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The Story So Far:

Mo Ke’s memory was sealed by Ferti’nier shortly after arriving in the new world. Throughout his amnesiac daily life, she secretly aided him (hypnotising the people he came into contact with, and creating a system to guide him) while she hid in the home of Duanmu Bitong. During his stay, he made new friends and formed lasting bonds with schoolmates, neighbours, and really just girls, in general.

As part of Ferti’nier guidance, Mo Ke has begun the work of gathering faith in this new world by aiming to become an idol. His job acting as a movie actor had almost come to a close when tragedy struck…

Important Characters:

Duanmu Bitong, 16 years old: Believes herself to be Mo Ke’s sister figure, thanks to the hypnosis of Ferti’nier. Infatuated with Mo Ke due to the hypnosis, also becoming sickly as a side effect of the psychic influence.

Has been shown to know about the existence of spiritual energy and martial arts. Carries a staff, resembling a child’s magical girl stick, that can fire off spiritual energy techniques.

Duanmu Xinqing, 40 years old: Duanmu Bitong’s mum. Scientist with the Federation. Thanks to Ferti’nier’s hypnosis, she sees Mo Ke as her adopted son.

You Qin Lixiang, 15 years old: A cringey, teenage girl who has very deep seated delusions of grandeur, though they might not be as crazy as they seem. Has no friends as a result. In order to approach her, Mo Ke claimed to be the successor of the Devil King of Pride. Claims to be an origin angel, comes to like Mo Ke.

Refers to Mo Ke as Your Highness.

Has been shown to be versed in the usage of spiritual energy. Eg. remotely controlling and attacking with her doll, Lina.

Lina: A small rag doll made in the likeness of You Qin Lixiang that is able to fire off spiritual energy attacks. Able to operate remotely under Lixiang’s control.

You Yuexiong, 43 years old: You Qinlixiang’s father. A martial artist, with actual supernatural powers. Practises the Martial Sage Arts of the Primordial Energies.

Mo Ke initially doubted the veracity of his claims about having supernatural powers, and how this world was just the lower realm and how an upper realm existed. Later proved wrong in a one-on-one mock battle which was forced on him by Yuexiong and Ferti’nier posing as the ‘system’ in his body. Just like how Mo Ke doubted Yuexiong’s claims, he doubted Mo Ke’s claims of being the Successor of the Devil King of Pride. Barely won the battle with a psychic attack cast with the power temporarily given to him by his ‘system’.

Ends up noticing the innate talent of Mo Ke and passing on the Martial Sage Arts of the Primordial Energies, even before Mo Ke agrees to be his son-in-law.

Refers to Mo Ke as your Highness. By the system’s estimates, he should be at the level of Five-star. Mo Ke’s sealed up state should be at the level of Three-star.

Later agrees, along with his entire family, to aid Mo Ke in gathering up faith.

Qin Youxiang, 40 years old: You Qin Lixiang’s mum. A self-proclaimed ‘magical girl’. Adopts a queenly attitude at home, and is definitely the culprit behind You Qinlixiang’s middle schooler syndrome.

Has been shown to be versed in the usage of spiritual energy. Eg. Spiritual Energy Light Shield – a technique where one creates a shield of light motes to block attacks.

Qiao Jiaojiao, 11 years old: Qiao Yin’s daughter. A little yandere. Because of Ferti’nier’s hypnosis, ends up falling madly in love with Mo Ke. Ends up being engaged to him.

Qiao Yin, 40 years old: Jiaojiao’s mum. Main culprit behind her daughter’s yandereness. Ends up tricking Mo Ke into becoming engaged to her daughter. Loves teasing Mo Ke, and putting him down, but still cares deeply for him, due to Ferti’nier’s hypnosis.

On the Martial Sage Art of the Primordial Energies and spiritual energy:

Spiritual Energy:

An energy that is a constituent of the air itself, like oxygen. It’s used to power various machinery and technologies, but it’s still a wholly natural energy. Even so, this energy cannot be absorbed directly by humans or it would cause harm. A special meditation technique is required to mediate the transfer.

Meditation Tincture is often used by beginner practitioners to help them sense spiritual energy, an important first step to absorbing spiritual energy. (Mo Ke does not require such an aid.)

Martial Arts/Spiritual Energy Affinity:

(C612)
Martial arts and their techniques actually exist in Planet Gaia, just in a semi-confidential state because such techniques require absorbing spiritual energy. However, humans vary greatly in their constitutions, and some have greater spiritual energy affinity than others.

Spiritual energy has an enhancement effect on a person’s body. However, before the enhancement begins, a round of deconstruction has to take place. If one’s affinity for spiritual energy isn’t high enough, they won’t survive such a process, and would slowly wither…

Only one in one hundred thousand possessed the spiritual energy affinity required to cultivate martial arts. Naturally, this has led to the majority of people not knowing about martial arts at all.
In truth, human enhancement experiments draw their inspiration from the study of martial arts. The first few batches of researchers hypothesised that since spiritual energy could be employed by martial artists to strengthen themselves, then everyone should be able to benefit from its effects.

Yet even if they knew that, they couldn’t figure out a way to externally aid a person in converting spiritual energy to something productive. Only a martial artist could do that for himself. This was one of the main reasons why experiments on human enhancement weren’t able to advance much.

Martial Sage Art of the Primordial Energies:

A closely guarded technique of You Yuexiong, normally passed down to family members only. One of its main techniques is a meditation technique that allows humans to absorb spiritual energies. Has been shown to give supernatural powers and a golden glow when Yuexion uses it.

