On the small balcony, there were three beings—a human, a zombie, and a half-human, half-snake.
The moment the Tier-7 zombie realized that its chosen “toy” was being shielded behind a human, it no longer cared about the danger to its neck and immediately let out a furious roar—
“Roar!!!”
For an instant, Su Su could clearly feel her mind being assaulted.
—You are mine! You are mine!!!
—Kill her! Kill this human!!!
These two thoughts were forcibly implanted into her brain, along with a deeply rooted perception that began to waver.
It was as if someone was whispering softly in her ear:
—You are not human. You are just an ordinary zombie.
—That toy is not yours. You have no relationship with him.
—He belongs to the noble Zombie King. You should be sensible and jump down from here… completely leave their world!
Should she leave?
How could that be possible!
Su Su violently broke free from all the invisible “restraints.” The haze clouding her mind was torn apart by sheer force, and clarity returned. Cold sweat broke out all over her back.
She took a few deep breaths and fixed her gaze on the Tier-7 zombie standing at the doorway.
“I know your ability now.”
Mental abilities could be classified into many types. The zombie Su Su encountered in the underground cave was adept at creating illusions. He Heng from the Southern Base excelled at manipulating minds. Qi Huiling from the Scientific Research Guild could infinitely amplify human emotions… And as for this Tier-7 zombie in front of her, its ability was—cognitive replacement.
“You trapped all the ability users who entered this place, making them believe this is the safest place in the world, filled with endless, inexhaustible resources. You kept them here like livestock, allowing them to fight among themselves until they gradually became your kind.”
“This is why no one has ever left S City—because all those people were controlled by you, unknowingly turning into zombies.”
The Tier-7 zombie couldn’t understand her words, but it instinctively sensed danger.
Why?
Why was this human able to break free from its control?
Seeing the Tier-7 zombie grow agitated, Su Su’s eyes darkened. She quickened her pace and charged at it.
A sharp dagger cut through the air, leaving behind a blurred afterimage.
The Tier-7 zombie’s expression twisted in shock as it retreated into the room. In an instant, its most cherished carpet was dirtied by its own hurried steps, but it no longer cared. All its focus was on defending against the human’s attack.
As Su Su slashed her blade, she kept her eyes locked onto it and questioned, “What did you do to Ah Xuan? How did you mislead him?”
The Tier-7 zombie had been forced back to the wardrobe.
It shrank into the corner, then suddenly let out a piercing roar towards the outside—
“ROAR!!!!”
—Save me!
—Kill her!
The sound of slithering crept into the room, making Su Su’s body stiffen for half a second.
She heard the voices but didn’t dare to turn around.
Kill this Tier-7 zombie! Only by killing it would Ah Xuan return to normal!
Otherwise… Su Su didn’t dare to think further. She gripped the short blade tightly, and just as she was about to charge forward, a broad figure suddenly appeared in front of her.
“Hiss—”
He blocked Su Su’s attack.
Su Su raised her head, her gaze locked onto him. “Move aside!”
The Tier-7 zombie let out a crazed roar.
—Kill her! Kill her!
“Xuan Mang…” Su Su blinked her dry eyes, trying to keep her voice steady. “Do you still remember who I am? We came here to kill it. Right now, you should turn around and kill it, or step aside and let me do it!”
Xuan Mang silently stared at the human in front of him.
In his eyes, she was blurry, without any recognizable features, no different from any other zombie outside.
But the Tier-7 zombie behind him—its face was all too familiar.
Seeing his lack of response, Su Su shouted sharply, “Xiao Hei!!!”
The familiar name made Xuan Mang falter for a brief moment.
The Tier-7 zombie, upon seeing this, mockingly echoed the same words: “Xiao Hei!!!”
The snake tail began slamming against the carpet repeatedly, producing deep, muffled thuds.
Xuan Mang suddenly grew agitated.
His entire presence became more and more dangerous, and his dark green vertical pupils narrowed into a single line, as if he could strike to kill at any moment.
Only now, seeing Xuan Mang at his coldest and most ruthless, did Su Su realize how utterly wrong she had been. She had always thought that his usual cold demeanor was the most terrifying thing about him. She never expected that, in comparison, that had been his gentlest side.
At this moment, in Xuan Mang’s eyes, she must have become his true enemy.
Su Su closed her eyes.
When she opened them again, she bypassed Xuan Mang and charged forward once more.
