Late at night, the group lay on the third-floor open-air balcony, watching the stars.
The villa had lounge chairs-far more comfortable than lying on bare floor.
Stargazing was their key advantage. As long as no one else discovered the method, they'd stay ahead. And every additional night widened the gap.
Especially for Yang Bin. He'd already accumulated over three hundred extra kilograms of strength. Even as a Tier-4 Evolver, that bonus was nothing to scoff at.
Under normal circumstances, a freshly advanced Tier-4 Evolver had roughly 1,200 kilograms of strength. Yang Bin started at 1,500. That alone was enough to crush anyone at the same level, and the advantage would only snowball with time.
Chen Hao and Hu Wenliang had each gained over a hundred extra kilograms. Not enough to dominate their peers outright, but a significant edge nonetheless.
Zhao Kun and the others had only just started. They still needed time to accumulate.
After a full night of stargazing, everyone caught a few more hours of sleep. Around eight in the morning, they grabbed a quick breakfast and headed out.
They weren't here for vacation. The villa was a base of operations, nothing more. The core objective remained the same: get stronger.
Today's target was the residential district. More zombies than the school, which meant more high-tier ones too.
But the buildings here were packed tight, the alleys between them narrow. Those alleys were already crawling with zombies. Fighting here required careful consideration.
When the group arrived and saw the sheer density of undead, even they felt the pressure.
"Brother Bin, how do we handle this?" They all looked to Yang Bin.
"Same as before. Rush into a building, use the stairwell as a kill zone."
Yang Bin activated his True Vision Eye and scanned the area, then pointed at a building that looked slightly newer than the rest. "That one."
This was an older residential district. Most of the buildings were ancient.
He wasn't about to set foot in those decrepit ones. Last thing he needed was the whole structure collapsing mid-fight.
Zombies weren't weak anymore. Most had hit Tier 2, and Tier-3 Zombies were no longer rare. An old building might not survive the impacts.
The group crept toward the target building, doing their best to stay unnoticed.
No chance. In a place like this, avoiding every zombie's line of sight was impossible.
A zombie on an upper floor spotted them first. It let out a roar, and every head in the alley turned. A wave of undead surged toward them.
"Move!"
No panic. They'd expected this.
The moment the horde charged, the team broke into a sprint toward the building.
Every zombie in their path caught a swing of Yang Bin's rod and dropped.
They reached the base of the building in seconds. The ground floor was already swarming.
No hesitation. They plowed straight through.
With two Tier-4 Evolvers at the front, the zombies couldn't slow them down.
They fought to the entrance in moments.
Chen Hao grabbed the iron door and wrenched it open. The group poured up the stairwell to the second floor.
"Split up," Yang Bin said, already in command mode. "Haozi and I hold the stairs. Zhao Kun, you three drag corpses into the rooms. Liang Zi, you're on crystal extraction."
"Got it!"
No objections. Everyone moved.
With two Tier-4 Evolvers blocking the stairwell, nothing was getting through.
Yang Bin and Chen Hao swung their Barbell Rods with casual precision, dropping zombie after zombie as they charged up.
The old building had no elevator. Four apartments per floor. Zhao Kun and the other two kicked open all four doors.
No survivors. Not one. Just zombies and half-eaten corpses.
After clearing the rooms, Zhao Kun's team hauled stairwell bodies inside while Hu Wenliang cracked open skulls and dug out crystals.
They worked like an assembly line. Fast. Efficient.
Every zombie in the surrounding alleys heard the commotion and converged. The ground floor became a packed queue of undead funneling up the stairs.
Yang Bin and Chen Hao took them all. Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3-didn't matter. One hit, one kill.
At this pace, Tier-3 Crystals started rolling in fast.
Hu Wenliang handed them straight to Old Hei and the others to absorb on the spot. Level up while fighting.
---
Star City Survival Base.
A massive installation spanning hundreds of thousands of square meters, built by thousands of soldiers working around the clock.
The base was roughly circular, ringed by three-meter walls of stone and cement. The outer perimeter bristled with broken glass and metal spikes.
Observation posts stood every few meters, each manned by soldiers keeping constant watch.
This was, without question, the safest place in Star City. At minimum, no one inside had to worry about zombies breaking through.
But time had been short. The soldiers had only managed the walls. Inside, simple factory sheds served as shelter-barely enough to keep out wind and rain.
Over ten thousand survivors already lived here. Some rescued by the military. Many had found their way on their own.
Now, every one of them was put to work on construction.
Safety from zombies didn't mean a free ride. Everyone worked.
The authorities distributed food daily, but each meal was a single steamed bun. Anything more required labor.
And the real incentive: perform well enough, and you could earn crystals.
That alone had people fired up, working harder than they ever had at their pre-apocalypse jobs.
But not everyone was happy.
Take the group the military had brought back from Zhongxiang Academy yesterday.
They huddled together now, frustration written on every face.
"Are we seriously just going to sit here?" Qin Wei looked at Tang Weiwei.
"What choice do we have? They won't let anyone leave freely. If I'd known, I never would've come." Tang Weiwei's voice was bitter.
She hadn't wanted to come in the first place. But she couldn't find a reason to refuse, so she'd gotten on the truck.
"Let's just force our way out. Staying here is a waste of time."
"Sure. If you don't mind their rifles turning you into Swiss cheese, go ahead." Tang Weiwei's smile was cold.
"Then what? We can't just rot here. Any longer and we'll fall behind for good." Qin Wei kicked at the ground.
"Should've left the school sooner. Would've avoided all this bullshit."
They were ambitious. None of them wanted to waste time behind walls.
Going out was dangerous, sure. But danger meant growth. And they all understood the new reality: in the apocalypse, strength was the only currency that mattered.
"The base just opened. A lot of the rules aren't finalized yet. Restricting movement makes sense for now." Tang Weiwei stood. "Let's find whoever's in charge. Lay out our case. I think they'll let us go."
"Alright."
Looking for more free chapters? Visit www.skynovelvault.com to read over 5,000 free chapters and continue exploring more stories from SkyNovelVault.