Chapter 35: Zombie Evolution

“Trash! Bradley, what are you doing? Let me guess… Judging by the ugly expression on your face, did you have a nightmare?”

Bradley’s terrified screams were so loud that some of the survivors who were holed up in Ronan Tower came to have a look. A few of them who were irritable even cursed at him angrily.

Even after calming down, Bradley was still in shock. He leaned against the wall for support as he rose to his feet. Fear brimmed in his eyes as he looked at the window.

His appearance caught the attention of a few survivors, and they approached him.

“What’s wrong? You look like you’ve just seen a ghost!”

“That’s right. It’s broad daylight. Did you really see a ghost? Hey, are you okay? Calm down.”

“What did you see? Tell me.”

A few men came over and began to ask questions. It was obvious to them that something was wrong.

These few men who approached Bradley seemed to have given Bradley a lot of courage with their presence. He inhaled deeply before he looked at them with a complicated gaze. Then, he said in a low voice, “Follow me.”

After saying that, he walked to his phone and picked it up. He looked at the screen and saw that it was still recording. After he stopped the phone from recording, he glanced at the window. He thought to himself that the 27th floor was rather high up. Unless the little monster could fly, it was unlikely that it would be able to come up. With this kind of psychological comfort, his courage seemed to return to him bit by bit as he slowly made his way to the window again.

He raised his phone and pointed it in the direction of that terrifying scene. He was stunned again when he looked at the phone screen.

Through the phone’s camera, he saw the female zombie lying on the ground with a big hole in her stomach as blood pooled around her. However, the baby zombie was gone.

What stunned and scared him was the expression on the female zombie’s face. ‘It… Is it… smiling?’

Bradley felt as though he could not understand this damn apocalypse! Could zombies smile? Were zombies capable of smiling now? Did they not only roar like wild beasts? Moreover, that baby zombie from earlier… the way it had looked at him really frightened him to the core.

The few men who followed Bradley over initially wanted to tease Bradley when they saw the expression on his face.

One of them raised his hand but it abruptly stopped in mid-air.

The men were stunned when they looked at Bradley’s phone.

“What… is that?”

“Why do I feel like this female zombie’s expression is a little strange? Moreover, it gives me the creeps…”

“Bradley, were you frightened by this? To be honest, it’s a little unsettling, but you shouldn’t be frightened by something like this, right?”

When Bradley finally regained his senses, he wanted to continue recording the female zombie. However, his vision of the female zombie was blocked by a horde of zombies at this moment. It seemed like after giving birth and the departure of the baby zombie, the zombies no longer instinctively gave the female zombie a wide berth. Instead, they walked and stepped on the female zombie now.

With this, he had no choice but to give up. Then, he looked at the few men next to him. He took a deep breath before he clicked on the terrifying video he had recorded earlier. He said solemnly, “Take a look at this. If you can still remain calm after watching this to the end, I truly admire your courage.”

People were naturally curious, especially when there was an element of challenge. Therefore, many people were lured into watching scary videos and were frightened in return. The scariest and most vivid video was of someone punching at the television’s LCD screen.

One of the men took Bradley’s phone as the others surrounded him and began to attentively watch the video.

When Bradley looked at their faces, he felt as though he was looking at himself when he had witnessed that scene earlier.

Soon after, the men cried out in surprise. Their breathing quickened, but their eyes were staring intently at the phone screen as though they could not tear their eyes away from it.

“F*ck!”

“F*ck, almost scared me to death!”

“This is too scary! It felt as though the little thing was looking at me!”

“F*ck! I almost died! My heart almost stopped beating. That little thing is really something!”

Meanwhile, the phone was on the floor again. In such a short time, it had been thrown on the floor twice now. If this was before the apocalypse, Bradley would have been heartbroken. Currently, there were many shops in Ronan Tower that used to sell cell phones. If this one broke, he could easily get another one from one of the shops. However, the phones were all locked so some functions that were unavailable.

