Chapter Forty-Three: An Unexpected Harvest

In the distance, a man dressed in dark clothes could be seen biting into a piece of flesh he had just torn from a woman’s body. An unknown liquid dripped from his mouth, corroding the ground beneath him. He quickly finished the meat and lunged toward his next victim, tearing and biting with savage hunger.

Scenes like this were unfolding outside every base.

Qin Yu watched the horrifying spectacle and spoke, “Are you satisfied with what you see? If we hadn’t stopped you, do you realize how dire the consequences of letting you into the base would have been?”

The crowd was struck dumb with terror. They were accustomed to seeing no more than second-tier zombies—stronger, faster perhaps, but still manageable. Now, faced with zombies capable of corroding flesh with their fluids, they knew that a single drop would mean certain death.

The fear of death gripped their hearts, intensifying their desperation to enter the base. The fate of others no longer mattered; survival was all that counted.

Someone began to shout at Qin Yu, cursing, “Get out of the way! Let me in! I don’t care about anyone else—if I stay alive, that’s all that matters! Move! Move! Move!”

Many others echoed his demand. Qin Yu’s disappointment in the crowd deepened, her anger barely contained. She shifted her stance and said to Wang Bing and the others, “Go kill those mutated zombies!”

She then turned to the crowd and declared, “Cowards! Get inside, then!” Without another word, she joined the fight against the mutated zombies.

Most people glared at Qin Yu with self-righteous indignation, secretly cursing her. They thought to themselves that such a saintly person deserved to die; people like her never lived long. Muttering curses under their breath, they hurried into the base.

Only a tiny handful paused, surveying the scene before them. Rather than immediately seeking safety, they picked up their weapons and joined the battle.

Once inside, those who had entered began to spread word about the soft-hearted woman outside—how she foolishly thought her small group could defeat the mutated zombies. “How stupid! Let’s see how she dies,” they said.

Many inside the base watched through the thick gates, gloating as they spied on Qin Yu and her companions.

Meanwhile, Qin Yu’s speed in dispatching zombies only increased. Though the zombies were highly toxic, their movements were sluggish. As long as she avoided the corrosive fluid, they were surprisingly easy to kill.

On the wide battlefield, apart from Qin Yu’s team, only a dozen or so others fought with their weapons. Yet the previous night, there had been over a hundred people resting outside.

After about an hour, the hundred-odd zombies were finally wiped out. The people inside the base were left stunned at the sight of so many dead monsters.

But something even more unexpected happened next.

Qin Yu looked at the exhausted survivors sprawled on the ground, then glanced at the figures peeking out from the base from time to time. She smiled knowingly. Those hiding inside had no idea what they had just missed… Tsk, tsk.

She opened her palm to reveal a crystal core.

Wang Bing’s eyes widened. “Boss… is that…?”

Qin Yu smiled, “This? It’s a crystal core from the head of those mutated zombies. What’s more interesting, every single one of those zombies had one! And about ten of them are third-tier crystal cores. This harvest is quite impressive!”

It turned out that, on a whim, Qin Yu had decided to check the heads of the zombies she’d killed and discovered each one contained a crystal core. More astonishingly, more than ten of the more agile zombies had third-tier cores.

Qin Yu surmised that the blue mist might have enhanced their level; those with third-tier cores had likely been ability-users before their transformation, while the rest had been ordinary people.

What a delightful surprise! She had spent the latter part of the fight collecting cores, and fortunately, her skills in gathering herbs for medicine had made her adept at picking things up quickly.

The others’ eyes lit up at her words. Crystal cores! Normally, only second-tier zombies had them, but now, killing these mutants yielded them as well. Aside from being toxic, the zombies had been pathetically weak—one bullet was enough to take them down!

Qin Yu smiled at the group, pulling about forty crystal cores from her spatial storage and handing them out to everyone except Wang Bing. “These are for the zombies you killed.”

A few people exchanged dark glances—they had noticed her spatial ability.

The rest were surprised that Qin Yu would actually share the cores, knowing full well her team had done most of the work. After all, these were valuable crystal cores! They were certain she could have easily kept them all for herself.

Why, then, was she giving them away?

A few people in the group exchanged knowing smiles and silent glances, as if reaching some unspoken agreement. After a moment, a young man in his early twenties stood and addressed Qin Yu, “Miss, we don’t need the crystal cores, but we have a request. Would you be willing to hear us out?”

Qin Yu nodded for him to continue.

“My name is Ji Shuo, and these are my classmates. We were freshmen at military academy, just finished three months of training and were about to begin our college lives when the apocalypse struck. We banded together and made our way to S City base, losing many brothers along the way. Only a dozen or so of us remain now. As military cadets, we have always upheld our beliefs, determined to make a mark in this chaotic world. But…” Ji Shuo sighed, frustration evident in his voice.

“In short, things haven’t gone well for us. After witnessing your abilities, Miss, we wonder if we might have the honor of joining your group?”

Qin Yu smiled, “And why should I trust you?”

“Time will prove everything, won’t it?” Ji Shuo replied with a mischievous smile.

“Well said! I’ll give you this chance. From now on, you’ll follow Wang Bing and the others—they’re skilled veterans. You can learn a lot from them.”

The group nodded. Qin Yu continued, “As for the crystal cores, they’re rightfully yours. Those of you with abilities can absorb them according to your attributes. The rest of you can sell them or exchange them for points at the mission hall.”

The group finally accepted the cores, grins lighting up their faces.

Inside the base, the onlookers saw only that Qin Yu had brought out something shiny and said a few words, after which everyone began to smile.

A few sharp-eyed individuals recognized the crystal cores in Qin Yu’s hand and, shocked, hurried away to report to certain people.

For a moment, undercurrents began to stir…