With the upheaval at the Survival Base, Star City seemed to enter a delicate new phase.
Ma Zhongguo consolidated power within the Survival Base, bending every evolver into a tool under his command.
Simultaneously, he began winning hearts-distributing the crystals in his possession to cultivate more evolvers loyal to him.
Anyone with half a brain could see it. His ambitions were enormous. He intended to use this opportunity to sever all ties to the authorities above and crown himself a regional overlord.
When the apocalypse broke out, everyone else drowned in despair. Ma Zhongguo saw opportunity.
Because without the apocalypse, that anti-corruption wave would have reached him next.
The end of the world had indirectly saved his career-and his neck.
So from the very beginning, he'd been scheming in the shadows. He exploited Liu Yong's single-minded devotion to saving lives, quietly purging dissidents and building his own power base while the commander wasn't looking.
Now, he'd finally seized total control of the Survival Base.
As long as he kept growing his forces, even if people from above eventually came, they'd have nothing on him.
After all, things weren't like before. The mountains were high and the emperor far away. Even the capital couldn't touch him now.
In time, all of Star City would be his.
On the other side...
Zhao Hu led the military forces to capture a large Armed Forces Department compound, then used it as a foundation to begin constructing walls.
After the long, brutal march-fighting every step of the way-the soldiers hadn't even caught their breath before breaking ground.
Lin Yifei watched them work, every one of them driven and tireless. Her mood, however, was heavy.
They'd escaped. But they were too far behind. Catching up to Ma Zhongguo's side was nearly impossible.
Sitting on a massive base of over a hundred thousand people, Ma Zhongguo would only grow stronger with time.
Revenge felt like a distant dream.
"Looks like our only option is finding outside help." Lin Yifei let out a quiet sigh.
Beyond the military and government factions, those high-level evolvers who'd left the Survival Base had also begun establishing bases of their own.
On top of that, some evolvers who'd never gone to the Survival Base in the first place had long since set up their own territories.
China never lacked ambitious people. Plenty wanted to carve out an empire in the apocalypse.
Especially the Ability users. They considered themselves chosen ones-destined to accomplish something great in this new world.
Star City was vast. Pre-apocalypse permanent population: over ten million. Nearly a month in, the number of survivors had likely dropped below one million.
Of those, beyond the official Survival Base, shelters established by various Ability users had taken in a significant number.
As for survivors still out on their own-they were practically a rounding error at this point.
Even with food stockpiled, given how strong zombies had become, hiding at home no longer guaranteed survival.
Bases had become the only viable way to stay alive.
Everyone understood this. So any evolver with real strength gathered people and built a base.
The cycle was simple: powerful evolvers hunted zombies, brought crystals back for ordinary people and low-level evolvers, helped them rank up, then everyone hunted together.
A virtuous loop that made each base progressively stronger.
This was the law of apocalypse survival.
But were these bases truly safe?
About ten-plus kilometers from Xingyue Mountain sat one such Survival Base.
Established early, it had grown to a scale of over ten thousand people.
Its founder, Su Ming, was a Fire-type Ability user. Before the apocalypse-a nobody. A waste of space with nothing to show for his life.
Then the world ended, and he awakened an Ability.
He used it to kill zombies. Built a team. Gathered followers.
Slowly, ambition crept in. He established a base here.
But the scene inside this base looked nothing like the one Xiao Han and the others occupied.
Maybe it was because he'd been a doormat his entire previous life. Once he had power, Su Ming's personality warped into something tyrannical.
Obey him, and you lived well-food, water, crystals to grow stronger.
Defy him, and you suffered. Beatings. Severed hands. Executions. All routine.
And Su Ming was a predator in more ways than one. Every woman who entered his base-anyone remotely attractive-got dragged to his quarters. Cooperate enthusiastically enough, and life afterward was comfortable. Displease him, and the consequences were ugly.
The people in the base seethed in silence. No one dared speak up.
The strong ones were his cronies-birds of a feather. Anyone who objected to his behavior either ended up dead or shoved to the margins, cut off from all resources.
At this moment, inside a large room in the base.
Su Ming and several of his top lieutenants were in the middle of a group activity with women.
Then-frantic pounding on the door.
"Boss! Bad news! A shitload of zombies heading this way!"
Su Ming's brow furrowed. He shoved the woman off him, pulled on his clothes, and walked out.
"What's going on?"
"Tons of zombies coming straight for us!"
"How many is 'tons'!?"
"At least twenty or thirty thousand!"
"Fuck- Get everyone to the walls! Now!"
Within minutes, every evolver in the base stood atop the city walls. They stared at the ocean of corpses surging toward them, and every face went pale.
"What do we do, Boss!?"
"What do you think? We fight!"
The horde reached them fast. Su Ming hurled a massive fireball down into the mass-several zombies ignited and collapsed.
Others opened fire. Bows, crossbows, guns-they'd prepared well enough.
But not well enough. After a few hundred kills, the zombies reached the base of the walls.
Then they started ramming.
The cement walls held for a while. Not long. Cracks spiderwebbed through the concrete. Gaps opened. Zombies poured through like floodwater.
All-out war erupted.
Ten thousand people against twenty or thirty thousand zombies-on paper, it was a fight they could win.
But too many of Su Ming's people were only First or Tier 2. The ones who'd refused to lick his boots. Marginalized. Starved of resources. Never allowed to grow.
They became cannon fodder the instant the walls fell.
The battle raged. Blood ran through the base like rainwater through gutters. Screams filled the air from every direction.
It didn't take long. The entire base collapsed into ruins.
Su Ming and his top lieutenants-all peak Tier-5-were the last ones standing through sheer brute strength.
When he saw the base was finished, Su Ming made his choice instantly. He threw his lieutenants to the zombies as bait and bolted.
Several Tier-5 Zombies locked onto him and gave chase.
Meanwhile, the Star Fall Squad had been hunting zombies in the distance. They heard the commotion and moved toward it fast.
Moments later, they spotted Su Ming sprinting for his life.
The second Su Ming saw Yang Bin and the others, his eyes lit up. He immediately angled his escape route toward them, dragging the zombie horde along behind him.
"Perfect. These idiots can take the hit for me."