“Whew–“
The fist-sized fireball touched the pile of dry firewood and burst into flames in a blink of an eye. Sitting on the gable porch, Lin Yuzu immediately performed how seals applause and praised the children in an encouraging tone, “Zhao Cai is great this time! It didn’t even burn the pot.”
The feline beast plopped down on the clearing in the yard and spewed out a breath through its nose and dismissed her praise.
With its golden-black tail, it irritably swayed behind its back, slapping the ground with a fine splash of dust. When it passed above Xiao Hong at one time, the flower core cracked open unexpectedly and bit the tip of its tail.
The hair on Zhao Cai’s back instantly exploded!
It jumped up with a low roar and turned its head to give its attacker a taste of its own medicine, but as soon as it swung its claws, the tail was spat out. The instigator closed its petals swiftly and the thick leaves wrapped around itself, almost burrowing back into the ground.
‘Ah. . . here we go again.
Lin Yuzu sighed.
Although Xiao Hong was relieved, its bite still had a touch of extremely corrosive liquid and Zhao Cai’s tail instantly lost a piece of fur, making the big cat’s fur ferociously extend and assumed a fighting posture with flames accumulating in its half-open mouth.
Lin Yuzu gently grabbed its nape, “Don’t breathe fire at home.”
The carnivorous flower is an extremely territorial species. It doesn’t dare to have any opinions on its two owners, but it obviously doesn’t like Zhao Cai rushing into its territory. And if Xiao Hong gets the chance, it will definitely provoke it to show its unfriendliness; Zhao Cai is a grumpy cat, so if no one will keep an eye on them for a while, the two of them will fight.
Lin Yuzu stroked Zhao Cai’s head soothingly and the fluffy fur made her rub it even more.
Probably sensing that the crisis has lifted, Xiao Gong poked her head out again, stretched out a flowering branch, and squired with her mouth open. It then made two extremely human sounds in Zhao Cai’s direction, “Pfft”
Lin Yuzu, “. . .”
‘So mean!’
The gradually relaxed Zhao Cai froze for a moment and violently broke away from Lin Yuzu’s hand and let out a roar.
The battle was on the verge of breaking out. The window behind Lin Yuzu was pushed open with a creak. Xiao Xiao then poked her head out and said one word in an annoyed tone, “. . . noisy.”
The mutant creatures, who are extremely sensitive to danger, calmed down obediently.
Xiao Xiao was lying on the windowsill, eyes still containing a slight mist that indicated that her sleepiness hadn’t completely faded. She covered her mouth as she gently yawned, tilted her head, and smiled, “Good morning.”
“Good morning. Your shirt isn’t properly buttoned.” Lin Yuzu unbuttoned the first two buttons of Xiao Xiao’s shirt and rebuttoned them. She then fished out Xiao Xiao’s hair from her clothes, “You’ll be able to eat in a little while.”
Xiao Xiao answered vaguely, unconsciously pressed her cheek against the back of Lin Yuzu’s hand, and walked away from the window.
Lin Yuzu lifted the pot lid and stirred it with a long ladle. Zhao Cai landed over to her from the side, far away from the carnivorous flower in the corner of the yard, and showed a salivating look at the food in the pot.
There was a clatter, like the sound of a large flock of birds flapping their wings.
The yard was suddenly covered by a large shadow. Lin Yuzu raised her head and it wasn’t clouds that blocked the sun, but a large flock of birds that passed over them like rolling clouds.
Spring is indeed the season of migratory birds returning north. . . but that direction, isn’t that the south?
If something went wrong, it will surely be because of a monster. Until they disappeared into a single point, Lin yuzu still maintained a posture of contemplation. Zhao Cai, who was beside her, also looked at the flocking birds with a bit of restlessness. The sudden change in the air cast an inexplicable shadow on her heart.
The neatly dressed Xiao Xiao walked out as she probably felt something. She then looked at the direction the birds were flying to, “Strange.”
Lin Yuzu came back to her senses, “What’s strange?”
Xiao Xiao is the king of zombies, maybe like an animal, she has a natural ability to predict danger?
