The woman jumped off the balcony without a moment's hesitation. Her body fell smoothly through the air like a bird, her hair streaming behind her. With her arms spread out, she looked like she was doing a backstroke.
"Thud!"
Her body hit the ground with a resounding crash. The noise and the smell of blood immediately attracted the surrounding zombies.
"Swish, swish, swish!"
A horde of zombies, moving with relentless determination, rushed toward the woman. Although she didn't die instantly, her head hit the ground first, leaving her barely conscious. Her body lay like a broken puppet, limbs twisted at unnatural angles. Her legs were mangled, and her body was punctured by debris, bleeding profusely.
"Hissss!!!"
The zombies pounced on her, tearing into her flesh with their gaping, blood-soaked mouths. They didn't care about hunger—they were driven by the scent of a human and the instinct to bite. The woman's body quickly became a mangled mess, her flesh torn away to reveal white bones.
"Ah...!" she gasped, surrounded by the zombies. Her one remaining eye turned blood-red. After a while, the zombies seemed to lose interest and moved away, seeking new prey.
However, the woman suddenly stood up, her numerous wounds still bleeding. Blood dripped from her body, painting a macabre picture on the ground. It was a horrifying sight, but it happened right before Stel and Elsie's eyes.
The woman, having been bitten by zombies, had turned into one herself.
"Well, now she won't feel hunger anymore, but she'll have to eat humans from now on," Stel said mockingly. He didn't care about the woman's fate. Whether she lived or died, he couldn't be bothered.
His main concern was to avoid becoming like her.
"Master, I suppose she got what she deserved?" Elsie said, a hint of relief in her voice and a smile of gratitude on her face.
As long as that woman was dead, there would be no one left to threaten her. For Elsie, this was a huge relief.
"In the apocalypse, sometimes humans are worse than zombies," Stel remarked suddenly.
"What do you mean by that, Master?" Elsie asked, puzzled.
"That woman killed and ate her fellow humans out of hunger. But these zombies, despite being driven solely by the urge to kill, never harm their own kind. The moment she turned into a zombie, they left her alone."
"Now that I think about it, it's ironic. In moments of despair, humans can resort to eating their own kind, whereas zombies will harm anything but their own."
Elsie didn't know how to respond. She knelt on the ground, staring silently at the horde of zombies in the distance.
"Elsie, if I hadn't come, and you and Tyler were trapped here with no food, what would you have done?" Stel asked suddenly.
What would we have done...? Elsie pondered this question, running through various scenarios in her mind, and came to a single conclusion.
"Tyler... he probably would have eaten me, just like that woman," Elsie replied confidently.
Yes, he would have eaten me, from flesh to bone, consuming every part of me he could. This is the inherent nature of humans when it comes to survival.
"It's not just Tyler. As long as you're weak, you'll always be the one who gets eaten. If necessary, you could also become my food. Understand?" Stel said, grabbing Elsie's chin and squeezing hard.
Elsie felt a sharp pain in her jaw and a sudden fear of Stel. She knew deep down that Stel was a complex man.
It was complex enough that even after living with him for more than half a month, Elsie still couldn't fully understand Stel's true nature.
"Master, please trust me. I will never betray you. I will always be your most loyal slave!" Elsie hurriedly expressed her loyalty, her voice tinged with fear and anxiety.
"It better be that way. If I ever find out that you've betrayed me, you'll end up like one of them," Stel said, pointing to the countless zombies below.
Elsie was startled and repeatedly kowtowed to Stel. With the woman's suicide, Stel suspected that there were very few humans left alive in the two apartment buildings. In fact, it was likely that only he and Elsie remained.
Most of the zombies around the area still lingered in their original spots. The hallways of the apartment building were still infested with zombies. Stel checked their food supplies; they could last for a while, but once the food ran out, they would have to leave the apartment.
"So far, there's been no sign of government rescue. The government itself might be in dire straits," Stel mused. "The entire world's system has collapsed."
Realizing this, a wave of despair washed over Stel. He had been overly optimistic. In his previous life, he had been rescued while waiting in his rental apartment. But this time, no rescue had arrived after more than a month.
"Something's wrong!" Stel suddenly realized. In his previous life, he had been rescued by the military within a few days. But in this life, after waiting for over a month, no rescue had come.
"Could it be that after my rebirth, events have unfolded differently from my previous life?" Stel wondered if he was worrying unnecessarily. In his previous life, he had been bitten by a zombie and killed by the military during the initial rescue. He had been reborn a month before the zombie outbreak. He had no knowledge of what happened after his death.
That night, Stel felt a pent-up frustration inside him. He needed something to vent his feelings.
So, he turned his attention to Elsie. Elsie was now eager to obey Stel's commands, even wishing Stel would treat her this way several times a day.
That night, Stel used all his strength to torment Elsie, leaving her in a miserable state. Four hours was his limit. After four hours, dawn began to break. Elsie thought Stel was about to stop.
To her surprise, Stel showed no signs of fatigue and still had plenty of stamina. This frightened Elsie.
"Master, maybe you should take a break? It's been five hours already..."
"Slap!"
Stel struck Elsie's body and coldly said, "Shut up!"
Helpless, Elsie dared not protest further and could only submit to his will. It wasn't until noon that Stel finally began to calm down a bit.