deia grimaced and leaned against Lucian to keep her balance. "Great. Not only are we in a dangerous zone, but we’re already soaking in a swamp. Remind to thank your brother later for this wonderful trip, Tian."
Tian ignored her sarcasm, his focus entirely on the compass deia was holding. "Tell where is he?" he demanded.
deia lowered her head and looked at the needle compass pointing into the dense, blackened trees. "That way."
Without saying anything, Tian imdiately stepped forward. But before he could go any further, Lucian grabbed his arm. "Wait. Look closer."
deia followed Lucian’s gaze and froze. Grotesque figures erged from the shadow. Their figures couldn’t be identified as any particular animal.
Their skin was discolored and looked as if it had rotted away. They walked toward Tian and growled at him in a low voice.
[Warning! The Lost Detected!]
[154 Walking Undead detected nearby (Grade-D): Mutated Humans]
[Beware of their poisonous bite.]
deia’s eyes twitched. The world was already ssed up enough with animal and plant mutations, but now there were undead?
Like the zombies in the novels and movies that sinners loved to watch?
"Why do they look like that?" deia asked Lucian.
Lucian replied, "This is what happens when soone suddenly regains consciousness before they beco fully turn into the Lost."
Unfortunately, even though they regained consciousness, their bodies couldn’t return to normal human form.
Therefore, their bodies were in a state between human and monster. Their bodies eventually decayed, destroying the remnants of their minds forever.
They were alive and dead at the sa ti.
"Most of the undead co from the big cities. We don’t know the reason yet, but many suspect that people in big cities are used to suppressing their emotions and living under constant pressure."
Lucian assud, "Maybe their ntal state is stronger than others, so it’s not easy to turn them into the lost."
Besides, the population in big cities was large, so it was only natural that the undead would be more prevalent there.
"Then I was lucky not to end up like them."
No wonder people said it was a miracle that deia was able to regain consciousness without losing her human form after nearly becoming one of the Lost.
"Was the X-12 Zone a big city back then?" asked deia.
Lucian nodded. "It was. The X-12 Zone used to be the biggest city in B Country," he continued, his tone sounding nostalgic. "The city was full of skyscrapers, flashing lights, busy vehicles, and it even had the largest stadium in the country."
deia looked at him, noticing the softening of his voice. "You’ve been here before, haven’t you?"
"I lived here." Lucian smiled. "This swamp was my brother’s kindergarten back then."
deia was taken aback by his statent because it was the first ti Lucian had ntioned his ho. She moved her eyes and noticed a rusty plaque partially buried in the mud.
The writing on the board was faded, but deia could still read out the word ’Kindergarten’. It was hard to imagine that a place once filled with children’s laughter had turned into a dirty, slly swamp.
"Ti goes by so fast, doesn’t it?" deia sighed. "If only I could see this city before the apocalypse."
If only he could see Lucian’s ho and explore every corner of the city together.
Lucian only smiled. He went first, looking for a safe path through which they could pass without running into the undead.
It seed that the walking undead were not much of a threat to them. Their bodies still resembled normal humans, unless they were rotten. But because of that, the undead who had lived for fifteen years had lost almost all the organs in their bodies, including ears and eyes.
The only way they could detect their prey was by sensing the vibrations around them.
"Their movent tracking is very accurate, so we have to walk very slowly," Lucian explained.
No wonder they turned their heads toward Tian as soon as he ran.
Tian spoke in frustration, "Walk slowly, you say? My brother is in danger, how can I walk so slowly?"
deia reminded him, "You have to put your safety first before saving soone else, otherwise you will both die in this swamp.
[New Mission Unlocked: Gain the Loyal Followers]
What kind of mission was this? deia barely knew many people, but the system wanted deia to gain the loyal followers, and it wanted more than one follower!
But what did it an by followers? Hadn’t the villagers been following her all along?
[The aning of "followers" in this mission is people who want to follow your every word and deed willingly, not because they want sothing from you.]
Is that possible?
It was natural for people to follow soone because they wanted sothing. So why would there be people who would blindly follow her?
Fortunately, the system only put a ti limit on the romance quest and left the mission alone, so deia could figure it out later.
"Actually, why haven’t we seen Ren yet?" deia shook the compass in her hand. "The compass should take us to the place closest to him."
Unless his body had been torn apart, the compass had trouble finding his location.
"He could be hiding." Tian said, "He’s always been good at hiding."
Instead of sharing information, Tian sounded like he was trying to convince himself that his brother was just hiding sowhere safe.
"It could be." Lucian stopped walking when an undead stepped in front of them. "But it’s hard to hide in a place like this."
Every corner of the place was filled with mutants, whether they were vicious or mutants who were waiting for their prey to fall into their traps. Without Lucian’s guidance, deia would have fallen into a snake mutant’s trap a long ti ago.
The further they went, the more undead they encountered. In the end, they could not hide from the undead forever. The undead who could still see and hear imdiately approached them, growling like an animal stalking its prey.
"Be careful. Their saliva can paralyze us for three minutes," Lucian warned.
It wasn’t much ti, but it was enough for the undead to kill them by biting the veins in their necks.
deia sighed in disappointnt. "I thought we would also beco zombies when bitten."
Lucian laughed softly. "We’ve all been infected with radiation, what else can they infect us with?"
"That will be fun though," deia muttered as she pulled the Abyssal Sword from her inventory. After Lucian had seen her transformation into a demon, deia had no reason not to fight in front of him.
"Are you going to eat their souls?" Lucian whispered next to her ear.
"No. I only eat human souls, not half-human souls."
Besides, it would be disgusting to stick her fingers into their rotting heads.
On the other side, Tian loaded his assault rifle and prepared to shoot the undead that ca toward him. But before he could pull the trigger, Lucian stopped him. "Don’t use that. The loud sound may attract other mutants to co here."
Their main mission was to find Ren, so they had to move as efficiently as possible.
deia patted Tian’s shoulder. "You can hide behind us if you’re afraid."
"The hell I would." Tian pulled a knife from his pocket and threw it at the head of the nearest undead. He clicked his tongue. "This is why I prefer bow and arrow rather than modern weapons."
On the other side, deia and Lucian fought side by side, their movents synchronized as if they had trained together for years.
Lucian sliced through the undead quickly and gracefully, while deia’s slices looked more brutal and grotesque.
She widened her smile, feeling good that she could finally show her true self to Lucian without fear that he would despise her.
[You have slain a walking undead (Level-D): 40 XP]
[You have slain a walking undead (Level-D): 40 XP].
The announcent kept repeating in deia’s head like a broken record. She felt incredibly happy to be able to gain experience so quickly and easily.
The walking undead were not difficult opponents, as long as they could move faster than the undead, the undead would have no chance to bite them.
But the amusent vanished as soon as Tian spoke: "We can’t waste ti fighting every single one of them.
deia looked at the compass, which suddenly emitted a faint yellow light. "Don’t worry. I think we’re getting closer."
They wanted to go faster, but the undead were appearing more frequently.
"Can they see us from a distance?" wondered deia.
Lucian rubbed his sword against the tree trunk to remove the black blood stains from the blade. "I think they are interested in sothing."
As they walked on, they suddenly saw an old abandoned fire station in front of them. The building was partially subrged in mud, but the structure seed strong enough to last for years.
"The compass points to this building." deia narrowed her eyes to see the building more clearly. "Should we--"
"Let’s go inside." Tian was already running toward the building before deia could finish her words.
deia sighed. "That boy is so careless."
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