Xiao Xiao said, “The nearby, mutated creatures, very uneasy.”
Lin Yuzu went, “ah,” and suddenly remembered a similar scene two years ago. It was also during the winter after the spring that her base encountered an extremely terrible monster wave. The birds in the air flocked together, covering the sky, while the beasts on the ground hit the base’s defense walls like waves.
“It” stood on the back of a two-story lion and commanding the mutant creatures, while staring at the crowd with indifferent eyes.
Lin Yuzu couldn’t help but look at Xiao Xiao next to her.
“It” had already been killed, and Xiao Xiao had no reason to drive the beast tide.
Is she overthinking it. . .?
Xiao Xiao cane into contact with her uneasy eyes. She first looked back blankly, then thoughtfully touched Lin Yuzu’s head with a firm expression, “Not afraid, I will, to protect you.”
Lin Yuzu was touched by her kindness but still pulled her hand down, “Don’t touch my head.”
“. . . . . oh”
After breakfast, Xiao Xiao went to check the two small vegetable patches where the seeds were planted only yesterday.
Lin Yuzu thought a lot, but unfortunately, she doesn’t know much about growing plants. If she was alone, she’s afraid that she’d be stuck in the first stage of germinating seeds for half a day. Thankfully Xiao Xiao is a professional.
While Xiao Xiao was working, Lin Yuzu climbed up to the house to repair the roof with the tools she had prepared before. Fortunately, the damage wasn’t serious, otherwise, she wouldn’t have known how to repair it.
While Lin Yuzu clanked around the roof, Xiao Xiao finished watering and took out a pen and paper before sitting next to Xiao Hong, writing and drawing while occasionally glancing up; Zhao Cai was resting under the eaves of the house with his ears slightly trembling, seeming unable to stand the noise. He then stood up, shaking his fur, and then gently leaped across the wall to play.
Lin Yuzu’s mending was very rough, even she herself wondered if it would last two months. But since there was no one else who could do this job, she can only hope.
She jumped down from the eaves and Xiao XIao raised her eyes from her notebook to stare at her. Once she saw that Lin Yuzu landed safely on the ground, she lowered her head once more.
A black pen was used to accurately outline the characteristics of Xiao Hong in the notebook and the data changes over the past few days were recorded next to it. When Xiao Xiao made the last stroke, she closed the notebook and followed Lin Yuzu into the house.
“Yesterday, as promised, fishing.”
Lin Yuzu returned the tools and helplessly said, “I haven’t forgotten. Shall we go?”
To pass the time and improve their food on the way, Lin Yuzu folded two bamboos and made a simple fishing rod, and tried to fish in the river.
Xiao Xiao was very interested in this, especially in obtaining new ingredients.
————–To read the original translation, please visit https://nihilumcreations.wordpress.com/raising-the-zombie-king/
They packed up their things, brought a small bench and bucket, and sat down by the river. Both of them were quiet types, so even if they sit here and fish all day, they wouldn’t be bored since they have someone accompanying them.
Lin Yuzu is confident of obtaining a good harvest.
But an hour later, she didn’t think so anymore.
Lin Yuzu looked at the empty bucket and the water weeds hanging on Xiao Xiao’s fishing gook. With a suspicious look at the river, she asked, “Is there no fish in this river?”
It can’t be, she just saw a fat fish leap out of the river yesterday and thought of making a fishing rod.
Xiao Xiao looked at the surface of the river and shook her head.
Lin Yuzu followed her gaze and looked over. The sparkling river went gently downstream, the river wasn’t considered clear and you could only see faint shadows dancing under the surface of the water. It should be water plants.
. . . . is it water plants?
Under the eyes of the two people, the group of black shadows seemed to surge upwards, causing the water surface to ripple. Before Lin Yuzu could react, she felt her wrist hurt. Xiao Xiao held her wrist and yanked her back–
Clatter!
Something huge broke out of the water. Xiao Xiao led her, but she still wasn’t flexible enough and was a step too late, causing the both of them to be wet because of the water splashes.
