Chapter 109: Levels

Lin Dong returned to the vicinity of the skyscraper and gathered his subordinates to introduce them to their new companion, the zombie tiger, which he named "Snowball."

Tank found the creature quite novel, squatting on the ground and clapping his hands. "Snowball, come here, come here."

But the zombie tiger ignored him completely, turning its head away. Instead, it grew quite affectionate toward Xiao Ba, rubbing its massive head against her.

"..." Tank was speechless, feeling that his "animal charisma" was not up to par. Fortunately, the creature didn't have the ability to speak and insult him.

"Can this tiger be ridden? Let me ride it for a couple of laps," Tank began to wonder.

"Forget it. It's a perfectly good tiger; don't go turning it into a camel!" Xiao Ba warned.

Meanwhile, the Doctor was squatting on the ground, fiddling with a broken "metal man"—the remains of the cyborg they had "dined" on earlier. The Doctor had always enjoyed dissecting his "food" to study its construction, and he found this particularly fascinating.

He dismantled the cyborg's parts one by one. When he reached the head, he removed an independent lens connected to a small device. Upon pressing it, a green light flickered across the lens, seemingly scanning up and down.

"Oh?" The Doctor had an idea. He placed the lens over his left eye and looked at Xiao Ba. A green beam swept across her body, and data began to appear around the edges of the lens:

[Scanning... Mutation Level: A-rank, Predicted Combat Power: 325.]

"A-rank?" The Doctor muttered. With his high intelligence, he quickly grasped the purpose of the lens.

Xiao Ba noticed his gaze and looked over, asking curiously, "What are you wearing?"

"A product of human technology. It can observe mutation levels and analyze combat power."

"Am I A-rank?" Xiao Ba had a vague understanding of the ranking system, though she never gave it much thought; to her, killing was all that mattered.

The Doctor nodded. "Yes, that's already very strong."

"Just her? A-rank is considered strong?" Tank, standing nearby, perked up, feeling rather indignant. "If she's A-rank, I must be S-rank. Hurry up and check me."

The Doctor, still wearing the scanning lens, looked at Tank.

[Scanning... Mutation Level: B+ rank, Predicted Combat Power: 294.]

"Well? Am I S-rank?" Tank asked impatiently.

The Doctor nodded. "Yes! That's right! You are SB-rank."

"SB?" Tank quickly put his thoughts together. SB-rank—that must mean it has an extra 'B' on top of S, which surely meant it was even more powerful! He felt quite smug. He really was something else.

...

The dark night passed. The morning sun rose, casting light over the desolate earth; the City of Doom remained a landscape of ruin.

"Flappy-Ears" had not been idle all night. Eager to join Lin Dong's ranks, he was actively searching for signs of humans. He pressed his ears against the ground, sliding back and forth, over and over again. He had practically polished the streets clean.

"Boss, did you find anything?"

"No, nothing." Flappy-Ears stood up and flapped his large ears.

In the city center, humans were incredibly rare. Even the hunting squads from Tek Corporation divided the territory into sectors, each team responsible for their own area to avoid wasting combat power. Since that one squad had been wiped out last night, no others had appeared.

"I think I should look toward the edge of the city..." Flappy-Ears analyzed. The direction of Binhai City was the most likely; since it had been submerged by the sea, there was a high probability that humans would flee toward Jiangbei City.

He decided to act immediately. He instructed his subordinates, "I'm going out to search. You all look after the place. If anything happens, run to our Big Brother's territory."

"Understood, Boss," the elite squad replied.

Flappy-Ears pressed his ears to the ground again, searching as he moved. This way, he wouldn't miss any humans and could foresee potential dangers to ensure his own safety. He moved along the street, listening left and right.

Before long, he heard the roar of the flowing river. "Seems like there's something..."

He had wandered to the riverside and heard the sound of heavy footsteps approaching. Looking up, he spotted a hulking figure in the distance.

"Heh heh, Brother Tank, it's me," Flappy-Ears greeted him immediately.

"So it's you, kid..." Tank recognized the zombie king and looked down, asking, "Are you scrubbing the floor here?"

"No, no! I saw how hard you were patrolling and thought I'd come to help." Flappy-Ears' eyes darted around.

"You're alright, kid," Tank said, crossing his arms and fully accepting the explanation.

Flappy-Ears continued, "I just feel that among the five zombie kings under our boss, you're the one who works the hardest. If you weren't guarding this place, our home would fall apart!"

"Hmm, not bad at all! You really understand me," Tank said, feeling even more pleased.

"Of course I do. It’s mainly because Brother Tank has the greatest strength. With great power comes great responsibility. My admiration for you is like the surging river, endless and continuous..."

Given Tank's intellect, he was no match for Flappy-Ears. He could have been swindled until he couldn't even walk straight.

In no time, the two zombies were arm-in-arm, acting like sworn brothers.

"Brother Ear, if you need any help in the future, just let me know," Tank said.

"It's nothing. I really am just here to help you patrol."

"Fine, go ahead. Feel free to patrol this area," Tank said generously.

Flappy-Ears began searching along the riverbank. But before long, several vines spread out to block his path. "Flowerpot" emerged from the bushes, grass sprouting from his head, his eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Hiss..." Flappy-Ears was startled and scrambled backward.

Before he could recover, he felt another gaze on him. He turned to see Xiao Ba standing right behind him.

"Oh, mother!" Flappy-Ears was thoroughly shaken. He had seen both of them before; they were extremely brutal and powerful, having killed and looted in his territory previously.

"You came to our turf—you don't have any ulterior motives, do you?" Xiao Ba asked suspiciously, thinking this smooth-talking fellow didn't seem like a good zombie.

"Sister Eight, I'm just trying to survive..." Flappy-Ears said with a sheepish, seemingly sincere smile. "I'm here to help the boss find humans. I actually heard some movement just now."

"Brother Ear, that's not right. How could there be such creatures in the area I'm patrolling?" Tank frowned. If he had known, he wouldn't have let him in.

"Enough, stop talking," Xiao Ba interrupted. "Let him search. If he doesn't find anything, he won't be leaving here alive."

"..." Flappy-Ears felt a chill. *Is that really necessary?*

The truth was that Xiao Ba feared he was a spy sent by another zombie king to gather intelligence. Only by finding humans could he prove he wasn't lying.