According to Yuexiong, the technique was created by a martial sage who lived when humans were still creating societies. By activating this martial art, You Yuexiong was able to withstand fireballs from Mo Ke. Having cultivated this martial art for over three decades, he would be able to take on a superhuman in a military-grade mechanised exosuit.

Thanks to this martial art, Mo Ke is now able to absorb spiritual energy naturally and through meditation. His rate of natural absorption is abysmal compared to the rate when he meditates. According to You Yuexiong, his rate of absorption while meditating using this martial art is roughly thirty times that of an ordinary human.

Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

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Soul weapons are weapons that utilise one’s own soul as a weapon spirit. With its ability to constantly grow, the strongest soul weapon was said to be as powerful as a demigod-grade weapon with a complete soul.

However, a soul weapon will never evolve into a demigod-grade weapon, due to the fact that it employs the user’s own soul as a weapon spirit. Naturally, if the user was willing to sacrifice his own life and transmute his own soul into the soul weapon… that would be an entirely different story, though that only existed in the theoretical realm; no one had ever been recorded as having succeeded.

According to legends, these weapons were invented to eventually grow to become a divine-grade weapon, an indirect way of achieving divinity.

But a mortal’s soul has limits -they could hardly withstand the powers residing in a divine-grade weapon. Because of that, the best a soul weapon could ever hope to achieve is something akin to demigod-grade, but not truly that.

Over time, those who engaged in such practises grew lesser and lesser, to the point where even knowledge of its existence was beginning to go extinct…

The pseudo-demigod state was also renamed Legend-grade, meaning it only existed in the legends, a grade between Epic and Demigod.

—–From Legends of the Soul Weapon

We’ve found the source of the infection -the Gene Enhancement Serum.

Roughly a week ago, a company known as Life Unbound Biotech Private Limited started selling this serum en masse. The serum was said to be able to, without side effects, improve one’s body, cure chronic diseases, allow a severely handicapped person to walk again, and even lengthen one’s lifespan.

At least… that was what the adverts touted. It was basically on the same level as human evolution at that point. Something you would regret for life if you passed on this opportunity.

The advertisements promised the moon, but after several tried it out themselves, the people found to their great surprise that the advertisements were actually true.

However, all of that was just a front. The serum was a trap. The company’s true aim was to turn everyone who drank the serum into a zombie.

For the time being, their aim of zombification wasn’t widely known yet. But for a company to so brazenly sell a virus like that, this was most likely only the start of a grand conspiracy.

Even though communications with the outside world were shut off, as long as we stayed within a certain range of each other, we could still remotely send messages to each other via our AI assistants.

Now that I had slain the blonde zombie, this suite was no longer fit for living. At the very least, I would be the first to admit that I wasn’t brave enough to live in a room with a corpse.

Yet the moment we were about to leave, my system suddenly beeped.

“Ding! Host has been detected entering a large instance. System will now enter into emergency update mode… Update complete: commencing insertion of programme… 1%… 30%… 100%… Insertion complete… Magical Girl Harem Grooming System 2.0: Harem Combat Mode, activate…”

The system has updated? Still with that insertion nonsense too… I just can’t get used to that!

“Hold on, my system just updated…” I took a seat again, ignoring that corpse nearby, and opened up the system menu.

System, what are the changes in this update?

“Magical Girl Harem Grooming System 2.0: Harem Combat Mode has upgraded its harem grooming systems, as well as its internal marketplace. Because our valued host is currently on a planet not suited for mana, Mana Increase Cards have been changed to Spiritual Energy (SP) Increase Cards. The Marketplace has undergone the greatest changes with all of its skill cards being usable on targets other than our valued host. However, to do that, the skill card has to be expended along with the necessary points to match the card’s value.

Wait so the SP Increase Cards can be used on others now?

“Yes. Points do not have to be expended when using these cards as well.”

Can’t I just transfer my points into SP directly for them, just like I do when I’m cultivating?

“No. They aren’t able to enjoy such privileges like our valued host.”

You say valued, but those SP Increase Cards are just as disgustingly expensive as the Mana Increase Cards. Giving them skill cards alone is pointless too…

After all, out of those three girls, only Lixiang had accumulated significant SP from cultivating the Martial Sage Arts of the Primordial Energies since young. Bitong and Jiao were still ordinary girls.

“Our valued host does not need to worry on that front. Every original resident of this world has SP within them. Only an appropriate skill is required to activate their SP, and soon they will be able to exhibit astonishing battle strength as well.”

Assuming I have the points for it, am I right?

“Yes. There is no such thing as a free meal in this world, not even for our valued host.”

But gathering enough points is hard as is. Missions don’t even pop up that often, so I doubt I can even afford those skills.

“Once again, our valued host need not worry. Thanks to the system update, each time our valued host kills a zombie, he will gain at least one point, and that amount rises as the enemy gets stronger.”

Killing zombies gives me points now?

So I just killed three, doesn’t that mean…

I hurriedly opened up my status menu…

Host: Mo Ke
Race: Human
Gender: Possibly Male
Level: Three
Talents: Apprentice Fire Control
SP: 60
Skills: …
Points: 3

Holy potatoes, the points are actually there!

Up till now, each time I gained points, it would accumulate in my SP instead. Thanks to that, my points had been a big fat zero till now. Because I killed those three zombies, I got three points. Now that I could even buy skill cards for Bitong and the others to learn, our chances of survival in this apocalyptic world had risen significantly!

“The most recent update has given the system greater administrative access and the corresponding ability to aid our valued host more. Furthermore, the harem grooming mechanism has been updated to allow our valued host to sign a pact with his valued harem members. By doing so, such members would give our valued host points whenever they kill a zombie.”

How exactly do I sign this pact of yours?

“A mere signature is required in the Book of Oaths, said book is already in our valued host’s inventory.”

