9: Eating bacteria, the appearance changes for the first time

When Jingzhe got tired of playing, Xu Jingzhe casually clapped his hands and turned to leave.

Then.

He froze, surrounded by dense zombies.

Unbeknownst to him, he was already surrounded. Not only that, but a zombie stood on a higher mound than him, its pale pupils staring at him. Even though it had no visible sight, Xu Jingzhe could feel a powerful killing intent in its eyes.

This was a conscious zombie.

Damn it, fishing for law enforcement?

How could Xu Jingzhe, a dignified member of the Seed Zone, be subjected to fishing for law enforcement by a mere zombie?

But.

Was he afraid?

No!

As long as I'm fast enough, death can't catch me.

In Xu Jingzhe's opinion, no matter how powerful this zombie was, what could it do with its snail-like speed?

Taking a deep breath, Xu Jingzhe bent down, one leg forward and one leg back, raised his head, and looked ahead with determined eyes.

System: “Beep beep...”

A whistle sounded, and Xu Jingzhe dashed out in a hundred-meter sprint.

His speed was incredibly fast; he felt his potential was once again unleashed.

The last time was... yesterday.

Although there were many zombies, they were slow. Xu Jingzhe dodged left and right, and not a single one managed to grab him.

“Slow, too slow.”

“You guys aren’t fast enough,” Xu Jingzhe even took the time to pick up a stone from the ground, leap high, and smash it onto a zombie’s head.

The stone was fine, the zombie’s head was fine, but his hand... hurt terribly.

“Woo woo...” The zombie standing on the high ground made a sound.

Upon hearing the sound, all the zombies noticeably sped up. Their speed increased from fifty meters per minute to one hundred and fifty meters per minute, and their limbs were no longer stiff.

“Oh, interesting.”

“But it’s still too slow,” Xu Jingzhe gloated.

“Woo woo...”

The zombies’ speed increased again, and Xu Jingzhe clearly felt the pressure.

“Woo woo...”

“Woo woo...”

The pressure was on Xu Jingzhe. Several times, zombie claws brushed past his scalp, bringing a cold gust of wind.

He got goosebumps, and cold sweat streamed down his back.

“I’m sorry, Zombie Big Brother, I was wrong!”

“You adults don’t hold grudges against us little people. Let’s part ways here and meet again if fate allows ~”

“Rip!” Xu Jingzhe’s back clothing was torn, almost breaking his skin.

He also obediently shut up; no matter how tough his mouth was, it couldn’t withstand a few slaps from a zombie.

“Woo woo...”

“Slap!” Finally, after more than forty minutes of showing off, Xu Jingzhe was slapped on the back by a zombie.

He felt his vision go black, was sent flying seven or eight meters, and rolled several more meters on the ground.

His chest churned, and a mouthful of fresh blood was spit out.

He was stunned; the seemingly weak zombie had such immense strength.

He struggled to get up but could no longer escape the zombie’s encirclement.

Danger was rapidly approaching.

“Hey, System Big Brother, what should I do?”

“Hey, hey, hey, are you frozen again?”

“Why do you always freeze when there’s danger?” Xu Jingzhe shouted.

“Boom!” “Boom!” “Boom!”

Just then, three explosions occurred. Zombies near Xu Jingzhe were blown to pieces, their limbs flying everywhere like rain.

A pair of long, snow-white legs landed in front of Xu Jingzhe. The woman extended her fair hand, smiled slightly at him, and said, “How are you? Are you alright?”

Xu Jingzhe looked slightly embarrassed, got up himself, and said, “Thanks, I’m, I’m alright.”

The person who came was Zhang Manyue, but Xu Jingzhe felt that Zhang Manyue had returned to her original state.

With a delicate shout, her long legs, clad in hot pants, lifted one hundred and eighty degrees, delivering a heavy blow to the zombie in front of her.

“Crack!”

The seemingly indestructible zombie’s head was smashed by Zhang Manyue’s kick. She remained calm, performing a spinning kick, and another zombie’s head was relocated.

Her movements were swift and decisive, without any hesitation.

Within a few breaths, an empty space appeared around the two of them, forming a circle with Xu Jingzhe as the radius.

