Dead Man Walking: Living By Day, Dead By Night

After arriving at the inn run by the local woman who had invited them to stay. Zane began to speak with her as she sat down at their table during their meal. He told her all about what happened in America, at least in the year or so following the apocalypse that he was there.

But to explain how two whole years' worth of information was missing, Zane mentioned how he had more or less been island hopping across the sea. And thus his information was not up do date. The world had suffered a calamity. With the human race losing nearly 99% percent of its population in the first year.

By now, those who remained were either entirely awakened, or mostly so. It was a culling of mass proportions. But in the end the strong survived, thus was often the way of nature. China, of course having a substantially larger population than most of the world, still had many people running across its country side.

Whether in small settlements built within the ruins of the old world. Or new cities found in the open landscape which were capable of being protected while free from the ever watchful eyes of the Horde Kings. 1% of 1.4 billion people was still 14 million people.

Which may not seem like much, considering in the days of the old world singular cities were much larger than such a figure in population density. But in a world where the majority of the human race had gone extinct. This was quite a significant number of living human beings.

Of course, not every country or continent had been affected to the same degree. It really depended on a variety of factors. And there was really now way to tell just how many humans survived in any given area.

Remote areas seemed to be better off than more densely populated regions as the undead virus spread slower where there were fewer people. With that in mind, there was also the matter of relative strength of the people in the area.

The more powerful a military a nation had prior to the collapse of civilization, the higher the percentage of the population they may have been able to save from certain extermination. In that regard, third world countries with higher population density were more likely to suffer a complete and total annihilation than others like say the United States, China, and Russia.

For that matter, relatively isolated and highly authoritarian countries like North Korea appeared to be the exception to the norm. And those small island nations with limited means of contact to the outside world were quite possibly entirely unaffected by the undead virus, and the rise of the Horde Kings.

As far as anyone knew, they could be peacefully exist without any knowledge of the end of human civilization as a whole. Or the spread of monsters across the world. Then again, with their proximity to the sea, it's possible they were wiped out by the sea monsters who appeared to have evolved from marine life over the course of the last three years. It was simply unknown.

What Zane did learn from this brief exchange with the innkeeper was that the relative level had increased over the course of the past three years. So much so that humanity was starting to reclaim ground that it had lost to the undead.

The average level of an awakened who had gained their abilities at the start of the conflict was now around level 30. Meaning if a group of six of them were properly equipped with the appropriate gear, they could solo low level Horde Kings with relative ease.

Even so, knowledge regarding Horde Kings and their existence appeared to be largely restricted from the public. With even the Inn owner who spoke to a wide variety of people who came passing through town now being aware.

At least in China, the powers that be tried to keep this matter on the down low. Perhaps as a means of controlling who received a new skill and who did not. After all, with the average level being around thirty, that meant that elite awakened were probably around level 40. And this also meant that the average awakened could go out and harvest Tier I Horde Kings for new skills.

However, there was definitely going to be a finite supply of Tier I Horde Kings in the world, so no doubt those in power wanted to monopolize the supply of their blood crystals. The other reason for keeping this a secret was to ensure that the public within settlements didn't panic.

I mean if Undead that looked, talked, and acted like humans existed. Didn't that mean that anybody could be an undead without anybody else being the wiser? Such knowledge created a potential for mass hysteria, and quite frankly the invention of witch hunts. That was the worst nightmare of people who were in power, especially those who ruled the various human settlements that remained.

And when Zane came to understand this. He also came to understand that only a limited number of people would be able to guess that he was no longer human, or that the companions by his side were undead.

If such a thing were the case, then perhaps they would have the means to prove it too? Hence, he made a mental note to avoid contact with the higher ups in human societies altogether unless it was absolutely necessary.

But as for information regarding potential transportation back to North America. It as the same as before. Maybe there were some old planes at the airport. And perhaps somebody somewhere knew how to fly them.

Or he could risk the Pacific. Which after his experience in the Yellow Sea, Zane would rather eat his own intestines than try his luck with the ocean. Because of this, there was really only one solution to his current predicament.

And that was buying a new teleportation stone. This had its own difficulties. Firstly, it meant that he had to essentially grind out enough materials to sell to the store in order to gain enough gold to purchase the teleportation stone.

Which, by the way cost a fortune and was meant to be a life-saving device. And second, even if he bought a teleportation stone, there was no telling where it would send him. For all he knew, he would end up in freaking Antarctica. And if that was the case, then he was well and truly boned.

Thus, Zane's primary hope for returning home was to scour human settlements for a potential pilot. Or perhaps some kind of manual that could teach him how to fly without killing himself. Something he felt would be his last resort.

Then once he found the pilot, assuming someone still exited who knew how to fly a plane across the Pacific. Then he would need to convince them to take a journey, that they likely wouldn't make it back from. As it would be difficult to refuel a plane. Let alone do so while landing within hostile territory.

After all, all the cities that could connect Beijing to North America were occupied by Tier V Horde Kings, who would no doubt have some interest in a plane landing within their domain. Not to mention there was another matter Zane couldn't overlook.

What if the avian lifeforms of Earth had also evolved into terrifying creatures like the marine life had? If a pack of Pterosaurs or, god forbid a Dragon decided it wanted to fuck with their plane. There was no god that could save them.

With all of this in mind, Zane was starting to wonder how exactly he would make it back to North America, and if this was a test by his mother to see how great his resolve to see his loved ones really was?

After thinking all of this through, and spending a night in the inn. Zane ultimately decided to pursue the path of gaining a pilot. As it was the path that would most likely result in his survival. And at the same time, he knew he needed to begin establishing ties with the locals.

Because of this, Zane quickly asked the innkeeper if she knew of any work that needed to be done around the settlement?

When she heard this, the woman had a smug smirk on her face. She quickly asked Zane what level he was, thinking he was someone around the level of twenty.

"Oh? You're looking or work are you? Trying to make a name for yourself in the ruins of Beijing? Well, I know of a few groups who are looking for help. But they need someone powerful. So what level are you, sweetie?

If you're above 25, I think I could help establish a connection between you and the Divine Sword Sect?"

Did he just hear this right? Divine Sword Sect? Please, for the love of God, don't tell me the Chinese people mistook the system as something straight out of a cultivation novel? Such were Zane's thoughts as he sighed heavily before announcing his level to the innkeeper. Her expression, and that of those who heard him would be something Zane would remember until the end of his days.

"I'm…. Level 65…."