Meanwhile, inside the Black Tiger Survivor Base.
A middle-aged man with a long scar running across his face rushed back to the compound, panting frantically.
The moment he crossed the perimeter, he sprinted straight toward Black Tiger's quarters.
Reaching the entrance, he collapsed onto the ground, shouting desperately, "Boss Black Tiger! Boss Black Tiger! We're finished! They've been wiped out-everyone was wiped out!"
"What's all this damn screaming about? Did you bring Zhang Jingyu back? Where's Giant Bear?" A pot-bellied, dark-skinned man with a greasy mustache and a sleazy demeanor stepped out. Seeing Scarface Mouse sprawling helplessly on the dirt, Black Tiger frowned in surprise.
What could have possibly happened to shatter the usually composed Scarface Mouse like this?
"Boss! Giant Bear is dead!"
"Yellow Dog is dead too! Everyone's dead! If I hadn't burrowed into the ground in time, I'd be dead alongside them!"
Terror flickered across Scarface Mouse's face as the memory resurfaced.
"What? Giant Bear got killed?!" Disbelief flashed across Black Tiger's face, quickly morphing into sheer rage. His voice turned deadly cold. "Is that bastard Zhang Jinglin really that strong? More than ten of you tracked them down, and you couldn't even pull off an ambush? You let him slaughter all of you? Are you all useless trash, or did something else go wrong?"
"N-no... it wasn't Zhang Jinglin! By the time we arrived, Zhang Jinglin was already dead! It was another young guy-a total monster! He took Zhang Jinglin's blade and slaughtered a dozen of our men in seconds. He didn't even use a single ability! He killed everyone with raw melee combat!"
"Giant Bear didn't even have time to react before he was instakilled! If I'd been a second slower, my head would be rolling on the dirt too!" Scarface Mouse stammered, shuddering in lingering panic.
"Impossible! Absolutely impossible! In close-quarters combat, my third brother Giant Bear is second to none! Without using abilities, even I'm not guaranteed to beat him! How could someone kill him in close combat without using an ability?" Black Tiger scoffed, utterly unconvinced.
Before the apocalypse, Giant Bear had been an elite mercenary.
After the world collapsed, he awakened the ability to transform into a giant bear, granting him terrifying physical strength.
Strictly in terms of raw physical combat, Giant Bear was at the very top among all Rank 1 ability users.
How could someone wipe him out in an instant?
Black Tiger narrowed his eyes, suspicion rising in his heart.
Was Scarface Mouse exaggerating the enemy's strength just to dodge the blame for failing the mission?
"It's the truth, Boss! I swear I'm not lying to you! That guy took Zhang Jingyu, and he chopped through hundreds of zombies all by himself with just a sword! He's terrifyingly strong! We couldn't even figure out what his actual ability was!" Scarface Mouse pleaded frantically.
Hearing that Zhang Jingyu had been taken, Black Tiger's temper flared.
"Fuck! Over ten men couldn't take down one single guy? You couldn't even bring back one damn woman-what good are you useless bastards?"
"We'll wait until Falcon gets back. I'll have him scout out the situation first, then I'll personally go meet this so-called ability user and see just how tough he really is!"
"If I find out you're blowing smoke up my ass, you'll wish you died back there!" Black Tiger snarled.
"I'm not making anything up! Boss, I'm telling the truth! If you don't believe me, send Falcon to see for himself! That guy is a monster! Fine, don't believe me then!" Scarface Mouse snapped back, turning on his heel and walking away in frustration.
He had just barely cheated death. Terrified of being tracked on the surface, he hadn't dared walk on open ground and had dug over twenty kilometers of tunnels all the way back.
His stamina was completely drained, leaving him utterly exhausted.
To crawl all the way back only to get berated by Black Tiger left a foul taste in his mouth.
Walking away from the residence, Scarface Mouse muttered curses under his breath: "A dozen brothers dead all for some woman! Not a single word of concern, just fucking yelling at me! God damn it!"
"If I could actually beat him, I would've killed him long ago! Screw this-why did I have to awaken a tunneling ability? If I had a combat ability, would I be taking this shit?"
Once the anger subsided, Scarface Mouse quieted down and began calculating his exit strategy.
"Now that Black Tiger lost Giant Bear and Yellow Dog, his strength has taken a massive hit. The entire base combined probably isn't a match for that young killer. Black Tiger is definitely going to drag us into a war over Zhang Jingyu. Staying here is just waiting to get killed."
"Fuck it. Better to split early than sit around to die! Black Tiger doesn't give a damn about his brothers anyway. There's no future with him."
Scarface Mouse made up his mind.
He decided to head back to his quarters, pack his belongings, and slip away quietly.
His ability wasn't built for combat, but it was unmatched for escaping. He was short, and the tunnels he dug were far too tight for anyone else to follow. If he wanted to run, almost nobody could catch him.
As he walked through the living sector of the Black Tiger Survivor Base, the civilians along the way greeted him warmly.
"Hello, Uncle Mouse!"
"Uncle Mouse, bring back another good haul today?"
"Decent, decent," Scarface Mouse replied with a small smile.
A thin, grimy little girl ran up to him, looking up with wide, innocent eyes.
"Uncle Mouse, where did you go adventuring today? Did you see any scary zombies?"
Seeing the child's bright face, Scarface Mouse felt his heart soften.
Although he was an ability user, his tunneling power was considered useless in combat.
Among the other ability users, he was treated like dirt and assigned to dangerous scouting runs as frontline meat. But to these civilians, he was deeply respected.
The ability users called him Scarface Mouse, but the civilians called him Uncle Mouse.
Because of that, he treated these refugees much better than the other ability users did.
The rest of the ability users acted like high-and-mighty overlords, kicking any civilian who got in their way without a second thought.
Scarface Mouse crouched down to match her eye level.
"I went way, way out today. Your Uncle Mouse personally chopped down dozens of zombies! Looked pretty awesome doing it, too! Here, have some candy."
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small wrapped candy, handing it to her.
The little girl's eyes lit up immediately.
In the wasteland, even the calories from a single piece of candy were a rare luxury.
She clutched it like a priceless treasure and bowed repeatedly. "Thank you, Uncle Mouse! Thank you!"
Seeing this, the surrounding children gathered around excitedly.
"Uncle Mouse, you're so cool!"
"Uncle Mouse is the handsomest guy in the whole base!"
"Uncle Mouse, do you have more candy?"
"Hahaha! I love honest kids! Yes, yes, everyone gets one!" Scarface Mouse chuckled warmly, distributing a piece of candy to each child.
The kids burst into cheers.
"Candy! White Rabbit milk candy! Mommy, I got candy again!" One child broke into tears of joy.
"Uncle Mouse is the best! Long live Uncle Mouse!"
The children skipped away happily.
In the distance, their parents cast deeply grateful looks toward Scarface Mouse.
A piece of candy was nothing to powerful ability users, but for civilians struggling just to survive another day, it was an unimaginable treat.
Looking at the survivors who viewed him almost as a savior, Scarface Mouse gritted his teeth and came to a final decision in his heart.