Published: January 31, 2025
The sudden arrival of the apocalypse turned the usually peaceful Prosperous Luxury Residence into chaos. However, Ye Zhongming knew that the price of this chaos was blood and life.
"Ah!"
A shrill scream came from a nearby villa. Ye Zhongming didn’t rush to look; instead, he quickly slipped into the decorative bushes beside him. With a glance, he saw a blood-soaked woman, completely naked, running out. Her hair was disheveled, and although she wasn’t young, her face still held a certain charm. It was twisted in uncontrollable fear as she instinctively shouted something incoherent. Her snow-white body was splattered with dark purple blood, creating a stark visual contrast.
However, contrary to her well-maintained skin and figure, the woman’s stamina was clearly poor. Overcome by extreme terror, she stumbled after just a couple of steps and fell to the ground. As she struggled to get up, two approaching zombies pinned her down. Accompanied by her wails, her flesh was torn apart, and her warm entrails were pulled out, becoming a tasty meal for the two zombies.
Such a bloody scene didn’t stir a ripple in Ye Zhongming’s heart. He calmly surveyed his surroundings before his previously still body suddenly darted out. In the blink of an eye, he stealthily reached the back of the two feeding zombies. With a flash of his knife, one zombie's head was severed, and a large amount of foul-smelling black blood spurted from its neck.
The other zombie sensed something was wrong. Still chewing on a piece of intestine, it stood up, its sharp-nailed hands reaching out toward Ye Zhongming.
At that moment, Ye Zhongming had already sheathed his knife, slightly sidestepping the zombie's grasp. He thrust the blade’s tip into its temple, and with a soft sound, the zombie collapsed to the ground, its head pierced.
This attack took just a few seconds, but Ye Zhongming felt a hint of fatigue. From sprinting to the zombies' backs to the continuous strikes and dodges, everything was completed in an instant and with utmost precision. If it had been someone else, it would have been impossible for them to accurately find the gap between the vertebrae and deliver a fatal blow; they would likely have gotten the knife stuck inside instead.
This was the wealth gained from ten years of survival in the apocalypse, the capital for staying alive.
As he extracted the magic crystal from the zombie's forehead, the woman, still gasping for breath, looked at Ye Zhongming with a hint of gratitude. Even if she was destined to die, she would rather perish under the gaze of her kind than in the foul saliva of a zombie.
Ye Zhongming silently mourned for her before retreating to a corner of the villa. He would wait for her mutation.
As long as a human brain wasn’t devoured by zombies, mutation would occur, even if only a head remained. This was the terrifying aspect of the zombie virus. Even a zombie with just a head could grow a new body after receiving enough fresh flesh!
Before his rebirth, this confirmed conclusion had left the living speechless for a long time.
Since this woman had already died, the mutation process was rapid. In about a minute, her closed eyes abruptly opened, her limbs began to twitch irregularly, and the magic crystal pushed through her skin from her forehead. In another ten seconds, she would stand up, transformed into a brand-new zombie, just like the two monsters she had just feared and loathed.
Ye Zhongming naturally wouldn’t give her that chance. He quickly ran over and ended her life, retrieving the gray magic crystal.
In less than an hour since the apocalypse began, he achieved what took hundreds of days in his previous life—acquiring six Grade 1 Magic Crystals.
Encouraged by such results, Ye Zhongming's adrenaline surged. Like a ghost, he moved through the villa complex, and two hours later, he had amassed 21 gray Grade 1 Magic Crystals.
The harvest was plentiful, but several encounters had been perilous. The ordinary physique and ten years of combat experience clashed significantly, causing Ye Zhongming to frequently encounter issues that nearly led to his demise at the hands of zombies. He had not yet reached the status of a one-star evolver, nor had he taken the immunity potion, meaning he was not immune to the virus. A slight scratch from a zombie could turn him into a monster, keeping Ye Zhongming in a heightened state of tension, greatly exhausting his stamina.