"Damn it! What is going on here?" Elijah quickly looked around theke!


    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 iceyer, appearing dark and indistinct.


    This dense umtion of bodies had initially gone unnoticed by Elijah, who thought theke was shallow with only muddy soil beneath.


    The revtion 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 thiske!" Elijah muttered to himself.


    "Who did this? White-d female zombie Elena? Or someone else or another zombie? If Elena advanced to the third tier, could it be rted to this?"


    Elijah had some suspicions, but he didn''t have time to ponder further.


    He switched to his ice abilities and extended his hand into the water.


    An ice pir formed and extended down to thekebed, soon reaching the strength zombie.


    Elijah pulled the strength zombie out of the ice.


    Then, he used the fire zombie''s abilities to melt the ice covering the lightning and w 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 prate 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 ount 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 hadined several times about the tight "Seed of Consciousness" slots, which made her reluctant to sell second-tier advancement potions casually.


    However, Elijah couldn''t do much.


    To expand the slots, he needed to advance to the fourth tier, which was an extremely 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 consume third-tier corpse cores, which are extremely rare and powerful, making them difficult to hunt.


    Alternatively, they must consume spirit nts of a higher tier than Crystal Grass to reach the fourth tier.


    Elijah remembered the unusual spirit nt 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 nt along with some second-tier corpse cores.


    She had named it Dancing Grass because of its bouncing, dance-like appearance. Elijah hadn''t seen theplete form of the Dancing Grass, so he wasn''t sure if Abigail had consumed 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-d female zombie''s restrained vengeance and her warning to keep outsiders away from theke.


    With theke 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 theke, carefully examining every corner of the ice surface, especially between the frozen lotus flowers and leaves.


    Finally, at the location where the white-d female zombie had danced, Elijah discovered an extraordinarily beautiful nt.


    The nt 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 gossamer or cicada wings.


    In the center of the flower, tiny, firefly-like light points flickered intermittently.


    This was a noble and beautiful spirit nt simr to a snow lotus!


    "I''m such a fool. I previously advised that ces surrounded by zombies, which can''t be lured away, are likely attracting them due to a spirit nt. I didn''t realize this applied to me!" Elijah chided himself, though his face was lit with a smile.


    "A spirit nt 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 nt 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-d female zombie wouldn''t leave theke. It must be at a critical stage!"


    Beneath the snow lotus flower, the iceyer had a fist-sized hole through which the nt''s stem extended.


    Clearly, the roots of the snow lotus were deeply embedded in theke''s muddy bottom.


    The nt''s robust growth was likely due to the countless corpses at thekebed.


    "I wonder if the white-d female zombie identally discovered this growing method for spirit nts or if she already knew and intentionally piled the corpses here to cultivate the nts."


    Elijah pondered while observing the snow lotus, leaning towards the former idea.


    If she had known, she could have used corpse cores directly.


    It was more likely that she identally discovered the corpse pile''s beneficial effect on spirit nt growth and then dragged corpses into theke.


    Regardless of how it came 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 nt couldn''t be easily transnted, so he would have to wait here for it to mature.


    With his spirits lifted, Elijah felt it was time to deal with the white-d female zombie.


    Hopefully, this would bring some substantial insights into the truth behind the zombie virus outbreak.