Chapter 137: The Zombie Emperor

Ge Xiu walked towards the dilapidated building.

The already worn out soles of his shoes made a dragging and monotonous sound on the ground, echoing in the narrow, dark corridor.

He sniffed the smell in the air, and following it to the source, walked towards one of the rooms deep in the corridor.

The lock on the door was broken, unable to keep the room closed. There was some sticky blood on the handle that had not dried up yet, emitting the sweet and bewitching fragrance.

Ge Xiu felt his saliva started to secrete again.

He stretched out his hand and pushed open the door in front of him.

But before he could take two steps in, a roaring burning flame rushed towards him, the dazzling heat almost setting the air on fire.

Ge Xiu swiftly took a step back, dodging narrowly.

The flame fell on the wall where it extinguished, leaving a charred trace.

He blinked, thought sluggishly for a few seconds, and then pushed open the door in front of him with force.

The room was in a disarray.

The broken furniture was covered by a thick layer of dust, and the bloodstains and minced meat that stuck on it had dried up into shriveled dark patches. The narrow space was very dark, and only a little sunlight came in from the window where barely remains of the window frame were left.

A man stood in the corner of the wall, with several bloody wounds on his body. Blue ice covered the surface of the wound to stop the bleeding. All the injuries look dangerous and very serious, only by supporting himself by leaning on the wall could he not fall down.

His face was pale with blood loss, but his expression was still violent and fierce, his icy gaze pinned to Ge Xiu, who was standing at the door. He was like a wounded lone wolf, ready to tear apart anything and anyone that came close to him.

Ge Xiu sniffed.

——That captivating smell came from this man.

It would be certainly delicious.

Ge Xiu swallowed his saliva, the roots of his teeth were itchy, and his long-suppressed appetite reappeared in an instant, urging him to move forward from the depths of his body.

Or… just eat it right now?

Reserve rations would have to go into his stomach anyway, no difference if this happens sooner or later.

Xie Shili gritted his teeth.

Was that it?

Would his life end here?

In a dilapidated residential building, he would be abruptedly get eaten by zombies and turn into a walking corpse himself, driven only by primitive instinct to eat and devour.

——impossible.

Xie Shili’s eyes turned cold, and he mobilized the last remaining power in his body.

The light blue ice cone slowly solidified in the air, pierced the air with a whizzle and flew towards the zombie — but it was still easily avoided.

A high-level zombie.

Possibly even possessing simple intelligence.

Xie Shili’s heart sank slowly — the last thing he wanted to see appeared.

Since humans can evolve, zombies can evolve the same. Although there were some rumours of powerful zombies appearing in various places, no one in the Base of the Dawn was willing to believe this.

One reason was that no one had seen the existence of high-level zombies with their own eyes.

The second and most important point was that Base of the Dawn was backed by City A, which was one of the most densely populated cities in the country. Had high-level zombies existed, they should have also appeared in City A— but in fact, there had not been much movement in City A, and over time, entering and leaving City A became even safer, with death rate becoming much lower than before.

But Xie Shili didn’t think so.

Some people said that the food in City A was decreasing and so the zombies were gradually dispersing, but he scoffed at this theory.

The excessive calm in City A made him just more uneasy.

Fear could blind people.

People were so afraid of the appearance of high-level zombies that they would turn a blind eye to the evidence in front of them.

They would even be unanimous against anyone who tried to warn them.

—until the day when they can no longer ignore that fact.

Xie Shili closed his eyes.

The pale blue icicle condensed in the air, and this time, it was aimed at his temple.

“Shii”.

There came the sound of a sharp weapon slicing through the flesh, but he didn’t feel any pain. Xie Shili opened his eyes in shock and looked at the zombies that was close at hand.

This was the first time he had looked so closely at a monster that could bite through his throat at any moment.

It had the appearance of a youth, tall with handsome features, and the clothes on him could be barely recognised as a suit and shirt. Before the end of the world, he might have been a gentle intellectual.

If it weren’t for the fact that this high-level zombie, like its kin, has blue-white skin and iron-grey lifeless pupils, Xie Shili would have had a hard time distinguishing it from ordinary humans.

However, unlike other zombies, it looked very clean. Although the clothes on its body were still wrinkled and torn at the corners, as well as covered with dried blood stains, there was no trace of decay. All the pale skin was intact and smooth, overall looking too clean.

Those inorganic gray eyes stared at him, as if staring at something not alive without any value.

Xie Shili’s abilities were exhausted, and he finally couldn’t hold on any longer.

The world in front of him slowly dimmed.

He passed out.

Ge Xiu lowered his head and stared at the cut on his palm, where some dark blood flowed out from the cut surface.

No pain at all.

He put down his hand and looked at the human who had fallen into a coma, and couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief in his heart.

Thankfully he came in time.

Otherwise, if this human really destroyed the crystal in his brain, what would he eat?

Ge Xiu glanced at the human head doubtfully.

There was no halo on his head, but he could clearly smell the smell coming from the other, the same smell as those of the humans called “super humans”, however these humans all had shining halos on their heads.

Those with halos of light always have crystals in their brains, but would those without bright halo have them?

But don’t all supernatural humans have bright halo?

Ge Xiu had been thrown into confusion by himself.

He quickly gave up this puzzling question, which was obviously a bit difficult for his current self, and took out two dark gray crystals from his pocket and stuffed them into his mouth to replenish his brain.

