Chapter 422: Zombie Girl
After placing the newly made holy emblem in a prominent position, Owen tidied himself up and opened the shop for business.
The original owner’s business wasn’t very good. Most necromancers treated undead as consumables and didn’t care about their appearance or quality. Only those with money to spare, those who were particular, or those who were too lazy to do it themselves would come to his shop to buy processed bone materials. Naturally, business wasn’t booming.
However, as Bone Street expanded, the original owner gained some special customers: the undead.
Necromancers and undead are two different things. Although the latter are mostly creations of necromancers, there are also some that arise naturally or break free from control.
These undead have a certain chance of awakening. Although their strength may not increase significantly, they gain intelligence.
With intelligence comes needs, and with needs comes work. Therefore, Bone Street is also home to many working undead, such as skeletons responsible for street cleaning, zombies responsible for guarding, and ghosts responsible for patrolling. As for vampires, they are considered the nobility even among the undead, and rarely lack money.
However, Bone Street is not large, and the jobs it can provide are limited. Many undead have to go to Mithril City to find work. These jobs, while well-paid, are dangerous, making injuries commonplace.
Repairing damage to undead is naturally the specialty of necromancers. But what undead would dare put themselves in their hands? Once tampered with, they would be forced to work for free until they die. Therefore, the original owner, with his good craftsmanship and low strength, became the first choice for some undead customers, and he had many regulars. The zombie girl who pushed open the door at this moment was one of them.
“Welcome!” Owen said with a smile.
However, neither the original owner nor Owen would lose their composure over this small scene, so they skillfully began to examine her.
But with this level of strength, who would be willing to take on low-level tasks that waste time? Thus, a vicious cycle was created.
This was the customary greeting gesture of the Death and Shadow religion, and with the emblem of the Death and Shadow religion right next to it, the zombie girl’s worries were slightly eased, and she finally decided to have her injuries treated here.
“I just broke through yesterday, so naturally I’m happy. Thank you for the mercy of Death and Shadow.” Owen put his hands together and bowed towards the holy emblem, drawing the attention of the wary zombie girl.
“Yes.” Owen crossed his arms in front of his chest and nodded.
The broken armor was no longer worth repairing, and as the user, her body naturally bore all sorts of wounds. However, as a zombie, her flesh and bones were exceptionally tough, and she had no vital points to speak of, so she hadn’t lost her mobility. But if she didn’t repair them, there would definitely be problems in the next battle.
The zombie girl would have to work for Owen for at least six months to pay off the cost of her body repair, and then she would need another six months to save up enough money to buy equipment. Therefore, Owen would have an employee he could use for a year.
The zombie girl had no other choice. Living people’s bone injuries could heal on their own, and undead could too, but it took a long time. Especially for these self-aware undead, lying in a tomb for more than a decade was simply a form of torture. So she would rather work.
The only problem was that she had no money, or at least not enough money.
“You seem happy?” The blood-stained zombie girl, carrying her severed arm, had just entered when she was startled by Owen’s cheerful tone. After all, in Bone Street, happiness was an extremely rare emotion.
Free undead like the zombie girl were most afraid of being controlled and losing their freedom, so they would try to avoid contact with necromancers, at least official necromancers.
The results weren’t good. Fractures, cracks, and other bone injuries were all over her body, especially the severed arm, which looked like a nine-section whip. If she weren’t a zombie, she would have been buried long ago.
However, the zombie girl had known the original owner for quite some time, and she had some understanding of his character. She knew that he was one of the few in the Underworld who still had a bottom line, and he believed in the Death and Shadow religion. Therefore, she decided to stay here, otherwise, it would be riskier to find other necromancer apprentices.
Owen, following the original owner’s habit, carefully locked the door and followed her upstairs. He didn’t expect that in such a short time, she had already taken off most of her clothes.
The zombie girl was quite good-looking when she was alive. Judging from some of her habits that she still retained, she had most likely received systematic knight training. Her strength before death wasn’t bad either, which was why she was made into a high-level zombie. She didn’t emit a rotten smell like ordinary zombies, nor was her body covered in rotten flesh. Apart from her color and lack of elasticity, she looked much the same as she did when she was alive. So, lying there naked was a considerable test for some men.
Therefore, unless their strength far exceeded the requirements of the task, various expenses were unavoidable.
Having made her decision, the zombie girl didn’t hesitate and went upstairs.
For skeletons and zombies, the most troublesome thing was bone damage, especially for zombies. Without bone support, they were even worse off than skeleton soldiers. Therefore, the first thing Owen checked was whether her bones were intact.
“You need major repairs. Otherwise, you’ll have trouble staying in one piece in the next battle.” Owen began to mark the problems he found on a piece of paper with a crudely drawn human figure. The more he wrote, the more the marks covered the entire figure. Even if the zombie girl didn’t want to face reality, she had to admit that she couldn’t delay it any longer. Otherwise, when she fell apart, she might not even be able to come back.
After some bargaining, Owen decided to accept the zombie girl’s offer of working off her debt. Thus, the shop gained a new employee, security guard, and delivery person.
“You became a believer in the Death and Shadow religion?” The zombie girl wasn’t confined to Bone Street and knew a little about the outside world. Therefore, she knew about this rather peculiar religion in the Underworld.
The rewards for missions in Mithril City were very generous, but the danger level also increased significantly. After all, you couldn’t expect those people in Mithril City to do charity. Therefore, equipment loss and injuries were commonplace.
After signing the contract, Owen began to repair the zombie girl.
Just like that, the zombie girl had just replaced her equipment and confidently took on a difficult task. As a result, the money she earned wasn’t enough to repair her injuries, let alone buy new equipment.
The original owner’s nickname was Jack the Ripper, not just because he ripped open bodies and removed organs. He also had a unique skill, which was to reach into the body through an incision in the abdomen and repair injuries relying solely on experience and his fingers.
Owen naturally wouldn’t choose this method. After all, this zombie girl was quite old, and her internal organs were preserved during her initial processing. So if he reached in, it would definitely not be a pleasant experience. Therefore, he took out some sutures.
These sutures, specially prepared for zombies, were very strong. Even with a knife, it wasn’t easy to cut them.
The zombie girl, lying there waiting for Owen to reach in, was a little confused. She wondered what this new method was, but she didn’t expect the sutures to suddenly move on their own. They went deep into the wounds, exploring the damaged areas. This was Owen using the puppet string technique to manipulate them, causing less trauma and allowing for a more thorough examination.
