That fruit-he knew it all too well. In his past life, he had picked it for Lin Tianfeng.

But that had been three years into the apocalypse.

Lin Tianfeng's rise to power, his ability to crush other SSS-rank ability users, was inseparable from those three fruits.

The first time Zhao Yin had obtained this fruit in his past life, Lin Tianfeng had gratefully asked him to name it.

Zhao Yin had called it the Golden Thread Fruit.

The Golden Thread Fruit could directly elevate any mutant beast below D-rank by one full grade. But its greatest use was its ability to awaken a new ability in a mutant beast.

Most mutant beasts only possessed one ability. The reason Zhao Yin remembered Little Monkey so vividly was precisely because it had two.

All mutant beast abilities were innate. Very few could ever change.

Every additional ability doubled a mutant beast's combat power at the same rank-sometimes enough to completely dominate its peers.

In seven years of his past life, Zhao Yin had only ever seen the Golden Thread Fruit capable of granting a mutant beast an extra ability.

Unfortunately, this miraculous item was too scarce to cultivate. A single tree could bear at most two fruits-usually only one-and it would wither and die once the fruit ripened.

Zhao Yin never expected that tiny Guangzhou City would not only produce a Zombie King but also harbor a Golden Thread Fruit tree.

Slap!

Zhao Yin smacked Old Bull on the head. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

To Old Bull, the blow was nothing more than an itch, but it deliberately acted pained. "Sorry, Master. My memory isn't very good."

In truth, Old Bull had only been Zhao Yin's contract beast for less than three hours. Zhao Yin had been busy the entire time-it never had a chance to speak.

Zhao Yin's tone shifted. "Mistakes should be admitted. But I won't erase your contribution. If we get that Golden Thread Fruit, you can pick any three Supernatural Foods, and I'll reward you with a hundred Chestnuts."

Old Bull immediately expressed endless gratitude. It had never tasted Supernatural Food before, but seeing how eager Little Monkey had been earlier, it imagined the taste must be extraordinary.

Song Xiaodao had not yet woken up. Zhao Yin couldn't possibly bring her along to search for the Golden Thread Fruit-the road was far too dangerous.

Nor could he split his forces between two locations. His rule in the apocalypse was simple: safety came first. Always.

So Zhao Yin decided to wait for Song Xiaodao to wake before going after the Golden Thread Fruit.

The Industrial Park was the area with the densest zombie concentration in all of Guangzhou City. It was unlikely anyone else-or any mutant beast-would have picked the fruit ahead of him.

Zhao Yin stepped out of the Invisibility Tent. Old Bull quickly followed, like the most loyal bodyguard.

Next, Zhao Yin used his Spatial Ring to clear the debris of the collapsed villa.

Old Bull watched from the side, clueless about what Zhao Yin was doing. It didn't dare breathe too loudly. It still remembered that it was the one who had collapsed that building.

Eventually, Zhao Yin found a deformed tent in the rubble. He continued searching and soon uncovered a warped hanging pot with a few half-cooked Chestnuts still inside.

This morning, when Old Bull had rammed the villa, Zhao Yin had told Little Monkey to grab Song Xiaodao and run. These things had been buried here ever since.

Zhao Yin hammered the pot back into a less ugly shape and stored it in his Spatial Ring.

Then he went to the spot where he had discarded the food and daily necessities earlier.

Half a day had passed. Without the Spatial Ring's protection, the discarded food had spoiled even worse.

The self-heating rice and Instant Noodles were covered in green mold. The salt-baked chicken, cooked beef, braised eggs, and sausages had rotted and stank.

Zhao Yin glanced at them once and moved on. He packed up the daily necessities he had thrown away, along with the ten buckets of well water.

Then he built a wooden frame and secured all the recovered supplies onto Old Bull's back.

With this beefy cargo truck available, why wouldn't he use it?

Old Bull panted heavily. The massive tree root on its back, plus these supplies-it was like carrying a small mountain.

