Chimera

Ping Chengcheng didn’t sleep all night.

She was too terrified. She had been reborn to protect Song Ning, yet she actually—actually had thoughts about eating her.

In the morning, Song Ning stretched lazily, waking with a rested expression. When she tried to sit up, she realized Ping Chengcheng was holding her tightly.

Thinking of the girl’s strange behavior last night, Song Ning’s heart skipped a beat, but she forced herself to act as if nothing was wrong.

The girl’s cheek rested against the young woman’s chest. Her long eyelashes trembled slightly, and a single crystal tear lingered at the corner of her eye. Song Ning held her gently, afraid to wake this small creature.

But even with Song Ning’s movements as light as possible, the girl’s body still twitched in insecurity, and she opened her eyes.

“Sister…”

Her voice was hoarse, her gaze full of grievance.

Song Ning looked at the little one in her arms with fondness. “Did Chengcheng have a nightmare?”

“Mm…”

Song Ning helplessly rubbed the girl’s head.

“There, there… Sister’s here.”

“No matter what happens, Sister will always be here.”

Ping Chengcheng rubbed her eyes, wiping away that single tear. “I know… Sister is the best.”

“By the way, Sister… when’s your birthday?” Ping Chengcheng remembered it should be soon.

Song Ning blinked, surprised. “Huh? Why ask all of a sudden? And really, in the apocalypse, who even celebrates birthdays?”

“My birthday…” Song Ning paused. “I think… it’s today.”

Today?

“Hehe, Sister, after today’s mission, I’ll celebrate your birthday for you~”

Song Ning smiled faintly. “Chengcheng is so thoughtful.” She gave the girl a warm hug.

I must find a way to suppress these terrible thoughts… that’s just the monster’s instinct!

I absolutely can’t become a real monster!

But how?

Suddenly, Ping Chengcheng remembered the suppressant injected into her body back when she’d just been reborn, down in the sewers.

Those drugs really could suppress her powers—

but could they suppress her lust?

No matter what, she had to try.

She dressed and got ready. By eight-thirty in the morning, she still felt dizzy, whispers ringing in her ears now and then, urging her to do terrible things.

It had never been this bad before.

It had to be because she’d tasted human blood. That event was like a one-way switch—once flipped, it couldn’t be shut off again.

After saying goodbye to Song Ning, Ping Chengcheng put on special ops camouflage, slung a submachine gun across her back, and got into the off-road vehicle waiting at the villa gate to take her to the helipad.

Ten minutes later, she arrived at the base airfield. There were dozens of helicopters—among them a massive Zhi-8, capable of a 13-ton takeoff weight and carrying nearly twenty fully armed troops.

Of course, having many helicopters didn’t mean they were freely used. They needed special aviation fuel, far scarcer than automotive gasoline—every drop was precious.

A crowd had already gathered. Even Xiao Lie and Lu Linyuan were there, personally inspecting the mission.

In a small reconnaissance helicopter cockpit, two intel officers were already seated. Ping Chengcheng recognized the co-pilot—Yang Wen.

Yang Wen winked at her and waved. “Come on up!”

Ping Chengcheng glanced around. Countless eyes were fixed on her. Unlike yesterday’s meeting of just twenty or so people, word of today’s operation had spread, drawing many onlookers.

There were plenty of muttered complaints, but she ignored them.

“Ping Chengcheng, wait.”

A low female voice sounded from outside the crowd, making Ping Chengcheng pause before boarding.

Shen Mengyuan was squeezing through the onlookers, panting, carrying an anti-materiel sniper rifle. She ran up to Ping Chengcheng.

At once, whispers broke out around them.

“What, that gun?”

“Is she giving that to the girl? Can she even use it?”

Even Ping Chengcheng frowned slightly at Zheng Zhiyi running over so conspicuously. Too flashy… really unnecessary.

“Uh, that’s not needed.” The girl tried to decline.

But Shen Mengyuan shook her head, still catching her breath. “No—you don’t understand the situation in A City.”

“Even if you’re just scouting today, what if you run into a special infected? One is manageable—but two? Three?”

Ping Chengcheng chuckled. “Special infected aren’t that easy to run into…”

The odds of encountering one were tiny, maybe one in ten thousand. Two or three appearing together was almost impossible—
unless it was an egg-laying type that had already claimed territory.

Such “egg producers” were dangerous. The one she met last time hadn’t even matured—its spawn weren’t even grown.

Other rare infected included hunters. In her previous life, she’d been captured by three hunters and dragged into their nest.

But this time? She was just flying recon. She wouldn’t even be on the ground long.

“Forget it… I can’t explain it all right now. Just know—A City sent us information and a photo.”

Shen Mengyuan sighed.

“An aerial shot. In it, there’s a massive monster—like a giant flesh ball. A swarm of zombies surrounds it. And among them… hundreds of special infected.”

A flesh ball?

Ping Chengcheng froze.

This reminded her of an incredibly terrifying being from three years into the apocalypse—
named by the bases: the Chimera Composite Zombie.

Its body was a gigantic brown flesh sphere. From it extended countless fleshy cords linking hordes of zombies—
forming enormous, multi-shaped monstrosities made of fused corpses.

In theory, its size could grow without limit.

The only way to kill it was to destroy its core—
that huge flesh ball, about as big as a small truck.

But the core was always buried deep in swarms of zombies, hard even for missiles to hit.

In her last life, the largest Chimera Composite Zombie, codenamed “Zombie Nation,” consisted of nearly a million zombies. It crawled on thick limbs, 150 meters tall, 200 meters long.

To destroy it, three bases joined forces, bombing it for over half an hour, exhausting all their missile stockpiles—barely killing it.

Such a creature could rival the strongest mutants.

But… why was it appearing so early this time?

Thinking of this, Ping Chengcheng took the anti-materiel rifle from Shen Mengyuan.

Better to have it. It would only make her safer.

“Thanks.”

Ping Chengcheng nodded gratefully at Shen Mengyuan, then glanced at Lu Linyuan. His expression as he watched Shen Mengyuan was complicated.

He didn’t even tell me A City’s exact situation before the mission.

She turned to Yang Wen. He was grinning innocently, clearly unaware of any of this.

In that moment, the girl began to calculate.

Maybe I should just kill Lu Linyuan at some point…