[Glutinous Rice Wine: Grade F. Type: Supernatural Alcoholic Beverage. Effect: Strength +80 for 10 minutes after consumption. Side effect: Mental confusion for 3 hours.]

Zhao Yin stared at the transparent glass bottle in his hand, his expression complicated.

The liquor inside shimmered a tempting amber.

Ten minutes of eighty extra Strength points. Combined with his own Strength attribute and his equipment's attack bonuses, he could probably take down even a D-grade zombie.

But that side effect was brutal-three hours of mental confusion.

Before the apocalypse, that wouldn't have mattered much.

But now? Forget three hours. Even three minutes of confusion could get him killed.

Zhao Yin hadn't figured out how to use this thing yet, so he stored it in his Spatial Ring for now.

Just then, Song Xiaodao finally opened her eyes.

"Zhao Yin." The girl was still groggy, his name the first thing out of her mouth.

Zhao Yin turned and activated the Eye of True Sight.

[Human female. F-grade Evolver. Evolution: 100/0. Strength 16, Agility 17, Constitution 12, Spirit 11. Life countdown: 31,057 days.]

Her stats weren't far off from his own back when he'd been F-grade. The only real difference was that she hadn't awakened an ability yet, so her Spirit was less than half of his.

"Zhao Yin, I'm hungry." Seeing him lost in thought, Song Xiaodao spoke up again.

She scrambled to her feet, crouched beside him, hugged her shoulders, and put on her best pleading look. "Is there anything left to eat?"

Zhao Yin handed her three Chestnuts, then pointed at the pile beside him-a Dress, a Tang Dao, a butterfly knife, a pistol, and a hundred rounds of ammunition.

"This gear is yours. Starting today, you're killing zombies with me."

He watched her face closely.

The moment she heard "killing zombies," her head shook like a rattle drum. She didn't even dare take the Chestnuts.

"Zhao Yin, I'll just keep cutting heads for you! You need someone to collect Star Crystals and Zombie Cores anyway. The fighting stuff-isn't that what Little Monkey is for...!"

"In the apocalypse, killing is the foundation of survival." Zhao Yin cut her off. "What happens if I die someday? How will you survive then?"

His tone turned stern. "Young people should learn more skills. Depending on others is the inferior path. Only what you've learned yourself truly belongs to you. Only then can you handle any crisis."

Song Xiaodao finally understood-Zhao Yin had been thinking about her this whole time.

So he actually cared about her that much.

In that moment, his figure seemed to grow taller in her eyes, gradually overlapping with the image of her brother in her heart.

Her eyes stung with heat. She took the Chestnuts from his hand and said softly, "I understand, Zhao Yin."

Zhao Yin sighed, turned silently, and walked out of the Invisibility Tent. His voice came out slightly hoarse. "Xiaodao, from now on, I'll try to handle the head-cutting myself. Training you comes first. Everything else can wait."

His tall back disappeared outside the tent, but his voice drifted back in.

"I got you that Dress you liked. Put it on. Girls should look pretty."

He was the Contract Master. He belonged behind the scenes, letting his underlings do the fighting.

Walk by the river long enough, and your shoes will get wet.

Today's encounter with the zombie king had been a wake-up call. From now on, he needed to avoid throwing himself into desperate combat whenever possible.

Song Xiaodao's eyes grew wet. For a long moment, she couldn't move.

She gripped the Chestnuts so tightly her knuckles turned white.

"Dad, Mom, Brother... do you know? I've met a good person."

She changed into the Dress and, copying Zhao Yin, strapped the butterfly knife to her arm. The Tang saber and pistol hung at her left and right hips. She wrapped the extra bullets in a scrap of cloth and tucked them against her chest.

Crunch, crunch-she finished all three Chestnuts quickly. Suddenly the light around her brightened. Zhao Yin had put away the Invisibility Tent.

"Zhao Yin, where are we going next?"

At that moment, Song Xiaodao felt that as long as this man was with her, anywhere in this apocalypse could be home.

"Back to Guangzhou City. To kill zombies."

Somewhere along the way, wind had risen across the desolate world, tousling Zhao Yin's short hair into even greater disarray.

