Into the Zombie World

Nile gets off Maximo. He wanted to inspect the headless guard's corpse closely.

For the head to get smashed that badly, it means there is a rather strong entity inside this Mini Zoo. Or perhaps there has been one.

The neck of the headless guard has been mangled. A few mutated maggots squirmed and wriggled inside the mangled neck. In the area on the back of the headless guard's supposed to be 'head', is a wall that has a deep dent in it. From that alone, Nile could confirm that it was definitely a pure brute force that had crushed the guard's head.

Nile stood up and came towards the inner area of the mini zoo. There, he saw a bunch of rusted metal that acted as the barrier for a hollow pit below. The rusted metal barrier had many pieces that were bent and twisted. The bent and twisted area formed a circular opening that leads below.

Nile used that area to enter the cage. Nile needs to jump off a small cliff in order to go to the cage below. In the corner of the cage, Nile saw an illustration of a bunch of gorillas. With that, Nile confirmed that the gorilla earlier must have come from here. When Nile circled around the cage, he saw four dead bodies of gorillas near the water source of the cage.

Nile nodded in understanding and exited the area immediately, using the same hole he used earlier. It seems that the gorilla they met earlier had consumed its brethren after becoming a zombie. Nile also concluded that the gorilla must be the one who smashed that guard's head into oblivion. That explains the bullet wounds of the gorilla zombie too, it must have come from the guard's revolver.

Maximo was waiting outside the cage, and when Maximo saw Nile came back, his eyes shone in delight as his tongue was stuck out like a dog and his tail with the sledgehammer in it just kept on wagging happily.

Nile patted and caressed Maximo's forehead. Maximo liked it a lot. He even closed his eyes in satisfaction.

It was already nearing noon, but Nile still did not feel any hunger. Maximo seems to be the same. Nile knew that this was the effect of the coffee and milk earlier they drink in the morning. The description said that the person who drinks the coffee or milk will not feel any form of hunger for a day.

But Nile knew that if he really did not eat until evening, he would feel weak. Although he could not feel any hunger because of the coffee's effect, it was only a feeling after all. Feelings could be deceiving.

Nile was just about to take some coconuts from the System Space to have lunch, but suddenly a deep roar sounded in the direction of the centre of the Mini Zoo.

Hearing that, Nile hurriedly boarded Maximo's back. Maximo knew what he needed to do. After Nile had boarded his back, Maximo instantly bolstered towards the centre direction of the Mini Zoo.

With Maximo's impressive speed, they arrived at the general area where the roar had sounded in a jiffy. Maximo slowed down in the intersection ahead as he no longer knew which direction to take.

The intersection is made of four aisles that are interconnected to each other. Each of the four aisles seems to originate or point to a cardinal direction. The aisle Nile and Maximo came from are in the south direction.

In the centre of the four aisles is an enormous cage. It has an arm-thick rusted metal bar acting as the barrier. It looks like a birdcage as the metal bars are arched and are connected at the top. Its enormous door is wide open as the rusted chains and the metal locks seem to have been forcefully broken apart.

At the centre of the cage looks like a mini forest of some sort. It has a mini river, trees and even rock formations inside it.

Nile thought that the one who is imprisoned in that cage must be an exotic or a very dangerous wild animal. A Lion or perhaps a bear? Nile did not know.

Nile was just about to pinpoint a location randomly, fortunately, a roar sounded again and this time, Nile and Maximo knew that it was coming from the east direction. Maximo knew what to do and instantly strode off towards that area.

When they arrived, what met Nile and Maximo's eyes was the ongoing battle between an enormous crocodile and an enormous snake. The enormous crocodile has a dense number of metallised spikes on its back. Its body is definitely 7 to 9 meters long, including its tail.

Its enormous jaw is biting into the body of an enormous black-white striped snake.

The stripe snake's colour is a mixture of black and white that has formed a strange pattern. It has a few red dots on top of its head all the way to the lower part of its head. The snake has the length of at least thirteen meters. The snake's body is coiled in the enormous crocodile's body while its metallised fangs are embedded deeply into the base of the crocodile's tail.

Roar*!

