Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

"—【Fusion】!" he roared, and the demon-headed broadsword slashed down suddenly towards the girl's shoulder!

Then... it stopped completely.

The girl's fingers pressed against the demon-headed broadsword, like an ant lifting a leaning tower. The air currents generated by her high-speed movement swept around her, and her heavy cloak fluttered behind her.

Alice, of course, couldn't possibly withstand this near-sonic burst of power with just a finger. What blocked the attack was Zheng Zha himself—several puppet-like threads extending from the Ghost Head Blade had silently pierced through the innate true energy membrane that shouldn't have had any flaws, stabbing into Zheng Zha's arms. At the very moment [Fusion] was about to strike, he forcefully withdrew all the force.

The next moment, the flesh on his arms suddenly burst open, his face turned pale, and he vomited a large amount of blood with a "whoosh." His aura also rapidly weakened, and the shockwaves of blood energy and true qi caused by the backlash of power spread throughout his entire body.

"My improved power, the weapons I created, the tactics I researched. And you just take action without any flexibility or thought?" Alice shook her head slightly, a hint of disappointment in her eyes.

"You rely too much on your genetic lock's fighting instincts. However, the reason why humans have honed so many skills and developed countless secret martial arts techniques is to master and then transcend instincts. Simply unleashing your genetic lock and charging in won't work."

"Although my physical lifespan is short, I have spent a long time in this world of memories. It is because of this that I have been able to survive so many calamities and live to this day. In the infinite world, you will sooner or later encounter enemies like me who can perfectly control their own power even without unlocking their genetic potential. And when that time comes... what will you do?"

“Margot… Lloyd.” Zheng Zha was about to say something when his expression suddenly froze. With the sound of flesh being pierced, Alice’s arm pierced through his chest, shattering his heart.

“There’s no need for further nonsense. Let’s redefine the starting point and begin everything from here.” She slowly withdrew her hand, letting the man’s body fall to the ground. “The world of memories doesn’t mean people don’t die. You are different from those chosen ones. Every death here will result in the loss of a part of your memories, but… at least you won’t forget these words.”

"Then, let's unravel this mystery. The end of this world awaits you at the top of the tower."

She watched as Zheng Zha's vision gradually dimmed, his breathing and heartbeat slowly ceasing. Only then did he take to the air and fly into the distance, leaving behind his dead corpse, slowly growing cold within the gradually constructing world of memories.

Section Two: Hatred

It was raining heavily.

A biting wind swept across the sea, and wave after wave of grayish-green spray crashed against the rocks on the shore. Shipwrecks and broken planks were embedded in the sand by the crashing tide. Dark clouds hung low, thunder roared, and a small flame quickly ignited on the damp planks. But the flame was extinguished by the heavy rain, leaving only plumes of acrid smoke.

Startled by the thunder and smoke, some small crabs scrambled out from among the rocks, waving their tiny pincers at the gloomy sky. Dim moonlight pierced through the clouds, and a thin, gray-black mist rose from the ground.

Black fog, a black fog that flowed like a stream along the seashore.

A bloated corpse, emaciated from a shipwreck, swayed and rose to its feet, its translucent, bloated body oozing highly toxic, grayish-black pus. The face, mostly devoured by sea fish, gazed up at the night sky, and a wisp of flame, burning fiercely even in the pouring rain, suddenly flickered in its rotting eye sockets.

And after one came the second, and after the second came the third. Apart from those corpses that were too badly decomposed and whose limbs were missing, one after another, the rotting corpses of shipwrecked people slowly crawled up from the beach and wandered aimlessly along the shore.

This is death, and death will attract more death, causing calamities to come in endless waves.

Phosphorescent flames suddenly ignited on the churning sea, their blue-green sparks drifting wildly in the torrential rain and howling wind. From not far offshore, a gigantic, strange creature seemed to be silently writhing, its movements accompanied by faint sounds like chewing and tearing.

'Crunch, crunch'

'Crunch, crunch'

A pale bolt of lightning suddenly struck, cleaving through the cargo hold of the wrecked ship and igniting several boxes of animal fat that had not yet leaked. Flames spread rapidly, rising abruptly into the sky amidst the heavy rain. The enormous flames coalesced into a raging torrent, appearing from afar like a giant lighthouse guiding ships.

The storm is getting bigger.

