The changes in the zombies

Anthony wiped off the blue blood from his long knife and carefully placed two first-order mutant crystals into his backpack. "Two mutants down, now it's time to clean up the ordinary zombies," he thought.

With a swift step, Anthony leaped into the western section of the Rose Garden. A low growl echoed in the air. Anthony's eyes sharpened, and he swiftly turned around, separating the head from a running zombie. He frowned as he observed the twitching headless body on the ground. It bore some resemblance to the zombies from Yanghe River School, but there were noticeable differences, especially in their increased speed. Could it be that the ancient virus inside them had evolved?

Lost in thought, another zombie lunged at him. This one lacked the stiffness and sluggishness of the initial zombie and instead exhibited agile movements almost like a regular human. "Indeed, they have evolved," Anthony muttered.

Without hesitation, Anthony swung his blade. Perhaps due to the intense sounds of the previous battle, a large horde of zombies were drawn to the noise and flooded into the western section of the Rose Garden.

"Perfect timing!" Anthony sneered. His figure transformed, and his blade danced, occasionally kicking the zombies that approached too closely, sending them flying more than ten meters away.

This scene unfolded before the survivors on the upper floors, particularly catching the attention of the rescued little girl. She excitedly grabbed her mother's arm and asked, "Mom, is that uncle a superhero?"

"Or... maybe," the woman didn't know how to answer, but she didn't want to shatter her daughter's fantasy. She forced a smile but her gaze toward Anthony flickered with uncertainty.

The battle continued for a full hour, and to Anthony's surprise, he realized that despite his previous ability to kill at least a thousand zombies, he had only managed to dispatch 200. While a human eye might only notice changes in the zombies' behavior, the battle data didn't lie. The numbers had dropped from a thousand to 200, proving that the zombies had indeed grown stronger.

Letting out a sigh, Anthony looked down at the zombies on the ground and skillfully collected the crystals. Gripping his long knife, he swiftly slid it across a zombie's head, immediately splitting it in half. Instead of the dark red blood that had previously flowed, a pitch-black viscous fluid oozed out, and the gray color of the crystals had also faded somewhat.

Staring at these crystals, Anthony pondered silently before continuing his diligent work. Just as he was about to finish gathering them, his movement suddenly froze, and he tightened his grip on the Tang sword in his hand, glancing coldly behind him.

Seeing Anthony's reaction, although frightened, the woman gathered her courage and said, "C-can we..."

"No, you can't," Anthony refused without hesitation.

Thud! The woman, upon hearing Anthony's refusal, immediately knelt down, pulling her daughter beside her, and pleaded, "Quick, kneel down like me."

Observing this scene, Anthony continued to lower his head and dig for crystals, paying no attention to the mother and daughter. The base had not expanded yet, and he had no intention of accommodating survivors for now. Even if he were to take in survivors, he would need to conduct a thorough screening.

As the woman saw that Anthony still refused, she began kowtowing one after another, blood dripping from her forehead, but she didn't stop. Anthony remained unaffected by this display and calmly advised, "Stop with your schemes. I won't take you in."

"Don't worry, I won't make things difficult for you. I just beg you to take in my daughter. She eats very little. If you just give her the leftovers, I, Lynn, will be forever grateful to you."

"Heh, I think you've misunderstood me," Anthony chuckled coldly while collecting the zombie crystals. "I don't have the time and energy to take care of a burden... child. But if you want some food, I can give you a portion. As for shelter, forget about it."

Lynn seemed to have made an important decision as she reached out and forcefully pulled at her collar, revealing a large area of skin.

"What do you mean by that?" Anthony's voice turned even colder. He was a man with desires, but he wouldn't resort to forcing others.

Lynn shook her head and said to herself, "You can rest assured, I'm clean, and I've only been with my husband once."

"You know that's not what I meant," Anthony said speechlessly, completing the collection of zombie crystals.

Standing up, he walked towards Lynn and closed her open collar, looking at her seriously. "First, I'm not interested in you. Second, I don't want to take care of this little burden. Anthony doesn't take care of idle people."

Rejected again, Lynn felt inexplicably frustrated. She knew she had good looks, even though she was already in her thirties, her skin care still made her look like an eighteen-year-old girl. Could this guy not be a real man?

No, that's not right! Lynn recalled Anthony's reaction. Although he tried to maintain his composure, the bulge indicated that he had a normal male reaction.

Thinking about Anthony's words, she spoke again, "Don't worry, I won't be an idle person. I can cook. Six years ago, I worked in a five-star hotel in Linxian. I have a special chef certificate and a nutritionist certificate. I can also sew clothes and cultivate land. If you have any needs, I can..."

Before finishing her sentence, Lynn's voice became weak.

"You can cultivate land?" Anthony's eyes lit up.

"Yes! I used to cultivate a few tomato plants at home. Unfortunately, it rained heavily, and I forgot to bring them back inside. When I wanted to bring them back after the rain stopped, I found rows of small thorns growing on the tomatoes, so I didn't dare to touch them," Lynn reminisced.

"Can you cultivate staple foods and vegetables?" Anthony asked again.

"Yes!" Lynn affirmed, then begged Anthony, "I can do all of that. Can you take us in? Don't worry, as long as you give us a little food to eat, even if it's just one meal a day."

Anthony thought for a moment and said, "I can take you in, but if I find out that you can't do anything, don't blame me for heartlessly kicking you out."

"Thank you, thank you," Lynn repeatedly kowtowed while holding her daughter.

"That's enough, get up. Wait for me here, I'll come to get you in about an hour," Anthony said, glancing at the pale and thin little girl. He then reached into his backpack and took out two sandwiches that Verna had made before they left. There were originally three pieces, and Anthony had already eaten one. He handed them over, saying, "I don't have much food in my backpack, so make do with these."

"Thank you, thank you," Lynn expressed her gratitude, and immediately took them and handed one to her daughter, saying tearfully, "My dear daughter, eat quickly. This is from your superhero uncle."

"Thank you, Superhero Uncle," Lucy said sweetly.

"Go ahead and eat," Anthony turned his head away. In the apocalypse, there were many unfortunate people like Lynn and her daughter. It's not that he was heartless, but if he were to take in a bunch of irrelevant people into the base, it would not only waste food but might also lead to a revolution if they felt mistreated.

Lynn understood gratitude and contentment, especially when accompanied by skills. That's the kind of person he needed. Of course, he didn't know Lynn's character, but as long as they were in the base, it was his call.

"Sigh, damn apocalypse," he sighed and headed towards the east area of the rose garden. He needed more energy points to kill more zombies.