Chapter Eighty-Four: The Sugar Factory

Back at the shelter, they were often approached by others, but never in their wildest dreams had they imagined that one day the King of the Dead would ask for their contact information.

What was he planning? Order takeout when he got hungry?

At this moment, of course, neither dared refuse. With stiff, awkward smiles, they exchanged contact details.

Cheng Luoyi’s beautiful eyes scrutinized him.

“What are you up to? Trying to spirit us away the moment we meet?”

“Don’t be so stingy. Just borrowing a couple of construction workers, they won’t break,” Lin Dong replied offhandedly.

Construction workers?

The two women exchanged glances, then understood his meaning, and breathed a collective sigh of relief. If it was just construction work, that was better than being ‘delivery girls’...

After adding him on social media, they saw Lin Dong’s newly updated profile. Both felt speechless, muttering inwardly that it was no wonder he was friends with Cheng Luoyi and Sun Xiaoqiang.

Once ashore, they encountered a few zombies wandering along the riverbank. Their faces were twisted and ferocious, their clothing tattered and stained with foul, blackish blood.

At the sight of Cheng Luoyi and the others, one of the cloudy-eyed corpses let out a guttural howl and charged at them.

These were just ordinary zombies, low-level and not much of a threat.

Cheng Luoyi drew her long blade and, with a few effortless swings, neatly severed their heads with practiced ease.

Sun Xiaoqiang stepped forward and kicked the bodies into the river one by one.

With a series of splashes, dark blood spread in the water, attracting several strange fish that swam over to devour the corpses.

“Hehehehehe~~~” Sun Xiaoqiang squatted by the water’s edge, giggling foolishly.

Beside him, Zhou Yin’s delicate face was filled with amazement and a touch of admiration.

“Brother Xiaoqiang, you’re rather meticulous, huh? Destroying the evidence and all.”

“No, I just think it’s fun,” Sun Xiaoqiang replied.

“Uh...” Zhou Yin was at a loss. What was fun about that?

She could never understand the simple joys of boys.

“Let’s go!” Cheng Luoyi called, leading the way forward. As they neared the zombie nest, the two women grew visibly tense.

Lin Dong walked calmly, as if nothing was out of the ordinary.

The street ahead was a scene of utter ruin. Amid the wreckage of abandoned vehicles, zombies stood or swayed in place. Their skin was ashen, their faces rotting—a nauseating sight.

These were all low-level zombies with no intelligence, posing no real threat. They acted only on instinct, and if lucky, might catch a rat to eat.

Still, Cheng Luoyi chose not to disturb them, moving with caution.

Rousing these low-level zombies could trigger a horde, and the risk of elite zombies appearing was high.

The group crept forward, keeping to the shelter of wrecked cars and ruined buildings, carefully staying out of sight.

Lin Dong, however, walked openly along the street. The zombies, devoid of any sentience, divided their world into two categories: things they could eat and things they couldn’t.

Clearly, Lin Dong fell into the latter group, and so he was ignored.

Their progress was swift and unhindered. In less than five minutes, they reached their destination—a sugar refinery.

The place was crowded with towering, rust-streaked vats. The density of zombies inside the factory grounds was much higher.

Lin Dong sensed in silence—there were elite zombies within, as well as mutant beasts, exuding an eerie, unnatural aura.

“Strange...” he murmured. But he sensed no humans. Most likely, if any were present, they’d used special means to hide; survival would otherwise be impossible among so many zombies.

“Meow~~~~”

Suddenly, a cat’s call echoed from the factory, eerily similar to a child’s wail and chilling to the bone.

“What was that?” Sun Xiaoqiang gripped the fence, peering through the gaps. He spotted a pitch-black cat crouched atop a large iron vat.

Around it prowled several elite zombies, as if searching for something.

“That black cat is odd. Be careful,” Cheng Luoyi warned.

“Mm-hmm.” Zhou Yin and Zhao Meiling nodded anxiously, their nerves on edge.

Sun Xiaoqiang nodded as well, his face suddenly grave.

“Black cats are the most ominous things!”

“Oh? You noticed something too?” Zhao Meiling asked, curious.

Sun Xiaoqiang explained seriously, “When I was little in the orphanage, I once saw a black cat shoot a rat’s ear off with a pistol. Isn’t that creepy?”

“...” Zhao Meiling was speechless.

“What, you don’t believe me?” Sun Xiaoqiang turned to Lin Dong for backup. “You remember, right? We saw it together.”

“Don’t ask me...” Lin Dong replied dismissively.

Meanwhile, Cheng Luoyi was fiddling with her phone, messaging the scouting team to ask for their exact location, but received no reply even after a long wait.

“Nothing.”

“They... haven’t already bitten the dust, have they?” Sun Xiaoqiang asked.

“I don’t think so,” Cheng Luoyi said, analyzing the situation. The zombies in the factory were clearly searching for something, which meant there must still be survivors.

“They’ve probably run into trouble...”

...

At that moment, in a pitch-black workshop, a young man was crouched in a dark corner, not daring to move a muscle.

He repeated silently to himself, “I am a tree, I am a tree, I am a tree...”

His hands and feet had transformed into root-like tendrils, burrowing into the dirt, his skin dry and bark-like.

His name was Li Xuan, captain of the scouting team. He was a wood-type awakened, currently using ‘Plant Camouflage.’

Above, elite zombies crawled across the rafters like spiders, their nostrils flaring as they sniffed the air, searching keenly.

Nearby, other zombies knelt on the ground, feasting on a corpse.

Li Xuan’s team had started with more than twenty members, but over ten were already dead, and a few others were hiding elsewhere—their fate unknown.

Why were there so many elite zombies? Li Xuan’s heart pounded, especially after one had just crawled right over his head.

He bitterly regretted coming here.

He had thought sugar, as a strategic resource—high-calorie, useful for medical purposes, even making ammunition—was worth the risk. The refinery’s location on the edge of the zombie nest seemed promising, so he’d led the team here. But during the collection, something went terribly wrong.

One team member suddenly snapped and attacked his companions, drawing the attention of the zombies—many of them elites, who soon besieged the group.

While hiding, several teammates were discovered and ripped apart by zombies. Li Xuan could only watch helplessly, not daring to move.

Even the slightest movement would break his camouflage.

Watching his friends die was a torment beyond words.

Now, one of the elite zombies that had crawled overhead returned. Its nostrils flared, mouth emitting a low, guttural growl.

Bloody drool dripped from its lips, landing squarely on Li Xuan’s face...

...