After a brief moment of thinking, Ge Xiu came to a simple and crude conclusion.

——Probably still too weak.

He could smell the breath coming from the human.

As a result, Ge Xiu disappointedly abandoned his plan to eat early and enjoy early, and made a circle returning to the original reserve food plan.

Raise him first.

Maybe he would taste better after a while.

Ge Xiu let out a low growl from his throat, summoned his four subordinates here, and instructed them to lift the man who had passed out and fell to the ground.

The four zombies were drooling, but in awe of Ge Xiu’s power, they obediently lifted the person up, not even daring to touch him.

Although he encountered his reserve ration on the road, Ge Xiu was not ready to give up his plan to leave City A.

He had already eaten the few of the slightly tastier zombies in City A, and if he stayed any longer, he would definitely be hungry.

So, Ge Xiu led four zombies, carrying an unconscious human, and embarked on the road to march to other cities.

Soon, he realized the new use of his reserve food.

The fresh, vigorous, warm aroma emanating from the man’s body, as well as the bloody smell escaping from his wound, in the world of zombies, was like a lighthouse on the vast sea in the dark night, constantly attracting the surrounding zombies with the tempting smell, making them rush crazily in greed and hunger.

——And high-quality zombies were easily attracted as well.

Ge Xiu happily caught a zombie whose speed had mutated.

The blue-white fingers looked slender and long, but they were as strong as iron hoops as they clamped around the zombie.

He skillfully smashed the zombie’s head open, put his fingers inside and searched for a moment before he quickly took out a brown and black spar.

Ge Xiu threw away the rotten head, rubbed dirt off the nucleus on Number Four, then stuffed it into his mouth, chewed it up and swallowed.

The warm heat slid down his throat, making his eyes narrow in satisfaction.

Even while he roamed the city A for so long, counting back, he had rarely been able to eat nucleus of such high quality when he arrives at the back.

Although Number One, Number Two, Number Three, Number Four, who followed Ge Xiu, had long been accustomed to his ferocity, they still involuntarily shook slightly as when they had just awakened, and took back the saliva that was gradually flowing out of their mouths—no matter how hungry, this human was absolutely not to be moved!

Ge Xiu began to seriously think about a problem.

Was there any way to not only eat the person, but also to let him continue to attract other zombies?

——Can’t seem to find a compromise.

He turned his head to look at the human being drooled at by four zombies resisting their greed and suddenly found that the unconscious human’s brows were all furrowed, and his face which had been pale due to excessive blood loss, was now painted morbid red, as if he had a fever.

Ge Xiu didn’t know what a fever was.

But his subconsciousness told him that fever at such a time would be fatal.

… why don’t he eat it while it’s still hot?

However, there was no light halo on his head. If there was no nucleus after prying open the skull, wouldn’t it be a big loss?

Not only the food reserve would be gone, but also the bait to attract other high-level zombies.

Ge Xiu pondered, and finally decided to follow his original plan regretfully——

forget it, let’s raise it and eat it after the light on his head lights up.

Meaning…he couldn’t let him die now.

Ge Xiu looked around, then turned his head and roared at the four zombies behind him, then changed his direction walking towards the town beside him.

He remembered that in the gathering place of human beings, there was a building called a hospital, which seemed to be able to cure diseases and save people.

There were far more zombies in the town than on the road.

As a result, Number One’s backpack was filled with more layer after layer of crystals.

Ge Xiu gave each of the four zombies two nuclei, and then put a handful of them into his pocket, snacking on them while walking.

He violently damaged the hospital’s rusted, blood-stained door.

The hospital was filled with gloomy air of death. There were large bloodstains and bloody footprints on the floor of the corridor. The chilling atmosphere overflowed with smell of decay, and the whole place looked dilapidated and barren.

Ge Xiu killed two ordinary zombies that were attracted by the smell of blood. He didn’t even bother to knock open their heads, because the nuclei inside was so small that he wouldn’t even put it in his eyes nowadays.

He came to a fallen medicine rack and tilted his head in confusion.

And now… what?

..

Xie Shili opened his eyes and stared blankly at the white ceiling above his head.

He consciousness seemed to be burned out, making his thoughts a little sluggish.

Xie Shili turned his head with difficulty.

Although the things in the room had mostly been destroyed, the walls and floor were a mess, but he could still tell that the place where he was stationed now seemed like…

a hospital?

Immediately afterwards, Xie Shili’s heart suddenly tensed.

He saw a zombie standing at the door of the ward, a pair of dirty eyes were staring at him, greedy hunger in its eyes

… not good.

Xie Shili sobered up instantly, the fighting instinct cultivated in the harsh environment of the apocalypse drove away the previous drowsiness and chaotic thoughts.

Even before his brain reacted, he had already subconsciously assumed a defensive posture.

Xie Shili gritted his teeth, trying to mobilize the supernatural powers in his body, but the completely exhausted ability could not respond to the call of his consciousness at all.

His eye sockets were burning red, his pupils shrank as fire burned inside them, and his pupils flashed with unwillingness and ruthlessness.

A tiny light blue ice cone appeared in midair.

But it was too small to pose any threat at all.

But in the next second.

The zombie standing at the door turned away and ran.

Xie Shili was taken aback: “…?”

The author has something to say:

Really greedy for the body