Apocalypse: Transmigrated with an Overlord System
Chapter 89: Zombies Nest

Chapter 89: Chapter 89: Zombies Nest

"What the hell happened while we were asleep..." Ji Ming finally broke the silence, his voice hollow.

Chen Wei looked out. "It wasn’t like this before. When the first wave came... only humans were affected. Some turned into zombies, and some, like us, awakened powers. But everything else — animals, insects, plants — they were untouched. It was just people."

Zhao Ren let out a shaky breath. "Yeah... no one ever said insects would mutate. We didn’t even think about them."

"But now..." Liora said, staring at a spider that dragged a zombie into the shadows like prey, "now even the insects are monsters."

It was terrifying. The idea of zombies had already pushed the world into chaos, but at least they were predictable. Slow during the day, fast at night. Drawn by sound. Easy to fight if you knew how.

But insects?

They were fast. Small, and most importantly, they came in swarms. They could fly, sting, crawl. You couldn’t outrun them. You couldn’t even hide. And now they were giants.

"The rain," Shen Haoran muttered. "It has to be the rain. It changed everything."

Everyone turned toward him.

"This second rain wasn’t normal. The first one gave birth to zombies, sure... but this one?" He pointed out the window. "It didn’t just change us. It changed the whole damn world."

Ji Ming nodded grimly. "We were asleep for three days. What else happened out there? What are we going to find if we step outside?"

"What if some people turned into zombies during this sleep? We don’t even know if everyone is still alive across the city..."

"If the insects mutated like this," he finally said, "then we’re not just fighting zombies anymore."

"And if the insects are this bad here," Mei added quietly, "then what about the animals out there? Wolves? Rats? Birds?"

No one wanted to think about it, but the thought hung heavy in the air.

"What about the sun?" Liora finally spoke, her voice quiet. "Do they fear it like the zombies?"

Everyone looked outside.

It was daylight. Morning sunlight bathed the streets, but the insects were still moving — slow, maybe, but not hiding. Not like the zombies. A giant mosquito buzzed near the top of a broken lamppost, its shadow casting down onto the street like a predator watching its prey.

"They’re still active..." Ji Ming said softly.

"If they don’t fear light, and they don’t rest like zombies do... then..." Zhao Ren trailed off.

Liora finished it for him. "Then our life from now on... is war."

A long, painful silence followed her words. No one argued. They couldn’t. Because it was the truth.

Zombies were bad enough.

But mutated insects that didn’t sleep? That moved in swarms? That could fly, sting, crawl, hunt, and crush?

Now, even moving in the daylight would be hard for them. At first, most of the survivors would travel and find supplies during the day because the chance of encountering a zombie horde was close to zero. There would be only a few scattered zombies roaming on the streets.

Most of the zombies slept inside their nest and did not come out to hunt in daylight, as they were very weak in daylight. They preferred to stay in their nest and enjoy the fresh human meat they had killed all night. Most of the zombies would drag the bodies inside their nest to eat them.

They only knew zombies made a nest for themselves, but most of the details of this nest were not available as no one had survived coming out of the zombies’ nest.

Most of the theory was created by seeing the left-out nests. Because in a few months, the zombies would leave the previous nest and build a new one.

"The people who had discovered the abandoned nests found them filled with piles of bones and such filthy gore that it was hard to even breathe inside."

They still did not know what zombies do in their nest to make it smell so bad and gory. The nest smelled hundreds of times worse compared to the zombies themselves.

"At one time, We have to leave this place and kill all these insects, whether we want to or not," Zhao Ren said firmly, breaking the silence.

Everyone turned toward him and quietly waited for more.

"So, don’t lose hope. Just treat it as another nightmare in this apocalyptic world. There’s nothing new here. So don’t force your brain to overwork. Everyone should calm down."

He gave a faint smile, then walked to the far end of the room, carefully choosing a spot away from the three who were still sleeping peacefully. He didn’t want to disturb them.

