CHAPTER 188: CHAPTER 184: BLAST OFF (4)

Blaze walked out of the room, but he wasn’t alone. Behind him, a woman with hip-length white hair appeared, holding a strange black and crimson spear.

Much like Marrow, she too had simmering lines all over her body, only hers were red instead of golden. Rotten blood had solidified around her legs, covering her crotch. The rest of her body remained pale and petite.

She was Crimena, an undead created by Blaze with Lian serving as the base. Blaze had also used the remains of low-grade aliens to enhance her stats.

"It’s a shame they killed that thrift store Tony Stark," Blaze grumbled. "Those two would have served as excellent undead material."

Even without them, one could say Crimena was truly the strongest being on Earth now.

Obviously, not everyone was happy with such a strong creature in the midst. Namely, Marrow, but that was within Blaze’s expectations.

At the same time, the zombies returned with the aliens. Lo Da and others were already scavenging what they could from the crashed ships.

With the knowledge from the remaining aliens, they would build Blaze’s blight zone to be the technologically most advanced place on the planet. Crimena would protect them as they did that.

"Who would have thought the zombies would save the world?" Neha scoffed, shaking her head.

Back when Blaze came back to life, she had assumed he would ruin the planet once again. However, after seeing him fight the aliens, she realized one thing.

Blaze might see the humans as trash incapable of living an independent life, but he would do anything to protect Earth.

Perhaps... he wasn’t the one who killed Professor Alaric in the past.

It gave her plenty to think about. Including the fact that she had killed Blaze for nothing.

However, there was one more thing she was worried about.

Their truce.

Now that the collective had retreated, their truce was over. Which meant Blaze could kill her now, after all, it was the only possibility. He was so far out of reach that it would take another regression for her to try and catch up to him.

The same thought crossed Blaze’s mind as he turned towards her. Neha sighed, then threw her hands in the air. There was no point in fighting; if he wanted to kill her, he could do it.

However, she did want to make one last-ditch effort.

"Do whatever you want with me," she said. "But can you let them live, even if it’s as slaves?"

Blaze turned to look at the humans. Just like the zombies, they too were bruised and battered. While they didn’t exactly do much, they fought alongside.

For the future, it would be wise to leave some of them intact.

If he wanted to turn his blight zone into an advanced kingdom of sorts, Blaze would need manpower.

While zombies are strong, they can’t reproduce naturally. In time, they would perish. That’s where humans came in. As long as they reproduced, there would be no shortage of zombies.

So what if their mortality rate skyrocketed? Blaze would give 20 years to live on average, at least for the men. The men would reproduce with females and bear plenty of children before being turned.

However, the women would be left untouched as long as they could give birth. After that, they too would meet the same fate as their male counterparts.

But to do all that, Blaze needed there to be a human representative. To give the illusion that the humans were respected and were ’equal’ to the zombies.

"Yeah, I’d rather not kill you," Blaze said, waving her off. "I need someone to keep the humans in check, and you seem the right choice for it."

"Are you sure?" Neha asked. "I could betray you at any time—"

As soon as those words left her mouth, a spear and a pair of sharp wings were aimed at her neck. Crimena and Marrow were ready to kill her at any point, they just needed Blaze to say the word.

"Betray me?" Blaze scoffed, touching both of the undead women’s shoulders to calm them down. "I said I wouldn’t kill you. That doesn’t mean they won’t. So... be careful with what you say and where you say it. Is that clear?"

Instead of being hurt, angry, or scared, Neha smiled and nodded.

With that taken care of, Blaze turned his attention to Lo Da and the aliens.

"You all will do the same. I don’t care if you have to mate with humans, just procreate like crazy while you help advance this place. Got it?"

"Of course, my lord. When you return, you won’t recognize this place. It would be unlike anything any human would have ever seen."

Blaze nodded and then turned to look at the misty sky. He could sense Fester getting closer, which meant Anur was about to arrive there.

"Speak of the devil..."

A second later, the mist split apart, and Anur’s ship landed within the lair. Some unfortunate zombies were crushed under the weight of the ship, making Blaze click his tongue.

Fester rushed out of the vessel as soon as the landing pad opened. Anur wasn’t behind.

"You actually did it," she said, looking impressed. "And here I thought I’d have to pick your soul and leave."

"It’s not that easy to get rid of me," Blaze replied, pointing at the massive slurry pit behind. "Not like they didn’t try their best."

Anur’s lips curled into a smile before walking back inside.

"We should leave while we have the chance. The Collective wouldn’t leave you alone for long."

"It’s not like they can track me."

"But they can track me," Anur replied. "I’ve been away from my duties all this while. It’s wise not to take unnecessary risks and leave."

"..."

Blaze nodded, but instead of boarding the ship, he turned around to look at his work of months.

Was he emotional? Hell no.

He wanted to memorize the layout and mistakes he made, so he wouldn’t make the same mistakes the next time he established a lair.

Everything he did was for a reason...

But it would be a lie to say he wasn’t feeling something strange, as it felt like he was leaving a piece of himself behind.

Suddenly, he formed a camera gesture with his hands and clicked his tongue as if taking a picture before walking into the ship with Fester on his shoulder.

"Onwards, to haunt another world."