Lu Chen glanced down at his hands, which had just been digging through zombie brains, and immediately understood what the little one was afraid of.
He was clearly a zombie, yet so timid.
If he went outside like this, wouldn’t he just get bullied to tears?
Lu Chen felt it was necessary for the little guy to toughen up a bit and learn some basic human knowledge.
After all, in his opinion, this small hut wasn’t safe—sooner or later, they would have to leave this place.
Lu Chen wiped his hands clean and slowly reached out toward Ling Jiujiu.
Those eyes, glowing faintly with a golden light in the darkness, resembled two ghostly flames in an abyss, flickering with an intimidating gleam.
But even a rabbit will bite when cornered.
Seeing no way to escape, Ling Jiujiu suddenly erupted. He raised his head, bared his two tiny fangs at Lu Chen, glared with his red eyes, and let out a fierce roar, imitating a zombie’s growl.
“Rawr~”
The sound was soft, probably enough to startle a little rabbit.
Lu Chen was taken aback for a moment, barely holding back a laugh as he pinched Ling Jiujiu’s little face and scolded:
“How dare you act fierce with me? Do you not want those teeth anymore?”
“Rawr! Whimper—”
Hearing this, Ling Jiujiu immediately retracted his fangs, tightly covering his mouth with both hands and shaking his head like a rattle drum.
Seeing his pitiful little appearance, Lu Chen’s heart softened, but for the sake of toughening the little guy up, he held back.
With a stern face, he lifted Ling Jiujiu by the arms and lectured him:
“From now on, you’re not allowed to imitate zombie growls whenever you feel like it. You have to live like a human.”
Ling Jiujiu blinked, his eyes filled with confusion.
He was a zombie—why did he have to live like a human?
Humans liked to eat meat that tasted like tree roots; he didn’t want any of that.
Humans also smashed zombie heads—he had to protect his own head.
Seeing no response, Lu Chen hardened his tone:
“If you don’t do as I say and others see you, they’ll do just what I did earlier—smash your head and dig around inside.”
Just hearing this made Ling Jiujiu’s scalp tingle. His hands, which had been covering his mouth, quickly moved to shield his head instead.
Noticing Lu Chen staring at his mouth, Ling Jiujiu hesitated for a moment, then ended up with one hand covering his head and the other covering his mouth.
What a pitiful sight.
Unable to bear frightening him any further, Lu Chen softened his tone slightly:
“Under normal circumstances, humans don’t harm their own kind. As long as you do as I say, you can avoid a lot of danger.”
Ling Jiujiu understood—Lu Chen wanted him to pretend to be human so that humans wouldn’t think about smashing his head.
He wasn’t like those dumb zombies; he could communicate with humans.
Come to think of it, he still didn’t understand why humans could tell he was a zombie at first glance.
He wasn’t dirty at all, and he wasn’t fierce either.
To avoid living in constant fear, Ling Jiujiu finally nodded.
A faint smile tugged at the corner of Lu Chen’s mouth as he slowly set him down. “Just follow me and learn properly. Fooling others shouldn’t be a problem.”
Ling Jiujiu nodded, his hands still covering his head and mouth.
Seeing his little mannerism, Lu Chen sighed inwardly.
This timid nature probably wouldn’t be trained out of him anytime soon.
But being a little timid wasn’t so bad—it was better than being arrogant and reckless.
Lu Chen reached out, gently moved Ling Jiujiu’s hands away, and ruffled his messy little hair:
“Don’t worry. Stick close to me from now on, and I won’t let anyone smash your head.”
With his tousled little head, Ling Jiujiu obediently nodded again.
Although the danger of infection had passed, Lu Chen chose to stay behind to teach Ling Jiujiu survival skills.
There were awakened individuals in the base, so it wouldn’t be a problem even without him.
Moreover, his comrades who had fought alongside him through life and death had all perished in that zombie horde, and he wasn’t particularly keen on returning there.
In the early days of the apocalypse, he and a few survivors wandered together, supporting one another until they found a structure out at sea.
It had once been a resort, and as it was the off-season for tourism, there weren’t many zombies inside.
After clearing out the zombies, they settled there.
Since it was a sea-based structure, and zombies couldn’t swim or row boats, it was much safer than land.
They took root there, taking turns to venture out in search of supplies.
Although some accidents occurred along the way, they were all within manageable limits.
Later, they also brought back some survivors who had proven themselves reliable.
As their numbers grew, they began expanding the structure, training forces, and gradually building it into a sizable establishment.
They named this place Sea Serpent Base.
Sea Serpent Base was largely isolated from the outside world, with only exploration teams occasionally venturing out to gather supplies.
Everyone had their roles, and life was relatively peaceful.
But after someone was bitten by a zombie and awakened a supernatural ability, the atmosphere in the base changed.
As the number of awakened individuals grew from one to seven, the balance of power in the base was completely disrupted.
The awakened, relying on their supernatural abilities, grew arrogant, believing themselves superior to ordinary people.
Those seven awakened individuals formed their own squad, indulging in the privileges and power their abilities brought, and began to tyrannize the base.
Ordinary people couldn’t resist the awakened, and with zombies swarming outside, staying in the base was still safer, so they chose to comply.
Only those who had journeyed with Lu Chen from the beginning refused to submit, secretly planning how to overthrow the awakened’s dictatorship.
But before they could put their plan into action, they were struck by a zombie horde, and his 001 squad was reduced to just him alone.
Returning there now held no meaning whatsoever.
During these days in the cabin, Lu Chen thought it might be better to simply leave the base behind and live his own life.