Published: February 10, 2025
If it weren't for the surrounding buildings still in ruins, Mu Xinfey would truly believe that this was not the apocalypse when she saw the empty streets of Ying City.
Currently, there were pitifully few zombies in Ying City.
At that time, over 200,000 posthumous child warriors focused on clearing out the zombies within Ying City.
With the spirit woman missing and Red Hair recuperating at Cloud Summit, coupled with the cleanup efforts, the number of zombies in Ying City had sharply declined to an extremely low level.
"No zombies, then the survivors here..."
Mu Xinfey turned to look at Ye Zhongming, who was welcoming her.
If the number of zombies decreased here, the people living here would lose the greatest source of magic crystals, causing their evolution speed to slow down. In such a place as the apocalypse, that meant they would gradually be eliminated.
Ye Zhongming smiled, "The zombies are gone, but there are other things."
Previously, Ying City had Red Hair and the spirit woman, which prevented large-scale conflicts between zombies and humans. So, what were the main prey for these zombies?
Mutant animals!
The number of mutant animals in Ying City was quite considerable, not inferior to that of the zombies. Especially with the Rat King lurking underground, that guy controlled countless little brothers, and the mutant rats reproduced at a rapid rate. Although it wasn't as terrifying as the pre-mutant rate of "one male and one female, two hundred and fifty a year," it was still normal to have three to four litters a year, each with seven to eight pups.
It was precisely because of such a breeding speed that the mutant animals in Ying City could survive under the dual pressure of humans and zombies.
Perhaps due to living underground, during the last siege of Cloud Summit, they didn't emerge much. Later, they escaped back into their holes, and the people at Cloud Summit didn't bother to pursue them, so their losses were not significant.
In the days following the end of the siege, these mutant rats became more and more active, even appearing in broad daylight, openly searching for food in various parts of Ying City. There had even been incidents of them attacking human strongholds, and small hordes of zombies had become their preferred targets.
Humans, on the other hand, were not idle either; they began hunting these mutant rats. However, the small number they killed was insignificant compared to the overall number of mutant rats in Ying City.
"Other things?" Mu Xinfey was taken aback. Just as she was about to ask what it was, the person clearing the way ahead sounded a warning. Peering through the car window, she discovered a gruesome scene ahead on a street to the left of their convoy, where a mass of flesh and blood lay scattered. It seemed a group of no fewer than a hundred zombies had died here. Half the street was covered in black-purple blood and shredded flesh, indicating that these zombies had just been killed.
Perhaps due to the arrival of the convoy, the killers had been startled away and had vanished without a trace.
That was just the surface; the killers were still nearby. Otherwise, the people ahead wouldn't have issued a warning. Mu Xinfey looked closely and noticed shadows the size of dirt dogs to wild boars lurking in the abandoned buildings and dark corners on both sides of the street, with pairs of ghostly green eyes fixated on the convoy. From what they could see, there were at least hundreds of them.
"That's them."
Ye Zhongming nodded his chin, indicating these were the mutant rats.
"These mutant rats have now become the rulers of Ying City, coming out in groups during the daytime, and their numbers are increasing."
Mu Xinfey nodded. The inconspicuous creatures of peacetime had evolved into extremely terrifying presences in the apocalypse, especially those that reproduced quickly in large numbers.
As a member of the Resistance Zone, she received a lot of information. To her knowledge, mutant rats, mutant flies, mosquitoes, mutant locusts, mutant ants, and other previously small creatures had now utilized their population advantages to become one of the most terrifying groups outside the zombie hordes and beast packs. When they began to forage in large numbers, with numbers easily reaching millions, it instilled deep fear in all survivors.