Then do those members I sign a pact with still cost me points when they use up a skill card?

“They do.”

Scammer! You scamming system!

“Please note: the system will not ignore any slander on the part of our valued host, even if he is in a perilous situation. This system will not hesitate to…”

Will not hesitate to switch a host, right? I’ve heard that a million times already… Bah, let’s talk about this so-called aid you can offer me instead.

“Will our valued host have a look inside his inventory, there should be an Update gift pack inside.”

An Update gift pack? Wait where’s the gift pack for 1.0 then? Don’t tell me you scammed me again?

“That’s because this is the Combat Update. In order to increase our valued host’s survival rate, the system has specially approved this gift.”

Hearing that suspiciously straight-laced answer to my question, I was pretty sure that I had been scammed… After all, it’s not like there’s been any cases of a host dying simply because a gift pack wasn’t given!

However, now wasn’t the time to be knocking her about spilt milk. Thus, I dug into my inventory, ignoring the Book of Oaths temporarily to open up the Update gift pack the system so generously gave me.

First off, there were three antidotes inside. Next, three small bottles of recovery potion, three mana recovery potions, each costing 10 points in the Marketplace.

(TL: I think he means SP recovery potions?)

Of note was the ‘Antidote’ potion: it could even cure an infected of the zombie virus, though it only worked before the infected turned into a zombie.

Next, a weapon that looked like a cross between a sword and a blade appeared in my hands. The moment I grabbed it, I could feel it jump to life. A biting coldness and explosive heat, two diametrically opposed forces rushing into my body at the same time…

Strangely enough, the two forces actually balanced each other out in an impossible harmony, swirling about in my body like spiritual energy before quietly returning to the weapon itself…

Icy Inferno (Sealed)
Grade: Epic
Element: Ice, Fire
Special Effect: When attacking an enemy, inflict both fire and ice damage.
Background: This sword was once owned by an up-and-coming demon hunter. Unfortunately, her young age meant that she had not the strength to keep this sword.

Gripping down on the sword, I could feel a pain rip through my heart…

“Ke? What’s the matter? Where did that sword come from?”

“Big brother, you shouldn’t be messing around with magic tricks if you’re not feeling well…”

“Your Highness, is that your personal sword? It’s really beautiful… but in your sealed state, perhaps invoking it might be too much. Please sheath your weapon, we can protect ourselves.”

Clearly, the girls had no idea where this sword came from, but they all seemed to have their own opinions about it.

Right now, my right arm had lowered the sword, while my left was gripping on my chest -definitely a sign that something was wrong.

However, the pain in my heart wasn’t a physical one, thus it faded as quickly as it came.

Naturally, I had no idea what Epic-grade meant, but if it was a sword worth sealing, how bad could it have been?

Perhaps Lixiang was right. Using such a weapon in my current state was asking too much, that was why the system had it sealed.

As for the special effect written on its description, that was worth a shot.

I faced a nearby table and casually sliced at one of its corners. The sword easily sliced through it like butter. However, what was even more amazing was the fact that the sliced off portion had turned into ice while the wound on the table itself was now covered in soot like it had been burned.

Had it not been for the fact that the table was made out of fire-resistant material, I was sure the fire extinguisher system above would have already reacted.

Strong! I unreservedly gave the weapon that rating.

“Uwah! Look at that sword cut!” Curious, Jiaojiao ran her finger across the blade of Icy Inferno. Yet the moment she touched its metallic body, she immediately drew her finger back. “Ouch… it’s so cold… and hot…”

“What are you talking about? It’s just a sword. How can it be cold or hot?” Bitong grabbed the little girl’s finger and gently blew on it. She did not feel any change in its temperature so asked once more, “ You’re sure about that?”

Clearly, she did not believe in the power of Icy Inferno.

Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

LINK HERE

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The first few days were the hardest -we couldn’t tell the infected from the non-infected.

So many could have been saved, but they weren’t. In times of crisis, anyone would tell a lie to survive… Ironically, it wasn’t the zombies that we feared the most, it was the hidden danger of someone around you suddenly turning into one.

—– A journal entry from a survivor in Southern Plains

It didn’t take long for us to realise that the net in Southern Plains had been completely sealed up; we couldn’t send information in or out of the city. Even finding out which areas had been hit by the zombie virus was impossible.

Yet this wasn’t even the worst case scenario yet, as long as the virus was contained to this city. But if the situation had gotten to the point like in the movies where the entire Gaia was infected… well, let’s hope there are some friendly aliens nearby to help us…

In actuality, such aliens did exist. There was no grand conspiracy to hide their existence or some explosive first contact, they were simply immigrants from Gaia itself. But to the people on the planet, it just felt odd to call them anything other than aliens…

Now that I had confirmed I wasn’t going to turn into a zombie anytime soon, everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief, though the apprehension did not lessen.

Even Qiao Jiaojiao, young as she was (11 years old), had seen a zombie flick, so she knew full well the dangers of our current situation.

Furthermore, the mysterious sealing off of this city added to our worries of an apocalyptic future.

At this point, no one would think ill of a person for crying in a lone cubicle.

“I still think we should have a look outside, and if possible, find out the reason for this virus.” As the most mature one here, Bitong took the lead in voicing her daring plan and the logic behind it. “That service lady definitely turned into a zombie, but we are unaffected so far. That means this virus isn’t spreading through the air. Our food should be the same as those service staff as well. Based on this, we can come to this initial conclusion. The food and water here aren’t the cause of the virus, probably…”

“There should be chaos outside right now.” I thought for a second. “How about… I be the one to go out and check instead?”

