Like a magician, Vic pulled something else from behind his back—
It was a complete, fresh brain, still glistening with the dew of having been iced, reflecting an eerie pinkish-white sheen in the dim light.
"Here, want this?"
Vic wore his signature smile—a mix of temptation and threat.
Like teasing a puppy, he slowly waved the brain in front of Slorp's eyes.
He had "borrowed" this from the school cafeteria's kitchen earlier while the drowsy chef wasn't looking, intending to make a special brain hotpot for a late-night snack.
The moment Slorp's cloudy, bulging eyeballs saw the fresh brain, they almost popped out of their shriveled sockets!
A more urgent, sticky rasping sound came from its throat. Its rotting fingers reached out subconsciously.
But the moment it met Vic's "kind" gaze and the short stick in his hand that had established absolute authority, it shrank back violently as if burned, curling tightly into the corner.
It could only stare dead at the "prize" with a look mixing extreme longing and fear.
"Mmhmm. Good attitude. Making progress."
Vic nodded with satisfaction. Adopting the tone used to guide a puppy, he began his command test.
"Sit."
Slorp tilted its not-very-bright head, seemingly trying to understand the word.
Then, clumsily, with joints creaking crack-creak, it slowly lowered its body.
It "sat" on the cold ground in an incredibly awkward posture.
"Lie down."
Slorp hesitated, seemingly weighing "obedience" against the risk of "exposing vulnerable parts."
But urged by the tap-tap sound of Vic's finger unconsciously drumming on the stick, it slowly fell backward like a pile of sludge, making a muffled thud.
"Up."
Slorp struggled, swaying and laboring to stand up again.
Vic rubbed his chin, eyes rolling. The prankster spirit rose in him, and he casually threw out a more ridiculous command:
"Speak."
He didn't actually expect a zombie to say anything real. At most, he hoped for two rasp-rasps to consider the performance a success.
However, what happened next froze the smile on Vic's face instantly. His eyes went round as saucers.
Slorp's rotting Adam's apple bobbed a few times. Its damaged vocal cords vibrated, emitting a series of extremely hoarse, twisted, stumbling syllables that sounded like rusty gears grinding:
"Hi... how... are... you..."
Although blurry, the phonetic structure was clearly a greeting!
Vic: !!!
The stick in his hand nearly dropped. He stood there, fried on the outside and tender on the inside, as if struck by lightning.
"Hol... Holy sht?!"
He pointed at Slorp in disbelief, then turned to look at Pugsley, who was equally dumbfounded. His voice cracked:
"What breed of zombie is this?! Did it gain sentience?! Or is it a failed graduation project some perverted necromancer let loose? I've hung around Hotel Transylvania for years and never seen a zombie that says hello!"
"Whoa—!!!"
After a brief shock, Pugsley erupted into even hotter, almost fanatical cheers of worship, clapping his small hands until they were red.
"Brother-in-law! You're amazing! You even taught a zombie to speak! You are the God of Beast Taming!"
Vic floated a bit under his brother-in-law's unreserved rainbow farts. Although he was murmuring in his heart, he immediately resumed the Grandmaster demeanor of "Everything is under control" on the surface.
He cleared his throat, concluding with feigned profundity:
"Ahem... basic operation, sit down. See that, Pugsley? This is the key to taming!"
He extended a finger, shaking the still-tempting brain.
"You have to make it understand an eternal truth—"
He dragged out his tone deliberately, speaking with conviction:
"Obedience brings rewards! Establish this reward and punishment mechanism, and in the future, if you tell him to go east, he won't dare go west! If you tell him to steal a chicken, he won't dare grab a dog! This is called... Behavioral Domestication Method! High-end stuff!"
He lifted his chin smugly, feeling his image grow a few inches taller in Pugsley's heart.
As for why the zombie could speak...
Hmm, probably maybe possibly... it was my excellent teaching that triggered its latent intelligence?
Yes, that must be it!
I, Teacher Victor Black, am indeed a born educational prodigy!
After the initial shock, an indescribable sense of accomplishment mixed with "I'm such a genius" smugness bubbled up in his heart like soda pop.
