Chapter 2: Seed of Consciousness
Chapter 2: Seed of Consciousness
Elijah's awakened superpower is called the "Seed of Consciousness"!
Its function is to parasitize other organisms through a medium and forcibly control them.
This ability sounds very powerful, akin to the puppeteers in the anime Naruto or the Devil Fruit power of Doflamingo in One Piece.
If he were to implant the "Seed of Consciousness" into the body of a stranger, wouldn't he be able to do as he pleased?
The ideal is lofty, but reality is harsh!
In fact, until his death in his previous life, Elijah could only control zombies.
The reason is that his control ability is achieved through suggestion and command using the "Seed of Consciousness".
Zombies themselves lack consciousness, so he can fully control them.
However, animals and humans cannot be controlled as they possess their own independent consciousness, especially humans.
His "Seed of Consciousness" cannot overpower the consciousness of living beings, which leads to control failure. But it's not entirely ineffective.
He can subconsciously suggest or hypnotize those implanted with the "Seed of Consciousness", making them harbor goodwill, affection, or even loyalty towards him.
Moreover, if someone implanted with the "Seed of Consciousness" suddenly turns into a zombie, they will immediately fall completely under his control.
This is what Elijah values most. The reason is simple!
The zombie virus is constantly mutating.
Humans are the best breeding ground for the virus!
The zombie virus spreads, evolves, and mutates within the human population, almost changing every day.
The more densely populated an area is, the faster the virus mutates.
This also means that even if you survive one wave of the zombie virus, you may not be able to survive the next wave of mutations unless you become an awakened individual like Elijah.
People who have awakened superpowers have unusually high resistance to the virus in the air and are almost never infected again after death.
The only exception is the virus inside zombies.
If an awakened individual is scratched or bitten by a zombie and the virus spreads through the blood, they still face a life-threatening situation.
These reasons make it impossible for humans to gather in large numbers anymore.
Because no one can guarantee that a brother fighting back-to-back one moment won't suddenly take a bite the next.
Elijah's ability completely solves this problem.
People implanted with the "Seed of Consciousness", even if they can't resist the mutating zombie virus and suddenly turn, will immediately fall completely under his control and cannot rise up to harm others.
Therefore, in the apocalypse, he can freely recruit talents, ensure obedience among his subordinates through subconscious suggestion, and ultimately build his own power, dominating the area.
It's just a pity that he had just started to act when he was betrayed during a process seeking advancement in his abilities...
Thinking of the person who led him to death amidst the horde of zombies, a cold light flashed in Elijah's eyes!
He must make those who have wronged him taste the despair of being torn apart by others. But for now... thinking about these things is useless.
The most urgent thing now is to overcome the current difficulties and ensure his own survival. A trace of hostility flashed across Elijah's face.
That was the countless times of life and death hovering in the apocalypse for a year, forging Elijah's determination to kill!
Now that his abilities had awakened and there were no worries holding him back, then... Screw it!
First, Elijah changed his clothes, swapping into jeans and a combat jacket to prevent scratches and bites from zombies.
Then, he wrapped several magazines around his forearms with tape.
Though the magazines weren't thick, combined with the taped clothing, they could serve as makeshift shields to block zombie bites.
Elijah absolutely didn't want to be injured by zombies again if it wasn't necessary. In his previous life, he might have survived a zombie bite and awakened, but this time it wasn't certain.
He later learned that the probability of awakening after being bitten by a zombie was less than one in ten million.
Now that he had awakened his abilities, he didn't want to gamble on that slim chance again.
Once he was properly dressed, Elijah grabbed a long-handled umbrella and strapped a medium-sized warhammer to his waist.
Just then, Bella cautiously pushed open the door and walked in.
Her face carried a sense of urgency but also fear of making noise. However, as soon as she saw Elijah's attire, she froze in place at the door. ???
Before she could even think further, she saw Elijah thrusting the umbrella in his right hand towards her like a sword, aiming straight at her.
"Ah~!"
The metal tip of the umbrella came at her at lightning speed, startling Bella into an instinctive scream. In the next moment, "Crack!"
The umbrella pierced through flesh, something burst! Without the expected pain, Bella collapsed to the ground.
She subconsciously looked up and saw the black umbrella passing through her body, piercing straight into her husband's eye.
His broken eyeball squeezed out, mixing murky liquid with crimson blood flowing continuously from his eye socket.
But her husband didn't show any sign of pain, only continuously gnashing his mouth like a hunting beast, emitting low growls, wanting to tear apart his prey in front of him.
This gruesome scene frightened Bella into kicking her legs in panic, supporting herself with her hands as she moved away.
Elijah was very satisfied with his move. He pushed the umbrella forcefully, sinking the tip deeper into Alexander's head.
Slowly, Alexander stopped moving and collapsed to the ground weakly.
Elijah then pulled the umbrella out of Alexander's head, splattering a mix of red and white fluid.
He didn't stop there but picked up the warhammer and smashed it onto the back of Alexander's head.
"Thud! Thud! Thud!"
The hammer struck flesh, spraying a mixture of blood and brain matter, looking particularly terrifying.
Bella widened her eyes, mouth agape, already petrified!
However, Elijah soon stopped his actions, a smile appearing on his face.
He threw away the warhammer, not minding the disgust, and reached into the pulpy mess of Alexander's flesh with one hand, then pulled out a crystal-like object resembling a diamond.
Wiping the blood and plasma off his hand with tissue, Elijah examined the crystal closely.
It was a rhomboid crystal formed by numerous planes, slightly smaller than a fingernail, translucent white, shimmering with a crystal-clear gloss under the sunlight.
There was no doubt that this was something that couldn't exist in a human brain!
It was a corpse core formed with a small probability by some zombies.
"Lucky!"
Elijah happily pocketed it. This thing would be very useful for him.
Of course, not for him to consume. Though humans could eat it, most people who did turned into zombies.
Only a tiny fraction, by sheer luck, might awaken abilities or advance them.
But that probability... was smaller than the chance of surviving a zombie bite directly.
Elijah wasn't a gambler; he didn't want to bet on that tiny chance.
He had a more reliable way... A year after the apocalypse, many things were no longer secret.
But now, only he knew.
He could take advantage of this to quickly strengthen himself and build his own power.
But before that... Elijah looked at Bella, her eyes empty, sitting on the ground with her legs spread apart.
"Tsk!"