Eve almost rolled into the stone door with Mary. Even though Mary had a broken hand, she still struggled hard: "Let me go!"
Eve's hand loosened, and Mary was delighted. Her expression immediately changed: "Little bitch...Ah!!!"
Eve stepped back from her chest, and a knife was deeply embedded in Mary's chest, with only the handle sticking out.
Mary’s face turned pale: “You…!”
Eve said, "If I were you, I wouldn't speak."
She pointed at Mary's chest with a smile and said, "Look, the blood is flowing faster."
Mary subconsciously covered her chest. As her breathing rose and fell violently, a large amount of blood gushed out from the wound, quickly staining the front of her clothes red.
"I..." Perhaps because of the blood that entered her respiratory tract, Mary's speech became incoherent. She knelt on the ground in agony and spoke intermittently, "How could you... I am the disciple of the Great Witch..."
"What does this have to do with me wanting to kill you?" Eve said. "Don't forget that the strong prey on the weak—isn't that what the Great Witch taught?"
She pulled out a handkerchief and began to slowly wipe the blood from her fingertips. Mary lay twitching at her feet. The scene was both horrific and funny.
Eve wiped her hands, her green eyes darted around the dark room, and she suddenly said, "They're coming."
Mary, who was lying on the ground, twitched nervously when she heard this.
The corpse chamber was too dark for Eve to tell how big the room was, but judging from the faint sound of whimpering wind, it was at least no smaller than the entire witch tower.
Not far away, a few red fireflies lit up.
But Eve knew that the true nature of these fireflies was not that beautiful.
“Ouch—”
Beast-like growls echoed in the corpse chamber, and a disgusting fishy smell crawled through the air. Eve took a few steps back to distance herself from them.
"Is this the Abyss Zombie?" she whispered. "It's really powerful."
The torches on the stone wall illuminated a small area in front of us, also illuminating the creatures lurking in the darkness.
——A gray giant over two meters tall was crawling on the ground. Its crossed limbs looked like some kind of shriveled and hard spider legs. A pair of scarlet eyes hung on its half-rotten head. Yellow-green sticky pus dripped down its uneven face and dripped onto the ground, corroding the marble surface like sulfuric acid.
In addition to it, there were three or four zombies not far away. They were attracted by Mary's blood and hid in the shadows, looking around, like a few obscene giant spiders.
Mary whimpered at Eve's feet.
"Eve... I was wrong..." She cried until her face was covered in blood. "Please... save me! They will eat me...!"
"Eat it?" Eve repeated her words, tilting her head curiously. "What are you still talking about now? Isn't this what happens every day in the morgue?"
Yes, this is the secret of the Necromancer's power.
Every apprentice who is valued by the witches will enter the corpse chamber from the age of 6. There, zombies of different strengths are imprisoned according to their levels, and the number increases from small to large. As the apprentice enters the witch tower for a number of years, the level of the corpse chamber will also increase.
The apprentices have only one thing to do inside -
Survive.
They must tame the zombies in the corpse chamber and command them to fight against wild zombies. Apprentices who fail the trial will die at the hands of zombies, be eaten alive by them, or be transformed into their own kind.
Only those apprentices who are strong and ruthless enough can survive the trials and become new necromancers.
Eve entered the witch tower at the age of 6. In less than a year, she had already been in the corpse chamber 26 times, with the duration ranging from 5 to 10 days. Her whole body was already scarred by bites, and one of her arms was almost disabled, covered with tooth marks left by zombies.
Under such high-intensity training, even though she was clearly in her own small room, every time she woke up in the middle of the night, the roars of the zombies still echoed in her ears.
She took a deep breath and looked down at Mary.
"Mary, are you afraid?" The soft voice sounded like the song of a nighthawk.
Mary uttered a devastating sob and buried her face in her sleeves.
She had a broken hand, and her chances of survival were greatly reduced. Even if she managed to escape these abyss zombies, Eve would never let her go.
