Chapter 163: The Resurrected Zombie

If you look closely, apart from being hideously ugly, this zombie still bore a faint resemblance to Alex. It was just that its eyes had lost their liveliness, turning horribly turbid.

"Agh~" The zombie Alex let out a low growl, stepping closer and closer to the inner city wall.

"Thwack!" The nearest arrow tower automatically fired, launching a bolt the size of a spear that struck the zombie squarely in the right shoulder. The immense force knocked it backward to the ground, but it quickly struggled back up, completely ignoring the bolt protruding from its shoulder, and continued forward.

"Thwack, thwack, thwack!!!" As it drew closer, all the nearby arrow towers fired simultaneously. The zombie was pinned to the ground in an instant, yet it still kept struggling endlessly.

It seemed that even after turning into a zombie, Alex was still quite weak!

Feeling a bit sympathetic, Jia Zhengjin took out his crossbow, drew the string, set an arrow, and aimed down at its head from above.

"Thwack!" The bolt was released, but it hit the sand right next to the target.

A blush crept onto his face; this was somewhat awkward!

He hurriedly loaded another bolt into the crossbow.

"Thwack, thwack, thwack!!!" After firing about seven bolts in succession, he finally hit the zombie's head.

[Notification] You have killed a low-level zombie and gained 40 experience points.

He couldn't bring himself to do it while it was alive, yet unexpectedly, it still ended up dying at his hands after death. Jia Zhengjin felt a slight awkwardness, turned around to descend the wall, opened the gate, and went outside to first repair the clawed sections of the city wall with stone bricks. Afterward, he rummaged around the zombie's body for a while.

[Notification] You have obtained Carnivorous Plant Seeds!
[Notification] You have obtained Yellowcap Mushroom Seeds!
[Notification] You have obtained Rotten Flesh!
[Notification] You have obtained a Zombie Heart!
[Notification] You have obtained a Tattered Cloth Tunic!

The more Jia Zhengjin looked at the loot, the more disgusted he became, as not a single item was of any use. So, he simply stuffed everything back into the corpse all at once, then called a few gnols to carry it and throw it outside the city.

This was merely an episode, considered nothing more than a minor fright.

Having dealt with the matter concerning Alex, Jia Zhengjin instructed the awakened villagers to return to their respective homes to sleep, and quickly went back inside his own house.

What no one knew was that, just as everyone thought the commotion had passed, the zombie—discarded in the wilderness outside the city with its body bristling with crossbow bolts—suddenly twitched a few times.

A few small carnivorous animals crept up silently and began gnawing on the zombie's body. One of them mistook the crossbow bolt stuck in the zombie's forehead for a bone, clamped down on it, and pulled furiously.

"Pop!" The bolt was yanked out by its massive strength, and the creature shook its head while continuing to chew on the bolt, much like a dog guarding its food.

"Agh~" Not long after the bolt was pulled from the zombie's forehead, its turbid eyeballs began to move.

Having supposedly died thoroughly, it suddenly sat up and grabbed the small carnivorous animal that was chewing on the crossbow bolt.

"Coocoo~" The small carnivorous animal let out a panicked sound, its body struggling desperately. However, the zombie had already opened its jaws and bitten down hard.

"Crunch, crunch..." The fresh flesh and blood gave the zombie even greater strength, and its injured areas began to slowly heal. As if eating some sort of delicacy, it chewed up and swallowed skin and bones alike.

The other small carnivorous animals were frightened, scattering and fleeing in a panic on all fours.

The zombie slowly stood to its feet, the crossbow bolts on its body being pushed out by the rapidly healing skin, dropping to the ground one by one with a patter.

"Agh~" The zombie stood up and walked forward aimlessly.

It had no sense of direction, merely walking straight ahead and entering the depths of the forest purely on instinct. When its path was blocked by trees or rocks, it didn't bother to go around; instead, it used its rotting hands to scratch continuously, much like an animal.

The terrifying thing was that sturdy tree trunks and hard boulders were actually being scratched away bit by bit by its hands! And its hands suffered not the slightest bit of injury.

It seemed that earlier, it had also relied on instinct to walk to the city wall, and upon encountering an obstacle, had simply scratched its way through like that!

The zombie forged ahead all the way, destroying anything that blocked its progress without the slightest thought of taking a detour.

The stench emanating from its body caused most animals to consciously keep their distance.

Of course, some scavenging predatory creatures were also attracted.

A giant python appeared before the zombie, lunging at it the moment it spotted it, opening its wide jaws to swallow it whole straight into its belly. Believing it had enjoyed a fine meal, it slithered into a nearby thicket with a bulging stomach.

However, not long after, it suddenly began to roll around on the spot, appearing extremely in pain and distressed.

During its rolling, the enormous snake head and tail lashed against the surrounding trees like whips, causing thick trees to collapse one after another.

After rolling around for a full ten minutes, the giant python finally stopped. Its belly faced upward without moving, clearly dead.

A bloody hole suddenly burst open in its abdomen, and shortly after, the zombie—covered entirely in digestive juices—crawled out, ravenously devouring its flesh and blood.

By the time the zombie completely emerged from the giant python's belly, all the wounds on its body had fully recovered as good as new, and its pair of turbid eyeballs had become much more lively. Most incongruous of all was its huge, pregnant-looking belly, which was packed entirely with fresh flesh and blood.

"Wah~~" The zombie suddenly vomited right beside the carcass, purging foul, bloody filth from its mouth. Its vomiting was equally disgusting and horrifying, actually turning the ground beneath its feet into a small pool of blood.

After vomiting, the zombie's belly returned to its normal size. Thus, it resumed devouring the giant python's flesh, and once its stomach bulged again, it vomited once more.

Repeating this cycle, the zombie's body seemed to undergo some changes, gradually growing a good deal more robust.

What it consumed were flesh, skin, fur, and bones, yet what it vomited out was only foul blood; it appeared that everything else was digested at an astonishing speed!

Could a zombie digest? This was also an unbelievable thing.

The giant python was eaten down to the very last scrap, leaving behind only a stinking, massive pool of blood.

Having doubled in size, the zombie stepped out of the blood pool and continued wandering forward.

After walking a certain distance, another scavenging creature, somewhat resembling a raptor in appearance, appeared, suddenly pouncing and knocking it to the ground, its sharp teeth rapidly tearing at the zombie's head.

The zombie was not to be outdone, raising its head and opening its jaws to bite back at the raptor in a mutual struggle.

The zombie felt no pain, remaining completely unresponsive even when chunks of flesh were bitten off its body. The raptor, however, was different; the moment a chunk of flesh was bitten off by the zombie, it rolled around in agony, and by the time it wanted to retreat, it was already too late, leaving it no choice but to fight with all its might!

Yet the zombie's advantage lay in its lack of pain and total fearlessness of death; it was, after all, a dead thing to begin with.

After a fierce battle, although the raptor had mangled the zombie beyond recognition, it ultimately perished first.

The zombie began to enjoy this fine meal, rapidly healing its injuries through the fresh flesh and blood...