"Damn it! What is going on here?" Elijah quickly looked around the lake!
Through the thick ice, he saw that the situation below was just like at the ice pit.
Countless human bodies were densely packed together and covered by the ice layer, appearing dark and indistinct.
This dense accumulation of bodies had initially gone unnoticed by Elijah, who thought the lake was shallow with only muddy soil beneath.
The revelation of the ice-covered corpses made his scalp tingle with unease.
"Besides the zombies at the school entrance, most of the zombies in other areas were cleared. I was wondering where all those bodies went. Now it looks like they were all dumped in this lake!" Elijah muttered to himself.
"Who did this? White-clad female zombie Elena? Or soone else or another zombie? If Elena advanced to the third tier, could it be related to this?"
Elijah had so suspicions, but he didn't have ti to ponder further.
He switched to his ice abilities and extended his hand into the water.
An ice pillar ford and extended down to the lakebed, soon reaching the strength zombie.
Elijah pulled the strength zombie out of the ice.
Then, he used the fire zombie's abilities to lt the ice covering the lightning and claw zombies, freeing them.
Finally, he approached the speed and water control zombies.
Elijah found that the blood inside these two zombies had also frozen, which was the cause of their deaths.
The speed zombie's blood froze due to injuries that allowed the cold to penetrate its veins.
The water control zombie's death was more unfortunate, as its ability to control water had led to its body's fluids, including blood, being frozen.
"Right, ice abilities are a natural counter to water control users. How did I forget that?" Elijah realized.
If he had taken that into account and paired the water control zombie with the invisibility zombie, it might not have died.
"Forget it. If it's dead, it's dead. We're short on contract slots anyway!" Elijah sighed.
Since returning to Azure Isle, Fiona had complained several tis about the tight "Seed of Consciousness" slots, which made her reluctant to sell second-tier advancent potions casually.
However, Elijah couldn't do much.
To expand the slots, he needed to advance to the fourth tier, which was an extrely difficult feat.
In his past life, despite a year into the apocalypse, he hadn't heard of anyone advancing to the fourth tier, though he had heard of a few fourth-tier zombies.
Thinking about this, Elijah felt a stir in his heart!
If zombies can only advance to the third tier by consuming corpse cores, advancing beyond that is a challenge.
Consuming second-tier corpse cores has limited effect on third-tier zombies, as these cores only serve to satiate their hunger and gradually enhance their strength.
To advance, third-tier zombies must consu third-tier corpse cores, which are extrely rare and powerful, making them difficult to hunt.
Alternatively, they must consu spirit plants of a higher tier than Crystal Grass to reach the fourth tier.
Elijah rembered the unusual spirit plant under Nora's care—the Dancing Grass that emitted strange, zombie-attracting waves.
Abigail had advanced to the third tier by consuming part of this spirit plant along with so second-tier corpse cores.
She had nad it Dancing Grass because of its bouncing, dance-like appearance. Elijah hadn't seen the complete form of the Dancing Grass, so he wasn't sure if Abigail had consud it in its mature state.
Nevertheless, the fact that it could attract third-tier invisible zombies suggested that it was at least on par with Crystal Grass, and possibly even superior.
Now, Elijah recalled the white-clad female zombie's restrained vengeance and her warning to keep outsiders away from the lake.
With the lake filled with corpses, a sudden realization struck him.
"Could it be…"
He ordered all the zombies back to shore and walked towards the center of the lake, carefully examining every corner of the ice surface, especially between the frozen lotus flowers and leaves.
Finally, at the location where the white-clad female zombie had danced, Elijah discovered an extraordinarily beautiful plant.
The plant protruding through the ice had a short stem and a bowl-sized, pure white flower.
The flower was translucent and delicate, with six thin petals resembling gossar or cicada wings.
In the center of the flower, tiny, firefly-like light points flickered intermittently.
This was a noble and beautiful spirit plant similar to a snow lotus!
"I'm such a fool. I previously advised that places surrounded by zombies, which can't be lured away, are likely attracting them due to a spirit plant. I didn't realize this applied to !" Elijah chided himself, though his face was lit with a smile.
"A spirit plant that can attract a third-tier zombie must be at least as good as Crystal Grass, if not better!"
Elijah closely examined the snow lotus spirit plant and noticed that the petals were beginning to wither.
The flower's center was developing a crystal-white fruit.
Elijah had a strong intuition that when the petals fully withered, the fruit would be fully matured, and it might happen within a day or two.
"No wonder the white-clad female zombie wouldn't leave the lake. It must be at a critical stage!"
Beneath the snow lotus flower, the ice layer had a fist-sized hole through which the plant's stem extended.
Clearly, the roots of the snow lotus were deeply embedded in the lake's muddy bottom.
The plant's robust growth was likely due to the countless corpses at the lakebed.
"I wonder if the white-clad female zombie accidentally discovered this growing thod for spirit plants or if she already knew and intentionally piled the corpses here to cultivate the plants."
Elijah pondered while observing the snow lotus, leaning towards the forr idea.
If she had known, she could have used corpse cores directly.
It was more likely that she accidentally discovered the corpse pile's beneficial effect on spirit plant growth and then dragged corpses into the lake.
Regardless of how it ca to be, it now benefited Elijah. Standing up with a smile, Elijah felt the gloom of losing two second-tier zombies lifted.
The only issue now was that the snow lotus spirit plant couldn't be easily transplanted, so he would have to wait here for it to mature.
With his spirits lifted, Elijah felt it was ti to deal with the white-clad female zombie.
Hopefully, this would bring so substantial insights into the truth behind the zombie virus outbreak.
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