Chapter 4

Under Ang's protection, the little zombie grows sturdily, safely passing through its newborn stage and becoming a Tough-Skin Zombie.

This is the lowest-level zombie, on the same level as a withered bone skeleton, but because it has a layer of skin and flesh, its defensive power is higher, and its combat power is stronger than a withered bone skeleton.

So one day, the little zombie drags a withered bone skeleton back to the pit and pushes it in front of Ang.

For me? Ang tilts his head.

The little zombie nods and pushes the skeleton's skull toward Ang.

Ang shakes his head; the withered bone skeleton's soul is too weak. If he devours it, it probably won't be as fast as strengthening himself by bathing in the Breath of Rest.

The little zombie hangs its head and drags the skeleton away in disappointment. However, next, all the withered bone skeletons nearby suffer, and not one escapes the little zombie's clutches.

If it runs into a white bone skeleton it cannot beat, it hides back in Ang's territory. Within this thirty-meter range nearby, even white bone skeletons dare not enter.

Although there is an extra diligent little zombie preying nearby, it does not affect the ecology of the surroundings. The vacated places are soon filled by skeletons wandering from elsewhere, and those skeletons thrown away by the little zombie, after being blown by the Breath of Rest for a night, are very likely to gestate new souls.

This is the eternal cycle of undead creatures. The only thing that changes is perhaps the soul strength of Ang and the little zombie.

If nothing else happened, Ang might have stayed in the pit forever, just like he grew vegetables in the farm for over a thousand years. However, a sudden change occurs. This day, the little zombie runs back to the pit in a panic, pushes Ang, and then points wildly outside.

There is a deep wound on the little zombie's face, reaching the bone, and it is unknown what cut it.

Ang sticks his head out and only sees a gray bone skeleton leading more than twenty low-level skeletons, charging into Ang's territory in a grand manner.

Also belonging to the gray bone skeleton rank, Ang has no rank advantage over it, and under its leadership, the low-level skeletons also ignore this rank suppression.

Did the little zombie poke a skeleton nest?

Without a word, Ang drags the little zombie and runs out of the pit. He feels he probably cannot beat a gray bone skeleton of the same rank and its twenty-plus subordinates.

They run in front, and the gray bone skeleton leads the team to chase from behind. After chasing for two or three kilometers, the gray bone skeleton gives up the chase unwillingly.

"You, what did you do?" Temporarily safe, Ang sighs and asks with his soul.

The little zombie stares with its eyes, looking at Ang in a daze. With its intelligence, it is not enough to answer Ang's question.

Fine, Ang gives up. The others of his kind in the farm were like this before; once you ask them a question, they will look at you in such a daze. The little zombie is already considered good, knowing to come back to notify him when chased by someone...

No, if the little zombie didn't run back, the gray bone skeleton would only chase it, what does that have to do with him?

Killed by you... Ang knocks on its skull.

Because the little zombie caused trouble indiscriminately, Ang was driven out of the burrow for a few months. It is about to get dark, and he must find a place to shelter from the wind as soon as possible.

It is too late to go back, so Ang digs a pit on the spot and hides in it with the little zombie. Because this pit is relatively shallow, he has to scrape the soil from all around and bury it on their bodies.

The next day, when the wind stops, Ang crawls out and digs a pit a few meters away, throwing the little zombie over. He decides not to let the little zombie hide in his pit, so as not to implicate himself if it causes trouble in the future.

However, that evening, as soon as the wind began to blow, a head poked around the edge of his pit. Seeing that Ang did not drive it away, it slid in.

Throwing it out the next day, it runs over again at night, just like playing a game.

It is not until Ang digs a passage between the two pits that this game stops, because if it runs over again, it will be kicked into the passage by Ang and left to crawl back itself.

Ang is a skeleton who is content with his situation. He could farm for over a thousand years without anyone driving him, and now that he is driven out of the safe burrow, he does not care. He digs a new burrow to be larger and safer, staying in the burrow every day to guide the Breath of Rest.

The little zombie is much more active than him, running out as soon as the wind stops every day. The low-level skeletons nearby suffer its clutches again, and its soul keeps growing stronger in this non-stop tossing.

He originally thought today would be like the past, but not long after the wind began, Ang heard footsteps, and not long after, he saw a person slide into the pit.

This is a human wearing a cloak, looking to be in his forties or fifties, his face full of wind and frost. He holds an exquisite staff in his hand, and a surging, powerful magic emanates from his body. This is a human mage.

The human mage discovers Ang in the burrow and gives an surprised "Eh": "A skeleton? How did a skeleton run up to the slope? Uh, sorry for the disturbance, can you let me shelter from the wind here?"

