(TN: The title of this chapter is 人不作死就不会死. The 人 just means "people" while the 不作死就不会死 part is actually a very popular meme in China and it is normally said/written as "no zuo no die" in Chinglish because it's meant to be funny. It means "if you don't do stupid things, they won't come back and bite you in the ass. Likewise, if you do stupid things, they most certainly will." It's from Gundam Z (1985) Episode 12.)
600 years ago, a Lich named Louis came out of the Lost Land, spreading pestilence, killing creatures, and forming an army of the undead. In that period, if the undead "ate" a town there would be no survivors. The panicked humans couldn't stop the undead; it was like a natural disaster and the only way they escape the undead was to flee.
Therefore, this wholesale slaughter was called the "Undead Scourge" and the Lich Louis earned the title "god of death." Because of the Scourge, the three empires lost nearly half their population and about one-third of the towns were destroyed. Later generations, regardless of where they came from, would pale when they talked about Lich Louis.
The reason that Du Ze knew so much about it was because the author had written about it in detail. In the original standard YY novel "Mixed Blood," Yi Ye Zhi Qiu spent almost three chapters introducing the Undead Scourge and Lich Louis. At that time Du Ze was still very silly and naïve so he did not understand the author's good intentions. When he read about the Moe Lord being arrested because of his relationship to Louis, the silly, cute reader finally understood his family's author's great lunacy – that introduction was entirely for the sake of paving the way for the Moe Lord to be abused.
Author, you're begging for a beating! Q口Q
Thinking of the original plot, Du Ze still felt indignant. Although Xiu did get Qian Bian from Louis' Magic Tower, it also indirectly led to the awakening of his undead bloodline. To prevent Xiu's fate of being hunted all over the continent and suffering from betrayal and inhumane treatment, Du Ze would rather that Xiu had not gone to the Magic Tower trial and that he did not have the slightest relationship to Louis.
The skeletons soon cleared the village. They poured out of the houses then formed a neat formation in front of Xiu. Once again, the skeleton mage stood in front of all the skeletons and said to Xiu, [Lord Commander, please lead us to the Chaos Continent.]
Except for the skeleton mage, they have no other sources of information. They do not know how to clear this level of the Tower of God.1 Xiu's group looked at each other, but from the bottom of their hearts they believe that this is the Tower of God's trial. Even though the situation seems very real, Du Ze has not forgotten that they are now inside the Tower of God – it was able to remake the demon god arena from the first era, therefore it can also be able to recreate a simulation of the scourge of the undead from 600 years ago.
In the demon god arena they needed to fight the demon gods. This time the tower did not make them fight the undead but instead made them lead a group of undead to become the Undead Scourge?
Du Ze glanced at the silent village then looked at the skeleton army. If not for the sudden increase in the number of the undead, it looked as though nothing has happened. He felt the absurdity of their situation keenly; during the time of the Undead Scourge, they were on the side of the undead, playing the part of the invaders.
Du Ze looked over to Xiu. Xiu must have clearly understood what was happening but his face gave away no hint of his thoughts. When Xiu saw Du Ze looking at him, Xiu grasped some silly, cute person by the back of his neck, and said soothingly: "Let's take a break here first."
The group temporarily settled down to rest in the village but the Tower of God was not so kind as to let Xiu relax and recover from his wounds. The next day, Du Ze was awakened by the sound of weapons clanging. When he walked outside he saw that there was fighting all over the village as the skeletons were brawling with a group of militia wearing very simple equipment.
Someone embraced Du Ze from the back. He turned his head to look at Xiu behind him and asked: "What happened?"
"Not far from here is a small town. The people who escaped from this town brought the news to them. They assembled a force of over 100 people to attack the undead," said Xiu casually.
Speechless, Du Ze looked at the humans fighting the skeletons. Individually the humans were stronger than the skeletons, but they were outnumbered by the skeletons. The two sides were deadlocked for a while but when the humans had some casualties, the balance of power tilted to the undead's side. The skeletons can still fight on even when their bodies are injured or cut up, as long as their skulls were not crushed. Also, when the humans died their bodies were soon converted into skeletons and they joined the undead team to begin killing their former companions. As the number of humans decreased, their plight become more and more desperate until, finally, they started fleeing.
Xiu stopped the undead from chasing after them. He looked bored by this farce.
