Dead Man Walking: Living By Day, Dead By Night

Not only was he considered a member of the dead alone, but with his death\'s shroud, his ability to remain stealth was increased by 25%, which along with his dexterity, and black attire, made him extremely difficult to detect by living and dead alike.

Because of this, Zane begun to understand the tactics employed by the Stalkers, as he hid in corridors and gazed upon his unwitting prey, who mindlessly wandered the streets looking for any living creature to devour.

Zane gazed upon a group of undead, whose numbers were in total around twenty, gathered within one small and narrow street. They were not even aware of his presence, but Zane could see them perfectly fine. His natural night vision allowed him to see in the dark with perfect clarity, as if he were seeing in the day.

It was not like modern night vision systems invented for military purposes, which drowned out all colors and created a green or white sight. No, it was perfectly clear to him. Nothing hid from his vision.

It also included full color, that one would normally find throughout the day. In a way, his night vision was more akin to hyper advanced digital night vision, rather than traditional analog systems.

The numbers of undead in Carson had vastly decreased over the past two months. All of the Tier II, III, and IV undead that once walked through the city were now gone, suffering their second death at the hands of the Gravestone survivors.

But there were still tens of thousands of walkers, perhaps at most 1/4th of the city\'s mostly undead population had been eliminated. But there were so many more walking the streets aimlessly.

When Zane noticed the undead simply bumping into walls, he decided now was the time to strike. Pulling his knife out of its sheath, Zane slit both of his wrists, forming two sickle like blades, as he had done when he eliminated the stalkers not too long ago.

The moment the bloody blades were solidified into crystalline like objects Zane pounced like an apex predator, vanished from his hiding spot in an alleyway and reappearing above the group of twenty or so undead, who were entirely unaware of the cold-faced killer hovering above them.

Before the undead could even react to Zane\'s hostility, their heads rolled onto the floor, while their severed necks oozed coagulated blood. Zane reappeared not far away, looking at the gruesome aftermath of his attack.

In a single second, he had made twenty separate attacks, killing as many undead without them even realizing he was present. Was this the power of the Stalkers who he now mimicked?

Truly, they were a terrifying variety of monsters and had they actually been tasked with hunting the awakened rather than simply observing them, humanity would never have stood a chance.

But this was not a concern of Zane\'s instead he looked at his system\'s ui, specifically at the inventory tab where he saw that he had increased his gold stockpile by a small amount, and had received blood crystals from those walkers who had them, as well as crafting supplies from those who were capable of harvesting such items from.

Knowing this, Zane made a silent nod in understanding, his expressions as cold and emotionless as usual, as he vanished into thin air once more, attacking another group of targets who were nearby.

---

Madison was lying in her bed, dressed in her pink silk pajamas. She was having a hard time sleeping, as she started to think about what she wanted from Zane for her birthday. Though the man himself did not realize it yet, she was starting to fall for him. It was only natural.

He was her master, and despite treating her rather cruelly over the past two months, the girl had oddly enough grown to like it.

At first, Zane treated Madison with cruelty because he could not trust her, but when she eventually became docile and submissive, he began to let off on the harsh treatment. But that only sparked a series of incidents that Zane could only describe as misbehavior on the girl\'s part.

Yes, as she lay there in her bed thinking about Zane, and all he had done for her over these past two months. Madison recalled those incidents where she would deliberately make trouble, typically when Zane was showing affection to the other women within his party. Why would she do this? Because it would immediately get the man\'s attention.

And when he stared at her with those eyes as dark as the abyss, and as cold as liquid nitrogen, with a slight frown on his face that showed nothing but disappointment, those were the moments when Madison realized that she held a special place in Zane\'s heart. Or so she thought.

I mean, he was always so nice to the other three women by his side, but he treated them all the exact same. Only she could elicit such raw emotion from the man. And she took a deep sense of pride in that.

It was while Madison thought about Zane, and the nature of their relationship, how it differed from the other girls, that she suddenly felt an urge to go speak with them and perhaps cause him some trouble late at night, after all, although he didn\'t need to sleep anymore, he still enjoyed doing so.

Would waking him elicit a punishment? The very idea caused the young pink haired bimbo to wear a perverted smile on her otherwise pretty face as she rose from beneath her covers and left her room, which was no longer locked from the outside.

She travelled down the corridor of the bunker which had long since become her home and found the room that Zane always stayed him. No doubt one of the other three women would be sleeping by his side. Perhaps he would be even more angry with her if she were to awake the both of them.

The idea was simply tantalizing, however. The moment Madison reached out for the door handle, she felt a cold sensation at her throat, no doubt caused by the cool edge of the steel blade held against it.

Madison was just about to yelp in fright when she felt the man\'s cold breath wisp past her hair, almost like that of a breeze on an autumn night. This was followed by an equally chilling tone.

"And what, pray tell, are you up to exactly?"