However, before she could take even a single step, half of a snake’s tail unceremoniously coiled around her waist—
The gentle strength she had once known was gone, replaced by pure force.
She was flung away.
She crashed onto the soft bed.
The short blade in her hand slipped from her grip, falling midair. The snake tail that had withdrawn inadvertently struck it, sending it flying off the balcony.
A crisp metallic clang echoed from outside as the weapon hit the ground.
Su Su was thrown into a daze.
By the time she recovered from the dizzying sensation and quickly got up, she saw—Xuan Mang was already standing in front of the Tier-7 zombie.
The vertigo at this moment was even stronger than when she had been flung away just now.
Was her partner going to become the protector of this Tier-7 zombie?
Never before had Su Su felt such overwhelming despair—she could almost foresee the future. When Xuan Mang’s strength and abilities turned against her… she would have no power to resist.
Su Su thought she would cry.
After all, what she feared most was being abandoned.
If she were abandoned by Xuan Mang—the one who had been by her side and protected her since her rebirth—perhaps all the beliefs she had held onto would collapse once again… But strangely, she did not cry.
Instead, she widened her eyes, waiting for the inevitable future to unfold.
This was bound to happen. No one would unwaveringly choose another person forever—not just humans, but also battle pets with even stronger instincts.
Could she accept it?
…She could.
In the brief span of one or two seconds, Su Su had already prepared for all possibilities—she still had a chance. She could escape, she could return stronger, and even if she lost Ah Xuan, she would still do everything in her power to obtain the Tier-7 zombie’s crystal.
“Hiss—”
The half-human, half-snake had already slithered to the wardrobe. The Tier-7 zombie, who had just been cowering like a quail, now stood up triumphantly.
See? Everything here belonged to it. No one could take it away!
Right in front of the human, the Tier-7 zombie spread its arms again, letting out a gloating laugh.
—Hold me.
—Hold me the way you held that human.
This city, these humans, including this strange snake-man, would all completely become its playthings.
The distance between Xuan Mang and the Tier-7 zombie was now only a few dozen centimeters.
He lowered his gaze, looking down at that “familiar” face.
The other party had already lifted itself onto its tiptoes, eagerly and expectantly trying to leap into his arms.
Xuan Mang bent down.
Under the gaze of a pair of already dimmed eyes—
Half of a snake’s tail suddenly lashed out without warning, piercing straight through the Tier-7 zombie’s chest, pinning it firmly against the wardrobe.
The cold and ruthless half-snake man finally reached out his arm, but only to grasp the Tier-7 zombie’s throat, lifting it into the air just as it had wished.
“Hiss!!!”
Xuan Mang stared intently at the face before him, his snake tongue flickering frequently as if unwilling to give up confirming the scent so close at hand.
It was unfamiliar.
He had chased all the way here, clearly seeing Su Su, yet no matter what, he could not smell the familiar scent on “her.”
A beast did not rely solely on sight to recognize others—scent was an even greater indicator.
The moment he climbed onto the balcony, Xuan Mang had sensed that something was wrong.
Why had it turned out this way?
Where was his female? Where had she gone?
Xuan Mang was in pain.
Right before his eyes, his female was pitifully begging for mercy, bleeding, wounded—yet he could not sense even the faintest trace of the scent he had long since marked.
“Hiss!!!”
He bared his fangs at “her” again, his grip tightening mercilessly.
“Roar!!!!”
The Tier-7 zombie let out a pained scream. No longer able to maintain its earlier arrogance, it unleashed its full power, its ability surging toward the snake-man before it!
Xuan Mang saw it—
He was about to personally kill Su Su, the female he had claimed. His own snake tail had pierced through her chest.
A pitch-black hole lay gaping right at the center of her chest.
His eyes widened in sheer agony as he violently withdrew his tail.
But that single hesitation gave the Tier-7 zombie its chance.
Seizing the moment, it bolted at an unimaginable speed, vanishing off the balcony in an instant, diving straight into the boundless darkness.
The moment Xuan Mang let go, he knew he had been deceived again.
He immediately lunged after it.
Everything happened in the span of a breath.
Su Su had no time to react. She leaped off the bed and grabbed Xuan Mang’s arm.
“Ah Xuan!”
“Hiss!”
His tail struck her hand away with force.
The half-snake man did not spare her even a glance, speeding off in pursuit of the Tier-7 zombie.
