On the other hand, his concern was that high-level mutated zombies might already have immunity or damage reduction against bullets.
The system's provided inner power, magic, and future features like ship girls or heroic spirits hinted that fighting high-level mutated zombies might require heavy firepower or Noble Phantasm-level attacks.
But those would cost tens of millions of resource points—without a continuously producing resource mine, it would take ages to accumulate.
For now, exchanging for low-level inner power and honing himself in combat to unlock potential seemed like a viable path.
"Brother Lux, I've summarized some basic structures of zombie mutation. Do you want to hear it?"
Lainne asked nervously, eager to prove her value and secure her place in the team.
"Go ahead."
Lux opened his eyes, noticing it was already past dusk. It would take some time to fully digest the system knowledge.
But not needing to memorize the sword manual word-for-word was already a relief. Understanding it instantly would be greedy.
"First, ordinary zombies seem to require consuming some of their kind to mutate. I estimate that fifty to two hundred normal zombies devouring each other can produce one mutated zombie."
"How did you get that number range?" Lux asked curiously.
"The feeding speed of zombies is limited. Even if we ignore that they only eat brains… I believe the virus concentrates in the brain. Eating 200 brains in a day is near the limit."
"The minimum range comes from the fact that only two mutated zombies appeared at the school over the past two days. It can't be just those two feeding non-stop. The surviving zombies must have eaten a certain amount of their peers. They were one step away from mutating into their special forms."
"I did some calculations. I believe the data supports this, so we can tentatively treat it as fact."
Lianne explained confidently.
"Continue."
Lux was pleasantly surprised. He wasn't skilled in data analysis; Anna's notes hadn't even mentioned it. Lianne had deduced it herself—truly a genius with 168 IQ.
"Considering that X High School had a dense population, this rapid consumption caused mutated zombies. Outside, even if zombies were hungry and bit their peers, there wouldn't be enough food to mutate."
"So, in the early stage, we can safely gather supplies without worrying about a mutated zombie suddenly appearing in a convenience store."
Lianne smiled.
"Sister Lianne, why didn't the zombies we encountered on the road eat each other?"
Candice, sitting on HK416's lap, asked curiously.
"My personal guess is that zombies attacked each other in a frenzy, then went into a berserk state attacking others. This is just a hypothesis. I need more observation to be certain. But it's not the main point."
"Not the main point? What else did you discover?"
Lux asked.
"The evolutionary structure of zombies. From the notebook, we see that a fast female zombie, after consuming two mutated zombies, had her head split into a predatory organ. Its weak point is definitely not in the head—too dangerous."
"This suggests that after consuming two mutated zombies, she evolved to a new stage."
Lux was shocked. This matched information he had gathered from the system. Lianne had deduced it from notes alone… she might bring more surprises.
"She was a regular mutated zombie. After absorbing three times her own viral content, she evolved into a special mutated zombie."
"This proves that accumulating virus content can advance other mutated zombies, like the crab or centipede zombies, to higher forms. But how will they mutate? Shift weak points? Or will the centipede zombie grow dozens of spikes?"
Hearing this, Lux broke out in a cold sweat.
If there were dozens of spikes, such a centipede zombie must be killed from a distance. Approaching it would be fatal. Luckily, he had only faced a Head-Splitter.
"We must understand the evolutionary direction of these mutated zombies, but it's extremely dangerous."
Lianne sighed.
"Worse, my calculations suggest that remaining zombies may contain twice as much virus as the one that just evolved."
"But according to the notebook, even after eating all zombies, it didn't evolve further. Yet it kept eating, even inorganic material. This indicates it can evolve again."
"I suggest that after you collect the food from the warehouse, we immediately head to X High School. Have M99 take a long-range shot at this evolved zombie. Otherwise, the city might end up with a terrifying zombie."
Lianne spoke seriously.
"No need to worry. When I went to the school, this zombie attacked us. I cut off its legs, and HK finished it with armor-piercing grenades."
Lux smiled.
"This could happen in any school or densely populated zombie area. We should kill them before they evolve further."
"Otherwise, killing just one won't solve the root problem. Unless we abandon the city for a remote mountain, but even then, we might suddenly encounter a zombie we can't handle."
Lianne's expression remained tense. Lux recognized the gravity of the situation.