Vic waved his hand grandly. Generously, he tossed the fresh, juicy brain—originally intended for hotpot—precisely into Slorp's arms.
"Here, your reward! Good performance, keep it up!"
Slorp scrambled to catch the brain, a light of near-ecstasy bursting in its bulging eyeballs.
The scene was certainly challenging to the physiological limits of ordinary humans.
But Vic and Pugsley were clearly not "ordinary humans."
Vic was the knowledgeable Crown Prince of Hotel Transylvania; Pugsley was the deeply rooted Young Master of the Addams family.
Instead of feeling discomfort, one stood with hands on hips looking "I am very pleased," and the other held his face with eyes saying "Brother-in-law is godlike."
"See that?"
Vic tapped the short stick lightly against his palm, starting a live lecture, his tone carrying the certainty of a mentor.
"The core of beast taming—no, zombie taming—is to establish a clear, immediate, and tempting feedback mechanism! It does right, give it sweetness immediately; it tries to bite, serve the big stick instantly! Simple and crude, but effective!"
Pugsley nodded like a chicken pecking rice, his eyes full of thirst for knowledge.
"Then Brother-in-law, what do we train next? Make it do a somersault? Or... calculate calculus?"
Vic was amused by his brother-in-law's jumping logic. He laughed haha and rubbed Pugsley's head:
"Calculus? You overestimate it, and you overestimate your brother-in-law too! One bite at a time, one step at a time."
He rubbed his chin, sizing up Slorp, who was still struggling with the brain. His eyes rolled, and he had a new idea.
"Come on, let's do reinforced obedience training! Slorp, look here!"
Vic took out another gadget—
This time it was a shriveled finger bone of unknown origin, twirling nimbly on his fingertip.
"Sit!"
Reflexively, Slorp stopped eating and clumsily "sat" down again, though the posture was still as crooked as a scarecrow about to fall apart.
"Good! Very good! Reward!"
Vic nodded with satisfaction and flicked the finger bone precisely in front of Slorp.
Slorp immediately pawed the bone over, stuffed it in its mouth, and chewed crunch-crunch like eating some weird snack.
"Down!"
Vic tried a new command, assisting with a hand gesture for lying down.
Slorp tilted its head, cloudy eyes full of confusion, seemingly trying hard to connect the new word with the action.
It tentatively lowered its body slightly, but unsure, froze mid-air.
"Tsk, looks like the vocabulary library needs updating."
Vic wasn't discouraged; he found it even more challenging.
He repeated the command and gesture with extreme patience, occasionally giving a small reward when Slorp's movement was close.
Pugsley helped from the side.
With their joint effort of carrot and stick, after about ten minutes, Slorp finally barely understood the command "Down."
Although the lying posture looked more like collapsing on the spot.
"Success! Brother-in-law! It learned it!"
Pugsley was so excited his small face was red.
"Hehe, piece of cake!"
Vic rubbed his nose with his thumb, face written with "basic operation," but the upturned corners of his mouth exposed his inner delight.
Looking at Slorp lying obediently on the ground—image unsightly but following orders—a bolder idea popped up.
He approached Slorp carefully, step by step, staring tight at its reaction, while speaking in the gentlest tone possible:
"Good boy, don't move, good kid... yes, just like that..."
Then, under Pugsley's surprised gaze, Vic slowly, tentatively, reached out and gently...
Patted Slorp's withered, rough, sparsely-haired head.
It felt cold, stiff, and a bit prickly, but not disgusting.
A blurry gurgle came from Slorp's throat. It even tilted its head slightly, nuzzling Vic's palm.
"See~" Vic withdrew his hand, his tone carrying the smugness of discovering a new continent.
"Even zombies can be communicated with! The key lies in the method! And, unparalleled personal charisma!"
He didn't forget to boast in the last sentence.
"Mmhmm!"
Pugsley nodded vigorously, his eyes looking at Vic practically glowing.
He decided: from now on, Brother-in-law is his life idol and Chief Mentor of Beast Taming!