All of Su Su’s sorrow, all of her mental preparations, were absurdly interrupted.
A lingering pain spread through her wrist where she had been struck.
But it was still intact—unbroken, only marked with a faint red imprint.
Compared to the Tier-7 zombie, whose chest had been pierced through, she had merely lost a curved short blade.
Su Su blinked.
She seemed to have realized something—perhaps.
There was no time to think it through. She rushed onto the balcony.
In the darkness, the Tier-7 zombie was at the forefront, fleeing while frantically roaring in all directions.
In just a short span of time, countless zombies poured out from the once-empty “palace.” They formed densely packed “rivers” of undead, converging into a vast tide that completely submerged the entire “palace.”
From a small three-story building in the distance, bloodcurdling screams rang out.
Two or three dozen ability users burst out, their faces filled with confusion.
They couldn’t understand—why was the central zone, which had long been “cleared,” suddenly teeming with an overwhelming number of zombies? And among them, there were even several Tier-6 zombies!
They were forced into battle.
Su Su witnessed everything.
Ever since realizing that the Tier-7 zombie’s ability was cognitive replacement, she had remained unaffected by its illusions. At this moment, she could clearly see that these zombies hadn’t appeared out of thin air.
They had transformed.
Rows of “streetlights” had turned into zombies.
Lines of “bushes” had turned into zombies.
Cold sweat poured down Su Su’s back in layer upon layer.
She hadn’t entered a “palace” at all—she had willingly walked into a zombie nest!
From the moment she entered the central zone, she had unknowingly been partially affected.
Luckily—luckily she was Tier-7.
If a Tier-6 ability user had stepped in instead, they might never have made it out alive.
Su Su took a deep breath.
Then, she leapt into the zombie tide.
A flash of white light plunged into the ocean of the undead, and the surging horde parted on its own, like waves retreating under the moonlight, automatically making way for a broad path.
Su Su started walking—then broke into a sprint.
She paid no attention to the ability users still struggling against the zombie tide. Her target was clear—she chased in the direction where Xuan Mang had gone, until she saw the Tier-7 zombie cornered in a dead end.
Xuan Mang stood at the alley entrance.
The night was illuminated by raging blue flames, reducing all the zombies rushing to protect their king to ashes. Only a dozen Tier-6 zombies remained, struggling futilely—one being consumed every few moments.
The Tier-7 Zombie King trembled violently in fear.
It desperately searched for an escape route while screaming frantically, commanding its minions to block the terrifying half-snake man.
Where was the arrogance it had at the beginning?
Su Su suddenly realized—this Tier-7 zombie was actually incredibly weak.
Once its cognitive replacement was broken, it was utterly defenseless.
Of course, it had also been too greedy, or perhaps too ignorant. If it hadn’t indulged in playing with and keeping humans like livestock—if it had simply used its ability to kill everyone unnoticed upon entry—then until an Tier-8 ability user appeared, S City would have been a completely inescapable graveyard.
Su Su should be grateful for its greed.
White light paved the way ahead, forcing the zombies at the alley entrance to part for her.
She dodged the blue flames’ reach, closing in on the Tier-7 zombie.
It saw her and let out another frantic roar.
Su Su raised her short blade—she had retrieved this razor-sharp weapon from the first floor. She was about to sever the Tier-7 zombie’s neck.
Infuriatingly, her blade was slapped away once again—by half a snake tail.
The moody and irritable half-snake man had somehow slithered silently behind her.
He would not allow this suddenly appearing “zombie” to kill “her.” Even though he already knew “she” was not his female.
But… he couldn’t find Su Su.
This was the only clue he had—he couldn’t let it die.
The dangerous being loomed closer.
That filthy snake tail—the sharpest, deadliest weapon of his kind—hovered threateningly. He stared at Su Su coldly, his gaze warning her: if she didn’t back off, he wouldn’t hold back—he would hurl her straight into the blue flames.
At least… that’s what he thought.
For some reason, his tail never moved.
Su Su lowered her gaze.
Right in front of him, she bent down and picked up her short blade once more.
Xuan Mang’s vertical pupils narrowed into a razor-thin slit.
He was agitated. Impatient. His snake tail slammed against the ground repeatedly in frustration.
“Hiss!!!”
He was warning and threatening the “zombie” before him, his expression as fierce as could be.
Su Su took everything in.
