"So you’re saying you want to cooperate with me to wipe out the survivors?" Qi Suian looked at the Zombie Person before him... or rather, the zombie.
The creature’s secondary consciousness had completely replaced its human one.
Qi Suian recognized him. He had been a high-ranking member of the Divine Prayer Association back when they first launched their attack. His position wasn’t low, either—he was Zombie Chunyu Hu’s second-in-command.
He was also the one who had orchestrated Zombie Chunyu Bao’s sudden death at his own memorial service.
"That’s right. I can provide you with a sufficient batch of zombies each time, and in return, you will need to give us corresponding intelligence support," the creature said calmly.
"Your offer seems sincere enough, but I need to confirm your objective first." Qi Suian felt that cooperation was possible.
He needed zombies, and the creature needed survivors.
As for why it needed survivors, it was obviously to eat them. What else would it do?
’They’re zombies, not people, after all.’
"You can call me Flame," the creature said calmly.
This was the name of its ability, which it had adopted as its call sign.
At the same time, it meant that the human consciousness within its body was either gone or suppressed and waiting to be assimilated.
It was a declaration that its identity was not a Zombie Person, but a zombie.
The difference between the two was their way of thinking.
"Alright. So, how many zombies will you provide each time? And what will their quality and tier be?"
"Let’s get this straight from the start. The minimum I’ll accept are Tier 3 Mutated Zombies and Tier 4 regular zombies."
"I won’t accept anything of lower quality or tier," Qi Suian stated his terms, then added, "Higher-quality, higher-tier zombies can be counted for extra."
"Let’s say one high-tier zombie counts for two low-tier ones."
Qi Suian immediately lowballed him.
"One hundred per batch. I..." Flame didn’t object. ’How could I possibly give him high-quality, high-tier zombies? I’ll just stick to Qi Suian’s minimum requirement.’
"One thousand," Qi Suian interrupted his quote, then scoffed, "Only a hundred per batch? Are you treating me like a beggar?"
"Impossible. The zombie population has already peaked. In the future, it will only decrease, not increase." Flame rejected the offer outright. One thousand was truly unacceptable.
Zombies were converted from humans, and there were no more humans left. Even if some survivors turned into zombies, the rate of increase could never keep up with the rate of death.
While there were still hundreds of millions of survivors, to high-tier, high-quality zombies like Flame, they were merely rations, not kin.
Flame was a Tier 6 Mutated Zombie, placing him among the strongest zombies in this world.
This was thanks to him having come from the Divine Prayer Association. Otherwise, a normally infected zombie would only be at Tier 5 by now.
That was why Flame was no match for Qi Suian at all. Otherwise, why would Qi Suian even consider cooperating with him?
Flame, on the other hand, felt that he and Qi Suian were evenly matched, which was why he had chosen to cooperate with him.
"A hundred is fine too, but then I want Tier 5 zombies at a minimum," Qi Suian said upon hearing this, changing his demand.
"That’s an outrageous demand." How could Flame not know the difference in value?
A hundred Tier 5 zombies, whether mutated or not, all possessed intelligence and considerable strength. It was impossible to capture that many.
Besides, if too many were captured, the intelligent zombies would band together and form their own factions, making things even more troublesome.
"Based on your original conditions, five hundred per batch!" Flame certainly wasn’t going to stick to a hundred. He was here to seek cooperation, and it would be his loss if the deal fell through.
"Cutting it in half is too shameless. How about this: seven hundred and fifty. That’s my final offer." Qi Suian gave his bottom line. "If you can’t accept that, then feel free to find someone else to work with."
"I’m sure the other Zombie Lords from the Divine Prayer Association wouldn’t refuse."
It wasn’t as if he could only work with Flame. Losing him wouldn’t matter; Flame just happened to be the first one to show up at his door.
"Seven fifty it is." Flame gritted his teeth and agreed. "But you can’t help the other Zombie Lords."
A Zombie Lord was a zombie that was at least Tier 5, possessed a special ability, and controlled both a territory and a faction.
Lacking any one of these disqualified them from the title.
Regular zombies couldn’t compete with Mutated Zombies that had abilities, so they could only work for them.
"You want an exclusive deal for just seven hundred and fifty? Exclusivity will cost you ten thousand a day," Qi Suian said mockingly.
’After haggling me down, he still dares to demand a monopoly? Does he really think I’m a pushover?’
But the zombie Flame just chuckled. "You won’t be able to."
"We can share intelligence among ourselves. Its value is determined by us, not you."
Qi Suian heard this and thought, ’With intelligence, confidentiality and timeliness are crucial.’
’So he could totally act as an information broker.’
"Nice plan, but are you willing to give up on hunting survivors just to target me?" Qi Suian hit him right where it hurt.
The Zombie Lords wanted to capture survivors for rations, and that was Flame’s purpose in coming here as well.
Selling intelligence to other Zombie Lords would mean neglecting his main goal.
As for buying intelligence first and then reaping the rewards? The Zombie Lords weren’t idiots. It might work once or twice, but if it happened too often, they would see the problem.
He would just be screwing them over, treating them like complete fools.
’Give you resources for free and let you profit from it? There’s no such thing as a free lunch in this world.’
Everyone had conflicting interests, so naturally, there would be no trust.
Qi Suian, on the other hand, was a different story. The Zombie Lords didn’t know his origins, but he was alone and didn’t seem particularly interested in survivors.
With no existing relationships or conflicts of interest, he was naturally the better choice.
Flame’s words were just a bluff to scare Qi Suian into lowering the price.
Since Qi Suian didn’t fall for it, there was nothing more to say.
"Seven hundred and fifty per batch. Take it or leave it. If you’re not buying, don’t hold up the other Zombie Lords who are." Just as Qi Suian finished speaking, another Zombie Lord arrived.
"Give me the intel first, and then..." Flame couldn’t produce that many zombies on such short notice, so he planned to buy on credit.
"This is a small business. No credit. If you can’t afford it, the door is over there," Qi Suian said, unfazed.
It was a seller’s market now. He was in no position to resist.
The pressure on Flame intensified, especially after the second Zombie Lord arrived.
"Fine. I’ll go round up the zombies." Flame gritted his teeth, then stood up and left abruptly.
There was no point in tangling with Qi Suian any longer. As for rallying the others to kill Qi Suian?
It was a nice thought, but the other Zombie Lords weren’t on his side. They had been able to cooperate before when their interests aligned.
Now, not only did their interests not align, but they were in direct conflict. If he really dared to try something like that, he would be the first to die.
The Zombie Lords wouldn’t mind having one less competitor.
"Take care now. I hope you hurry back. You wouldn’t want to be late and miss out on the fresh survivors," Qi Suian added as a reminder.