Chapter 132: I Want to Live!

The temperature in the room plummeted, turning it into an ice cellar. Even Fan Li could not help but shiver.

Button was usually a great relief from the heat, but now that autumn had arrived and the weather was turning cold, being near him inevitably brought a biting chill.

Button and Ellie appeared on either side of the room.

Button’s mouth remained stuffed, with debris occasionally falling from it; for a lathe worker who continued to labor even after death, keeping spare parts in one's mouth was nothing unusual.

Traces of dried blood stained his work clothes, and a faint, metallic scent of blood drifted through the air. With a purebred zombie looming, the ordinary room felt more like a morgue, stirring an instinctive sense of panic.

"Wah!"

Ellie seemed dissatisfied with the dropping temperature and let out a harsh, piercing sound.

Button, with his gloomy face, bulging mouth, and nails turned pitch-black from mutation, looked like a truly sinister entity to any ordinary person. Yet, at that moment, his body began to tremble. He retreated toward the corner, huddled himself up, and dared not move.

The terror Ellie inspired was etched into Button’s very bones, and once again, he displayed his weak and helpless side.

"Wah?"

Ellie seemed satisfied by Button’s submissiveness. She then turned her face toward Fan Li, seemingly asking why she had been summoned.

Employees had their own private dynamics, and Fan Li didn't want to interfere too much. He simply cleared his throat and said, "Nothing too urgent. It’s just that one of us is refusing to follow orders, and they need a little education."

"Wah!"

Upon hearing this, Ellie turned her head toward Button, picked up the hammer at her feet, and marched forward.

"Jie?"

Button, already curled into a ball on the floor, shook even more violently at the sight of Ellie. He seemed to want to explain himself, causing steel nails and pebbles to scatter across the floor.

"Wait... this has nothing to do with Button. Alright, I’ll call out the individual in question, and then we’ll educate them!"

Fan Li stopped Ellie’s impending violence, picked up the Obsession Textbook, and after a moment of hesitation, recited a passage from it:

"Did he dare to go out on such a stormy night?"

The somewhat awkward English fell from Fan Li's lips, and immediately, he felt an unprecedented, agonizing sensation.

Obscure sounds began to ring in Fan Li’s ears—like stones grating against a chalkboard or a knife carving into glass. Countless noises converged, stirring an inexplicable, deep-seated agitation.

Even when Fan Li covered his ears, he could not stop the sound from invading. The noise felt as if it were being poured directly into his brain, inflicting an experience of extreme pain.

The English textbook suddenly began to flip its pages, one by one, followed by a chorus of indecipherable chanting that echoed throughout the room.

The pain in Fan Li’s head slowly subsided, and before his eyes, a woman appeared, wearing high heels and tattered clothing.

Her hair was matted with dried blood, hanging in thick, sticky strands over her face. Through the gaps in her hair, one could see eyes that were swollen and protruding due to mutation!

Those eyes stared fixedly at Fan Li, radiating a resentment and hostility that felt like tangible blades, slicing across his cheeks and skin with every passing second.

Fan Li noticed her appearance; compared to her relatively tidy professional attire during their first meeting, she now looked quite disheveled.

She stared at Fan Li for a long moment, then her lips parted slightly: "Go..."

For a zombie to utter an English word—even if it was just a single syllable—was quite an inspirational feat.

Fan Li rubbed his temples. He finally understood why the manual advised against summoning the Obsession Textbook more than twice a day. The noise it triggered from within was truly enough to drive anyone to depression.

Though his head still throbbed, Fan Li didn't forget his primary objective. Ignoring her hostility and his own desire to end the summoning, he took a step forward.

"I think we need to talk. I admire your stubbornness regarding teaching; without a doubt, you are a good teacher."

"I know what you crave. If you can set aside your current prejudices and integrate into this collective, I can meet some of your conditions. How about opening a new class? I’ll try to find you some students."

The female zombie possessed a stubbornness far beyond her peers. Teaching had occupied most of her life; she had dedicated countless days and nights to the podium, and even after her mutation, she had never left the classroom, unable to forget the place where she had worked.

She had lost many things, but the concept of a classroom and students held a certain magic for her, causing her internal defenses to waver.

However, when she saw Fan Li approaching, the resentment in her mind regained control over her entire being.

She had not forgotten what he had done. In her limited worldview, he had destroyed her classroom and her students. She could not easily forgive him.

"Go..."

Fan Li took a step forward, and the female zombie took a step back, retreating into another corner. With nowhere left to go, she bared her teeth and once again revealed a ferocious face.

"Still not working?" Fan Li sighed, feeling rather speechless at the stubborn zombie.

"Wah?" Ellie, sensing Fan Li’s disappointment, stepped up with her hammer.

Fan Li glanced at the obstinate female zombie. "Go easy on her."

Since he was already deep in debt, and it would take 2,000 kill points to summon the book again, it didn't matter if he spent the remaining double-digit kill points on healing.

Ellie nodded in understanding, then turned to Button and let out a "Wah!" The latter understood immediately and stood up, and the two monsters gradually closed in on the female zombie.

"Go..."

"Bang!"

"Rat-tat-tat!"

"Go!"

"Bang bang!"

"Rat-tat-tat!"

"G..."

It didn't last long. When Fan Li turned back, the Obsession Textbook lay on the ground with its limbs twisted, covered in steel nails and pebbles. Given Ellie’s understanding, she had essentially left just enough life in her to survive. As for the severity of the damage, that was not something she grasped very well.

Fan Li stepped forward and crouched down. Unlike her previous look of hatred, the female zombie now instinctively tilted her head away.

Ignoring her terrifying visage, Fan Li brushed her hair back and said, "I am a reasonable person, but that doesn't mean I have no temper. If you agree to join, I will honor my promise. But if you insist on being hostile, I will have no choice but to kill you for good."

Ellie leaned against the wall, eating potato chips, while Button trembled at the threat. Fan Li kept his gaze locked on the female zombie’s eyes, which still held a flicker of consciousness. "When that happens, there will be no classroom! No students! I’ll even burn your textbook. I hope that next time, you can give me a satisfactory answer."

With that, not giving her a chance to respond, Fan Li ended the summoning and sent her back to the Monster House.

An employee who was too stubborn made for a very tired boss. Fan Li collapsed onto his bed, his spirit battered by the summoning, and he didn't want to think about anything else...

"Brother Li... outside... there are zombies..."

Just as Fan Li was drifting off, he heard a knock at the door and Yang Shuo’s slightly sharp voice.

One trouble followed another.

Fan Li rolled out of bed and pulled back the curtains, only to see that the previously empty street was now swarming with no fewer than forty zombies. Behind them stood a deformed zombie with a massive head and a stunted body.

"Such a strong sense of vengeance? They actually came back for another round?"

With the Obsession Textbook being disobedient and his sleep interrupted, Fan Li, already irritable, felt his face darken.

Fan Li signaled for Button and Ellie to stand by the window. His eyes sharpened like a wolf’s, and he pointed at the glaringly obvious deformed zombie. "Catch it. I want it alive!"