Zhao Yin didn't plunge straight into the Industrial Park. He kept Old Bull and Song Xiaodao hidden among the ruins, scanning the movements of the nearby zombie horde.

If Little Monkey had left the Industrial Park, it would have left traces.

After a long moment, his pupils contracted. Three F-rank zombies were wandering deep inside the park.

He remembered that the Zombie King had taken all the F-rank zombies to the southern suburbs. These must have just evolved.

The bald man and his son's flesh and blood had catalyzed them.

Zhao Yin quickly looked away and continued observing.

A few minutes later, he finally noticed it: from inside the Industrial Park stretching all the way north, the zombie horde was unusually dense.

"That's where Little Monkey drew them before escaping."

"Move. North side of the park." Zhao Yin took the lead, his pace urgent.

"Zhao Yin, why north? We split up in the southeast," Song Xiaodao whispered.

"I didn't ask you to talk. Keep your mouth shut." His voice was raw with irritation.

They circled nearly halfway around the Industrial Park before reaching its northern perimeter. Here, the zombie density within five hundred meters outside the park nearly matched the concentration inside.

The horde's shape looked like a tail growing out of the Industrial Park. Zhao Yin led Song Xiaodao and Old Bull through the ruins, using the rubble for cover as they moved toward the tail's tip.

Half an hour later, the horde finally began to thin.

Zhao Yin drew the Mountain-Cleaving Machete, stepped out from the ruins, and charged straight into the zombies.

Pfft!

One zombie didn't even react before Zhao Yin's blade split it vertically in half. As the nearby zombies turned toward him, he was already slashing, cutting down seven or eight in seconds.

He strode forward, machete dripping black blood.

Old Bull and Song Xiaodao stared wide-eyed. They had rarely seen Zhao Yin this ferocious.

He hadn't sent Old Bull to clear the path. He hadn't told Song Xiaodao to harvest cores.

In this moment, it was as if Zombie Cores meant nothing to him.

Dark brown blood soaked his head, his face, his Military Jacket, his pants, his shoes. He looked like something sticky and inhuman-a killing machine.

By the time Old Bull and Song Xiaodao caught up, Zhao Yin had slaughtered every zombie at the tail's tip. He stood there in the howling wind, leaning on his machete, a smile breaking across his filthy face.

"Monkey. The zombies beat you up. I beat them back for you."

Only then did Song Xiaodao and Old Bull understand. He just wanted to vent Little Monkey's anger.

Song Xiaodao stared at him blankly. This man was sometimes impossible to figure out.

"Zhao Yin, rest a bit. I'll extract the Zombie Cores for you." She looked at the corpses scattered across the ground.

Zhao Yin waved her off. "Monkey comes first."

He hadn't slept in two days and a night. Continuous fighting had drained him to the bone. He walked on, machete in hand.

Suddenly, his pace quickened. He stopped in front of a sticky heap.

Song Xiaodao hurried over and saw what it was: a Heavy Armor and a Spiked Club.

"The horde was chasing it. These were dead weight."

Zhao Yin understood. He swept both pieces into his Spatial Ring, his expression darkening further.

Little Monkey had thrown away its Heavy Armor and Spiked Club. That told him everything about how desperate things had gotten.

From here, a trail of mottled blood stretched northward into the distance. The blood was dark red-left by a living creature, hours ago.

Zhao Yin led Old Bull and Song Xiaodao along the trail.

This had been a highway before the apocalypse. Collapsed ruins lined both sides. Soon, Zhao Yin found a small pool of blood among the rubble.

The scattered drops ended here.

"Where's Monkey? Where did it go?" Zhao Yin snapped at Song Xiaodao.

Song Xiaodao saw the red veins in his eyes. Fear crept through her. "I-I don't know."

"It collapsed here. No one to treat it. Where else could it have gone?" He glared at her. "Search. Now."

"O-okay. I'll search." She didn't dare argue. She started rummaging through the nearby debris.

Zhao Yin stood still.

With his perception, if Little Monkey were anywhere nearby, he would already know.

Little Monkey wasn't here. That left one possibility: something had taken it. Zombies, mutant beasts, or-people.

Zombies were the least likely. They wouldn't leave behind nothing, not even a scrap of fur. That left mutant beasts or humans.

"Zhao Yin, come look!" Song Xiaodao called out.

Zhao Yin walked over. In her hand was something familiar.

A piece of corn husk.

Fresh corn only came from post-apocalypse mutant plants.

Mutant beasts ate corn. They didn't carry it.

Only humans would bring a corn husk here.

"Someone took Monkey." Zhao Yin's fists clenched.

"That's great! Someone saved Little Monkey!" Song Xiaodao's face lit up with a smile.

Zhao Yin looked at her like she was an idiot.

Song Xiaodao immediately covered her mouth. She realized what she'd said.

Zhao Yin closed his eyes and pushed his hearing to its limit.

Within two kilometers, the howling wind carried scattered footsteps. Most sounded unsteady-zombies.

No heartbeats. No breathing.

"They've taken Monkey far."

His voice was calm now. Cold. "But they're still within ten kilometers. They can't have gone much farther."

Evolvers had appeared in this apocalypse. Ability Users might be rising too.

But the meteorite rain had only stopped days ago. Zhao Yin refused to believe anyone else had reached E-rank strength.

Even if someone had, they'd be vanishingly rare. Little Monkey almost certainly hadn't run into one.

If the kidnappers weren't E-class, they couldn't have traveled far in a few hours. Not in a world crawling with zombies.

Zhao Yin dropped into the crevice, searching for any trace.

Last night's wind had swept sand across the desolate world. All footprints were gone.

But people always left something behind.

Soon, he found it: a single drop of blood on a vertical slab of broken wall, sheltered from the wind and sand.

"They went north." Zhao Yin looked up, eyes sharp with killing intent.

He could picture it. Someone had stuffed Little Monkey into a sack or container, blocking most of the blood. But one drop had seeped through.

They hadn't cared whether Little Monkey lived or died. To them, it was just meat.

"How do you know?" Song Xiaodao asked.

Zhao Yin pointed at the blood drop. "Survivors are starving. They find an injured monkey, first thing they think about is eating it. Cooking outside isn't safe. They'll head back to their shelter."

He continued, "The corn husk marks where they rested. A dozen meters from here. The blood dripped on their way back. That's the direction they left."

Song Xiaodao looked confused. She opened her mouth to ask another question-

Zhao Yin grabbed her and lifted her off her feet.

"Zhao Yin-what are you doing?!" She yelped in surprise.

He tossed her onto Old Bull's back. "Sit still. Shut up."

He strode north.

Fifty meters ahead, another drop of blood. His guess was confirmed.

The trail continued. Sometimes a drop every twenty or thirty meters. Sometimes hundreds of meters apart.

Not every drop had survived the wind.

The kidnappers clearly knew this area well. Their route avoided the zombies entirely, so Zhao Yin's group moved unimpeded.

Half an hour later, Zhao Yin stopped. He closed his eyes and listened.

When he opened them, killing intent burned in his gaze.

"Zhao Yin, did you find Little Monkey?" Song Xiaodao couldn't help asking.

"I hear a group of people. That's them." His voice was ice.

"What if... what if they really hurt Little Monkey? What will you do?"

"If Monkey loses a single hair because of them-" Zhao Yin's voice was flat. "I'll kill every last one of them."

Song Xiaodao already knew what kind of man Zhao Yin was.

Even so, a chill ran through her entire body.