Zombie Apocalypse: I Have Safe Zone Superpower

Chapter 519: Chapter 519: Transformation

Then, without warning, she stepped forward and hugged him.

Silas froze.

His body reacted instinctively, his hand beginning to rise as if to push her away.

But then... A voice. A memory.

Words echoed in his mind like a lingering curse.

He stopped. Slowly, he lowered his hand.

Ivy felt the hesitation. She looked up at him while still holding him.

”What happened?” she asked softly. ”Why are you acting so distant?”

Silas forced a bright smile.

”It’s nothing,” he replied. ”I’m just tired.”

Ivy narrowed her eyes, the dim yellow light of the apartment casting sharp shadows across her face.

”You’re lying.”

Her voice was calm, yet there was a dangerous certainty in it, like the stillness before a storm.

”Did you forget the rule?” she continued. ”If we have something to say, we say it. Otherwise, the other person gets punished.”

Silas could not help but chuckle, the sound low and tired, yet amused by her confidence.

”So Ivy does want to punish me?” he teased.

Ivy’s eyes narrowed further.

”Oh, I absolutely want to punish you,” she replied flatly. ”But before that, I’ll generously give you one last chance to come clean.”

Silas sighed, running a hand through his hair as if trying to organize the chaos inside his mind. After a moment of silence, he walked toward the bed and sat down heavily. The mattress dipped under his weight.

Ivy followed without hesitation.

And then, without asking, she sat directly on his lap.

Silas blinked. Then he smiled. A real smile this time.

’She really has changed,’ he thought.

There was a time when she avoided him as if he were a plague, always keeping distance, always guarded. Yet recently she had begun acting... reckless. Comfortable. Almost foolishly affectionate.

Taking a slow breath, Silas spoke softly.

”What if Jade was telling the truth?”

Ivy frowned. ”What do you mean?”

Silas’s gaze drifted somewhere far away, as if looking into a memory that did not belong to him.

”What if Jade is right?” he murmured. ”What if you and Jade are the real soulmates... and not me?”

Ivy’s brows knitted together. ”Why would you even think that?”

”I don’t know.”

His voice dropped lower.

”I just... feel like in our past life, I died protecting you. And after I died... Jade stayed beside you.”

Ivy froze.

The words felt wrong. Twisted. Like hearing someone describe a memory she had never lived.

She stared at him. ”What are you talking about? When was Jade ever with me?”

Silas blinked as if waking from a trance. His eyes widened slightly.

”I... don’t know why I said that,” he admitted. ”But it feels like when I died, he was the one who stayed.”

Ivy looked at him in disbelief.

That made no sense.

In her previous life, the military base had expanded into an enormous stronghold.

She had never even accumulated enough points to re-enter it. She knew General Frank had a son who was a diviner, and she knew that man had contributed greatly to the base, but that was all.

They had never crossed paths.

Not once.

So how could Jade have ”stayed beside her”?

The idea was absurd.

She reached up and began massaging Silas’s temples gently. ”Are you under too much stress? Did you imagine all this?”

Silas stiffened. ”I don’t know why I said it either.”

Ivy paused, her expression darkening.

”Someone is manipulating us.”

Silas’s fists slowly clenched.

He realized she was right.

Otherwise, why would those words come out of nowhere?

He leaned forward and wrapped his arms around her, resting his head against her knees like someone exhausted beyond reason.

”I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” he muttered. ”Why did I even blurt that out?”

Ivy stayed silent, her fingers moving slowly through his hair, grounding him.

”You don’t need to worry,” she whispered. ”I’ll find whoever is doing this... and kill them with my own hands.”

”No.”

The word escaped Silas instantly, subconsciously.

Ivy looked down at him. ”Why did you say that? First you talked about Jade, and now you’re stopping me from killing the manipulator?”

Silas pressed a hand against his chest.

It hurt.

As if something inside him were being torn apart.

”I don’t know,” he admitted. ”But when you said you’d kill them... I felt pain.”

Ivy narrowed her eyes suspiciously. ”Is this manipulator some kind of old lover? First love? Secret admirer?”

Silas blinked, then suddenly laughed, the tension easing just a little.

”I only have one first love,” he replied. ”And she’s currently my wife.”

Ivy shook her head. ”This is serious. We really need to find whoever is interfering with us.”

Silas nodded, his expression turning solemn again.

Ivy let out a long breath of relief. ”Good. Then we start with whatever clues we have.”

”I agree.”

Just as they were about to begin planning, a knock sounded at the door.

Both of them looked up.

Ivy slid off his lap and walked to the entrance. When she opened it, Helena stood outside, her face pale and strained.

Ivy frowned. ”What happened?”

Helena’s hands trembled slightly.

”Zuzu... the zombie we placed under observation... he’s showing signs of transformation.”

Ivy’s eyes sharpened. ”Into a human?”

Helena shook her head.

”No. He’s... evolving into something else.”

Both Ivy and Silas immediately became alert and followed her.

When they reached the observation room, the air was thick with the smell of chemicals and something faintly feral. Machines beeped erratically.

Zuzu lay restrained, convulsing.

His skin flickered between gray decay and living human flesh, as if unable to decide what it wanted to be.

Then patches began shifting again, forming strange textures that resembled animal hide rather than either state.

Ivy and Silas both felt a headache forming at the sight.

”What was administered to him?” Ivy demanded.

Silas answered, ”A half-antidote designed for half-zombies.”

Ivy’s eyes narrowed. ”This is not an antidote reaction.”

Silas understood that as well. While the antidote had been derived from Moona and Maxi’s seed and might not suit every subject, such an extreme mutation should have been impossible.

They exchanged a glance.

Something was very wrong.