Chapter Fifty-Four: Treasure

Tank and Crow sped forward, skimming over the ravaged streets.

Several zombies noticed them, lifting their heads to emit low growls—clearly, they had left the bounds of their own territory.

About ten minutes later.

In the distance, Tank saw thick black smoke rising from the top of a building, coiling into a cloud. A helicopter had crashed into the building halfway up, now burning fiercely.

All the building’s floor-to-ceiling windows were shattered, revealing a group of humans fighting zombies on one of the middle floors.

And that wasn’t all.

Countless zombies, like a tidal wave, surged around the building, trapping the humans inside.

Some zombies had already broken into the building, others scaled the walls in dense clusters—a spectacle both horrifying and grand.

“There really are humans here,” Tank muttered to himself.

“There’s treasure... There’s treasure...” Crow flapped its wings and repeated.

Tank squinted for a better look and noticed that one of the humans clutched a case, handcuffed to his own wrist.

The rest of the humans surrounded and protected him.

Clearly, the case held something of great value to them.

“What’s inside that treasure?” Tank wondered, his curiosity piqued.

The man with the case was named Sun Dabiao, a high-ranking officer at Tyke Corporation. He had just retrieved something extremely important from company headquarters, now locked inside that case.

On the way back by helicopter, fate took a cruel turn—they encountered a flying mutant beast.

It was a giant black bird, its body like a cannonball, shattering the helicopter’s window with a crash. Its sharp beak pierced straight into the pilot’s eye socket.

The helicopter crashed, landing in zombie territory.

Luckily, the survivors were all Awakened; except for the pilot, the crash had not claimed any other lives. But the surrounding zombies had thrown them all into a deadly predicament.

“Hurry! The zombies are climbing up!” Sun Dabiao shouted anxiously.

Beside him, an Awakened with ice powers radiated a chilling aura, conjuring countless ice spikes in his hands. He stood before the shattered window, launching the spikes at the climbing zombies.

The ice spikes were razor-sharp, deadlier than bullets.

They pierced through the zombies, sending them plummeting from the tall building.

But the zombies were too many, clambering upward relentlessly, and in the distance, a zombie king presided over the siege.

On the rooftop of a three-story building opposite, a tall, imposing figure stood.

Its mouth bristled with sharp fangs, red pupils gleaming with ferocity. The surrounding territory was its patrol zone.

Who could have guessed that today a “windfall” would literally fall from the sky?

A helicopter had crashed down.

Immediately, it rallied its minions for an assault. Though the Awakened humans were formidable, even a fierce tiger cannot withstand a pack of wolves. Their powers would be exhausted before long, and attrition alone would finish them off.

All the zombie king needed to do was wait and claim the spoils.

But at that moment, on the outskirts, Tank and Crow stared at each other, eyes wide and unblinking.

“Let’s go! Together, we’ll snatch the treasure back!” Crow urged.

In fact, it was Crow who had brought down the helicopter; seeing the treasure fall into someone else’s hands, it was not about to let it go.

“Let’s do it. Who’s afraid of whom?” Tank was no coward—though deep in enemy territory, surrounded by zombies, he had the nerve to snatch food from their very mouths!

Without hesitation, zombie and bird charged into battle.

Tank moved with remarkable agility, knocking aside several zombies on his way, and barreled straight to the base of the building.

He leapt, landing on the wall, and began to climb like Spider-Man—quick and nimble.

“Careful! It’s a mutant zombie!” Sun Dabiao quickly noticed Tank’s powerful build and speed as he surged ahead of the horde.

The ice Awakened at his side instantly conjured more spikes and fired them down.

Tank roared, raising his right arm to shield his face. The sharp ice spikes embedded themselves in his palm.

But Tank’s skin was tough, his flesh thick—the spikes could not penetrate deep, barely grazing his surface. It was nothing to him.

With a savage grip, Tank crushed the spikes in his palm. Then, legs coiling with power, he sprang upward more than twenty meters, closing the distance to the humans’ defensive floor.

“This zombie is strong!” Watching Tank approach, Sun Dabiao’s frown deepened.

The towering zombie king across the way was equally taken aback. He was certain he had no such fierce subordinate among his ranks...

“Whose minion is this, so bold and ferocious?”

But seeing Tank attacking the humans, the king dismissed his doubts and signaled his own minions to assist.

Tank was indeed ferocious. One hand landed on the window ledge; with a powerful swing, his muscular body vaulted inside.

The humans fell back instantly.

With the window lost, zombies poured in after him, their faces contorted in bloodlust as they howled at the survivors.

“I’ll hold them off!” the ice Awakened shouted, pressing both hands forward. A biting chill filled the air as frost began to form, crackling with the sound of ice taking shape.

Before him, a wall of ice was nearly complete.

Suddenly, a shadow darted in from the side at incredible speed—a black blur. With a movement like a dagger, a bird’s beak stabbed straight into the Awakened’s temple.

A spray of hot blood, and the ice Awakened collapsed on the spot.

Sun Dabiao’s eyes widened in horror as he recognized the black shadow—it was the very same giant raven that had attacked their helicopter!

This was no coincidence.

It had all been meticulously planned.

Brother Crow was no ordinary bird; it could eat two humans in one sitting—a testament to its tremendous potential.

With the ice Awakened dead, the zombies surged forward, wrestling the remaining humans to the ground and tearing into them. Chaos erupted.

Roars, howls, and screams of agony echoed in quick succession.

Tank ignored everything else. With a few powerful strides, he lunged forward, his aim clear—he seized Sun Dabiao’s case in one massive hand.

“The treasure...”

“Huh?” Sun Dabiao’s brow furrowed as he struggled desperately.

“Let go of me!”

But Tank’s strength was overwhelming. With a violent yank, he nearly pulled both the case and Sun Dabiao into his own arms.

Sun Dabiao’s eyes reddened.

A wave of heat flared from his body.

He was an Awakened of flame, but after the earlier battle, he was nearly spent. Now, he forced out the last of his power.

His left arm erupted in flames as he gripped Tank’s wrist, trying to make him release his hold.

A burnt, acrid scent filled the air—like singed pig bristles.

“Let go of me!”

“The treasure...” Tank cared for nothing but the case. Though the burning pain seared him, his mind was set—he would not let go.

Beads of sweat rolled down Sun Dabiao’s pale forehead, his vision growing hazy—his body hopelessly depleted, he could barely stay conscious.

With a final wrench, Tank yanked the case hard. The sound of tearing flesh and snapping bone rang out—Sun Dabiao’s right arm was ripped halfway off.