Xin Long hit the ground hard.
After a dizzying moment, she finally regained her senses.
The musty odor, the scent of rotting wood, and the smell of dust all rushed into her nose at once.
Clang!
The heavy iron door slammed shut behind her. The sound of the bolt sliding into place echoed through the deserted Cold Palace like a weary sigh.
Rubbing her aching arm, Xin Long climbed to her feet.
She looked around.
The dilapidated palace, its cracked walls mottled with age—it was the Cold Palace where the original princess had once lived.
She let out a sigh.
“Finally… I’m rid of that lunatic.”
Finding a chair that was barely usable, she dusted it off and sat down.
“Enter.”
Closing her eyes, she silently gave the command.
When she opened them again, everything around her had changed.
Bright lights.
The familiar décor.
A faint fragrance from an aroma diffuser filled the air.
Compared to the gloomy Cold Palace, it was like stepping from hell into paradise.
She had returned to her villa.
But the sight before her left her stunned.
Golden light nearly blinded her.
Piles of gold, silver, jewels, and precious treasures filled the living room like miniature mountains.
Boxes upon boxes of rice, flour, cooking oil, and other supplies were stacked everywhere, leaving barely enough room to walk.
Even the lawn outside the villa was covered with mountains of loot.
These were all the spoils she had “confiscated” from corrupt officials that night.
Xin Long pressed a hand to her forehead.
She was beginning to regret not organizing her storage space beforehand.
“This is way too messy.”
She hurried into the basement.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t much better.
It, too, was packed with the gold and treasures she had seized from corrupt officials.
In one corner sat a specially made cage.
Inside it, the Zombie King, Jiang Li—currently in the form of an adorable little boy—was squeezed into the cramped space.
His blood-red eyes glared viciously at her.
“Xin Long! What the hell are you doing?!”
His shrill voice scraped against the ears like fingernails on a chalkboard.
Even the little tuft of hair sticking up on his head had shot straight up in anger.
“Why did you bring all this junk back?! Are you trying to stink me to death?!”
Looking at the furious little zombie, Xin Long couldn’t help feeling helpless.
“Jiang Li, calm down. Calm down.”
“You’re a zombie, not a human. You won’t be choked to death by the smell.”
Jiang Li: “…”
He felt deeply insulted.
Ignoring his protests, Xin Long closed her eyes and began organizing her space.
With a single thought, the countless items automatically sorted themselves into neat categories.
The previously chaotic villa gradually became orderly once more.
Fortunately, she had dug an enormous underground basement specifically to imprison Jiang Li.
Otherwise, there wouldn’t have been enough room for all this loot.
Once everything had been arranged, Xin Long walked over to Jiang Li’s cage.
She knocked lightly on the wall.
A hidden compartment slowly opened.
Inside was a black safe.
She took it out.
At almost the same instant, Jiang Li’s eyes locked onto the safe.
His crimson pupils gleamed with naked greed.
He could smell an irresistible delicacy hidden inside.
“What’s in there?”
His gaze never left the black safe in Xin Long’s hands.
The delicious scent wafting from it made his mouth water.
The rich aroma teased every instinct within him.
He swallowed loudly.
“Can… can I have some?”
His voice softened into the sweet, childish tone of a spoiled little boy, carrying an unmistakable hint of pleading.
Xin Long ignored him.
She entered the combination and opened the safe.
Inside were countless smooth crystal cores glowing faintly in four different colors:
Green.
Blue.
Orange.
Red.
The green ones were the most numerous, their pale color resembling polished jade.
The red ones were the rarest, yet the brightest.
Their vivid crimson looked like solidified blood, radiating a strange, powerful energy.
The crystal cores varied in size.
The largest were about the size of a thumb, while the smallest were no bigger than pills.
Thousands upon thousands of them were piled together, forming a glittering little mountain of gemstones.
A peculiar fragrance filled the air.
It was the energy emitted by the crystal cores.
To zombies, it was an irresistible temptation.
Xin Long’s gaze rested upon them.
These were all crystal cores she had dug out of zombies during the apocalypse.
By the later stages of the apocalypse, zombies had begun slaughtering one another.
Every zombie that died left behind one of these crystal cores inside its brain.
Some zombies that consumed crystal cores stopped rotting.
Some regrew severed limbs.
Others even regained the ability to speak.
Xin Long had even encountered zombies that looked almost indistinguishable from ordinary humans, blending into human society and manipulating events from the shadows.
Breathing in the scent of the crystal cores, Jiang Li drooled all over the floor.
Inside his cage, he rolled around and threw a tantrum like a spoiled child, completely abandoning the dignity of a Zombie King.
“Give me one!”
“Give me one!”
Now trapped in the body of a little boy, his mind had also regressed to that of a three-year-old.
He didn’t feel embarrassed in the slightest.
The constant shouting gave Xin Long a headache.
Rubbing her temples, she said,
“Quiet.”
She selected the smallest green crystal core from the safe.
It was about the size of a thumb, pale in color, like an unripe fruit.
With a flick of her finger, she tossed it into the cage.
Jiang Li immediately stopped crying.
Like a puppy spotting a bone, he eagerly picked up the thumb-sized crystal core.
Instead of swallowing it whole, he carefully held it in his mouth like a piece of candy, savoring the strange energy as it flowed through his body.
His eyes narrowed happily in satisfaction.
Resting his chin in his hands, Jiang Li watched Xin Long continue sorting through the crystal cores inside the safe.
One zombie yielded only a single crystal core.
Just how many zombies had she killed to accumulate an entire safe full of them?
This woman… she’s a monster too.
He silently thought to himself.
After pondering for a moment, Xin Long picked out a single blue crystal core.
It was about the size of her little fingernail and emitted a soft azure glow.
She closed the safe.
Then returned it to the hidden compartment.
Standing up, she headed toward the basement exit.
Watching her leave, confusion flickered across Jiang Li’s crimson eyes.
What is she planning to do… with that blue crystal core?