anwhile, the others, completely unaware of her internal turmoil, readily agreed.
"We’ll cooperate!"
"Yes... anything!"
The only issue... Was space.
The pit was too narrow to house so many people comfortably. But as if anticipating this... The slab above began to open.
Light stread in. Ropes were lowered down, one after another.
"Hold on. You will be pulled up," the voice instructed.
And so... One by one... Hundreds of thousands of forr zombies, now human once again, began their ascent out of the pit.
They were soon led into a separate, vast area that Ivy had specially prepared in advance. an enclosed zone with tall barriers, reinforced gates, and rows of temporary housing units.
Ivy had created it precisely for situations like this.
Even without knowing Isla’s plan, she had anticipated sothing of this scale.
anwhile... Isla was the only one who refused to leave.
She remained inside the trap. Alone.
Her eyes burned with fury as she stood amidst the empty pit, her chest rising and falling with restrained rage.
"I will kill all of you!" she shouted upward, her voice echoing against the walls.
Even when the staff approached cautiously, trying to persuade her... She attacked.
Without hesitation. Her movents were sharp and violent, forcing the staff to retreat.
This only angered them further. And it reached Ivy as well.
Ivy’s expression turned cold when she heard about it.
"...So he refuses to cooperate," she murmured.
Without hesitation, she made her decision. "Leave him there."
Her tone was calm but absolute. "If she wants to stay... then let her stay."
To Ivy, the Zombie king was no longer worth the effort. Yet... There was sothing that bothered her.
A faint, nagging feeling. ’Why does this Zombie King feel... familiar?’
She couldn’t place it.
No matter how much she thought about it, the answer slipped through her mind like mist.
’Have I t her before...?’
She shook her head slightly. It didn’t make sense. And yet... the feeling refused to disappear.
..................
The next day... News arrived.
The Zombie King in the trap... Had died.
"...What?" Ivy’s brows furrowed slightly.
"He... took his own life," one of the staff reported hesitantly.
A brief silence followed. Was it despair? The loss of control?
Or... Was it sothing else entirely? An assassination?
Ivy exhaled slowly. "...I see."
A faint trace of regret passed through her eyes, but it vanished just as quickly.
"She’s gone," she said quietly. "There’s nothing more to be done."
Her focus shifted imdiately. "To the living."
With such a massive number of zombies captured and turned human, her base’s population had increased drastically.
This was an opportunity. A turning point.
At the sa ti, she began observing patterns among those who had been treated with the antidote.
And what she found... was strange.
Almost all of them... Gravitated toward instant noodles.
It was instinctive. Almost subconscious.
’Why instant noodles...?’ Ivy wondered, her fingers tapping lightly against the table.
There was more. Another pattern erged.
A strong preference for vegetables over at. At first, Ivy narrowed her eyes slightly.
’Are they... tired of flesh?’
The thought felt absurd... Yet plausible.
The researchers soon confird it.
After repeated analysis, the conclusion was clear.
"Yes," one of them reported. "All subjects show aversion to at... especially after prolonged exposure to human flesh."
Ivy leaned back slightly. "...Interesting."
Day by day, reports continued to arrive. Each one more promising than the last. The antidote was working.
Not just physically, but psychologically as well. A faint smile appeared on her lips.
’If this continues...’
In two weeks... She would be ready. Ready to release the antidote to the public.
But there was one final issue. The price.
She remained silent for a long ti, weighing her options. Profit... Or people?
In the end... She made her decision.
"...Make it affordable," she said.
As cheap as possible. So that no one would be left behind.
However... She also imposed restrictions. Carefully designed. Controlled. Because even kindness required reasonability.
.............................
A day before
Inside the trap... Or rather... Isla’s mind was filled with resentnt.
’Ivy... she must have discovered ...’
Her thoughts burned with anger. ’That’s why she trapped like that...!’
But before her rage could settle... Her surroundings changed.
Everything went blank. Then... light returned.
Isla blinked. She was no longer in the pit. Instead, she stood in a completely different place.
Her first instinct was fear. ’Did Ivy capture again...?’
But then... She heard it. Not human voices. Zombies who were letting out low growls. Familiar.
Her heart skipped a beat. She slowly turned around and froze. Zombies.
Dozens... no... hundreds of them.
All kneeling. At her feet. Her breathing stopped for a mont.
’What...?’
A wild thought surfaced. ’Did I... go back? Back to the mont I first beca a Zombie King?’
But sothing felt off. The surroundings were different.
Before, it had been an abandoned factory.
This ti... It was a hospital conference hall.
Dim lights flickered above, casting eerie shadows across broken chairs and blood-stained walls.
To confirm... She growled. "Where are we?"
One of the zombies lifted its head and responded with a guttural voice.
"We... are near... a newly rising base..."
Isla’s eyes narrowed. "What base?"
The zombie replied, "Led... by a man... we don’t know more..."
Isla’s heart pounded. ’A man...?’
Excitent surged through her. She quickly moved toward a broken mirror nearby.
Her reflection appeared. And she froze.
This ti... She was not male. She was female.
Her lips slowly curled upward. "...Finally..." she whispered.
A soft, almost trembling laugh escaped her. "Finally..."
Her eyes glead with madness and excitent. "I’ve been reborn... as a female Zombie King..."
Her voice dropped into a whisper. "This ti... I won’t fail."
Then... Another realization struck her.
’What if... this isn’t coincidence? What if... this is my power?’
A terrifying possibility ford. Reincarnation.
Each ti she died... She would return. Again. And again. As a Zombie King.
Her laughter grew louder. The sound echoed through the hall.
And the zombies followed. They laughed with her.
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