The Living and the Dead

They found an apartment hotel to check into. The Undead plague had crippled tourism in the Ancient Capital, and the upscale hotels were dirt cheap.

They weren't setting out until the following morning, so with the night still young, Mo Fan had no intention of sleeping. He roused Liu Ru, and the two of them set off toward the outer city wall.

The Undead Domain was famous the world over, yet Mo Fan had never actually witnessed the moment that dark world descended upon this land. Consider it mental preparation before tomorrow's real encounter with the Undead.

The outer wall soared impossibly high, encircling the city like an iron barrel. Mo Fan used his hunter credentials to gain access to the top, and as he walked along the seemingly endless rampart, he was struck by the sheer number of guards — ten times more than during the day, if not more.

A cold wind swept in from the distance, carrying the reek of rotting earth — what the guards called the smell of death.

The towering wall stretched across the land like a mountain spine cleaving the earth in two. But if one looked down from high above, the contrast became clear: within the wall, countless people moved back and forth with purpose; beyond it, an equal number of figures drifted without direction…

Black velvet clouds rolled in thick and low, pressing down over a flat expanse of shadow-soaked earth. Fed by death itself, all manner of life stirred in that grim soil. One after another, nameless creatures clawed their way out of long-buried graves, sweeping their luminous green eyes across the world.

They sniffed. On the wind came the scent of the living — and in great numbers.

In an instant, the shambling Undead transformed. As though seized by demons, they surged toward the Ancient Capital at terrifying speed.

From a distance, they looked like refugees running toward food — but as they massed together and crashed against the wall like a tide of rot, their twisted faces and ravenous eyes sent dread rippling through every Mage on the ramparts.

**"AAUGH! AAUGH!"**

**"HRAAAUGH! HRAAAUGH!"**

The cries rose and fell without end. Even residents deep in the city's center could hear those unearthly wails, separated from death by nothing but a wall.

They swarmed at the base of the outer wall, raking at it with sharpened claws and gnashing teeth, desperate to tear down the barrier between themselves and their prey. Some simply hurled themselves against the stone with brute force and shattered into sprays of gore.

"My legs are actually shaking," Liu Ru said from the wall's edge, her voice unsteady.

Mo Fan cast her a sideways glance. "Technically, you're Undead too, you know."

Liu Ru puffed out her rosy cheeks with indignation, her expression saying it all: *Fine, I may be Undead — but at least I'm a cute one.*

"How can there possibly be so many?" Her gaze followed the wall into the distance.

It stretched on like a mountain ridge, and at every watchtower along its length, Undead clustered in swarms…

In the sections where they were thickest, they had begun forming towers of bodies — the dead climbing over the dead in a frantic push to scale the wall.

The defenders would have none of it. Squad after squad of Mages unleashed torrents of magic — blazing fire, biting frost, crackling Thunderbolts, roaring storms — painting the sky in violent color as flesh and bone erupted outward in a spectacle as breathtaking as it was horrifying.

"All non-essential personnel, clear the wall!"

The voice came from somewhere unseen, deep and powerful enough to carry along the entire rampart.

Mo Fan and Liu Ru were given no further opportunity to observe this war-like night. They were quickly ushered away — but in the very moment of leaving, Mo Fan peered through the darkness and spotted it beneath those dense black velvet clouds: a colossal shadow, rising on the horizon.

Around that shape, darkness spread like a rising tide. Even without making out any detail, one could imagine just how thick the Undead were gathered there.

Then the shadow raised its head and roared at the sky. The sound rolled through the night like a thunderclap, shaking the wall itself.

If the Ancient Capital was a fortress, then that distant shadow was its king — and at its call, the earth erupted and an army surged like the sea.

That final image stayed with Mo Fan through the whole of the night.

He had always assumed war was something distant, something that happened elsewhere — yet this ancient city, which had endured for ages beyond counting, faced exactly this every single night without exception.

A war of absolute resolve between the living and the dead.

The awe it stirred in him refused to settle.

The night was brief — for those who had gone to bed at a sensible hour, at least.

For those still fighting on the outer wall, the night stretched on without end.

Mo Fan's sleep was restless at best. He barely scraped through to dawn.

As daylight broke, the faint trembling of the earth that had reached them through the night had ceased. Mo Fan opened the window. Through the dense grid of city blocks, streets, and alleyways, he made out the wall's vast silhouette in the morning mist — a long shadow lying athwart the horizon. It looked as though a gap had opened somewhere. Or perhaps it looked no different from the night before. There was no way to tell.

His eyes couldn't pick out details from dozens of kilometers away. He only knew the fighting was probably over.

"Bad night?" Liu Ru called to him from an adjacent balcony.

"Unless you've lived here your whole life, I doubt anyone sleeps well," Mo Fan said with a short laugh. "Should've just stayed in bed — spent the whole night dreaming of Undead tearing through the outer wall."

"Still, it's fine — we're inside the inner wall," Liu Ru said. "Even if the outer wall broke, wouldn't the inner wall be another line of defense?"

"Young lady, don't talk nonsense!" An old woman's voice cut in sharply. It was an elderly resident from the lower floors, trimming her plants in the garden. "The outer wall is held by over a thousand Earth Element Mages. It cannot break. If it did, do you have any idea how many people would die? You can eat whatever you like, but watch what comes out of your mouth!"

The building had an unusual layout — the lower floors were high-end residential apartments, with the hotel rooms occupying the levels above.

"Sorry," Liu Ru said, sticking her tongue out with an embarrassed smile.

"Young people these days — no sense of propriety. You've forgotten everything our ancestors stood for. Every last one of you hiding away inside the city while others bleed for you…" The old woman launched into a lengthy tirade.

Mo Fan and Liu Ru didn't linger to hear the rest. They finished getting ready and headed for the southern face of the outer wall to link up with Shorty.

They reached the southern outer gate, and Mo Fan combed the crowd for a good while without success. It wasn't until Shorty had his phone out, calling Mo Fan while hopping up and down to be seen, that Mo Fan finally managed to catch sight of the top of the man's head.

He scanned the people assembled around Shorty and found a small group had already gathered.

The others looked unremarkable enough, but one member of the group drew the eye immediately — a woman wearing a veil of black silk.

These days everyone wore face masks outdoors; a silk veil was something else entirely. There was an undeniable air of chivalric romance about it.

Whether she wore it to conceal her features, or simply because she couldn't bear the lingering stench of rot from beyond the city walls — that remained to be seen.