I was careless.

The danger of a level six zombie is self-evident, but thanks to Ru Feng's mobilization, the response from below was continuous.

Rather than saying they wanted to go out and take a gamble to create a way for everyone to survive, it would be more accurate to say they wanted to repay Ru Feng.

Everyone knows who treats them well.

Ru Feng swallowed the bitterness in her throat and selected a total of three thousand people, dividing them into two hundred teams. Each team was equipped with at least one superhuman and was also given sufficient ammunition supplies.

"We'll split into ten routes, with twenty teams on each route, one hour apart." She pointed to a simple map on the wall and heavily circled several marked points. "These areas will be the focus of our search. Teams will look out for each other, and if any trace is found, avoid direct confrontation and signal immediately!"

Upon learning this, Shi Dong exclaimed in amazement, "Multiple routes, deep penetration, tiered deployment, and a comprehensive search. She's determined to win."

Before setting off, Ru Feng had all the supplies she had exchanged with Fu Yunong brought out.

Snacks were piled up like small mountains, dozens of cases of beer were neatly stacked, and fresh vegetables and meats were delivered directly to the canteen kitchen.

That day, an enticing aroma wafted through the ventilation shafts throughout the entire underground bunker.

At mealtime, ordinary survivors would receive a spoonful of meat and vegetables, while those who went out to scout would receive two large spoonfuls. The dishes included braised pork belly with alternating layers of fat and lean meat, stewed until tender, mixed with emerald green vegetables, and had a fragrant aroma.

Everyone enjoyed the abundant meat and vegetables, drank beer, and ate sweets and snacks with great relish. Amidst the laughter and chatter, the shadow that had shrouded them for days seemed to have faded somewhat.

The search team set off under the cover of darkness in the early hours of the following day.

Ru Feng stood on the city wall and watched until the last group of figures disappeared before turning away.

Life in the city remained tense, but fortunately, with the strict implementation of quarantine measures and the arrival of the medicines replenished by Fu Yunong, the epidemic was finally brought under control.

However, the epidemic came at a heavy price, with half of the survivors of Cloud Peak City-State being lost. The main city, which had been expanded, now looked particularly desolate.

Fu Yunong's "Conscience Supermarket" also sprang into action. They patrolled the area in their RV, finding almost no scattered survivors along the way. Ru Feng's incorporation efforts were thorough; even no-man's-land was now under their care.

Their mission wasn't to exchange for supplies, but rather to expand their search area by moving around. As long as they hadn't found any trace of a level six zombie, Fu Yunong's heart remained in suspense.

I don't know when it started, but the heat in the air gradually subsided, and the wind even brought a bit of coolness.

Fu Yunong wrapped her coat tighter, suddenly feeling a long-lost feeling. She had always thought winter was unbearable, but after experiencing this summer, she realized that at least when it was cold, there was somewhere to hide, and even those monsters would be frozen.

This summer has been far too long. The high temperatures, zombie hordes, floods, and plagues have almost pushed humanity to the brink of extinction. Fu Yunong sat in the car, watching the hazy sunset gradually sinking into the sky, silently calculating in her mind: she must find a level six zombie before the next summer arrives.

As temperatures dropped day by day, the survivors in the underground bunkers gradually moved back to the surface.

Thanks to Ru Feng's planning, the main city of Cloud Peak City was expanded again on the original basis, absorbing all the survivors from the surrounding cities.

The once desolate streets were once again crowded with people, and the main city finally regained its long-lost liveliness.

With more people comes more popularity, which in turn motivates people to survive, but the pressure of management also increases exponentially.

Ru Feng is extremely busy every day, handling trivial matters such as the allocation of supplies, housing, and the resettlement of personnel, often working until late at night before she can rest.

But no matter how busy or tired she was, her biggest concern every day was still the search team's news.

The first squads to return to the city brought bad news: they searched the abandoned mines and chemical plants along the western front, only encountering a few slow-moving hordes of zombies.

Ru Feng remained silent for a long time. She knew all too well how fragile the prosperity before her was. If she couldn't find a level six zombie, when the next summer came, all of this would just be a flash in the pan.

She had no choice but to believe Fu Yunong, not only because she harbored many secrets, but also because they had no other option but to believe her.

Two months passed in the blink of an eye, and the search teams that had gone out returned to the city one after another, but all of them found nothing.

Ru Feng sat in the city lord's room, looking at the dense markings on the wall, and a sense of powerlessness washed over her once again.

Just when she was about to give up, one of the squads sent back a message—something was wrong with the vast ocean in the middle!

Upon learning this, Fu Yunong suddenly realized: the crystal core doesn't necessarily have to be on a zombie! She immediately asked Ru Feng to lend her a team to explore deeper into the central region.

