Zombie Apocalypse: I Have Safe Zone Superpower

Chapter 526: Chapter 326: Jeff

That would have created an unnecessarily troublesome outcome.

So he conserved energy. He retreated.

Leaning against the rough bark, he allowed the faint scent of sap and dust to ground him while he regenerated.

Nearly an hour passed before he felt even a portion of his strength return.

When he finally opened his eyes, irritation flickered across his face.

”I truly need to consume human meat again,” he muttered through gritted teeth.

With that thought, he pressed his left hand, where a strange symbol was embedded into the skin.

The mark responded instantly.

Voices began to echo in his mind, everything Angelina had spoken throughout the day.

He sifted through the memories coldly until reaching the moment she revealed everything to Ivy.

His expression darkened.

”Tch...”

He cursed softly.

”That woman truly cannot be trusted.”

If only he still had access to the reserves of his former strength... if he were still at the peak of his power, he could have crushed Angelina through the symbol alone.

A single thought would have been enough to end her life.

But now, all he could do was listen helplessly to the echo of her betrayal.

The frustration coiled inside him like a living thing.

’Pathetic... this body is still too weak.’

He exhaled slowly, forcing the anger down. There was no use wasting energy on rage when he could not act on it.

”When she returns,” he muttered under his breath, voice low and cold, ”I will deal with her personally.”

With that decision made, he removed his hand from the glowing symbol.

The faint warmth faded instantly, leaving only the chill of the evening air brushing against his skin.

He stood up, dusting off the dirt that clung stubbornly to his clothes.

Dry leaves crunched beneath his boots as he prepared to leave.

But just as he took a step forward, he stopped abruptly.

Someone was standing in his way.

A man.

Damian’s eyes sharpened.

At first glance, he assumed it was some wandering bandit or thief foolish enough to stray into this desolate region.

The man wore a long cloak, its hood casting a shadow that concealed most of his face.

Before Damian could speak, the cloaked man stepped forward and smirked.

”Don’t you want to recover your power completely?”

The words struck like a stone dropped into still water.

Damian stared at him, suspicion rising instantly. ”Who are you?”

The cloaked man’s smile widened, calm and knowing.

”Of course,” he replied, ”I am someone well acquainted with you.”

Damian narrowed his eyes. The air around them felt strangely tense, as if even the wind had paused to listen.

Slowly, the cloaked man reached up and pulled back his hood.

A completely unfamiliar face was revealed.

Damian frowned. ”I do not know you.”

The man chuckled, the sound carrying an odd familiarity that did not match his appearance.

”Indeed,” he said lightly, ”even if you call me your best friend, whenever it is time to recognize me, you fail... especially when I borrow another body.”

For a moment, there was silence.

Then realization struck like lightning.

Damian’s eyes widened.

”You...”

His voice dropped, filled with disbelief, as he called out the cloaked man’s name.

”Jeff.”

Jeff, the moment those so-called words left Damian’s mouth, gave a slow nod, his lips curling into something that could barely pass as a smile.

”So, you finally remembered me,” he muttered, his voice carrying a strange mix of amusement and accusation.

Damien stared at him, unable to stop the faint tightening in his chest.

From his reaction one could discern that only the guy named Jeff was excited and Damian... welll he did look... strange.

There was no joy in his eyes, no warmth that one would expect upon meeting a so-called best friend after so long.

’This man... is not a friend,’ the consciousness within Damien’s body concluded coldly.

If anyone had asked Damien, or rather, the superior being that had taken over Damien’s body, he would have answered without hesitation that Jeff was neither ally nor enemy.

Jeff was something far more unpredictable, a variable that refused to be measured.

The kind of man who could offer someone a seat one moment and slit their throat the next without blinking.

The superior being, sensing that Damien’s will was barely responding anymore and that time was slipping away, let out a quiet chuckle.

”You should consider your current condition,” he murmured inwardly, his tone edged with mockery.

”If you keep hesitating like this, you will die before you can completely take control of this body.”

Damien’s hands clenched into fists, nails digging into his palms as he forced himself to speak.

”What do you want, Jeff?” His voice came out sharper than intended.

”Are you here to blackmail me, or are you trying to get something out of this?”

There was vigilance in Damien’s gaze, the kind born from countless betrayals.

Jeff burst into laughter as if he had just heard an excellent joke, the sound echoing unnaturally in the silent surroundings.

He shook his head. ”Neither. I’m just here to confirm something.”

”Confirm what?” Damien demanded.

Jeff tilted his head slightly, studying him with unsettling curiosity.

”I wanted to see whether it was really my good friend occupying that body... or something else.”

Damien inhaled slowly, steadying himself.

”Now that you’ve confirmed it, will you move aside? I need to leave.”

’Trust him?’ Damien scoffed internally. ’I know this lunatic better than anyone.’

Jeff’s mind had always been disturbingly erratic.

One moment he would burn with fury, and the next he would smile as if nothing had ever happened.

That instability alone made him dangerous.

What Damien could not understand, however, was how Jeff had even managed to remain on this planet.

Damien himself had barely reached here through desperate measures, transferring his soul into a ring, sending that ring to Earth, finding a suitable host, and finally taking over through painstaking rituals.

Jeff had done none of that.

He stood there casually, hands in his pockets, looking as if finding another body would take him no more than a minute.