Chapter 241 Scientific Genius
With a single stroke, William cleaved a short Demonic Monsters in half and walked into the armory.
If it weren't for the threat of the zombie horde, William wouldn't have bothered with the Demonic Monsters at this stage. Not only did he waste his only mid-tier Natural gemstone, but he also didn't get any Magic Crystals.
Demonic Monsters were truly a nuisance. They were extremely dangerous, and killing them yielded no benefits.
William checked around and felt a bit excited. Although the armory wasn't large and mostly stored conventional weapons, with a third of the bullets nearing their expiration date, there were still plenty of firearms. There were over a thousand rifles alone, and the ammunition was definitely enough to last a long time. There were also over a hundred handguns, all brand new.
Aside from firearms and ammunition, the armory also had a lot of clothing and marching supplies, all well-preserved. There were over five hundred bulletproof vests, which were very useful in the early days of the apocalypse. They were genuine military-grade items, unlike the ones sold outside, with unquestionable quality and effectiveness.
However, William was slightly disappointed that he didn't find any grenades or other area-effect weapons, which would have been the most effective against dense zombie hordes.
There were several warehouses in the armory, and the weapons and ammunition only filled three of them. The rest were empty, which wasn't surprising during peacetime.
In an inner warehouse, William discovered dozens of women tied to beds, most of them zombies, with fewer than ten humans.
William knew those were the Demonic Monsters' backup breeding hosts. They would impregnate these women as quickly as possible to reproduce. If he didn't clear this place, the area around the armory could become a terrifying death zone occupied by thousands of Demonic monsters within a year.
William went up and killed the zombies one by one, extracting the Magic Crystals. He then examined the human women, most of whom were near death, likely because of their physical conditions and long-term infertility. William bowed his head in silence for a minute before ending their suffering.
After clearing the area, he was about to find the breeding ground, which had to be dealt with. Otherwise, new Demonic monsters would reappear in a few days.
But before he could go far, he turned back and walked to a corner of the warehouse, where there was a slightly ajar small door.
"Come out," William shouted, pulling the bolt of the rifle in his hand, making a sound and aiming at the door.
Just as he was about to leave, he felt a gaze on him. William, being sharp, easily found the source.
"What a hassle."
A sigh came from behind the door, and then it opened, revealing a disheveled woman.
William frowned slightly. The woman looked to be around forty years old, not as attractive as Michelle, Lucy, Natalie, or Candice, but still decent. However, she was extremely unkempt, wearing a white lab coat that had turned gray-black with unknown stains. Her face, which could have been passable, was covered in dirt, and her hair was matted, emitting a sour smell.
Even in an apocalypse with scarce water resources, there was no excuse for this level of filth.
Moreover, William clearly sensed the aura of an Evolving person from her. How could an Evolving person to end up like this? She was quite the weirdo.
However, her bright eyes, furrowed brows, and expression of regret and impatience left a deep impression on William, as if he had disturbed her, and she showed no gratitude for being rescued.
"Put the gun down. Pointing it at me makes me uncomfortable," Edna Garcia said nonchalantly, waving her hand in a commanding manner.
William sneered, "As long as I'm comfortable."
"What?" Edna asked as she glanced at William and surprisingly nodded. "Fair enough."
With that, she walked towards the corpses William had just killed.
William didn't shoot, just watched this strange middle-aged woman quietly.
"Body temperature normal, small veins congested. Strange? Rigor mortis is setting in early. Corneas starting to cloud... basically consistent with death phenomena. Seems there's nothing to learn from these bodies," Edna muttered to herself as she examined the corpses, her words sending chills down William's spine.
"What did you do before? Your killing technique is clean and efficient. Even though it's been two months since the apocalypse started, it's impossible to develop such a precise understanding of human anatomy so quickly," William remarked.
Edna suddenly looked up at him, pointing at the female corpses.
William didn't speak but became more vigilant. Although this woman couldn't pose a threat to him, why did he feel a chill when she looked at him?
