"Road, can you be sure your people won’t attack us because of this?" the grand lady asked.

"A road only wide enough for a truck carrying logs to pass, do you think such a road could allow humans to launch an attack on you?" Malin countered. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

This was a very good response; the zombies are no match for humans in open terrain, but in the dense forest, human firepower is completely restrained, and any commander who maneuvers troops into such a dangerous situation would be court-martialed—assuming they survive the battle and aren’t shot by angry subordinates.

The grand lady pondered for a moment and finally nodded. She turned to look at the elder: "A-tai, you’re responsible for this task."

· Yes, Matriarch.

The elder bowed his head, displaying devoutness.

This was the first time Malin learned the elder’s name, A-tai... It was probably given to him by that girl back then. Though it sounds plain, at least it’s not as old-fashioned as names like Laifu or Adai.

"Then, we’ll meet in five days." With that, the grand lady turned and left.

The remaining A-tai looked at Malin.

· How can we help you?

"Help us drive away the dangers in the woods, help us transport the felled trees," Malin said, noticing Sage Yu approaching: "Sage Yu, is there anything else?"

Sage Yu came over and inspected the children’s mouths, hands, and feet, then looked up at A-tai: "You work for us, and we’ll provide food according to your workload."

· Food... Okay, I’ll bring the strongest comrades, hoping you can fill their bellies.

A-tai’s visible satisfaction on his face made Malin and Sage Yu exchange smiles—it seemed these creatures were already starving.

Malin had fed those five little cubs quite a bit over the past five days and even sent them home with some this time. The zombies, especially that grand lady Dimis, would surely have to make a choice between dignity and starvation.

Thinking of this, Malin looked at A-tai: "By the way, what happened to the wounds on your body?"

· I dueled with the leader of those guys.

A-tai’s response was straightforward, making Malin nod—these zombie duels weren’t just skirmishes, it was clear who emerged as the victor.

Malin considered healing the old man but was cautious, so he cast an alignment identification to confirm he was a neutral ally inclined toward order before applying a healing spell as a precaution.

Noticing his injuries improving, A-tai looked at Malin.

· Thank you, it’s been so long since I received treatment from humans.

"I’m glad you won, because I won’t have to worry about your children watching me slaughter your people," Malin said candidly.

This remark caused the old man to grin, likely resembling a smile.

· Yes, anyone who sees the next day’s sun is a winner.

"I’m Yu, I’ll be supervising the road construction. Since a lot of food needs to be transported from the North, today’s work will have food settled in the evening," Sage Yu said as he approached A-tai, extending his hand.

A-tai extended his hand as well.

The zombie’s large hand and the mechanical body’s small hand symbolized the alliance of human interests.

......

For the first time in today’s work, the big-headed soldiers of the Pioneer Corps experienced what speed truly meant—originally, it took a dozen soldiers to lift a single log onto the trailer; now, a few zombies could handle it easily.

Some zombies even learned to use axes—although it took a long time to teach, many zombies hadn’t grasped it. However, once taught, one zombie could accomplish the work of three soldiers.

"How did our ancestors drive these creatures out of the western provinces with swords and spears?"

This was the question most on the soldiers’ minds today from the Pioneer Corps.

Malin thought it was a silly question—obviously, it was through unity, guys.

Nonetheless, over the course of the day’s work, there were no conflicts between the big-headed soldiers and the zombies. Of course, Malin knew this was because both Sage Yu and A-tai were reigning in their subordinates.

The first day’s cooperation ended with sunset, and Sage Yu’s food carts arrived—thanks to the paved roads, the convoy arrived on time. The various jerky unloaded from the trucks conquered the trust of some zombies behind A-tai.

As the leader, A-tai personally handled food distribution, prompting Sage Yu to later express to Malin that he would hold A-tai in higher regard. He also ordered a comprehensive investigation into whether any family had kept zombie pets over the last century in the surrounding urban areas.

Owning zombie pets indicates significant wealth or power, as it requires extraordinary ability to suppress the zombies’ strength. Sage Yu was extremely curious about the master who raised a zombie like A-tai into such a character.

Malin was also quite curious, to be honest.

Before the work started, Sage Yu had pinned armbands on all participating zombies. To A-tai, it was a means of humans identifying zombies, but Malin knew—it was to establish identity identification among zombies.

Thus, during food distribution, Malin noticed that some zombies who received food didn’t consume it all in one go and set aside a portion.

After food distribution, Malin and Sage Yu discussed this, and at the following Sage meeting, the sages agreed the zombie community showed familial beginnings; the zombies saving food likely intended to feed offspring.

Regarding those who ate completely, based on the photographer’s records from a distance, it was clear most were young zombies. Since there were young zombies that also saved food, Malin thought they probably had no offspring—you know, the saying "one person eats enough and the whole family doesn’t starve" applies here.

For the young individuals keeping food, most were the strongest. Malin speculated this food might be intended for offspring or females.

"A bold guess, but quite practical; historically, this group’s zombies resemble early matriarchal societies," Malin said.

With this perspective, on the second day, Malin and the sages focused on observing those strong young individuals from the previous day, noting their enthusiasm was even higher than those mature zombies who kept food.

Among the mature ones, many had a significantly larger intake today compared to yesterday. Considering the food brought back and the work intensity over these two days, zombies understood that maintaining their strength was the basis for continuing work to gain more food.

As for the young ones, many had a notably larger workload today than yesterday but saved even more food.

Malin remarked classically—they’re full on love.

The sages immediately understood.

"It seems us mechanical brains fail to understand love," Sage Yu laughed, self-mockingly announcing, as the sages laughed jovially, brushing off the matter. Malin sensed that Sage Yu seemed to be someone with a story himself.

By the third day, all the young ones who saved food in the past two days began to eat significantly more, leading Malin and the sages to confirm that these zombies were no longer like their mutated relatives; they couldn’t be categorized with them anymore.

This was a good development because these desires are inherently part of normal life.

On the fourth day, Malin even saw some young zombies. These cubs were in adolescence, possessing self-defense strength but lacking the capacity to lift logs. However, they had tasks to do—they started gathering spirits that their parents and humans killed, then slicing fresh meat from the bodies.

Using stone blades, proved they began utilizing and had the ability to craft tools.

Their appearance also indicated their community of zombies accepted working and acquiring food from humans.

This was a positive development.