Chapter 43 Valuable Experimental Tools
When the skeleton awoke from its coma, it saw the old house, now brightly lit, through its swollen, squinting eyes.
The back of my head and neck were throbbing with pain; one can only imagine how ruthless the woman wearing the gas mask must have been.
There was an indescribable nauseating smell in his mouth, and the skeleton licked his teeth, almost gagging.
He dared not reveal that he was awake, so he closed his eyes again, wanting to rely on his hearing to gather information first.
There were people talking inside the house.
The skeleton easily recognized the voice as that of the woman he had been fighting.
The sound was quite far away. He thought for a moment, then quietly opened his eyes a crack.
Not far away, Fu Qing, with his back to him, was talking to the five people wearing ridiculous masks.
The screaming chicken kept its head down, and Fu Qing's gaze fell on it.
"...Remember next time, don't use anything with a strong odor before going into battle."
"It's not just zombies; there are also many humans with heightened senses."
For example, herself.
Fu Qing casually reminded him in a teaching tone: "This time, you were able to escape because you had made prior arrangements and your opponent wasn't very bright. If you are exposed while escaping next time, there really won't be anyone to save you."
The mentally challenged skeleton: "..."
Even though he was the one chasing the screaming chicken in the baseball cap, why did he also feel like he was being humiliated for no reason?
Wearing a screaming chicken mask, Su Huaijin listened attentively, not daring to be careless at all, and nodded from time to time.
Not everyone gets to receive personal guidance from the principal, so she cherishes this opportunity.
And she finally understood why she had been exposed.
In fact, back when they were learning the lesson that "zombies mainly rely on their sense of smell and hearing to find prey in the dark," Zhao Yunxiao had reminded everyone to switch to unscented shampoo and laundry detergent, and Su Huaijin did just that.
But she had used hand cream before going out today, and that hand cream happened to have a scent.
Su Huaijin overlooked this point.
It was this hand cream that allowed the skeleton to know her location before she even made a sound, as she simply lay prone at the top of the stairs.
Su Huaijin sniffed her wrist and indeed found a faint, lingering fragrance, which annoyed her.
"I'm sorry, I won't forget in the future. I'll remember to do a second check... No, wait a minute, I'll write it down now. Indeed, some lessons can only be learned in real-world situations."
Su Huaijin quickly brought up the floating screen and notepad on her student watch and buried herself in taking notes.
Someone suddenly started reading without warning, leaving the others bewildered, but they had no choice but to start taking notes as well.
The only sound in the room was the rapid clatter of keyboards.
The skeleton couldn't see their high-end equipment, but it could tell what the people were doing from their conversation. It stared at Fu Qing in utter disbelief.
If looks could bite, Fu Qing would be riddled with holes by now.
This woman... she's using him as a teaching tool!
"Oh, you're awake?"
As if he had eyes in the back of his head, Fu Qing suddenly turned around, his resentful gaze meeting his in mid-air. He even managed a smile and greeted him.
The sound of taking notes stopped abruptly.
The five members of the publicity team followed the principal and looked at the "skull" that was tightly tied to a chair.
These five emoji masks are clearly funny and ridiculous, but when they stare at someone without moving, they can inexplicably give that person a chilling feeling.
The air in the room seemed to freeze. After Fu Qing finished speaking, no one spoke for a short while.
The group of five had very mixed feelings.
They never expected that this trip with the principal would reveal such a shocking secret.
First, they learned of the existence of zombie believers—a group of people who worshipped zombies in peacetime before the virus broke out, dedicated themselves to feeding themselves and all the humans around them to the zombies, and held one or more human blood sacrifices in various places for this purpose.
Later, while helping the principal subdue the pious believers who came to cause trouble, they unexpectedly saw the true face of the skeleton.
A living, breathing person who has turned into a zombie, yet can still communicate and think!
what does that mean?
They didn't know whether to be surprised that a zombie virus might have appeared in the world, or to be surprised by the special kind of semi-zombie creatures like the skeletons.
Overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information, Zhuo Xiaoliang and Yue Yuxuan, feeling their brains were not big enough, had given up trying to think and were only struggling to process the existing intelligence.
Su Huaijin dared not think about it, fearing that if she delved deeper, her worldview would collapse.
In this chaos, they all looked at Fu Qing again, hoping she could give them an answer and help them clarify their situation.
Fu Qing seemed oblivious to the stares of the crowd, appearing completely unaffected by the pressure. She straightened her clothes before walking towards the skeleton.
That "Awake?" sounded like a warm morning greeting between friends and family.
But the moment the skeleton looked into her eyes, he suddenly realized that she had already decided his fate with a casual gesture.
Death was the only path that awaited him.
The skeleton felt no fear, only a burning, devout faith.
His eyes gleamed with fanaticism, and his voice, soaked in chili peppers, was even hoarseer, almost as rough as sandpaper. The skeleton spoke in a deep voice: "You will not get a single piece of information out of me."
“I will never betray our Lord.”
The five men frowned upon hearing this.
The skeleton was tied to an armchair in the center of the living room. Not far from the front of the armchair was a table that had been wiped dusty beforehand. Fu Qing sat down at the table, his hands folded, looking quite relaxed.
She stared at the proudly raised skull for two seconds, then suddenly laughed: "Who said I was trying to extract information from you? I don't need to."
Fu Qing tapped his chest: "You're here now, a living, controllable half-zombie. That's our biggest gain."
The skeleton's eye twitched, as if it understood something, and its breathing suddenly became heavy.
Fu Qing's voice was soft, but absolutely impossible to ignore.
She spoke slowly and deliberately, in a chilling way.
"From now on, you don't have to say a word."
“But every bone, every piece of skin, every drop of blood in you is intelligence.”
"When it's all over, humanity will remember your contributions."
The last word fell lightly, and the skeleton suddenly opened its mouth, lunging forward like a mad beast, as if trying to tear Fu Qing's throat through the air, only to be violently pulled back by the thick hemp rope.
The group of five was startled, but Fu Qing, who was closer, remained motionless, watching the desperate beast's last struggle with a look of pity.
Only when the skeleton was exhausted, panting heavily and giving up, staring at Fu Qing with eyes full of resentment that looked like it wanted to devour her, did she calmly stand up.
Staring at the air above the skull, Fu Qing exclaimed "Ah!" as if she had just remembered something she had forgotten.
"By the way, you just said, 'I will not betray your Lord'..."
With a mocking smile, she scoffed, "That's some new information, thanks—so zombies do have 'masters' after all..."
Towards the end, it turned into a thoughtful murmur.
The skeleton froze, its pupils trembling, as if all its strength had been drained, and it slumped back into the armchair, its heart filled with despair.
His tall figure appeared incredibly thin at that moment, truly resembling a withered corpse walking on the ground.
Fu Qing turned around, the smile that had been playing on her lips vanishing with the movement, half her face falling into shadow, giving her a sharp and imposing presence.
host……
King of Zombies.
Is it the entity hidden behind the believers?
No wonder.
From the moment Fu Qing became aware of the existence of devout believers, she always felt that something was missing.
Since ancient times, human faith has always had a tangible basis. Even the vast ocean and the cosmos have to be transformed into sea gods and celestial emperors to be worshipped.
The zombie believers are just following a cult, not stupid. How could they possibly worship such ugly and brainless low-level creatures as "zombies"?
There must be one or more entities that have shown them a power worth following, and the skeleton's semi-zombification is very likely a manifestation of this power.
It's unclear whether the so-called "Zombie King" actually has a physical "corpse" or is merely a symbolic figure.
Fu Qing's expression unconsciously darkened.
She thought of the skeleton's words again.
Is there a difference between humans and zombies?
She thought she finally understood the logic of the zombie believers.
If a talking, thinking zombie that is no different from a normal person stood in front of humans, would people still go to great lengths to kill it?
