War with the Dead (3)

Three days later, in the conference room, Yan sat on a throne as the ministers and leaders gave their daily reports. "Your Majesty, as for the food supplies, they are coming from the West and will arrive here in a day or two, but there is a problem that we cannot fully satisfy them, in addition to the indigenous people of the capital, there are the displaced people who are the problem, as the food rations are not enough for them, and therefore there will be disturbances if the situation remains as it is." Yan heard the report and his face became gloomy. The presence of a poor class that came from another place and settled here will make the disturbances bigger and bigger. As for the displaced people who lost their homes, they are now angry and resentful of everything, and since they have gathered in one place, a society within a society will be formed, a society of the indigenous people who see themselves as the owners of the place and the rest are just intruders, and a society of the displaced people who want to live as before. In unjust governments, they will exploit this matter in order to remain in their place. They will ignite a fictitious conflict and exploit it so that the people will care about it and exaggerate it every time so that the people will not look at the corruption in the country and try to reform it. Yan wants to be a good ruler, and therefore he does not want to ignite a war among the people to cover up the failure. The empire is still eliminating the undead. "Prime Minister, do the local merchants have food in their warehouses?" Yan spoke. "They actually have a lot, maybe enough to satisfy the people's needs, but they lock it in their warehouses and sell it for astronomical prices compared to the price of food before." The Prime Minister said, feeling angry at this act. Yan looked at the open door of the room and said, "This is to be expected. Monopolizing the market and doing this is understandable. It simply brings in higher profits, but this is not important. Buy the food from the merchants in my name but give them the same market price before the crisis and bring what you buy to the palace but do not force anyone or scare them. Anyway, tell me, Minister of War, what are the latest developments on the front?".

"We are making progress in the construction, sir, and I expect that we will complete the construction of the wall in a week or two, and this is all thanks to your majesty," the Minister of War spoke. The Supreme General was leading the troops in the southern plains and training them in the use of bows and long-range weapons. The horses they rode were fast and strong, brought from the north of the empire, which was known for its strong horses. The Supreme General was the type who believed in true experience, so he divided his army into teams of a hundred soldiers, led by a commander, and their mission was to kill the undead who were in small groups and close to the location of the wall. The Supreme General's goal was to maneuver to crush the enemies everywhere, and this was somewhat successful, as the number of monsters decreased compared to the soldiers' increased experience in dealing with them. If it weren't for the stupidity and arrogance of some commanders, it would have been a crushing victory without any losses. "But where there is victory, there are fools who covet the spoils."

In one of the villages in the far south, the weather was sunny and pleasant, and the bodies were scattered everywhere. A group of fifty knights arrived at the village. The soldiers were exhausted from the long fight, as their leader made a big mistake, which made them enter a gathering place for the living dead. In a moment, the place was covered with the sounds of disturbing screams, as everyone began to shout either from fear or anger. The knights quickly retreated on their horses, while the infantry and the leader were trapped in the army of the living dead, which did not stop eating their flesh even when they turned into skeletons or into living dead like them. The rest of the fugitives did not stop until they reached the village.

In the village, the soldiers were scattered all over the village searching for the presence of the living dead. After they were sure that there were no living dead, some of them were relieved and others decided to be careful. They started patrolling the area and also treating the injured, as most of them sat in a large house and used it as a temporary headquarters for them. This group is a trained group specialized in exploration, so it was not difficult for them to build a temporary headquarters or station themselves in a specific place. Usually, explorers are trained in different conditions and environments.

When it was noon, the soldiers started searching for anything edible in the village or nearby places. When they arrived, there were fifty of them, ten of them had varying injuries and the rest were very exhausted. "What are we going to do now?" One of the soldiers asked the other. "I don't know. What's important now is to treat the wounded and provide food and drink." The soldier who had a scar over his eye and the fingers of his left hand were cut off answered. This soldier's name was (San Shi). He was the oldest and most experienced soldier in the squad. He had become the squad leader after the attack, and because all the ranks above him had died, he was now the first in command. He was able to escape with his companions safely, and since he had considerable experience and knowledge of southern geography, he led them to a place known to be far from the living dead.

