Chapter 75: Chapter 75: The World of the Novel
"I am more familiar with Doctor Ashborn." Zerra shrugged. "But I happened to meet your friend once too and found him familiar. Then, I remembered that you used to talk about your friends and even had some photos with him."
Her answer was reasonable, and Laziel accepted her explanation. However, a flash of awkwardness still crossed his face.
He was a little guilty. Because when he showed off his friend’s pictures, he had mocked her for not having friends like he did. Unexpectedly, she remembered it so deeply that she even recalled Eryx’s appearance.
Zerra lowered her head, unaware of the turmoil going through Laziel’s mind.
Was what she said the truth? Not entirely. She certainly wouldn’t bother remembering an irrelevant person she had just seen once.
Besides the main protagonists, and maybe Darren, who was a little crazy sometimes, there was a character she recalled quite deeply.
Eryx Ashborn. The next zombie king.
When Zerra found out that this world was a novel, it had taken her a few reincarnations. It wasn’t an instant realization, where she instantly realized she was inside a book.
She had taken her time to figure things out before she finally came to terms with it. And when she did, she was in a state of disbelief for a while.
At first, she ignored the signs, thinking that she was crazy.
How did Zerra find out that this world was actually a novel? It was through a dream. She always had similar dreams in a row, like a persistent cockroach.
So, even if she wanted to ignore it, she couldn’t. The content of the dream was ridiculous. Over time, she couldn’t help but ponder it.
The first row of dreams came during her first reincarnation. She was a braindead, spoiled young lady at that time, so she didn’t care much after a while. Thus, it was forgotten.
During the second reincarnation, she woke up, like she had been in a long slumber. Not as the cannon fodder Zerra Sylvaris, but as the celestial fox from the celestial realm. She still had the same dream.
In every dream, she was always reading a book. The content, the characters’ names... she was all too familiar with them.
The dream always ended when she got to the part where she became the zombie king and had her crystal core dug out.
In a random dream, she managed to flip into later Chapters, somehow. Then, she found Eryx’s name, and his identity. He was supposed to be a zombie king like her, which left a deep impression.
In the book, Eryx had a feud with an important figure. Later, he was thrown into a horde of zombies. Because he couldn’t retaliate when he was a human, after he became a zombie, his hatred for humans remained.
Thus, he leveled faster compared to other zombies and emerged as the zombie with the highest power. He gained control as the zombie king, who was hell-bent on destroying humanity. He managed to make the human side suffer a lot of losses during battle.
When she tried to flip into later Chapters again in the subsequent dreams, it was always disrupted. Like she had inadvertently taken a glance at something she shouldn’t have and was banned from doing it again.
"Zee... you have been reading for a while. How about taking a rest?" The voice was calm, without emotional fluctuation.
A wide hand with slender fingers clasped hers, who had her fingers tracing the page of the book.
She turned her head to see how the person looked like, but the person’s face was blurry. She saw their lips moving, yet she could not make out what the other party was saying.
Just as she tried to reach for the person with her other hand, the figure vanished, replaced by the blue ceiling. She had abruptly woken up from her sleep.
Even if she didn’t flip to the next Chapters where the story took place after she died, this person would still be there when she glanced at them.
Like an NPC; the words they uttered were also similar.
The dreams completely disappeared in her fourth reincarnation. They never visited her again, as if they knew they had served their ultimate purpose.
Zerra never found out who that person was.
"Yes." Doctor Ashborn had a friendly smile on her face. "Thanks to Miss Zerra, she saved my brother, Eryx."
She snapped back to the present. She had been dozing off during Laziel and Doctor Ashborn’s conversation. Even Eryx had woken up now.
He was looking at her with wide eyes. Zerra blinked, a little confused. She looked away, turning to Doctor Ashborn and told her. "You don’t need to be so polite. Just call me Zerra, Doctor Ashborn."
Doctor Ashborn’s eyes looked at her with a kind gaze. "Then, you also don’t need to be so formal with me. Just call me Isryn."
Zerra nodded and called out obediently, "Isryn."
"Sister, is this Miss Zerra?" Eryx’s voice suddenly rang in their ears. When the people present turned their heads to him, he flushed slightly in embarrassment.
"Oh, you have woken up." Isryn nodded at him.
Receiving his sister’s confirmation, Eryx was somewhat nervous, but he still forced himself to talk. "Miss Zerra, sorry for the trouble last time, and thank you for saving me. It must have been a lot of hassle."
He could vaguely remember the slender outline of a girl from the time he was delirious. Something weird was happening with his body; it was her soft voice that had guided him.
Plus, he had also clung to the girl like an octopus. He was filled with infinite shame whenever he remembered this.
Then, by the time he woke up, he found out that he had become someone with superpowers. The world was also riddled with zombies. There was this nagging feeling that if not for that girl, he might have directly become one of them.
So, upon finding his savior again, Eryx was really thankful and embarrassed.
"That’s alright," Zerra muttered. She hadn’t recalled whether she had any encounters with Eryx in her previous reincarnations.
Was he always such a polite and shy person?
"Eryx, why do you only have Zerra in your eyes?" Laziel looked at his friend in indignation. He was even more disappointed when he saw Eryx’s widened eyes landed on him, as if he was surprised that Laziel was there.
"How long have you been standing there?" Eryx looked apologetic.
Of course, Laziel didn’t really hold a grudge. He had been sitting in the seat beside Isryn’s bed in order to converse better with her. So, Zerra’s tall height, who stood in between Isryn and Eryx’s hospital beds, had blocked him from Eryx’s sight.
Laziel’s talkative personality helped to ease the atmosphere in the room. It was now filled with occasional laughter.
Zerra glanced at Laziel and sighed. Surprisingly, Laziel was so close to Eryx. How disappointed would he be if his friend turned into a zombie in the future?
The siblings, not wanting to disturb the patients’ rest, finally excused themselves.
"Why do you keep sighing?" Laziel stared at his sister in confusion.
"I am poor." She thought about her current pitiful spiritual energy and was even sadder. Her heart yearned for more crystal cores!
Perhaps it was because her emotional fluctuation was too strong that she finally turned into a fox during the night. This time, she decided she wouldn’t rob Cassias only. Laziel too!
She sneakily trotted to Cassias and Laziel’s place with her short legs.
The place was open. They had guests. Too excited for crystal cores, she didn’t brake in time and entered the place in the middle of their conversation.