Chapter 124: Eating It Can Cure Sickness?
Roman Rowe was already exhausted. Hearing this, he thought the dust had finally settled. He quickly broke away from the battlefield, sprinted back to the RV, and collapsed into a chair.
Several wounds on his body were seeping blood. Lily Hart walked over and simply gave him a styptic pill.
On the other side, Frost Shaw and Leo Colby had also put some distance between themselves and the Zombie King. Frost Shaw said, "If we keep this up, we’ll both suffer heavy losses. Leveling up isn’t easy for anyone. Are we going to continue this fight, or shall we stop now?"
The Zombie King clutched his severed arm, his eyes sweeping over the two men before him. He sneered, then his gaze shifted to Lily Hart, bathed in the warm light of the RV. A flicker of greed crossed his mind.
"Unless you let me take her, I will not let this matter rest." The Zombie King straightened up, his cold, scarlet eyes fixed on Lily Hart.
Leo Colby and Frost Shaw shouted in unison, "In your dreams!"
"Sorry to interrupt," Lily Hart began, raising her hand, "but why exactly do you want to take me? Are we acquainted? Isn’t this a little forward of you?" Her question immediately drew the gazes of the two men and the one zombie.
The Zombie King glanced at her and, with surprising patience, explained, "I want to eat you. It’s as simple as that."
Lily Hart had no illusions that he meant "eat" in some romantic, flirtatious way. ’No, this is the most primitive craving a zombie has for a human—the eat-you-alive-and-swallow-you-whole kind of eating!’
A shiver ran down her spine, and she instinctively wrapped her arms around herself, glaring at the Zombie King. "Don’t even think about it!"
Roman Rowe, having recovered some of his strength, stepped forward and bellowed, "Get the hell out of here! Why don’t you look and see how many of your cronies you even have left?"
’He had some self-awareness, though. He knew that unless every superpower user present was willing to fight to the death, the outcome would be mutually assured destruction...’
’Besides, zombies could self-destruct. If the King went berserk and blew himself up, the consequences would be unthinkable.’
The Zombie King glanced around. Only a few High-level Zombies remained. He snorted, unconcerned. ’Zombies are a dime a dozen,’ he thought.
’But I’m seriously injured right now, in no condition to fight... Once I’ve recovered, I’ll come back and drag this human female back to my lair!’
"Withdraw," the Zombie King commanded. The few remaining High-level Zombies immediately turned to leave. They were incredibly fast, vanishing with a few WHOOSHES.
Douglas Donovan, still shaken, walked up to the RV and exclaimed, "That was absolutely the most powerful zombie I’ve ever seen. And to think it was right here, near Fortune Base."
"Sigh..." Lily Hart sighed as well. ’Who would’ve thought? I was having a perfectly good night’s sleep, and now I’m being targeted by the Zombie King.’
She said with great sincerity, "Douglas, these Crystal Cores are all for your base. Thank you so much for your help."
To be honest, she was truly touched when Douglas Donovan had shouted for help. He had mobilized the superpower users from the base without a moment’s hesitation, and none of them had complained.
"It was the least we could do," Douglas said. "The Guardian Corps spotted the zombie horde and notified me immediately. When I learned they were after Boss Hart, I knew we had to help!"
Douglas Donovan’s willingness to go through hell and high water for them truly warmed Lily Hart’s heart. ’Even though I could have won without them by relying on The Arboretum, it would have been much, much harder.’
’It’s always better to have help than to fight alone.’
Everyone gathered up the Crystal Cores and gave them all to Fortune Base. As the crowd began to disperse, Lily Hart gave each person a quick-pick lottery ticket as a thank you.
The people from Fortune Base were all at least Second-rank Superpower Users, so they had no trouble dealing with the low-level zombies. As a result, there were no fatalities, only a few minor injuries at worst.
Clutching their lottery tickets, they all returned to the base one by one, overjoyed with the new haul of Crystal Cores.
After fighting all night, Lily Hart’s group was on the verge of collapse. They exchanged quick goodbyes before heading off to shower and sleep.