"Eve... please... please..." She murmured like a madman, "Save me... I know you are the strongest witch... Just save me... What do you want? Money? A man? I... I will give you everything..."
Eve leaned down and took Mary's chin.
A soft voice snaked across Mary's skin like a black snake: "What do you want? I do have one."
Mary's eyes flashed with hope: "You said..."
"I want you to die." Eve narrowed her eyes and studied Mary's suddenly frozen expression with a smile. "What do you think?"
Mary: "Eve...you...!"
Eve let go of her hand, and Mary fell to the ground with a thud. Before she could get up, a foot stepped on her back.
Eve stared down at her. "I'm going to hold out here for ten days, but your blood has attracted too many zombies. Mary, what do you say we should do?"
Once the corpse chamber is closed, it must be reopened after a specified period of time. They cannot get out before the tenth day.
Mary immediately understood her subtext and struggled desperately: "Don't... No! You can't do this!"
"I can," Eve raised a long eyebrow leisurely, "after all, I have the upper hand now."
"Never show mercy to your enemies," she said with a smile. "Mary—you taught me that."
After saying that, she kicked Mary hard, and the latter's body rolled forward several meters like a bag of heavy potatoes. In an instant, several zombies jumped up and bit Mary's body.
“Ahhhhh——!” Mary screamed in terror.
But no matter how she resisted, the zombies held her limbs firmly, pinned her to the ground, and tore her flesh wantonly. Blood and torn flesh splattered everywhere, as if it was a bloody carnival.
Eve stood at the outermost edge of the encirclement, watching everything coldly.
Gradually, Mary's screams became weaker. Eve took a look and saw that there was not much intact flesh on the woman's body. There was a big hole in her stomach, and her internal organs, which had been bitten into pieces, were scattered all over the floor. She was then trampled into a meat paste by the chaotic footsteps of the zombies.
She looked at Mary's face, which was still open, thought for a moment, and took out the handkerchief she used to wipe her hands from her bosom.
"This is the handkerchief I used the first time I went to the morgue. I'll give it to you." She unfolded the handkerchief, revealing a few bright red stains on the washed-out cloth. "But I used it to wrap my eyeballs, so I hope you don't mind."
She raised her hand, and the handkerchief fluttered down on Mary's face, hiding her hideous expression.
Eve looked at Mary's body and whispered softly.
"Good night, Mary."
***
The fourth day of being trapped in the corpse chamber.
Eve was cornered by a dozen Abyss Zombies. She took a breath and commanded her last zombie to go up: "Kill."
But two fists are no match for four legs. Even though the zombie that was subdued was a high-level zombie, it was quickly torn into pieces by its own kind. The group of zombies quickly ate it, and then turned their hungry red eyes to Eve.
Eve curled her lips.
The Abyss Corpse Chamber really lived up to its reputation. Ever since she entered the Witch Tower, she was praised as the most talented necromancer in a hundred years. She had entered so many corpse chambers, big and small, but had never fallen into the predicament she was in today.
Eve stared at the approaching zombies and slowly backed away.
Will I die? She pondered silently, her back pressed against the cold wall as the zombies formed a fan-shaped circle around her.
After a brief silence, the first zombie rushed up.
It bit Eve's shoulder, twisted its head, and tore off a piece of flesh.
The smell of blood in the air was like a signal. The second and third zombies rushed up and showed their sharp fangs to Eve.
Eve had long been accustomed to the pain of having her flesh torn. She looked at the zombies burying their heads in her expressionlessly, even numbly, and moved her fingers, forcing a few drops of blood into the zombies' brows.
The two zombies were controlled. They raised their heads and turned to attack other zombies, but Eve's efforts seemed ineffective against dozens of zombies, and the two zombies were soon chopped into pieces.
Eve sighed softly.
She is going to die.
The hands that were originally protecting her vital parts also dropped down - it was not that Eve intended to give up, but her tendons were bitten off and she could not control her arms at all.
Eve turned her head boredly and looked down at the zombie next to her neck.