The human mage just asks casually. It is well known that skeletons must reach the Gold rank to possess intelligence; ordinary skeletons act more on instinct and will attack when they find a threat. Perhaps this skeleton in front of him will pounce on him in the next moment.

However, daring to walk in the land of death, the human mage naturally does not put a mere gray bone skeleton in his eyes. He takes off his hood and beckons outward.

A huge head sticks into the pit, instantly squeezing out all the remaining space in the pit. This is a bone horse, its empty eye sockets flickering with ghostly blue soul fire.

The pit is not large, accommodating a skeleton, a human, and the head of a bone horse, not even having space to turn around. Ang shrinks to the front of the passage to the other burrow and blocks the exit, giving up more space.

When the Breath of Rest is raging, why would a human mage appear here? Does the Breath of Rest not affect him? Even if it cannot affect him, how does his bone horse support itself?

Ang soon finds out.

The human mage first looks at him curiously, confirming that this skeleton has no desire to attack, and then reaches out to press on the bone horse's head. One can see wisps of black smoke rising from his palm, drilling into the bone horse's eye sockets, nostrils, and other empty spaces.

Wherever the black smoke passes, the color of the bone horse's bones slowly fades. Ang then notices that the bone horse's bones have already been eroded by the Breath of Rest, with traces of decay on the surface.

The Breath of Rest has a very strange mechanism. If this skeleton possesses a soul, the Breath of Rest will erode it. But if it is just a skeleton without a soul, the Breath of Rest will instead protect it, delaying the speed of its decay, and even gestate a new soul fire, gestating it into a skeleton.

The bone horse has soul fire, so the bones are eroded. However, these traces of erosion slowly disappear under the soothing of the black smoke.

Ang somewhat understands why this bone horse can walk under the Breath of Rest; it turns out the human mage is constantly treating it.

However, this is a very mana-consuming thing. After the black smoke covers the bone horse's head, the human mage thinks of something, slaps his forehead, and says regretfully: "I'm stupid."

The human mage reaches out and twists off the bone horse's head. The skeleton's soul fire is all in the head. After removing the head, the bone horse's skeleton left outside the pit loses its soul fire, and the Breath of Rest will not cause it harm.

Holding the bone horse's head, the human mage smiles apologetically at Ang: "Forgot the time while traveling. Thanks to this pit of yours, otherwise we would have been blown to death here by this evil wind. By the way, how did you run up to this slope? This is not a place for you skeletons; it's all gravel, and the pit is not easy to dig."

Ang's empty eye sockets look at the mage without speaking. Is this not a place for skeletons?

Thinking carefully, it seems it really is. After the terrain rises, there are no skeletons, and the little zombie also has to walk to the flat ground at the bottom of the slope to find other skeletons to bully.

Seeing his wooden, stunned appearance, the mage chuckles: "Don't mind it. After staying in a desolate place for a long time, there isn't even anyone to talk to, and language ability has degraded. So no matter who I run into, I will try to chat with them."

Regardless of Ang's reaction, the mage starts talking to himself, as if muttering to himself:

"This road is getting harder and harder to walk. Do you know what this road was called before? The Golden Road, the Grain Road, the Silk Road. That basin below used to be the world transit station of the Undying Empire, but now it has become the territory of you little skeletons."

"After the Undying Empire disappeared, business on this road became harder and harder to do. Looking at the records in ancient books, one could make a fortune just by opening a small shop on the road. It's not like me now, running back and forth for more than half a month, and I might not even be able to earn two months' worth of rations. I really envy you, not needing to eat or drink. Only you undead creatures can stay here."

"If only the teleportation channel could be opened. The grain of the Undying Empire could be sold over here, and the things here could be sold over there. With the trade route open, everyone could make a fortune. By the way, you undead creatures don't need to eat, so why do you produce so much grain?"

"Sigh, I'm stupid again. Not all undead creatures belong to the Undying Empire. Almost a thousand years have passed, and those skeletons belonging to the Undying Empire have probably perished."

The mage just treats Ang as something like a tree hole and does not require his response, muttering to himself there. However, Ang did not understand the rest, but he understood these last two paragraphs.

Undead creatures don't need to eat, so why produce so much grain? Because that grain was all grown by vegetable-growing skeletons like Ang.

The mage mutters to the end and sighs longly: "The underground city has suffered a disaster again. If we can't find a new source of grain, I'm afraid another batch of people will starve to death. I hope the teleportation channel can be opened this time. I hope the Undying Empire is still there."

The mage mutters as if making a wish, takes a look at the quiet Ang, smiles self-deprecatingly, pulls up his cloak, and slowly falls asleep.