Just after Liu Yang finished eating breakfast.
Outside the gates of the villa area, an uninvited group arrived.
Instead of forcing their way in, however, they looked down at the zombie security guards with haughty expressions and demanded, "Open the gate. This is a survivor base, right? Routine inspection, open up!"
Inside the villa, Liu Yang frowned upon hearing the commotion.
Who on earth had the audacity to act this arrogant?
Coming straight to his front door and shouting like they owned the place?
Still, judging by their bearing, they were clearly ability users.
And they weren't weak, either.
No wonder they were strutting around like big shots.
Liu Yang took a quick look.
There were four of them in total, including one woman.
The woman could be brought into the villa area, while the three guys could be sent over to Base 1 or Base 2 to serve as brawlers.
Deciding to be cautious, Liu Yang activated his deduction skill.
After all, dealing with four unknown ability users meant he didn't want to get blindsided.
Deduction initiated.
Liu Yang stepped right outside to confront them.
The moment they saw him emerge, their arrogant facades tightened into serious expressions.
They could instantly tell that Liu Yang wasn't someone to mess with!
Even though he looked young, the dark, shadowy cloak fluttering behind him was flashy as hell. In the apocalypse, did this guy think he was a martial arts hero running around in a cape?
Flashy or not, his aura clearly telegraphed serious power.
The leading woman stepped forward and addressed him directly: "Hey! Are you the person in charge of this base?
We are official ability users from the Dragon Empire's Hidden Dragon Organization. Here are our credentials. We need to enter your base right now.
We're here to check the conditions inside and make sure no survivors are being mistreated. Cooperate, please!"
As elite members of the official Hidden Dragon Organization, every single one of them possessed immense strength and the distinct arrogance of elite awakeners.
Consequently, they didn't bother with pleasantries, speaking to Liu Yang in a commanding tone.
Liu Yang chuckled softly and shook his head. "The Dragon Empire's official Hidden Dragon Organization?
I've never heard of you. Where were you when the apocalypse first broke out and everyone else was struggling just to stay alive?
Why didn't you show up for disaster relief?
Why weren't you helping the survivors then?
Now that the survivor bases are built and thriving, you suddenly crawl out to inspect things?
What is this, a tax on other people's hard-earned success?
Besides, this villa area is my private territory. Request denied."
Liu Yang had never heard of any official faction by that name.
When the world went to hell, government stability operations were nowhere to be found.
Now they wanted to waltz in and audit his base? Not a chance.
"Oh? So you're refusing to cooperate with the Hidden Dragon Organization, huh? Have you thought about the consequences?"
A burly man narrowed his eyes, a dangerous, predatory glint flashing in his gaze as his tone turned overtly threatening.
He expected to intimidate Liu Yang right then and there. Instead, Liu Yang's expression instantly froze, the surrounding temperature dropping by several degrees as he fired back:
"Have you thought about the consequences of pissing me off? Hmm?"
Boom-the ambient air felt like it dropped a full eight degrees!
The burly man's fierce expression faltered. He had meant to scare Liu Yang, but those few icy, unfiltered words felt like stepping on a dragon's reverse scale. An instant wave of primal dread spiked up his spine, leaving his back drenched in cold sweat!
Though he couldn't gauge Liu Yang's exact power, that level of absolute confidence and overwhelming aura belonged to someone terrifyingly lethal.
Silence fell heavily over the entrance.
After a tense few seconds, the leading woman forced an awkward laugh to break the ice.
"Handsome, please don't misunderstand. We aren't trying to threaten you. Ever since the apocalypse started, our Hidden Dragon Organization has actually done a lot of good work protecting survivors.
The only reason we want to inspect your base is to ensure no one is abusing the vulnerable.
We've run into plenty of bases where scum treat other survivors like livestock-keeping them just for meat and blood. Those monsters are way scarier than zombies!
Of course, I'm not saying you're one of them. We aren't targeting you.
If your base is clean, you shouldn't have any problem with an inspection, right?
In fact, if your strength is high enough, we could even invite you to join the Hidden Dragon Organization and become one of us!"
With the collapse of law and order, human malice had been dialed up infinitely.
Some violent criminals who caught a lucky break and awakened abilities turned into absolute tyrants after the disaster.
The survivors trapped in their compounds lived in a literal living hell.
Women were subjected to daily abuse and assault.
Men were worked to the bone as slaves or treated as livestock.
Their Hidden Dragon squad had already liberated several such camps.
Whenever they crossed paths with tyrannical base lords, they'd slap cuffs on them and take over the administration.
Liu Yang's compound was easily the most formidable base they had encountered so far.
A fifty-meter-tall frost wall, hard as reinforced steel-that wasn't something ordinary people could pull off.
It proved the terrifying capability of the base's leader.
And it strongly suggested the leader possessed an advanced ice-type ability!
Constructing a wall of that magnitude, even over a month, required a staggering output of energy.
That was why they were showing him this much respect, even dangling the prestigious carrot of joining the Hidden Dragon Organization.
To a regular awakener, joining the Hidden Dragon Organization sounded like the opportunity of a lifetime, but to Liu Yang, it was a joke.
Why would he step down from being a king in his own domain?
To join some pathetic official task force?
What could those guys possibly offer him?
Liu Yang had no intention of ever bowing to anyone.
With his system, reaching the peak of the global hierarchy was just a matter of time.
Join the Hidden Dragon? Please.
A cold, teasing smile tugged at the corner of his lips as he looked straight at the woman.
"You know, you're pretty easy on the eyes. Decent curves, wide hips-looks like prime material for bearing children. If your skills in other areas measure up, maybe I'll make an exception and let you join my base as one of my women..."