For the most part, there weren’t many people in the area we lived in. It wasn’t tourist season, and the inn we booked was pricey to begin with. Barring that unfortunate couple, the majority of the guests stayed elsewhere.

As for why this particular suite was so expensive, that’s because it had its own hot spring. The room itself was twenty times larger than an ordinary room. In fact, that ill-fated service lady was specially picked out by the inn to serve these suites only.

Back onto more important matters… Now that a zombie outbreak was a done deal, we needed to figure out the situation as soon as possible. Doubly so, because we had no rations on us -as if there was anyone who would go travelling with a tub of apocalypse supplies, am I right?

“Ding dong, ding dong, ding dong!”

Yet just as we were discussing our next plan of action, the doorbell rang.

Wary, I motioned for everyone to stay quiet, then quietly crept up to the door. The door was still in see-through mode, so I could clearly see what was on the other side.

A beautiful blonde lady, dressed in a tight, long, black dress, stood fidgeting uneasily outside our door. Her eyes kept darting about as she hammered the doorbell.

It’s that lady we met just now! Don’t think I don’t recognise you just because you have clothes on!

In all likelihood, she didn’t feel safe in her empty room so she was here seeking shelter. Seeing how pitiful she looked, I decided to be a nice guy and open the door for her.

Yet the moment I opened up my door, she violently coiled away and shrieked, “AHHHH! Don’t bite me!”

“Hey. Watch what you’re saying, I’m still normal. Not a zombie…” I unhappily retorted, then grabbed her hand, and yanked her into the room. “See!”

She immediately tried to fight back, but she quickly came to her senses upon hearing what I said. Deep down, she probably knew I wasn’t a zombie even before I said so. After all, if I had really turned, Bitong and the others would have run screaming out of the room already. Even if they didn’t, she would have heard the commotion in our room.

This wasn’t me bragging or anything… but zombies clearly weren’t smart enough to open electronic doors.

“Phew… scared me for a second there.” She patted her bountiful chest then deliberately expressed her surprise. “You aren’t lying or anything, right? All that business with getting bit and all that.”

“And what exactly would I even gain by doing that? Look, you can just check the wound yourself…”

I raised my left shoulders to allow her to inspect the area, only to find that even the scars were gone now.

Also, why did I even wear short sleeves? I could have just avoided this whole ordeal if I had sleeves! And why do I even have to explain myself to her? How stupid can I get?

“What wound?” She unabashedly reached out for my left shoulder and pulled it closer to herself for a look. “Your skin is even better than mine!!

“…” Is now really the time for that? It’s the blasted end of the world!

“Didn’t you just say you weren’t coming over?” Faced with someone who had just spurned me not too long ago, Bitong clearly wasn’t going to waste any niceties on her. Especially not when she just yelled at me.

The lady did not mind, however. She smiled and tried to explain herself, “Sorry about that. My boyfriend just died so I couldn’t control myself back there… I’m really sorry, please forgive me, kay?”

Lady… you said it yourself, your boyfriend just died not too long ago, are you sure you should be making use of his death so soon? And with a smile too!

Regardless, we couldn’t really say much to that reason.

The living room of our suite was quite large, the blonde lady easily found herself a seat after brewing some coffee for herself.

Taking a whiff of the black liquid first, she started introducing herself. “My name is Ellen, I was on a holiday with my boyfriend when that mess happened… Oh right, here’s some of Southern Plains’s local specialty: Gene Enhancement Serum. It’s said to only be for sale in Southern Plains, though its production scale seems quite large. Me and my boyfriend bought a couple of bottles. Tastes great actually, just like a soda, you can have some, if you want.”

Having said that, the blonde lady placed a couple of thumb-sized medicine bottles on the coffee table.

Hearing that it was a local specialty, Qiao Jiaojiao excitedly reached out for the bottle and started fiddling with it. However, Bitong quickly snatched the bottle away from the little girl, ignoring the pout on her lips as she returned the bottle to the coffee table. “When did this product start going on sale?”

“Just a few days ago. Quite a number of people have already bought it.” Ellen smiled at that point. “Are you worried that this is the source of the zombie virus? It’s not, don’t worry. Me and my boyfriend already had it a couple days back. Our bodies feel so much stronger now, even his lower half got stronger too… See, the serum works. Besides, I would have already turned into a zombie if that was the source.”

“Perhaps it’s a delayed effect?” Asked Bitong, still concerned.

“So you’re saying I’ve been infected then? Hmph. Have you ever seen a movie where the infected is still fine after two days?” Ellen raised her tone sharply, annoyed that Bitong seemed to be deliberately putting her in a spot. “I was planning to hand these bottles to some new friends, but since they don’t want it, I’ll just… cough…cough…”

Perhaps it was because she was speaking too quickly, but she suddenly started coughing violently.

Lixiang narrowed her eyes tensely, she promptly instructed Lina to aim at Ellen. “What’s going on with your body?”

She must be worried that Ellen is starting to show symptoms… I guess even she has times when she is normal.

“It’s nothing, just feeling a little under the weather. Chest a little tight; head a little heavy… I’m sure I’ll be fine after a rest.” Ellen took another sip of her coffee. However, the moment the black liquid touched her lips, she spat it out. “Cough, cough… I think I… cough… choked on it…”

“Big brother… is something wrong with sister Ellen?” At this point, even Qiao Jiaojiao was starting to suspect something. She ducked behind me and quietly peeked out from the corner.

Lixiang was already preparing for battle, her brain already cycling through countless battle simulations, all of which… were probably crap….

This wasn’t me being mean or anything, but all she had in her head were thoughts about blowing up planets…

“Lixiang, stand behind me for now.”

