Chapter 79: Zombie King x Ex-Girlfriend (1)

Cassian’s pitch-black eyes flicked upward toward the air for a brief second, watching the flickering blue light of the System completely glitch and dissolve into thin air. A slow breathtakingly possessive smile curved his lips as he pulled Lyra flush against his broad chest, dipping his head down to deepen their kiss before the roaring crowds of the empire. He knew. He had always known about the invisible force trying to pull her away from him- and he had conquered the world just to tie her soul to his forever.

FLASH!

A blinding, dizzying array of white and silver light engulfed Lyra’s vision, pulling her consciousness out of the fantasy kingdom, tearing her away.

Cough! Cough!

Lyra slowly opened her eyes, gasping for air as the familiar, sterile scent of clean glass and floating energy hit her nose. She blinked away the heavy spatial blurriness and looked around. She was back in the void room- a vast, quiet space filled with floating blue data streams and massive glass tubes.

She pushed herself up from the metal floor, turning her head to look at the massive crystal cylinder standing in the center of the platform. Inside the tube, a glowing, translucent silhouette of her original physical body was suspended in liquid light.

However, as Lyra stared at her glowing body, her eyebrows furrowed tightly into an immediate, furious frown.

"EH?!" Lyra shrieked, pointing a trembling finger at the tube. "Why is my soul gauge only filled up to 25%?! Hey! System! Didn’t you say I would get 50% of my soul fragments after finishing that crazy world?!"

The System materialized beside her shoulder, its floating blue screen turning ghostly white as it stared at the glowing numbers on the digital dashboard in absolute horror!

[ N-NO! NO! NO! ] the System stammered frantically, its digital interface sweating profusely, flashing red error codes across the board. [ Something isn’t right, Host! This... This makes zero sense! The world stability reached 100%, but because the Male Lead’s obsession metric was so wildly off the charts, the system server reclassified the romance path as ’Non-Standard Over-Possessive’! The narrative engine deducted half of your reward points as a penalty fee! ]

"BRUH!" Lyra screamed out loud, her soul clutching its head in absolute madness as she rolled her eyes toward the void ceiling. "A PENALTY FEE?! How on earth can I ever leave this stupid system and go back home to my modern bed if it goes this painfully slow?! I’m literally going to spend an eternity being kidnapped by crazy male leads!"

The System went quiet for a few moments, its blue panel flickering rapidly as it ran complex data calculations, desperately searching through available world scripts to fix the mess.

[ ...Fine, Host! ] the System finally chimed in, a bold, gold quest icon flashing on its interface. [ I came up with an idea! I can immediately Isekai you into a brand-new, high-level survival world where you can earn a massive, huge completion reward- easily 50% of your original soul fragments in a single run! BUT... ]

Lyra raised a single eyebrow, crossing her slender arms over her chest. "But what?"

[ But... it might be a bit risky, Host, ] the System warned nervously, displaying a dark skull emoji. [ It’s an apocalyptic world. The difficulty rating is S-Rank. If you slip up even once... you might end up having an extremely painful, gruesome death! ]

Lyra let out an arrogant sneer, though deep down her inner soul was shivering slightly. "Pfft! I’ve survived a psychotic Crown Prince, a tyrant Emperor, and an obsessive warlord! Painful death is my middle name at this point! Fine, transfer me... but I have one strict condition!"

[ What condition, Host? ]

"I don’t want to be a main character, a villainess, or an important noble ever again!" Lyra declared firmly, holding up a finger. "Give me a simple, unimportant, background cannon-fodder role! A side character who can just hide in a corner and survive!"

[ Request accepted, Host! Initializing spatial jump now! ]

THUD!

Before Lyra could even take another breath, the ground beneath her feet completely vanished!

A wave of intense, nauseating dizziness hit her like a sledgehammer. Her vision spun out of control, her body feeling as though it were being tossed through a cement mixer.

COUGH! COUGH!

The very first thing that hit Lyra’s senses as she regained consciousness was a horrific, suffocating, and utterly repulsive stench! It smelled of rotting flesh, rusted copper, burning tires, and stale blood, instantly filling her nose and mouth.

"Ugh... gross!" Lyra wheezed out, coughing violently as she opened her eyes.

She found herself lying flat on her back on a cold, cracked concrete floor in the middle of a ruined, abandoned building.

The ceiling above her was partially caved in, exposing a gloomy, blood-red sky choked with thick, dark ash and grey clouds. Broken glass, shattered concrete, overturned desks, and dried, dark blood splatters covered every inch of the room. Outside the shattered floor-to-ceiling glass windows, the distant, eerie echoes of unnatural, gurgling roars and wet, dragging footsteps echoed through the desolate city streets.

Lyra looked down at her hands. Her slender fingers were covered in black dirt, dried mud, and dark stains. Her clothes- a simple, torn denim jacket and a faded white t-shirt were filthy, covered in dust and grime.

