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  Note : I plan to save several new chapters as buffer and then re-read the story. But I just don't have time for that. And this a new chapter, I don't have time to check it with grammar checker. Please let me know if you find mistakes. I appreciate it.

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The incident that attracted Huang Wen's attention happened about 1 kilometer away from his place, but since it happened in one long straight road without any obstacle, he could see it, although it wasn't clear.

A group of zombies was fighting against one person.

It was so unbelievable that Huang Wen stood there dumbfounded, "Who is that person? A survivor? Is he crazy? No... maybe he was trapped in Fuzhou?"

His eyes kept sending information to his brain, that person, was moving out of Fuzhou, so his last guess most likely was correct. That person was a survivor who tried to flee from Fuzhou.

"Yes, somehow he was trapped in Fuzho and now he is trying to leave Fuzhou, but the zombies chased him.", Huang Wen exclaimed.

"There must be hundred thousand people who was trapped in Fuzhou when the demon lord arrived.", he said to himself, of course he didn't know that Zhang Hu managed to save them all or in this case most of them, since obviously at least one was left behind.

"He is strong...", Huang Wen watched in awe.

"What should I do now?", he was torn between two strong desires.

The first one was to flee as far as possible from Fuzhou before that person reached him and pulled him into his battle. The second one was to help that person, who fought valiantly despite all the zombies around him. Of course most zombies were slow, some higher level were a bit faster but compared to human who invested their stat points on agility, even the fastest among them were just too slow.

Watching another human being, fighting valiantly, something tugged in his heart and he couldn't ignore it anymore.

"Brother !!! Hold on !!! I'm on my way !!!", he shouted at the top of his lung and drew his bastard sword.

When Huang Wen sprinted at his top speed, he could cover 10 meters in less than 6 seconds but it would took a large portion of his stamina, that was why, even as he knew how dangerous the situation was for that person, he could not run at his top speed, but maintained his speed at about 80%. Instead he shouted and yelled to get the zombies attention.

His effort didn't waste. The person he tried to help and the zombies heard him. Now, part of the zombies moved toward Huang Wen and reduced the pressure toward that person. Since he knew someone came to help him, of course that person also tried to shift the fight toward Huang Wen.

As they were getting closer, Huang Wen could see better, that person was a man. He wore complete set of armor and had a mace as weapon. The armor was in tattered after so many times receiving attacks from the zombies. That man wore a masked helmet and Huang Wen couldn't see his face.

'Wow... how many zombies and demons he killed to get a complete set of armor? No wonder he could survive this long against these zombies.', Huang Wen thought to himself.

Actually if Huang Wen paid more attention to items, he would get a complete set of armor by this time. Unfortunately most of the time, he fought against horde of zombies and must focused on surviving rather than collecting item. Also by the time he killed Baihu, he already got a set of armor, but he gave it to the girls instead took all the items for himself.

Few zombies reached his position now, but it only took one stroke with his bastard sword to kill them all. They didn't even slowed him down. Zombies after zombies mowed down.

After ten minutes of fighting, they finally fought back to back.

"Come! This way!", said Huang Wen who had an escape path in mind long before they met.

That person in tattered armor, didn't say anything and obediently followed. Now since they fought side by side, both men realized how strong the other man was.

"Not ... bad... ", said the person as his mace crushed three zombie's heads at once.

"Hmm... you too", said Huang Wen as he ducked from an attack and with one stabbed, made shis kebab out of three zombies.

Of course since they were zombies, that stab alone didn't kill them, but as soon as they packed in a row, Huang Wen pulled out the sword and swung, cleanly lobbed their head at once.

"Hmph...show... off..! Watch ... this...!", said the man with the mace.

He leaped into the air and repeatedly hammering four zombies in one breath, as if playing whack a mole game. That made Huang Wen's eyes wide opened, since the mace was heavy crushing a skull with one swing was normal, but whacking four zombies with that kind of speed took lots of strength.

"Okay... you might be strong.. but look at this..", this time Huang Wen moved in top speed, zigzagging between zombies and every time his sword flashed one zombie was dead.

In few seconds he killed more than six zombies.

"Hmmph...", the man with the mace snorted.

He bent his knee, almost squatted and then using his shoulder he pushed the zombies in front of him, made the zombies stumbled upon each other and once they piled nicely, he lifted his mace high in the air and with one swing he crushed them all.