The area in front of the RV was a disaster zone, littered with severed zombie limbs, brains, and fingernails... Lily Hart activated the RV’s cleaning function, and in the blink of an eye, everything was restored to normal.
Even the trench the zombies had dug was filled in.
Lily Hart sighed, then clapped her hands in satisfaction. ’Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to sleep soundly.’
She posted an announcement in the Fortune Base group chat: "Lottery shop closed for the day. Please don’t make a wasted trip."
Then she went to take a shower. Feeling refreshed, she emerged, ready to draw the curtains and get some proper sleep. But as she reached the window, she jumped in fright...
A vaguely familiar face was pressed against the window. It had sharp, scarlet irises, messy, dripping-wet hair, and well-defined features, no different from a normal person.
But Lily Hart knew: it was the Zombie King.
’He can’t get in anyway,’ she thought, and yanked the curtains shut, blocking him from sight.
A moment later, there was a tapping on the glass. The Zombie King’s voice came through, clear as day. "Come with me. I’ll take care of you. All you have to do is let me take one bite a day."
He sounded surprisingly sincere.
But in reality, he was licking his lips, his throat working as he desperately suppressed the urge to devour her whole. ’Take it slow,’ he told himself. ’There’s still a long road ahead.’
’If I eat her all at once, what if I never find another human who smells this good again...’
’I’m not interested in other humans anymore; they all stink to high heaven. None of them smell as good as this female. I lose my appetite just looking at the others, but one whiff of this one and I’m rooted to the spot.’
Lily Hart rolled her eyes. ’If I could actually beat you, I’d have pinned you to the ground and pummeled you by now.’ "In your dreams!" she shouted back.
She went back to bed, refusing to bother with him. ’He can’t get in anyway.’
So the Zombie King just clung to the window. He wouldn’t leave, but he couldn’t get in. He just stayed there, an intoxicated look on his face as he sniffed the air, consoling himself with an illusion like a thirsty man dreaming of plums.
Lily Hart slept until three in the afternoon. When she woke up, she instinctively pulled open the curtains to greet the sun, only to find the zombie was still there!
She jumped back a step and, as if to vent her frustration, yanked the curtains shut again. In response, she heard the Zombie King’s delighted laughter from outside.
’When she moves, her scent gets even stronger,’ the Zombie King thought.
Lily Hart went down to the first floor of the RV and opened up one of the side walls. She’d declared it a day off, and she was going to stick to it. The Zombie King slid down from the window upstairs.
He landed right in front of her. They faced each other across the service counter. Lily Hart pursed her lips in annoyance. "What do you want?"
"To eat you," the Zombie King said, without a trace of hesitation or subtlety.
Lily Hart didn’t deign to reply. She just picked up a pair of nail clippers and started on her fingernails. *CLICK.* A nail clipping flew through the air and landed on the table.
The Zombie King picked it up and popped it into his mouth out of curiosity. Lily Hart’s eyes widened in shock and disgust. ’Wh-what... what kind of fetish is that?! Even I think that’s disgusting!’
"Crunchy, a little salty. Delicious," the Zombie King commented matter-of-factly.
"Thanks..." Lily Hart replied, feeling completely dead inside.
You could say the Zombie King was despicable, and you’d be right. He was absolutely despicable. All for the sake of eating one human, he’d launched a midnight assault, dug trenches, and clung to her window—he’d stop at nothing.
Was there a kind bone in his body? Absolutely not.
All that was left was disgust. ’Does he really have to eat *me*? Please, I’m begging you, just pick someone else...’
The Zombie King picked up and ate all ten of her nail clippings, an unsatisfied expression on his face.
Lily Hart suspected that if not for the RV’s barrier, she’d already be in his stomach. ’So creepy,’ she thought, ’unbelievably creepy!’
Suddenly, the small cuts on the Zombie King’s face began to heal at a rapid pace. Even the patch of frostbite on his exposed, grayish-white skin started to slowly mend.