Du Ze examined the battlefield. After this battle, the number of skeletons was almost doubled and the village was now crowded with undead soldiers in formation. Old John grabbed some of the former militiamen to ask for information but these new undead could not speak; the only thing that came from their mouths were screams.
Du Ze thought this would be the end, but on the third day they spotted another group of around 500 militiamen. It looked as though all the men in town had come out to fight. The humans and the undead clashed and this time the humans easily prevailed. Their leader was a Swordsman; every time he swung his sword he killed one or two skeletons. He tore through the skeleton's line of defense and rushed towards Xiu – the news from the men who escaped from the previous battle reported that the leader of the undead was a horned and winged figure.
Seeing the Swordsman hurrying towards Xiu, a sentence came to Du Ze's mind: People who do not court disaster will not die
Xiu's patience has been exhausted and his slightly narrowed eyes were full of killing intent. With one blow of his hand, Old John crushed the swordsman's heart. This action was like a start signal and the demon sisters also started fighting. With the addition of Old John and the others, the enemy was quickly annihilated.
The skeleton mage shook its bony staff and clicked out a rather long spell. Black smoke enveloped the whole village. All the corpses turned into undead and rose from the ground. The Swordsman also staggered to his feet. The flesh of his body was not melted; under the spell of the undead, the Swordsman-level warrior became a walking corpse.
After the black mist had dissipated, nearly 700 undead stood before them. The speed of the undead's growth rate made Du Ze shudder with fear. The skeleton mage came to Xiu and rattled out the same sentence from before: [Lord Commander, please lead us to the Chaos Continent.]
This time, Xiu finally replied. He looked in the direction of the town, his vertical pupils fathomless, and said: "Advance."
The undead immediately carried out Xiu's instructions and began to move toward the town with Xiu walking at the back of the army. The town was not far, just half a day's walk away. By the time they arrived, the undead army had already killed off the town's populace. The men of the town had mostly been killed in the previous encounters, so the remaining humans were the old and the sick. Although they knew that this was just the tower's simulation, Du Ze still felt a little uneasy listening to the screams all around him.
When it was all over, Du Ze had lost count of how many undead there were. In addition to the skeletons, there were a small number of walking corpses. There was even a ghost. The skeleton mage went to Xiu and rattled out: [Lord High Commander, please lead us to the Chaos Continent.]
Du Ze noticed that the skeleton mage's form of address had changed. Was it because the army of the undead was now over 1,000 so Lord Commander became Lord High Commander, like an escalation? If the demon god arena was fighting game, the undead trial was a strategy game. In the demon god arena, the numbers indicated how far away they were from the end. Here, rank was probably the Tower of God's requirement for clearing this level. If they want to pass this trial, they must expand the undead army and strive to raise the leader's rank.
How to quickly increase the number of undead? The Tower of God demonstrated that it was through killing more people and turning them into undead.
They found some information in town. One of the maps showed where they were: at the border of the Star Empire and the Light Empire. Xiu stared pensively at the map after confirming that they were following the footsteps of the Undead Scourge. In the past, the Lich Louis began his invasion at the Star Empire because its towns and cities were far from each other, making communication between them difficult. Thus, it was a long time until the rest of the Chaos Continent discovered Louis' ambition.
Now that the undead army has appeared, invading the Star Empire would not be the most efficient way since its sparse population and the distance between the populated areas will slow the undead's growth rate. Xiu's gaze fell on the center of the map where the Light Empire was located. Compared to the Star Empire, the Light Empire is more powerful, has a larger population, and transportation and communication are easier. However, it does have the Temple of Light which is the enemy of the undead.
But everything is relative; in Xiu's view the large number of people means a lot of undead materials and the ease of transportation means that they do not need to spend a lot of time on the road. In addition, if the deceased is strong, they will add more strength to the undead army. As for the Temple of Light, Xiu smiled as he thought of it. Naturally, that was his old enemy.
Xiu stretched out his hand and his black nails seemed to cut through the Light Empire on the map: "This is where we will go."
After deciding on their goal, Xiu no longer hesitated to start preparing for an attack on the Light Empire. He arranged the undead into a simple formation then ordered them to attack the surrounding villages and towns. Xiu did not let Muir and Old John fight, only the undead attacked.Three days later, the number of undead has soared to 4,000. Most of them were skeletons, walking corpses, and a few ghouls from the cemetery. The ghouls' attacks are not that strong, but their claws can damage the victim's nervous system and are well suited for scouting.
