At this moment, Xie Lingruo was incredibly frustrated. She hadn't expected another group of people to show up at such a critical moment, which only complicated the situation further.
But after a moment of reflection, she realized: regardless of who they were, their arrival would at least help distract some of the zombies.
After all, she trusted that the intelligent zombie leading the horde wouldn't let this new group off easily—and she was right. Just as the newcomers were about to drive away, their path was blocked by 40 to 50 zombies.
The people in the car reacted quickly and tried to change direction—only to discover that they were completely surrounded. With no other choice, they were forced to get out and fight the zombies directly.
Meanwhile, the pressure on Xie Lingruo's group began to ease, giving her the chance to use her psychic ability to investigate this new group—especially since they were surrounded, and she couldn't see clearly with the naked eye.
But what she discovered shocked her: two very familiar faces—none other than Lin Yiyi and Zhang Wenbin, her original body's greatest enemies.
With her enemies delivered right to her door, Xie Lingruo decided it was the perfect chance to execute the "killing with borrowed hands" plan she'd prepared earlier. She secretly used her psychic power to pull two packets of chicken blood from her space and splashed them onto their clothing.
At that moment, Lin Yiyi and Zhang Wenbin were fully focused on using their powers to fight zombies, and of course, had no idea their clothes had been freshly stained with blood.
Besides, getting bloody while fighting zombies was normal, so they wouldn't think twice about it.
As expected, the zombies—aroused by the fresh scent of blood—swarmed directly toward Lin Yiyi and Zhang Wenbin.
At the same time, Xie Lingruo's team seized the opportunity to try and take down the clean-freak zombie leader. At this point, Xie's father stepped back, knowing full well that if he got involved, he'd only drag his kids down.
So it was up to Zhou Yi's five-man team and the Xie siblings to handle the job. The zombie had never faced such a cunning fighting style.
At first, the zombie managed to fight back with its psychic stingers, sending mental attacks that plunged everyone into confusion and chaos—they had never encountered this kind of ability before.
But Xie Lingruo, being a psychic-type user herself and someone who had lived two lifetimes, quickly recovered and used her machete to block a claw strike meant for her father.
This zombie was smart—it knew to go after the weakest link, which is why it targeted her father. But Xie Lingruo's strong will and unique "bug-like" psychic power made her an exception.
Even though her ability was technically Level 0, her mental strength allowed her to go toe-to-toe with this high-level psychic zombie.
Having shaken off the mental attack, Xie Lingruo was furious. The zombie's underhanded tactics had nearly caused her mission to fail.
Driven by that rage, she rushed forward and engaged the zombie in close combat, her machete flashing.
The zombie launched another psychic stinger, but this time, Xie Lingruo only paused for a second before regaining her composure and charging in again.
Now, the zombie was relying solely on its psychic stingers—but they were no longer effective. Xie Lingruo had developed a resistance to its attacks.
To her, the zombie was now a toothless tiger, and she dominated the fight with ease.
Realizing something was wrong, the zombie attempted to summon reinforcements, calling for its "underlings" to protect it.
But all the other zombies had already been drawn away by Lin Yiyi and Zhang Wenbin, because at this stage, lower-level zombies were still more attracted to the smell of blood than to commands.
So the zombie's plan completely backfired. Xie Lingruo spun around, using momentum to finish it off with a powerful strike.
As the victor, she naturally claimed its crystal core. Using her psychic ability, she quickly located the core without even needing to cut into its brain, and stored it directly into her space.
Meanwhile, Lin Yiyi, seeing zombies swarm toward her, pushed someone else in front of her to take the brunt of the attack. That unfortunate person was torn apart, while Lin Yiyi managed to escape unscathed.
Zhang Wenbin wasn't so lucky. He had been facing away from the horde, and by the time he noticed the danger, it was already too late. He was completely engulfed and devoured by the surrounding zombies.
Even an ability user will die if torn apart by a large enough group of zombies. The phrase "many ants can kill an elephant" was all too true in this scenario.
Xie Lingruo wasn't surprised, but she did feel a hint of regret—Lin Yiyi was truly cold-hearted to the core.
Still, one enemy was dealt with. As for Lin Yiyi? She wouldn't escape for long. If not this time, then the next. This time had been too rushed.