The river water on her had a fishy smell, while the one that broke out of the water had slippery black tentacles. . . or something that looked like tentacles. The root is thick that gradually thinned to the end with its tip bent. The rolled-up carp was large enough to fill the bucket slowly paced back towards the riverbank, full of ingratiating meaning.
After doing this, it slowly dived back.
Lin Yuzu wiped her face, “. . .”
She and Xiao Xiao looked at each other, then back at her equally embarrassing appearance and was silent for a moment, “Well. . . for lunch at least, a fish that big is enough.”
Xiao Xiao pressed her lips tightly and the water that dripped from her hair traveled down to the hem of her coat, dripping to the ground. She showed a forbearing expression as if she was about to rush into the water to pull out the unknown creature.
Although she didn’t think Xiao Xiao would really rush down, Lin Yuzu still pulled her back, “Okay, okay, let’s hurry back and change clothes. . . . pfft.” Before she could finish speaking, she couldn’t help but leak a little laughter.
Xiao Xiao looked at her depressedly.
“Ah no, I’m not laughing at you.”
Lin Yuzu actually didn’t understand what she was laughing at, but she was carrying the bucket with the fish while walking beside Xiao Xiao. Thinking of the scene just now, she couldn’t hold back her laughter. Xiao Xiao showed a complicated look, but perhaps because laughter is easily contagious, she also followed suit and gave hopeless laughter.
“It’s a good thing you didn’t bring your notebook out,” Lin Yuzu said with a smile, “Next time, let’s change the place.”
Although she didn’t know when this mysterious creature appeared in the river, it was obvious that there is no fish to catch in that section of the river.
Their only catch was flopping around haphazardly in the bucket. When the two returned home, Zhao Cai, who had gone out for a walk, had returned. He was showing great interest in the lively carp in the bucket and stretched out its paws to try.
“Zhao Cai, No.” Lin Yuzu patted his claws and squatted down to reason with him, “Didn’t you have enough to eat this morning?”
Zhao Cai licked his paws and turned his head as if nothing happened.
It really is a cat.
Lin Yuzu wanted to laugh, but there came the sound of falling objects one after another next to her, startling both her and Zhao Cai. She saw the fishing rods and benched scattered on the ground. She then looked up at the person standing next to her in confusion, “Xiao Xiao?”
Xiao Xiao’s face was pale, her eyes fell on Lin Yuzu’s wrist before looking at her own hand.
The dark purple nails, that were supped to be trimmed since their last growth – but perhaps because of the stress reaction to the previous incident – had grown sharp once more, which was enough to cut through the fragile human skin.
Lin Yuzu took a long time to react before she turned her wrist and saw a scratch. It wasn’t deep, but black blood gushed out from the wound against her fair skin, distinctly shocking.
“No. . .” This. . .
Lin Yuzu tried to open her mouth to reassure Xiao Xiao, but the moment she locked eyes with her, she lost her ability to speak.
Xiao Xiao’s long snow-colored hair was stuck to the side of her face because of being wet. Despite looking a little embarrassing, her pair of ice-blue eyes stared at her at the moment. Behind the watery layer, her eyes looked shaky and fragile, then like snow on a branch that was shaken, a bit of cold water rolled down at the corner of her eyes.
. . . ah.
That little droplet of water fell on the back of Lin Yuzu’s hand, and the splash looked like a blooming flower.
Xiao Xiao cried.
The author has something to say:
Yuzu used to hate children, but after working as a kindergarten teacher at the base, the whole person is full of motherhood.
No!!! Lin Yuzu made our precious little Xiao Xiao cry!!!
I cri. . .
I just imagine how pitiful and heartbreaking Xiao Xiao looked at this scene. . .
Even if I do hate children, I think I would also be full of motherly love when faced with Xiao Xiao crying. . .
Anyway~ I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I did!!
May the abyss be with you~!
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Nihilum Creations 
Thanks for chapter.
I think you better do write WordPress(dot)com rather than WordPress.com .
Usually bot that stole people works delete it when it detected link like that.
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Thank youuu~!
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