"Hey," she called out, "could you please just be quick and break my neck?"
The zombie that was named trembled.
Eve seemed unaware and took the initiative to show her neck: "Hurry up, I'm afraid of pain."
The delicate white neck was exposed to the zombie's sight, which was a stimulation to it. It roared and raised its head to bite Eve.
“Puff!”
But the next second, a small knife pierced deeply into the zombie's eye.
“Ouch!”
The zombie let out a shrill scream, retreated repeatedly, and crashed heavily into a stone pillar behind it.
Its left eye was dug out by Eve, and black blood was flowing down. Eve fell to the ground with a smile on her lips. She threw the blood-red eyeball lightly and it landed in front of her.
"If you want to bite it faster, then bite it faster," she said with a smile, "Look, I've caught the opportunity."
“Ouch!”
The zombie heard the sarcasm in her tone, and a roar rolled out of his throat. He pounced suddenly, knocking aside the other zombies and rushing straight towards Eve!
Eve snorted coldly and knelt there without moving. But just before the zombie was about to catch her, she suddenly tilted to the side, and the zombie crashed into the stone pillar behind her.
“Boom!”
The huge impact force directly broke the stone pillar into two parts. The ceiling above their heads suddenly collapsed, and huge rocks fell with a loud bang, crushing a group of zombies at once.
Eve was also buried under the stone.
She made a slight miscalculation and originally wanted to use the zombie to break the deadlock, but she didn't expect it to be so strong that it actually knocked down the stone pillar. She struggled hard, but her lower body was pressed under a two-meter-long boulder and she couldn't move at all.
The zombie that rushed over was right next to her, trying to come over in a rage, but it was even worse off than Eve—only its head was outside, and the rest was buried in the rubble.
Eve winked at it.
"Don't move, I'll help you."
She smiled sweetly, stretched out her hand, and cut the zombie's neck cleanly and efficiently.
Black blood suddenly gushed out and splashed all over Eve's face, but she shook her head nonchalantly, like a cat hit by the accumulated raindrops under the eaves.
"Either he was bitten to death or he was crushed to death?"
She looked at her lower body which was beginning to ache and muttered to herself thoughtfully.
——But no matter which one, it seems that the silver room can no longer be seen.
Eve sighed softly.
"I'm sorry, I don't want to die either, but..."
In this world, it's really hard to survive...
The pain and lack of oxygen caused her breathing to slow down and her brain to ache. Eve finally couldn't hold on any longer and fainted with her head tilted.
The surrounding zombies dug through the rubble, but they couldn't reach Eve underneath. After persisting for a few minutes, they decided to give up and turned away.
But in a moment, a bright light suddenly appeared.
Something was glowing in Eve's chest, and a dazzling heart-shaped stone gradually emerged from under Eve's robe. The red light it emitted gradually enveloped Eve's body, making it impossible to see her face.
Miraculously, when the red light faded, Eve's figure also disappeared.
The corpse room returned to darkness.
***
When Eve woke up, she found herself lying in a silver room.
She had just woken up, her head still feeling heavy, and there was a blurry black in her vision, as if something was covering her head. Eve subconsciously raised her head, but the shadow seemed to retreat quickly as if on its own, hiding behind a metallic curtain.
Eve stared at the slightly swaying curtain for a while before asking, "What were you doing just now?"
The tone was familiar, not like it was his first time here.
There was no sound from the other side, but Eve looked calm and composed, as if she was sure that she would get an answer. Sure enough, within a moment, a small voice came from behind the curtain.
"The light here is too strong," the voice said, still tinged with childishness, making it hard to tell whether it was a man or a woman. "I'm afraid it'll hurt your eyes."
So he/she has been blocking the light for himself/herself?
Eve was now over seven years old. Judging from the voice, the person behind the curtain wasn't much older than her, yet she acted like a big sister and lectured him, "Next time, just wake me up."
The voice didn't answer her, paused for a few seconds, and changed the subject.
