"Pull them all higher." Zerra put her finger on her chin and shook her head in disapproval.

The four men were currently bound by a thick rope. Below them, there was a gaping mouth of a gigantic tiger and an excited yet nervous boy whose eyes were sparkling at their demise.

Unfortunately, they couldn’t complain–they didn’t dare to!

The four men were bound into one tight rope, utterly frightened. Azir pulled the rope, sending them higher. Their hearts jumped, nearly jumping out of their throats.

They didn’t even dare to look down, for fear of seeing the tiger’s sharp teeth.

Zerra glanced at the tiger and sighed. The tiger was behaving more and more like her adoptive mother, Nias, showing her ferocity and fiery temper. However, she still didn’t remember who she was!

Ever since she knew many people from the Celestial Realm were also in this world, she had been suspecting Nias one was the tiger. However... When did she get a tiger cub?

She was the most worried about this. What if Nias accidentally got one when she hadn’t remembered her memories? Zerra shook her head.

Once they rest later, she would also feed her the medicine. With that, Zerra discarded her fleeting thought and focused on the current matter.

"Miss... what do you want from us?" Mateo couldn’t help but ask carefully. She had threatened to cut their throats if they dared to scream, so they had no choice but to hold in their screams.

Zerra curled up her lips. "Will you do anything?"

These people were thin and weak, yet they had the courage to go rob people. They might have been desperate for food. Still, Zerra wouldn’t let them get food for free.

"Can any of you cook?" She asked. "Making fire? Build a tent...?" She listed some more works.

"Me, me, I can cook!"

"I am a fire ability user!"

Each of them fought to showcase their ability, afraid that she might abandon them and throw the useless one to the tiger’s mouth. It was strange, but the tiger apparently listened to the girl!

Zerra tapped her chin and laid out her offer. "Can you do all of that? I can make sure you won’t go hungry, but you have to work for me."

Among the four, one was a woman and she seemed to have a relationship with one of the men.

Seeing them nodding furiously to show they had agreed, Zerra asked Azir to lower the rope. The four could almost feel life flashing before their eyes at the harsh impact.

The boy was quite playful, letting go of the rope directly and almost sending the four of them to the tiger’s gaping mouth. However, at the last second, the tiger jumped away; they narrowly escaped her mouth.

Azir approached them, "Open your mouth."

The four appeared unsure. They turned to Zerra, who was now stroking the tiger’s golden fur.

"Do you want Miss Zerra’s offer or not?" Azir asked, waiting rather patiently.

He just discovered the fun in such an activity. If he was still at the tribe, he couldn’t treat tribe members like this, of course.

"Miss, I think they no longer want–"

His words were abruptly cut off. They already had an inkling what kind of pill these were, but they had no choice.

"Give me!" They all said in unison, gritting their teeth.

"Since you are all so excited and impatient, of course." Azir smiled happily. Once they opened their mouths, he put the pills inside.

A bitter taste melted inside their mouth. It was impossible to spit it out now.

Zerra was already in front of them. Azir handed the rope to her. She glanced at him, a little amused. He reminded her of Laziel, but not the righteous kind. More like the villain version.

"You guessed it right. It’s poison."

Azir chuckled like a villain, right on time. He added, "If you don’t take an antidote, you will die. So, think before you plot against us!"

As such, for the next few days, they had the four behaving well, taking care of the meal and other things.

Zerra gave them a car while she and Azir sat on the tiger’s back. Azir’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when he saw the car. He stared at her with questioning eyes.

She coughed. "We are passing by forest, using the best shortcut, so car is inconvenient."

They only ride on the tiger occasionally, only when she wanted to be out of Zerra’s inner space. Most of the time, they either walk or ride with cars.

The cars she had taken out of Evan’s garage became useful this time.

She also fed the potion to the tiger, strangely sensing some improvement. Her power seemed to grow.

On the third day, after a non-stop journey, they finally decided to take a longer rest. Previously, they only stopped for a brief meal before continuing again.

"How many tents will the five of you need?" She asked. "I will need one for myself."

Azik counted it. "Three. One for Ashley, and the rest for us men."

Zerra nodded and took out the tent. While they were busy with making the tent, she fed the tiger more potion. Originally, just like Cassias, she was very resistant to the bitter potion.

After some encouragement from Zerra, she was finally willing to take it.

Zerra’s mind was full of thoughts. During the few days of journey, she also had to orchestrate some zombie attacks on the way so that they wouldn’t be suspicious she could control zombies.

These attacks were on a small scale, and as such, these people could handle it. Since she was entrusted with Azik, she also didn’t mind training his survival instinct a little bit.

With his sheltered life, he would have a hard time living outside his tribe.

The first time he had to handle a zombie, he was vomiting non-stop after killing one. Someone else had to do the crystal core digging for him.

Actually, Zerra knew that the four people had become a bit suspicious. They were traveling through dead cities, forests, and even water bodies. Yet, they encountered few dangers so far.

They were very well aware that with their capabilities alone, they wouldn’t survive on their own. So, in order to erase the suspicion. Zerra had decided to ’reward’ them a nice gift later.

"Miss Zerra, the tent is ready." Norman came to inform her.

They were camping at the outskirts of a forest.

She got up and went to her tent. While the others were busy cooking, she stayed inside, watching the little dragon eating some fruits.

Occasionally, her parents would wake up during the past two days too. Unfortunately, she couldn’t find time to talk to them. The little dragon somehow had become closer to them too.

It was unknown where his sense of duty had come from, she discovered that the baby dragon had given her parents something to eat when they were awake.

He also noted her parents’ preference. If they didn’t eat certain fruits, he wouldn’t give them next. Her parents also slowly became familiar with the little dragon.

They seemed to quite like him.

The others called her outside again to get her dinner. After making sure their stomachs were full, she located the ’army’ she had prepared earlier.

A few zombies and some mutated animals.

In the quiet night, a scream broke out. They were instantly entangled with the zombies which were attacking them.

Azik was shaking Zerra’s tent, trying to hold back her nausea. "Miss Zerra! Come out! There is a zombie attack!"

His voice was full of urgency. Just as he was about to rip the tent, a golden tiger jumped out of the tent, killing a few zombies which had ’strayed’ to her direction.

She also exited the tent, using her whip to kill the zombies surrounding her tent, restraining her power a bit. Zerra couldn’t help but feel a little nostalgic.

A few years ago, she was akin to a mortal who couldn’t even truss a chicken. Now, she even had the power to control zombies and give others the opportunity to train their power.

"Get yourself used to these things." She told Azik, not forgetting to give him advice.

When she asked him to pick a weapon, she didn’t expect such a thin boy to pick an axe as his weapon. However, now she found out he was quite proficient with swinging it.

Not long after, utterly exhausted, they all bandaged their wounds and entered the tent to rest. They just had to make do with the smell of rotten flesh for now. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

Zerra secretly smiled and went back to her tent.

Inside, her parents were finally awake again! This time, they brought the baby dragon when they exited the inner space.

Just by looking at their faces, she knew she had some explanation to make...

However, she was also incredibly happy. Her mom was finally conscious and didn’t look as dazed as before!

After she put the barrier around the tent, she jumped at them, shifting into a snow-white fox in the air, squeezing herself between the two.

The baby dragon was a little confused, but he copied her action, hugging her fox form.