“Got it.” Thankfully, even if Lixiang was often off in her fantasy world, she still listened to me without question. Which begs the question: would she strip if I told her to?

I casually picked up a fork used for cake as I quietly awaited how Ellen would change next.

“Cough, cough, cough…” Her coughing grew even more violent, as if she was going to heave out her lungs at any moment.

Finally, after another half a minute of coughing later, Ellen became a zombie. She couldn’t escape that horrid fate in the end.

Now unbelievably grotesque, she lunged at me, though in her mindless state, she did not even notice the table between the two of us…

Just like that, she tripped on the table, jaw smashing right into the coffee table.

Quick as always, I threw the table fork towards her forehead, piercing it in a flash of metallic light. By the time I was done, only a third of its original length was visible to see.

Zombie Ellen: taken care of!

“Ah… that was so scary…”

Now that the immediate danger was taken care of, Jiaojiao leapt into my arms and cried, bawling out all the tension she had kept stored up within her.

“There, there. Your big brother is here, he will protect you.”

Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

LINK HERE

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Panacea is a translucent, whitish fluid, composed of medical nanomachines that perform reconstructive surgery on wounds.

Under supervision, the product may be used in larger surgeries of this nature.

—-from a quick usage guide on medical nanomachines

A tale of lovebirds torn apart forever, would be how I would politely describe that now twice-dead man and the underwear-clad blonde on the ground. Their night of passion rudely interrupted, the man opened the door to his room to confront the disruption, only to be taught a lesson instead, permanently.

Tragic.

As I looked at the blonde girl sobbing, I tried to think of how to comfort her in her time of loss. But before I could even utter a word, Bitong cut in front of me and said, “You there. How about putting on your clothes first. If you don’t mind then, you could come to our room.”

“N–no… He just said he got bitten, didn’t he? I heard it all… there’s no way I’m going to your room…” The blonde pointed my way and yelled hysterically as if I was the plague.

While those zombies might have scared the living daylights out of her, the living were an entirely different story.

Faced with such strong opposition, I found myself at a loss for words again.

The corpse of that man had proved that those bitten would soon rise to become zombies themselves. It was transmitted orally, and I so happened to have a wound on my shoulder.

Yet if that man was anything to go by, the time it took in my case seemed to be much longer. I was still alive, and the wound had even healed up on its own…

Taken in that light, my case and that man’s were completely different.

“Ke is not just a normal person, he’s a superhuman. Look!” Bitong practically yelled over the girl. “The wound is all gone now, so Ke must be immune to the zombie virus. It’s just a virus, so it cannot affect a high level superhuman like Ke!” She angrily explained then grabbed me and stormed off.

Before the girl could even react, she had already dragged me to our room. At which point she wordlessly dove into my arms and tightly hugged me…

She said nothing throughout, but I could tell from her faint quivering that she was worried for me. Or perhaps even she herself had difficulty fully trusting that explanation she had given. Hugging me was the only way she could drown out the voice of reason in her head.

In nearly every zombie horror film, a person bitten by a zombie would eventually turn into a zombie themselves, unless they were the main character, of course.

But there were no main characters in real life -everyone knew that. But knowing and accepting were two different matters entirely. Sometimes, that little lie was all that was keeping a person sane and alive.

“Sis… maybe we shouldn’t stay so close…” I gently separated us, smiling as best as I could, though my best efforts only yielded a crooked smile.

The thought of turning into that zombie I summarily finished off was just too horrific…

“No… don’t say that…” She immediately hugged me even harder. “If anything were to happen to Ke… what should I even live for…”

I guess my disappearance must have really traumatised her… if something were to really happen to me now, that would really be game over.

“Let go of His Highness! Insolent mortal!”

“What’s happening to big brother?”

Bitong abruptly hugging me after we stepped into the room had garnered the ire of the two girls, though the two of them expressed it differently.

“I…” I tried to explain the situation. But Bitong was even faster…

“That crazed service lady just now had turned into a zombie and killed another guest. Then that guest turned into a zombie as well… Ke was bitten… even before that guest…”

Hearing that, Qiao Jiaojiao was shocked. You Qin Lixiang, on the other hand, merely raised an eyebrow. “And?”

“Aren’t you afraid of Ke suddenly turning into a zombie to bite you?” Bitong acted out a lunge at that point.

However, Lixiang was hardly affected at all. In fact, she seemed almost dismissive of Bitong. “A mere virus thinks it can taint His Highness’s noble blood? Laughable. How foolish can this mortal get? I guess lacking in common sense would be more accurate here.”

Hearing the words ‘common sense’ come out of Lixiang’s mouth, Bitong practically exploded. “You’re the one that is lacking in common sense, blasted middle schooler!”

She’s got a point there, all that talk about noble bloodlines don’t really mash well with science…

As the two started to bicker, Qiao Jiaojiao ran up to me and hugged me from the side. “Well Jiaojiao doesn’t care… she’s staying by big brother’s side! After all, big brother has promised to marry Jiaojiao!”

“Ahh!!” What do you mean marry?! Ke, come clean here, what have you done to Jiao while I wasn’t looking?”

“Why is it my fault? Couldn’t it have been Aunty Qiao and Jiao who ganged up on me instead?”

“Hmm…” She seemed to have remembered how devious these two actually were. Her face softened as she asked, “So what did the two of them do?”

“…” I just realised how I had dug an even deeper hole for myself…

Do I tell her how I unwittingly signed an engagement with Jiaojiao? But if I do that, she will instantly go yandere on me and chop me into pieces before that zombie virus can even harm me….

I frantically winked at Jiaojiao for help, but she actually turned away to avoid my gaze.

