense—only directness.

"Ellie, do you feel lonely?"

Driven by some unknown emotion, Fan Li suddenly asked Ellie a question.

He did not know how long Ellie had been locked in the small room, facing only narrow square footage and countless similar, strange beings. At that moment, Fan Li could even understand why every time he entered the room, he would attract the attention of certain monsters.

But clearly, Ellie did not know how to answer this question. She simply took out a piece of spicy gluten snack she hadn't finished, put it in her mouth, and chewed, swallowing it in an instant.

Her underdeveloped little brain did not know how to answer such a profound question. Of course, if a comparison had to be made, her current life was undoubtedly better than the small room.

In the chaotic city, all kinds of food were scattered about. If she got tired of eating zombies, she could forage for snacks to satisfy her appetite. Fan Li even suspected that in the future, when he summoned her, he might no longer need zombies as sacrifices—just setting out a few bags of snacks might be enough to command her to complete a task.

To humans, the ruined world was undoubtedly a disaster, but for a monster like Ellie, was this not a nascent form of paradise?

The sun set in the west.

A ray of twilight fell upon Fan Li through the window. He sat on the ground, looked up at the setting sun on the horizon, and became lost in thought, stunned and silent.