[Hunter] How to kill a zombie

Nor is she an ascetic who is willing to treat herself harshly.

Maybe some people can do it. There are so many stories about "kind" monsters who resist instinct and don't want to eat people. After becoming one of them, Zoe realized that this is easy to say, but easy to do. It's really difficult.And the beauty of this kind of story is that it's based entirely on the human point of view.That's not the case at all with monsters.

She remembered that when she was on Meteor Street, the reason why she was able to maintain her sanity and have the illusion of "humanity" was entirely because Arthur helped her deal with those troublesome things.Arthur cared for her like a cub that couldn't feed itself.Thinking about it carefully, since she was born, someone has helped her deal with these troubles, and she has been taken care of very well.

But now she must learn to do it herself and have enough food and clothing.

It was impossible for Jin to let her eat a living person.

Maybe, maybe the truth is what Gissing says in the book.Kindness is a product of abundance.This abundance is both spiritual and material.And Zoe is that kind of person—no, a zombie.In other words, she can only become a "good" monster after the basic appetite is satisfied.

Of course she wouldn't be so stupid as to infect the whole world until there were only zombies left.That might not matter to other meaningless zombies, but to her, it probably only left a living hell.

Zooey suddenly felt that this was actually the first time she had a clear mind after becoming a zombie.A plan gradually formed in her mind, which was just an idea, a simple picture.Maybe Jin did influence her in this respect. She could feel that her thinking direction was moving away from human beings, but it was not completely zombie. This was a fresh experience, a way of thinking that belonged only to her.

It was the first time Kim had brought her to a big city, and she wore a mask just in case.But the people walking around were like forests of food, luring her into a beautiful mistake.

"Zoe?" Jin called her name again, and when Zooey turned to look at him, she met those bright eyes, and suddenly she knew: he knew.Of course, he knew all along.

He just wanted to test whether she could control herself.

Zooey showed a smile: "I was thinking, these people look delicious."

"I think so." Jin laughed, "But you are quite honest, just tell the truth, is it okay?"

"It's okay. Probably." Zooey thought for a while and said.

"Sometimes I don't know what's up with you guy." Kim shrugged.

"It's okay," Zoe said.

Jin suddenly looked at Zooey with surprised eyes.

But it was too late.

Zoe saw Kim's eyes wide open, and she saw her own reflection in those eyes.Immediately afterwards, some images flashed in her mind: a small island, a man with an afro, a woman with pink hair, and one with an invisible outline, a baby, a heavy rain...

After Jin came back to his senses, he found himself standing in the middle of the road. He had the impression that he came here to find a capable person who could help him complete the final process of "Island of Greed".Although he vaguely felt that something was wrong, he still shook his head, didn't think about it, and continued to move towards his destination.

Zoe, who was free, found the station, and she felt that the benefits of the big city were here.She took out the note in her hand, looked at it, researched the route to that place, and then used this ability to control and tamper with memories to get tickets from other passengers.To her surprise after boarding the train, her ticket still belonged to the VIP compartment.The burgundy sofa seat and the exquisite washstand are the facilities she was familiar with.

For about a week after meeting Jin, Zoe repeatedly tasted the lives of those three people.Break it apart and crush it, absorbing the last trace of essence left in the gap between the teeth.Their lives merged with hers, and she felt an indescribable pleasure.That is the magic of reality, which cannot be replaced by fictional stories in books, and that is exactly... what she has been pursuing.

Soon she realized that this was Arthur's ability.Arthur didn't know when and how he gave her this ability.Zooey just had such a vague feeling.In fact, she was not sure whether this ability came with the deepening of zombie mutation, or whether it was Arthur's ability.But something somewhere told her that it belonged to Arthur.

It was the last gift he gave her.

A gift from her favorite person.

