Chapter 49: Chapter 41: Abnormal Change in the Village

The middle-aged man glared viciously at Wu Shangjin while accusing his daughter of her rampage.

Despite being furiously berated by the man, Wu Shangjin lowered his head and said subserviently, "Mr. Li, my daughter is just sick and not in her right mind. I’ll definitely scold her when I get back, haha, I’ll scold her."

Flora Bloom looked at the middle-aged man, who was called Mr. Li. Although she couldn’t see the wound on his neck, the blood that had seeped out had already coagulated and was slowly turning black in such a short time.

At this, Flora Bloom began to smile.

"Wu Shangjin, if someone gets bitten by a monster, do they become a monster too?"

Wu Shangjin didn’t know why Flora Bloom was asking him this, so he answered matter-of-factly, "Yes."

"So if someone gets bitten and turns into a monster, you have to burn them to death to keep everyone safe?"

Wu Shangjin looked at Flora Bloom. ’Is this young girl scared from being surrounded by so many people? Has she had a change of heart?’

But Flora Bloom’s next words made him anxious.

Flora Bloom sneered at this Mr. Li and said, "Sir, it looks like you’re going to be captured and burned to death by these people, too."

Micah stared blankly at the skinny girl spouting nonsense before him, then urged Wu Shangjin to hurry home and deal with his daughter.

"If I’m not mistaken, your daughter, Loraine Wallace, was bitten by a zombie, wasn’t she?"

"I examined my mother’s wounds yesterday. She had scratches on her neck, arm, and shoulder. They’re serious, but she can still be saved. But your daughter, whom my mother saved, couldn’t possibly have escaped without a scratch. I’m afraid she’s probably already turned into a zombie by now, right? Tsk, tsk, tsk. So young, and now a zombie. What a pity."

Hearing Flora Bloom’s words, the crowd began to waver. At that moment, the village chief’s eyes filled with fear. He suddenly walked up to Wu Shangjin and said, "Didn’t you say your daughter pushed Jade out to block the monster and wasn’t injured herself? How... how do you explain this?"

Victor Warren’s words made Flora Bloom’s expression, which had been calm and casual as she dealt with the crowd, change drastically.

’I thought my mother was only injured because she was desperate to save someone. I never imagined she was actually pushed out by Loraine Wallace to be a human shield!’

"Wu Shangjin, I see you have a death wish!" Flora Bloom moved with lightning speed to Wu Shangjin’s side, placing her axe against his neck. ’This father and daughter are absolutely shameless. They deserve to die!’

Vert seemed to sense its master’s rage. Its abdomen trembled as it let out a series of threatening noises. It was as if Vert would kill everyone before them with just a single word from Flora Bloom.

Just then, the crowd on the outermost edge suddenly fell into chaos, accompanied by the screams of several people.

"Ah! Loraine, why are you biting me?" The voice belonged to Toby Warren, son of the village chief, Victor Warren.

Toby Warren was Victor Warren’s only son. He was also the one who had told Flora Bloom her mother was in trouble on the day she returned. Flora remembered that she and Toby had a pretty good relationship, but the village chief thought she had a bewitching appearance and would be a bad influence on his son, so he forbade her from interacting with him too much.

Immediately after, one person after another began to shout in panic.

"Oh my god, a monster! Old Woods’s daughter has turned into a monster! Quick, everyone, grab her!"

It’s unclear who shouted first, but other villagers immediately echoed the call.

But Loraine Wallace was immensely strong now. Six or seven men were completely unable to hold her down, and she easily broke free.

Flora Bloom watched Loraine Wallace, and alarm bells suddenly went off in her mind.

This Loraine Wallace looked so small and skinny, yet she was chasing the scattering villagers with incredible speed. Her strength was also immense; she could lift a grown adult with one hand and bite through their neck in a single motion.

’She always looked so petite. How did she turn into a Second Level zombie right after mutating?’

At that moment, a group of villagers was rushing forward to try and capture her, but Wu Shangjin stood in front of Loraine Wallace, blocking the crowd and shouting angrily, "Get away! Get away! Who said you could put your filthy hands on my daughter? My daughter is not a monster!"

But the Loraine Wallace before him now had milky-white eyes webbed with blood vessels, an ashen-gray face, and a mouth covered in fresh blood. She saw Wu Shangjin, grabbed his neck, and bit down hard.

Wu Shangjin clutched his neck, looking at his daughter in disbelief. "Loraine, I... I’m your father."

Her only answer was to bite down even harder, instantly ripping Wu Shangjin’s entire head off.

Witnessing this gruesome scene with their own eyes, the villagers finally realized something was terribly wrong. They all started screaming and scattering in chaos.

Even Flora Bloom’s stomach churned when she saw Loraine Wallace rip her own father’s head off with her bare hands, sending blood splattering everywhere. Waves of nausea washed over her, and she started to dry heave at her own doorstep.

Caleb Bloom saw his daughter’s delicate frame and assumed she was vomiting in disgust after being frightened by the scene. He quickly supported her and helped her catch her breath.

Neal Wallace and Ethan Monroe looked at Flora Bloom with even greater concern.

Only Flora Bloom herself knew she wasn’t vomiting out of disgust. ’Counting the days, it was around this time in my past life that I started having pregnancy symptoms—morning sickness.’

When it rains, it pours.

At that moment, the old man who had been scolding Flora Bloom earlier suddenly began to twist his neck at a bizarre angle. Strange, raspy sounds came from his throat. His murky eyes instantly turned grayish-white, the color completely washing out his pupils.

The people around him were too busy running for their lives to even notice his transformation.

Suddenly, Tianna Bloom, who was closest to him, felt a sharp pain in her neck. The old man’s claws, like those of a starving ghoul from hell, had just ripped a chunk of flesh from her neck.

What she found even more unbelievable was that the old man was standing right there, cupping the piece of her flesh in his hands and eating it, his mouth smeared with her blood.

Stephen Bloom, enduring his own pain, saw his daughter get bitten. He quickly helped pull the zombie off and took advantage of the chaos to get his wife, Sharon Caldwell, and his injured daughter back into their house.

The other villagers also ran for their own homes, thinking they would be safest there. What they didn’t realize was that many of them had been injured, to varying degrees. If they couldn’t fight off the infection, their fate would be the same as Loraine Wallace’s and the old man’s—they would turn into man-eating, bloodthirsty zombie monsters.

The Second Level zombie that Loraine Wallace had become didn’t chase the fleeing crowd. Instead, it tilted its head and sized up Vert, who was in front of Flora Bloom’s house.

Vert let out a warning sound, and Loraine Wallace seemed somewhat afraid, backing away slowly.

Flora Bloom drank a few mouthfuls of water from her space to calm her stomach. Having finally suppressed the urge to vomit, she witnessed this scene.

Loraine Wallace was clearly a Second Level zombie, yet she was wary of Vert, even backing away in fear. ’Then, according to the principle that evolved creatures of the same rank are invincible against their own kind, Vert must be at least a Second Level evolved creature.’

This reassured Flora Bloom a little. After all, zombie levels wouldn’t be too high in the early days of the apocalypse; the strongest would only be Second Level or Level 3. And Level 3 zombies wouldn’t start appearing in various regions for at least another month.

And among the pets in her space, Vert was only ranked third in terms of power. The little white tiger from the Thunder System was stronger than Vert, and the giant crocodile was the apex predator among all the evolved creatures she possessed. ’For it to have such a suppressive superpower and aura, it must be at least Level 3.’ 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

With this realization, Flora Bloom felt much more at ease. At least for now, there was nothing powerful enough to threaten the lives of her, her family, and her friends.