A decisive force pushed Xi Zhou away. His heavy body fell rapidly downward, and emotions—shock, confusion, complexity—flooded in all at once.
He didn’t even have time to react. His energy was completely exhausted, leaving him powerless to resist. In an instant, he was swallowed by the relentless horde of zombies.
The zombies no longer bothered chasing the truck. They all stopped and began to enjoy their feast.
Li Ge struggled to push herself up from the ground. Her arms and legs were scraped and torn by the rough asphalt. Gripping her fruit knife, she limped toward the zombie crowd.
On the wide road, the only sound left besides the truck speeding away was the disgusting sound of zombies chewing.
Creak… creak…
Sharp teeth tore off chunks of flesh and swallowed them after a few rough bites.
She couldn’t help swallowing nervously. Through the gaps, she saw a pair of bloodshot eyes—twisted and terrifying from unbearable pain.
Since Xi Zhou was thrown off the truck, he hadn’t even had time to scream. The zombies bit wherever they could, and within seconds his body was already covered in wounds.
Even though she had seen death countless times in her previous life, witnessing a person being torn apart by dozens of zombies still made her feel a chill of fear.
The pain kept intensifying. His eyes were gradually turning into the same color they had in her previous life—blood-red.
As she moved forward, she pulled out another knife. Facing dozens of zombies alone, she still looked utterly outmatched. Even knowing the outcome could not be changed, she still wanted to save him.
Just consider it… something he owed her.
“Get lost.”
A cold voice, sharp and clear even amid the roars of zombies.
Li Ge froze slightly and looked up in surprise. But Xi Zhou had already closed his eyes, his body completely buried beneath the swarm.
Save him or not—she hesitated.
It was almost laughable. What made her think she could save him at all?
She curled her lips in self-mockery, then slowly backed away, gripping her knife while watching the zombies warily.
Xi Zhou lay on the ground, staring blankly at the blue sky. The sunlight was blinding. He instinctively raised his hand to block it—but a zombie grabbed it and dragged it into its mouth.
Pain and bitterness filled his chest.
“Aah!”
The pain became unbearable, and at last, a scream escaped his tightly restrained throat.
He regretted it.
On the second floor of a small restaurant by the roadside, Li Ge ate cold food from a plate, large mouthfuls, while her eyes never left the window.
Fifteen minutes later, the road was stained red with blood. The zombies slowly dispersed after their meal.
A man, barely human anymore, lay on the ground. His body was torn beyond recognition. The air was deathly silent.
Li Ge swallowed her last bite of food, expression cold. She took a kitchen knife from the kitchen and went downstairs.
The nearly perfect 1.82-meter-tall man had been reduced to bones, his clothes hanging in shredded strips.
She grabbed his arm, slung him over her back, and carried him back into the restaurant without a word. She lowered the heavy shutter door and blocked the staircase with tables and chairs.
Standing above him, she looked down at Xi Zhou’s mangled body and let out a long breath.
She still hadn’t stopped him from becoming a zombie.
She wondered if, in her previous life, Xi Zhou had also been pushed into a zombie horde by Bai Sui.
Most people, after being bitten or scratched, would turn into zombies within ten minutes. Perhaps because he was an ability user… or perhaps because he was destined to become the Zombie Emperor.
At that moment, Xi Zhou looked as if he were simply asleep, lying quietly.
Li Ge thought for a moment, then went to the storage room and found a rope, tying him up.
Staying alone in a confined space with someone about to turn into a zombie was not a wise choice.
Outside the school’s east gate was a food street with more than a dozen shops. They were now inside one of the restaurants on the second floor.
The zombies inside had already been cleared. The kitchen had enough food for a week, and the bottled water supply was still sufficient.
Li Ge decided to stay here and wait for Xi Zhou to recover. As the future Zombie Emperor, there was no way he would simply die during the transformation.
She even looked forward to meeting Bai Sui again.
Three days passed like this.
Xi Zhou showed no difference from a corpse. The weather was hot, and a faint smell of decay began to spread in the room.
That night, Li Ge was awakened by an unusually high temperature.
Xi Zhou’s face was no longer pale—it was turning red, and his body temperature was rising rapidly.
It looked like he was about to recover. Li Ge sighed in relief and brought a basin of water from the kitchen.
A wet towel was placed on his forehead. When her fingers accidentally touched him, she instantly got a blister from the heat.
Even a fever shouldn’t be this extreme.
After using up an entire basin of water, the temperature not only didn’t drop—it kept rising. A faint burning smell filled the room.
Something was wrong.
Before she could think further, a wave of heat surged out. Flames suddenly burst from Xi Zhou’s body. If she hadn’t closed the kitchen door in time, she would have been burned.
She knocked herself on the forehead in frustration.
Right—he had fire abilities.
But… do abilities still exist after turning into a zombie?
She tried to recall her previous life, but strangely, she couldn’t remember whether the Zombie Emperor had abilities. All she recalled was that he was incredibly powerful.
The flames grew stronger. Within the firelight, his wounds were healing at a visible speed.
Li Ge filled a basin with water, then hesitated with her hand on the door.
Water and fire don’t mix. Forcibly extinguishing it might not be a good idea.
The second floor felt like a giant furnace. She climbed out the window onto the roof and stayed on the neighboring building for the night.
On the fifth day at noon, the extreme heat finally began to subside.
Peeking inside, she confirmed there was no movement and climbed back in.
Xi Zhou was still on fire, but the flames had stabilized to normal levels. His hair and eyebrows were gone, and his clothes had burned away completely.
That body… tsk.
Only metal could probably survive that kind of fire.
But leaving him like this was too much. Her gaze drifted toward a corner table, and she touched her chin thoughtfully.
Even until his breathing stopped, Xi Zhou would never forget those terrified faces.
The hero and the demon had switched places in an instant.
Zombies were monsters he had seen with his own eyes. To save his companions, he was willing to let go—but why did it have to be the person he trusted most who pushed him into the abyss?
If only he had been given two more seconds… if he had been allowed to finish speaking… maybe it wouldn’t have hurt this much.
Like in a documentary where wolves devour a fallen sheep—he had become the prey of a zombie pack in reality.
How tragic. How ridiculous. How pitiful.
Why did he have to end up like this?