"Eve," he whispered, "you have a lot of injuries again."
Eve was originally tidying up her robe, but she paused when she heard this.
"Have you seen my wound?" she said lightly.
Although the person on the other end didn't make a sound, one could clearly feel their breathing tighten.
"I'm sorry..." he said softly, "because you're bleeding."
The room he is in is usually strictly guarded, and almost no one is seen except the staff member called "Doctor".
But one day, Eve suddenly appeared in the room.
She appeared without any warning. He had been resting with his eyes closed when he heard a loud "bang" from outside the curtain. When he quietly lifted the curtain, he found an unconscious little girl lying on the floor outside.
The little girl was about the same age as him. Her thick red hair almost covered her entire face. Blood as red as her hair was flowing from her arms and body. The exposed skin was covered with hideous bite marks, which was shocking.
It was the first time for him to see someone of the same age. He was surprised and scared. The girl's blood was still gushing out, almost covering half of the floor. He didn't know what to do, but she had already woken up on her own.
This was the first time he and Eve met.
He was still immersed in his memories, and suddenly raised his head, only to find a figure faintly reflected on the curtain - Eve was walking towards him.
“…Don’t come over here!”
There was obvious panic in his voice. Eve paused and said slowly, "What? Are you afraid of me?"
If he could see Eve's expression, he would find that the little girl's face was gloomy, and her eyes were fixed on the curtain, almost poking a hole in it.
He calmed down and said, "No... I just had surgery, and the doctor said to try not to have contact with the outside world."
Eve: "Really?"
They paused: "Yes."
No, it's actually a lie.
It is true that I had surgery, but the doctor did not say that I could not contact the outside world.
——He was afraid that his current appearance would scare Eve.
His mouth, nose, chest, and limbs are all connected to several tubes, and all the visible skin on his body is covered with dense needle holes, which makes people nauseous at first sight.
This time, the doctor didn't know what he injected into him, but his body's reaction was stronger than any other time before. He couldn't sleep every night, and he would vomit out the slightest food he ate, as if his stomach couldn't bear it at all. His whole body was in burning pain, and he scratched almost all the skin he could reach until it bled, but he still couldn't relieve even the slightest bit of the pain.
But these are not what make him most panic.
——His body began to rot, and his hands grew long and pointed fingertips, like some uncivilized beast.
Once, he just turned over and saw a few strands of hair lying on the pillow, with old gray, as if they had just fallen off.
There is no mirror in the room, so he doesn't know what he looks like now.
Maybe... he has turned into a monster like everyone else.
"Okay," Eve's voice brought her back to her thoughts. The figure in front of the curtain lowered her head—she seemed to sit down. "Then I won't come over."
But she still felt a little bothered in her heart, and she added casually, "But I've been here three or four times, and I've never seen what you look like."
His breathing stagnated, and he quickly said, "I... I'm not in a good condition right now. Come come see me again when I feel a little better."
Eve said disdainfully from behind the curtain: "You said the same thing last time."
He opened his mouth, but no words came out, and he could only fall into silence in anxiety.
Luckily, Eve's attention span was always quick. She lazily lay down on the ground, spread out in a "big" shape, and said in a long tone: "It hurts so much, they bite too hard--"
He was stunned: "They? Those monsters?"
He knew that Eve was from another world. She said that there were some immortal monsters in their world, and those monsters fed on humans. Every time Eve came here, it was to escape the monsters' pursuit.
But he didn't know that the monster Eve was talking about was a zombie.
In Eve's world, the necromancer witch is a kind of existence that everyone wants to kill, like a rat crossing the street. Naturally, she would not tell her the truth, and even embellished it a little, putting herself in the position of a "victim".
Of course, she thought nonchalantly, she was indeed the victim.
"That's right," she said, taking two steps forward. The blood on her arm left bright marks on the smooth floor. "Mary—that's the old woman I told you about. They wanted to find out where I had been, so they threatened me and wanted to lock me up in a horrible place called a corpse."
