The Snow Wolf's mournful howl startled everyone. Just then, the campfire burst to life, and as the crowd turned, they saw...
"Ghosts?" Serena Feng gasped, instinctively leaning into Prince Nolan's arms. The Snow Wolf's fur bristled in terror, its tail rigid, but it stubbornly planted itself in front of Serena, letting out a shaky, unconvincing howl.
So scary!
"Careful." Sean Xuan and the Eighteen Riders quickly closed in around the fire, joining Prince Nolan and Serena in a tight circle. Staring at these sudden 'guests,' everyone felt a chill deep in their hearts.
Calling them guests was only because they looked human—complete limbs and features—but lacked any sign of life, like corpses.
At this moment, they stood motionless like wooden stakes, faces deathly pale, empty sockets where eyes should be, arms pressed to their sides. Whether viewed up close or from afar, they looked like ghosts.
Judging by their posture, they seemed deeply afraid of fire, standing rooted to the spot and not daring to come closer.
"These should be living dead," Prince Nolan said after getting a good look, relaxing slightly. "The Former Dynasty used them to guard the imperial mausoleum. This is just the outer ring—don’t be afraid. These living dead only know simple fighting. Just kill them and it’s over."
Prince Nolan patted Serena’s shoulder in comfort. He stepped forward, grabbed a burning log, and in a flash was in front of a living dead, thrusting the torch at its heart. With a dull thud, the living dead collapsed to the ground.
Prince Nolan used the same method on the next living dead, but those behind seemed to sense danger. Though their bodies were stiff and awkward, they managed to dodge and even attacked Prince Nolan.
There were quite a few living dead. They’d been lurking in the shadows all along, showing no trace of life—neither Prince Nolan nor Serena had noticed them. But as soon as Nolan made his move, the rest surged forward...
It was as if they weighed nothing, gliding across the ground without a sound—and they were incredibly fast. In just moments, Serena’s group was surrounded by living dead.
Sean Xuan and the Eighteen Riders copied Prince Nolan, grabbing burning sticks and fighting the living dead. The Snow Wolf wanted to help, but seeing how horrifying the living dead looked, it hesitated and retreated to Serena’s side.
It decided it was better to protect Serena.
"Aim for their hearts!" After a brief clash, Prince Nolan discovered their weakness. At the same time, he noticed the living dead seemed to be covered in swarms of tiny bugs.
"Don’t touch them—they’re crawling with poisonous worms." Seizing the chance, Prince Nolan held his torch up to one of the living dead’s faces. What looked like skin was actually a writhing mass of white bugs.
"Ugh..." Serena’s stomach lurched and she vomited on the spot, her scalp tingling with dread.
She suffered from trypophobia, though it wasn’t usually obvious—only when confronted with swarms of tiny, clustered things did she react so strongly. Of course, she wasn’t the only one; Prince Nolan and Sean Xuan also seemed unable to bear it, their faces twisting in disgust...
At first, they’d thought these 'guests' were just living dead. Now it was clear: these things couldn’t even be called people. They were skeletons animated by billions upon billions of insects.
Serena retched until she had nothing left. Only after rinsing her mouth with clean water did she feel a little better.
Serena didn’t stand idle either. While Prince Nolan and the others fought the living dead, she pulled alcohol from her Smart Med‑Pack, forced herself to ignore her nausea, and soaked a living dead with it before tossing a spark...
Crackle... crackle... Just like roasting grasshoppers as a child, the bugs let out tiny popping sounds as they burned, so many that it sounded like firecrackers. Soon, the thick scent of roasting meat filled the air.
The corpse burned away quickly, leaving behind a stark white skeleton—and a heart that, though cracked, still looked fresh and alive.
The living dead’s heart was actually intact?
Serena was astonished, but before she could think too deeply, the urge to vomit hit her again...
"This thing is disgusting," Sean Xuan muttered, feeling his own stomach churn. But with dozens of living dead still ahead, no matter how sick he felt, he couldn’t back down.
Seeing Serena burn a corpse, Sean Xuan tossed aside his spent stick, grabbed a sturdier long one, and used the scattered embers to strike at another living dead nearby.
The living dead moved fast, but didn’t know how to dodge. Sean Xuan hit his mark every time, always striking the heart. Serena could almost hear the sound of hearts shattering.
The bugs infesting the living dead must have depended on that heart to survive.
Fighting back her nausea, Serena kept burning the corpses one by one, making sure they were completely destroyed—just in case anyone accidentally came into contact with the bugs.
"Snow Wolf, stay back—don’t let any bugs get on you," Serena cautioned her loyal companion.
With all that white fur, if bugs got into it, they’d be impossible to spot.
"Awoo..." Snow Wolf’s big eyes were filled with terror as it nodded solemnly.
It wasn’t afraid of big tigers or leopards, but these tiny bugs—those were truly terrifying!
Snow Wolf was so scared it barely dared to breathe, terrified of being infected. It stuck close to Serena, and if not for the cold, it would have considered shaving off all its fur just to keep those bugs away.
The living dead weren’t hard to deal with. Working together, Serena and Prince Nolan wiped them out within a quarter of an hour, and the temperature around them returned to normal.
"Were these the tomb guardians?" Sean Xuan asked, face still twisted with disgust at the mess.
He finally understood why so many never returned—the Former Dynasty’s mausoleum was truly fearsome. And they hadn’t even gone inside yet; they’d already been discovered.
"We haven’t gone in yet. These are living dead, but not the true tomb guardians. The real guardians should be much tougher." Prince Nolan tossed aside his torch, shrugged off his outer coat, and grabbed the last half-bucket of water to carefully wash his hands.
Sean Xuan’s face twitched again—how could anyone be so obsessed with cleanliness?
"You’d all better wash up, too. If those bugs get on you, you might end up like the living dead we just saw." Prince Nolan wasn’t just fussy himself—he insisted everyone else join in.
"We’re out of water!" Their drinking water was limited—they couldn’t afford to waste it.
Resigned, Serena pulled out bucket after bucket of water from her Smart Med‑Pack, along with disinfectant alcohol...
"What the...?" Sean Xuan and the Eighteen Riders were dumbfounded. Serena had conjured a pile of supplies out of thin air—was she some kind of immortal?
"You didn’t see anything. Even if you did, don’t mention it—and don’t ask questions." Serena was perfectly calm. She’d expected this reaction when she decided to reveal the Med‑Pack...