Chapter Sixty-Eight: A Visit from Little Black

“Stop shouting, bumpkin. While you were busy just now, your little brother was already taken care of by me.”

Lin Dong slowly stepped out of the room.

Duan Xiong glanced around, discovering the surroundings were eerily empty—there wasn’t a single soul left, only a suffocating silence.

Were they all dead?

A surge of intense fear washed over him. He realized this man had silently slaughtered everyone, and not a trace of their bodies remained, as if they’d vanished into thin air... It was simply too uncanny!

“I’ll fight you to the death!”

Duan Xiong exploded with a final burst of ferocity, his massive body charging straight at Lin Dong. Though his figure was agile and his momentum unstoppable, there was a tragic sense of futility to it—as if a warrior were launching his last desperate assault.

He poured all his negativity into his fist, swinging it toward Lin Dong’s face.

Lin Dong’s expression remained indifferent. He merely shifted aside, dodging the blow, then casually tapped the back of Duan Xiong’s head with his hand—a seemingly effortless gesture.

Yet, in that instant, he plucked out Duan Xiong’s crystal core.

Duan Xiong lost consciousness immediately, his body’s inertia carrying him forward as he collapsed and slid several meters across the floor. His previously swollen form shrank rapidly, reverting to its original shape—utterly deflated...

“Brother Xiong!”

Four women ran forward, their faces twisted with grief. Some even knelt and howled in despair.

“Please, Brother Xiong, wake up! Don’t leave us behind.”

“We can’t live without you.”

Their emotions had become completely deranged, falling in love with the man who abused them, as if bewitched.

If not for the apocalypse, they might have been students, professionals, dutiful wives and mothers, spending their lives quietly at home...

But now, everything had changed.

Lin Dong’s domain of corpses spread, enveloping the four women and freeing their twisted souls.

He felt he’d done another good deed.

With that, the entire underground mall fell silent; not a single survivor remained.

Lin Dong began to wander around the mall. There were still plenty of supplies—food, daily necessities—all of which he packed away into his storage space.

He also discovered a list detailing the members of the Black Scorpion organization stationed here.

There were twenty names in total, though Lin Dong hadn’t killed that many.

Some were out scavenging, murdering, collecting resources.

Lin Dong surmised that others, like Jiang Wencheng, were hiding in official shelters.

He snapped a photo of the list and sent it to Cheng Luo Yi.

Soon, she replied.

“What does this mean?” Cheng Luo Yi asked directly.

“These are all Black Scorpion members,” Lin Dong answered.

Cheng Luo Yi said nothing more, simply replying, “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Lin Dong replied, “Consider it a friendly gift...”

After gathering everything useful, Lin Dong returned to his territory.

With a wave of his hand, he dumped the collected ‘delicacies’ out onto the street, drenching them in ‘sauce.’

The bodies piled together, forming a small mountain.

Tank and the others, drawn by the scent, quickly appeared.

To them, these were like ‘sauced carp.’

“Whoa! So many...”

“No wonder he’s the boss—amazing.”

“He caught so much prey!”

His subordinates were awestruck.

Tank, in particular, was amazed—now that the city was completely overrun by zombies, finding even a single survivor was difficult, yet the boss had managed to gather so many.

And there were different flavors, too—not just ‘sauced carp,’ but also ‘intoxicating’...

They promptly began to feast.

The chaotic street became a terrifying scene, with zombies gnawing on corpses, the sound of tearing flesh echoing ceaselessly.

Su Xiaorou, the worker, was cleaning windows upstairs. Though she’d been here nearly two months, she still felt nauseated by the sight outside.

She also noticed:

Lin Dong’s clothes today reeked even more of blood, proof that his killing had intensified.

Night descended, darkness enveloping the land.

In the blackened city of the apocalypse, the howls continued, stranger cries mingling among them—no one knew what they were...

For as the days wore on, humans, zombies, mutant beasts, even plants, began evolving new abilities; at any moment, bizarre ‘monsters’ might appear.

Survival of the fittest, extinction for the weak.

This was the law of the apocalypse.

To stay alive, one must keep killing.

As the apocalypse continued, slaughter would only become more rampant.

Lin Dong soaked in a bath, changed into clean clothes, swallowed two crystal cores, and poured himself a glass of ‘juice’ to savor.

He hunkered down in his spotless home, feeling perfectly tranquil.

Crystal core and blood energy were steadily absorbed, his power growing stronger and stronger. He felt he’d already surpassed the limits set by the official shelters and Tech Company’s rating system.

The strongest awakened ones he’d met so far were the Hunter King Action Squad’s Lu Hao and Black Scorpion’s Duan Xiong—B+ class.

But none of them could resist him.

Of course, Cheng Luo Yi from the official shelter was in a different league. If her pain level reached one hundred percent, it was hard to imagine how powerful she’d become. Such awakened abilities were a kind of talent—and luck.

But even Cheng Luo Yi had limits; faced with absolute rank suppression, no ability could save her.

Besides, real combat wasn’t just about numbers—many other factors came into play. There were plenty of cases where the weak triumphed over the strong.

Like in real life: there have been incidents of mice killing cats.

Or a burly man, throwing a punch, twisting his ankle, falling and hitting his head on a rock—only to lose to a schoolkid.

So, though Lin Dong was powerful, he remained cautious. If he could kill an enemy, he would, never giving them a chance to threaten him.

Just then, outside on the street, a shadow as dark as ink blended into the night, creeping silently into Lin Dong’s territory.

It was Xiao Hei from next door to Snake Eyes. Passing through Snake Eyes’ domain today, he’d discovered something and wanted to discuss it with Lin Dong.

He also considered teaming up with Lin Dong to get rid of Snake Eyes.

But he wasn’t sure about Lin Dong’s forces—how many elite soldiers and fierce warriors he had—so he came to take a look.

Know yourself and know your enemy, and you’ll never lose a hundred battles.

Xiao Hei lurked in the darkness, wandering around. Soon, he heard a series of eerie laughs.

‘Hehehe~~~ hehehe~~~ hehehe~~’

Xiao Ba, apparently full and in good spirits today, let his laughter ring out in the night, sounding even stranger than crying.

“Damn!”

Xiao Hei cursed under his breath. Even as a zombie, he sensed a deadly, overwhelming danger.

...