He looked at Song Xiaodao too. After evolving, the girl seemed a bit taller. The Dress actually showed off a fairly graceful figure on her.

But she was still barefoot, standing in the mud.

Zhao Yin glanced down at his own sneakers-toes poking through the front-and sighed inwardly. He'd gotten plenty of equipment from Star Crystals by now. Why were there never any pants or shoes?

"Monkey, Old Bull-you two full? If you are, time to work."

He raised a hand and pointed toward Guangzhou City. "Target: the Industrial Park. Monkey takes point. Xiaodao provides cover. Old Bull stays by my side and protects me!"

"Zhi zhi...!"

"Huff huff...!"

Little Monkey and Old Bull both perked up with excitement.

Even Song Xiaodao's face turned solemn.

Little Monkey dragged its Spiked Club and charged forward first. Song Xiaodao hurried after it. Zhao Yin brought up the rear with Old Bull.

Two humans and two beasts moved farther and farther away...

The wind howled. Stars and moon rose. The world sank into murky twilight...

Zhao Yin suddenly remembered something an old survivor in his camp had said before dying in his previous life.

This world was supposed to belong to humans during the day and to other creatures at night.

But humans had claimed both day and night, so the world brought down its punishment.

People turned into zombies, doomed to wander without rest.

Now that society's framework was gone, now that he wasn't struggling to survive like in his past life, Zhao Yin suddenly felt the apocalypse wasn't so bad.

At least Song Xiaodao didn't have to deal with the academic rat race anymore-endless memorization, homework, research, tutoring sessions.

Ordinary people didn't have to kill themselves paying off mortgages and car loans. No more workplace competition. No more fake smiles for anyone. No more crying over anyone either.

Little Monkey didn't have to rot away in a zoo, living on handouts. Old Bull would never be turned into beef products.

Lost in thought, Zhao Yin soon reached the urban district of Guangzhou City.

Collapsed ruins everywhere. Broken roads. Wrecked cars. Zombies wandering aimlessly.

This time, Zhao Yin didn't bother using the ruins for cover. He had Little Monkey lead the way straight down the ruined road.

Roar!

A zombie spotted them immediately and staggered toward Little Monkey at the front.

In a blink, dozens of zombie roars erupted nearby. Zombies surged in from all directions.

Zhi zhi zhi... ROAR!

Little Monkey activated its ability. Its scrawny body swelled rapidly.

Its face twisted into something savage. Mid-Giantification, the chirping in its throat became a terrifying roar.

In an instant, Little Monkey transformed into a two-meter-tall beast. The Spiked Club in its hand whirled through the air.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The three zombies charging head-on had their skulls smashed apart on the spot.

Then Little Monkey plunged straight into the horde. Every swing of its club sent several zombies crashing down.

Zombies clawed at the Heavy Armor covering Little Monkey's body, but they couldn't budge it. The beast moved like a meat grinder, leaving trails of black blood wherever it passed.

Old Bull's breathing grew heavy. "Master, I want to go too."

"Go on then. See who kills faster-you or Monkey." Zhao Yin rose on tiptoe and slapped Old Bull on the rump.

Old Bull's spirit surged. It was an E-grade mutant beast, after all. How could it let a monkey show it up?

It activated both abilities at once. Its body, already over two meters tall, swelled even larger. Muscles packed with explosive power bulged across its frame. Fish-scale armor plates spread over its entire body. Then it charged.

The next moment, on Little Monkey's right-where the zombies were thickest-Old Bull's massive form plowed straight through. Every zombie in its path was smashed to pieces. A severed arm from some unknown corpse thumped down at Zhao Yin's feet.

Zhao Yin glanced down, then wiped a drop of black blood off his face.

In terms of combat instinct, Old Bull was sharper than Little Monkey. After mutating, it had been roaming the Industrial Park, killing who knew how many zombies along the way.

Before the horde could even mass together properly, the two mutant beasts had already torn through more than half of them.

Song Xiaodao had braced herself for a desperate battle. She hadn't expected that not a single zombie would even reach her.

Watching the two beasts rampage through the horde, she stood frozen.

"Go help out. If you don't kill ten zombies today, no midnight snack." Zhao Yin's voice came from behind her.