"Ha ha ha ha...., okay you win.", Huang Wen laughed happily, he didn't know why but this man felt familiar.

The last attack opened the path and without exchanging words they ran as fast as they could through that opened path. Since Huang Wen had high agility and didn't wear any heavy armor, he could easily escaped from the zombies but the other man might have similar level of agility but he wore heavy armors and a bit lagged behind.

"This way", Huang Wen shouted and led the chase toward an alley.

After a while, the man with the mace was few steps behind Huang Wen, with horde of zombies following him.

Huang Wen turned to look at the situation behind them and sighed. The man with the mace seemed sensed the zombies closing the distant, with a roar, he turned around and swung his mace at the same time. Several zombies thrown by the force and fell to the zombie behind.

Meanwhile Huang Wen chanted the fireball skill, he spent half of his spirit points, thanked to his Bloodlust skill that consume spirit point whenever it was automatically activated. But since they ran for a while, the skill already de-activated and Huang Wen decided to use his fireball skill.

"Duck !!!", Huang Wen shouted and the man with the mace slide forward with his head first.

Series of fireballs shot out of Huang Wen's palm, flew over the man's head and exploded as soon as they hit the zombies.

Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!

Series of explosion rang, Huang Wen didn't just shot the zombies, but also the building at each side of the alley. The walls on both side collapsed, dust was every where. Huang Wen grabbed the man's hand and pulled him up. They didn't waste time for words and ran. They kept running even after they were out of Fuzhou.

As they ran, Huang Wen thought about this demon lord in Fuzhou. The one at Chang Sha could extend his influence to several cities at once but the influence of the demon lord in Fuzhou seemed limited on Fuzhou.

He didn't know that the one at Chang Sha entered this realm several days earlier since there was no one who prevented him from entering the realm, while the one in Fuzhou was prevented from entering the realm for several days by the Grand Elder's power. Not only that, after the gate opened, the demon lord must fought a deadly fight against the Grand Elder and much of his power was reduced.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

And there was one more reason why his influence was limited at Fuzhou for now, which Huang Wen will learned from the man with the mace.

They ran for an hour before dropped on their ass on the earth, panting, out of breath.

"Pheww.... that was close. Man, you sure are strong, you broke through those zombies who knows how far, all by yourself.", said Huang Wen.

The man with the mace nodded his head and said, "Thanks... I .. won't be.. able.. to, without ... your... help..."

"Hah... after watch you fight like that, how could I turn a blind eye from that.", Huang Wen replied.

"By the way, my name is Huang Wen, what's yours?", said Huang Wen.

"Huang... Wen.... Huang Wen..?", the man with the mace seemed thoughtful after he heard Huang Wen's name.

The way the man with the mace, repeated his name, as if he remembered something, somehow made Huang Wen's heart beat faster. If he paid more attention, through the gap on the masked helmet, he could see part of the man's face. It felt familiar. He turned his attention at the man's height and body type, it certainly felt familiar.

"Who are you?", Huang Wen asked for the second time, "What's your name?"

The man with the mace still repeated the name, "Huang Wen.... Huang Wen? Hey... its... you... so ... you... live? Survive...?"

"Do you know me?", Huang Wen asked with eyes wide opened.

"Ho... bro... this.. is me...", the man with the mace, took off his helmet and smiled.

"Ding Yun ! Ding Yun! Its you!", Huang Wen grabbed that man's shoulder and shook it.

"Ha... hah... ha... yes.. its me...! Damn... you survive.. too... huh...", Ding Yun grabbed Huang Wen's shoulder back and shook him too.

They laughed and laughed. It was so weird. They were close, but they weren't that close back then but now, it felt like they found their long lost brother. That was why people say, only when you lose something that you could truly appreciate it.

Suddenly tears welled up on Huang Wen's eyes, "Cao Bao... he... he..."

Ding Yun sighed, "Now... that... I... remember you... I... remember him... too..."

Huang Wen patted his shoulder, "Its good to see you bro."

Ding Yun nodded his head, "Good... to see... you.. too...."

Huang Wen stared at Ding Yun for a long time and checked his face, his skin and asked, "But...you... are you a zombie?"

Ding Yun nodded his head, "Yes... I am... so maybe... even ... Cao Bao... he..."

