Chapter 10
The zombie teacher was currently the highest-ranking and most intelligent zombie in this temporary base.
Yet, even he couldn’t determine the curly-haired little zombie’s level.
The zombie teacher fell silent, then, as if in thought, pushed up his glasses, mimicking a human gesture.
“Tonight, a small boss-level zombie is coming to our temporary base. Curly-haired little zombie, you’ll come with me.”
Then he could further verify this little zombie’s background.
Was he related to the Zombie King, or…
Was he a different kind of monster altogether?!
Had he infiltrated their ranks with ulterior motives?!
The curly-haired little zombie, Xing Nuo, shrank his neck, not daring to say anything, and nodded, his curls bouncing slightly.
The black-haired little zombie had somehow approached and was now standing in front of Xing Nuo, tilting his head.
He was about the same size as Xing Nuo, seemingly around three or four years old. His pure black eyes were large and round, staring fixedly with a disconcerting intensity.
The black-haired little zombie bared his small, sharp teeth, seemingly happy, and let out a soft sound.
“Xing Nuo.”
He accurately pronounced Xing Nuo’s name, his voice like the clunky whirring of old machinery.
The zombie teacher, looking down on this low-level little zombie, shooed him away.
“Go back, class is about to resume.”
After a lesson on human imitation, Xing Nuo’s cough worsened.
He had caught a chill from the wind when he was brought back earlier and couldn’t stop coughing.
Xing Nuo didn’t know if zombies coughed. Shorter than a zombie’s leg, he stood among them, covering his mouth with his hand, his face flushed with an unhealthy red.
He only coughed softly when he couldn’t hold it in any longer.
After coughing, he would quickly look around, sneaking glances at the other zombies, afraid of being discovered.
A not-so-bright zombie, its mouth half-open, groaned and looked down at the curly-haired little zombie by its feet.
Smelling the faint boss-level monster scent emanating from Xing Nuo, the zombie’s eyes almost popped out of its head, and it quickly scurried away.
The other low-level zombies, even more afraid of the scent, also moved away.
This gave Xing Nuo some space. He patted his chest, coughed a few times, and his flushed face returned to its usual pallor.
After class, the zombies gradually dispersed, retreating to dark corners to stand idly.
It was still daytime in the city, and low- to mid-level zombies were generally active after dusk.
Xing Nuo also moved behind a large pillar, concealing his small form.
He peeked out, confirming that no other zombies had followed him, let out a long breath, and slowly sat down, hugging his knees.
Xing Nuo sat in a daze for a while, picking at the fluff on his rabbit slippers, feeling down, lost, and miserable.
He sniffled, missing his dad and brother terribly.
Where was this place? When could he find his way home?
He didn’t want to be a little zombie anymore. It wasn’t fun at all.
Xing Nuo’s chest ached, and a tear slipped down his cheek, leaving a small mark on the dry ground.
Wiping his wet face, his eyelashes clumped together with tears, blurring his vision.
Through the blur, he saw the black-haired little zombie walking towards him with an expressionless face.
Xing Nuo wiped his tears even faster, lowering his head, anxiously avoiding the little zombie’s gaze.
The black-haired little zombie walked stiffly to Xing Nuo and stared at him without blinking.
After a long moment, the little zombie suddenly bared his small, sharp teeth.
“Xing Nuo…wipe.”
He offered Xing Nuo a small pack of tissues he’d gotten from somewhere, roughly pulling out a sheet printed with a cartoon bear.
Smelling the sweet floral scent of the tissue, Xing Nuo couldn’t help but look up at the little zombie.
The little zombie seemed happy, tilting his head, not minding Xing Nuo’s direct gaze.
“Xing Nuo…why…unhappy?”
The little zombie’s voice was strange, different from the usual stiffness of zombies, more like the grating whir of rusty machinery.
But for some reason, listening to the little zombie, Xing Nuo felt a sense of inexplicable trust.
Perhaps…it was because they were both children?
Even if he was a zombie, being so small, he didn’t seem threatening, and Xing Nuo wasn’t particularly afraid.
Wiping his salty tears with the tissue, Xing Nuo’s voice still held a slight sniffle:
“I miss…Dad…brother…want…go home.”
The little zombie continued to tilt his head, as if processing this slurred sentence.
After a while, his eyes lit up, and he bared his small, sharp teeth again.
“Tomorrow…I take you…back.”
Xing Nuo’s hand, wiping his tears, froze.
“You know…way back?”
