Dead Man Walking: Living By Day, Dead By Night

Luo Cheng had his eyes on Zhao Qiu for a very long time. It was why he had made things so difficult for her. Excessively taxing her business so that she would rack up such a debt to him that he could force her into slavery.

But with one single move Zane had ended these ambitions. Killing the woman on the spot, without mercy, before raising her from the dead as his personal servant. She looked no different from she had in life. And even the wound on her neck had fully disappeared.

Healed in fact by the black miasma which poured from Zane's hands and resurrected her as one of his Death Knights. The woman's expression was cold, almost as if all the life had been sucked out of her.

That is until she began expressing her hatred of Luo Cheng and his Divine Sword Sect, how she had been conspiring against him for years to build up enough funds in secret to hire his rivals to eliminate him.

Without realizing it, Luo Cheng had killed the young woman's parents. It was early on in the apocalypse, and he had not even seen the girl during his vicious acts. In fact, she was elsewhere at the time, and had spent a significant amount of time and resources tracking down who had massacred her family, and so brutally at that.

In the end, all evidence pointed to Luo Cheng, who in the early days of the sundering as the people of Beijing called the apocalypse had acted as a glorified bandit. No different than the types that Zane had slain repeatedly himself while living in the ruins of Reno.

Since Zane had taken Zhao Qiu as one of his death knights. It was only right to resolve her past grievances, so that she had nothing that would control her heart and mind elsewhere than his own dominion over them.

Because of this, Zane looked over at Gwen and nodded silently. Causing her and the others like her to break out into wicked grins as they advanced upon Luo Cheng and his gang. With the man in question breaking out into tears as he tried to convince Zane to spare him and his sect.

"Wait! You said you need me! You need my legendary mount don't you? Can't we talk this through!?! Is there any other way I can-"

The fiend's words were cut short as his head rolled off his shoulders, sliced off by the blades which Eliza used. Zane's death knights and Horde Kings were well equipped. They had looted the sect, which they had just burned down after all.

And in the moments after their massacre, Zane had issued equipment to them all that was suitable for their skills. Because of this, they no longer had to worry about a lack of proper gear. And instead used their new weapons and armor by testing them out on the members of the Divine Sword Sect.

After which, Zane's horde shifted its target back from the way which they originally came from. They would invade the settlement that the Divine Sword Sect protected and would massacre all of the members who wore the armor and weapons which bore the insignia of the Divine Sword Sect, which Zane would also raise to increase the strength of his horde.

The dead would be raised as mindless minions, unlike Zhao Qiu who retained her personality, and her memories. She, of course, would witness the massacre, plunder, and burning of the place she had called home with a complicated expression on her face before asking Zane the immediate question on her mind.

"Why? Why would you do all of this just to avenge my parents? Didn't you say you needed their legendary mount? Isn't there a significant risk to doing all of this on my behalf?"

Zane looked at the woman with a gaze that stated his thoughts. That she was a stupid woman for not understanding his reasoning? But he sighed and shook his head before answering her with his words that were far less capricious.

"I already know what I need to cross the Pacific thanks to these bastards. I need a flying mount of significant strength to do so. Whether I kill a legendary monster and raise it from the dead to act as my personal mount, or enslave a wielder who can do the same while living, it doesn't really matter now does it?

The Divine Sword Sect had a legendary monster that they were capable of taming to be their flying mount. Does that not mean it was of a low level? Do you really think such a thing can cross the vast distance of the skies between Asia and North America without getting me killed in the process?

They were lying to me the entire time about their abilities. But they concealed these lies with partial truths. Their use to me has come to an end. And if I may end the bitterness in your heart by avenging your loved ones, thus freeing you from this place. All by killing these worthless insects, then why not take the opportunity to do so?"

Zhao Qiu was naturally disturbed by Zane's lack of concern for the living. Especially the victims he had just slain in the tens of thousands. She stared at Zane as if he was some kind of inhuman monster. Which would indeed be accurate, but she couldn't help but express these thoughts aloud as she had them.

"You're really not human are you? I mean… The way you speak of human life with such indifference. Only a monster would be capable of such a thing!"

Zane snorted when he heard this before looking the woman in the eyes, where he outright stated what he was. And why he did not care about human suffering.

"I am the son of Death. Quite literally, death is my mother. You think I care about life in general? It is my job to spread death across this world. There are only five human beings on this Earth I care for. Everyone else is either useful to my aims, or not and that is all there is to it.

Besides, you're acting as if you are human yourself. You are aware, aren't you? That you're no longer one of the living. Your very nature has changed to match what I am, and what you now are. You will come to learn of this soon enough when you began killing on my behalf. When the time comes, you will realize just how little you care for humanity."

After saying this, Zane began to walk away from Zhao Qiu who stared at her own hands in disbelief. Was she really a monster now? She had her vengeance… But at what cost? She was now one of the undead monsters she had spent the last three years surviving against.

Meanwhile, the entirety of what she had worked for had been turned into a pile of ashes. She gazed upon the corpses of the dead, of her friends, employees, and acquaintances. All of which were mindlessly resurrected to serve the will of the so called Prince of Death.

And yet, despite staring at such a situation that would otherwise fill her with despair. Zhao Qiu found that she hadn't the slightest care in the world for those who had been killed on her behalf. It was as if she never knew them to begin with. Never was even aware they existed.

After all, who really cared about the millions of people who died every day across the world, those nameless, faceless individuals that entered the grave never to return again? Nobody ever really cared about those they didn't personally know, or have a bond with, no matter how much they might express otherwise to seem virtuous. At least, such was common prior to the outbreak of the apocalypse.

And that was how Zhao Qiu viewed all the people she had known and fought together with over the course of the last three years. It was as if they were none of her concern. As if she couldn't be bothered to recall their names and faces. They were simply the dead. And that was all there was to it.

As she struggled to come to terms with this new callous personality. Zhao Qiu shuddered to think of how her humanity had vanished from her. The moment she was risen, she was no longer herself but an undead monster.

It took her all of five minutes to come to terms with this before running off after her new master. A man who she knew the presence of instinctively. Zane himself had begun to sift through the ashes in search of any sign that might point him in the direction of what he wanted.

If Zane wanted to cross the Atlantic by sky, or by sea. Then he needed to be a much higher level, so that he could tame a beast capable of making the journey. Or raise slay it so that he could raise its corpse as his servant.

And he would at least need a legendary monster of the Tier III variety if he wanted to do so. Thus, for now, his plans to return to his homeland were put on hold. After all, Beijing and the surrounding regions held untold chances for rapid growth. And that was his new objective.