Huang Wen shook his head, "No... I killed him..."

Then Huang Wen told the story how he was forced to kill Cao Bao as Cao Bao tried to bite him, at the first day, the world changed.

Ding Yun watched how Huang Wen regretted it and gently punched his chest, "Hey... not.. your fault... Cao Bao... would... understand."

Huang Wen shrugged his shoulder and smiled bitterly, "Hmm... I guess so... I just wish... you know."

Ding Yun nodded his head.

Huang Wen then asked, "So what happened to you? How you're different from the other zombies?"

Ding Yun welcomed the change of the topic and in broken words he began to tell the story, how he began to claim his consciousness back. After he regained his consciousness he began to hunt other zombies and low level demons. As part of his consciousness returned, even though he was tempted to bite human, he resisted the desires. Some other zombies, couldn't resisted it and they turned into something else, they lose all of their humanity. Ding Yun in the other hand, managed to retain and regain more of his humanity.

It just that, no matter how high his spirit was, it was hard to regain the memories that was lost. Sometimes, his memories was overlapped with other people's memories. It was the memories of humans who he previously consumed.

"When... this... demon lord... came... many ... zombies... lost control... over them..selves... I guess... my level... was quite high... and able to... resist... his power...", Ding Yun ended his story.

"Is there many zombies like you?", Huang Wen asked.

Ding Yun gave it a thought and then answered, "I think... I... noticed... several... others... like ... me. Its just that... their level was... lower... and I ... think... the demon lord... got a ... hold on them..."

"One day, we must kill that demon lord and free other people like you.", said Huang Wen determinedly.

Ding Yun nodded his head and then asked, "How... about you...? Whats... your story?"

Huang Wen began to tell the story, he skipped the part where he killed Cao Bao. He simply said that he survived and leveled up. Then it was the story how he met Zhang Xuan, Chen Yao and Xia Yue. Which led him to meet Zhang Hu and received the mission.

He ended his story by telling their current predicament, "... and that's how I met you back then."

Ding Yun patted Huang Wen's shoulder, "... look... I saw them..."

"Who? Zhang Xuan? The girls? Uncle Zhang Hu?", Huang Wen asked enthusiastically.

"Hmm... all.. of them... this.. man... I think Zhang Hu... he led... every one in Fuzhou... to .. Nanping... I was hiding... and overheard...", said Ding Yun and then he told Huang Wen about Xichan temple.

The day Zhang Hu sent his men along with the fairies to explore the city and gathered all survivors, Ding Yun who felt threatening aura out of the fairies, hid himself well. But as his curiosity grew, he kept his ears and eyes opened. Incidentally, he was near the base when it happened and overheard their plan to leave Fuzhou and headed to Nanping.

Ding Yun also saw from afar, the battle between the demon lord and the weakened Grand Elder.

Now things began to clear for Huang Wen, the reason why this demon lord in Fuzhou seemed weaker than the one at Chang Sha.

Then Ding Yun told him another secret, "He... he was angry... the demon lord..."

"Why?", Huang Wen couldn't help but asked.

Sometimes Ding Yun's new way of speaking, with many pause and broken words irritated him.

"Because... he can't... recruit... servants... humans...to...", Ding Yun tried to explain.

"Ah... I know it now... he need human to be his servant, to become his relay station and extend the area of his zombies control. But since Uncle Zhang Hu moved everyone out of Fuzhou, there is no human in Fuzhou.", Huang Wen slapped his thigh and laughed.

Ding Yun nodded his head and laughed. Suddenly Huang Wen stopped laughing and frowned. He rubbed his chin as he thought. Ding Yun who saw his sudden change watched him attentively.

"Listen... I think I know why there is no demons or zombies, in the area around Fuzhou... the demon lord was weakened after the battle against the Grand Elder. Worse he couldn't find human to be his servant. He recalled everyone and gathered them at Fuzhou, because he is weak right now.", Huang Wen murmured while Ding Yun listened attentively and nodded his head.

"When he find you, a zombie who isn't under his control, he does his best to capture or kill you, since you might leak this information.", said Huang Wen with high spirit.

"Bro...  c'mon, we shouldn't waste time here. We should go to see the other. We should use this time, while he still weak and hid in Fuzhou.", said Huang Wen almost shouting.