In a room at the Survival Base...
"Regiment Commander Zhao, how did Uncle Liu die?" Lin Yifei stared at Liu Yong's corpse, her face cold as frost.
"Ambushed," Zhao Hu said, voice low and hard.
He recounted the events to her in full.
"I suspect Ma Zhongguo's people did this, but those three killed themselves. No evidence with the dead." Zhao Hu's jaw clenched so tight the muscles twitched.
"Have you interrogated the soldiers who escorted those three down?"
"They're all Second Regiment men. No issues there. They had no reason to suspect anything either - we rescue dozens of survivors every day. We can't run a full background check on each one."
"Interrogate them anyway," Lin Yifei said.
"They brought those people directly to Uncle Liu's door. That's not necessarily a breach of protocol, but it smells wrong. Given Ma Zhongguo's cautious nature, he'd want insurance - someone on the inside to make sure the targets reached their mark."
Zhao Hu considered her words for a moment, then nodded.
"You're right. I'll go grab them right now!"
He left the room at a near-sprint.
Lin Yifei looked at Liu Yong's body. Her eyes slowly reddened.
"Why are you all so goddamn stubborn? My dad was like this. You were like this too."
"I warned you. Why didn't you listen?"
Minutes later, Zhao Hu returned. His face was ashen.
"Those soldiers... they're gone."
Lin Yifei nodded. No surprise crossed her features - she'd already guessed.
"This was Ma Zhongguo. I'm going to kill that son of a bitch right now!" Zhao Hu was already moving toward the door.
"Don't." Her voice cut through his momentum. "You walk in there like this, you're playing right into his hands."
"What do you mean?"
"He's the highest-ranking leader in Star City now. You have zero evidence. If you attack him openly, he could kill you on the spot and call it self-defense. Then military control falls straight into his lap."
"Kill me? That scheming old bastard - you think I can't take him?"
"You can't. He reached Tier-5 peak a long time ago."
"......"
"While you were out there risking your lives on rescue missions every day, he was building his power base inside these walls. No one knows how deep his forces run."
"If you move now, you'll only get yourself killed. Uncle Liu entrusted the troops to you before he died. That means you carry this weight now. Don't be reckless."
"Then what do we do?"
"We take our people and leave. Build our own base. When we're strong enough, we come back." Her eyes hardened. "And when that day comes, we won't need evidence. We kill him, and no one will dare say a word."
"Done."
Zhao Hu nodded, sharp and fierce.
He'd wanted to break away and build something of his own for a long time. The Division Commander had never allowed it.
Now was the perfect opportunity.
He left immediately to make arrangements.
Lin Yifei's expression grew heavy once the door closed.
Leaving. Easy to say. Brutally difficult to execute.
Ma Zhongguo would anticipate this move. He wouldn't let them walk out freely.
On top of that, the weapons Uncle Liu had brought back were all stored inside the base. Extracting them was nearly impossible.
And even if they did leave - building enough strength to rival an already-established base? Easier said than done.
"It seems... we need outside help."
A figure flashed through her mind. Defiant. Untameable.
"Perhaps I should talk to him."
---
On the other side...
Yang Bin's group walked and killed as they went. By lunchtime, both Zhao Kun and Zhong Yuansen had broken through to Tier-5 peak.
Maybe it was because Tier-5 Zombies were more common now - they'd taken out over ten of them in a single morning.
These Tier-5 ambush specialists that once gave everyone nightmares couldn't even run from Yang Bin anymore.
Teleport in, one swing of the club, done. Didn't matter how many lackeys surrounded them - nothing could save them.
Once Yang Bin spotted one, its fate was sealed.
After eating on a rooftop, Yang Bin activated his True Vision Eye out of habit and scanned the surroundings. Something caught his attention - what looked like buildings on a mountaintop not far away.
He focused his vision. His eyes lit up instantly.
"Holy shit! Hilltop Villa!"
"That's the one!"
"Let's go, boys - we've got ourselves a new home!"
"Where? Where?"
Everyone perked up immediately.
"Several big-ass villas right on that mountaintop. That place is gonna be comfortable as hell!"
"Hilltop Villa? Now we're talking!"
The group buzzed with excitement, packing up in seconds and heading that direction.
Strangely, they encountered almost no zombies along the way. Everyone found it odd.
But no one thought too hard about it. Their minds were already decorating their new home.
Then they reached the foot of the mountain. Every face fell.
"What the fuck! Why are there so many zombies here!?"
"Seriously - this isn't even a residential area. You wouldn't find two living people out here normally, so where the hell did all these zombies come from?" Confusion all around.
Yang Bin frowned too, but something clicked almost immediately. A grin spread across his face.
"Boys. I think we just found a big one."
"A big one?"
"You mean - a Yaoguang Zombie!?" Eyes went wide across the group.
Yang Bin nodded.
"There are at least ten thousand zombies on this mountain. This isn't a residential zone - there's no way this many gathered here naturally. They were drawn here. And the only thing that can pull together ten thousand zombies? A Yaoguang Realm Zombie."
"Haha, hell yes! Let's take it!"
The moment they heard "Yaoguang Realm," the group lit up like someone had dangled a naked woman in front of them.
Then they looked at the mountain - a solid carpet of undead from base to peak - and the enthusiasm deflated.
Ten thousand zombies. How the hell do you fight that?
"We grind them down," Yang Bin said, smiling. "We finally ran into a Yaoguang Realm Zombie. Doesn't matter how ugly it looks - we're taking this fight."
Truth was, with their current strength, regular zombies posed almost no real threat to the squad.
But stamina has limits. Enough ants can kill an elephant. Sheer numbers could wear them into the ground.
So even with all their confidence, staring down ten thousand zombies put a knot in everyone's stomach.
"Boss, what's the play?" All eyes turned to Yang Bin.
"Lure them down. Fighting uphill puts us at a disadvantage."
"Got it."
"Get ready. I'll bait them."
Yang Bin headed straight up the mountain. The others spread into formation behind him.
No buildings nearby. No walls to funnel them through. This was going to be a straight slugfest.
Yang Bin climbed the stone steps. He hadn't made it more than a few before the zombies above spotted him.
A shriek tore through the air. The carpet of undead surged downhill, a tidal wave of rotting flesh charging straight at him.
"Oh, come on! Have some fucking shame! All of you at once!?"