She lifted her short blade—but instead of attacking the Tier-7 zombie, she sliced open her own palm.
Crimson blood immediately welled up from her skin, filling her entire hand within moments.
Drip. Drip.
The scent of blood and dust mixed in the air.
The instant the droplets touched the ground, they were captured by the flickering tongue of the snake.
The restless and agitated snake tail halted mid-swing.
“Hiss—”
The half-snake man stared fixedly at the blurry-faced “zombie” before him, whose body now radiated the strongest, most unmistakable human scent.
A scent he had marked, a scent embedded in his instincts.
Xuan Mang calmed down almost instantly.
Even though the figure before him was vague—her face, her voice, everything indistinct—it felt like he had finally found home.
He had known something was wrong.
He had even suspected that the thing wearing his female’s skin had hidden her away—or worse, harmed her…
No one could understand the terror and helplessness of losing the most precious, most irreplaceable existence.
He had existed in a world that was real—yet the one thing that should have been real was out of reach.
Su Su had been watching his face closely.
Only when she saw the brutality and restlessness fade from him did her heart finally settle.
She pointed at the Tier-7 zombie and tested, “Kill it.”
Swoosh.
Xuan Mang’s powerful snake tail lashed out without hesitation, instantly cutting off the zombie’s escape and slamming down on its skull.
This was not the casual force he had used to swat Su Su away earlier—this was a fatal blow.
Crack!
The Tier-7 zombie’s skull shattered.
The putrid filth about to splatter toward Su Su was blocked just in time by a wall of blue flames.
The corpse collapsed heavily to the ground, and from its crushed head, Su Su clearly saw a light purple crystal roll onto the ground nearby.
The Zombie King that ruled all of S City—had fallen.
Everything it had controlled vanished with it.
Drip. Drip.
Su Su’s arm hung limply at her side, blood still dripping from her wound.
She could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
But before she could exhale completely, her arm was lifted.
She watched as the half-snake man leaned down completely.
That sinister yet strikingly pale face pressed against the inside of her forearm.
His nose brushed gently against her bloodstained skin, and his scarlet snake tongue, nearly reverent and mournful, carefully licked at the wound on her palm.
“Hiss—”
Where she couldn’t see, Xuan Mang’s eyes were faintly tinged red.
Warm blood rolled down his throat as his tongue lapped at the wound, and he tasted bitterness.
A bitterness that made the snake fearful—fearful that he had truly hurt her back then…
His snake tail curled around the Grade-7 crystal on the ground, trembling as he lifted it.
A complete offering, dedicated to his female.
Su Su’s eyes finally turned red.
She had thought she wouldn’t cry, yet deep inside, her heart was overflowing with grievances.
Now that everything was over, the tears surged forward, rolling down uncontrollably.
Her delicate features, paired with silent tears, made for the most heart-wrenching sight.
Su Su abruptly pulled her hand back.
Ignoring the pain in her palm, she shoved Xuan Mang aside and turned away.
She walked away without hesitation.
“Hiss!”
Xuan Mang reacted instantly, chasing after her.
Layer upon layer of snake tail wrapped tightly around his lost-and-recovered female.
Perhaps because he didn’t know how to apologize or how to make amends, he simply pressed the crystal against her lips, trying to feed her the best thing he had.
Su Su had wanted to curse him outright, but the moment she opened her mouth, she knew there was a real chance he’d shove the crystal inside.
Her teeth clenched in fury.
Then, she suddenly cupped Xuan Mang’s face.
The sheer panic and fear in his heart were instantly replaced by pure joy.
He stared at her, unblinking.
Su Su didn’t care what this heartless, brainless snake was thinking.
With a swift motion, she snatched the Grade-7 crystal from his tail.
And the next second—without hesitation—
She shoved it straight into Xuan Mang’s mouth.
Gulp.
The crystal was completely swallowed.
Xuan Mang thought—his female had forgiven him.
He tentatively shifted, wanting to embrace her, wanting to lick her wounds away, wanting to express his regret and panic…
But before he could, Su Su interrupted it all.
She watched his throat move, confirming he had swallowed the crystal.
Her expression instantly darkened.
Completely unpredictable.
Slap!
Xuan Mang’s outstretched arm was forcefully swatted away.
“Let’s break up.”
Su Su let out a cold laugh, sneering twice.
“I think it’d be better if we went back to just being companions.”