Luo Er’s corpse lay discarded in the alley corner like a rag, lifeless and ashen.

She slumped against the wall, head bowed. Her once bright eyes had been cruelly gouged out, leaving only hollow sockets crusted with dried blood.

Her chest wrap had slipped down her legs, half-covering her modest chest beneath torn rags.

Luo Er was dead—like a stray cat tortured to death, unseen and unknown by anyone.

A pungent stench of urine filled the air as pale yellow liquid mingled with dark crimson blood, seeping across the ground.

*“So you disguised yourself as a boy… to stay safe?”*

Mu Yi crouched before her body, gazing at the girl as if in casual conversation. His ink-black eyes held not a flicker of emotion.

His gaze dropped to the white chest wrap pooled around her legs, the shredded remains of her top. Silently, he shrugged off his trench coat and draped it over her broken form.

A heavy silence hung in the air.

Then—Mu Yi drew a silver revolver and pressed its barrel against Luo Er’s temple.

“Wait! What are you doing?!”

Olienna, still reeling from the horror, lunged forward and seized his arm. *Was he going to desecrate Miss Luo Er’s body?!*

“Olienna, Luo Er she—”

**ROAR!!!**

Before Mu Yi could finish, Luo Er’s corpse let out a guttural snarl.

Deep purple veins erupted across her ashen skin, pulsing with dark energy. Her lower body twisted unnaturally upright while her torso stayed limp. Cracks spiderwebbed across her eyeless face.

*“Mu… Yi…”*

A gurgling rasp tore from her ruined throat. Thick black blood spewed with every broken syllable.

“What… *is* this thing?!” Olienna’s legs turned to jelly as the corpse lurched toward them. *Miss Luo Er was dead—why was she moving?! And in this rotting, monstrous form…*

*“Gift… for…”*

Her features melted into a grotesque mask. Limbs jerked at impossible angles. Her jaw unhinged to her ears, baring gleaming fangs—a twisted abomination.

“Zombie.”

Mu Yi shoved Olienna toward Aiva without glancing back. His face remained impassive.

Luo Er’s current state mirrored the mindless zombies from *Tremor*. This was just a puppet—a hollow shell.

The real Luo Er had been murdered long ago. Her body was merely a weaponized corpse.

*“Gift… for Mu Yi…”*

She thrust out a clenched fist toward him, blood oozing from her split skin. Her clawed fingers scraped the air as she staggered closer.

Mu Yi leveled the revolver at her forehead.

*Luo Er would never want to exist like this…*

***BANG!***

A deafening shot. A flash of fire. The zombie’s skull exploded.

Her body collapsed like a sack of meat, splattering onto the pavement.

*“Gift… for… Mu Yi…”*

A faint whisper seeped from the disintegrating remains.

The corpse dissolved into a pool of blood. From its shattered palm, a large, luminous silvery conch shell slid free, landing in the gore.

“Mu Yi… that conch shell…” Olienna trembled in Aiva’s arms, staring at the shell soaked in blood.

It was the very one Mu Yi had chosen on the carriage ride. Luo Er had pried it from her necklace—planning to gift it to him over dinner.

“Master…” Aiva bit her lip, eyes fixed on Mu Yi’s rigid back. He had so few friends. And Luo Er… she’d been his first in this world.

“Olienna. Go home.”

Mu Yi’s voice was soft as he turned away. He knelt, plucked the shell from the blood, and clenched it—filth forgotten. Heat flared in his palm. Rage, white-hot and suffocating, burned through his veins.

“But why? I want to help you find who killed Miss Luo Er—”

“Miss Olienna.” Aiva cupped Olienna’s face, her tone firm. “Please listen to Master.”

What came next… was no place for her.