I immediately felt a sinister aura radiating at me. It was at that point that I knew I was done for…

“Let go of His Highness, right this instant.” Yet just when I thought I was finished, Lixiang came flying to my aid like an angel from the heavens. “How dare you two be the only ones to hug His Highness?!”

Hearing Lixiang yell like that, Bitong and Jiaojiao shifted their feet a little, uneasy due to the guilt they felt towards her. However, when they heard the latter half, they immediately rolled their eyes -a blackhole. There’s a blackhole where this girl’s brain should be.

After all that arguing, Lixiang still seemed to be oblivious as to what the two of them were arguing about… a blackhole was what she had for a mind: you can see it, but did you really?

It was at that moment that I felt a strange energy wash over me. My eyes blackened for an instant and my legs nearly gave way.

“Ke… What happened to you, Ke?”

“Big brother, are you okay?”

“Your Highness?”

“I… I’m fine… I think… I think I need to go out for a second…”

Even though I still had no idea what just happened to me, the fact that I was bitten hadn’t slipped my mind yet. In all likelihood, that was the virus invading my head. If I were to turn into a zombie right now…

No… I need to get out of here quick… before I can harm the girls…

Even the three of them combined wouldn’t be a match for me, that was why I had to leave right now. As for what I would do then -suicide or try to find a cure- that was for me to decide later.

However, the girls clearly had a different idea…

“No! I will be the one to take care of Ke… I won’t let you leave!”

“Your Highness, there’s no need to be so apprehensive. There’s nothing in the lower realms that could possibly be a problem for the successor of the Devil King of Pride.”

“Big brother, don’t go… there’s monsters out there… Jiaojiao is afraid…”

Well. Soon there will be one inside too, if I don’t leave right away.

At that point, none of them would get out of this alive.

Ashen-faced, I pushed aside the two girls then turned around to leave. “Don’t worry, I’m just going out to check out the situation, I’ll be back in an instant.”

Naturally, that was just an excuse. One which I doubt they would accept. Even so, I planned on leaving, even if I had to force my way out…

“Ding! The system has detected an unauthorised undead energy… activating defense mechanisms… energy purged… Host status: healthy…”

Ah… how did I forget about the system in me…

I quickly opened up my status menu and checked to see if there was any kind of sickness or curse in there.

Upon confirming that there was none, I breathed a sigh of relief. Yet just when I was about to have a quick chat with system lady about this undead energy she detected, the three girls anxiously cut in.

“Ke? Ke, what’s wrong?” Seeing me stand there in a daze, Bitong anxiously grabbed my hand and ran her AI assistant over me. It was only after her AI returned a ‘healthy’ reply that she finally calmed down.

“Big brother, don’t scare me like that…”

“Your Highness, was there perhaps some deeper meaning to your brief moment of rumination?”

“It’s nothing.” I turned around and smiled gently at Bitong. “The virus is gone now.”

Following that, I briefly explained that I had a magic-like system in my body. It was that very same system that helped me purge the virus.

Bitong and Jiaojiao were understandably befuddled by that fantasy-esque explanation. Lixiang, however, merely paused for a second before she turned towards me in wonder. “Your Highness actually possesses such a miraculous gift… Your Highness truly is the chosen one!”

“Cough… ahem… Chosen one is going a little far there…”

I immediately turned red at the ears.

“Perhaps that is the true reason why you were sent down to the lower realms.”

Her eyes couldn’t be any clearer at this point. In her head, she had already labelled me with the ‘Saviour of the World’ tag…

Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

LINK HERE

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(TL: Will be adding summaries from individual chapters as necessary. Because the author didn’t write them, they aren’t exactly translated either.)

Today, I made an astonishing discovery about Lixiang’s family: they aren’t just delusional people that have gotten a hereditary version of middle school syndrome. Lixiang’s mum is actually a magical girl (maybe)!

Right after Lixiang’s family promised to help me gather faith, Lixiang fired off some energy shots with her doll, Lina, and her mum actually blocked it by creating a light shield! Her dad just flicked the shots away. Apparently, that technique was called Annihilation Fist, and he was the one who taught her.

But that’s not all! Sister Bitong might be one as well! I had broached the subject of magic with Bitong shortly after that earth-shattering discovery, only to find that not only did she know of martial arts and spiritual energy, but she could summon a spiritual energy light shield with a simple wave of her hand as well! I had just seen this technique today, so I’m dead sure it was the same technique!

Maybe Bitong is not just a childhood friend who tries to get me to wear a skirt all the time? Maybe when night falls, she actually runs around in a skimpy superhero costume, wielding a magical staff of love to vanquish evil.

Turned out she just used a simple magic tool, magic as in street magic.

The spiritual energy light shield was a technique devised by a researcher years ago. She was able to use this technique because of a black wand-like device she kept up her sleeves. This ‘magic tool’, when first created, could only perform simple light tricks you would find in a magic performance, hence the name.

The current wand she was using was known as ‘Alala’s Magic Staff’. An experimental device that wasn’t sold to the public yet. It had the ability to coil around the user’s arm like a snake, and could be used hidden, though its effects were better when taken out.

She briefly demonstrated its capabilities. It was able to cast Spiritual Energy Light Shield, a skill that could block physical attacks; Spiritual Energy Blast, an airgun like attack that could topple a grown man; Spiritual Energy Flash, a flashbang-like attack.

By my estimates, the magnitude of these skills should only be effective against a normal person.

— Mo Ke’s Discoveries (Journal) #612 (chapter number)

My name is Mo Ke, 16 years old. Right now, I’m being pressed against the floor by a zombie… this is my story…

Three days ago, we completed the filming for Devil’s Evolution Catalog Season One.

Everyone was tired, and it was decided we should get some rest first. After all, we weren’t full time actors, and Aunty Qiao had her own plans as well. Thus, we decided on a three day holiday.

