"Alright, I'm leaving now," Qingyao stretched her golden wings, ready to depart.
Lin Tian hastily stopped her, what a joke, biting someone and then wanting to leave, just like that was utterly irresponsible.
"Wait a second, as a seasoned zombie, don't you have anything to say to a newbie like me? For example, can I only suck blood from now on, am I afraid of the sun or not? It's too irresponsible for you to just leave like this!"
A zombie must have the resolve of a zombie. If Lin Tian didn't get everything straight, he might turn to ash when the sun rises tomorrow.
Reminded by Lin Tian, Qingyao suddenly realized her oversight, wondering how she could be such a scatterbrained zombie.
"If you hadn't mentioned it, I would have really forgotten. I advise you to avoid direct sunlight. Although Blue-eyed Zombies aren't afraid of the sun, you've just become a zombie and your powers aren't fully developed. Prolonged exposure to direct sunlight can cause damage unless you absorb enough living blood or moonlight to become a fully-formed Blue-eyed Zombie. Take this."
After finishing her words, Qingyao took out a scroll from her sleeve, and Lin Tian received it, puzzled, only to find it was a roll of tawny animal skin.
"I came across this by chance. Follow the instructions on it to accelerate the absorption of moonlight. That's all I have for you—I'm off." Before Lin Tian could react, her golden wings fluttered, and her figure had vanished.
"Wait..." Lin Tian reached out but caught nothing, staring at the animal skin scroll in his hand, he was stupefied—it was written in 5,000-year-old script, which he couldn't understand.
But when he unrolled it, he found no text at all. Instead, there were drawings of figures in various poses, twelve in total, representing twelve different actions.
So that's it. Lin Tian wasn't dumb. He understood immediately what it was about and knew he could just follow the movements depicted. After figuring it out, he pocketed the animal skin and looking at the disarrayed footprints around him and the dirty clothes on his body, he felt rather sentimental.
The trials of this night were far more intricate than anything he had experienced in his eighteen years of life. In just a few hours, Lin Tian went through his girlfriend's departure, his brother's betrayal, and most bizarrely, meeting the mysterious zombies and becoming one himself.
He turned around to survey the surroundings. With his night vision, he could see everything clearly. Fortunately, nobody had come to this place.
Lin Tian straightened his clothes, touched his teeth to make sure the zombie fangs had not appeared, and checked his eyes with his phone, which had returned to their normal color. Only then did he walk out of the grove with peace of mind.
The time on his phone showed it was already 10:30 pm. Eager to study his new zombie body, Lin Tian hailed a cab outside the park and headed home.
There was traffic on the way, and by the time Lin Tian got back to his neighborhood, it was already past eleven. He had heard that the area was not very safe recently, with frequent muggings at this time of the night.
The place where Lin Tian lived was in a back alley, and it was very dilapidated. Before entering the alley, he could somehow hear voices from afar. The abilities of a zombie were indeed impressive, to hear from such a distance.
"Big bro, we've been squatting here for so long and haven't seen a soul. Let's pack it in, this area is just full of poor ghosts. Even if we rob them, how much could we possibly get?"
"Shut your mouth! If we don't rob here, should we go out on the big streets? There are cameras everywhere out there, do you want to die? You nincompoop, can't you have a little professional quality? It's really embarrassing for me to be associated with you,"
Stumbling upon a robbery, Lin Tian shook his head, somewhat speechless. The street lights in the alley had been broken for who knows how many years, leaving everything pitch black. But no matter how dark, it posed no problem for Lin Tian; he could clearly see several sneaky figures from a distance.
As he approached, the figures suddenly jumped out, turning on flashlights to shine in Lin Tian's eyes and blocking his path.
"It's you guys!"
"You?"
Several people were now facing Lin Tian, and he recognized them as the five who had beaten him up. Evidently, they also recognized Lin Tian.
"Haha, kid, we must be fated to meet again so soon. How about lending some money for us to spend?" The leader said in a pleasant tone, but actually, he was intent on robbing him.
"If you don't lend it, we'll beat you up again!" A buzz-cut underling added fiercely.
"Go eat shit!" Lin Tian remembered the humiliation and was instantly filled with rage. He accelerated forward, leaving a shadow behind, and in the blink of an eye, he appeared in front of the buzz-cut underling, then landed an uppercut on his jaw.
The buzz-cut underling screamed miserably as he was sent flying, soaring over the others before crashing to the ground, spitting out broken teeth and then passing out.
Holy shit! Even with mental preparation, Lin Tian was still startled by his own speed and strength. How could a person over a hundred pounds be sent flying by a punch? This was not human strength.
Immediately Lin Tian remembered he had turned into a zombie, and he couldn't help but laugh at himself sarcastically. The stunned leader, seeing his smile, took a step back in fright, but still mustered the courage to pull out a dagger.
Lin Tian didn't know whether a dagger could harm a zombie, so he moved again. The leader didn't even see a shadow before Lin Tian had grabbed his arm with the dagger. Lin Tian squeezed hard, and the bones in the leader's arm shattered on cue.
"Ah~"
The pig-like scream pierced through the night, causing the other underlings to break out in a cold sweat, too afraid to move. Lin Tian grabbed the leader by his clothing and pressed him against the wall, saying darkly, "You were with Sun Decai, weren't you? Tell me, where did he go?"
"He, he had something to do last minute and left, giving us a sum of money," the leader gasped for a few breaths before continuing, "We went gambling with the money and lost it all, so we thought of coming here to rob some to spend. Brother, we didn't recognize Taishan - please let us go."
"Hmph, let you go?" Lin Tian snorted coldly, grabbed him, and flung him against another wall.
"Bang~"
The leader hit the wall and passed out. Seeing their chance, the remaining three underlings attempted to run, but Lin Tian caught up and with one kick each, they were all knocked to the ground.
"Did I say you could go?" In their horrified gazes, Lin Tian smiled cruelly and stood on the three thugs' feet; they screamed and then passed out.
When Lin Tian's anger subsided, a hint of blood smell entered his nostrils. He had previously been indifferent to the smell of blood, but now the scent provoked an insatiable craving in his heart, a desire to drink blood.
He was terrified as he tried to suppress this feeling, but the more he suppressed it, the stronger his desire to feast on blood became. Suddenly, Lin Tian opened his mouth and two zombie fangs uncontrollably emerged.
What the hell, what's going on? Lin Tian's thoughts were in chaos, his eyes fixed on the pulsing veins of the small-time thugs' necks, feeling as if biting down would quell the thirst in his heart.
As Lin Tian struggled internally, the clouds above happened to drift away, letting the bright moonlight spill down and bathe the alley. Lin Tian suddenly felt a cool sensation and found the moonlight incredibly comforting. He looked closely at the moonlight and noticed numerous light spots drifting around him.
Zombie eyes are this powerful? He could even see the moon essences in the moonlight. Lin Tian felt somewhat pleased—it's always good to be powerful.
The moon essences drifted all around, and upon touching Lin Tian's body, they were absorbed. With each absorption of moon essence, his bloodthirsty craving diminished.
Lin Tian felt slightly relieved; biting another man was something he still couldn't accept in his heart.
"You're in luck today; I'll let you off," Lin Tian made sure no one was around, not wanting any more incidents, and with a move of his feet, he vanished from the spot.