Zoe has been trying to practice this ability for several weeks.She starts with the tiniest portions first, making Kim forget what she had for her last meal.Forgot where you put an unimportant little prop.Start with such little details.Then she discovered that she could also tamper with the memory in between.If it goes well, the parties will not even notice the subtle differences.If executed skillfully, she can even use this method to influence the other person's decision, making him feel that a decision is actually made by him, but in fact it is the result of manipulation by others.

So Zoe hatched a plan for Kim to take her to the nearest big city and wipe away all his memories of herself.

I didn't expect things to go so smoothly.

There was a knock on the carriage door, and a waiter's voice sounded outside the door.

"Hi, your lunch is here."

"Ok."

Zooey thought before opening the door, it was just in time, she did feel a little hungry.

No.

is very hungry.

Safe house

Delayed gratification is a privilege reserved exclusively for intelligent beings.

A typical experiment is to give a child a marshmallow and tell him that if he doesn't eat it for 15 minutes, he will get a second one.The experimenter claims that this experimental ability can prove whether a child has the ability to "delay gratification", which means that these people are more likely to be successful in the future.

But Zoe's first reaction after hearing about this experiment was: this experiment is not fair.Whether or not marshmallows can be rejected first depends on whether the child likes marshmallows, and secondly depends on the child's family environment—that is, whether marshmallows are a scarce resource.

Children from wealthy families have a certain degree of trust in rules and predictable future rewards, while children who are not so have less confidence in the variability of the future and tend to choose short-term hedonism.

In theory, children who grow up in wealthy families have more self-control when facing life choices, often because many things in the world are not scarce resources for them.Like that marshmallow, there's little point in indulging if it's a mundane snack.

Zoe was taught from an early age not to indulge her desires.Studying and living, she can only get "freedom" when she does her best.Since she was a child, she has been an obedient and good child in the family. Her younger brother is responsible for making troubles, and she is responsible for appeasing her parents' emotions by sacrificing her "self".Her education taught her that the so-called "life" and "needs" are conditional.She is not qualified to be herself at will.

The major of the university is the first exchange she made with her parents.Four years of free life.To exchange all the patience before for four years of free life, this is her desperate choice.

The flight attendant politely placed the food in front of her, and she could almost taste the rhythm of his arteries beating, just within reach.No one will know, and no promises of the future will be affected.

"Today's lunch is grilled sirloin steak with fresh vegetables and soup of the day." The flight attendant said.

It's just that human beings cannot be regarded as a rare resource.There are countless human beings in this world.And Zoe doesn't eat to survive.She knew it was pure desire.Whether instinctive or pathological, her impulses are empty desires.

"thanks……"

She withdrew her outstretched hand.

Facing the leaving waiter and the plate in front of her, for a moment, her heart was filled with endless loathing for herself.

Zoe forced herself to take a bite of the steak in front of her, it was tasteless.

About a day later, Zooey finally found the address on Arthur's letter.

It's an unassuming little house in a suburban area surrounded by a few small supermarkets and independent restaurants.The house looks lovely, with honey-coloured stone walls like a cottage from a fairy tale, a chimney suggesting a real fireplace inside, and a side window under the sloping roof facing the vast expanse of moor moor to the west .

Zooey walked to the door and tried the bunch of keys.Sure enough, the door opened.

Around the age of 11, Zoe wrote her first confession letter to Arthur Greystone.It's an anonymous love letter, written simply, maybe even too cryptically.The reason for her anonymity is that when she was younger, she once confided her troubles to her teacher, and it didn't take long for her to find out that the teacher had told her parents the secret of "belonging to two people".

Although she felt that her favorite Uncle Arthur would not do this, Zooey was still worried.But Uncle Arthur found out anyway.Not only did he find out that it was her, but he also found out that the intention she wanted to convey was not false.He didn't take it seriously, but gave Zooey a promise, saying that if she still had the same idea when she became an adult, then he promised to think about it.At the same time, Arthur also gave her a book by Safone called "The Shadow of the Wind", which was said to be a bestseller at that time.Since then Zoe has been obsessed with all kinds of stories