Ning Yu, witnessing this scene, became even more convinced of her understanding of them.
The zombies basking in the flames in the center also noticed the commotion here.
Having seen Ning Yu's terrifying methods of killing ordinary zombies, they, now conscious, were confronted with the emotion known as fear from the very moment of their 'birth'.
"Hmm... This is a bit strange now."
Ning Yu muttered to herself while standing still.
Shen Yiyue, watching from above, saw Ning Yu standing motionless as the zombies gradually moved further away from her, wondering why Ning Yu hadn't acted yet.
In fact, Ning Yu was pondering a peculiar question at that moment.
If these man-eating monsters no longer ate humans and even gained consciousness and emotions,
they could feel fear, and naturally, they could also feel joy. They could distance themselves, and thus, they could also become close, just like the female worker zombie who pleaded for her companion earlier.
So, could they be considered human?
If the apocalypse ended at this very moment, could they form or integrate into a new society?
Ning Yu shook her head at this thought, amused by her own bizarre musings.
Such a question was as surreal as 'Do androids dream of electric sheep?'
But Ning Yu still wanted to test it out.
"Get lost."
Ning Yu raised her Blood Kite, pointing it at the worker zombies.
Hearing her words, they all trembled, chattered among themselves for half a second, and then, as if reaching a consensus,
they all let out a "wah" and fled towards the passage, even maintaining some semblance of order as they ran.
Halfway through, they even showed camaraderie by dragging all their newly conscious companions along.
Soon, the vast underground space was devoid of any zombie presence.
Shen Yiyue, watching from above, was dumbfounded and only then realized what had happened, using her grappling hook to descend.
"Good heavens, what on earth are these things? Are they... human? Or what kind of creatures are they?"
Ning Yu suddenly turned to look at her and smiled.
"So you're thinking about this too, what a coincidence."
It seemed that the two of them were in sync even in such strange circumstances.
"Well, what can I say? We're just meant to be."
Shen Yiyue chuckled smugly, walking over to stand close to Ning Yu.
"So, what's next?"
Ning Yu looked at the floating octahedron in the center and the black flames spilling out from below, then took out an RPG from her space.
She then exchanged for an armor-piercing shell, loading it onto the RPG.
This was not a place to use thermobaric bombs, as both of them could suffocate from lack of oxygen.
The two of them stepped back a bit, and Ning Yu aimed at the base of the altar.
"Boom!"
Its power wasn't as strong as a thermobaric bomb, but it was more than enough to destroy this newly constructed structure.
The groove holding the octahedron was blasted apart, the surrounding circuits that had lit up dimmed immediately, and the black flames that were spewing out abruptly ceased and soon disappeared.
The octahedron in the center remained completely unharmed, but having lost its ability to float, it fell onto the destroyed groove and rolled down.
Ning Yu, curious, walked up to it, first poking it with her Blood Kite to ensure there was no reaction, then picked it up confidently.
It felt warm in her hand, with a faint blue light emitting energy from its core. Shen Yiyue also came over, curious to take a look.
"It's quite beautiful. Should we destroy it as well?"
Ning Yu was about to say she wasn't sure when suddenly, a system prompt sounded in her mind.
[Ding! You have obtained an item: Soul Gem (Medium)]
[Would you like to convert it?]
Convert?
Ning Yu wasn't sure what this meant, but since they were supposed to destroy the altar, converting it might be a form of destruction in a way.
She had initially planned to ask Shen Yiyue to try using her time-control ability to destroy it if brute force didn't work.
Now, without any hesitation, Ning Yu chose to convert it.
The Soul Gem in her hand suddenly began to tremble, and the semi-transparent outer shell of the octahedron started making cracking sounds.
"What's happening, Xiao Yu?"
Shen Yiyue, thinking it might explode, wanted to pull Ning Yu away, but Ning Yu stopped her.
"Crack, crack, crack..."
Spiderweb-like cracks quickly spread across the shell, and when it reached its limit, it shattered into countless pieces, scattering starlight in the air.
The faint blue light inside slowly rose, and Ning Yu felt an inexplicable summoning.
Her silver hair began to float gently, especially the bangs covering her forehead, which parted naturally in the middle.
A golden vortex symbol appeared on her forehead, glowing faintly.
The faint blue light gradually turned grayish-white as it flew, resembling the color of the gray mist in Ning Yu's Moon Princess space.
It flew directly to the height of Ning Yu's forehead and then swiftly merged into the golden vortex symbol.
As the light disappeared, Ning Yu's hair slowly fell back into place, and the symbol on her forehead vanished.
[You have gained: +2 Physical, +1 Mental]
Ning Yu raised an eyebrow; this thing was quite potent, directly turning into 3 attribute points after absorption, seemingly at random.
It would have been even better if it gave some points as well.
The octahedron container in her hand had scattered into pieces, and the light had been converted into her attributes.
Just moments ago, this octahedron was emitting black flames through the altar built by the worker zombies, granting them consciousness.
From this perspective, could it be understood as a form of pure energy?
"Xiao Yu, there was a golden symbol on your forehead earlier. What was that?"
Shen Yiyue, having observed Ning Yu's absorption process, leaned in to examine Ning Yu's forehead closely.
Ning Yu was also pondering: that symbol had only appeared on the Moon Princess before, but now it had appeared directly on her.
And through it, she was able to absorb the energy of this so-called [Soul Gem]. Did this mean...
Ning Yu suddenly saw Shen Yiyue's dazed expression, so close to her, and decided to give her a light kiss on the cheek.
"Ah!! You sneak!"
Shen Yiyue, startled, jumped back as if electrocuted.
"I just transformed into a magical girl."
Ning Yu lied without batting an eye.
"Can I transform too?"
Shen Yiyue, knowing Ning Yu was teasing her, decided to play along.
"Let's go and try."
Ning Yu was also curious about this.