That was an absolute forbidden zone; any zombie entering it would meet only one fate.

A shattered head!

“Woo woo...” The zombie standing on the high ground made a sound; he seemed to fear Zhang Manyue.

The zombie army paused for a second, then slowly retreated.

“Hey, System Big Brother, can you measure Zhang Manyue’s combat power?” Xu Jingzhe looked at Zhang Manyue and asked in his mind.

System: “Ding, no. Without blood, I cannot test anyone’s comprehensive qualities, not even in my current state.”

As the zombies retreated, Zhang Manyue saw the injured Xu Jingzhe, and her eyes showed undisguised distress.

“Didn’t I tell you not to run around? Why did you come out?”

“I, I came out to find something to eat.”

Zhang Manyue patted Xu Jingzhe’s head and said, “Let’s go back. I found a lot of acorns for you.”

Xu Jingzhe shook his head and said, “I want to go to the mountain over there to find something to eat.”

Zhang Manyue looked in the direction Xu Jingzhe pointed, and her face turned very grim.

“Be good, don’t cause trouble, come back with me.”

For no reason, Xu Jingzhe felt a sudden panic.

In this world, there is no love without reason, nor hate without reason.

If he was saved for the first time, he could believe it was a coincidence with Zhang Manyue.

But this time, it was clearly intentional; she came specifically to find him. He was practically useless in the Pollution Zone, was he worth Zhang Manyue’s risk?

Xu Jingzhe said nothing more, turned his head, and left, leaving Zhang Manyue confused.

“Hey, wait for me. There are still two days to go to West Mountain. Are you not going to eat or drink along the way?”

“Regardless of food and drink, countless dangers await you.”

Zhang Manyue hurried over, her delicate eyebrows slightly furrowed; she was pondering a question.

Why was she being so kind to this masked man in front of her?

Xu Jingzhe quickened his pace, wanting to shake off Zhang Manyue.

But how could he shake her off?

“Cough cough...”

Two days later, Xu Jingzhe and Zhang Manyue arrived at West Mountain, one after the other.

West Mountain was entirely black, with no vegetation growing on it, giving off a sense of oppression.

Xu Jingzhe, dragging his injured body, climbed the mountain, moving even slower than the zombies he had encountered a few days earlier. He didn't know what this dog-system wanted him to find to eat. Besides, this was clearly a barren mountain; what could there be to eat?

System: “Ding, two meters to your right, there is a stone. Inside the stone is a special soft fluid.”

“That is exactly what you can eat.”

Xu Jingzhe no longer had the strength to argue with it. He found the stone the system mentioned and smashed it vigorously.

Using all his strength, at the moment he was about to collapse, Xu Jingzhe swallowed the soft fluid the system had described.

It melted in his mouth and... tasted quite good.

Five minutes later, he felt he was fine again; his body had regained its strength.

System: “Ding, the soft fluid you just ate contains various rich minerals such as calcium, phosphorus, sodium, etc., organic matter such as protein, collagen fibers, bone matrix, etc., and a large amount of bacterial Propionibacterium acnes.”

“These things are from thousands of years ago and were well preserved by the stone, which is why you could eat them. I will devour them and then utilize 90% of the substance.”

After the shock, Xu Jingzhe blurted out, “Holy cow, is your dog-system that powerful?”

System: “Ding, please mind your language. Otherwise, I will make you go hungry nine times in three days.”

“Sorry, boss.”

“But why don’t I feel any change in my nose?”

System: “Ding, there will be in ten minutes. If it weren’t for your muscle, bone, and cell injuries, and their extreme fragility, some of the bacteria would have gone to repair them. Otherwise, it would have been effective in thirty seconds.”

Xu Jingzhe sat blankly for ten minutes, then suddenly felt his nose warm and itchy, with a sensation like wanting to sneeze.

However, he held back from touching it. This feeling lasted for a minute.

Xu Jingzhe’s trembling hand touched his nose bridge. What was originally a nose bridge that seemed like a sticker on his face now had a slight slope.

His nose bridge had become straighter than before!

Devouring bacteria really changed his appearance!!