"Su Yan, about that..."
Busujima Saeko looked at the scene before her and turned her head away. She couldn't bear to watch. Tugging at Su Yan's sleeve, she asked, "Is this also part of your experiment?"
As her voice fell, the other thugs finally snapped out of it.
Death was a mercy compared to this.
They would rather die and turn into zombies that acted solely on instinct.
Anything was better than suffering such a fate.
Tongue-kissing a zombie...
Just thinking about it made their stomachs churn. They couldn't help but gape, looking like they were about to retch.
However, they forced themselves to hold it back and looked at Su Yan.
If Su Yan's answer was yes, they would absolutely risk death to escape.
"No."
Su Yan's mouth twitched as he replied, "He's just incredibly unlucky."
Even he couldn't help but marvel at the situation.
Just how unlucky did someone have to be for this to happen?
He appeared exactly when Su Yan needed a zombie for an experiment.
He launched a sneak attack exactly when Su Yan finished pulling the zombie's teeth.
Then he failed to stop himself after Su Yan dodged, crashing straight into the toothless zombie's embrace.
To have such a series of coincidences happen in such a short time...
'I suppose you'd only see something like this in the 2D world, where even things as magical as tripping on flat ground happen all the time.'
As for the green-haired thug, Enan?
He was utterly stunned.
His mind was a complete blank.
Only one thought remained.
'My first kiss wasn't given to the senior I admired, but to a zombie?'
'I... I'm tainted!!'
Coming to his senses, Enan violently pushed the zombie away.
Since the zombie was bound by the chains Su Yan had materialized, it couldn't resist Enan's movements and was easily pushed aside.
However, as he separated from the zombie, a long, thin silver thread of saliva stretched from its mouth.
The sight made everyone's skin crawl.
Enan slumped on the ground, his mouth wide open. He was about to shove his fingers down his throat to vomit up his breakfast along with the disgusting things that had just entered his mouth.
But...
He was stopped by that "evil man".
Su Yan said coldly, "Don't you dare throw up!"
Although Su Yan felt deep sympathy for the green-haired thug's encounter...
Since it had already happened, he wasn't going to let it go to waste.
It was the perfect chance to see if a zombie's saliva would cause an infection if it entered the human body through the mouth.
Su Yan stepped forward and kicked the man's head, knocking him over.
Of course, he didn't use much force.
After all, if he accidentally killed the guy, it might affect the experimental results.
"What are you all standing around for? Hurry up and cover his mouth! If he throws that stuff up, believe it or not, I'll make you eat it later."
Su Yan had no mercy for these thugs who had acted without restraint once the zombie crisis broke out.
As for doing it himself?
Or materializing another chain to bind him?
Su Yan found it too filthy. After that single kick to the green-haired thug's face, he already felt like his shoe was tainted. It was quite disgusting.
"Oh, right!"
The surrounding thugs snapped out of it and responded.
Having seen their unconscious companion being fed and injected with zombie blood by Su Yan...
They had no doubt about Su Yan's intention to test the infectivity of the zombie virus.
If their boss, Enan, really threw up that zombie saliva...
He might actually make them eat whatever came out.
Shudders ran down their spines.
Better a dead friend than a dead me.
Moreover, they were thugs with no sense of morality to begin with.
So, they all rushed forward, working together in a chaotic scramble to pin Enan down and stop him from moving.
There were five or six hands just covering the green-haired thug's mouth.
They completely forgot how dangerous it would be to have their hands over his mouth if he actually turned into a zombie.
Having taken that kick from Su Yan, Enan's head was ringing.
When he came to, he found himself pinned to the ground by his former subordinates.
Even his mouth was blocked by them.
Muffled whimpers escaped Enan's throat.
His eyes darted frantically toward everyone around him as if he were threatening them.
The thugs all turned their heads away, pretending not to see.
Seeing this, Enan could no longer hold on. The madness in his eyes slowly turned into pleading, and finally, into despair.
Eventually, a single tear rolled down his cheek.
That was his lost youth.
"Saeko, why don't you go ahead and help me refuel the motorcycle?"
Seeing the look of pity on Busujima Saeko's face, Su Yan spoke up to send her away to refuel their transport.
"Alright."
Busujima Saeko nodded, not refusing.
After all, she understood why Su Yan was doing this.
Moreover, Su Yan wasn't actively seeking out ordinary people to experiment on; he was only using these scum who had brought it upon themselves.
While she might feel a bit uneasy seeing such a scene, she wouldn't speak up to stop him.
The purple-haired girl decisively pushed the motorcycle toward the gas pump.
Once she was gone, Su Yan turned his gaze back to the green-haired thug pinned to the ground.
Aside from testing the limits of the zombie virus's infectivity to minimize the risk to his own people, he had another purpose in mind.
Could the zombie virus be used for his own purposes?
Not just as a simple reagent or source of infection.
He wanted to transform the zombie virus into a controllable ability.
Specifically, by utilizing the traits of a Transmuter, he wanted to try and transform his own Nen into a special type of aura with the properties of the zombie virus.
From there, he could develop a Nen ability that could infect living creatures into zombies.
If he could add a bit of Manipulation to this ability...
That would be something.
He would essentially master a powerful skill similar to the undead army summoning found in some games.
Of course, the prerequisite was being able to master it safely.
Otherwise, if he failed to master the ability and accidentally infected himself instead...
That would be a pathetic way to die.
For some reason, Su Yan had a faint feeling.
If he could master this ability, there might come a day in the future when it would be useful.
Time passed bit by bit.
However, aside from Enan's growing despair...
His body showed no signs of zombification at all.
Su Yan couldn't help but think.
In movies and shows, the heroine is often bitten by a venomous snake, and the hero uses his mouth to suck out the poisoned blood.
So, is it because zombie saliva isn't infectious?
Or does the infection need to enter through a wound?
Or perhaps the infectivity comes from the zombie's teeth?
Su Yan first glanced at the zombie teeth he had pulled out earlier, then looked down at the green-haired thug who was shedding tears of humiliation.
He sighed helplessly in his heart.
It looked like his kind friend, Enan, would have to suffer a bit more.
[Reviews - Power St0nes - Comments are highly appreciated to keep me going.....(+50 chapters) patre0n.c0m/talecrafter]