Zhao Yin nodded in satisfaction. "Work hard. I won't forget your contribution. When the opportunity comes, I'll make you an even stronger mutant beast."

"Thank you, Master."

"Keep it up." Zhao Yin patted Old Bull's head. At this moment, he looked exactly like a pyramid scheme leader.

He casually tossed the few half-cooked, mud-covered Chestnuts to Old Bull.

Old Bull didn't mind. It chewed and swallowed them in a few bites, feeling refreshed as it followed Zhao Yin back into the tent.

Three hours later, as the setting sun slanted westward, Little Monkey returned.

Its armor clinked and clanked. In one hand, it carried a Spiked Club caked with blood and filth. In the other, it clutched a bundle made of rags.

"Master, Master! I got three Star Crystals, three F-rank Zombie Cores, and five hundred thirty-six Unranked Zombie Cores!" Little Monkey reported eagerly, seeking praise.

"Which zombie horde did you wipe out?" Zhao Yin asked, surprised.

He hadn't expected Little Monkey to be this fierce.

It had killed at least five or six hundred zombies, including three F-rank ones.

Little Monkey communicated smugly through their mental link. "That school. Yesterday, those zombies dared to scratch my butt. Today, I wiped out more than half of them!"

Zhao Yin immediately remembered the school where they had encountered the female zombie.

When he had sent Little Monkey to lure the horde away, its butt had indeed been injured.

One day later, Little Monkey could now single-handedly destroy half a zombie horde.

"Are you hurt? Eat some Chestnuts and rest." Zhao Yin took out ten Chestnuts and accepted the bundle Little Monkey handed over.

The Chestnuts Little Monkey had taken were all gone. The bottle of Nongfu Spring had been drunk. Wearing Heavy Armor and dragging a Spiked Club weighing several hundred jin, its stamina had been pushed to the limit.

Little Monkey continued boasting. "Master, if I hadn't been reluctant to drink the Iced Black Tea, I could have wiped out the entire horde."

"For ordinary zombies, it's not worth wasting Supernatural Food. You did well, Monkey." Zhao Yin continued his brainwashing-no, his praise.

Then he turned to Old Bull. "See that? Learn from it."

Old Bull watched Little Monkey with envy and nodded repeatedly.

It thought about the rewards its master would give after picking the Golden Thread Fruit. It was already getting impatient.

Zhao Yin dismissed Little Monkey and, in passing, spurred Old Bull on. Then he opened the bundle.

Over five hundred Unranked Zombie Cores contained energy equivalent to roughly five F-rank Zombie Cores.

Adding the three F-rank Zombie Cores, Zhao Yin's evolution progress increased to 100/0.26.

This growth rate seemed slow, but it was the fastest way for an Evolver to increase strength. If the Zhao Yin of his past life had obtained Zombie Cores at this speed, he would have been utterly astounded.

To quickly boost evolution, one had to kill zombies of the same rank or higher-but that was far from easy.

After absorbing the Zombie Cores, Zhao Yin took out the three Star Crystals and cracked them open.

[Nongfu Spring...]

Starting with the most useless Nongfu Spring again.

Zhao Yin was used to it by now. He crushed the second Star Crystal.

[Beef Can: Rank E. Type: Supernatural Food. Consuming replenishes 24 hours of energy expenditure. Attached effect: Strength permanently +1.]

Finally, something other than an F-rank single-use consumable. Zhao Yin felt a surge of satisfaction.

Although it only added one point of Strength, Zhao Yin understood there was no upper limit. In his past life, Lin Tianfeng had eaten over a thousand cans of this stuff. His raw Strength alone could crush Evolvers of the same rank.

Zhao Yin planned to eat it when he was alone. In front of his underlings, he always maintained an image of frugality and leading by example. He absolutely couldn't let those gluttons see him indulging.

Zhao Yin crushed the third Star Crystal.