The crocodile lets out a roar of indignation as the snake hissed out its frustration.

Apart from the two mutated animals that are fighting there is a body of a male lion the size of a car not far away from the two. The Lion's body was still twitching, it was apparent that it was still alive but its life was already flickering. Even a little wind can make the lion's life candle fire to stop burning.

There are multiple bite marks in the body of the male lion, fangs or jaw bites are quite visible as blood keeps on gushing out from them. Any minute from now and the Lion will surely die.

Nile and Maximo just stood there observing from the sidelines in silence. This has nothing to do with them.

Nile doesn't have any plans for helping any of the three. Although he has the capability to help, Nile will not do it. He did not know what had caused the fight. They were all mutated animals fighting each other. If they were fighting a zombie, Nile might offer help depending on the circumstances.

Besides, he doesn't know if they will suddenly attack him when he decides to stop them.

Nile could understand that the three of them are savage animals to begin with, though. So hunting other animals must be their only way of getting stronger.

Nile did not know if they had also converted into a 'metalarian'[1] just like Maximo. But, he does know that they are still carnivores, but who knew they are double eaters just like Maximo who eats metals and plants at the same time?

[A/N: Metalarian? Just like vegetarian and meatatarian? Alright, I know it's not funny so tell me an appropriate name for this.]

Nile decided not to become too meddlesome again. He knew that it would only cost him more trouble.

'Low-key...Low-key!' Nile thought as he made an 'ok' emoji sign inside his head.

The three fighters had still not noticed Nile and Maximo in the sidelines. They are quite focused on their own battle... err struggle.

Nile jumps off Maximo's back. Nile brushed Maximo's underside belly playfully, Maximo let out a surprised 'moo' but it enjoyed the experience after a while.

Maximo enjoyed the experience that he even has the gall to lie down and relax.

Nile smiled after seeing Maximo lie down, Nile then stopped his actions and sat down beside Maximo's belly. Nile leaned back and used the soft and fat belly of Maximo as a pillow.

Nile browsed the System Food Store and bought two sets of foods. One for him and one for Maximo. Nile's food is a bowl of fried rice that costs him 5 Apocalypse Points. The fried rice has the function of enhanced energy regeneration.

Maximo's food is a mutated breadfruit. The System puts a recommended text beside the name of this fruit earlier when he browses through the System Foods for Pets section. Nile trusted the System's recommendation and bought one breadfruit the size of a ball. The breadfruit also cost him 5 Apocalypse Points.

Nile handed Maximo the breadfruit, which Maximo accepted in delight. After Maximo received the breadfruit, he immediately gobbles the fruit up as if afraid that Nile also wanted a share in it.

Nile shook his head lightly as he gathered his attention again towards the fight. This time, Nile was eating his rice happily as he enjoyed the show.

The battle had now escalated to the point that the crocodile and the snake had little to no energy left.

Based on Nile's observation, he could guess that the snake and the crocodile had teamed up in order to defeat the size-car mutated Lion. After they defeated the Lion, the two must have argued on who will be the one to bring home the trophy. The aftermath of that argument is the show that was playing in Nile's vision right now. Is what Nile had assumed.

The crocodile rotated its whole body while still biting off a part of the snake's body. That part of the snake's body got torn off after the crocodile's rotating attack. The snake lets out a painful hiss as it also bites hard again on the crocodile's tail with its sharp and metallic fangs in return.

The area around the forehead all the way to the base of the crocodile's tail had mutated and became almost like metal. The snake could only bite on the area at the base of the tail, as it was the part that had not metallised yet.

The snake continued to bite repeatedly until a chunk of flesh fell off from the crocodile's tail. The crocodile's tail had almost got cut off after the many holes that the snake had made. The same could be said on the snake's lower body, it was also close to being separated from its actual body.

The battle had lasted for a while before the Lion died of blood loss. It was then followed by the snake and then the crocodile for the same reason.

Nile had already finished his fried rice long ago. In his hand is a bottle of freshwater that came from the System. Maximo had already licked clean the bucket of water that Nile had given him earlier.

Nile enjoyed the show while eating. Now it's already time for him to search for a zombie and Level Up° already.