Chapter Twenty-Four: The King of the Undead

"This is definitely suspicious!"
Over the course of three days, Mo Fangyuan visited every village in this region. Without exception, each had either weathered away into ruins, vanishing forever, or been corrupted into a zombie settlement.
The ratio was roughly six to one.
Mo Fangyuan discovered two zombie villages, which meant at least twelve human villages had been destroyed by monsters.
Such devastation was not simply the work of mere monsters—it had to be the result of a powerful force of monsters directly involved.
Judging by the nature of the zombie villages, it was almost certain that this force was a zombie faction.
"Twelve villages! Two hundred or so people! Just gone like that!"
A hundred people—such a number was astronomical in this era of small nations and sparse populations.
Mo Fangyuan felt a pang of sorrow. This time, it was not for the loss of mere pawns, but genuine grief for the massacre of his fellow humans.
Yet Mo Fangyuan understood that anger was useless. If anger alone could resolve the threat posed by a force capable of slaughtering over a hundred people, then why would humans need warfare at all? They could simply glare at monsters until they dropped dead.
"Your Majesty, should we continue?"
Witnessing the disappearance of so many human villages, even Zhang San's tone grew noticeably subdued.
"Sigh... We'll search for three more days. If nothing turns up, we'll withdraw."
Mo Fangyuan crossed out the village markers on the map, voicing his resignation.
If there were any other way, who would willingly return empty-handed?
Lin Ye leaned against a tree, seemingly deep in thought.
"Alright, today we'll try our luck in the forest."
Mo Fangyuan reasoned that with so many villages, there had to be at least some survivors. If there were, they would most likely hide somewhere difficult to find.
To the east of the river lay a small grove of birch trees—the only place in the area that could obscure sightlines. Survivors wouldn't foolishly flee to the exposed plains; more likely, they would build a settlement within the birch forest.
"Step! Step! Step!"
The birch woods were not vast, but from a human perspective, they were sizable.
It was autumn; birch leaves fell daily, a ceaseless drizzle that sowed confusion.
Walking through it, Mo Fangyuan and his companions felt as though they had entered a maze, nearly losing their way.
Fortunately, the Kingdom of Blocks possessed a revolutionary compass to guide them.
The compass recipe existed in the kingdom: four iron ingots, one redstone dust, and an apprentice-level mechanic could assemble it at a mechanical bench.
But the kingdom lacked both redstone and mechanics; thus, the compass was a treasured rarity.
Not only that, the kingdom had many item recipes—pistons, redstone repeaters, instant healing potion formulas...
If these could be produced, the kingdom's strength would leap to a new stage. Alas, these epoch-defining tools lacked either the materials or the skilled personnel to craft them.

"This way."
Mo Fangyuan consulted the compass, judging their direction.
A stream branched off from a major river within the grove. Though people in this world relied less on water, they still preferred to build villages near sources. Mo Fangyuan used this principle to search for settlements.
The stream sliced through the birch forest, dividing it east and west. Following its course greatly increased the chances of finding a human village.
A zombie village arose when all its inhabitants were infected.
Mo Fangyuan had found at least twelve villages that had weathered away, meaning survivors had escaped from at least twelve villages. If all hid in the birch forest, their numbers would be considerable.
"Let it be as I hope!"
After half a day’s search, Mo Fangyuan and his group finally found a village at midnight.
It was impossible to find by day, but at night, human settlements glowed with firelight, which attracted monsters.
Their search area had narrowed to the stream. Spotting monsters gathering or light sources at its banks would lead them to a village.
Through the birches in the distance, a faint white glow shimmered. The snarls of zombies and clattering of skeletons echoed from that spot.
"Found it—that’s a human village!"
Mo Fangyuan stared ahead, warning Zhang San and the others.
"One, two, three... seven zombies, five skeleton archers, no spiders or creepers."
Lin Ye, agile and keen-eyed, took on scouting duty.
"We can handle it. You deal with the zombies; I’ll take care of the skeletons."
Among ordinary monsters, skeleton archers were the most troublesome, so Mo Fangyuan volunteered to take them on.
He struck first, teleporting behind two skeleton archers with a fishing rod, felling each with a single axe blow, then punching another skeleton so hard stars danced before its eyes.
Lin Ye and Zhang San moved in as well.
Lin Ye, experienced in combat, struck lethally every time. If the Kingdom of Blocks needed a covert executor, Mo Fangyuan would have created a secret intelligence bureau just to recruit him. As for Zhang San... he preferred to dismember zombies before decapitating them, much like Mo Fangyuan’s own "combat" style.
Soon, all monsters present were dealt with.
"This..."
The block people standing guard atop the village wall were stunned. Had they not seen that the three below were human, they would have fled in terror.
"May we come in?"
Out of courtesy, Mo Fangyuan refrained from leaping over the three-block-high wall of stone, wood, and earth.
That would have been rude and counterproductive for persuading people.
"Ah, yes... please come in! Come in!"

The villager was still in shock, barely thinking as he opened the gate to let Mo Fangyuan and his companions inside.
Within the walls, numerous earthen houses had been built, but judging by the people lying on the ground, these "matchboxes" were insufficient.
"Is your village chief here? We’d like to speak with him."
Surveying the scene, Mo Fangyuan knew he had a chance.
"Yes, of course... Elder Duan! Elder Duan..."
The young man immediately dashed south.
Soon, an old man wearing gold-rimmed glasses hurried over, led by a guard.
"Brave heroes, thank you for slaying the monsters outside. I am the chief of this... this settlement..."
He lowered his right hand in the customary gesture of respect among humans.
"Sir, there’s no need for that. Protecting our kind from monsters is our duty..."
Mo Fangyuan, well-versed in the art of conversation, smoothly recited the proper phrases.
"Ah, yes..."
The elder was clearly impressed by Mo Fangyuan’s "learning."
"By the way, sir, what happened here?"
Mo Fangyuan feigned ignorance and asked.
"Ahem... You may not know, but this isn’t actually a village..."
As Mo Fangyuan expected, the residents had all fled here after their original villages were destroyed.
"Alas!"
Chief Duan looked at his people, leaning against the wall in confusion.
"Brave heroes, we are in dire straits, afraid we can offer little help..."
Chief Duan was deeply ashamed; as a member of the block people, it was disgraceful not to ease his companions’ suffering.
Mo Fangyuan was delighted—this was just what he wanted.
"May I ask, sir, since you are so impoverished, why not seek refuge in another village?"
"Alas!"
At this question, Chief Duan sighed heavily.
"We are the only survivors here. The others... are gone, all infected by the Zombie King!"
He choked up as he spoke.