Chapter 3: So He Paid Extra! (Please Favorite and Recommend)
Chapter 3: So He Paid Extra! (Please Favorite and Recommend)
The next morning.
Cui Ze awoke abruptly from his dream, instinctively tracing an inverted cross over his chest, grateful to have survived another day, and silently continuing his prayers to Teacher Kaido in the heavens.
After quickly finishing breakfast, Cui Ze donned his gas mask and hung the jade-green bamboo tube mouthpiece at his waist. Standing beneath the cellar door, he activated the Breath of the Beast technique.
“Breath of the Beast, Form Seven: Spatial Awareness!”
Using this ability, Cui Ze swiftly scanned the streets surrounding his third stronghold.
“No large groups of zombies detected nearby! It’s safe to go out.”
Confident in his knowledge of the surroundings, he deactivated the spatial awareness and silently pushed open the cellar door. Passing through the backyard, he stepped onto the ruined town’s street, ready to begin today’s zombie hunt.
Before setting off, he looked up at the sky to gauge the intensity of the battles raging above.
Perhaps it was his imagination, but the conflicts overhead seemed less fierce than in previous days.
“That should be a good thing…”
He muttered to himself, quickly turning his attention away.
After yesterday’s setback—having been tricked by the “Fishing” skill and wasting countless resources for nothing more than a bizarre item, the “Bamboo Tube Mouthpiece of Nezuko Kamado”—Cui Ze needed to replenish his supply of bait.
As a weakling, he had to seize every chance to survive!
“Is Lady Luck on the runway today?”
Opening his personal attributes panel for a quick glance, Cui Ze scowled.
“Luck d… Tch!”
He shut the holographic screen, grabbed his spiked hammer, and set off on his zombie-slaying journey.
Thanks to the experience gained over the past three days, dealing with slow-moving, acoustically sensitive zombies had become second nature.
As long as he avoided provoking the towering mutated zombies—those “big monsters” clustered in the town’s broad central square—ordinary zombies were nothing more than easy targets, each dispatched with a single hammer blow.
Indeed, the intensity of the sky battle was significantly lower than in the previous three days.
By midday, Cui Ze had already killed five zombies, earning five F-grade “Victory Bait,” all without a single interruption from the aerial conflict.
Despite this, he felt Lady Luck was growing dull.
Yet every time he opened the holographic screen, he knew the goddess of fortune was still the same cruel, busty D-monster!
Feeling the growing mastery of his Breath of the Beast technique, Cui Ze pulled a dried meat strip of unknown origin from his pocket and chewed it slowly to replenish the energy spent in battle.
As for the “Rice Ball of Tanjiro Kamado” he fished up last night, it had already been consumed for breakfast this morning.
After three days of relentless battles echoing from the sky battlefield, the zombie density in the town was naturally low.
With Cui Ze’s thorough “cleanup” efforts, the streets near the third stronghold were nearly free of zombies. He needed to find a new area to clear for future “Victory Bait” replenishment.
If Cui Ze wiped out all the zombies in town and the sky battle still raged on, he would have to consider venturing deeper into the island and exploring other human (or rather, undead) settlements…
Fortunately, the zombie resources in the medieval town were still abundant enough to last at least two or three days.
Finishing the last bit of his meat strip, Cui Ze climbed to the tallest nearby building and pulled out an old brass monocular telescope. Extending the lens, he aimed to scout other parts of the town.
“Breath of the Beast: Spatial Awareness” was a useful skill, but Cui Ze couldn’t rely on it constantly—at least not yet.
Just as he extended the telescope and looked towards the outskirts, the round lens reflected a peculiar white area.
“Is that… smoke flying along the ground?”
Frowning, Cui Ze lowered the telescope and rubbed his eyes. Looking again, he immediately spotted a half body flying at the forefront of the smoke.
It was a young man with only the upper half of his body visible—gray-white short hair framing a fierce face. He wore a white Navy recruit’s short-sleeve shirt, tightly wrapping his muscular torso, but below the waist was nothing at all!
“Smoke… Smoker, the Navy officer from the original story, a Logia-type Smoke Fruit user?”
Cui Ze studied for a while longer and confirmed that the young man rapidly roaming the wilderness outside town, clearing zombies and zombie beasts, was indeed Recruit Smoker.
No one else on the seas would dare smoke two cigars at once!
