Chapter 577: Chapter 577: Antidote

Sarak and Tarak both flinched. Their big bodies trembled. Slowly, they sank to their knees. Their heads lowered like children being scolded.

“We… we are sorry, Lord Narak,” Sarak whispered.

“Yes… very sorry,” Tarak added quickly, his voice shaking.

Narak stared down at them, his breathing heavy.

“I told you to lead the zombie horde. I told you to crush Cedar Base. And what happened? Your army was cut down like wheat before the scythe. They did not even struggle. The humans… they laughed while killing them.”

The words stabbed like knives into Sarak and Tarak’s hearts. They remembered the battlefield clearly.

The rolling pins smashing skulls. The spatulas are slicing through their soldiers. The glowing juice is making the humans stronger and stronger. It was a nightmare they could not forget.

Sarak finally spoke, his voice low. “Then… what should we do now?”

“Yes, Lord Narak,” Tarak asked as well. “Tell us. We will follow.”

Narak closed his eyes for a moment. His sharp teeth showed as he exhaled slowly. He forced himself to calm down, though his anger was still burning. “For now… You will hide. Go find a corner, crawl into the shadows, and stay there. That is all you are good for.”

Sarak and Tarak exchanged looks. They blinked at each other, confused.

“Hide… in a corner?” Sarak repeated softly.

“Yes,” Tarak added, scratching his head. “Hide… like little rats?”

“Yes,” Narak snapped.

Sarak and Tarak looked at each other again. Then, slowly, they both nodded.

“Alright,” Sarak said. “We will hide in a corner.”

“Yes,” Tarak agreed. “We will hide very well.”

Narak’s claws twitched. For a moment, he wanted to strike them both down. How dare they take his words so literally?

How dare they stand there nodding like foolish children? But then he remembered. Their minds were dull. Their intelligence was like that of six-year-old humans.

He clenched his fists and forced himself to breathe. In. Out. In. Out.

Finally, he spoke again, his voice heavy. “No. Not just hide. Listen carefully. Gather the zombies that are still alive. Call them back. Salvage what you can. We cannot waste what remains.”

Sarak’s head lifted slightly. “Ah… so we should call them back?”

“Yes, yes,” Tarak nodded eagerly. “Call them back. Salvage them.”

Narak’s eyes narrowed. “Correct. Do it quickly. Every soldier, every corpse, every piece of flesh that is still useful. Bring them back.”

Sarak and Tarak both nodded hard, their heads bobbing up and down.

“Yes, Lord Narak,” Sarak said.

“Yes, right away,” Tarak added.

Then Sarak tilted his head and asked, “But Lord Narak… where will you go?”

Narak’s face grew calm again, though his anger still burned inside.

“I… will go hunt. If the Cedar Base cannot be taken for now, then we will focus on the smaller bases. There are many scattered villages, weak settlements, and unguarded towns. We will destroy them one by one. We will grow stronger. And then, when the time is right, we will crush Cedar Base and Hope Base together.”

Sarak’s eyes glowed faintly. “So… smaller bases?”

“Yes,” Tarak grinned, showing his sharp teeth. “That will be easy. Easy and fun. We can crush them like bugs.”

Narak stared at the two of them. He saw the foolish excitement in their eyes, and for the first time that night, he allowed himself a small, cruel smile.

“Yes,” he said coldly. “Go and prepare. This time, do not fail me. If you do…” His voice trailed off, but the silence was more terrifying than his words.

Sarak and Tarak shivered.

“We… we will not fail,” Sarak promised.

“We will definitely try our best this time,” Tarak added quickly.

Narak turned his gaze back toward the shining lights of Cedar Base. His claws dug deeper into the stone. The sound of celebration still echoed faintly across the land.

“Celebrate while you can,” Narak whispered to himself. “Hope Base… Cedar Base… Boss Su. Enjoy your victory. Because soon, I will come for you. And when I do… There will be no laughter left.”

………….

Su Jiyai rubbed her temples. The three zombie kings were sitting in front of her, their big gray faces looking more and more like oversized children than rulers of monsters.

One was blinking at her blankly. Another had its mouth half open, drooling a little. The last one looked like it was about to cry, its red eyes wet.

