The road was still crawling with zombies. They'd cleared this route to the dormitories several times already, but zombies wandered aimlessly. Clear them out, and more drifted in before long.

Judging by the zombies' running speed, the group could tell their strength had jumped again. Without a proper weapon, an ordinary person would struggle to take even one down now.

Worse, the number of Special Zombies had spiked. They'd been walking barely twenty minutes and already encountered several. The ratio was far higher than yesterday.

Both Chen Hao and Hu Wenliang had reached the limit of Tier 1. All they needed were Tier-2 Crystals to break through.

As the group passed through a cluster of dormitory buildings, they stumbled upon another group.

Over twenty people, all tall and well-built, gripping iron pipes like the ones Yang Bin's team had used before. They were mid-fight with a pack of zombies.

What surprised them most was that two of the fighters were clearly powerful-Tier 1, by their estimate.

"Do they know about the crystals?" Hu Wenliang muttered.

"Haozi, check online," Yang Bin said.

"On it."

Chen Hao pulled out his phone. A moment later, he looked up. "Bin-ge, you called it. The authorities announced the crystal info this morning."

"No wonder. I was thinking-since when do random people have the guts to come out and hunt zombies?" Hu Wenliang said.

"Self-interest is what drives people past fear. Same as us-if we didn't know crystals could boost our strength, would we be out here every day? Staying holed up in the dorm sounds a lot nicer," Yang Bin said.

"True. People are probably pouring out everywhere now to hunt zombies for crystals."

"Good thing, honestly. At least humanity has a shot at surviving this way. If everyone just hid, it'd be extinction."

"Yeah. Means we need to push harder too. Can't let people catch up." Chen Hao clenched his fist.

"Let's go." Yang Bin had no interest in getting involved with strangers. Especially not during the apocalypse.

But just as they turned to leave, the other group spotted them.

"Hey, classmates! You out here hunting zombies too?"

"Nah. Just out for a stroll."

"......"

"Ha, funny guy. Zombies everywhere and you're taking a walk? Look, I can see you've got weapons. You're clearly out hunting. Why not team up? Safety in numbers. We just took down two Special Zombies-two of us have already consumed crystals. Regular zombies are no problem for us now."

The speaker was a guy in a basketball jersey, at least 1.88 meters tall. He smiled easily, though his eyes drifted over the backpacks on Yang Bin's group and the Barbell Rods in their hands.

"If we joined, how would crystals be split?" Yang Bin asked, expression neutral.

"Equal distribution. With our combined strength, everyone'll have crystals soon enough." The man grinned.

"Mm. Well, good luck to you. We'll pass-wouldn't want to thin out your shares." Yang Bin smiled back.

"Come on, don't be like that. You're swinging 20-kilogram Barbell Rods around like nothing-you've clearly got serious strength. If you joined, our team's combat power would shoot up. If you're strong enough, we could even prioritize crystals for you."

"Appreciate it. Still no." Yang Bin gave a polite smile, then turned and walked away with Chen Hao and Hu Wenliang.

Watching them leave, several people in the group scowled.

"The hell are they so full of themselves for? Wait till zombies are chewing on them-they'll regret it."

"Right? We offer a hand and they spit on it. They'll come crying sooner or later."

But the leader frowned. He turned to an equally tall man beside him.

"Sijie. Why do you think they refused? Our team's strong by any standard right now. They didn't even hesitate."

"They were calm the entire time. Not a trace of fear," Sijie said. "People like that are either extremely confident in their own strength, or they don't understand how dangerous things have gotten. From the way they carried themselves-it's obviously the former."

"Yeah. Looks like we need better weapons too. Those Barbell Rods are way more effective than these pipes."

"The Gymnasium's too far from here, though. Getting there would be risky. Better to play it safe for now."

"Mm."

---

On the other side, Yang Bin's group continued toward the Graduate Dormitory. Every zombie along the way went down effortlessly-like slicing through butter. Zero pressure.

"Bin-ge, that group back there was definitely eyeing our backpacks," Chen Hao said with a grin.

"Obviously. Big bags, small bags-who wouldn't be tempted? The fact that they held back is already decent of them," Yang Bin said.

"They should thank their own self-control. If they'd actually tried something, those twenty-odd people wouldn't have lasted three swings between us," Chen Hao said.

"Keep it down. Stop stating the obvious so loudly."

"Oh. Right."

Before long, they reached another dormitory area. This was where the graduate students lived. Never mind the interiors-just the surroundings were noticeably quieter.

"Seventh floor. Easy rooftop access," Yang Bin said.

"Got it."

They picked a relatively secluded building and headed up.

No sign of anyone inside. They did run into a few zombies that lunged down the stairwell at them mid-climb-delivering themselves on a platter.

They reached the seventh floor quickly. Most doors were already smashed in, the rooms reeking of old blood.

Luckily, they found one at the far end with a door still mostly intact.

They cleaned the room up. This would be home for now.

The Graduate Dormitory was a clear upgrade. Washing machine, water heater, full amenities-even a small balcony.

Once their gear was stowed, they prepared to head back out. Everyone else was starting to hunt zombies. No time to slack.

"Bin-ge, what if someone shows up while we're gone and takes our stuff?" Chen Hao said suddenly.

"Yeah. Even if we lock the door, someone could force it open."

"Hmm. How about we lure a few little cuties up here to stand guard?"

"How?"

"Easy. Lure them to the second floor, then we jump down. Regular zombies still can't climb walls."

"Works for me."

They went back down, led a handful of zombies up to the second floor, then dropped from the windows and strolled away.

Behind them, the zombies snarled and thrashed in the corridor-but couldn't get out.

---

With that settled, Yang Bin's group resumed hunting Special Zombies.

Today the numbers were genuinely alarming. By their count, Special Zombies now made up at least a fifth of the total.

From one percent on the first day to one-fifth on the fourth. The rate of zombie evolution was staggering.

It didn't take long before they'd killed several more Tier-1 Zombies.

Yang Bin consumed another crystal-testing whether Tier-1 Crystals still did anything for him at Tier 2.

The answer was clear. Nothing.

Chen Hao tried one too. Same result.

"Bin-ge, what do we do with these? They're useless to us now." Chen Hao held up the remaining crystals, looking a bit lost.

"Hold onto them. They're worthless to us, but other people would kill for these. If we ever want to expand the team, they'll come in handy," Yang Bin said.

"Got it." Chen Hao nodded and tucked the crystals into his bag.

"No point hunting Tier-1 Zombies anymore. We go straight for Tier-2," Yang Bin said.

"Back to Zhongyuan Building?"

"Yeah."

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