Apocalypse: I'm Bound to a Mobile Lottery Shop

Chapter 159: Chapter 159: Pursuing the Truth

The Zombie King held his breath and looked again. The human in the lead was holding a small bell.

He would shake it every so often, its jingle-jangle echoing gratingly through the quiet night.

When the bell was shaken, the zombies began to walk with extreme stiffness, their legs not even bending as they stepped straight forward.

As a zombie himself, he could tell that their gait and the arc of their swinging arms were completely unnatural.

Suddenly, the ringing stopped, and the zombies halted with it, standing blankly in place as if caught by an immobilization technique.

The Zombie King, Owen Warren, was puzzled. ’Are these zombies idiots? Why aren’t they eating that human? They’re just standing there like fools.’

The next moment, the bell began to jingle again. The human holding it started walking forward, and only then did the zombies foolishly trail after him.

The Zombie King finally understood. These dozen or so zombies were being controlled by humans!

A nameless rage flared up inside him. He clenched his fists, overcome with the urge to punch someone. "They’re being controlled."

Lily Hart nodded repeatedly. "Right, that’s what I was thinking! It’s because of that bell."

The Zombie King nodded hesitantly. "It seems so."

"Come on, let’s go take a closer look." Lily Hart grabbed his wrist and started to rush forward, but the Zombie King yanked her back, causing her to nearly fall into his arms.

’What a schemer.’

The Zombie King scanned her from head to toe, asking in disbelief, "You’re going just like that?"

Lily Hart steadied herself on his arm—his body temperature was unusually cold—and replied matter-of-factly, "How else would I go? What’s wrong with this?"

"No," the Zombie King said forcefully. "Go back and change your clothes and shoes."

She had no idea how her appearance—loose hair, soft pajamas, exposed thighs—was enough to make any zombie want to take a bite.

To any zombie, she was an immense temptation, and he would not allow other zombies to see her like this.

Lily Hart looked down at herself. Cute pajamas, cute slippers. Aside from not being suitable for strenuous exercise, they were fine for anything else.

"N—" Before she could finish, her wrist was seized, and he pulled her all the way to the RV.

Fine. She couldn’t break free at all. Resigned, Lily Hart quickly boarded the RV, threw on a jacket, changed into long pants, and put on a pair of sneakers.

Ready to go, Lily Hart got out of the vehicle. The Zombie King was waiting for her outside, his tall frame standing a short distance away.

"Let’s go," Lily Hart said excitedly as she walked up and patted his shoulder. It felt like they were about to do something big.

The Zombie King grunted in acknowledgment, glanced back at her, and gave a relatively satisfied nod.

The two of them once again circled around to the back of the bathhouse, where they could see that the squad of zombies hadn’t gone far.

It was still a single human leading a dozen or so zombies, using the bell to control their movements.

"Just charge in?" Lily Hart asked.

"Mhm," the Zombie King grunted.

He took the lead, striding ahead and gesturing for Lily Hart to follow. Strangely, it gave her a sense of security.

Lily Hart followed. At five feet seven, she still seemed almost petite standing behind Owen Warren. From the front, you couldn’t see her at all.

Moving with extreme speed and making very little noise, the two caught up to the zombie squad.

"Where on earth are they going?" Lily Hart muttered to herself. She didn’t expect the Zombie King to hear and answer, "I don’t know."

They followed them all the way into the city, using the buildings to hide themselves.

They watched as the squad of zombies, led by the human, wound their way into a massive building that covered a large area.

The two of them pressed themselves against the building’s outer wall, peeking inside. If it were up to the Zombie King, he’d say there was no need for all this trouble; they could just stroll right in.

’All my brethren are in there, and not a single one is a higher tier than me. Is there really a need to be so sneaky?’

The Zombie King didn’t get it, but he still stuck by her side, mimicking her as he peeked inside.

He hadn’t realized until he looked, but the sight gave him a shock. The first-floor lobby of the building was packed densely with zombies.

In the age of civilization, this building had probably been a bustling office tower, but now it was nothing more than a ruin.

Countless mutated plants had burst from the ground, shattering the building’s glass and walls. From the outside, it was riddled with holes, all sprouting with lush green vegetation.

For instance, behind Lily Hart was a small hole from which a tortoisevine had grown, its creepers covering that section of the wall.

Its round leaves, stirred by the wind, resembled a green ocean. Lily Hart reached out to touch it.

The tortoisevine obediently responded to her, extending a slender tendril to wrap around her finger and dropping a leaf into her palm.

Lily Hart didn’t understand why, but she carefully placed the leaf in her pocket and gave the tortoisevine’s tendril one last pat.

Only after watching their interaction did the Zombie King finally speak. "Go in?"

"Huh? Just go in like this?" Lily Hart looked at him skeptically, but her courage failed her. "Let’s observe a bit longer and see what they’re up to."

’What if they’re the good guys, planning to gather all these zombies here to wipe them out in one go?’

So they continued to watch from the outside. With the tortoisevine providing cover, the two of them seemed to blend into the wall, remaining completely silent and undiscovered.

Inside the building’s first-floor lobby, a few humans were gathered in a corner, eating fire-roasted mutated rabbit meat and shooting the breeze.

"Sigh, stuck with this bunch of stinking zombies all day. I feel like I’m starting to stink myself," said a plain-looking but burly man who was gnawing on a rabbit leg bigger than his own face. He wore an expression of disgust.

"You’re telling me! If it weren’t for this bell, the zombies would’ve chewed us to bits long ago!"

"Hey, where do you guys think this bell came from anyway? It can actually control zombies!?"

"You new here? Ask fewer questions you’re not supposed to ask. Just do your job. Otherwise, I can’t guarantee you’ll see tomorrow’s sun," the burly man stated bluntly.

"Yes, yes," the man replied, stealing a cautious glance at the burly man, not daring to say another word.

The group sat around and finished off the entire mutated rabbit. One by one, more humans arrived leading zombies into the building, and the group grew from a few people to several dozen.

The burly man stood up, his pecs bouncing. He crossed his arms over his chest, scanned the room, and announced, "Time to move out."

Lily Hart’s eyes went wide. ’Move out for what?’

The bright moonlight streamed in through the holes in the building, falling upon the dazed faces of the zombies. The bells were shaken, and the zombies began to move in unison.

They moved their right legs with their right arms and left legs with their left, their gaits completely unnatural. It was as if they had been programmed, only able to follow a predetermined sequence of steps.

Then, the huge zombie contingent followed the several dozen humans out the back entrance of the building.

Lily Hart’s gaze swept over them. There were thousands of zombies, every one of them with a vacant expression, clearly under control. ’What on earth do they want to do by controlling all these zombies?’

"Come on, let’s follow them," Lily Hart called to the Zombie King.

The Zombie King was a little perplexed. ’What is this woman trying to do? Is she trying to save the humans or the zombies?’ He followed her impatiently.

The thousands of zombies moved at a remarkably slow pace, occasionally even stepping on each other’s feet. Half of the dozens of humans were at the front of the group, and the other half guarded the rear.