“Following Smoker are quite a few Navy recruits… If that’s the case, then the one battling Kaido in the sky isn’t some ‘Great Pirate,’ but Admiral Zephyr of the Navy Headquarters—Black Arm Zephyr?!”
Cui Ze’s mind raced as he looked up at the sky. After three days of delay, he had finally uncovered the truth.
“So it’s the Navy Admiral!”
…
It must be noted that Zephyr’s confrontation with Kaido was accidental.
He had lost his mind and rashly brought a group of rookie recruits looking for trouble with the Pirate Emperor!
Zephyr and his squad were currently clearing the zombie-infested island, formerly controlled by Mzan, a villainous biologist and a Paramecia-type Virus Fruit user.
Unfortunately, this scientist had another identity—he was a youthful comrade and clansman of Kaido, commander of the Beasts Pirates.
One of the exceedingly rare “Oni” clans on the seas!
Upon noticing Zephyr’s arrival, Mzan immediately contacted Kaido in the New World by Den Den Mushi.
But Kaido only arrived belatedly after Mzan was captured by the Navy.
Then…
The Azure Dragon fought Zephyr fiercely!
“Kaido! Surrender now! The deep-sea prison Impel Down is your final destination!”
Zephyr hovered mid-air, his purple hair standing on end like metal spikes. His two muscular arms were covered in an unbroken sheen of black Armament Haki from knuckles to wrists.
Black Arm Zephyr was renowned across the seas for his profound dual-color Haki and breathtaking combat skills!
“Hohoho! Zephyr old man, what nonsense are you spouting?!”
In his Azure Dragon form, Kaido laughed openly, each scale on his terrifying beast face radiating mockery.
“As if you could take me—Roaring Thunder!”
Boom!
The phantom Azure Dragon opened its massive jaws, unleashing a thunderous roar that transformed into thick, pillar-like white lightning, weaving an impenetrable net of heavenly thunder aimed at the Admiral.
In the blink of an eye, the dazzling electric net hurtled toward Zephyr.
A sharp red gleam flashed in Zephyr’s eyes as he raised his black-armored right fist and struck out with a mighty blow. The tremendous force and dense Haki shattered the thunder net, the scattered sparks quickly dissipating into the air.
At this stage, Zephyr was far from the disabled man who would later lose his right arm to Whitebeard’s second-in-command; his strength remained at its peak!
It’s well known that every true top-tier sea warrior enjoys an astonishingly long prime.
“Kaido, Mzan has been captured by the Navy! If not for his rare Devil Fruit powers, he would have been executed long ago for the countless innocent lives he destroyed!”
Zephyr looked toward the Azure Dragon form. Before he could finish his plea, a torrent of loud sobbing interrupted him.
“Ahhh! Mzan! My poor clansman! How could you have been caught by this useless Navy? Boohoo!”
Kaido’s sorrow erupted swiftly as big tears fell from his dragon eyes.
“The key is you still haven’t handed over my reward!”
Reward?
Zephyr’s expression twisted oddly across the distance. He forced a smile, seeming embarrassed to say:
“Kaido, that was your longtime friend, your clansman…”
“Exactly!”
Kaido suddenly stopped crying and winked at Zephyr like a changed man.
“So he paid extra!
Those were two Ancient-type Devil Fruits! There’s no way I’m letting that slide!
Flame Breath! Hah—”
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New book period, humbly asking readers to favorite and vote!
The signing on the platform has begun. Since it’s electronic, the status should update in a day or two, so those wanting to invest should hurry!
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Regarding updates:
During the new book period, two updates daily, at 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.
After release… let the author go wild with updates.
Those familiar with the previous work know that nearly 10,000 characters were released daily for the first two months, so no worries.
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Regarding extra chapters:
This time, the rules are different from the last book to avoid excessive backlog.
Extra chapters rules:
- For every 100 average subscriptions, add one chapter.
- For every 1,000 monthly votes, add three chapters.
- For every 10,000 tips, add two chapters.
- For every 10,000 recommendations, add one chapter.
These bonuses only apply after reaching the thresholds.
(The last book had 100 monthly votes per extra chapter, and 3,000 tips per extra chapter—ended up with a huge backlog.)
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Regarding backlog:
Yes, we’re already discussing this after three chapters.
Despite the double boost of completion plus extras, the backlog remains at 38 chapters.
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Finally, all extra and backlog chapters will be handled after release.
No extra or explosive updates during the new book period unless a big patron showers me with money!
Current backlog (extra) stands at 38 chapters.
(End of chapter)