"Who are you? Why are you here? And how do you know so much about... this?" William asked, gesturing towards the corpses.
"Let's go check on those pregnant women," Edna said.
If everything she had done before was still acceptable to William, this statement truly surprised him.
As a reborn person, he knew about the Demonic monsters. But how did she know about the breeding hosts? Why did she seem so knowledgeable about the Demonic monsters?
Edna walked out on her own.
"What kind of equipment did you use to take down these monsters? It's very powerful. I've never seen anyone with such strong gear," Edna said as if she knew William wouldn't shoot and would follow her. "Also, your senses are very sharp. I only glanced at you for less than a second when you were about to leave, and you noticed. You have such skilled and almost instinctive killing techniques. You weren't trained as an assassin or special agent from a young age, were you?"
"Read too many novels?" William snorted, his mind racing.
Edna chuckled, "Never mind. I'm a Second Sight professional with some very special abilities, so I saw your fight just now."
William was taken aback. "Super Vision?" he asked.
Edna stopped and turned back, surprised. "How do you know the name of my skill?" she asked.
Seeing that William had no intention of answering, Edna thought for a moment and said, "Alright, I know you have a lot of questions. How about this: I'll explain some things to you, and then you can answer some of my questions. Deal?"
William nodded.
"I'm a forensic pathologist, or rather, a dismissed forensic pathologist," Edna continued walking as if she was very familiar with the place. "There were many reasons for my dismissal, like not fitting in, not understanding some unspoken rules, and most importantly, I had principles and my autopsy reports were truthful. You know, sometimes you can't do that, especially when you get clear hints from above. Later, I set up my own lab, but the environment in the country wasn't suitable for my research topics, so I moved abroad. I came back for a conference and encountered the apocalypse."
As she said, they reached a warehouse door. Edna wanted to go in but then stepped aside.
"I'm a Ph.D. in medicine, human anatomy, and biology, a genetic research expert, and an honorary doctoral advisor at two top ten universities in the world," Edna said calmly, not realizing how shocking this string of titles would be to others. "Of course, I'm also called a cold-blooded animal, corpse-smelling woman, psychopathic old lady, and someone bound for hell. Because my research topics are related to the dead or mutations, I inevitably do things that others see as unethical or even bloody and evil. You go in first. My skill is on cooldown after watching your fight, so I don't know if there's any danger inside."
William glanced at her twice and then walked in first.
It was the scene Jasmine had seen before: a young man walking into what was, for her, a hellish warehouse.
"Becoming an Evolving person was due to my abilities and a bit of luck. My combat skills aren't strong, but I can survive in the apocalypse," Edna said as she entered and saw the situation in the warehouse. Her words paused slightly, indicating that she had used Super Vision to see this place before, but the situation had changed since then.
This professional skill allowed the user to see scenes at a certain distance, ignoring obstacles.
"I discovered these monsters by accident. They have obvious radiation marks on them, and some of my research involves the relationship between the human body and radioactive materials. So, out of interest, I paid attention and discovered quite a few things," Edna said and sighed almost imperceptibly, which made William feel a bit better about her. This sigh was for her fellow humans, proving she still had some humanity left.
"These monsters are using human and zombie women to reproduce. It's terrifying. This could lead to the extinction of humanity, you know?" Edna said worriedly.
Amazed by her foresight, William saw Jasmine, whose belly was the largest and was clearly about to give birth.
"I need a lot of specimens. Will you help me?" Edna asked, walking to Jasmine's side and looking at William.
William was lost in thought. Combining the words "Accraville City" and the information Edna had provided, he vaguely recalled someone.
"What's your name?" he asked.
"Does that matter?" Edna asked, licking her chapped lips. "I'm Edna Garcia, a pretty common name."
William's eyes widened instantly.
She was Edna Garcia, the Creator Edna, the famous, morally ambiguous scientific genius?!