After a quick discussion, me, Bitong, Lixiang, and Jiao, decided on the city of Southern Plains for a quick holiday trip. We arrived in the city without incident, and spent the night in our hot spring inn.

Then… the world changed.

Several of the female staff members suddenly started biting the patrons. Any attempts at reasoning failed; their crazed eyes only showed bloodlust within them…

The first time I bumped into one such zombie was just about lunch time. It was the lady serving me lunch that experienced the change suddenly as she came up to my door. A loud crash and the sound of food splattering on the floor caught my attention first, followed by coughing that could be heard even through the door.

I opened my door to find a young serving lady, hand gripping down on her waist like it was injured, and coughing severely.

“What’s the matter, Ke?”

We had booked a suite for ourselves, with three rooms in total. Being near each other, the girls were naturally attracted to the commotion as well. They rushed out of their rooms to have a peek.

“I don’t know… but the service lady seems to be in pain.”

I quickly answered Bitong’s question before rushing forward to support the coughing lady. Yet just when I offered my hand, her coughing stopped abruptly. Instead, she reached for my outstretched arm, and tried to take a bite out of it!

A searing pain shot up my shoulder. I could tell I was injured, and instinctively shoved the culprit aside against the corridor wall.

“What the heck. Why did you bite me? Hey… are you listening? Are you all right?”

The service lady did not respond to my questions at all. Instead, she climbed to her feet and lunged right at me once more.

Not again… do you think I’m Tang San (Journey to the West)?

“RAWR!”

At the same time as she lunged, she roared like a wild beast.

My first thought was to dodge, but my actions meant that she had dove into the guest room behind me…

“AHHHH….”

Jiaojiao yelled in terror. Faced with a seemingly insane older lady, her instincts immediately told her to seek refuge behind Bitong.

“Grrrr!”

With three new targets in front, the service lady swapped targets without any hesitation!

“I’ll… handle this…”

Our resident middle-school syndrome girl took to the front and deployed the miniature doll version of herself in front of them. Even though she was shivering uncontrollably right now, she had no intention of backing down at all.

Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, Lixiang never got the chance to show off her bravery, as I had taken the brief opening to grab hold of the service lady and toss her away!

With a swing of my arm, I dragged her off her feet and threw her out the door. It wasn’t a particularly heavy swing, because I wasn’t trying to harm her in the first place, but for an ordinary human, it was a pretty hefty throw. A normal human being would definitely be feeling the pain for a while. However, this crazed service lady didn’t seem to be normal at all.

She got up once more, barely a second later, and lunged right at me.

Crap. What is this lady even made of?!

I gave her a swift kick then slammed the door behind her. As a precaution, I had the door set to transparent mode so that I could watch her from our room. In this mode, the door also allowed more sounds in.

The service lady banged furiously at our door, in full view of us; clearly not an action a sane person would take.

“Hey! What’s going on out there? What’s with all the ruckus?!” A gruff voice called out through the corridor, instantly grabbing the attention of the service lady. She turned her head expressionlessly towards that direction then slowly dragged herself over.

A moment later…

“I told you to scram! You hear me?”

“Dear, I think there’s something wrong with this person… maybe we should just leave her…” A seductive female voice could be heard saying.

“Don’t worry, I’ll have her gone right this second… Get out of here, otherwise I’ll have you reported… Hey! Are you deaf or something… What the heck… you bit me… AHHHH…”

“No… noooo…”

A short exchange later, there was only silence and the deafening sounds of chewing…

Because of the angle of our vision, I couldn’t see exactly what was happening. But I could tell that the service lady was probably munching on that gruff man. As for the girl, probably scared out of her wits…

Don’t tell me… a zombie outbreak?!

“Ke, what’s going on out there?” Asked Bitong as she comforted a shivering Qiao Jiaojiao.

Anxious on the inside, and actually a little anxious on the outside as well, Lixiang tried her best to put on a confident front as she hugged the doll version of herself. “Fear not, lowly mortals, this one is a primal angel of destruction, this one and His Highness will protect your lowly selves…”

“Now’s not the time for your fantasy trips!” Bitong impatiently cut off Lixiang, one hand still hugging the frightened Qiao Jiaojiao, while her other hand held out her magic staff. “We need to confirm what’s happening outside first.”

“Mhm. I’ll go have a look. You guys stay inside.” At least that was my intention… Just as I took a step forward, I felt a tug on my sleeves.

“Big brother, don’t go…” I turned around to find Qiao Jiaojiao staring up at me with tear-filled eyes, one hand shaking as she grabbed onto Bitong, while the other grabbed onto my sleeves.

Seeing her in such a state, I couldn’t help but pat her gently. “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.”

She finally let go after some reassurances.

“Sis, I’ll leave them in your care.”

“Got it.” Bitong nodded while hugging Qiao Jiaojiao.

“Leave it to me, Your Highness, this one will be sure to take care of these mortals.”

“Lixiang…”

“Yes, Your Highness?”

“Take care of yourself too… and… don’t go overboard…”

With that settled, I turned my attention back to the room door. I reached out, opened it, and was immediately assaulted with an overpowering scent of blood.

I looked around and found, at the right side of our door, that service lady lying atop a man’s body… in a rather compromising position, but the man was definitely dead, seeing as she was biting pieces off his throat.

Engrossed with stuffing herself, the service lady wasn’t aware of my presence at all.

“Save… me…”

It was the female voice from before. I turned to look in her direction, and there she was, a blonde beauty, dressed only in her underwear, and shivering on the floor of her room.

