"Monkey, get up!" Zhao Yin bellowed.

In truth, he didn't need to shout. Little Monkey had already burst from the tent, iron rod in hand, eyes bulging as it glared down at the water buffalo below.

It was only an F-rank mutant beast-nowhere near this buffalo's league.

"Activate your ability! Grab Song Xiaodao and run-!"

Before Zhao Yin could finish-BOOM!

The buffalo smashed through the other load-bearing wall. The entire villa began to tilt.

Zhao Yin clutched his sniper rifle and leaped straight off the rooftop. He didn't spare a glance for Little Monkey or Song Xiaodao behind him. His fishnet-clad legs carried him several hundred meters before he finally looked back.

The villa had completely collapsed. Little Monkey, body enlarged to full size, held Song Xiaodao in one massive hand as it lumbered after him.

Zhao Yin's feet stuttered to a halt. His base Agility was 17 points. With the fishnet stockings' boost, he could outpace that buffalo. He spun and leveled his rifle at the beast. "Come on then, you stupid cow!"

Bang!

The shot struck the buffalo's front shoulder. Minimal damage. Maximum disrespect.

The buffalo's single bloodshot eye blazed crimson as it charged.

Poor Little Monkey-even with its giantification ability active, it was still slightly slower than the buffalo. And far slower than Zhao Yin.

Its furry legs pumped so fast they blurred into afterimages, yet the buffalo remained glued to its tail.

"Master... Master, it's going to ram my butt!"

"Didn't you say last night you'd help me kill this thing for meat?" Zhao Yin snapped.

Besides giantification, the monkey possessed a berserk ability-but that could only be unlocked at E-rank.

The berserk state consumed too much energy. Its young body couldn't handle it yet.

In truth, Little Monkey's potential was no worse than this buffalo's.

"Why did that stupid cow come back?" Little Monkey remained utterly bewildered, clueless about what had happened.

"Lead it away from the chestnut tree!" Zhao Yin commanded.

Bang!

Another shot. The buffalo staggered for an instant. Zhao Yin turned and kept running.

Fortunately, Little Monkey was more agile than the buffalo. Though slower in raw speed, every time the beast was about to connect, a quick twist of that red rear end let it dodge perfectly.

Poor Song Xiaodao got bounced around so violently he retched, splattering Little Monkey with bile.

Ten minutes later, the collapsed villa and chestnut tree had vanished from sight. Zhao Yin fired several successive shots to drive the buffalo back, then reached out telepathically: Monkey, I'll hold it here. Take Xiaodao and run. Circle back to the chestnut tree. Once I shake this thing, I'll collect the leaves!

Master, be careful!

Without waiting for another word, Little Monkey grabbed Song Xiaodao and bolted.

Then-

ROAR! ROAR! ROAR!

Ear-splitting zombie howls erupted from the distance, dense and overlapping.

Zhao Yin whipped his head around. A thousand meters away, a massive zombie-over two meters tall-was barreling toward them at full speed. Behind it trailed more than twenty ordinary-sized zombies.

[Male Zombie, E-rank, Evolution 100/79, Strength 61, Agility 36, Defense 72, Spirit 7]

[Male Zombie, F-rank, Evolution 100/5, Strength 23, Agility 15, Spirit 2.7]

[Female Zombie, F-rank, Evolution 100/71, Strength 26, Agility 17, Spirit 3.3]

[Male Zombie, F-rank, Evolution 100/19, Strength 25, Agility 16, Spirit 2.8]

[Male Zombie, F-rank...]

Twenty-seven zombies total. Every single one F-rank or higher.

The towering zombie at the front had reached E-rank.

"Master, it's... it's that zombie!" Little Monkey pointed at the giant, fur bristling on end. Instead of fleeing, it quickly positioned itself between Zhao Yin and the approaching horde.

Even the water buffalo halted its pursuit. Its single eye blazed blood-red. With a thunderous bellow, it charged straight at the towering zombie.

Zhao Yin understood instantly-this was the zombie that had fought the buffalo last night.

In his previous life, he hadn't encountered zombies this powerful until six months into the apocalypse. He'd never heard of such a terrifying force appearing in Guangzhou this early.

If mutant beasts corresponded to ability users among survivors, then zombies corresponded to evolvers.

And this towering zombie clearly surpassed ordinary evolvers-capable of crushing mutant beasts of the same rank. That left only one possibility...

A term that had made everyone's face drain of color in his previous life surfaced in Zhao Yin's mind.

Zombie King.

A Zombie King that had devoured multiple Star Crystals at the very dawn of the apocalypse.

No time to think. Zhao Yin raised his sniper rifle and squeezed off a test shot.

The armor-piercing round struck the Zombie King's chest-and barely scratched the skin before ricocheting away.

Seventy-two points of Defense. Even a D-rank zombie would struggle to match that. This was the terror of a Zombie King.

Every Zombie King could crush opponents of the same rank. This one was a full tier above Zhao Yin. Fighting it was impossible.

Zhao Yin stowed his rifle and shouted to the monkey: "Follow me! We grab the leaves, then we're leaving Guangzhou!"

A buffalo that shouldn't have appeared was already more than he could handle. Now an even stronger Zombie King had shown up.

The only option was to avoid its edge.

The Contract Soul offered little help right now. At the end of the day, Zhao Yin was just an F-rank evolver.

Even with Little Monkey, they'd only be serving themselves up as a meal.

A Zombie King with over sixty Strength, over seventy Defense, and very likely some ability that even True Sight couldn't detect.

Only an idiot would stay.

While the buffalo occupied the zombie horde, Zhao Yin led Little Monkey and Song Xiaodao back to the chestnut tree. He handed the Tang Blade to Little Monkey and ordered it to hack down every leaf and thin branch.

Little Monkey chopped away furiously. Branches crashed down. Song Xiaodao gathered the leaves while Zhao Yin stuffed them into his Spatial Ring.

By the time he'd collected most of the leaves, the ring was already full.

He pulled out all the clothes and bedding, tossed them aside, and kept storing leaves.

But the Spatial Ring only held ten cubic meters. It already contained over three thousand jin of chestnuts, several hundred jin of spiky husks, plus weapons, food, and other supplies. There still wasn't room for nearly two thousand jin of leaves.

In the end, Zhao Yin discarded all the remaining pre-apocalypse spoiled food, toiletries-anything of low value.

Including ten buckets of well water.

"Zhao Yin, you threw away the food! What are we supposed to eat?" Song Xiaodao scrambled to retrieve it.

"Chestnuts. The remaining water will last us over ten days."

"But what if we run out of chestnuts? What good are these leaves?" Song Xiaodao still couldn't bear to abandon the apocalypse's most precious resource. Her arms overflowed with sour ham sausages and salt-baked chicken that had turned white and rotten.

"You won't starve."

Zhao Yin offered no further explanation. After storing all the leaves, the ring's space was nearly exhausted.

He looked up at the bare trunk.

[Chestnut Tree: F-rank Mutated Plant]

A simple description. Nothing else useful.

This was partly why he hadn't examined the leaves closely last night.

The main trunk held no special properties, so Zhao Yin didn't plan to cut it down. He'd leave it here. Once he obtained a Life Space in the future, he could return and dig up this precious tree.

Just then, a commotion erupted behind them.

The water buffalo's injuries had worsened. Its armored hide was shredded and bleeding. One horn had snapped in half. It charged toward them, breath ragged and labored.

And the Zombie King, leading the remaining twelve F-rank zombies, pursued relentlessly from behind.