Chapter 344: The Child in the Zombie Dungeon
Chapter 344: Chapter 344: The Child in the Zombie Dungeon
Faye Yardley had actually been fighting while retreating the entire time.
Although a single zombie animal was no match for her, she wasn’t arrogant enough to stand in one place and wait for wave after wave of them to swarm her.
On top of that, the zombie spiders could even spit silk, and what was worse, the silk was laced with venom.
The spiders always appeared in swarms, which was incredibly annoying.
Fortunately, their attacks could also harm the other zombie animals, so while they caused Faye Yardley trouble, they also hindered the attacks of other creatures.
The fight was relentless, and she did her best not to stay in one spot for too long.
Stopping for even a moment could get her entangled and immobilized.
Still, the points from zombie animals were easy to earn. A small zombie spider was worth 2 points, so after breaking through the horde, Faye Yardley turned around and fought her way back through them again.
After clearing them out and back, Faye Yardley wasn’t entirely unscathed.
So, after fighting her way through the horde and back, Faye Yardley found an opportunity to summon Bella, mount up, and flee.
Very few could catch up to them from behind.
With Bella’s speed and Light Wound’s sharpness, the stragglers were basically free points delivered right to her.
Faye Yardley finished off the last zombie cat that had caught up, and Bella carried her to a stop amidst some ruins.
She swallowed a styptic pill, wrapped her open wounds with a Bandage, and then drank a Blood Replenishing Potion.
After that, she took a stamina and an Energy Potion to restore herself to peak condition.
’This place isn’t too far from the street I was just on,’ she thought. ’And the map for this Dungeon is clearly much larger than any I’ve entered before.’
’Bella can actually run at full speed here.’
’Before, it was always fixed locations like shopping malls or schools.’
’This time I thought it would be confined to that one street, but I can actually leave it.’
’How strange. This place seems to have become the domain of zombie animals. All the human zombies I’ve seen are motionless, and some are just dry bones.’
’This is the first time I’ve ever encountered a situation like this.’
’But it doesn’t matter. The zombie animals still give points. I’ll just eat something, rest up, and then go kill my way back.’
’Once you’re in a Dungeon, you have to complete the mission no matter what. Quitting isn’t an option.’
Just as she took out some water to quickly wash her hands and was about to eat a rice ball, a small head popped up from behind the ruins.
"Who’s there?!"
Hearing her question, the small head immediately ducked back down.
Faye Yardley was confident she hadn’t misheard, so after patting Bella’s head, she walked directly toward the back of the ruins.
If the front of the ruins was a chaotic mess, the area behind had clearly been cleaned up and organized by someone. While not exactly spotless, it definitely wasn’t dirty or messy.
"Come on out."
Faye Yardley didn’t know if the person here could understand her, but then she remembered she could communicate with Yvonne Lynch without any barriers, so others should be fine too.
’It seems the system secretly patched itself to allow anyone with a system to communicate barrier-free with the Otherkin,’ she mused.
Taking out another rice ball, Faye Yardley said, "I have food here. Are you sure you don’t want any?"
As she spoke, she placed the rice ball, cushioned by a napkin, on a relatively flat piece of a broken wall.
Faye Yardley took two steps back and waited. Sure enough, a small head popped up again. It glanced at her timidly before its gaze became completely fixated on the rice ball.
’That little kid should still count as a person, right?’
Seeing how the small head was clearly very different from a normal human’s, Faye Yardley didn’t know how to feel.
’A zombie wouldn’t be interested in normal human food, would it?’
’Unless he’s already turned and become part of the Zombie Clan. But if so, his transformation is incomplete. His head is all pitted and scarred, not to mention covered in tumors of various sizes.’
’His eyes have become tiny dots, his nose is just a pair of holes, and his mouth is crooked. Not a single feature is normal.’
"Can you speak? That rice ball is for you. If you want it, come and get it."
Faye Yardley held Light Wound behind her back and took another two steps away.
The child snatched the rice ball with incredible speed, grabbing it with a SWOOSH and retreating with another. The whole thing took less than three seconds, but Faye Yardley still got a clear look.
Aside from his unsightly head, the rest of him was normal.
Moreover, his exposed hands and feet were very clean, and his clothes were in good condition.
The sound of munching could be heard. Soon, the small head reappeared. The child’s body remained hidden behind a large stone as he curiously sized up Faye Yardley.
After a long moment, he spoke, very unpracticed. "You... who? Good. Yummy. Want..."
His voice was surprisingly clear and pleasant.
’Good, he can communicate,’ Faye Yardley thought, a smile involuntarily appearing on her face. "Hello there. You can call me Miss Yardley. How about this? I’ll give you another rice ball if you tell me your name, okay?"
The little head nodded frantically.
’It’s so yummy! He’d never eaten anything so delicious before. This was way better than the meat from those zombie animals.’
Faye Yardley took a few steps forward, placed another rice ball in the same spot, and then retreated again.
The child quickly snatched the rice ball again, but this time he didn’t eat it. Instead, he looked at Faye Yardley and said, "Baby."
"Your name is Baby?"
The child nodded.
Faye Yardley figured that was probably what the adults who took care of him called him since he was a child. It seemed all adults liked to call children "Baby."
But there was no need to get hung up on it. Faye Yardley asked directly, "Where are the people who take care of you?"
Baby shook his head. "Not... come."
Baby looked to be about three or four years old, but Faye Yardley asked anyway, "Baby, do you know how old you are?"
He looked down, muttering "one, two, three, four... one, two, three, four..." over and over. Finally, he looked up and said confidently, "Six years old."
Faye Yardley was highly skeptical of this answer, but she played along. "Oh, so Baby is already six! Why aren’t you eating the rice ball? Are you full?"
She saw him shake his head again, and then heard him say, "Saving it... for Mama to eat."
"Is this your home?"
"N-no."
This completely baffled Faye Yardley. ’They brought a small child out, left him here, and went to find food themselves? Aren’t they afraid he’d be attacked by zombie animals?’
’How could a parent in a zombie-infested world be so reckless?’
Although Faye Yardley felt that Baby was incredibly fast and that most zombie animals probably couldn’t catch him if he tried to run, if he did run off, would his parents be able to find him?
’Could there be a tracking device involved?’
But then again, this was a world that had a System, and she could even enter Dungeons. In such a magical world, a tracking device wouldn’t be strange at all.
In an instant, she had convinced herself.
"If you’re still hungry, go ahead and eat the rice ball in your hand. I’ll give you two more and a bottle of water. You can take them and hide them."
Baby looked at her, a little confused. ’Food was precious, especially food this delicious. Was she really giving him so much?’