Chapter 4: Senses
Looking at the iron gate nearly four meters tall in front of him, with spiked projections arranged at the top.
Trying to climb over it would certainly take a considerable amount of time.
If zombies were to find him in the process of climbing over, he would be thoroughly cornered with no chance of survival.
[Hurry and relocate]
Cemetery No. 4 occupied a larger area than the other cemeteries,
With its disorderly graves and uneven terrain, there was still some room for maneuvering.
Adjusting the kerosene lamp's flame to the lowest level.
After a short sprint,
Yi Chen, relying on the memory in his mind, arrived at an easily concealed elevated area,
where various types of large tombstones stood. His thin body could just hide behind an arched stone monument.
Ear to the ground,
For now, he heard no unusual sounds, confirming the zombies had not followed for the time being,
He sat curled up, back against the tombstone.
Leaning against the cold tombstone actually made Yi Chen feel somewhat more at ease,
Huff~ Huff~
While catching his breath, he recalled the strange events that had just occurred.
『Who closed the gate?
And it was even locked with an iron chain from the outside... If I had to guess, it's most likely the work of the 'organization' mentioned in the handbook.
Because of the mistakes committed by the original owner of this body [William], the organization would probably send people to monitor the cemetery, to prevent any further errors.
When they discovered I was in Cemetery No. 4, trying to rectify the mistake, they locked the gate through some means.
This would more directly and quickly lead to one of two outcomes.
One, either I survive the crisis and perfectly handle the zombie incident.
Two, or I get killed, and they personally resolve the problem.』
Yi Chen didn't dwell on this issue for too long, quickly moving on to another question - the "warning sound" that had just saved him.
『This sound was almost the same as the 'thank you' voice heard in Cemetery No. 6, could it be...』
Just as Yi Chen was pondering,
Rustle~
A faint sound of soil shifting came,
The mound in front of him began to move, as if something was about to crawl out.
"This... I was just using your tombstone to hide for a moment, I meant no disrespect!"
Yi Chen instinctively thought his impolite behavior had disturbed the grave's occupant.
While explaining,
He slowly stood up and held his hand axe in front of him defensively.
Unexpectedly.
That familiar yet strange voice came again from within the soil:
"Don't stand up, if 'that guy' discovers you now, things will become very troublesome..."
Accompanied by falling soil particles,
A strange mouth emerged from the mound.
The upper and lower rows of pure white, neat teeth were strikingly visible, and excessively dense,
The number of teeth was estimated to be more than twice that of a normal human,
It seemed to have no intention of showing its full appearance, only revealing this mouth.
At this moment,
The white teeth opened about 90 degrees.
The inner walls of the mouth were all black, with no visible tongue structure... It was like a dark abyss, staring at it for a long time would give one the feeling of being drawn in.
Deep in the mouth,
Something was continuously rising.
By the faint light of the kerosene lamp, one could vaguely see the outline of a spherical shape.
Finally,
An eyeball with a black pupil and white sclera came between the teeth, staring straight at Yi Chen.
Perhaps because he had just seen terrifying zombies that defied common sense,
This strange sight of 'teeth and eye' before him did not frighten Yi Chen.
The intuition in his brain was also telling him that the being before him might not be dangerous, and might even be 'relatively friendly'.
"Are you from Cemetery No. 6 earlier?"
After Yi Chen's tentative inquiry,
Deep in the mouth,
Through some unknown means, it again emitted a strange sound that seemed to be a blend of multiple voices:
"That's right, I'm a resident of the pet section... I happened to recently develop [self-awareness], and accidentally knocked over the tombstone while piecing together a body.
I didn't expect a bottom-tier [laborer] like you would voluntarily help repair it.
Moreover,
Even the 'time frame' of your appearance is problematic,
I was very curious about this, so I followed to take a look.
Now I understand... It turns out you got into trouble because you made a mistake, leading to an encounter with the mutant from the [Chaos Burial Area]."
This speech contained many terms with unclear meanings, which Yi Chen could barely understand.
"Do the pet section and chaos burial area refer to Cemeteries No. 6 and 4 respectively?"
"That's correct... The cemetery is like a factory, different burial grounds are like workshops with different functions, periodically producing some valuable things.
Among them, the most problematic are the Desecration Area (2) and the Chaos Burial Area (4).
As for more information, telling you now would be meaningless.
The only thing you need to do now is to eliminate this corpse mutant."
"Will you help?"
Yi Chen threw out the most critical question. If he could get help from a fellow 'cemetery resident', his survival rate would significantly increase.
"I can't provide substantial help.
After all, my position in the cemetery is just a 'pet', I can't possibly deal with such a mutant."
As it spoke, the eyeball in its mouth rolled around.
"However~ In light of you helping repair the tombstone, I'm willing to provide some assistance on the 'sensory' level."
"Sensory?"
Rustle~ The mound of earth loosened further,
An arm covered in black fur suddenly stretched out,
Supported by the arm, the black sphere left the soil, revealing its true form.
Its legs spread in a V-shape, standing 'imposingly' atop the mound.
This stance seemed to be showing off its [physique].
『Ah, this...』
The terrifying image Yi Chen had imagined in his mind instantly shattered, and he also understood why this fellow came from the pet section.
This fluffy black ball of flesh was only about as big as two palms.
Its limbs were about as thick as a cat's, slightly longer,
The paws were divided into three parts, like three fingers, seemingly having an effect similar to paw pads.
After this little fellow finished displaying its body,
It leaped with both legs,
Landing steadily on Yi Chen's shoulder,
And strange things immediately began to happen,
Crackle crackle~
Its slender legs actually disassembled into even finer black blood vessels.
The ends were as sharp as needle tips,
Penetrating through clothes,
Piercing into flesh,
'Installing' its fluffy body onto the shoulder, becoming an external organ.
Besides the blood vessel connections,
It also performed nerve grafting, directly connecting to Yi Chen's brain tissue.
Buzz!
Upon completion of the installation,
Yi Chen felt his [vision] change,
The entire visual frame widened and enlarged, and a small window appeared on the right side, allowing him to see the visual scene provided by the flesh ball's eyeball.
As the flesh ball rotated on his shoulder,
A 360° view of the surrounding cemetery came into view.
Such 'split-screen' vision might be difficult for ordinary people to adapt to... but Yi Chen felt no discomfort at all, instead showing an expression of wild joy.
Most importantly,
When the flesh ball and Yi Chen's eyes jointly focused straight ahead,
The small window would merge with the main field of vision.
The visual scene would become clearer, even the fungal spores floating in the air could be seen distinctly.
This was the so-called [sensory] assistance, becoming Yi Chen's "second eye".
Similarly,
Due to the neural connection,
The small flesh ball could communicate directly with Yi Chen's consciousness, able to give timely danger warnings.
(End of Chapter)