On the other side...
"Boss, was that guy just now from the government?" Zhao Kun asked, confused.
"Mm."
"Then... we killed a government official. Won't that bring trouble?"
"It will. But not killing him would've brought more."
"Fair enough. Still, we've completely burned that bridge now. Gotta watch our backs from here on." Zhong Yuansen said.
"Scared?" Yang Bin glanced at Zhong Yuansen, Zhao Kun, and the others.
"Scared? The hell would we be scared of? It's just the government. This isn't the old world anymore-they can eat shit."
"Good. Remember: in the apocalypse, strength is king. As long as we're strong enough, even the government has to think twice before touching us."
"Besides, they've got their hands full right now. They're not going to mobilize an army over one Jiang Tianming. Unless the government's already become someone's personal errand service."
"Brother Bin, you mean-?" Chen Hao's eyes went wide.
"Think about it. Jiang Tianming showing up embedded in Tang Weiwei's team? There are survivors everywhere begging for rescue. Why would the government have the bandwidth to send someone there? But if it was a private arrangement-then it makes perfect sense."
"Someone's building their own power base."
"Could it be..." The others' eyes widened too.
"Alright, enough speculation. Point is-stay sharp."
"Got it."
Yang Bin led the group to another commercial district and found the tallest office building to climb.
Using elevated vantage points to scan for high-order zombies was the most effective hunting method available, and Yang Bin's greatest tactical advantage. It had never failed him.
Before long, he spotted a Tier-5 Zombie. He brought the squad down to kill it.
Survival Base...
When Ma Zhongguo learned that Jiang Tianming was dead, his fury was immediate and absolute.
He issued a Wanted Order on the spot, plastering Yang Bin's likeness across every wall and bulletin board in the Survival Base. Anyone who spotted Yang Bin or his people and provided actionable intel would receive an official crystal bounty.
This time, Yang Bin had guessed wrong. Ma Zhongguo fully intended to make a spectacle of this.
He wanted every survivor in the base to understand: even in the apocalypse, the government was not to be provoked. He needed to kill the chicken to scare the monkey.
The moment the Wanted Order went up, every evolutionist in the Survival Base with half-decent combat ability lit up with excitement. All of them fantasizing about stumbling across that group on their next outing and hitting the jackpot.
The posted reward was clear: provide a confirmed location, and once the government made the arrest, the informant would receive a Tier-4 Crystal.
For the vast majority of evolutionists, a Tier-4 Crystal was an offer impossible to refuse.
On the other side...
Wang Zhenhong's residence.
"Confirmed it's the same group A-Kai mentioned?" Wang Zhenhong looked down at his butler.
"Confirmed. I personally showed the young master the posted portraits. He identified them immediately." The butler nodded.
"Well, well. Didn't expect them to piss off the government this fast."
"Works in our favor. Send A-Kai to find them again tonight. Tell them: join the Wang family, and we guarantee their safety."
"Understood."
While Ma Zhongguo schemed over how to capture Yang Bin, Liu Yong was dealing with a far more pressing headache-the Tier-6 Zombie.
He'd already restructured his forces. Every team deployed on missions now numbered at least two thousand.
He'd thought that would be enough.
It wasn't.
Just hours ago, a two-thousand-strong unit had been hit.
Not wiped out-but the casualties were devastating. Because this time, the Tier-6 Zombie had entered the fight personally.
It had walked straight through a wall of gunfire and torn into the formation like a wolf among sheep. The survivors described the scene with hollow eyes and shaking hands.
Liu Yong hadn't been there. But listening to those soldiers' accounts, he could feel the helplessness radiating off every word.
Standard submachine guns and rifles were useless against it now. Completely useless.
Heavy weapons could wound it, but the thing moved too fast. By the time you aimed something with enough punch, it was already somewhere else. The heavy ordnance was too slow to matter.
Liu Yong had anticipated that conventional firearms would eventually become obsolete. He just hadn't expected it to happen this soon.
A cold dread settled in his chest.
He understood with perfect clarity: the day firearms lost their teeth was the day the government lost its unshakable authority.
And yet some people still sat in their offices playing politician, convinced they could control everything.
Pathetic.
Liu Yong exhaled slowly, then pulled out a crystal.
This crystal was the single meaningful gain from that bloody engagement-a Tier-5 Crystal.
By their established protocol, high-order crystals were supposed to be brought before the leadership council for allocation discussion.
This time, Liu Yong had no intention of handing it over.
If it went to a vote, the political faction currently held more seats than the military. The crystal would almost certainly end up in some bureaucrat's hands.
The people bleeding and dying out there were all military. The political side just managed logistics inside the base walls. What the hell did they need a Tier-5 Crystal for?
That said, Liu Yong wasn't planning to use it on himself either. It wouldn't achieve maximum effect on him.
He thought for a moment, pocketed the crystal, and walked out of the room.
On the other side...
Star Fall Squad continued their hunt under Yang Bin's lead, scouring the city for Tier-5 Zombies.
The pickings were slim. Tier-5 Zombies were genuinely rare now. Yang Bin climbed building after building, scanning the streets below, but the results remained disappointing.
By evening, they'd found only three.
Two had been hiding inside rooms. One had been lurking within a zombie horde.
The room-dwellers were easy-the squad cornered them and put them down quick.
The one embedded in the horde cost them real time. They had to carve through over a thousand zombies before they could reach and kill it.
By the time that last one dropped, the sky was already fading to dark. Time to head home.
Nighttime was no time to hunt zombies.
The streetlights were all smashed-destroyed by zombies over the past weeks. In that pitch blackness, the zombies could see you just fine. You couldn't see them. Not a fight anyone wanted.
Even Yang Bin wouldn't risk it. Not unless he could keep True Vision Eye active indefinitely.
So when darkness fell, everyone headed home without needing to be told.
The city's power grid hadn't fully collapsed yet, but nobody dared flip a light switch after dark. Turning on a light was basically sending up a flare: dinner's here.
Yang Bin's group was the exception.
Jinghe Garden had been cleared of zombies long ago, and no other structures stood nearby. They kept their lights on freely, only switching them off at bedtime.
They'd ranged far today, so the squad hustled back the moment the sky dimmed. By the time they reached home, full dark had settled.
They'd barely walked through the door-hadn't even started cooking-when someone knocked.
Yang Bin shook his head with a wry smile and waved Skinny Monkey toward the entrance.
"Huh? Empty-handed again?" Skinny Monkey didn't miss a beat.
"Can you quit obsessing over gifts? I'm here about something important." Wang Ruikai stared at him, exasperated.
"Important or not, you still show up with something. Back home, you visit someone's house empty-handed, you get thrown out on your ass."
"......"
"Monkey, let them in." Yang Bin laughed.
"Fine, fine. Come in. But next time-bring something."
"......"
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