QT: Grace To Grass Counterattack System

[Cho... co... give?]

She spoke.

He Yuan stood up abruptly from his chair and walked over to the little girl. [...Say that again?]

The little girl cocked her head to the side like a bird and opened her palms in a begging posture. [Choco... give?]

He Yuan froze. Zombies were incapable of forming or thinking in coherent sentences. He held the girl's wrist and ran his qi through her body. His eyes widened even more.

He could feel an extra flicker of energy in her mind. Her human consciousness. This meant that the toxin did not wipe out the human consciousness from an infected -as was general knowledge- but rather put it in a dormant state.

He Yuan rushed out of his office and called in several zombies. In the end, he discovered that only the few zombies that had cultivated to a light brown core were capable of thinking in coherent sentences.

This information satisfied him to no end. He was about to return to his office when a newly turned zombie was brought in. A little girl -one he recognized. It was the same little girl from months ago that had been with the middle aged man.

She looked to be about a two day old zombie and when she caught sight of He Yuan, "Ack!" She shrunk her neck inwards and scrambled away from him.

He Yuan looked to one of his psychic zombies and gave him a mental picture of teaching the girl to cultivate and also sending out a team to search for the middle aged man.

Hours later, the trembling man was pushed into his office with blank eyes and tear streaked cheeks. No doubt heartbroken from losing the little girl. He Yuan went straight to the point. "The little girl is here with us."

The man's eyes widened and he looked absolutely shell shocked. "Y-you c-can s-speak?"

He Yuan nodded. He used this opportunity to search for the man because there was something he'd gleamed from the man's memories all those months ago.

The middle aged man was once part of that group of scientists but since he was against them using humans as lab rats, the others had turned him to a lab rat himself.

"Wh-where is m-my daughter?" The man asked slowly when the shock at a speaking zombie wore off slightly.

He Yuan simply led the man out of his office and over to the residential area. It had been difficult trying to get the feral zombies to adapt to normal life but after some months, he'd managed.

The middle aged man took in everything he was seeing with equal parts fear and wonder. The zombies had practically built a flourishing kingdom for themselves. He flinched whenever he walked past a zombie but froze whenever the zombie only gave him a bored look and kept on walking.

He soon reached the area his daughter was kept and when she stared at him without recognition, he broke down in tears. They'd been rejected from a lot of bases due to overpopulation.

They were on their way to another base two days ago when they ran into a group of feral zombies. He'd hidden his daughter and led the zombies away, who knew one would still find her?

He managed to put the zombie down before any real damage was done but his daughter had already been infected.

"There's still hope." He Yuan said calmly and when the man sent him a confused look, he explained his discoveries.

The man was beyond shell shocked now, even as a spark of hope was ignited in his eyes. "You mean to tell me that there's a possibility that my daughter would regain her human consciousness?"

He Yuan shook his head. "Not a possibility. It's an almost fact. As long as she is able to successfully whitewash her core then she would definitely regain her human consciousness."

The man cleared his throat, much calmer in the face of hope. "Why exactly am I here. I'm not a zombie and even if my daughter is, I see no reason for you to do this."

He Yuan smiled, talking to smart people was quite easy. "I want you to be my head researcher. With all these discoveries about zombies, I need someone with educational expertise to do actual research."

The man eyed He Yuan skeptically. "How do you know of my profession?"

He Yuan shrugged. "I have my methods. Everything you need is already prepared." He had moved the entire equipment from the facility he escaped from to the base.

The man did not even feel the urge to reject He Yuan's offer. After all, he was holding a conversation with a zombie. An actual zombie who could speak normal and looked almost human. It was intriguing.

The only indication that He Yuan was a zombie was his white ash skin, gray fingernails and canines that, although looked like every other human's, were sharper than most. "I'm Feng Huang."

The research commenced the next day with Feng Huang taking samples from He Yuan and several other zombies. His heart leapt in his throat whenever he got too close to them but he managed to pull though without fainting or developing a seizure due to fear.

He Yuan was oddly proud of the man.

Three weeks later, Feng Huang was able to make mind blowing discoveries. Apparently, zombies that had managed to cultivate to a light brown core were incapable of spreading the toxins as their bodies broke it down to different harmless components. Although they still remained zombies.

He Yuan, on the other hand, with a milky white core was basically a walking vaccine. His blood had components that basically fought off the toxins. It was mind blowing!

When He Yuan read the reports, he smiled in satisfaction. He'd been expecting good results from this research but this was even better. He'd always wanted to return to the military base.

Almost a year ago, he'd sent a bunch of zombies to scout around the military base and had made an amazing discovery. 888 had manifested a physical body. How the system did it? He had no idea but he had been filled with immense relief.

Now it was time to go back and finish this task. He already had an idea on how to do that. He would be faced with strong opposition but he didn't give two fucks about it.