According to the ghouls' reports, Xiu's actions have alarmed the Light Empire and they have began to assemble troops in Glory City. After hearing the news, Xiu seemed satisfied. Du Ze thought his smile looked as though Xiu was imagining the ruin of Glory City as it was farmed by the undead.
When Glory City had gathered enough soldiers, Xiu recalled all the undead and leisurely marched the army towards the city. Along the way, the undead army was attacked by forces from Glory City and the Temple of Light. There were around 2000 soldiers; most of them were well-equipped cavalry. The first time the cavalry charged, 1,000 of the undead army's vanguard were eliminated.
To survive that powerful first charge, the undead forces at the rear of the army began their counterattack. The phantoms floating in the air screamed shrilly; the skeleton archers shot their arrows; the walking corpses in front protected the others like meat shields, and the ghouls wandered around the battlefield, seeking an opportunity to sneak attack the enemy.
The priests of the Temple of Light blessed the weapons of the human soldiers with holy light. If the undead are cut down by the blessed weapons, they cannot rise again.
The wind blew over Du Ze's ears and though he could not see, Du Ze could not help but look back at the battlefield. Du Ze, Xiu, and the others stood under the walls of Glory City with the skeleton mage. Some silly, cute person stared at the towering walls and can't help but think – the enemy doesn't know it, but the most terrible thing is not the army of 4,000 undead, but the Moe Lord's group.
"Go."
After hearing the order, Muir transformed into his dragon form. The City Guards were shocked when a Black Dragon appeared at the wall. The guards panicked and attacked Muir but their weapons had no effect on Muir's hard dragon scales. The black dragon used his tail to swipe at the guards. They fell from the wall and died the instant they hit the ground. The skeleton mage rattled out a spell and the dead guards rose up again to join the siege.
Seeing that the guards could not stop the black dragon, the enemy sent a magician to the battle . A fireball hit Muir but did no damage. The black dragon extended his neck and bit the magician, killing him. Muir spit out the mage's corpse which was quickly transformed into one of the undead. The new skeleton mage was dazed for a moment then began to recite undead spells along with the old skeleton mage.
Yi Ye Zhi Qiu once wrote that the demons are the strongest individually, the undead has the strongest army, while the dragons are the strongest at besieging a city.
No one could stop Muir from destroying the walls. The people's eyes were despairing as they saw the walls come tumbling down. Glory City was now open and undefended in front of Xiu. The result is obvious: without its army and the forces from the Temple of Light, the city was like a fruit whose skin has been peeled off, waiting for Xiu to devour it.
When Glory City's army came back after they defeated all 4,000 of the undead army, they found a whole city of the undead waiting for them. Soldiers stared at their destroyed homes. When the undead came at them the soldiers were prepared to fight back, but when they saw the undead's familiar clothes and ornaments, many collapsed.
Those are their elders, lovers, and children; how can they kill them again, even if they have become undead?
Compared to the soldiers' hesitation, the undead did not waver and immediately attacked. With their instinctive desire to create more undead, they nibbled at the army little by little. A skeleton held its former lover and when the lover burst into tears, the skeleton broke his neck.
Du Ze could not bear to look at them and shifted his line of sight to look at Xiu. The demon was gazing silently at all of this and, noticing Du Ze's gaze, tilted his head to look up at the sky. The sun shone down and Xiu's silhouette was half in the light, half in darkness
"The more I do now, the more I understand their fear and hatred of the undead. Isn't it ironic?"
Because of his relationship to Louis, Xiu was hunted by humans all over the Chaos Continent. And now the Tower of God created a simulation of Louis' Undead Scourge and made him witness all of this. It's ironic but Du Ze didn't know its purpose, he only felt "the rules'" cruelty.
As the two stood there silently, the undead had almost finished eating up the army. Except for the people from the Temple of Light, the soldiers of the army became undead. Many of them were death knights and a few were black knights, a very high level type of undead. All of the undead gathered under the destroyed walls of the city. The skeleton mage stood in front of them. Looking up at Xiu, it said:
[Lord Colonel, please lead us to the Chaos Continent.]
If they want to go up in rank they must destroy more cities and create more undead.
Du Ze looked down at the sea of the undead under the wall.
This is a copy of the Undead Scourge. According to Yi Ye Zhi Qiu, Liches received deathlessness, gave away their kindness.