Horror Restaurant

Under normal circumstances, after a person turned into a zombie, most of their organs stopped functioning.

Therefore, aside from eating, zombies basically had no other physiological needs.

They did not need sleep or excretion, and their hair and skin stopped growing, gradually falling away, withering, and rotting.

Jiang Zhaosu had been the same at first, but after eating, those conditions improved somewhat.

Especially after eating that fetal Mutated Species, the energy Jiang Zhaosu obtained from flesh and blood after each meal increased greatly, making her appearance nearly indistinguishable from that of an ordinary person.

But growing taller was still something of a fantasy for a zombie.

Jiang Zhaosu opened her eyes in confusion and looked at Qi Xing.

Qi Xing gestured at his chest. "Your head used to only reach here. When I held you these past two days, you felt a little taller."

Huh??

Jiang Zhaosu raised a hand and touched the top of her head.

Qi Xing was very tall; Jiang Zhaosu estimated that he was at least 1.85 meters. As for Jiang Zhaosu herself, even at her tallest, she was only about 1.55 meters. So whenever Qi Xing held her, it was like holding a child—he could easily scoop her up with one arm.

Seeing that Qi Xing did not seem to be teasing her, Jiang Zhaosu got out of bed, ran to the full-length mirror in the bedroom, and beckoned to him. "Awo..."

Come!

Qi Xing walked over as well and stood behind her.

Because Qi Xing only wore dark clothes, he did not look particularly muscular from the outside. He even seemed somewhat thin. Combined with his handsome, refined features, he always gave people the impression that he was frail and easy to bully.

But even so, once Qi Xing stood beside her, his tall, slender frame instantly made the small and skinny Jiang Zhaosu look like a yellow thermos. He could probably lift her right off the ground by her collar.

Looking at herself in the mirror, her limbs as thin as four matchsticks, Jiang Zhaosu could not help feeling a wave of sorrow.

No wonder Qi Xing thought she was fourteen.

So many fourteen-year-olds were taller than her now.

She really looked like a refugee child!

Jiang Zhaosu could not help straightening her chest, trying her best to make herself look taller and stronger.

But even then, she barely reached Qi Xing's chest, not even his shoulders.

Qi Xing pressed a hand on her head and marked a line across his chest. "Remember it. Here. We'll measure again after a while."

Jiang Zhaosu: "..."

She did not want to measure anymore. It was too damaging to a zombie's self-esteem.

Forget it. Concentrated essence was what mattered.

Those oversized idiots would never understand such a hard truth!!!

The blow from measuring her height left Jiang Zhaosu depressed and indignant for quite a while.

She secretly resolved that she would eat properly, replenish her nutrition, and become the world's strongest zombie as soon as possible!

So after Qi Xing went to rest, Jiang Zhaosu, who did not need sleep, quietly slipped out to hunt on her own.

Since that Mutated Species had been around in the evening, Qi Xing had not taken her to search the hotel for supplies.

Qi Xing had said that the Mutated Species Manager was about the same level as him and would take some effort to deal with.

That Mutated Species Manager had not shown any hostility toward them so far, but if they did anything that violated the hotel rules, there was no telling what would happen.

In that case, they might as well treat it like an ordinary stay, rest there for the night, and leave as soon as day broke.

There were plenty of supplies in the city anyway. There was no need to take that risk.

Jiang Zhaosu strongly agreed with Qi Xing's strategy of lying low whenever possible.

She had come out in the middle of the night because she could no longer smell that Mutated Species' Aura.

Zombies generally became active late at night. That Mutated Species had probably gone elsewhere to hunt.

Now that Jiang Zhaosu's strength had grown, she no longer needed to fear ordinary humans or zombies. The other zombies in the hotel were nothing to worry about.

Following the scent of flesh in the air, she actually found her way to the kitchen of the Five-Star Hotel.

When she opened the back kitchen door, Jiang Zhaosu was stunned by the sight before her.

The back kitchen of this Five-Star Hotel was piled full of human limbs and organs!

The kitchen floor was covered in corpses of all shapes and sizes. Only their shells remained; their internal organs had all been scooped out. Their hands and feet had been chopped off and tossed onto cutting boards, while bloody organs and intestines were piled in the sink.

After all she had experienced these days, Jiang Zhaosu had become immune to the disgust brought on by corpses. All that remained was shock.

Was this what a big-city hotel kitchen looked like?

Its hygiene did not seem all that great.

Jiang Zhaosu stepped inside and discovered that the corpses were all still fresh. Some still had blood that had not fully drained away.

She picked up a bloody thigh from the counter and poked it with a finger. Its skin was still remarkably elastic, and the aura it gave off was very similar to the human scent she had smelled that evening.

Perhaps the owner of this thigh had still been alive that evening.

Since they were already dead, Jiang Zhaosu could only silently wish the corpses a safe journey in her heart before digging in with gusto.

Perhaps because she had swallowed Crystal Cores, her appetite had recently become extremely unstable. Sometimes, she could eat food weighing more than three times her body weight in a single meal; at other times, she could go days without eating.

So whenever there was food, Jiang Zhaosu chose to eat as much as possible.

Once she felt full, she ate a Crystal Core.

