"Do you think we can still win if we outnumber them?" The Emperor asked the female zombie.
The Zombie Emperor wanted badly to eradicate the Tang Empire as he felt threatened by them. Even if they avoided the Tang Empire and developed their army, the Tang Empire's army also grew stronger by the day.
There was a momentary silence as the female zombie did not immediately answer the Zombie Emperor, "I don't really think we can outnumber them from the result of the Demonic Ape against Bolios. It was a one-sided fight where Bolios couldn't do anything against the Demonic Ape. It was not a close fight, Your Majesty."
"I see," The Zombie Emperor nodded understandingly, "What about Arkelios? What do you think they want to do by keeping Arkelios alive?"
"I am not sure about it yet, but I think they are trying to find us, who send Arkelios and Bolios. That's my rough guess, but maybe they needed Arkelios for the experiment," The female zombie replied with her guess. The information about the Tang Empire was limited, so she could not predict anything about them.
"Do you think Arkelios will spill about us?" There was a clear doubt in the Zombie Emperor's tone. He believed that none of his subordinates would betray him, but he was somewhat concerned when the female zombie mentioned it.
"I doubt Arkelios will betray Your Majesty, but we don't know what kind of sorcery the Tang Empire has. To be safe, I think you need to kill Arkelios, Your Majesty."
"Hmmm," The Zombie Emperor leaned back to the throne and closed his eyes. As the Lord of the Zombies, his mind was connected to Arkelios and the other subordinates. He could kill all his subordinates anytime and anywhere if he needed to. He thought he would never use this ability until now.
The Zombie Emperor connected to Arkelios' mind, and to his surprise, he saw a young man's face, smiling at him. The young man smirked and said, "Got you!" After that, the connection was forcefully cut, and the Zombie Emperor opened his eyes.
"We have to escape right now!" The Zombie Emperor rose from the throne and exclaimed. His voice was shaky, not as firm as before.
The female zombie was surprised as this was her first time witnessing the Zombie Emperor scared of something, "Does something happen to Arkelios, Your Majesty?"
"Yes! It's something worse than Arkelios betraying me! There's a Zombie Apostle in the Tang Empire! We have to leave before he comes for us!"
"What? But why? Why does the Zombie Apostle take a side with the humans? This does not make sense," The female zombie was also shocked to find out about the Zombie Apostle, "He should be on our side."
"Why don't you meet and ask him? You will not get the answer from me," The Zombie Emperor walked away from the throne while communicating with his subordinates through his mind.
*** ***
Shiye Island village, five minutes earlier.
Li Na returned with Yu Shun. The Zombie Apostle was so excited that he jumped off Seraphic in mid-air. Of course, twenty meters in the air was nothing for the young man. He landed well and looked for Cao Jingyi right after, "Where's the new zombie?"
Cao Jingyi just could not get used to how the young man acted. She could not understand his enthusiasm for the zombies, who practically almost wiped out humanity. Of course, she said nothing on the surface, "Follow me."
Cao Jingyi led Yu Shun to where Arkelios was. At the sight of Arkelios, Yu Shun ran past her and approached the limbless zombie. Yu Shun's fingers were moving like a millipede's feet, excited about the zombie in front of him, and he could not wait to touch it. That was what he looked like in Cao Jingyi's eyes.
"Can you get rid of the fire, Sir?" Yu Shun asked Kairu.
"Are you sure?" The Flaming Lion hesitated because he did not see the zombie who usually guarded the young man.
"I am sure. Don't I have you and Pride here?"
Kairu nodded and pulled back the fire. As soon as the fire dissipated, Arkelios's flesh started to regenerate, bulbing up as new flesh started to form. Before Arkelios could fully regenerate, Yu Shun put his right hand on the zombie's head.
At the moment Yu Shun put his hand on its head, he closed his eyes. Two minutes passed, but Yu Shun had not said anything. Cao Jingyi was worried that something had happened to Yu Shun.
"How is it, Yu Shun?" Cao Jingyi asked.
"Ssshhh," Yu Shun motioned Cao Jingyi to silence. No one knew what the young man did to the zombie.
Cao Jingyi, however, noticed the change in expression on Arkelios. The zombie seemed to be shocked while looking at Yu Shun. That made Cao Jingyi curious, but she shut her mouth, waiting for the result. Another two minutes passed, and Yu Shun opened his eyes.
Yu Shun turned around with a wide smile, "I have found the brain behind the attack. It's not just a normal Zombie Lord anymore, but a Zombie Emperor."
"You seem happy about it," Cao Jingyi furrowed her brow. That was clearly bad news for them to have a Zombie Emperor born out of nowhere. It was clear that the zombie's threat could no longer be ignored. At least they needed to purge all the zombies from China.
"Because I just found a new type of zombie, so of course, I am happy," The young man grinned, "Can I have this one?" He pointed at the zombie who stood next to him with his thumb.
Arkelios had recovered all its limbs and stood next to Yu Shun. However, Arkelios seemed to lose its character. It no longer spoke, and it had no expression on its face.
"I don't think you can have it. That thing has killed the Tarriors, and it will not be received by the victims of this tragedy," Cao Jingyi furrowed his brow.
