Looking at the nearly four-meter-high iron gate in front of him, and the array of spikes vertically aligned at the top.
Scaling it would surely take quite some time.
If cornered by the undead zombies during the climb, he would be utterly trapped, without any chance of survival.
Cemetery No. 4 covered a larger area than the others,
with its disordered heaps of graves and varying heights of the land, there was still some room to maneuver.
He turned down the flame of the kerosene lamp to the minimum.
After a short sprint,
Yi Chen reached a hidden slope, with the help of his memory,
where various types and sizes of tombstones stood; his slightly lean body could just hide behind an arch-shaped tombstone.
He put his ear to the ground,
hearing no stray sounds for the moment, he confirmed that the undead had not yet followed him,
and leaned against the tombstone, curling up as he sat.
Resting against the cold tombstone actually provided Yi Chen with some comfort.
While catching his breath, he recalled the strange incidents that had just occurred.
"Who locked the gate?
And the outside was locked with iron chains... If I had to guess, it's most likely the work of the 'Organization' mentioned in the Handbook.
Because of the mistake made by this body's original owner, William, the Organization would likely have sent someone to surveil the cemetery to prevent bigger mistakes from happening.
Once they found out I was in Cemetery No. 4, trying to correct the mistake, they must have locked the gate through some means.
This would lead more directly and swiftly to one of two outcomes.
One, I overcome the crisis and handle the zombie transformation incident flawlessly.
Two, I get killed, and they take care of the problem themselves."
Yi Chen didn't dwell on this problem for too long, soon moving on to another matter—the "warning sound" that had just saved him.
"The voice is almost identical to the thank you I heard in Cemetery No. 6, could it be...?"
a faint sound of soil shifting reached him,
and the mounded grave in front of him started to stir, as if something was about to crawl out.
"This... I was merely using your tombstone to hide, I meant no disrespect!"
Yi Chen instinctively thought that his impolite behavior had disturbed the master of the grave.
he slowly got up and held the hand axe in front of him.
But little did he know.
From within the soil, that familiar and strange voice spoke again:
"Don't stand up now, if 'that guy' detects you at this moment, things will become quite troublesome..."
As the dirt slid off,
a bizarre mouth emerged from between the kinked-up mounds.
The two rows of sharp, white, overly dense teeth were striking, likely double the number of a normal human,
and the other party didn't seem to want to reveal its full appearance, only showing this mouth.
the white teeth opened to a 90° angle.
The inside of the mouth was all black, devoid of any tongue structure... like a dark abyss, staring too long at it might give one the feeling of being sucked inside.
From deep within the mouth,
something was continuously floating upwards.
With the help of the dim light from the kerosene lamp, a spherical silhouette was faintly visible.
an eyeball with a black iris and white sclera came between the teeth, staring intently at Yi Chen.
Perhaps because he had just witnessed the terrifying undead zombies that defied all logic,
this bizarre 'toothed-eye' spectacle didn't frighten Yi Chen.
His instincts told him that this creature might not be dangerous and could even be 'somewhat friendly'.
"Are you the one from Cemetery No. 6 earlier?"
After Yi Chen ventured to ask,
from deep within the mouth,
somehow, in a form that was hard to grasp, that strange, conglomerate voice emerged again:
"Yes, I'm a resident of the Pet Zone... It just so happens that I recently developed 'Self-awareness' and accidentally knocked over a tombstone while piecing together my physical form."
"I didn't expect a low-level laborer like you to take the initiative to help repair it."
"The 'time frame' in which you showed up is also problematic,"
"I was very curious about it, so I followed you to take a look."
"Now I understand... It turns out you got into this trouble because you made a mistake and incurred the wrath of the Chaotic Burial Zone's mutants."
His words were filled with many terms that Yi Chen barely understood.
"Are the Pet Zone and Chaotic Burial Zone respectively referring to cemetery number 6 and number 4?"
"Yes... The cemetery functions like a factory, where different graveyards serve as workshops with different purposes, regularly producing some valuable things.
"The Desecration Zone (2) and Chaotic Burial Zone (4) are the ones most prone to problems.
"As for more information, telling you now would be meaningless."
"What you need to do now is to clean up this corpse mutant."
Yi Chen asked the most critical question; if he could get help from a fellow 'cemetery resident,' his survival rate would greatly increase.
"I can't offer substantial help.
After all, my role in the cemetery is just 'pet'; I don't have the capability to deal with such mutants."
As he spoke, the eyeball in his mouth rolled around.
"However~ considering you helped repair the tombstone, I am willing to provide some 'sensory' assistance."
Rustle rustle~ The mound of soil loosened further,
and an arm covered in black fur shot out,
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The creature stood atop the mound, legs splayed in an assertive stance, as if flaunting its 'Body Shape.'
The terrifying image Yi Chen had conjured in his mind instantly shattered, and he understood why this creature came from the Pet Zone.
This fluffy black furball was hardly the size of two palms put together.
Its limbs, roughly the same thickness as a cat's, were somewhat longer,
split into three lobes like fingers, seemingly functioning similarly to paw pads.
When the little guy finished showing off his body,
landing firmly on Yi Chen's shoulder.
That's when the strange thing happened,
Its slender legs detached into numerous even smaller black tubes.
Sharp as needles at the tips,
they pierced through the cloth,
into the blood and flesh,
'installing' the fluffy body on his shoulder, becoming an exterior appendage.
Besides the vascular connection,
it also performed a neural graft, linking directly to Yi Chen's brain tissue.
Upon completion of the installation,
Yi Chen's 'Vision' changed,
The entire visual field widened, and a small window appeared on the right, displaying the visual feed from the eyeball.
As the furball rotated on his shoulder,
he could see the 360° view of the graveyard surroundings.
Such 'split-screen' vision might be hard to adapt to for most, but Yi Chen felt no discomfort—on the contrary, his face showed ecstatic delight.
when the furball and Yi Chen's eyes both concentrated straight ahead,
the small window melded with the main vision.
The visual field became clearer, and he could even make out the airborne fungal spores distinctly.
This was the so-called 'sensory' assistance, becoming Yi Chen's 'second eye.'
due to the neural connection,
the small flesh ball could communicate directly with Yi Chen's consciousness, providing timely danger warnings.