Dead Man Walking: Living By Day, Dead By Night

As Zane initially suspected, the next week and a half he basically acted as a glorified hug pillow for Tabitha, who would cling to his side damn near constantly. Frankly, he was lucky that he no longer had to take care of certain bodily needs, or else he feared she may have followed him into the restroom as well while he was taking care of business.

But after a week and a half of such possessive behavior, Tabitha regained the clarity of her mind, and along with it lost any memories of how she had spent the last few days. In doing so, Zane was finally able to go back to doing what he had been doing for the past six months, which was collecting the blood crystals contained within the brains of Seoul's petrified residents.

Meanwhile, Zane was not the only one progressing. Six months was a long time, and Elena and the others had fought tooth and nail for the survival of not only themselves but Gravestone as well. By now, the average level of Gravestone's 5,000 residents was around level 20. Making them among the more impressive residents of the town.

In addition to this, they had thousands of undead ranging from Tier III to V acting as basically slave labor for the townsfolk. This meant that they had one of the more capable human settlements. Meanwhile, their leaders, which consisted of Zane's harem, were all level 35.

Meaning they were powerful enough to deal with any threat that approached the border of Gravestone so long as it wasn't a high ranking Tier I Horde King or above. But did the undead have time for such petty concerns such as humanity?

No, they did not. The war between the Moderates and Fanatics was continuing with each passing day. And there was no clear sign of a victor emerging any time soon. By now New Reno had fallen completely, its survivors fleeing to the protection of Gravestone.

Although, not many of them remained after the collapse of their settlement. And even then, Olivia and the others only allowed those who were not a threat to them inside the safety of the town's walls. That was why their population had been boosted to 5,000.

Those who did not pass Angelica's test were forced to leave the region entirely and attempt to survive the long march elsewhere. Perhaps Elysium would welcome them. Or maybe they might find somewhere else to start anew.

Either way, Zane's plans to create an outpost in South Reno immediately collapsed. In addition to this, several of the neighboring areas that used to belong to the Horde Kings who were now Zane's companions were reclaimed by the undead, acting as strongholds in their civil war.

Gravestone itself remained untouched, and because Tahoe was remotely accessed through it, Gravestone also maintained control of the lake and its fresh water supply. But other than that, all the other ground Zane had gained in his efforts had been reclaimed by the undead.

If not for the advantageous position which Gravestone was in, which aided to its defense, then perhaps it too would have fallen in this time. But with its protector, along with the population of mostly level 20+ Awakened, and the thousands of higher Tier Undead that Zane left behind as guardians. The city remained. Even if it must constantly remain on watch for the Horde Kings and their advance.

As previously mentioned, gravestone wasn't exactly a priority for either the Moderates or fanatics. The sole reason New Reno fell was because it was located in the middle of Bartholomew's territory, which was itself a Warzone being invaded by the fanatics.

They were simply unlucky enough to get swept in the tide of undead that flooded into the city. After six months of near constant assault by Balthazar and his minions. A beachhead had been secured in Necropolis. But other than that, there was not significant ground gained by the Fanatics in Lilith's domain.

Who continued to fight with everything she had to prevent her city from being overtaken by her rivals. As for Ophelia, she had not emerged from hiding in Shanghai. Though she continuously fueled Balthazar's armies with a surplus of reinfocments from her own supply. She refused to step foot within 1,000 km of the shores of Necropolis.

And despite her repeated warnings to Balthazar that Lilith was far more powerful than they believed her to be. He refused to recognize such a reality, continuously taunting the woman into coming out to fight him in a one-on-one battle.

But did she have any reason to do so? Clearly, the war of attrition was going in her favor, or by now she would have shifted to other tactics. And hence she sat in her penthouse, slowly but surely accumulating power by consuming the hearts of her livestock.

To put it simply, the world may be in a state of chaos, but humanity's place in it was only slightly worse off than it had been six months prior, when the Undead civil war broke out. In fact, groups like the Remnant had made significant gains because the undead were busy killing each other.

Enhancing their influence and retaking lost ground. Recovering lost weapons and resources that could be used to further expand their territory. They recruited local populations of isolated human beings, specifically those in rural areas which had limited contact with the Undead, and thus had not consumed blood crystals, thus strengthening their numbers.

Both in terms of military conscripts, and for their labor force.

As for those "corrupted" human beings they came across. The policy was enslavement where available, or extermination when this was simply not a practical solution. Somehow, despite the rumors of the Old World American government still existing in some capacity. People in the wasteland weren't exactly flocking to their side.

It was almost as if people had lost faith in the ability of such a government to protect them, considering they had fled and hid in their bunkers shortly after the Undead Plague began.

Time continued to fly by, and these things only further went in the direction they had been. Until eventually, after two entire years in Seoul, Zane had finally consumed all the Blood Crystals in Seoul.

Quite frankly, he had vastly underestimated the extent to which the experience required between levels would multiply. In the end, even after consuming ten million blood crystals, which were a mixture of the various tiers. Zane had only reached level 65 before running out of resources.

Granted, this was significantly higher than the rest of humanity, by about 30 levels. And if Zane was being honest, this was probably only a level he could reasonably achieve without spending a decade or more fighting with the undead in the wasteland.

But somehow he felt as if he had been cheated. No doubt by the system itself. However, now that Zane had finally completed his objective. And gained all the power that he could. There was a serious problem that he was left with.

How did he proceed to leave Tabitha? Though Tabitha, in her lucid state was easy enough to deal with. And would no doubt honor the agreement they had made two years ago when Zane had agreed to stay in Seoul under her protection.

There was a serious problem with how she would react when she lost her mind a week or two after he left her behind. Over the course of two years, Tabitha's obsession with Zane had grown to levels that were beyond manageable. It was a miracle that he had remained chaste in this time, considering how she treated him as if he were her soul mate.

And throughout the entirety of the last two years, Zane had always calmed the woman down whenever she entered an insane and paranoid state. Fearing he would leave her behind, the only way Zane could achieve this was by assuring her he would never do so.

However, Lucid Tabitha had made it abundantly clear, though she would watch him and protect him as he grew. She would not submit to his authority until after he was more powerful than she was.

This was simply not possible if he continued to stay in Seoul now that it had been bled dry of all of its resources. So what did he do? Did he leave Tabitha behind in her lucid state and pray that the woman did not begin wreaking havoc across the world in search of him the moment she lost her mind again? As she had threatened to do on multiple occasions?

Did he somehow convince the crazed Tabitha to follow him on his journey? But if he did that, how would he ever be able to make use of his companions? Many of which were female. Such a thing would send crazed Tabitha into a rampage if another female even pretended to act close to him.

I mean, sure Zane could always resurrect them. But it would be a never-ending cycle. And if he could neither leave Tabitha behind, nor get her to follow her? What exactly did he do with her? It was only then, while pondering on this dilemma, that Zane heard a familiar voice in the back of his head. One that he had not heard in nearly two years.

"If only there was some all-powerful being you were related to and have been horribly neglecting that could reasonably solve your issue for you?"

It was when Zane heard this that he quickly voiced his thoughts aloud. Not realizing that the crazed Tabitha was still clinging to him.

"Mother?"