Chapter 25: Zombie Evolution

"Sigh, Old Chen was a decent person on most days. Who would have thought he would try to kill me?"

My mother’s tone was filled with melancholy. She was gradually coming to realize that this world was no longer what it used to be.

"By the way, I remember Old Chen had a wife and a daughter. What about them?" Ao Xin asked, recalling the situation. They had been neighbors, so he knew the Chen family well.

"Boss, I’ve already killed them!" Meng Kui replied at that moment.

When he learned that Zhang Hong had been attacked, he had been shocked. He had personally promised the boss that he would not let any harm come to his parents. Consumed by rage, he had kicked open the Chen family’s door upstairs and executed both women without hesitation.

Meng Kui’s decisiveness and ruthlessness surprised Ao Xin. Unlike himself, Meng Kui had not lived through the apocalypse before, yet he could kill so decisively. This Meng Kui was capable.

"Well done." He didn't offer thanks, but rather praise; he understood how a leader should act in the apocalypse.

"Boss, I’ve checked. Apart from our own home, there are no living people left in this building. I plan to get some building materials tomorrow to block the hallway and set up some defensive fortifications."

Bian City was merely a fifth-tier town. Due to the sandy soil, it had been deemed unsuitable for high-rises, so most buildings were only four or five stories tall. Although more high-rises had been built recently, Ao Xin’s home was in an old residential complex, only four stories high. With two apartments per floor, there were only eight households in the building. Most of the residents in such old complexes were elderly, and they had been infected during the first wave of the zombie virus, leading to the total annihilation of their families. Of the survivors, some died outside, while others were killed upon returning when they attempted to kill zombies to earn points after the Divine Shrine space opened. In the end, only the Ao and Chen families remained. Now that the Chen family was gone, the entire building was empty.

"Go ahead, but be careful." Ao Xin agreed with Meng Kui’s plan.

It was only then that he asked about the backgrounds of his two subordinates.

Meng Kui’s mother had been in poor health. After the zombie virus broke out, he had taken her to the hospital while she was in a coma. As the apocalypse unfolded, she turned into a zombie and bit his father—who was wiping her face at the time—to death. Meng Kui escaped in a panic, taking his car in an attempt to flee the city. Consequently, he had no attachments when he pledged his loyalty to Ao Xin and arrived in Bian City; he was now truly on his own.

Liu Xiyao was different. She had been a rural resident who put herself through university on scholarships. She was clever and knew how to leverage her advantages to extract money from men while keeping them at arm’s length. After finally saving enough to buy an apartment, her parents showed up demanding she sell it to pay for her younger brother’s marriage. When she refused, her father beat her and insulted her, claiming she couldn't have bought an apartment at her age unless she were a prostitute. They forcibly took her property deed, intending to transfer it to her brother’s name. Just as they were about to complete the transfer, the apocalypse broke out. She fled in the chaos and didn't know the status of her parents or brother. Naturally, she no longer cared whether they lived or died.

"I have already cut ties with them. Whether they live or die has nothing to do with me," Liu Xiyao said indifferently. "From now on, I belong only to my master and will do anything for you!"

Ao Xin sighed. The apocalypse was ruthless; if they hadn't met him, they would likely have died on the road. In the apocalypse, hiding honestly at home was much safer than trying to flee the city.

"Do your work well, and I will not treat you unfairly."

Ao Xin then recounted what he had seen on his journey. Naturally, he glossed over the final battle with the zombie Taoist to avoid worrying them. However, he did warn them about the evolution of the zombies, insisting they be careful. The zombies were not limited to their current level of strength; they would only get stronger.

"If you encounter a zombie whose flesh has not rotted, but which has corpse spots and a foul stench, be careful. That is an evolved form—a Flesh Zombie—and they are very strong!"

After ending the call and chatting with Ao Chen for a while, he checked the communication channel of the Divine Shrine space for news before drifting off to sleep.

Outside the Taoist temple, a small figure appeared quietly and approached the corpse of the zombie Taoist. The child's small Taoist robes were covered in dust.

"Master."

He whispered softly, knelt down, and kowtowed three times to the body before plunging into the depths of the mountains and vanishing.

The next morning, Ao Xin opened his eyes, woke the sleeping Ao Chen, and after a simple breakfast, climbed into the car to leave the dilapidated temple. The only change was that the custom baseball bat at his side had been replaced by a thick, long, bamboo-jointed steel whip.

In the passenger seat, Ao Chen rubbed her sleepy eyes and dozed off. Although more than six days had passed since the apocalypse began, she hadn't fully adjusted to its rhythm, having been accustomed to sleeping in.

At that moment, in the capital of Yuzhou Province, the military had gathered the majority of the zombies in one place. Countless high-powered lethal firearms erupted simultaneously, the thunderous roar even more intense than before. Countless zombies had their bodies blown to pieces. Yet, as long as their heads remained intact, they would grab the remains of other zombies from the ground, shove them into their mouths, and devour them.

"Open fire!"

The military had discovered that simply killing the zombies wasn't enough; shattering their heads only provided food for the others. Therefore, after research, they decided to deploy flamethrowers.

After several volleys of artillery, soldiers in protective suits armed with flamethrowers began to advance. The temperature in the air rose steadily. In the invisible microscopic world, the zombie virus was undergoing violent changes, splitting and recombining to become even more potent. Finally, a zombie whose flesh no longer rotted, covered in corpse spots and moving with agility, charged out from the pile of bodies. The flames scorched its flesh, but could not destroy it immediately. With a sharp snap, it bit through the protective suit.

More and more zombies evolved into Flesh Zombies, possessing greater defense, strength, and speed. Even bullets could not immediately take them down. The sniper rifles capable of blowing a human to bits only left large holes in the Flesh Zombies, having little impact. However, the military was still barely able to contend with them using heavy weaponry.

That was until the rising temperature catalyzed the birth of a true zombie. This creature rampaged through the military ranks like a ghost in an empty land. Because the soldiers were relying solely on firearms to kill the zombies quickly, they were not engaging in hand-to-hand combat; thus, they gained no points, earned no Haki, and developed no personal strength.

More and more people were infected. This scene was playing out across every major city and nation. The zombie crisis was beyond the military's ability to suppress; it became the final straw that broke the camel's back. The thin veneer of order that had barely been maintained collapsed instantly.

This news spread like wildfire through the Divine Shrine space. Only then did everyone realize: civilization no longer existed, and the apocalypse was unstoppable!