Chapter 344: Red Ribbons

After the sky grew dark, Joo Joowon still did not see them make any movements. They continued wandering aimlessly inside the red mist.

It was not until the moon rose and the sky was completely covered in darkness that the red mist finally showed some movement.

The red mist began to churn, like water boiling in a pot. Soon, the violent movement gradually slowed down, and wisps of mist began to “fall” out. Before long, they condensed into strips of red ribbons, which flew outward at a relatively slow speed.

Under the guidance of the red ribbons, each zombie separately followed one red ribbon and left its original position.

Joo Joowon hesitated for a moment. He wanted to stay behind and see whether anything would change inside the red mist, but he also wanted to follow them out and see what the red mist was trying to do.

The situation in reality did not give Joo Joowon the option of having both. He quickly made his decision, casually picked one zombie, and followed it from a distance.

Joo Joowon did his best to conceal his aura. Even so, he did not know whether his actions were actually useful or if he was simply wasting his effort.

Fortunately, the red ribbon did not seem to have any intention of sensing the surrounding situation. It seemed to be searching for something. It was not wandering around aimlessly while leading the zombie along. Instead, it would walk for a while and then stop, as if it had sensed something.

Joo Joowon followed at neither too close nor too far a distance, making sure he could clearly see what they were doing without getting any closer.

Although each red ribbon led its zombie in a different direction, none of them headed outside the nature reserve. Instead, they continued moving deeper into Hwarim.

Joo Joowon also continued following them deeper inside. In the end, he saw the red ribbon he had been tracking stop in front of a Zombie Beast.

As soon as the red ribbon stopped, the Elite Zombie following closely behind it immediately attacked the zombie in front of it, as if it had received a command.

Joo Joowon used Detection.

[ Zombie Beast ]

[ Basic Information: Level 5 ]

For an ordinary zombie to reach Level 5, it either had to be lucky enough to eat a considerable amount of flesh, or perhaps it had fairly good natural talent?

Joo Joowon looked at the targeted zombie. Its body was covered in rotting fur, and it seemed to have become a zombie after being bitten and infected by other zombies. It was a relatively small monkey.

Perhaps because it had never expected another zombie to attack it despite them being the same kind, the zombie monkey did not react at first. It stood there with a confused expression and took a direct hit from the Elite Zombie, immediately being knocked to the ground.

However, it did not simply surrender. Instead, it let out an angry roar and fought back against the Elite Zombie.

Joo Joowon watched for a while and could not help relaxing.

Aside from its ability to resurrect, this Elite Zombie really was a defective product!

Not having any skills was one thing. On the other hand, it could not even suppress an ordinary zombie.

By “suppress,” Joo Joowon was not talking about combat strength. In fact, although the zombie monkey had charged forward and attacked, it was clearly no match for a “giant beast” in any aspect. It was quickly pinned down by the Elite Zombie and carried away.

Therefore, what Joo Joowon meant by suppression was the suppression of rank within the zombie group.

Ordinary zombies did not have much of a concept of rank. Level 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 zombies would still gather together and move around as a group. There was no such thing as a leader among them.

However, when they encountered an Elite Zombie, they would instinctively move aside. They would not crowd around an Elite Zombie the way they crowded around ordinary zombies.

Moreover, if necessary, an Elite Zombie could also command ordinary zombies, just like the psychic-type zombie Joo Joowon had encountered before.

Although Elite Zombies generally would not do this, it was only because they considered ordinary zombies too much of a hindrance. Not only could ordinary zombies not help them catch prey, but they could also easily interfere with their own hunting, which was why Elite Zombies did not want them around.

Therefore, under normal circumstances, even if an Elite Zombie actually attacked an ordinary zombie, the ordinary zombie would not turn around and attack the Elite Zombie. It would simply wait to be killed.

After all, they were creatures driven by instinct. They did not even possess fear, so when they were suppressed by the difference in rank, they naturally would not show any signs of resistance.

The current situation could only mean that although the red mist had transformed them to the Elite rank, it had only done so in terms of their HP bar. Their other aspects had not caught up at all, and they also did not possess the “Elite Zombie aura” that ordinary zombies could sense.

Were all the Elite Zombies inside the red mist like this?

Joo Joowon hoped that was the case, but at the same time, he felt that it was not very realistic.

The red mist was already capable of transforming zombies into Elite Zombies. Could it really not transform them more thoroughly?

The current situation could only mean that perhaps completely transforming them required too much expenditure, making it not worthwhile for the red mist. Therefore, it had only strengthened the zombies enough to barely cross into the Elite rank, without spending any effort to take them any further.

After all, with the ability to resurrect, under normal circumstances, most ordinary people would be unable to defeat them if they were targeted.

Of course, resurrecting required time. As long as the person being targeted was not an idiot, they would definitely be able to run away once they realized that the situation was unfavorable. But what if the red mist zombies used a strategy of overwhelming their enemies with sheer numbers?