......................................................

Zheng Zha shivered violently. He opened his eyes, the biting cold and the torrential rain assaulting his body. He felt weak, his hands and feet were numb, and his stomach was growling with hunger. His upper body clothes were now tattered and torn, easily ripped into a dirty rag after being soaked in water.

My heart was still beating, and my blood was still flowing. But my mind was a complete mess, a jumble of thoughts, and I couldn't even form a coherent sentence.

Just then, I heard the sound of chewing.

'Crunch, crunch'

'Crunch, crunch'

He slowly turned his head, and what came into view made his heart tremble.

There were two corpses, or more accurately, one living corpse and one dead corpse. The living corpse lay on top of the dead corpse, devouring fresh flesh and blood like a scene often seen in zombie movies. The next moment, the living corpse suddenly stopped moving, and its half-head slowly turned, its empty eye sockets glowing with phosphorescent light staring at Zheng Zha, who was just waking up.

There was even a piece of torn flesh hanging from the corner of its mouth.

I'm so hungry!

The living corpse let out a beast-like roar, brandishing its sharp claws as it lunged at Zheng Zha, who was no more than three meters away. But in the next instant, a flash of light appeared, and the corpse split in two, breaking into two pieces of similar size.

"What nonsense is this? Am I back in Resident Evil again?" Zheng Zha wiped his face and slowly stood up, leaning on his ghost-headed broadsword. Even though he was extremely weak now, he was no match for mere zombies.

He shook his head vigorously.

Not far in sight was the sea, with several huge reefs in it. It seemed that a wooden boat had recently struck the reefs and broken apart, running aground on the shore. He saw many zombie-like monsters walking around on the deck of the ship, and through the rain, all he could hear were the sounds of burning and chewing.

Wooden sailing ships—clearly, these are vessels that sailed on the seas in the Middle Ages.

[There should be no living people left there.] Zheng Zha thought to himself.

But there should be food and information about this era there.

He saw a dozen or so 'zombies' staggering towards him, probably attracted by the dying howl or the blood aura of the one he had previously slain. Even though he was physically weak, Zheng Zha, as a seasoned reincarnator, naturally didn't need to slowly sneak in like the protagonists of those horror games where one survives on a deserted island. He simply took a deep breath and then raised the ghost-headed broadsword in his hand.

...About five minutes later.

He found a relatively intact captain's cabin on the stranded ancient sailing ship. There, he also found the deceased captain's treasured wine and dried meat bread. From the dead man's clothing and the English books he discovered, he deduced that his current location was around 1600 AD, in Japan.

Japan, why Japan?

Zheng Zha felt a terrible headache coming on, and many scattered memories flashed before his eyes, only to vanish in an instant.

I am the captain of the Central Continent Reincarnation Team, that's right.

I've actually watched four horror movies: Resident Evil, Alien, Ju-on, and The Mummy. That's right.

But...and then what?

What happened after the end of The Mummy?

Ah… I remember now. Margot Lloyd went to pick up her friend Patchouli Knowledge. And then the two of them stayed in the room all day. And around that time, I was with Lori… well, it's a bit blurry.

My memories became a jumbled mess, churning wildly in my mind like a school of noisy fish. Many blurry images and words flashed before my eyes, yet I couldn't make them out clearly at all.

A voice suddenly resounded from the depths of my mind.

"...You are different from those chosen ones. Every death here will cause you to lose a part of your memory, but...you will not forget these words."

"Then, let's unravel this mystery. The end of this world awaits you at the top of the tower."

Who was it? Who said that?

Zheng Zha covered his head. He felt a strange familiarity with the voice, but he couldn't figure out who it came from.

My head hurts so much, I can't think straight.

“The tower… I need to find that tower. But before I find it, I need to make sure my other companions came with me.” He closed his eyes, trying to work his somewhat rusty brain.

The Supreme God's wristwatch had vanished without a trace, clearly indicating that this was not a normal world. And if that voice was telling the truth, then he should have already faced at least one death.

Death means oblivion, and oblivion signifies crisis. Zheng Zha didn't know if he had come to this place alone, nor did he know who else had come.

[What if Lori also...]

He clenched his fist so tightly that his fingers almost dug a gash into his palm. He had to take several deep breaths to regain his composure.

"First, I need to gather more intelligence."

