Chapter Twenty-Five: Assassination

“Continue?”

The corners of Lin Dong’s lips curled up slightly. He thought this idea was indeed a good one—he should continue hunting human Awakened, harvesting their crystal cores to replenish his energy.

He hadn’t had his fill of “cherries” yet...

Besides, Lin Dong liked to hole up in his little nest and hated being disturbed. The best way to stop others from coming to find him was simple: go out and kill them all!

With this thought, Lin Dong issued a command to Xiao Ba, instructing her to go out and search for traces of human Awakened.

Xiao Ba was fast enough—a qualified, swift scout.

“Hehehehehe~~”

Xiao Ba let out a strange laugh, quickly leaving the lair and vanishing around the distant street corner.

Night fell.

Darkness shrouded the earth. With the power grid in Jiangbei City collapsed, none of the streetlights were on; everything was plunged into pitch black.

In that ink-black night, the savage roars of zombies and the howls of mutated monsters echoed frequently, a never-ending performance of bloody slaughter.

Lin Dong stood at his window, gazing out.

Zombies possessed excellent night vision—even from the twentieth floor, the minute details of the street below were clearly visible to him.

At that moment, a ghostly figure darted into the building.

Xiao Ba had returned.

“My liege... I’ve found a group of humans. They’re hiding in the Grand Fortune Supermarket, guarding a warehouse. There are more than a dozen Awakened among them, all dressed in the same uniforms as those people we saw today.”

Xiao Ba reported her findings. Her intelligence now equaled that of a ten-year-old child; as long as things weren’t too complicated, she could explain them clearly.

More than a dozen Awakened...

All in the same uniform...

Lin Dong didn’t need to think hard; he knew they were from the Tek Corporation. In this apocalypse, no other force wore standardized attire.

Guarding a supermarket warehouse—likely they’d found a large cache of supplies and were figuring out how to transport it back.

In the apocalypse, logistics was a huge problem—not everyone had access to storage abilities.

“Let’s go have a look,” Lin Dong said concisely.

Xiao Ba grew instantly excited, her mouth stretching to her ears in a wide, eerie grin...

The night was the best time for zombies to hunt.

But tonight would be different.

Not a single zombie made a sound; they silently followed Lin Dong towards the target location.

The zombie horde moved like shadows merging with the darkness.

...

Inside the Grand Fortune Supermarket, there were over two hundred humans. More than a hundred were ordinary survivors; the rest were employees of the Tek Corporation.

Among them, there were twelve Awakened.

The large warehouse contained supplies worth hundreds of millions, enough to feed tens of thousands of people—its importance was self-evident, and no mistakes could be tolerated.

“With this much stuff, how many years will it take to move it all? We’re just two hundred people—just hauling everything will wear us out,” a young man on night watch complained.

Nearby, someone took a drag on a cigarette, exhaling a cloud of smoke.

“Who cares? We’ll just wait till headquarters sends more people. We’ve got food and drink, smokes and booze—just guard the place.”

“The thing is... we can’t go back to the company. It always feels unsafe out here.” The young man was uneasy.

His companion laughed.

“Come on, you’re not worried about zombies breaking in, are you? We’ve got twelve Awakened—if zombies come, they’re dead meat.”

“Let’s hope so...” The young man yawned—the night was deep, and weariness was inevitable. “Nan, give me a cigarette too, I need to stay awake.”

...

What they didn’t know was that the supermarket’s perimeter had already been surrounded by over a thousand zombies. They stood there silently, like wooden stakes, but their eyes grew fiercer, like demons lurking in the dark!

With a single command from Lin Dong, they would charge forward without hesitation, fearless and unyielding!

“So many Awakened...” Lin Dong sensed the presence of humans within and suddenly realized that a frontal assault wasn’t the wisest course.

He would be fine, but his subordinates would likely suffer heavy losses.

The ones he’d brought tonight were all elite zombies, capable of understanding orders and following commands...

So Lin Dong decided to take the initiative himself this time.

He would find an opportunity to assassinate several Awakened first—then launch the all-out attack.

He ordered his followers to wait in place and advanced alone. His figure melted into the darkness, slowly vanishing from sight...

Using his domain of the dead, Lin Dong passed through the walls and entered the supermarket.

He moved without a sound, like a phantom.

“I’d better be careful too...” Lin Dong observed his surroundings—after all, there were twelve Awakened here. At full power, his corpse king domain would only last five minutes. If he was caught in a drawn-out fight, things might get tricky.

He followed the threads of human vitality, moving forward. Though he was enveloped in darkness, he could see everything around him clearly.

The first floor of the supermarket was devoted to gold and silver jewelry, diamonds, and other such goods.

In this apocalypse, these things were completely useless—now they just sat there, untouched.

Lin Dong continued forward, reaching the main hall on the first floor.

Here, the sound of human breathing was even more distinct, some faint snores audible as well.

Glancing over, Lin Dong saw dozens of people sleeping on makeshift beds laid out on the floor; most of them were fast asleep.

There were a few who weren’t asleep, playing on their phones, the faint glow of the screen illuminating a bald head.

His hair was all gone, yet he was still staying up late?

Large supermarkets like this usually had backup generators, so playing on a phone wasn’t unusual...

Lin Dong didn’t disturb them—these were all ordinary survivors.

More importantly—

He had already locked onto his target, located in a small room not far away.

Inside, he sensed three people: one Awakened and two women.

Lin Dong walked over silently.

Using his domain of the dead, he phased through the wall and entered.

The room, originally a shop, had been converted into a bedroom with a bed brought in. The air was thick with the scent of lust.

On the bed lay a young man and two women, all completely naked.

There was no need to guess what had transpired.

In this post-apocalyptic world, Awakened had become the darlings of humanity, with countless women throwing themselves at them.

For these women, confronted daily by savage monsters and the constant threat of death, chastity had lost its meaning—they were more willing to seek release.

Lin Dong drew a dagger and stabbed it straight into the young man’s forehead.

To avoid making any noise, he used his domain to pass the blade through the skull, scrambling the man’s brain. With a flick, a brain pellet popped out.

Clearly, this Awakened was low-level, not yet having condensed a crystal core.

Lin Dong wasn’t picky.

He popped it into his mouth—still tasted just like “cherries.”

The two women, meanwhile, slept soundly, showing no reaction at all; evidently, they were truly exhausted.

“If the two of them wake up later and find themselves lying next to a corpse, they’ll probably be terrified...” Lin Dong had some pity for them. To spare them that fear, he slid his dagger into each of their hearts in turn.

...