Chapter 194 - 123: A Storm is Brewing

Chapter 194: Chapter 123: A Storm is Brewing

’Environmental selection pressure is directly causing adaptive variation in the population... The speed of this evolution is just too fast,’ Xu Mo thought, inwardly alarmed.

The apocalypse wasn’t just eliminating the weak; it was also shaping new monsters, better adapted to this cruel environment, at a terrifying speed.

After completing a round of Qi Collection and achieving a perfect circulation of his qi and blood, Xu Mo slowly withdrew from his meditative state. He walked to the nearest observation port and peered outside.

Under the gloomy sky, many new, twisting and squirming figures had appeared in the ruins and open spaces around the fortress, just as he had expected. Their bodies glistened with a damp, dark sheen, and fine scales were faintly visible in the dim light. The webbed structure of their hands and feet allowed them to move with exceptional speed through the standing water and mud.

These aquatic zombies were no longer sluggish and slow like regular ones. They were more active, occasionally throwing their heads back to let out roars mixed with pain and ferocity, as if adapting to their new bodies, or perhaps announcing to the world the arrival of yet another deadly variant.

The rain nourished the earth, and it nourished death.

Xu Mo watched all of this quietly, his gaze deep. The great strength granted by the Iron Bone Realm meant he felt little fear when facing these new zombies, but a deeper sense of urgency welled up within him.

The changes in this world never stopped; in fact, they were accelerating.

’Just holing up in one corner and passively observing... that might soon no longer be a viable option.’

Just as Jiang City Command was likely still analyzing intelligence reports on the new aquatic zombies from various regions, yet to formulate a concrete response, the flocks of mutated birds that had long been stirring restlessly in the sky suddenly erupted. As if driven by some powerful stimulus, they were the first to unleash a new storm of slaughter.

Through the observation port, Xu Mo clearly saw the number of birds circling high above suddenly swell into a dense, black mass that almost blotted out the already gloomy sky. Their shrill cries merged into a disquieting tidal wave of noise.

Then, as if on a unified command, the mutated birds turned into black arrows. Accompanied by the piercing shriek of displaced air, they dove from all directions, launching a swarm-like assault on the newly transformed aquatic zombies on the ground.

Claws tore scales, beaks pierced skulls, and flapping wings stirred a foul, bloody wind.

Although the nascent aquatic zombies were more agile and better adapted to the damp environment than regular zombies, they still seemed fragile and disorganized under such a dense, swift, and three-dimensional aerial assault.

They waved their webbed claws in an attempt to fight back, occasionally managing to grab or swat down a bird that got too close, tearing it to shreds. But more birds charged forward, one after another, frantically pecking at their relatively fresh bodies, rich with active tissue.

It was a primitive and brutal struggle for survival. On one side was a zombie variant that had just gained new, not-yet-stabilized traits; on the other were mutated raptors, long adapted to aerial predation and seemingly fascinated by this new type of zombie.

The battle lasted less than an hour. In the open spaces and ruins around the fortress, the dozens of newly transformed aquatic zombies, along with numerous regular zombies caught in the fray, had been wiped out by the flock with astonishing efficiency.

When the last few sporadic screeches and bird calls died down, Xu Mo looked out again to see the ground in complete disarray. It was littered with blood-stained feathers of various colors, shattered zombie remains, pools of dark reddish-black blood, and exposed, stark-white bones.

The soft tissue of the newly mutated zombies’ corpses had been almost completely devoured, leaving behind only the hardest bones.

’Are these birds consciously eliminating the new zombie variant?’ Xu Mo’s brow furrowed as an even more unsettling thought occurred to him. ’Or is there just something about these new zombies that holds a fatal attraction for them?’

Either possibility meant that these mutated birds were not just passive adapters or random predators. Their behavior might involve some kind of group strategy or preference, which undoubtedly elevated their threat to a whole new level.

"These birds... they’re going to cause big trouble," Xu Mo muttered to himself, his tone grave.

As if to confirm his worries, the public channel on the walkie-talkie suddenly erupted. Urgent reports poured in one after another from Observers in different fortresses, their voices filled with unconcealed panic:

"A-02, this is B-07. I’ve got a flock, a massive flock, gathering over our fortress! They’re ramming our observation ports!"

"D-03 calling, same here! The birds are constantly scratching and slamming against the fortress shell! Some of the smaller ones have gotten in!"

"F-05 reporting..."

"..."

The situation was clear. After clearing out the new zombies outside, many of the birds hadn’t dispersed. Instead, they had turned their attention to the steel fortresses, which radiated the scent of living humans.

They seemed to be treating the fortresses as some kind of "large prey" or "nest," and began to launch probing attacks and harassment.

Fortunately, the fortresses were sturdily designed, and the observation ports had been built with protection in mind, so they weren’t very large. This could block many of the birds from entering, but it wasn’t enough to stop some of the smaller ones.

Xu Mo listened carefully to the chaos on the channel while monitoring the situation outside his own fortress. Strangely, although a few birds could be seen flying around Fortress C-07, they didn’t gather to attack it like the others. At most, they would circle the area a few times before flying off, seemingly uninterested.

’Just as I thought...’ Xu Mo understood. This must be another hidden benefit of breaking through to the Iron Bone Realm and having his qi and blood so deeply contained.

The life aura he emitted was so faint as to be almost nonexistent. To the mutated birds’ potentially hypersensitive life-perception, Fortress C-07 probably seemed like an inanimate block of concrete, naturally failing to provoke any strong desire to attack.

This discovery made Xu Mo secretly relieved and gave him a better understanding of the other Observers’ predicament. In the apocalypse, just being unremarkable was a powerful form of camouflage.

A-02 came over the walkie-talkie and ordered everyone to seal their observation ports, which finally quelled the chaos.

Xu Mo watched the bird-shadows flitting past his window, then glanced at the constantly crackling walkie-talkie. He realized that this crisis, sparked by the mutated birds, was probably just the beginning. It hadn’t just altered the population structure of the zombies; it was now a direct threat to the security of humanity’s remaining strongholds.

The fortresses had solved their problem by sealing the observation ports, but what about Jiang City? How would it respond to this unprecedented challenge from the sky?