"Let’s eat something," he said, his tone lighter now. "I guess everyone would be starving after sleeping for three whole days." He chuckled at his own joke and raised his hand.

The air shifted and small prices of metal appeared from nowhere and soon start taking shapes of few pots — one large hot pot and a couple of smaller side pots, each shaped carefully using his metal-type ability.

"I’m making a proper hot pot! I’m so hungry I could eat a zombie!" he joked, drawing a few chuckles.

Some made gagging sound at his words, don’t ruin our moods, Yun Shou commented with a disgusting face.

He called out, "Ji Ming, bring out the ingredients. All of them! And some water, too. Yan Lin’s still sleeping, so we can’t ask her for fresh water."

Luckily, they had stocked plenty in case of emergencies. This was exactly that kind of time.

Ji Ming opened used his space and began pulling out everything they had stored: packs of noodles, dried tofu slices, mushroom bundles, napa cabbage, frozen dumplings, a few bundles of vermicelli, instant broth cubes, soy sauce, garlic paste, and various seasonings. Even a few tiny bottles of sesame oil and vinegar clinked as he lined them up.

"No fresh meat," Ji Ming muttered, scratching his head.

"I have canned meat! Two big cans. Still sealed," Liora piped up suddenly. She was looking forward to the hot pot too. She had never tried one before, but judging by everyone’s delighted expressions, she could guess it was something truly delicious — the kind of food that made people excited just thinking about it.

Everyone’ eyes lit up.

"Perfect!" Zhao Ren grinned. "Meat is meat. Toss it in."

Shen Haoran knelt by the base of the hot pot and started gathering a few old wood planks they had set aside. He ignited a small flame with ease and kept it steady, letting the pot slowly begin to heat.

Soon, the smell of garlic and broth began to fill the room.

The mood lightened. The fear outside the window still lingered, but the warmth inside was stronger now. Everyone moved a little easier.

Ji Ming helped slice the tofu and arrange the mushrooms. Liora rinsed the vegetables and sorted the cans. Zhao Ren stirred the soup base with an oversized spoon made from metal he had conjured just minutes ago.

"Wow, it’s been a month since we last had hot pot," Shen Haoran murmured with a small smile.

Chen Wei raised his eyebrows at their conversation. They could still eat hot pot while others couldn’t even manage a proper meal. But he didn’t say anything. He was no one to stop them, neither he had rights to question them.

It just showed that if you were strong, you could have anything. Everything depended entirely on your own power. So, the fire in his heart grew stronger as time passed. He silently vowed to become just as strong as them — so that one day, they would never have to hesitate before eating a simple meal again.

Liora noticed Chen Wei’s stiff movements but didn’t say anything. She could guess what he was thinking, but what could he do? Everyone’s destiny and luck was earned by themselves. What they had now came from their own abilities and hard work.

Soon, both of their minds zoned out of those thoughts as the scent of hot pot hit them.

Zhao Ren added the noodles last, letting the steam swirl up around them. The canned meat had softened in the broth, spreading a rich aroma through the air.

"Come on," Zhao Ren said, handing out bowls. "Let’s eat before this world decides to throw another surprise at us."

They all gathered close, dipping their chopsticks into the bubbling pot. The soup was salty and warm. The tofu soaked up the flavor perfectly. The mushrooms were chewy, and even the canned meat turned out better than expected.

No one spoke much. Not because they had nothing to say, but because they didn’t need to. For now, just for a little while, they wanted to forget everything and enjoy the warmth of the hot pot.

But in their moment of peace, they forgot what they shouldn’t have — their three other friends who were still soundly asleep.

When nearly half the pot was gone, a half-asleep and confused voice suddenly spoke from behind them, making everyone freeze mid-bite, chopsticks still hovering over the bubbling broth.

"Huh...? Why are you all eating without me...? Did I die or something...?"

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.