Ba Jiu followed Ming Yue with great joy, heading to find the little monkey siblings, his heart filled with anticipation.
His sister had said that today they could bring the two back to the villa to live with them.
A faint smile played on Ba Jiu's lips. He had no memories of his past life, nor did he know if he had ever had any playmates when he was alive.
But he had already considered the little monkey his friend, and the thought of having a friend his own age in the future filled him with elation.
Besides the steamed buns in his hand, his backpack also contained snacks and clothes he had carefully chosen the previous night.
All of it was intended as gifts for the little monkey, as the monkey's clothes were already in tatters.
"Little monkey, we're here. Is your sister feeling any better?"
Arriving at the alley entrance, Ming Yue called out to the little monkey, a gesture of respect.
It was like knocking on someone's door when visiting their home, even though the little monkey lived in a simple makeshift shelter.
After calling out twice with no response, Ming Yue felt a sense of unease.
Ba Jiu, however, suddenly sprang into action, darting into the alley like a bolt of lightning.
As a zombie, his sense of smell was exceptionally acute, especially to the scent of blood.
Seeing this, Ming Yue knew something was wrong and followed closely behind Ba Jiu into the alley.
But they stopped about five meters from the shelter. The steamed buns in Ba Jiu's hand instantly dropped to the ground.
The shelter was still there, but the little monkey siblings inside were no longer breathing, lying still within.
They had been killed by having their throats slit, with no signs of struggle. The little monkey's lips still held a smile.
He looked at his sister with a look of contentment, but the young girl's eyes were filled with fear, likely having witnessed her brother's death.
She still clutched a half-eaten apple in her hand. The shelter was filled with blood, which had already flowed outside.
Based on the appearance of their deaths and the coagulation of the blood, Ming Yue judged that they had been killed sometime last night.
Before dying, the young girl had awakened. The little monkey had been watching his sister eat an apple, his face filled with doting affection.
And then, without warning, their throats had been slit. The young girl had witnessed her brother being murdered.
Thus, her eyes were filled with terror. But the executioner had not spared her and had cruelly killed her as well.
"Ah... Ah...!"
Seeing the two cold corpses before him, the half-eaten apple in the pool of blood, Ba Jiu's once clear black and white eyes turned crimson, burning with rage.
Four sharp fangs appeared in his mouth, his complexion turned pale, and he raised his head, letting out an angry roar into the sky!
His voice was filled with anger, sorrow, and helplessness.
"Ba Jiu, calm down, calm down. Don't get agitated. Listen to your sister."
Since evolving into a zombie king, Ba Jiu had never displayed zombie characteristics. However, the death of the little monkey siblings had clearly provoked him.
Seeing Ba Jiu's transformation, Ming Yue quickly embraced him, constantly comforting him.
Ming Yue's embrace gradually calmed Ba Jiu, and he returned to the appearance of a human child.
"Sister, my heart aches so much. Am I sick? Water is flowing from my eyes, and I can't control it."
Ba Jiu buried his small head in Ming Yue's embrace, speaking weakly, feeling liquid flowing from his eyes.
This was something he had never experienced before. He didn't understand why he was behaving this way, feeling a mix of sadness and confusion.
"Don't be afraid. That's tears, the water of life that nurtures human emotions.
People cry when they are happy, and they cry when they are sad. There are tears of excitement, tears of relief, tears of sorrow, and tears of being moved.
Ba Jiu, you've become human. It's because you've not only felt love, but you've also just experienced another human emotion: sadness.
Joy, anger, sorrow, happiness, the seven emotions and six desires – this is what it means to be a complete person."
Concerned about Ba Jiu's condition, Ming Yue used her mental power to examine him while holding and comforting him.
She discovered that Ba Jiu's body now had warmth, and his heart had turned a vibrant red, beating powerfully.
This proved that Ba Jiu was now a flesh-and-blood human, no longer a cold zombie. While Ming Yue grieved for the little monkey siblings, she was also happy for Ba Jiu.
"Ba Jiu, if you really can't bear to part with the little monkey siblings, I have a way.
We can refine them into puppets, and then they can always stay by your side."
The little monkey siblings had played a crucial role in Ba Jiu's transformation.
Fearing Ba Jiu would be too heartbroken, Ming Yue recalled a puppetry technique from her witchcraft knowledge.
It allowed for the refinement of corpses into puppets, but she found the idea somewhat repulsive and had never used it before.
Seeing Ba Jiu's distress, Ming Yue couldn't bear it and made the suggestion.
This way, the little monkey siblings could remain with Ba Jiu forever.
"Sister, I don't want to do that. Because the little monkeys wouldn't like it.
They've suffered too much. I believe they wouldn't want to remain in this world any longer.
They must want to find their parents and be reunited as a family."
Ba Jiu refused Ming Yue's offer. He walked over to the little monkey siblings and straightened their bodies.
He then arranged the gifts he had brought beside them before stepping back.
Tears flowed from his eyes again. He took Ming Yue's hand and turned to leave.
The moment he turned, flames erupted from nowhere, and the makeshift shelter, along with the bodies of the little monkey siblings, began to burn fiercely.
This was the last thing he could do for them, to help them leave this world that had brought them so much suffering.
Having experienced too much life and death, Ming Yue quickly adjusted her mindset, knowing that the deceased were gone and the living had to carry on.
She took the melancholic Ba Jiu to the base's mission hall, intending to see if there were any missions that required leaving the city.
Yesterday, due to He Si's incident, Ji Shiyou had only obtained entry permits for the team, and they hadn't had time to go to the mission hall to accept tasks.
After understanding the situation at Yunmeng Mountain, Ming Yue decided to go there personally.
However, she needed a reason to leave the city. To avoid suspicion, Ming Yue came to the mission hall today, hoping to accept a mission that would take her out of the city soon.
Yuncheng Base had two mission boards. One was for ordinary people without special abilities.
These included construction work within the base and tasks like accompanying ability users to collect supplies.
They would do some hauling work in exchange for crystal cores, but the pay was quite low.
Essentially, no one lingered there. Ordinary people, if they could survive, wouldn't take such missions.
If they were truly desperate, they would take risks and venture out of the city to fight zombies, at least ensuring that any crystal cores they obtained would be their own.
The other mission board was for ability users and ability teams.
It was covered with slips of paper detailing mission information, requirements, and rewards.
Many people were gathered below this board, carefully studying the options based on their needs.
Ming Yue, holding Ba Jiu's hand, observed from the side. She saw people who had made their choices tear off the mission slips and go to the counter to register.
Ming Yue didn't care about the reward amount or the difficulty of the mission; she only looked at the location to see if it was convenient for reaching Yunmeng Mountain.
Therefore, she chose a task to clear mutated plants in a location twenty miles from Yunmeng Mountain.
The slip indicated that a place called Youyue Valley had a large number of mutated plants, some reaching level six, and urgently needed to be cleared.
This was a team mission that could be executed at any time, perfectly fitting Ming Yue's needs.
Ming Yue released Ba Jiu's hand and walked to the mission board, about to tear off the slip to register at the counter.
But as her hand touched the paper, another hand appeared and also reached out, grabbing the other side of the slip.