“For the fiftieth time,” Su Jiyai said slowly, pointing to the ground, then pointing outside the walls of Hope Base. “Your troops. Do you know where your troops are?”

The three zombie kings tilted their heads at the same time, just like confused puppies.

“Troops,” Su Jiyai repeated, clapping her hands together and then spreading them apart like a wave. “Your soldiers. Zombies. Where are they?”

The crying one sniffled and scratched its head. Then it shook its head slowly, still not understanding.

Su Jiyai let out a long sigh. “This is hopeless.”

Qin Feng, who was watching from the corner, chuckled softly. “They really look like children. Dumb children.”

“They are zombie kings,” Su Jiyai said, rubbing her forehead. “But their brains… It’s like I’m talking to two-year-olds. Or maybe worse.”

The zombie king on the left suddenly raised its hand, like it wanted to say something. Su Jiyai leaned forward quickly. “Yes? Do you understand? Speak.”

But instead of speaking, the zombie king just pointed at its stomach and made a sound. “Uhh… huuuungry.”

Jake, who was standing beside Qin Feng, almost burst out laughing. “They’re not kings. They’re toddlers.”

Xi Ping crossed his arms. “But they can understand some human words, right? They reacted to hunger.”

Su Jiyai nodded slowly. “Yes. They can understand simple things. Actions. Emotions. But they cannot read. They cannot recognize words. And every time I ask about their army, they just stare at me blankly. It’s useless.”

The zombie king in the middle began to frown and shake its head quickly, like it were scared. For a moment, Su Jiyai thought she was about to cry too.

She let out another deep breath. “Enough. I cannot waste more time. We will pause this interrogation.”

The three zombie kings blinked at her, confused. Then one of them sniffled again like a child being abandoned.

Su Jiyai shook her head and waved her hand. Her body flashed, and in the next second, she teleported into Qin Feng’s room. She sat down on the bed, lying flat on her back, and stared at the ceiling.

“System,” she said softly, “I’m tired. Is there any method… any way at all… that I can communicate with zombies?”

The system’s voice echoed calmly in her head.

[No method exists. From what I can see, understanding zombies will be a great problem for you, Su Jiyai. Their minds are too different from humans. And these kings… their intelligence is too low.]

Su Jiyai bit her lip. “So there’s no way?”

[None at the moment,] the system answered.

She closed her eyes. For a moment, her mind drifted to the half-zombie baby inside Hope Base. The tiny creature had always been strange. She remembered how its eyes seemed to sparkle with some kind of understanding.

“That baby…” she whispered. “It’s half zombie, half human. Maybe… maybe it can understand both. Maybe it could be the key.”

The thought tempted her. But then she shook her head. “No. The baby is too small. It can’t even walk yet. I can’t put all my hopes on it.”

She rolled over and sighed deeply. “Then… the antidote. I still have those seven scrolls. Maybe the answer lies there.”

She sat up, pulling the scrolls from her storage. Her eyes scanned over the old handwriting. She already had a rough idea of what the antidote formula looked like. But as she kept reading, her face grew darker.

“These ingredients…” she muttered. “They don’t even exist here. I’ve never seen them before. Some names don’t even sound like they belong to this world.”

Her fingers traced the strange words. For a moment, regret filled her chest. “If these ingredients don’t exist, then how can I ever make the antidote? Did the creator of this formula… come from another world?”

Taking a deep breath, she spoke again to the system. “System, when is my next dimension hunt?”

[That depends on you, host.] The system replied. [A month is nearly over. You must open it yourself if you want to go.]

Su Jiyai sat quietly for a moment. Then she nodded slowly. “Fine. Then I will go. I will find the ingredients no matter what. Call Qin Feng, Jake, and Xi Ping.”

The three arrived not long after. Qin Feng raised an eyebrow. “What’s going on?”

“I have reached level three,” Su Jiyai explained. “That means I can take three people with me into the hunt. All of you are coming.”

Jake grinned. “Finally. A new adventure.”

Su Jiyai smiled faintly. “Safe or not, we have no choice. We need resources. We need answers. And maybe… we will find the ingredients for the antidote.”

She led them to a secluded corner.