The phone he was using now was Apple’s latest phone. He had taken it from one of the shops, post-apocalypse. It cost almost 1500 dollars just for one phone. In the past, he would have been unwilling to spend money on such an expensive phone.

Bradley calmly picked up the phone from the ground before he looked at the men who were clearly still frightened. Then, he asked with a smile, “So what do you think? Is it worth watching? Do you think it’s thrilling?”

“Yes, yes, it’s worth watching, but it’s too thrilling that my heart almost couldn’t endure it. If you have a bad heart, there’s a possibility you’ll die watching this,” one of the men replied, trying to make light of the situation.

Meanwhile, the remaining men looked worried. It was obvious they had thought deeper into what they had seen and shared many of Bradley’s thoughts.

“Since zombies are capable of giving birth, is there hope for humans? Can we still be saved? It feels like a long time has passed since the apocalypse, and the zombies look like they’re living better lives than us. They haven’t lived as long as the zombies in Resident Evil.”

“They look shriveled to me.”

“What I’m most concerned about is whether the little zombie is intelligent or not. Is the female zombie pregnant before it was infected or can zombies procreate now?”

Upon hearing these words, the few of them exchanged a look with solemn expressions on their faces.

Matthew, the man who had tried to lighten the atmosphere earlier, shook his head and said, “Hey, do you think pregnancy is like magic? It hasn’t been that long since the apocalypse started. Even if zombies know how to mate, it’d be impossible for them to give birth so quickly!”

Bradley had been listening to the men’s conversation silently. However, at this moment, he suddenly asked, “Aren’t any of you curious? Did any of you wonder where that baby zombie went?”

Matthew and the others were stunned by Bradley’s words. When they regained their senses, they saw the fear in each other’s eyes.

The baby zombie that had disappeared was the most terrifying to them. Was it intelligent? They were not sure, but based on what they had seen on the phone earlier, the baby zombie did not seem like it would be easy to deal with.

At this moment, Matthew spoke up. “So what if we’re curious? There are millions of zombies wandering on the streets. Do you think we have the ability to go out and look for that baby zombie?”

Upon listening to Matthew’s words, Bradley and the others were rendered speechless for a moment. Indeed. What was the point of them thinking so hard on this matter? They could not even protect themselves; it was better to let those high-ranking officials work their brains on this matter. In any case, even if the worst happened, there would be capable people dealing with it.

With this, the few men lost interest in this matter and resumed what they were doing earlier.

On the other hand, Bradley walked to the window with his phone in his hand. He looked down at the hordes of zombies that seemed to cover every inch of the street. Then, he lowered his head and silently began to silently fiddle with something.

…

Meanwhile, on the first floor of Ronan Tower.

A small figure was crawling around. Wherever it crawled, the zombies would step aside as though they had seen their king.

The small figure belonged to the baby zombie that had just clawed its way out of the female zombie’s stomach. It was a female baby zombie. At this moment, its flashing bright eyes had dimmed and were the color of wine instead.

Although it had just been born, its movement was incredibly fast as it pressed its hand against the closest zombie. In just a blink of an eye, the zombie shriveled before it quickly turned into ashes.

After absorbing the energy from the zombie, the baby zombie seemed to have grown a little.

Even as it continued to absorb the life force of the zombies in its surroundings, they did not avoid it at all. As a result, the number of zombies on the ground floor dwindled swiftly. However, at the same time, more zombies entered the building.

With this, the baby zombie continued to grow at a speed visible to the naked eye.

It started with the body of an infant before it grew to the size of a three-year-old little girl. Then, it continued to grow.

Six years old…

Seven years old…

Eleven years old…

Twelve years old…

After it continued to absorb the life force of countless zombies, the baby zombie who had just been born a little while ago grew to resemble a 17 or 18-year-old girl.

While it was growing, its eyes flashed with different emotions. Sometimes they were blank and emotionless, but sometimes they burned with so much fury. At the same time, images began to flash in her mind: the underground research facility, the scientists and the doctors, the syringes and the needles, and her mother. Apart from that, all kinds of information appeared in its mind as though it had inherited them.