Lin Xue quickly ascertained the situation inside. There was indeed a high-level zombie in command, but it seemed to have been injured by the flames spat out by the Fire Phoenix, its aura currently very weak.
With the confirmed information, Lu Heng had Lin Xue stand outside the cave to deter the zombies within.
As for the battle with the zombies, he still chose to let his contracted animals gain experience.
The zombies inside, including the high-level one, all sensed Lin Xue's presence.
Even those not injured by the flames remained huddled inside, no longer obeying the commands of the zombie within.
Lu Heng waved his hand, and his contracted animals began to advance into the cave.
Soon, they stepped over the corpses of zombies, reaching the deepest part of the cave.
Several level six zombies were gathered in front of a level eight zombie. Despite their fear of Lin Xue, they did not change their positions without receiving orders.
The level eight zombie was clearly cunning. It hid behind other zombies, occasionally retreating further back.
However, they had already retreated to the deepest part of the cave, with no further escape routes. It could only press against the cold mountain wall, awaiting the judgment it was about to face.
The level eight zombie roared at Lu Heng and his companions, occasionally letting out sharp cries, as if calling for something.
Lu Heng couldn't understand the language of zombies, but he had Lin Xue, who could communicate with it and understood zombie language, to translate for him.
Under Lin Xue's translation, Lu Heng gradually understood what the level eight zombie was saying.
It was indeed summoning other zombies, but the nearly ten thousand zombies in the cave had already been eliminated by Lu Heng and his group, leaving only the few surrounding it.
Even if the distant zombies were summoned, it would take some time, and moreover, Lin Xue was guarding the cave entrance, preventing any approaching zombies from daring to get close.
Besides summoning other zombies, this level eight zombie was also conversing with Lin Xue, questioning why she would stand with humans and help them eliminate zombies.
"Heh, as if you wouldn't kill your own kind."
Hearing Lin Xue's telepathic communication, Lu Heng couldn't help but feel a bit contemptuous of the level eight zombie.
How did it reach level eight?
It couldn't have achieved this solely by eating people, could it?
Upon hearing Lu Heng's voice, the level eight zombie's head immediately turned towards him.
Its originally grayish-white pupils began to deepen, no longer so pale.
This was one of the characteristics of high-level zombies; they were evolving, evolving in another direction.
But what of it? Humans and zombies could not coexist on the same planet. These zombies that could infect humans had to be completely eradicated.
The level eight zombie let out a few unwilling roars, then pushed aside the zombies in front of it and charged rapidly towards Lu Heng.
Lu Heng raised his arm and swung it towards the zombie's face. Quickly, the zombie's head was pierced by the ice cone in Lu Heng's hand, and the crystal within its brain was also pushed out.
The struck zombie instantly stopped roaring, but its charging motion, due to inertia, did not stop.
Lu Heng waved his hand again, and a thick vine grabbed the zombie's uncontrolled body.
The zombie's corpse instantly fell to the ground, twitched a few times, and then lay still.
Lu Heng looked at the remaining level six zombies, waved his hand, and several ice cones pierced their heads, ending the last few 'lives' of the zombies in the cave.
After collecting all the zombie crystals, Lu Heng turned to leave.
But as he turned, a faint rustling sound came from the pile of zombie corpses behind him.
—There were still zombies not killed?
He manipulated the vine to push aside the zombie corpses, and a zombie infant appeared before Lu Heng.
This child was only about an arm's length long, still in its infant state.
But it was already a zombie, having lost its humanity.
The zombie infant hadn't even opened its eyes, crawling on the ground with its eyes tightly closed.
Without the corpses covering it, its crawling speed was faster.
Following its instincts, the zombie infant crawled towards Lu Heng, who was closest to it.
Lu Heng picked up the zombie infant with his vine. The child was hung upside down, waving its limbs at Lu Heng.
Lu Heng examined the zombie infant's body repeatedly. The child had no external injuries; perhaps it had been infected in the womb.
Then it was naturally born from a zombie about to give birth, which was why the infant's body had no external injuries.
Could this also be used as an experimental subject?
Lu Heng packed the zombie infant into a sealed metal barrel again and had a Fire Phoenix take the infant back to Wuming City.
After searching the cave for a while longer and finding no other zombies, Lu Heng and his contracted beasts left the cave and began to descend the mountain.
Outside the cave, Lu Heng put his contracted beasts back into his spatial storage.
He didn't want to bring too many animals, which might cause panic among the people in the apocalypse.
The path trampled at the foot of the mountain had disappeared, indicating that the zombies had begun to act dispersedly from this area.
This made it difficult to track the zombies' usual haunts by following ground traces.
Fortunately, when Lu Heng arrived, he had discovered the somewhat dilapidated human refuge city.
Riding an antelope, Lu Heng quickly made his way towards it. The setting sun cast a picturesque scene on the mountains behind him.
The antelope ran for a long time through areas covered in weeds, finally reaching the outskirts of the town before darkness fell.
At this moment, the aroma of cooked food from the town was carried towards Lu Heng by the wind.
Soon, someone on the town's wall discovered the figures of Lu Heng and the antelope.
"What's approaching from outside? It's moving very fast. Quickly notify everyone."
On the city wall, a man responsible for lookout shouted loudly to the people repairing the wall.
Instantly, everyone put down their work and reflexively looked towards the outside of the city.
Some, after a glance, quickly descended the wall and ran into the city.
In a short while, the city wall fell into chaos, but no one retreated.
"See if it's zombies? How many?"
Earlier that day, they had experienced the terror of a giant monster flying over the city. Fortunately, the monster had not entered the city to attack them throughout the day.
But now it was dark, and perhaps, as before, it was zombies launching a surprise attack at night.
"Just one, it's almost at the city edge."
"One? How is that possible?"
The people standing on the wall had also clearly seen the figures of Lu Heng and the antelope.
However, it was already very dark, and Lu Heng and the antelope blended together, making it difficult for them to discern exactly what was standing outside the city.
"Get the searchlight."
They had searchlights, but to save electricity, they didn't usually turn them on.
A beam of strong light shone towards Lu Heng. Lu Heng instinctively raised his arm to shield his eyes from the sudden light.