Chapter 49 - A Restless Night
The transition to the secret cavern had been a hurried, chaotic affair. Underworld King Tu Su, having been recently driven into the Demon Path, had only managed to salvage a few remnants of his former glory. Among these was a single, ornate coffin intended for the Green-Eyed Zombie, whom he treated with the wary respect due to a primordial ancestor. However, for the remaining four Ba—the high-level zombies who followed in the wake of the green-eyed master—there had been no time to procure such specialized accommodations.
"You will have to make do for now," Tu Su had explained, his voice echoing against the damp, jagged walls of the cave. "My subordinates will venture out under the cover of night to purchase proper coffins. Until then, you must share the communal platform."
In the mortal world, such a "tongpu" was a common sight in lowly inns or military barracks—a long, raised stone slab where travelers slept shoulder-to-shoulder. For the four Ba, who had spent centuries in the lightless depths of the Guantian Garden’s underwater realm without so much as a pillow, the lack of a coffin was not a matter of comfort, but of space. These were not mere corpses; they were towering entities of concentrated Yin energy, their frames broad and their limbs as unyielding as ancient iron.
The daytime hours, which should have been a period of deathly stillness, quickly devolved into a series of minor disasters. The Red-Eyed Zombie, despite his fearsome reputation, was an exceptionally restless sleeper. Unlike his companions, who lay as still as statues, he tossed and turned with a violent, mindless energy.
The two Ancient Cave Zombies, who lacked even a hint of flexibility in their joints, were the primary victims of this nocturnal—or rather, diurnal—turbulence. Four times during the day, the Red-Eyed Zombie’s heavy, sweeping kicks sent them tumbling off the edge of the stone platform.
Because a zombie’s body is entirely rigid, they did not land with the soft thud of flesh, but with the sharp, sickening crack of petrified bone striking solid rock. Each fall was accompanied by a sound like a hammer shattering a dry branch. By the time the sun began to set, the area beneath the platform was littered with small, white fragments that looked suspiciously like splinters of bone.
The Red-Clothed Zombie, possessing a sharper instinct for self-preservation, had claimed the far end of the platform, putting as much distance as possible between herself and the flailing limbs of the Red-Eyed Zombie. She watched the proceedings with a cold, detached gaze, though even she was not entirely unscathed.
As the shadows lengthened and the zombies began to stir, the Red-Eyed Zombie sat up, looking thoroughly refreshed. He began to regale the two battered Ancient Cave Zombies with a vivid account of his dreams.
"It was marvelous," he chirped, his voice raspy but cheerful. "I dreamt I was sitting in a field of sun-dried beans. Every time I bit down, there was this wonderful *crunch, crunch, crunch* sound. It was so realistic, I could almost feel the texture between my teeth!"
The two Ancient Cave Zombies did not respond. They stood in the corner of the cave, their expressions grim and hollow, looking down at their own cracked shins and missing chips of bone.
The Red-Clothed Zombie, meanwhile, felt a strange sensation—or rather, a lack of one. She looked down at her pale, cold feet and froze. Her left foot was missing its smallest toe. She looked at the Red-Eyed Zombie, who was still miming the act of eating beans, and her eyes flared with a murderous crimson light.
A frantic chase ensued through the winding tunnels of the cave, with the Red-Clothed Zombie intent on reclaiming her dignity, if not her digit. It was during this commotion that Underworld King Tu Su arrived to inspect the premises. He had received a troubling report from his skeleton soldiers: several of their scouts had been found "murdered" near the sleeping quarters, their forms reduced to piles of pulverized bone.
Tu Su surveyed the scene. The stone house showed no signs of a struggle or external intrusion. There were no lingering traces of enemy magic or divine light. There were only the piles of bone shards beneath the communal bed.
"It is truly fortunate that the intruder only targeted those lowly skeletons," the Red-Eyed Zombie remarked, pausing his flight to offer a helpful, if oblivious, observation. "To think a thief could sneak so close to our very coffins... how bold! We must double the guard."
The two Ancient Cave Zombies stared at him in a silence so heavy it felt like a physical weight. Tu Su, too, remained quiet, his brow furrowed in deep contemplation. This was his private sanctuary, protected by ancient restrictive seals that should have alerted him to the slightest ripple in the air.
He pondered the mystery for a long time, his gaze drifting from the "shattered remains" on the floor to the satisfied, bean-dreaming expression on the Red-Eyed Zombie’s face. Finally, unable to reconcile the evidence with his logic, he approached the Green-Eyed Zombie to ask a question that had been gnawing at him.
"Ancestor of Zombies," Tu Su began, his voice dropping to a cautious whisper. "I must ask... purely for the sake of hospitality... do your kind... have a habit of gnawing on bones?"
The Green-Eyed Zombie simply stared back, his emerald eyes unblinking, leaving the King of the Underworld to wonder if he had just insulted the progenitor of an entire race.
