Derrick, unable to bear his friend's state, spoke, "Ororo, look at me. I've become human again. This adult beside me has the ability to turn us back from zombies into humans."
Just as Derrick spoke with hope, a bolt of lightning struck the ground directly in front of him.
"No!"
Facing Derrick's earnest plea, Ororo showed no mercy. As a whirlwind gathered beneath her, her eyes glowing white, Ororo floated in the air, pointing at the now-human Derrick. "This world is beyond hope. Zombies are the true evolution of humanity, and you, Derrick, are an anomaly who defies evolution!"
With that, several more lightning bolts struck towards Derrick.
If not for Derrick's swift reaction, his current human form would have been utterly annihilated.
Though he didn't understand Ororo's transformation, Derrick had no intention of passively accepting his fate and being attacked without retaliation.
Just as Derrick prepared to counterattack, a figure flashed through the air. The figure then descended rapidly, landing directly on Derrick and pinning him down with its weight.
This zombie, which had suppressed Derrick, had wings like a bird on its back. However, they looked tattered and emitted a foul stench, making it a mystery how the creature could fly with such unreliable appendages.
"Warren, even you..."
Derrick quickly transformed into an ice man, and several ice cones erupted from the ice on his back, piercing the Warren pinning him.
In a normal state, such an attack would have at least incapacitated him, if not killed him. However, he was now facing a zombie. As long as its head wasn't destroyed, severe bodily injuries were not fatal.
Yet, Derrick's intention wasn't to kill. After all, Warren was once his friend. It was just that after becoming a zombie, his thoughts had become extreme. If the adult could save them and return them to humanity, everything would be alright.
Besides Storm, Ororo, who was wielding the wind, and Angel Warren, who had ambushed Derrick, Nightcrawler Kurt Wagner, now a zombie controlling earth and stone, and Petra also appeared.
These super zombies, infected and having regained their intelligence, shared a unified ideology: zombies were the inevitable result of human evolution. Their gathering here had a clear purpose: to eliminate Derrick, the traitor, and Bai Qi, who had come with him.
Observing these ferocious super zombies, and then looking at a teaching building in the distance, Bai Qi patted Derrick's shoulder and said, "It's time to show your strength."
"What?"
Derrick hadn't fully grasped the meaning of Bai Qi's words. By the time he wanted to inquire, he found that Bai Qi had already vanished.
With no other recourse, as the path behind them was blocked by a horde of zombies, he had no choice but to confront them head-on.
Fortunately, he had entered his ice form. As long as he remained in this state, he wouldn't have to worry about being infected by the virus.
Meanwhile, after giving his instructions to Derrick, Bai Qi had instantly teleported into the teaching building he had spotted earlier.
Standing in the hallway, the bright lights, clean floor, and walls presented an environment entirely different from the outside. If not for the more pungent smell of decay filling the air, Bai Qi might have mistaken it for the wrong place.
He walked through the clean, bright, yet foul-smelling corridor and arrived outside a room. Glancing up at the sign hanging above, "Principal's Office," he confirmed he was in the right place. This was from Sultan Novel Network.
Perhaps due to ingrained habits from his school days, Bai Qi didn't barge in directly. Instead, he knocked on the door with due decorum.
"Please come in."
A resonant voice came from behind the door.
Bai Qi pushed the door open and saw a bald old man in a suit seated behind a desk. A pile of documents lay on the desk, and the old man was holding a pen, rapidly writing on a blank sheet of paper.
Bai Qi stepped forward and glanced down. It was the school plan for the second half of the academic year. He couldn't help but ask with a hint of jest, "The world is destroyed, the government is gone, what's the point of writing these things?"
At Bai Qi's words, the old man's body jolted. He put down his pen, took off his glasses, and slowly sat up straight, staring intently at Bai Qi as if trying to see through him.
Bai Qi spotted a nameplate on the old man's chest: Charles Francis Xavier.
Judging by his appearance and demeanor, the man didn't seem like a zombie. If not for the faint smell of decay emanating from him, Bai Qi wouldn't have suspected the old fellow was a zombie.
Charles, also known as Professor X, stared at Bai Qi for a long time before speaking, "You shouldn't have come here."
"Why?" Bai Qi raised an eyebrow and asked, "Don't you want to become human again? Suppressing the urge to feed must be incredibly painful, right?"
Professor X nodded at Bai Qi's words, "Indeed. At first, I was indeed suppressing the inner desire to feed, which made me extremely miserable. However, I soon realized that since fate has led us here, why should I resist its choice?"
Saying this, Professor X reached down and then lifted, placing a bloody zombie head on the desk. The foul black blood stained the documents on the desk, but Professor X paid it no mind. Holding the zombie head with both hands, without regard for Bai Qi standing opposite him, he took several large bites.
As the zombie flesh entered his stomach, satisfying his inner hunger, Professor X contentedly placed the remaining head back into a warming container beneath him, ready to eat again next time.
Looking at the nonchalant Professor X, Bai Qi directly exposed his scheme.
"Ever since I arrived at this teaching building, no, this school, you've been influencing me with telepathy, haven't you? And those mutated humans outside, now super zombies, are also products of your telepathic influence."
Seeing his scheme revealed, Professor X showed no signs of anger. He said calmly, "Ah, I didn't expect you to be so perceptive. You are correct. Those students and teachers outside have all been influenced by me. But it is precisely because of me that they have understood the true meaning of evolution."
Seeing Bai Qi remain silent, Professor X revealed a terrifying smile and continued, "Don't worry, you too will soon understand that zombies are the ultimate evolution!"
With that, he attempted to mentally interfere with Bai Qi, trying to force Bai Qi to accept his viewpoint, even seeking to control Bai Qi from within and turn him into his puppet.
However, this time, he had miscalculated.