What if this zombie happened to be your relative, lover, or longtime friend? Would you still be willing to kill it?
if……
Familiar faces flashed before Fu Qing's eyes.
Liu Yong's shouts before his arrest, and the cries of the zombie believers before their rush to the zombie horde, echoed in my ears once again.
This time, their voices seemed even louder.
"This is not death, but rebirth."
If zombies can truly think and communicate, then for humans, death is simply another form of immortality.
This is the immortality that people have been searching for and dreaming of for thousands of years.
Fu Qing felt as if a wave of change was rushing in, washing over her, this stone that wanted to go against the current.
Zhuo Xiaoliang spoke up at that moment, his voice low and conciliatory: "...So, this is the belief accepted by zombie believers: if you worship the zombie king, you have a chance to maintain your sanity, be enhanced in your senses, strength, and other aspects, and become an immortal zombie?"
This sounds...much more reliable than waiting for aliens to take them away from Earth.
The freckled boy scoffed, "In the end, isn't it all about climbing over others to get ahead? The vast majority of zombies just wander aimlessly across the land, easily killed by ordinary people skilled in weapons. Only a few zombies possess abilities that surpass those of humans and other zombies. Human society has taken thousands of years to evolve an imperfect 'equality,' yet they want to bring inequality back to the world. Becoming a zombie isn't evolution; it's the regression of civilization."
"Their so-called 'evolution' is built on the sacrifice of countless people."
The skeleton was still staring in that direction, but the little freckled boy suddenly seemed less afraid, speaking in a disdainful tone, emphasizing each word.
“You’re right.” Zhuo Xiaoliang nodded immediately, then hesitated, “I’m just worried…”
He wasn't interested in any kind of immortality, but he seriously suspected that once such a belief spread in the apocalypse, countless people would immediately convert, kneel down, and shout the name of the zombie king in search of a glimmer of hope.
Even in peacetime, there are people like Liu Yong and Skull who attempt to climb to power by stepping on the corpses of others.
"It is the one that brings disaster, yet it is worshipped as a savior. This is absurd!" Sun Wei said with disgust.
"I can't do something like sacrificing the lives of tens of millions of people for my own survival." Yue Yuxuan lowered her eyes. "I'm just an ordinary person, no different from the millions of other ordinary people who live their lives earnestly. Just an ordinary person."
"Therefore, between a small elite group and hundreds of millions of ordinary people—"
The five people reached a consensus through an exchange of glances.
Su Huaijin carefully and deliberately added to her statement, word by word: "I will always stand on the latter side."
In the surging tide, more small stones piled up, nestled against the giant rock, yet forming her stable anchor.
Fu Qing's tense shoulders gradually relaxed.
A crisis was looming, but unbeknownst to her, someone stood by her side, forming a human wall, willing to stand with her against the storm.
"Besides, zombies are carbon-based life forms, how could they really be immortal? Could this be a hoax?"
After reaching a consensus, the atmosphere of the five teammates chatting quietly suddenly changed.
"Yeah, he's hard to kill, but he's not completely unkillable. Why don't you try playing a game with the principal?"
"Shh, keep your voice down."
"Besides, zombies don't eat. How can they survive on photosynthesis? Exposed to wind and rain, they'd rot in a few years. It's completely unscientific. Does anyone really believe this is some kind of evolution?"
"Sigh, that's why people who are stupid should study more. If they had studied even a little biology, they wouldn't have been brainwashed by pyramid schemes..."
The group was completely unaware that their supposedly hushed conversation was being overheard by Fu Qing and the skeleton, who continued to whisper amongst themselves, their heads touching, their hoods pressed together, their voices like a demonic whisper.
The skull tied to the center of the living room turned green and started banging against the backrest again, making a clanging and rattling sound.
"Stop struggling, save your energy."
With his arms crossed, Fu Qing strolled over and patted the skeleton's shoulder affectionately: "You still have a lot to do tonight."
Valuable experimental prop - Skull: "..."
His face turned completely dark.
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