Even now, Xing Nuo still didn’t realize he was in a different world.
He thought he had simply gotten lost and couldn’t find his dad or his way home.
As long as he found the way, he could definitely go back.
The black-haired little zombie nodded, then shook his head.
“No…road…here…I take you…back.”
There was no road leading back to reality from the instance world, but the little zombie had a way.
Hearing this, Xing Nuo’s mouth opened slightly, and his eyes lit up.
“Really?”
He could go home?
The little zombie nodded firmly: “Really.”
Then, he extended his hand.
His small fingers were thin and stiff, their movements seemingly unpracticed. They hovered in the air for a moment before gently touching Xing Nuo’s soft skin.
He wasn’t a zombie; he didn’t rely solely on scent to identify his kind.
Touching Xing Nuo’s slightly cool but soft arm, feeling the pulse of blood beneath his skin, the little zombie bared his teeth again.
“Xing Nuo…is human.”
A living, breathing human with a heartbeat and blood flowing through his veins.
The little zombie seemed happy. His vacant, dark eyes seemed to flicker with a spark of human emotion.
Before the little zombie could say more, the zombie teacher’s voice echoed from nearby.
“Curly-haired little zombie, come here. I’ll take you to meet a higher-level zombie boss.”
Unlike the low-level zombies who were simply afraid of Xing Nuo’s scent, the zombie teacher, although also afraid, could suppress his fear with his higher-level abilities.
He had developed intelligence and didn’t rely solely on instinct. He racked his not-so-bright brain.
Since he couldn’t determine the curly-haired little zombie’s identity, he would take him to a boss-level zombie.
It just so happened that the Zombie King was recently cracking down on the progress of human imitation classes and had dispatched several boss-level zombies to various cities to inspect the situation.
A higher-level zombie was coming to their city tonight.
Hearing this, Xing Nuo lowered his head, his face pale. His arms and legs felt weak and heavy.
He was already weak, and after all the day’s events, he seemed to have developed a fever.
The zombie teacher, seeing Xing Nuo, grabbed his clothes and dragged him away.
The black-haired little zombie, who hadn’t quite mastered walking, saw Xing Nuo being taken away and anxiously tried to follow.
But he stumbled and fell, landing face-first in the dirt.
The zombie teacher scoffed at the little zombie, stopping to shoo him away.
“Get out of here.”
High-level zombies had a natural dominance over low-level zombies. Logically, the little zombie, suppressed by the zombie teacher, should have cowered on the ground like the others.
But the little zombie not only showed no fear, but he also scrambled to his feet and charged at the zombie teacher.
Baring his teeth, his dark eyes filled with a ferocious madness, he lunged at the zombie teacher before he could react.
The little zombie sank his teeth into the zombie teacher.
Instantly, the little black liquid within the zombie oozed from the wound.
The zombie teacher’s eyes narrowed like a beast’s, staring intently at the little zombie who had bitten him.
Unable to free his hand, he released Xing Nuo’s collar, throwing him aside, and tried to shake off the little zombie.
But the little zombie was surprisingly resilient. Despite being thrown several times, he kept getting up and biting at the zombie teacher’s neck.
The little zombie knew where a zombie’s weak spot was and relentlessly attacked the zombie teacher’s neck.
The zombie teacher thought this little zombie was overestimating himself.
His expression remained blank. His glasses had fallen off during the struggle, revealing a pair of vacant, blood-red zombie eyes.
In the next moment, the high-level zombie unleashed his mental power, sending out invisible waves that forced all the surrounding zombies to collapse on the ground, groaning in fear and helplessness.
But the little zombie seemed completely unaffected, continuing to lunge forward and bite at his neck.
The zombie teacher’s normally foolproof mental power had no effect on the little zombie!
In that moment of distraction, the zombie teacher felt a sharp pain in his neck.
Zombies no longer felt pain, but at this moment, the zombie teacher felt a searing agony.
With a few guttural groans, his blood-red eyes wide, the zombie teacher collapsed to the ground.
The little zombie, panting heavily, stood up and stumbled towards Xing Nuo.
His face was covered in bruises. “Xing Nuo…go.”
The zombie teacher wasn’t dead yet; they had to leave quickly.
Xing Nuo’s eyes were wide, his slightly feverish head still a bit fuzzy.
But he wasn’t afraid of the little zombie’s outstretched hand.
Under the darkening, grayish-white sky, the two “little zombies” ran out of the dark, sinister building.
