"Hanks, it's been a long time."
Sally Bukelin tugged at the robe concealing her face, keeping her skeletal body covered.
After Dong Lin had transformed her into an undead through blood sacrifice, she had initially retained her exquisite features, looking exactly as she had before becoming undead.
But when Dong Lin went into seclusion to break through to the [Spirit Forging] realm, he reclaimed some of the "eternal life" aura from Sally Bukelin and the others.
Sally Bukelin could no longer maintain her exquisite appearance. Meeting An Kai again like this, she felt utterly wretched.
She was merely a remnant of Undead Town, hunted by humans and other races, while "Hanks" had become the most exalted person in all the Desert Seven Kingdoms.
Nobles? Other races? Royalty?
In Goodness Home, none commanded as much respect as an ordinary resident.
Although An Kai had not passed on the notion of "equality" from his previous life, there was indeed a certain kind of equality in Goodness Home.
Goodness Home looked down "equally" on the weak and the useless.
Oh, right. It also discriminated against every other race.
As it happened, most nobles, royals, and members of other races now fell into the categories of "weak" and "useless" in the eyes of Goodness Home's residents.
So even without her identity as someone from the Town of the Dead, Sally Bukelin's royal status was hardly worth mentioning.
An Kai glanced back at this "old acquaintance," now reduced to a skeleton.
"It's been a long time." His tone was neither cold nor warm, as though he were speaking to a stranger whose name was all he knew.
Widow Wang, however, gave An Kai an odd look. She had clearly heard this undead woman call him "Hanks."
*An Kai really is a bastard. This is just