21 The Current Situation in the Apocalyptic World

She didn't know that the intelligent zombie she had just killed was being hunted by others. Neither did she know that she had snatched away the prey of those hunters. The only thing she did know was that the level-three zombie's nucleus seemed useless to her.

She felt content while absorbing the energy, but nothing other than that. She couldn't understand why high-level zombies liked to collect zombie nuclei.

Thinking all that, she ran toward the strawberry field which wasn't far away. Her speed had increased so much that she was now running as fast as a gust of wind.

Moreover, she was the only zombie who dared to run so undisguisedly on a broad road.

Daytime had arrived again by now. The other zombies were all moving slowly while she was running like the wind. By running at such a speed, she was clearly telling the others that a high-level zombie existed in this area, wasn't she? After all, all the other high-level zombies now had crisis awareness. They hid themselves because they feared being hunted and rounded up by human beings.

However, Lin Qiao didn't care about any of this because she had yet to fully and deeply realize the fact that she was a zombie even at that moment. Besides, she tended to be simple-minded sometimes, and wouldn't over-think an issue.

It was due to precisely this reason that she was soon targeted.

"Eh? Damn! Come on! A high-level zombie!" Among the members of a small freely-formed zombie hunting squad who had been resting on the third floor of a building, a man had been sitting by the window and looking down onto the road. At that moment, he saw a figure rush past, leaving clouds of smoke and dust behind it.

Its speed was that of someone driving a sports car!

The man sitting at the window glanced down but failed to see Lin Qiao's appearance clearly, just her back as she disappeared within a blink.

He leaped up immediately.

In the post-apocalyptic world, people would normally come out of bases in groups. They would either join freely formed zombie hunting groups or would become parts of the zombie hunting squads attached to the regular army. Absolutely no human dared to take any action alone, not even high-level superpowered people.

A superpowered human being would get exhausted at some point, no matter how powerful he or she was. However, zombies were everywhere, crowding toward every living human being they found. They were slow, but a mass of zombies could still overpower and kill superpowered human beings. After all, when zombies detected the scent of living human beings, they would fearlessly rush up again and again with no other sense than the desire to feed, just like a wolf pack eyeing fresh meat.

"Where?" The other zombie hunters immediately rushed over to the man at the window on hearing him exclaim 'high-level zombie'. They stuck their heads out of the window to look outside, but saw nothing.

The young man who saw Lin Qiao shoved the others out of the way, then supported his body with his arms and directly leaped down from the window on the third floor.

"Cut the crap! It'll be gone if we don't chase!" Huang Xiao leaped down from the window, nimbly rolled forward on the ground, then swiftly jumped back up and started chasing after Lin Qiao.

"Huang Xiao!" Seeing him rush out, Xie Dong shouted out, his brow knitted in a frown.

After Huang Xiao jumped out of the window, the others all stepped back and then swarmed to the second floor. The few agile ones directly leaped down from the second floor, while the two slower ones rushed down to the first floor and exited the building the last. Like wolves that had sighted meat, the group of people followed Huang Xiao, running in Lin Qiao's direction.

Xie Dong followed behind these people. His face was expressionless except for his knitted brows, which indicated his anger.

The bases were no longer running short of food by now as some people with botanical superpowers had been able to plant and grow fruits and vegetables. With that, every base had already planted large amounts of crops. The apocalyptic world soil couldn't be compared with that in the old world, but it was good enough to keep people from dying of hunger.

The resources from the old world had greatly depleted because of the consumption in the past few years. By this time, rice and flour could only be afforded by high-level base leaders. The ordinary survivors would get nothing more than a hard, steamed bread that tasted like chaff, and a small bottle of water per day.

Accommodations were also graded. Survivors without superpowers or strong backgrounds had no other choice but to live in big tents. A big tent would accommodate tens of people, and sometimes over a hundred. Consequently, they would be very crowded, dirty, and messy. Only superpowered people and administrators could afford to live in single rooms or other relatively luxurious accommodations in the buildings inside the bases.

After the apocalyptic era had begun, the weather had changed significantly. The daytime was scorching hot while the nighttime was icy cold. The difference in temperature between day and night was dramatic. During the daytime, the temperature varied from forty to fifty degrees, but during the night, it would drop to about ten degrees. People wouldn't be frozen to death, but would still feel awfully cold.

The people who wanted decent food would have to accept missions and venture out of the bases. Only when they brought back valuable things would they be able to trade these items for better food and accommodation. And of course, high-level zombie nuclei were very precious.

Currently, there was no minimum requirement of numbers for the people who dared to leave the bases. The base administrators didn't care about these things. They would give permission for leaving to one single person or a hundred-men group, as long as people signed in and out. In particular, the people returning to the bases had to pass strict inspections, in case they brought the virus back to the bases.

Most of the people who ventured out were hunting zombies for their nuclei. Zombie nuclei could strengthen the crystal nuclei of human beings, which were also called superpower nuclei. Therefore, strong superpowered human beings were the main force of defense against zombies. In order to grow stronger, these superpowered people would all go out to hunt high-level zombies or purchase zombie nuclei from other people at the bases.

Among the group of people chasing after Lin Qiao at the moment, Huang Xiao was a peak-level-three superpowered human being, and the Captain, Xie Dong, was at level-four. All the others were merely cannon fodder at levels one and two.

That was the way things worked in the post-apocalyptic world. The weak people depended on the strong for survival, while the strong recruited underlings as expendable cannon fodder to shield themselves and save their own strength.

Huang Xiao was the Deputy Captain of this temporary squad. In terms of power, his level-three wind superpower made him the second strongest in the squad.

The main strength of the squad was Xie Dong, who had level-four fire power. He was in the special forces before the apocalyptic era began, so it was fairly reasonable for him to be the Captain of this squad. He had a well-featured face and a commanding military presence, which made him appear very serious and unapproachable. As he was outstandingly capable, he was the one making decisions for the squad most of the time, and the others had been simply following him. They could choose not to follow him, but he wouldn't bother to protect them in that case, as he didn't have to be responsible for the lives of those who were disobedient to him.

However, one person didn't think this way.

Huang Xiao activated his wind power after leaping down from the third floor ahead of the others, then immediately chased Lin Qiao to a long distance away. At that time, it was already too late for Xie Dong to call his name from behind, so he could only follow behind his squad while restraining his anger.

The nuclei of high-level zombies were especially precious, but one would be foolish to disregard their fighting ability and wisdom.

In the post-apocalyptic world, it took great efforts and a long time for zombies to upgrade. Therefore, high-level zombies were pretty rare.

A level-three zombie nucleus could be exchanged for a bagful of white flour, while a level-four zombie nucleus could be traded for a bagful of rice, five top-quality quilts, and a few sets of clean clothes. That was why many people desperately wanted to take out high-level zombies in order to secure these commodities.