These damned Crystal Cores worked better than digestive tablets.

After every agonizing wave of burning heat, Jiang Zhaosu's stomach would feel utterly empty. A hunger unlike anything she had ever felt would seize her, and she would bury her head in food again.

She ate like that for nearly the entire night, finishing every corpse in the kitchen.

Only when she smelled the Mutated Species' Aura did the somewhat dazed Jiang Zhaosu suddenly snap awake and immediately run out of the back kitchen.

Worried that the Mutated Species would smell her aura as well, Jiang Zhaosu deliberately summoned two Mutated Giant Rats and left them behind as scapegoats to confuse it.

She herself darted back to the thirteenth floor and rushed straight into Qi Xing's room the moment she entered.

Qi Xing, who had slept through the night, woke up when he heard her enter.

The moment he opened his eyes, he saw a zombie standing stiffly beside his bed, her ghostly pale little face covered in blood. An ordinary person would probably have screamed in terror on the spot.

Fortunately, Qi Xing was no ordinary coward.

There was not the slightest hint of panic on Qi Xing's face. He slowly sat up in bed, his voice still carrying the huskiness of someone freshly awake, and gently asked, "Your mouth is covered in blood. Where did Fortune sneak off to eat by herself last night?"

Jiang Zhaosu hurriedly wiped her mouth guiltily with her hand.

"The kitchen. Full of... corpses."

Jiang Zhaosu froze after speaking.

She realized that she was speaking more fluently than before. She no longer had to laboriously drag out her words just to pronounce them clearly.

But there was no time to celebrate that now. Jiang Zhaosu anxiously told Qi Xing, "Mutated Species... coming... up!"

Just then, the two black dots representing the Mutated Giant Rats had exploded in her mind.

The Mutated Species' Aura in the air was growing stronger and stronger. It was clearly coming upstairs.

Jiang Zhaosu did not know whether the Mutated Giant Rats she had left behind had fooled the Mutated Species.

Had this Mutated Species discovered that she had stolen the corpses from the kitchen and come specifically to settle the score with her?

Qi Xing remained unhurried as he said, "It's fine. Dawn is almost here. As long as I can see the surroundings clearly, I won't need to fear it."

One major reason Qi Xing had been unwilling to confront this Mutated Species head-on the night before was that humans did not have night vision as good as zombies.

Even for him, the darkness made it easy to miss attacks or leave gaps in his defense, making the effort more trouble than it was worth.

But in daylight, those problems would be easily resolved.

Only after hearing Qi Xing say that did Jiang Zhaosu feel a little more at ease.

The Mutated Species did not climb upstairs very quickly. It stopped for several minutes on every floor.

Jiang Zhaosu carefully sniffed the aura below and listened to the sounds downstairs as she told Qi Xing, "Zombies... all... came out. Going downstairs."

Those zombies that had been locked in the guest rooms at night had all been released by that Mutated Species.

Their auras were growing fainter and fainter as they all surged downstairs.

Before long, the Mutated Species Manager arrived outside their door and rang the bell. "Guests... please come downstairs... for breakfast..."

"Okay, we'll head down in a little while."

Qi Xing was discussing how to get down from the thirteenth-floor window with Jiang Zhaosu when he turned and called loudly toward the door.

They were too high above the ground to use vines without expending too much energy, while climbing directly down from the window was far too dangerous.

The Mutated Species Manager ignored his answer. Like a rusty robot that had malfunctioned, it continued mechanically repeating, "Guests... please come downstairs... for breakfast..."

After Qi Xing could not be bothered to respond, the Mutated Species Manager simply broke through the door and entered their bedroom.

"Guests... please come downstairs... for breakfast..."

They looked at the door, which had been violently torn apart by the Mutated Species and badly warped.

Qi Xing: "..."

Jiang Zhaosu: "..."

Was a free breakfast really that important?

Since the Mutated Species had invited them so sincerely, one human and one zombie could only obediently follow it downstairs.

Along the way, Jiang Zhaosu quietly told Qi Xing, "Second floor... has windows."

Qi Xing immediately understood and nodded. "Okay."

The two planned to break through a window and escape the moment they reached the restaurant on the second floor.

But as soon as they arrived at the entrance to the second-floor restaurant, Qi Xing and Jiang Zhaosu were stunned by the horrifying scene before them, just as Jiang Zhaosu had been when she saw the kitchen the night before.

At least a hundred zombies had gathered in the second-floor dining area.

Most of them looked like the fat male zombie that had been wandering the hallway yesterday, their faces rotting but their clothes neatly arranged.

After smelling the scent of human flesh on Qi Xing, all the zombies turned to look at them in unison, red light glowing in their eyes as saliva dripped from their mouths.

At that moment, the Mutated Species Manager ahead of Jiang Zhaosu and Qi Xing also stopped. In a grief-stricken tone, it told the mass of zombies in the restaurant, "Kitchen... had... rats... food... insufficient..."

"But... generous... guests... offered... pet..."

The Mutated Species Manager abruptly turned around and spread both hands toward Qi Xing, as if displaying some precious treasure. Its tone rose with delight as it introduced, "Fresh dish... living human flesh..."

Jiang Zhaosu: "..."

Qi Xing: "Fuck."