"My kind?" Tang Ye looked up again.
"Yes."
"After the zombies are digested, they all turn into these things?"
"Digested? You catch on quick, thinking of that word so fast. But you’re mistaken. They are indeed your kind. However, only normal humans or high-level zombies with intelligence comparable to normal humans can beco ordinary people. To Dairya, they are just nutrient-less waste, exiled here and fed scraps."
"So low-level zombies?"
"Correct. The ones that just transford from normal beings into zombies, those without any thought capacity who only know how to feed. They are your kind. You started off the sa, didn’t you?"
"My situation might have been different," Tang Ye murmured to himself, but did not voice it out loud.
He took note of a word in the woman’s speech.
Nutrients?
That term suddenly reminded him of his own zombie nest, which produced a multitude of zombies daily. Inside the nest, in a survival of the fittest scenario, the zombies would slaughter each other. The weaker ones were eliminated and even the strong zombies that t unexpected ends in the gutter would be harvested for their purification crystals, which were collected to provide energy for himself and followers like Ah Fu to move.
This fake world seed to be the "zombie nest" of the Nightmare Zombie King, seemingly similar in existence to his own, but with a different thod of replenishing vitality. It survived by extracting nutrients from the "people" of this world to ensure its own mobility. Compared to his own violent thods of collecting, the Nightmare Zombie King’s approach seed gentler.
Though he didn’t know why the Nightmare Zombie King did this, the most probable reason seed to be that zombies fed only to replenish energy for movent, and evolution was a secondary need. This thod often resulted in a certain degree of waste. If food was abundant, one wouldn’t care about this waste, but in cases of scarcity, one had to economize.
Perhaps for this reason, from the perspective of the Nightmare Zombie King, a regular zombie’s mindless feeding was just killing the goose that laid golden eggs. But a thod of long-term, sustained extraction was the key to longevity. Still, this woman entered this realm a few months before the Apocalypse. Could it be the Nightmare Zombie King realized this so early and had always practiced being frugal with food?
That thought didn’t sit right, but from a zombie’s instinctual standpoint, it was unlikely they’d bother with such trivialities. Perhaps it was just the feeding thod it used.
However, even this conservation would eventually lead to the depletion of a resource. Otherwise, zombies wouldn’t be brought into this place.
"No more questions, right? Now it’s my turn."
"Wait, I still have one question."
The woman frowned but managed to suppress her impatience, saying patiently, "Alright, ask."
"If this place is fake, does that an that everything I’ve seen here is illusory? Then what about in here – what’s the situation with the ’’ outside?"
Being in this place and affected by the unknown, Tang Ye didn’t think of this question earlier. He had assud it would be his last question for the woman, but then he ca up with a new one.
"That question, forgive , but I cannot answer. I’ve never gone out and so I don’t know what the real ’’ outside is like."
"Now, are we done?"
"This should be the last one, I guess."
"Ask."
"Do you know about gravediggers?"
"I know. They’re a common profession, aren’t they?"
"Do you know about the gravedigger at Martyrs’ Cetery of Xi River City?"
"The gravedigger at Martyrs’ Cetery? What’s so strange about him?" Upon hearing Tang Ye’s words, the woman showed confusion. It was obvious she knew of this gravedigger but didn’t recognize anything unusual about him.
Tang Ye recounted the anomalies he had witnessed with the gravedigger at Martyrs’ Cetery of Xi River City to the woman. The more she listened, the more furrowed her brows beca. Tang Ye, on the other hand, seed to beco less puzzled as he recounted, perhaps formulating an explanation during the process.
That gravedigger might have already been pulled into a deeper reality due to violating the rules, as ntioned by the woman. However, Tang Ye felt like sothing was off but couldn’t pinpoint the elusive details.
"This gravedigger..." The woman’s words stalled as though she struggled to explain the situation of the gravedigger from Martyrs’ Cetery of Xi River City. Seeing her like this, Tang Ye’s brow also furrowed.
Was this gravedigger truly not simple after all?
"This..."
The woman in front of him hemd and hawed for quite a while but was still unable to provide a complete answer. In the end, she could only say to Tang Ye, "Maybe it’s sothing I didn’t notice or overlooked. I can’t give you an answer."
"Alright then." Tang Ye nodded and continued, "I’m done with my questions; now it’s your turn."
The woman heaved a sigh of relief, "My question is the sa as before: are you good at fighting? Don’t answer with ’not bad’ or ’pretty good’; I want a precise answer."
After so thought, Tang Ye said, "Well, if I were to face Dairya’s complete form, I would only be capable of defending myself. If it’s her manifested consciousness that I’m facing, it would be a toss-up."
"Huh?" The woman was confused by Tang Ye’s response.
"I’m a bit lost..."
Tang Ye was sowhat at a loss too, as the woman had entered this world at the early stages of the Apocalypse and was completely unaware of the changes during the era of the Apocalypse. He could only say, "There were New Humans when you entered, right?"
"Yes, there were."
"Then you’ve heard of Level 1, Level 2, and so on?"
"I’ve heard of them. Before I entered, there was a Level 2 New Human at the Diloran survivor base. I rember research suggesting Level 2 was the highest achievable level for New Humans, right?"
"No, there are Level 9s out there now."
"Level 9?" The woman was taken aback, but it was rely surprise, no other reaction, as she clearly didn’t understand what Level 9 implied.
"Are you Level 9?"
"Now?"
"Were you Level 9 before?"
"Yes."
"There are so many Level 9s? I can’t believe I’ve encountered them so many tis," the woman murmured to herself.
Tang Ye felt speechless. She was too uninford about the power levels of zombies and New Humans, not realizing the destructive power a Level 9 possessed, and taking the might demonstrated by a Level 8 presence for that of a Level 9.
"Oh, by the way, which level was Dairya outside?"
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