565 The Figure In The Tree Lines

While Weslie was strolling within the wild fields of Agriculture Sector 2, she vaguely started to reminisce about her old farmland and the animals she tended to for farming and later research purposes.

Weslie recalled how joyful the townsfolk were in her previous hometown. Walking around greeting the scholar, and always ensured that Weslie had enough to eat throughout the day because of all the work she was shut herself to work on.

"Oops, nearly stepped on an egg." Weslie noticed the slight glint became a bright shimmer the closer she approached towards it. "Wouldn't it be funny if these eggs are coated with diamonds? Hahaha." As she picked the egg up, the glittering disappears. At that moment, Weslie noticed that there was another person other than Melis in the sector at the tree lines in the distance.

That figure was quietly rubbing the fur of an alpaca as it was sleeping under the tree. Weslie then realised that the person saw her and nodded his head towards the scholar.

"Melis did say that everyone here is still part of the System…I guess I should introduce myself then." Weslie thought to herself when she did not want to be seen as anti social when she could possibly be working together with this person in the future.

As Weslie walked closer, she noticed that the human had a hood on him, and while seeing that his demeanour towards sleeping alpaca was more than just gentle, she lowered her guard. As a fellow animal lover, it was apparent to Weslie that the alpaca liked him a lot. So much that it was willing to place its head at his lap and snore loudly.

At a closer look, Weslie found there was a second alpaca merely resting its head at his opposite side. It was currently wide awake, only wanting to spend more time with the hooded figure.

"Am I disturbing your rest here?" The Scholar of the West asked in a quiet tone, not wanting to disturb the scene, and the hooded figure shook his head.

"Not at all. I am out here for fresh air, spending time with some of my friends too." The hooded figure said in a low, deep and somewhat tawdry kind of voice. "Never seen the likes of you around before. I assume you must be one of our latest additions?"

"Oh. Hi, I am Weslie. From the Farming World. A colleague of Gold, he saved me recently." Weslie kneeled to introduced herself with a handshake. By coming closer, she managed to see what was underneath the hood.

Derek's outer appearance was grossly disfigured.

She suffered a slight shock as she had not expected this. She tried to hide it as quickly as possible, yet the hooded figure still noticed.

Surprisingly the hooded man did not seem to mind at all and instead raised the hand he used for petting the alpaca to accept her handshake.

"Derek. From the Zombie World, at least that's how Jin and the others refer to it." Derek had a good look at Weslie and his frown into a smile.

"I see, so you are the rumoured girlfriend of our dear Gold. Glad to know that he managed to get the love of his life." Derek said before bringing the hood further down as if to cover himself.

"Ah, please! I do not mind at all. I…was an undead too before Gold managed to get me into the System. I do not know what you've been through, but I vaguely know what is like being back scrutinised. So please, be open with me." Weslie exclaimed, and suddenly there was a period of silence before she heard an amused snicker.

"Pardon me, I was merely adjusting my hood. It got a bit uncomfortable at the back that is all." Derek replied, making Weslie immediately blush for mistaking his intentions. "Nevertheless, that sincerity was welcoming. Especially for people who do not know me."

Derek then removed the hood and showed his face to Weslie, and she did not feel uncomfortable at all. In fact, she felt envious (and at the same time ashamed of herself) that he was proud of what he looked like not minding other people's opinions or if they had a prejudice towards.

However, she did not dare to share that with him and instead changed the topic entirely, asking him about the Zombie World and what it was like before he was transferred to the System.

"Heh. You think it's interesting? To know that there are worlds out there other than the one you lived in?" Derek asked, and Weslie got the feeling that she accidentally stepped on another landmine in this conversation.

"I erm…"

"Hahaha, I am just pulling your leg." Derek lightly slapped on the resting (awake) alpaca to move aside and asked Weslie to sit beside him. But even when Weslie sat right beside Derek, she could see his slightly pained expression as he remembered about the past.

"The Zombie World…I guess it's a very fitting name. Though we also used to call it Earth. In fact, it was not that different from our Master's." Derek started to paint the picture, but Weslie apologised saying that she had yet to see the Master of the System nor his world.

"Now, that is a little hard to visualise. Hmm." Derek looked around a little and spotted that Melis was around, so he whistled for her instead.

"Oh Derek, you are here for your break?" Melis walked over and greeted the Half Ghoul Lord.

"Melis, do you still have that System tablet which Ayse lent you? I want to help Weslie learn a bit more about how Master Jin's world looks like."

"Sure. Just pass it to me before you are returning to your lab." Melis said and did not interrupt Weslie. Instead, she asked for the storage ring back as she went ahead to grab the farm products. (Even though the System was capable of using the Robot crawlers to collect them more efficiently. Melis somehow managed to convince the System that the animals would prefer having people they knew interacting with them and thereby producing higher quality goods.)

"There, we go." Derek showed the various images of modern Shanghai via the internet through the use of the System's tablet.

"All these tower looking buildings are used to house the inhabitants? So our Master Jin lives in such an advanced society?" Weslie asked innocently, and Derek chuckled at the innocence.

"So yeah, my world was nearly the same as his. Though we were more mundane and nobody could use any sort of magic. To us, chi was merely a concept of the mind and body but not tangible and usable like Master Jin's. We were basically like your commoners but with the same technological level as Master Jin's Earth." Derek explained.

"While we did not have Orcs or Demon Rats in our world, the humans themselves were a monstrosity. Fighting wars based on religious grounds, for natural resources and for more power. Perhaps in hindsight, it was only right that the humans turned to the living undead." Derek continued, and Weslie asked how it happened.

"Believe it or not, Aliens. If my memory still serves me well. Extraterrestrial beings that called themselves 'Our Creators'." Derek answered as he bitterly relived the scene in his mind of degenerating into a zombie.