Chapter 246 A Wise Zombie

Immediately after, a voice Su Ze had been anticipating for a long time echoed in his mind.

[Ding! Bond target detected: Shi Yetang (Zombie Royalty · Defector) has become your tenant. The Bond will be activated after an intimate interaction.]

Hearing this, Su Ze took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the excitement surging in his heart.

Stamina attribute, permanently doubled!

It wasn't a temporary buff, nor a Burst with a time limit, but a permanent, complete, and irreversible doubling!

This meant his sustained combat capability would jump directly to a new dimension.

Plus that Pain Adjustment...

Incredible!!

Yet his face remained impassive.

Meanwhile, on the other side.

Shi Yetang stared blankly at the cold system text before her eyes.

[You have become a Dormitory tenant of the landlord 'Su Ze' of Jinghai University, 4th Floor - 404 - Su Ze (Room Owner).]

[Please note, the landlord has complete jurisdiction over you, including One-click Eviction and One-click Execution.]

Those lines of text were like invisible chains, tightly binding her.

She closed her eyes and let out a long breath.

From now on, her life and death were entirely in Su Ze's hands.

An indescribable melancholy spread through her heart.

As a member of the dignified Zombie Royalty, she had finally gained wisdom and freedom with great difficulty, only to become someone else's subordinate in the blink of an eye.

And the subordinate of a human newcomer at that.

If word got out, the other monster groups who knew her would probably die laughing.

But... staying alive was more important than anything.

She accepted her fate.

However, just as she was about to say something—

A strange sensation suddenly came from within her body.

The feeling of being suppressed by the rules was changing.

The power limit that had been restricted to 720 points suddenly began to drop!

720... 700... 600...

It fell all the way to 460 points before finally stopping.

Shi Yetang's whole body shook; she snapped her head up and looked at Su Ze with wide eyes.

460!

This meant—Su Ze's current basic combat power had fallen back to 460!

Those terrifying, suffocating Burst states... were over!!

Shi Yetang's expression instantly became extremely complex.

A strong, uncontrollable regret surged frantically from the depths of her heart.

If... if she had just held on a little longer...

Even if she had just persisted for these few dozen seconds!

With her basic combat power of 720, plus the buffs from her equipment and skills, against a Su Ze with only 460...

Her chances of winning would definitely not have been small!

One could even say it would have been a sure thing!

As soon as this thought surfaced, Shi Yetang felt as if her heart was being sliced bit by bit with a dull knife.

She was so close—really, just that close—to not having to fall into this state of living under someone else's roof!

But this surge of regret only lasted for two or three seconds before being doused by another, colder reality.

No.

Could she really have held on until now?

In her mind, the image of that fist rapidly enlarging reappeared.

That punch.

Without any fancy techniques, without any skill buffs, it was pure, primitive, violent physical force.

One punch.

Just one punch.

She didn't even have time to react before being beaten to the point of almost losing her ability to move.

That kind of crushing power... wasn't something 460 points could achieve, nor 720 points.

It wasn't even something 900 points could do.

At that moment, Su Ze possessed the absolute power to kill her instantly.

If Su Ze hadn't stopped then and had followed up with a second punch...

She wouldn't even have had time to shout the words "Wait a minute."

Thinking of this, her regret vanished instantly, replaced by a wave of lingering fear.

What was she?

Before that terrifying power, she was just an ant.

An ant that was permitted to live.

Shi Yetang closed her eyes and told herself with a bitter smile.

Don't think about it anymore.

Accept your fate.

She only hoped... this man would be a little better to her in the future.

...

Meanwhile.

Su Ze had been quietly observing the changes in Shi Yetang's expression.

As he felt the violent power within him recede like a tide, his first reaction wasn't regret, but to keep a close eye on this woman's face.

This timing was too critical.

She would definitely be able to sense the drop in his strength.

If she harbored ill intentions, her expression at this moment would definitely betray her.

He saw the flash of regret in Shi Yetang's eyes.

He saw it.

But then, that trace of regret vanished, replaced by a kind of relief and resignation.

Su Ze nodded slightly in his mind.

It was normal enough.

If it were him, he would probably have a moment of unwillingness too.

But unwillingness aside, the facts were before her; it was fine as long as she understood them.

Of course—

Had she truly understood, or was she acting?

Su Ze didn't know, and he didn't care.

Regardless, he would never let down his guard just because of someone's surface-level attitude.

Even if he had the power to kill her with one click.

While Su Ze was thinking this, Shi Yetang remained silent for about three seconds.

Then, she made a move that even surprised Su Ze a little.

She took a deep breath and proactively opened her inventory interface, displaying her entire item list without reservation.

"These... I'll give them all to you."

Her voice was very calm, even carrying a hint of liberation.

Su Ze scanned through it.

There wasn't much left inside; most of the good stuff had already been scavenged by him. However, there were still some miscellaneous materials, a few decent quality Crystal Cores, and two skill books.

Though their value couldn't compare to the major items from before, and even though he had intended to make her do this anyway, it was better that she had this realization herself.

"And..."

Shi Yetang paused and spoke up again.

"I'll tell you another fatal weakness of the Zombie Clan."

Su Ze raised an eyebrow.

Shi Yetang took a deep breath, as if she had made a great resolution.

"spirit attacks... are far more effective against Royal Zombies than you imagine."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean it literally." Shi Yetang gave a bitter smile. "I told you before that once a zombie gains true wisdom, they lose the advantage of infinite Stamina. But what I didn't tell you is—this 'wisdom' is extremely fragile."

"For ordinary races, spirit attacks are just a supportive means to influence the mind or weaken combat intent. But for Royal Zombies... they directly threaten our wisdom itself."

"Our wisdom is more fragile than other races, so spirit-type skills are actually what we dread the most."

She looked up at Su Ze with a complex gaze.

"No Royal Zombie... dares to gamble."

"Because once wisdom collapses, it can never come back. That 'self' is dead forever."

"So in actual combat, when facing spirit attacks, almost all Royal Zombies will choose to evade immediately rather than tank it. This is one of the reasons why the Zombie Clan has such a low status in the Monster Camp, besides combat power—especially being naturally countered by the Supernatural Entity clan."

"Of course, for high levels dealing with low levels, and having some countermeasures, it's not like we're completely without any ability to resist."

Hearing this, a sharp light flashed in Su Ze's eyes.

He had gained another piece of important intelligence!

Su Ze couldn't help but look at her with some amusement.

This woman sure was fast to back down.

One second she was being interrogated by him, and the next she was laying bare her race's deepest secrets.

Shi Yetang felt uncomfortable under his half-smiling gaze, and an embarrassed flush appeared on her pale face—given her unnaturally white complexion, this blush was particularly noticeable.