"Brother, my woman was just curious about that pistol, she didn't... didn't mean anything else." Manager Wei hurriedly stammered an explanation to Zhao Yin.

But Zhao Yin had already reached Little Monkey. He didn't spare a single glance toward Song Xiaodao's direction.

He bent down and carefully lifted the blood-soaked Little Monkey out of the basin.

He held it against his chest, gazing at the tightly shut eyes on that small monkey face. In that moment, Zhao Yin's long-frozen heart felt a faint sting of pain.

In his previous life, he had trusted Lin Tianfeng. Trusted Zhang Dongliang. Trusted so many so-called close friends and confidants. And in the end, it cost him his camp and his life.

In this life, from the moment the meteorite rain stopped, Zhao Yin had been with this Little Monkey. Its brain wasn't the sharpest. It was greedy for food. But it was a partner truly worth trusting.

This time, Zhao Yin didn't hesitate. He pulled out a bottle of Nongfu Spring and the last piece of Filled Bread.

He tore the Filled Bread into tiny shreds, soaked them in the Nongfu Spring, and fed them into Little Monkey's mouth.

Old Qin stood up nearby, watching Zhao Yin cradle the monkey.

He had a feeling. The man before him was far stronger than that little girl. And Old Qin could sense something else-this man cared deeply about the monkey they had nearly eaten.

Old Qin waited in silence. Waited for Manager Wei and the others to meet their fate.

"Hehe, brother, this monkey is yours, right? We rescued it." Manager Wei had also sensed something. Cold sweat dripped from his forehead.

"Is that so?" Zhao Yin finally spoke. "Weren't you just boiling water to scald off its fur?"

Manager Wei forced a smile. "How could we? Monkeys are primates. We'd never dare eat one."

He crept toward Zhao Yin, circling behind him. Then his hidden right hand shot out, dagger thrusting toward Zhao Yin's neck.

In that instant, Manager Wei could already picture it-take this man hostage, and that terrifyingly strong little girl would surrender immediately. They could do whatever they wanted with her.

Zhao Yin remained crouched there, cradling Little Monkey, seemingly oblivious to everything.

Until the dagger touched his neck.

Only then did he slowly raise his head and look calmly at Manager Wei.

"You want to kill me?" Zhao Yin asked.

"Don't move! Make that girl hand over the gun!" Manager Wei's face twisted with excitement as he shouted.

Zhao Yin's gaze turned colder.

The next instant, steel flashed. Manager Wei and the others didn't even see where the blade came from, or how it moved.

Thud.

Manager Wei's right arm dropped to the ground, severed cleanly at the shoulder. The dagger clattered to his feet.

It happened too fast. Blood fountained from the stump. Only then did the scream tear from Manager Wei's throat.

Zhao Yin spoke three words, flat and cold: "Kill them all."

The survivors bolted. None of them had ever seen anyone like Zhao Yin. He was more terrifying than the zombies.

The next moment, the water buffalo they'd been eyeing moved. Its massive body blocked the Tunnel entrance. The single horn thrust forward, punching clean through the gut of the man at the front.

"Ah! Save me-!"

The man shrieked. The horn tip jutted from his back. He hung there, impaled, reaching helplessly toward his companions.

No one came.

Old Bull tossed its head. The sharp horn sliced the man in half at the waist. Both halves flew in different directions.

Then Old Bull charged the second man.

Bang!

Song Xiaodao dropped a man beside her with a single shot. Zhao Yin's cold expression instantly collapsed, his face twisting with pain as he shouted, "Save the bullets! Save the bullets! Their lives aren't worth my ammunition!"

"Oh!"

Song Xiaodao had been ready to play the action-movie heroine for once. Zhao Yin crushed that dream in an instant.

She drew her Tang sword instead and cut down a fleeing woman with one stroke.

A dozen seconds later, all four men and two women lay dead.

Including Yu Donghai, still writhing from the scalding water. Old Bull's hoof came down and crushed his skull.

Only Old Qin remained standing, eyes bright with astonishment. He'd just witnessed something extraordinary.

After a long pause, seeing that neither the bull nor the girl moved to kill him, Old Qin asked in confusion: "You're not going to kill me?"

No one answered. Old Bull even shot him a disdainful look, as if to say: Are you even worth killing?

When Yu Donghai had tried to scald Little Monkey, Old Qin had intervened. Song Xiaodao and Old Bull had both seen it.

Since Zhao Yin hadn't given the order, neither of them touched Old Qin.