"How can you do this?" he said worriedly. "Next time, just tell them the truth. I don't mind."
Eve suddenly turned over and sat up.
"No," her tone suddenly dropped, staring intently at the figure behind the silver curtain, "If they find you, they will definitely kill you."
They said: "It's okay, they can't do it..."
"How could it be impossible?!" Eve suddenly raised her voice. "Don't underestimate those women! They... I've only been in the tower for a year, and I'm the only one left from my batch of apprentices—they've killed everyone! Not a single one was spared!"
“In their eyes,” she whispered, “human life is not life.”
It is an optional substitute.
Silence fell behind the curtain.
Eve ignored him and continued, "They don't know spatial magic, so they probably can't get through. So you don't have to worry about it now. But," she bit the two words hard, "if they really find this place one day, no matter how they force you, you must deny knowing me. Understand?"
She waited a few seconds, but got no answer, so she repeated it loudly: "Do you know?!"
"……good."
After a while, a low reply came from behind the curtain.
Eve thought he was worried about her personal safety and comforted him, "It's okay. I've already killed Mary. Ian might be busy with this for a while, so he probably won't be able to take care of you for a while."
"But," he said, instead of feeling relieved as Eve had expected, he became even more worried. "Will she come to cause trouble for you then?"
Eve shrugged.
"My strength surpasses Mary's," she said. "Since she dares to challenge me, she must be prepared to die. This is the rule of our tower."
The room was strangely quiet. Eve didn't like the heavy atmosphere. She rolled on the ground and sat up. "Oh, I brought the things here."
She struggled to dig in her pocket with her injured hand, pulled out a small dragon leather bag, and threw it to the other person: "Here."
There was a rustling sound behind the curtain, and after a moment, his voice, slightly surprised, rang out: "Rock sugar!"
"This is the highest quality rock candy produced by the forest elves," Eve said with a hint of arrogance in her tone. "It only costs two hundred gold coins to buy a bag. It's definitely better than any rock candy you've ever tasted."
"Thank you," he whispered, "I'll be welcome then."
There were more noises coming from behind the curtain. Eve held her chin up and asked curiously, "Is this rock candy really that useful?"
“…Hmm?”
"I'm talking about pain relief," Eve patted her sleeves and asked suspiciously, "Why have I never heard of rock sugar having the effect of relieving pain?"
He thought for a while before saying, "I don't know... but when I was a kid, if I fell down, my mother would give me a piece of rock candy, saying it would stop hurting."
Hearing him mention "Mom," Eve suddenly fell to the ground like a deflated ball and said listlessly, "I see."
She: “……?”
"I don't have a mother," Eve rolled over, her breasts tumbling up and down. "It seems like she ran away after giving birth to me."
Her tone was relaxed, as if she didn't care at all, but the person behind the curtain paused while biting the candy when he heard her words.
After a while, he whispered, "It doesn't matter. My mother is dead too."
Eve: “???”
She almost laughed out loud: "Come on, how can you be so comforting?"
He seemed a little anxious: "I'm sorry... I'm not very good at speaking..."
Eve raised a hand to stop him.
"Forget it." For some reason, her eyes sparkled, so bright that they seemed to have fallen into endless starlight. "I've gotten used to it a long time ago anyway."
"Didn't you say rock candy can relieve pain? Give me some," she said, suddenly changing the subject. "My arm hurts so much."
He quickly said, "Okay."
After a rustling sound, the silver curtain was lifted.
A thin white hand stretched out, its bones delicate, a silvery gleam shining under the bright light, its lines smooth as if made of metal - except that it was covered with pinholes of various sizes, almost like a honeycomb, making one feel nauseous at the sight of it.
As if he was afraid of light, he quickly pushed out three or four pieces of rock candy and immediately retracted his hand.
But when he retreated, his sleeves slipped down a little due to his hurried movements, revealing half of his arm.
A black tattoo came into Eve's eyes, and she blinked in confusion.
“…7?”
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