"Does it matter? In the end, this thing is just a puppet to another zombie, no? The real culprit is the Zombie Emperor, and I have found their location. If we want to catch the real culprit, we need to prepare a lot of armies for that. That Zombie Emperor has a lot, I mean a lot, maybe a hundred million zombies or even more; not sure about that as Arkelios' memories don't have that information," Yu Shun shrugged.
"On top of that, Arkelios did not participate in the battle against Gan Shuo's team. Bolios was the one that killed all the dead Tarriors. This thing is more useful to me than killing it just out of pure rage and anger. I can analyze the new zombie and give the information to the empire about the new zombie. That way, we can develop a strategy to face the Winge type of zombies. I also can research Winge's possibilities of evolution which will benefit us more than killing it. Your decision, though."
"If that's the case, it's better to give the zombie to him, no?" The muscle brain Kairu took Yu Shun's side, "We must look at the bigger picture, rather than being concerned about a small group of people. Imagine how many people will be saved if we know the zombie's weaknesses?"
On the one hand, Cao Jingyi was considering the feelings of the Tarriors and their families. On the other hand, Kairu and Yu Shun were right. If they knew the Winge zombie's weakness, Gan Shuo's team might stall a little more time until the reinforcement arrived. She could not refute that, but she felt it was just wrong not to kill the zombie who caused the highest casualties in the Tang Empire.
"You can control this zombie for a while, and we will ask Li Shuang to decide. I can't make the decision," Cao Jingyi shook her head.
"What are we waiting for? Let's return to the base and ask Sister Li Shuang," Yu Shun smiled.
Cao Jingyi rolled her eyes, but she could not refute him because they needed the four poisoned people for the treatment anyway.
*** ***
In another dimension
[You have completed the Trial of the Ancient!]
[You have advanced to Ancient Rank!]
[Congratulations! You have gained an additional reward from completing The Special wave of the Trial of Ancient!]
[You gained +200 levels, all existing skills increased by one level, 1,000,000,000 Game Coins, and one Ancient Treasure Chest!]
[Congratulations! You have gained a chance to make a contract with Archaic Spirit!]
[Congratulations! Your Skill [Epic Integration] has evolved to [Ancient Integration]!]
[Congratulations! Your skill, [Epic Summoning], has evolved to [Ancient Summoning]!]
[Congratulations! Your skill, [Spirit Manifestation], has evolved to [Spirit Incarnation]!]
[Congratulations! You have obtained [Archaic Summoning] (only can be used once!) skill!]
[Rank Advancement has been achieved! You will now gain 128 Attribute Points per level!]
[You have completed the Rank Advancement!]
Tang Shaoyang was overwhelmed by the notifications from the System, but he ignored those notifications and focused on his last enemies. There were two giant wolves in front of him, lying on the ground, dying as blood profusely came out from their dangling neck. They were Celestial Wolves, apparently a Myth Creature from the other world and highly revered by the humans from their world.
Tang Shaoyang looked down at the two Celestial Wolf cubs in his embrace and looked puzzled, "Why? Why don't you just accept my offer and get out of this place with me?" The couple Celestial Wolves were his enemy in the special wave. He had defeated them once and asked them to form a lifetime companion pact with him, but the couple refused.
He thought these Myth Creatures did not want to be under his command, mere humans, which was understandable. The Myth Creature had their own ego, after all. He battled them again, and the result was obvious. The male Celestial Wolf died, and the one who was still breathing was the female.
"Apparently, the System does not like that you bring us, the Mythical Creature, with you back to the real world. We are supposed to be the test for the players who take the trial, and we are supposed to kill or kill the players. We are the System's prisoners, and it does not like the players to bring us back to the real world. You have done the same thing before, no?" The female wolf asked.
"Yes. I formed a contract with an Adolescent Golden Dragon in my Trial of Epic," Tang Shaoyang nodded.
"I see. That Golden Dragon must be lucky to encounter you first," There was a contentment in the female wolf's tone, "But I am also satisfied. At least our children don't have to suffer like us. I hope you can treat them well, and I assure you that they will be useful for you."
The female celestial wolf's voice weakened as she realized it was almost the time for her to follow her husband, "Also, don't feel guilty for using our body as a sacrifice. If that can make you stronger, do it. You get the stronger meaning you will be able to ensure our children's safety too, don't hesitate, Young Emperor."
"I will not hesitate to use your bodies for the sacrifice," Tang Shaoyang denied. However, his attempt to deny his hesitation caused the female wolf to smile, "A little bit of advice from me who had been living for thousands of years, be careful, Young Emperor. Many Gods don't like you, not especially because of you as a human, but your class…. Be careful…."
Those were the last words from the female Celestial Wolf before she stopped breathing. Its glacial blue eyes closed and died.
Tang Shaoyang furrowed his brow. He did not understand what the female wolf tried to say; why did Gods not like his class? It was a class from the System, so why did they especially not like the class? For sure, there was a back story that made God not like his class. It must have something to do with his predecessor in the same class.
The last warning from the female Celestial Wolf alerted Tang Shaoyang. He did not know how much authority God had over the System. Could the Gods influence the System in any way?