Zhao Yin fed the entire piece of Filled Bread into Little Monkey's mouth.

Soon, across Little Monkey's body, countless wounds began to glow with specks of white light. The bleeding stopped. The flesh knitted together.

Little Monkey opened its eyes. The first thing it saw was Zhao Yin's face.

Confusion flickered in those dark eyes. Then came joy.

"Squeak squeak... Master, I thought I'd never see you again, squeak squeak squeak...!"

It leaped happily from Zhao Yin's arms, bounced in a circle around him-and promptly face-planted into the ground with a thud.

Zhao Yin grabbed it by the scruff and lifted it up. "Your wounds aren't fully healed. Stay put."

He cradled Little Monkey against his chest like a father holding a child. A smile crept onto his face.

He pulled out a few cooked Chestnuts he'd saved, peeled them himself, and fed them to Little Monkey.

Little Monkey had never felt such warmth. Chewing the Chestnuts, tears welled in its eyes. "Master, you're too good to me!"

"Look at you. Pathetic." Zhao Yin's face twisted with disgust. "Zombies nearly killed you, fine. But then a few pieces of trash almost turned you into a snack."

"Trash?" Little Monkey blinked in confusion.

Then it noticed the corpses scattered through the Tunnel. Vague memories surfaced-human voices, just before it lost consciousness.

At the time, it had assumed the voice belonged to whoever had frozen the zombies and carried it out of the Industrial Park.

Little Monkey relayed everything that happened in the Industrial Park through their mental link.

"All the zombies stopped moving?" Zhao Yin asked, surprised.

Little Monkey nodded. "Not just the zombies. Even the wind stopped. But that person's voice sounded strained, like freezing everything took a lot out of them."

Zhao Yin's brow furrowed. Freezing zombies and wind?

In his memory, only two types of ability users could do that.

Spatial ability users. And time ability users.

Both were extremely rare. In his previous life, seven years into the apocalypse, Zhao Yin had only encountered a handful who possessed such abilities.

And even the weakest among them wielded S-rank powers.

Now, Zhao Yin hadn't even met a single Evolver yet. But an S-rank or higher ability user was already here in Guangzhou City?

Everything about that Industrial Park was a mystery. Nothing matched what he remembered from his previous life.

"What did they look like? Did you see?" Zhao Yin asked.

Little Monkey shook its head. "Zombies everywhere. I didn't have time to look."

"Man or woman? You should at least know that."

Little Monkey shook its head again. "Couldn't tell from the voice."

Zhao Yin raised his hand to smack it, then thought better of it and lowered his arm. "Idiot."

He didn't know why that person had helped the monkey. A chance encounter? Or had they come specifically for it? If the latter, what were they after?

An E-rank water buffalo had appeared in that Industrial Park. A Zombie King that had devoured three Star Crystals. And that father-son pair who'd been eaten by zombies-they had no abilities, weren't even Evolvers, yet somehow evaded Zhao Yin's hearing.

Thinking back, none of it was simple.

"When I get the chance, I'll go back to that Industrial Park and see for myself." Zhao Yin made up his mind.

Soon, he finished feeding the Chestnuts. Little Monkey's wounds had mostly healed under the Filled Bread's effects.

Zhao Yin turned and walked toward Manager Wei's corpse.

Old Qin watched him, puzzled. The man had been talking to a monkey as if having a conversation. And stranger still, the monkey seemed to actually understand him.

The mystery surrounding this man stirred a flicker of curiosity in Old Qin.

Zhao Yin crouched and pulled the sneakers off Manager Wei's feet. Limited edition Jordans. Before the apocalypse, these had been scalped for five or six thousand.

"Rich bastard." Zhao Yin kicked the corpse.

Then Old Qin watched as Zhao Yin removed his own worn-out shoes, revealing grimy, blackened feet, and slipped on the new pair.

Zhao Yin grinned. "A bit tight. They'll stretch after a few days."

Song Xiaodao followed his lead, pulling sneakers off a female corpse.

She'd been barefoot this whole time. Days of walking had left her small feet covered in blisters.

Once she had the shoes on, a happy smile spread across her face, mirroring Zhao Yin's.

"Go strip the pants off all of them." Zhao Yin pointed at the corpses and ordered Little Monkey, who had just finished the Chestnuts.

Little Monkey immediately stuck its red rear in the air, completely shameless, and got to work.

Soon, the lower halves of the male corpses were stripped bare.