Chapter 32 - 16: Human Livestock, I Am Legend? (Part 2)

Chapter 32: Chapter 16: Human Livestock, I Am Legend? (Part 2)

A flash of doubt crossed Alex’s eyes. In a zombie apocalypse, survivors often banded together for warmth and safety. An abandoned factory like this was indeed an excellent hiding place for humans.

Just as he was about to step forward and ask about their situation, the factory’s rusted iron door was suddenly pushed open violently from the outside. It slammed against the wall with a loud clang, kicking up a cloud of dust.

A group of figures staggered in, their joints twisted at unnatural angles. Their gait was shambling, and pale bones were exposed beneath their rotting skin. An overwhelming stench of decay and blood hit like a physical wall, enough to make anyone retch!

"Zombies?" Alex frowned slightly, his suspicion growing. If these zombies could break into a human settlement so easily, the survivors here wouldn’t have lasted one day. There was something bizarre about this human gathering!

Alex didn’t act rashly. Tapping his toes lightly, his figure leaped up like a willow catkin onto a steel beam near the roof, giving him a vantage point to observe the situation below.

He watched as the horde of zombies walked straight toward the crowd huddled in the corner. The leading zombie was much larger than its peers, its bright red muscles completely exposed. A low, guttural rasp echoed from its throat, but a moment later, it actually spat out a slurred sentence.

"Time to pay rent. Which one of you is coming with us today?"

’Zombies could speak? Had the zombies in this world evolved intelligence? No wonder the world was on the verge of collapse. Was it because human civilization was about to be wiped out and replaced by a zombie civilization?’ In Alex’s memory, the only world with intelligent zombies should have been the "I Am Legend" universe!

The crowd in the shadows shifted violently. Soon after, a frail figure was pushed out. It was a young girl. Her clothes were nothing but ragged tatters, and her exposed arms were as thin as twigs. Barefoot and with her head bowed, she stumbled forward and fell before the zombies. Her long hair obscured her face, and her shoulders trembled uncontrollably in terror.

The leading zombie took a step forward and poked the girl’s arm with a rotting finger, a look of disgust crossing its face. It looked exactly like a picky customer selecting fresh meat at a wet market.

"So skinny?" It licked its lips in dissatisfaction, leaning in to sniff the girl and blowing its putrid breath directly into her face. "The scent isn’t from farm-raised stock, but didn’t I tell you lot to find one with more meat?"

From the darkness, a withered old man crawled out on his hands and knees. He knelt before the zombies, kowtowing repeatedly. "My lords of the Divine Race, please forgive us. There aren’t many people left in this settlement. If we hand over any more strong workers, I’m afraid none of us will survive the next few days."

"You fragile human, if your meat wasn’t so tough and bitter, you’d be the first one eaten!" The leading zombie raised a foot and kicked the old man to the ground.

Its cloudy white eyes swept greedily over the crowd. Ultimately, it overcame its instinctual bloodlust and let out a few low growls.

The other zombies grabbed the girl by the arms and dragged her outward. The girl’s legs dragged limply across the ground, and her black hair hung down like a corpse’s. She offered absolutely no resistance, seemingly having completely accepted her fate.

These zombies dragged the girl out to an empty clearing outside the factory. Then, they mounted a terrifying, giant beast that looked like a massive bat with a mouth full of fangs, and soared into the sky!

Alex cast a glance at the humans lingering at death’s door in the darkness. If all of humanity had been reduced to this state, perhaps destroying the world and starting over wouldn’t be such a bad thing.

He activated the power of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, transforming into a bolt of lightning. Bounding above the clouds, he trailed the zombie bat from a distance.

Flying along the way, Alex saw numerous human settlements of various sizes scattered below. And surrounding these settlements were massive burrows constructed by the zombies. It was as if humanity had been reduced to livestock raised in captivity...

From the scenes he witnessed, Alex could already roughly guess what exactly had gone wrong with this world. The zombies had evolved intelligence and dubbed themselves the "Divine Race". They had usurped the position humanity once held and were gradually becoming the new masters of the world!

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T/N:

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