Since the day before yesterday, after bidding farewell to the women on the island, Elijah continued westward alone with Abigail and a group of zombies, relying on their invisibility abilities.
During their journey, they encountered numerous dangers, such as massive hordes of zombies exceeding tens of thousands, which they deliberately avoided.
They also faced mutated zombies unafraid of the group of second-tier zombies around Elijah, but these attackers were dispatched by Elijah and their corpse cores harvested.
This afternoon, Elijah suddenly sensed that the consciousness link to a zombie under his control had vanished.
As he and Abigail investigated, they discovered that the zombie had been silently eliminated, with even its corpse core gone.
This was a first for Elijah! To have a second-tier zombie killed right under his nose raised immediate concern.
Especially since this particular zombie was the only one under his control with sensory abilities.
Elijah suspected that whoever or whatever attacked them had awakened abilities akin to invisibility or stealth, and had observed them for a long time to accurately target sensory-capable beings.
Subsequently, both Elijah and Abigail heightened their vigilance. Despite this, due to their lack of sensory abilities, they lost another water-controlling zombie to an ambush.
However, they gleaned insights from the encounter, estimating their adversary possessed abilities similar to Daisy's—stealth, incredible speed, likely wielding a dagger-like weapon, extremely sharp.
Their increased caution paid off when Abigail reacted swiftly to an ambush, causing the assailant to retreat wounded, confirming their suspicion that the attacker was indeed a zombie from the blood left behind.
Elijah now understood that zombies above second-tier needed to consume higher-tier corpses or corpse cores to advance. While Abigail had been consuming first-tier corpse cores like candy, she showed no signs of advancement, unlike Elijah's group, which mostly comprised second-tier or higher beings—enticing prey for those seeking advancement.
Thus, encountering second-tier zombies tracking and attacking them wasn't surprising.
With the realization that their foe was a zombie, Elijah felt somewhat relieved.
Zombies lacked rationality, acting mostly on instinct; setting traps allowed them to overcome even the most cunning and swift adversaries.
Elijah and Abigail subsequently sought safer paths, strategically placing one zombie in shadows while others lay in wait, preparing to strike.
Yet, to their surprise, their adversary ignored these traps and directly targeted Abigail, the commander of the zombies.
If not for Abigail's resilient defense, which deflected the attack, she might have suffered the same fate as the two fallen zombies.
Just as Elijah and Abigail prepared to hunt the third-tier zombie, they were unaware that every move they made upon entering the neighborhood was being watched by a woman.
Lillian observed the unfamiliar man downstairs carefully, feeling deeply conflicted. She hesitated about whether to seek help from him.
Instinctively, the man gave her a strong sense of safety.
However, looking around him, there were over a dozen figures emitting a bloody red aura, which filled her with dread.
Since the apocalypse, she had awakened a mysterious ability allowing her to perceive colors emanating from humans or zombies within a 20-meter radius.
The blood-red aura she saw had been associated, from her month-long observations, exclusively with zombies, representing extreme malice towards her.
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Contradictorily, the man amidst the zombies emitted a green aura. It was the first time she had seen a man with such a color since gaining this ability, and it brought her a profound sense of security.
Lillian was highly superstitious about trusting her intuition. It had helped her evade disaster several times over the past month.
"That man seems trustworthy and unlikely to have ill intentions towards me. But why are there so many fierce zombies around him? And why aren't those zombies attacking him?" Lillian wondered to herself.
If it were just the man alone, she would have approached him without hesitation. But now, surrounded by so many zombies...
However, the harsh reality of dwindling supplies of food and water left her with little room for hesitation.
Finding someone who posed no threat to her was a rare opportunity, and she couldn't afford to let it slip.
Moreover, she wasn't alone; she had to consider Nora, the sleeping little girl on the couch in the living room.
Nora wasn't her child, nor was this place her home.
On the day of the outbreak, she had been entrusted to look after Nora for half a day, but due to the zombie virus outbreak, she had been trapped here ever since.
Nora, just six years old, had remained remarkably composed and obedient amidst the brutal scenes of zombies and cannibalism.
Lillian cherished Nora deeply and treated her like her own daughter.