Other than her cries for help, her body seemed to have completely given up on her. The shock of another human being eating another right in front of her was too much for her faint heart, though most people would have been frozen stiff with terror as well.

The scene was basically your typical zombie horror film scene.

I walked up to the service lady, yanked her hair up to reveal her face.

It was bloody and contorted like a demon. She ravenously swiped her claw-like hands at me, clearly enraged that I had disrupted her meal. It was only then that I finally got a good look at her. The skin on her was turning grey… clearly not a color normal humans would have…

“RAWR!”

As she growled at me, bits of chewed up human flesh flew my way, blanketing my face in another wave of awful blood smell. I did not need to think much at this point. Hair still in my hands, I shoved her to the side and slammed her head into the wall, causing it to explode in a gory mess of red and white.

“Wah…blergh”

Eyes glued right at me when that zombie’s head exploded, the scantily-clad girl turned to the side and retched from disgust.

“Ke. What’s happening out there?”

Bitong called out from within the room due to the commotion.

“It’s nothing… but you shouldn’t come out for now. The situation outside is… complicated.” Even though the zombie was well and truly dead, the sight of her mangled corpse certainly wasn’t something I would show to an ordinary person.

Besides, it would be better if she stayed safe in the room, at least till I could get my head around this situation.

However, she came out anyway.

“Hmm? And here I was wondering why you don’t want us coming out… so it’s because of these two naked ladies… but what’s up with that girl lying over there… and what is that red splat… dead?”

Bitong walked out of the room, muttering to herself aloud till she spotted the corpse of the zombie. She blinked a couple of times as if to confirm what she saw. But other than that, she was surprisingly calm about the sight.

“She seems to be a zombie…” I told her my deduction. It was then that I remembered how I was bitten by her on my shoulder.

Yet the moment I turned to look at my shoulder, I found that the wound was already gone. There was only a faint discolouration left to mark where it once was…

“Sis, I just remembered I was bitten just now.” I shakingly smiled as I said that. Every zombie film I had seen so far all agreed on one point: those who were bitten turned into zombies after some time…

“Don’t think too much into it, Ke… maybe this zombie isn’t infectious…”

“AHH!!! He’s alive!”

As if to slap me in the face with that tiny sliver of hope I had just gotten, the vomiting girl suddenly cried out in surprise. Her partner who had his neck bitten off was now climbing to his feet with his neck still hanging by a shred of meat…

No way… how long has it been since he died? A minute? And I’m darn sure he’s dead. At least I haven’t heard of anyone on Gaia being able to survive with more than half of his neck missing!

The moment the new zombie climbed up to his feet, I summarily knocked him off his feet with a swift leg sweep, then grabbed and slammed his head into the wall!

Another one taken care of.

Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

LINK HERE

• Chapter 633: The First Zombie Appears
• Chapter 634: Ah... I Think I'm Poisoned
• Chapter 635: Source of the Infection
• Chapter 636: System Update
• Chapter 637: Book of Oaths
• Chapter 638: End of Days - Southern Plains (1)
• Chapter 639: End of Days - Southern Plains (2)
• Chapter 640: End of Days - Southern Plains (3)
• Chapter 641: End of Days - Southern Plains (4)
• Chapter 642: End of Days - Southern Plains (5)
• Chapter 643: End of Days - Southern Plains (6)
• Chapter 644: End of Days - Southern Plains(7)
• Chapter 645: Zombie Restaurant
• Chapter 646: Deciding on a Path
• Chapter 647: Rescue
• Chapter 648: A Fan... Girl?
• Chapter 649: Underground Shelter
• Chapter 650: Unexpected Trouble
• Chapter 651: That's How it Always Starts in the Movies
• Chapter 652: Calm Amidst the Storm
• Chapter 653: Elevator
• Chapter 654: How a Crackpot Thinks
• Chapter 655: Fire Wall
• Chapter 656: My Dad Is...
• Chapter 657: Game City
• Chapter 658: To Game City
• Chapter 659: This is a Proper Contract
• Chapter 660: Sign the Contract, Magical Girls!
• Chapter 661: Burdened with Responsibilities
• Chapter 662: I'll Drive
• Chapter 663: Finding a Car
• Chapter 664: Violent Opening
• Chapter 665: Aliens?
• Chapter 666: Lixiang...
• Chapter 667: Testing the Anti-theft System
• Chapter 668: Searching for Survivors
• Chapter 669: Northern Waters Bridge
• Chapter 670: Monster Assassin
• Chapter 671: Emergency Mission
• Chapter 672: Making a Move
• Chapter 673: A Frantic Fight Against the Scorpion-tailed Monsters
• Chapter 674: A Mysterious Stranger
• Chapter 675: No One is Spared
• Chapter 676: Ill Tidings
• Chapter 677: Obstruction
• Chapter 678: Run!
• Chapter 679: No Way...
• Chapter 680: An Escape Plan
• Chapter 681: Resting for the Night
• Chapter 682: Bathing and Sleeping, Both Very Serious Questions
• Chapter 683: Going to a Hotel With The Girls
• Chapter 684: Midnight Hauntings
• Chapter 685: Inferno Talisman
• Chapter 686: Way of the Talisman
• Chapter 687: Another Update
• Chapter 688: New Patch
• Chapter 689: Bloodlines
• Chapter 690: Stock Taking
• Chapter 691: Crash Landing
• Chapter 692: Skeletal Coatl
• Chapter 693: Epilogue (1)
• Chapter 694: Epilogue (2)
• Chapter 695: Epilogue (3)
• Chapter 696: Epilogue (4)
• Chapter 697: Epilogue (5)
• Chapter 698: Epilogue (6)
• Chapter 699: Epilogue (7)
• Chapter 700: Epilogue (8)