“I’m sorry I became a villain.
“I’m sorry I killed so many people.”
The people before him had surely killed before too, but not in the same way he had.
They were still human.
But him… what did he count as?
For a moment, everyone fell silent.
Tan Haoge’s group genuinely felt uneasy, but at this exact moment, they were also worried about Fu Erdie’s attitude.
Would she attack them because of the bad things they had done? Or drive them out on a night where the temperature outside had already dropped below freezing and the gale was still raging?
Tan Haoge grew anxious, regretting his sudden guilty confession.
Why had he been possessed in that instant, throwing out the shameful secrets in his heart like he was emptying a sack?
After struggling for a long while, a strange calm rose in him again.
Like someone turning himself in and accepting judgment, prepared for whatever result might come.
Fu Erdie was the first to react.
Evil people existed in every era, and the apocalypse clearly magnified that evil. As the strongest person here, she had her own moral standard, but she was not naive enough to demand that others remain “clean” in environments stacked against them.
Compared to judging him, Fu Erdie cared more about the current problem.
“How many zombie kings are they raising?”
Tan Haoge was still stunned and did not react in time. Xin Nuo hurriedly answered, “There were over sixty before. Ying Da killed more than a dozen in anger, so only forty-six remain. Most are third- and fourth-rank zombie kings, and six are fifth-rank. According to Ying Da’s original orders, all of these zombies were supposed to be raised to sixth rank before being killed. He is currently almost seventh rank. He only needs one sixth-rank zombie king’s crystal core to officially cross from sixth rank into seventh.”
Fu Erdie: “…”
She suddenly felt that, following this rhythm, if Ying Da ate one sixth-rank zombie king and entered seventh rank, then she ate Ying Da’s seventh-rank crystal core, wouldn’t she also take a huge step forward on the seventh-rank path?
Previously, after collecting many ability zombie crystal cores from the northwest, she had stopped once she reached seventh rank.
After all, even for her, whose crystal core requirement was only one-tenth of an ordinary ability user’s, advancing further required an enormous amount.
Converted into first-rank crystal cores, it would start at around one hundred thousand, corresponding to a population base of one billion heads.
Among one billion zombies, one hundred thousand mutated zombies would emerge, and she would need to kill all one hundred thousand mutated zombies and absorb their crystal cores before she could move from seventh to eighth rank.
And that upgrade requirement was only her estimate. The actual number might be even higher.
For ordinary people, absorbing ten thousand first-rank crystal cores to reach sixth rank was already the peak. Going beyond that was almost impossible without some crooked shortcut.
Now, Qing City Base’s method transformed ordinary zombies into nourishment for zombie kings, then consumed the zombie kings. In a roundabout way, it relied on ordinary zombies to level up. It had truly opened up a path for ability users to advance further.
Tan Haoge and Xin Nuo had stayed in Qing City Base for a long time. Xin Nuo, especially, had mainly handled logistics and had participated in some matters involving feeding zombies.
According to her, zombie kings were divided into penned and free-range types. Most free-range ones were attribute-less zombie kings. Because they had no attribute and no ability, their offensive power was weaker; a fifth-rank one could only fight at fourth-rank strength. When an attribute-less zombie reached sixth rank and its crystal core could be harvested, sending a few fifth-rank ability users was enough to deal with it.
As for the ability-bearing zombie kings that levelled by eating their own kind, most of them were penned.
Their legs were cut off, so they could only move with their upper bodies.
Fourth- and fifth-rank zombie kings had self-healing ability, and their severed legs would slowly grow back.
Qing City specially assigned people to watch them and trim the new limbs once every day. For those with stronger healing abilities, the base would have people trim them three times a day. The moment a section grew out, they cut it off. Then when it grew again, they cut it again, over and over.
Fu Erdie said, “So the stronger ability-bearing zombie kings wandering outside have nothing to do with Qing City.”
Xin Nuo had nodded halfway when a flash of lightning seemed to cut through her mind.
Her eyes widened. Looking at Fu Erdie’s young face under the firelight, a face untouched by apocalypse hardships, she slowly said, “Most of them. Except for some zombie kings that were hypnotised and sent out specifically to kill certain people. You… have you encountered them?”
Fu Erdie’s gaze shifted, meeting her shocked and oddly excited eyes. The corners of Fu Erdie’s mouth curved slightly, but there was no smile in her eyes. “If those zombie kings were hypnotised and sent out specifically to find the Butterfly Garden Principal, then yes, that should be right.”
Xin Nuo’s eyes grew wider and suddenly misted over.
“It’s you… It really is you.”
She shook her head and murmured several times, repeating something under her breath. Then she suddenly threw her head back and laughed, tears falling wildly like a broken string of beads.
Tan Haoge could no longer maintain his composure either. His voice trembled. “You’re the Butterfly Garden Principal?!”
Xiao Tao and Pu Ling also looked over in disbelief and fervent excitement.
If it was the Butterfly Garden Principal… if it was really her…
Then they were saved!
After all, Ying Da wanted to deal with the Butterfly Garden Principal and had already offended her. And now the Butterfly Garden Principal had quietly found her way here. Clearly, she was not simply travelling around.
She had come to seek revenge, or perhaps to investigate the cause. Once she found Ying Da, the culprit, and killed him, Qing City Base would cease to exist.
And they would finally be free.
No one from Qing City would hunt them again. The future would open wide. Anywhere would be better than the hellish Qing City they had once known.
The Butterfly Garden Principal was their lifeline.
Under their expectant gazes, Fu Erdie calmly nodded and confirmed their guess.
“Now, our goal is the same.”
Kill Ying Da—before he reached seventh rank.
The hotpot was ready.
While they had been talking, Sang Wenhao had scooped the cooked food into Fu Erdie’s bowl. It was still hot.
Fu Erdie ate the sliced meat and the zucchini slices that had soaked up the flavour, feeling deeply satisfied.
Since they had already opened up, Fu Erdie did not mind sharing hotpot seasoning with them. She set up another pot for them and gave them zucchini fruit to cook themselves.
Tan Haoge was already starving. He took the zucchini, gave one to each person, and had no desire to cook it at all. He simply started eating.
After they finished, they looked embarrassedly at the Butterfly Garden Principal. The pleading in their eyes said everything.
In front of them, Fu Erdie reached out and touched the zucchini. Cooperating, the zucchini immediately bore fruit, producing a massive zucchini weighing around twenty jin.
Fu Erdie held the huge fruit and handed it to Tan Haoge.
Tan Haoge suppressed the urge to hug the zucchini and bite into it directly. He thanked her respectfully, sat to the side, and used the metal chopping board and metal knife Sang Wenhao had used earlier to start slicing and cooking.
They had been hungry for far too long. They wolfed the food down so quickly that they barely tasted the hotpot flavour, finishing an entire metal basin of zucchini slices.
Only after devouring it did they belatedly realise… the injuries on their bodies had eased a lot.
Especially Xin Nuo, whose wounds were the worst. Her abdomen, which had still been slowly oozing blood, now had the numb itch of a scab healing. Two hours ago, her life had been draining away in despair. Now, vitality had returned.
She nearly cried.
Never before had she sincerely wanted to follow someone so badly, willing to repay them however she could.
After all, when she fled Qing City, she had never intended to get deeply involved with anyone beyond her teammates.
Tan Haoge and the others exchanged glances. Clearly, each of them was also tempted.
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