The ship is damaged, but not all the people on board are necessarily dead. These zombies aren't particularly strong; even by ordinary standards, defeating them wouldn't be difficult if one could overcome their fear. So…

His gaze passed through the swaying porthole, looking towards the forest swaying in the night on the other side of the shore. If anyone on these wrecked ships had managed to escape the zombie attack, they would likely have sought refuge in those forests.

Zheng Zha took a deep breath. After eating something, his strength had recovered considerably. His storage ring contained a change of clothes and a waterproof, acid-proof, and poison-proof cloak, which warmed him considerably after he changed. With a slight push off the ground, he shot out of the porthole like an arrow, covering over a thousand meters in just a few dozen steps and climbing the slightly undulating hill.

A wooden stake standing atop a hill caught his attention.

"What is this?" He stopped steadily in front of the wooden stake, carefully examining the strange object that had appeared before him. It looked like a... cross?

Did ancient Japan also have crosses?

He reached out and touched the dark, blackened surface of the cross, but it wasn't until his fingers touched the wooden surface that his vampire senses told him it wasn't paint at all!

That was blood, so much blood. It was the result of countless layers of blood soaking into the wood, accumulating over countless days to leave bloodstains that seeped into its very core. Yet, the quality of this blood was unexpectedly pure, so pure that it seemed as if it had come from a single person.

Even though Zheng Zha was a vampire specializing in blood, a desire to drink blood involuntarily arose within him. Although he suppressed this desire for a moment, the craving for blood was real. He forcefully turned his head away, shifting his attention from the cross.

[Perhaps it's some kind of monstrous, half-dead monster like those zombies. But... um, did it escape?]

Zheng Zha lowered his head and easily found a mountain path through the weeds. A path meant people, and people meant a village nearby. However, the path was overgrown with weeds, so…

His gaze followed the path downwards, across the stream, and through the rocks. Soon, he found a village in the darkness, a village without a ray of light, protected like a fortress by the river and wooden fences.

The torrential rain of the night had stopped sometime earlier, and the cool moonlight shone down from the sky. Only then did Zheng Zha notice that a thin, gray-black mist had risen in the mountains and forests, gathering together and transforming into a flowing black stream that flowed into the dark village.

The next moment, countless sharp howls erupted from the village!

I'm so hungry!

I'm so hungry!

I'm so hungry!

The sound was shrill, like the wailing of countless vengeful ghosts. No, perhaps only vengeful ghosts remained within. Only evil spirits and cursed monsters. While this sound might frighten away timid ordinary people, it was utterly meaningless to Zheng Zha at this moment.

"I'd like to see what tricks you guys have up your sleeves." Zheng Zha curled his lip, his unfolded cloak gliding down from the hilltop like bat wings. He remained vigilant, his hand gripping the ghost-headed broadsword, ready to unleash [Fusion] or even [Explosion] at any moment. However, he remained completely undisturbed until he landed in the center of the village.

A gentle night breeze blows, and the moonlight shines brightly.

The moment his feet touched the ground, the moonlight revealed to him everything that had happened in the village... or rather, the place that was once a village.

There were no living people left here, only living corpses. Only corpses nailed to crosses for who knows how long, their clothes and hair completely gone. From the village entrance to the central square platform, at least a hundred crosses had been erected, men, women, the elderly, children... they were all firmly nailed to the crosses, none spared, none escaped.

They howled, their pale bodies twisting and struggling on the cross.

They howled, their empty eye sockets glowing with phosphorescence in the moonlight.

"What kind of hatred could drive someone to do something like this... even the old and children... they must have been nailed to the ground alive," Zheng Zha murmured, instinctively tightening his grip on the ghost-headed broadsword.

He raised his knife, ready to give these living corpses, who should have died long ago, a quick death.

But then he noticed a pattern in those howls. No, they weren't howls, but rather rapid cries of agony.

That is--

"すみません! [I'm sorry!]"

"すみません! すみません! すみません! すみません! すみません! すみません! すみません!ん! Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! Sorry!

Zheng Zha suddenly felt a tingling sensation down his spine; something terrifying and illogical gripped his heart. Just then, a large building at the end of the square, resembling a shrine, suddenly opened, and thick black mist surged outwards like a tidal wave.

The black mist even reached his ankles.

Author's Note:

........................