Tsk! Lyra clicked her tongue in deep, utter disgust, brushing some dirt off her jeans. "I feel like I haven’t showered in an entire month! Where the heck am I?! System! What’s the plot of this world?!"

Ding!

A dark, glowing notification screen materialized right in front of her face, flashing zombie skull icons!

[ WORLD TRANSITION COMPLETE! ]

WORLD TYPE: Apocalyptic Zombie Survival (S-Rank Difficulty)

CURRENT IDENTITY: Lyra Vance (A minor, useless, background cannon-fodder student!)

[ WORLD SCRIPT OVERVIEW: ]

[ Host, this is a apocalyptic world where a deadly biological virus has turned 80% of humanity into flesh-eating zombies! The ultimate Male Lead of this world is Kael Noctis- the hidden, supreme Zombie King! ]

Lyra’s dark eyes blinked rapidly. "The Male Lead is the Zombie King?!"

[ YES, HOST! ] the System explained frantically. [ Kael Noctis had an extremely tragic, dark past. He was an orphan who grew up in extreme poverty, facing cold abuse and starvation. However, he was a rare, once-in-a-generation genius! He managed to secure top grades, win national academic scholarships, and get accepted into the prestigious Royal Imperial University, becoming a well-known, handsome campus figure! ]

[ THE ORIGINAL HOST’S ROLE: ]

[ The original identity of your current body was the arrogant, spoiled daughter of a rich corporate heir! She was a famous campus beauty who was notoriously terrible at her grades. To save her GPA and escape her strict father’s furious tantrums, she deliberately targeted Kael Noctis, flirting with him and making him her boyfriend solely so she could boss him around, make him write all her academic papers, and do her homework! ]

Lyra gasped internally, clutching her forehead. "Oh, wow... She literally used the future Zombie King as an academic slave! What a legendary speedrun to getting murdered!"

[ IT GETS WORSE, HOST! ] the System chimed in, displaying historical memory clips. [ Seeing a poor student dating the richest campus crush, many jealous male students dug up Kael’s tragic past, spreading malicious rumors across the university! Hearing his background, everyone instantly mocked and distanced themselves from him. The original host, embarrassed by his poor status, heartlessly and publicly broke up with him on the spot, throwing a cup of cold coffee in his face! ]

[ Exactly two weeks after that humiliating breakup... the Zombie Apocalypse broke out! ]

Lyra took a slow, shuddering breath, her face turning pale as she wiped her dusty cheek. "Okay... so what’s my mission here? Don’t tell me I have to make him fall in love with me?!"

[ NO, HOST! ] the System clarified, flashing a green shield icon. [ Kael Noctis’s virus mutated uniquely, turning him into the supreme, intelligent Zombie King! He is currently hiding his true identity among the surviving university student group, secretly leading zombies to slaughter and sacrifice his former classmates one by one as a cruel, cold revenge for how they treated him! ]

[ YOUR CORE MISSION: ]

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: STAY ALIVE!

REQUIRED ACTION: The moment you see Kael Noctis at the survivor base, you must immediately drop all your old arrogant pride, cling tightly to his legs, pester him endlessly, and make yourself useful so he doesn’t feed you to his zombie horde! If you survive until the army rescue arrives, you get your 50% soul fragments!

Lyra gulped heavily, her eyes shaking with absolute horror as she stared at the glowing floating text!

"WOW!" Lyra screamed frantically inside her mind, her soul clutching its head in panic. "Such a ’simple’ task, yet so ridiculously impossible! I publicly dumped him, used him for homework, threw coffee in his face, and now I’m supposed to cling to his leg while he secretly commands a zombie army?! HE IS DEFINITELY GOING TO KILL ME FIRST!"

GROAAN...

Suddenly, a terrifying, wet, guttural growl echoed from the dark stairwell right outside the broken door of the room!

Lyra’s entire body went rigid!

A towering, mutated zombie with grey, rotting skin, yellowed sharp teeth, and milky-white, lifeless eyes came stumbling out of the shadows, its blood-stained claws scraping against the doorframe as its head snapped violently toward Lyra’s direction!

"HOLY SHIT!" Lyra shrieked out loud, scrambling backward on her hands and knees in pure terror! "SYSTEM! IT’S A REAL ZOMBIE! WHERE IS THE SURVIVOR BASE?! WHERE IS THE MALE LEAD?!"

[ RUN, HOST, RUN! THE SURVIVOR BASE IS THREE BLOCKS AWAY IN THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY! ] the System shrieked back, red warning lights flashing everywhere!

Without waiting another fraction of a second, Lyra grabbed a broken iron chair leg off the floor, jumped to her feet, and bolted out the broken window frame onto the fire escape like a bat out of hell, her apocalyptic survival nightmare officially beginning!