After half an hour he started to feel uneasy, at first fewer soldiers returned but they didn't feel anything but with the increase in the unexplained disappearance of the soldiers the atmosphere became more intense and a feeling of fear began to dominate, unlike usual when they fight the undead who are discovered because of the sounds they make, but now there was no sound just the complete disappearance of the soldiers without any trace or sign indicating any approach, the general atmosphere began to become tense as the rest of the soldiers began to believe that their comrades had left them and fled, some of them had actually fled, and after a few hours the remaining fifty soldiers did not exceed twenty-one with ten injured among them, the sun set and the fear increased "No one goes out on patrol we have enough food and drink, this will be a long night..." Before he finished speaking the door opened and the sounds of the undead began to increase every moment until the ears were silent, a whole group of undead entered and attacked all the people present, fortunately the soldiers were ready to fight at any moment, the dead were The living are their companions who were with them before, but now they are the living dead.

"Aaangggh.. Aaaa ghnnnn"

(San Shi) grabbed one of the living dead by the hands that were trying to pounce on him and struggled with him a little trying to prevent the living dead from biting him, he felt angry about everything, in the past he thought that the living dead were just a fantasy in the south but as the matter developed and became a reality, primitive theories were put forward to determine the reason for this matter, suggestions such as the anger of the ancestors and being cursed due to the mistakes of humans were prominent matters in the early period but now they are treated as demons and evil spirits but there was a theory not about the reason for their appearance but about how they started which is that someone did it but there is no support for it until now.

He stood in the open door watching the soldiers being killed by the living dead in the most brutal ways. He smiled at this sight with a brutal smile as if he was watching a beautiful show, with red eyes, milky white skin, long white hair, and a human body. Despite this, it was clear that he did not belong to the human race, with a height of nearly two meters and a huge body that looked like a huge wall. What made him less human were his fingers that looked like knives, as the ends of his fingers were pointed like needles. When San Shi saw this thing standing and smiling at them, he felt angry without knowing why. It was an unjustified primitive anger. His senses and instincts hated this thing as if it were the greatest enemy of the human race. He ran at full speed towards the creature, placing the sword in front of his waist, but in an instant it disappeared from his sight. San Shi did not feel anything, but his vision changed and he began to see the world in a blood-red color. He was unable to control his body. In moments, the last traces of consciousness disappeared. He was now a living dead.

In the capital

Yan continued his usual work, in the morning he trained in fencing and martial arts, in the middle of the afternoon he read a book on politics and studied some of the history of the kingdom and the overall economy of the country, there were some good books in these fields, but after finishing this, Yan's real work begins, which is the inscriptions, and despite the fact that he has many responsibilities, he does not stop thinking about two things all the time, the first is He Sun and the second is the inscriptions, as for He Sun, Yan has abandoned the principles that he had drawn for himself and has indulged in love and lust.

The day he found her in the royal garden, he tried to get close to her in the same way as the stories he used to read in secret while he was in his previous sect. At first, he tried to be nice to her and befriend her, but he knew that she had a certain point of view about him, and this would not change even if he changed. She saw him as a devil in all his states. So after making an effort, he finally surrendered to his devils and decided to use the forbidden plan. He started ordering the servants to prepare her every day for him to sleep with him. He restored all her powers as an emperor and increased the gifts. Yan's plan is simple: she is my wife, so there is no need for us to act like friends who have feelings for each other. Rather, I have to act based on our relationship, which is that we are married, and I have to prove to her that I am a wonderful husband so that she will accept me. Yan has become obsessed with He Sun, and perhaps this is due to Yan's sense of responsibility towards her, as she is his only family in this world. Even if he is not the real emperor, this does not mean that he should ignore the reality. In fact, Yan longs to build a family and even left the north in his original world just to build a family in the capital. Yan's forcing He Sun to sleep with him came from pure lust, and even he admits this to himself.