Chapter 5: Are You Keeping Fish Here?

"Little Tyrant, are you drinking? Are you raising fish here?"
"And you, Shura, don’t pretend to be drunk. You’re an eighth-rank Corpse King—can’t handle two bottles?"
"I never said you were drunk, Nun! Take your hands off my crotch!"
"Look at Blood Moon, drinking white liquor and not even tipsy!"
"Hmm? Wait! That’s Sprite, damn it!"

—

Shaking his head slightly, Li Xingyue munched on two peanuts, watching the four great Corpse Kings at the table bickering with each other.

Honestly, this feeling was quite pleasant!

In his previous life, Li Xingyue worked day and night without making any real friends. This scene genuinely moved him a bit.

"Hey, all eyes on me!"
"Shura, put the cigarette down!"

When all four looked over, Li Xingyue finally spoke: "Brothers and sisters, my fellow Corpse Kings!"
"Really! I’m so happy to meet you all!"
"Today, I’m very glad—hic!—so I propose a toast!"
"I’ll drink first!"

Li Xingyue slurred as he held the wine bottle, then downed it in one gulp before refilling it.

"Even though you wanted to kill me before, but!"
"But! I, Li Xingyue, have a big heart!"
"I forgive the past. I propose that since fate has brought us together, the five of us should swear brotherhood!"
"From now on, I’m the eldest brother. If you need anything, come to me!"
"You must come to me! Hic~ I’m reliable!"

He finished another bottle, then collapsed with a thud onto the floor.

Blood Moon: "Is that it?"
Shura: "Trash!"
Tyrant: "I like this kid! Different from other humans!"

The Nun stood up, adjusting her qipao: "I’ll take him to bed."

The three said in unison: "No!"

—

The next day at noon...

"Damn it, got drunk again!"

Li Xingyue rubbed his head, preparing to wash his face in the bathroom.

Thud!

"Ah, shit! What the hell!?"

How much did these drunks drink?

Looking at the room nearly overflowing with empty bottles and cigarette butts scattered everywhere, Li Xingyue was genuinely shocked!

There must have been at least a hundred or two bottles!

No space to even step!

Each one was both a smoker and a drinker!

But their drinking manners were pretty good; they didn’t blame the alcohol!

Opening the door, smoke billowed out as if he’d walked into a thick fog, making everything ahead blurry!

Then came an overwhelming choking sensation!

Oh my god, did I just enter the heavenly court?

Hurriedly, he opened the windows in the living and dining rooms to air out the smoke: "Don’t you guys choke from this? Your addiction is intense!"

After more than ten minutes, the air cleared somewhat.

All four still had cigarettes in hand—no, Shura had three!

Tyrant looked at Li Xingyue: "If you can’t handle drinking, don’t drink. Seriously."

Damn it...

Blood Moon: "Exactly, pure trash."

Hey, do you have manners???

Shura took a deep drag on his three cigarettes: "Brother, remember this..."

"Enough! Stop talking! I’m not listening!"

What kind of disaster have I unleashed? This is like opening Pandora’s box!

Glancing at the only silent one, the Nun, Li Xingyue suddenly felt that the mature sister type was better—she took care of people!

Sensing his gaze, the Nun turned toward him: "You’re awake. You didn’t enjoy yourself fully yesterday, so let’s continue, little Yue."

"..."

"Stop! I don’t have your eighth-rank constitution. Spare me, boss!"

"Let’s do something meaningful instead! I want to understand the current state of the apocalypse."

"How far has humanity evolved?"

Hearing this, the others looked over as well.

—

"Humans can also reach the eighth rank, but specifics are unclear to us."
"Alright, how many humans are left now?"
"Humans currently hold five cities."
"Iron City, Freedom City, Aurora City, Ark City, and Radiance City."

...

After some inquiries, Li Xingyue gained a bit of understanding about the current apocalypse, though not much. After all, they were zombies and naturally lacked detailed knowledge of humanity.

However, the living humans were relatively few. These cities differed greatly from the Blue Star of his past life; each major city covered an enormous area, comparable to an entire province.

They were called first-tier main cities. Originally, there were over thirty main cities, but most had fallen to the zombies.

After ten years of apocalypse, only six first-tier cities had remained resilient—until yesterday, when the four Corpse Kings gathered in Star Sea City, which soon after fell.

The remaining five cities lie east of Star Sea City, with Freedom City being the closest.

This nation originally had about three billion people. A small portion died or turned into mindless zombies early in the apocalypse. Over time, more became zombies, and several main cities were lost.

After the initial chaos, humans gradually fought back and gathered in large survivor cities, causing survival rates to rise.

But as time passed, zombies began evolving, some gaining self-awareness and growing stronger, raising human death rates again.

At that moment, a genius developed a serum that accelerated human evolution. Many humans injected it, barely halting the zombie onslaught!

Ten years later, humanity seemed to have restored some order, and attacks by Corpse Kings ceased.

Each city now likely holds around one hundred million people.

"So, you can’t beat humans now?"

Tyrant took over: "Humans are no longer to be underestimated. Most zombies lack awareness, so our knowledge of humans is limited. But a direct fight is still manageable."

"Yo, yo yo, if you were that strong, humans would have been wiped out long ago!"

Li Xingyue couldn’t help but mock.

Shura smiled: "When we first gained awareness, we kept attacking humans. But after so long, it feels pointless."

Tyrant agreed: "If we truly wiped out humanity, then what would we do afterward?"

Their words left Li Xingyue stunned; it made a strange kind of sense.

Zombies were born to eat human flesh and drink blood, but if humans were extinct, what else could they do? Moreover, these four had self-awareness, incomparable to ordinary zombies.

"So what’s your plan? If you don’t attack humans, they’ll surely try to eliminate you!"

The silent Nun stepped forward: "Honestly, we had no plan before, but after meeting you, we do."

"Huh? I’m just a small Calamity. What can I do?"

Tyrant tapped the ash off his suit, exhaling a smoke ring: "Humans, see you in the next chapter."