During the meal, Yufei had narrated all that transpired since the day he entered the game. Tang Zhan listened to everything without a change in his expression, which Yufei and Banjo found strange.
They had expected him to show hostility or anger towards X when he heard about the fight, but he didn't rather he was silent all through.
"brother what's wrong, you haven't even said a word since we started eating."
"uhn! Oh nothing, I just missed your food so much, that I can't spare time to talk, that's all"
Yufei stared him down, trying to figure out herself what had happened to him, but he was as blank as an empty canvas.
'is that phoenix truly my mother, no I can't be having these thoughts, I'm not an adopted child am I?'
Tang Zhan pretending to be listening while having an internal battle with himself, he didn't know if he should believe his emotions or logic.
"Tang Zhan nice meeting you and sorry about the attack earlier, I thought you were an assassin" X said to Tang Zhan, but he just nodded his head.
'i need to be careful, those who keep their anger hidden are the most dangerous'
X thought to herself, while fidgeting with the spoon in her hand. Glancing at Tang Zhan from under her eyelashes she saw that he was confused and in deep thought.
'maybe I am still safe for now, but for how long? I don't know'
Boom!
A loud crash was heard, and it came from the compound. Tang Zhan was quick to take an action, as he speedily went to the window and peeped through.
Outside the compound everything looked fine, at least the front part looked fine, but Tang Zhan's eyes caught movements from the gate side.
One side of the wall had broken, the debris scattered around and dust still wafting around the air.
"get down, no noise don't talk and do not stand up unless I say otherwise" He whispered to the three that were standing behind him.
After they got down he looked back at the dust and crumbled wall, and within the dust a figure approached, the figure could not be seen yet only it's silhouette, but the position of it's glowing eyes were awkward.
The silhouette within the dust had two glowing dots that represented eyes, but their position was weird. Rather than being where the head should be thay were located where the chest would be.
'what is that? Another creature?'
"COME OUT HUMANS! I can smell you all the way here" A deep low voice like a growl, ripped out of the creatures throat.
X instantly covered the four of them in a barrier that muted sound. Tang Zhan of course had noticed the shift in atmosphere as he couldn't even hear his heartbeat.
"oh really, trying to mask out your sound, I told you I can smell you not hear you, hahaha...!" The voice said again and the way it talked it sounded intelligent.
X was brimming with anger, she had learnt to control her emotions but anger is on a league of it's own, also she had never been this insulted about her capabilities.
Yufei was cowering in fear, and was tightly close to Banjo who was already preparing his gun.
Tang Zhan looked at the condition of his teammates, and after few seconds, turned to look out again.
This time he saw it, the dust had somewhat cleared up, and the creature had walked some distance away from the wall.
The creature was clearly a zombie.
'i thought zombies were only undead humans and not some other creatures, but what is this thing'
The reason he had thought of this was because of how the monster looked like. Tang Zhan couldn't help but laugh, he laughed so uncontrollably that he even rolled on the ground. If not for X barrier then the monster would have gotten angry for sure.
The monster's head was a nose, the whole thing that rested on the shoulder was a giant nose, with a neck connecting it to the body.
The eyes were in the stomach, the top two packs of the six was replaced with eyes. The v line was replaced with a mouth just as wide as the v line.
The leg was like a regular human leg only that it was bent back like a chicken's leg. It's hand was also not in proportion to it's body, one arm was already as big as the torso.
The monster didn't have a ear, but it continued walking forward oblivious to the fact that Tang Zhan was laughing at it's appearance.
Yufei, Banjo and X looked at Tang Zhan weirdly and confusingly, but they didn't dare talk.
"come on out, I don't like playing hide and seek"
The voice of the monster snapped Tang Zhan out of his laughing fit. He stood up back ready to bring out his scythe.
'we are currently not in any quest so I should be able to use the scythe' That was what he thought until...
[You are currently in a quest, inventory cannot be used, scythe power is higher than level cap of current quest]
"quest! When did we get a new quest?"
Tang Zhan mouthed to the three, and they all looked at each other then Yufei smacked her head and mouthed back.
"oh yeah, we got a notification after the end of the first quest"
-flashback-
"ah! finally we are done with this shitty quest of a thing" Banjo sighed loudly as he looked at the system panel in front of his face.
[You have survived the first month!
Reward: Achievement (first training complete)]
As he and Yufei looked at the notification they didn't notice under that showed the symbol of 'one unread message'.
"hey guys, check this out I'm not one for reading and understanding"
X came forward showing the two her system panel.
[New quest!
Defeat your training partner.
Reward: one level 5 weapon pick!]
When they read it they too were a little startled.
"isn't this an easy find, I defeated you guys and you are my sparring partner, right?" X said while winking at the two.
Yufei rubbed her chin and tried to decipher the meaning behind the quest, but after a long try she couldn't find any other meaningful explanation apart from what X had said.
"well I think that's what it means"
Later that day X and Banjo sparred, with X coming out victorious, but she didn't get any reward.
Banjo and Yufei sparred, Banjo won but still he didn't get any reward, and so they just continued their daily activities, forgetting the quest.
-end_of_flashback-
Yufei narrated all to Tang Zhan, Banjo and X oohed in realization as they remembered the quest.
"Yufei, your sword please!"
"HUMANS! You are wasting my time and my appetite"
"I think that's a good thing right?" Tang Zhan stood at the doorway with a sword on his shoulder.
The monster licked it's lips hungrily, the lips in it's stomach. Raising it's huge hands in a claw, it dashed forward.
[You have encountered a five percent mutated nose zombie! It will now be your training partner.
Defeat your training partner for a reward.
Reward: one level 5 weapon pick.]
"I hope I don't get too injured"
...