Without hesitation, Ru Feng dispatched a hundred elite soldiers and twenty superhumans to form an advance team to accompany Fu Yunong. When the team reached the central part of the wasteland, the once boundless ocean had been frozen into a solid ice surface.

A temporary command post was quickly set up on the edge of the ice. Commander Xing Jiajia was a capable officer. The images she presented showed that the trees were much larger than when they had encountered them last year, with dense foliage that seemed to block out the sun.

Fu Yunong stared at the dense forest on the screen, gritted her teeth, and spent 500,000 points in the system's [Special Items] category to buy the "Disposable Crystal Core Tracker".

After inputting the Level 6 crystal core, the tracker was activated and began searching within a 10-kilometer radius. Finally, it found the Level 6 crystal core she had been longing for, located 2 kilometers deep in the dense forest.

However, the place was surrounded by more than a dozen giant trees, their branches and leaves intertwined like a net, and the dark forest resembled the gaping maw of a wild beast, exuding an unsettling atmosphere.

Xing Jiajia suggested, "We can spread fuel around the woods and burn all this stuff down!"

Shi Dong immediately shook his head and pointed to the ice under his feet, "Their roots are underwater, so burning them won't help. Besides, the high temperature might melt the ice, and once it cracks, we won't even have a place to stand."

Fu Yunong looked at Shi Dong, "Shall we go in and investigate?"

“I’ll go too!” Lin Songsong immediately stepped forward. “I have a protective shield.”

Xiao Linfang added, "Take me with you. I can replenish your energy, and the environment inside is beneficial to me."

“And me,” Huangfu Jinrang said hastily. “My mental power can interfere with advanced mutants.”

Looking into their eyes, Fu Yunong felt a surge of warmth in her heart and nodded emphatically.

Xing Jiajia finally managed to interject, "Gentlemen, now that it's confirmed, should we wait for reinforcements?"

Fu Yunong, however, was impatient and turned to Xing Jiajia, instructing, "We'll go in and investigate, and come out in three hours. If we don't come out, tell your city lord to bombard us with heavy weapons and not to worry about us."

Although Xing Jiajia was confused, she immediately stood at attention and accepted the order: "Yes! I will arrange for guard duty immediately and request reinforcements from the main city!"

After quickly tidying up their equipment, Fu Yunong took a deep breath and rushed into the dense forest first, followed closely by the others. Their figures quickly disappeared among the towering branches and leaves.

As soon as I stepped into the dense forest, the temperature dropped several degrees, and I was instantly plunged into darkness, with the intertwined branches and leaves preventing even a ray of light from getting in.

Fu Yunong immediately pulled up a high-powered flashlight from the system, turned it on with a "click," and as soon as the beam swept out, she saw a bluish-gray zombie face pressed against her, which startled her so much that she shrank back.

"I was careless. I should have cleared them out earlier." She took a deep breath, handed the flashlight to Shi Dong, and then opened the system panel, swiping her finger lightly. The dozen or so frozen zombies around her were instantly harvested, their crystal cores automatically stored in her space.

The group pressed on, holding their breath as they moved forward, the oppressive presence of the surrounding tree trunks looming over them. The two-kilometer distance took them almost an hour and a half to cover, as they had to navigate the dense branches and obstacles.

When the system displayed that the level 6 crystal core was fifty meters ahead, the group stopped and looked up at the giant tree in front of them, all of them gasping in shock.

This tree was more than three times thicker than the surrounding trees, and its trunk was densely covered with zombies, clinging to it like parasites.

Countless vines hung from the branches overhead, each vine ending in a struggling zombie, some still writhing weakly.

"What kind of operation is this?" Fu Yunong frowned, completely baffled by this bizarre sight.

Xiao Linfang stretched out her hand, a faint blue light emanating from her palm. As soon as the plant scent entered the surroundings, her face paled. "This tree is strange. It's absorbing the zombie's energy. It feels very dangerous to me."

Huangfu Jinrang also clutched his chest and took a half step back, his face pale. "I felt a very strong consciousness, a very evil one."

Fu Yunong was at a loss for what to do, so she could only try to get rid of the zombies first.

She activated the system again, harvesting all the zombies on the tree trunks and vines, and the crystal cores fell into the space like rain.

Just then, a crisp "crack" sound came from the ice beneath my feet, followed by violent shaking.

Hua Hua suddenly let out a low growl, its fur standing on end.

Before the group could react, the giant tree's vines suddenly released the zombie remains and began to wriggle towards them like countless octopus tentacles.

Meanwhile, cracks in the ice surface spread at a visible rate.

"careful!"

Shi Dong shouted a reminder, and the group instinctively moved closer to the center, but the ice suddenly tilted, and their formation instantly fell apart.

A vine seized the opportunity and pierced Huangfu Jinrang's thigh with a "plop." She screamed and was about to fall into the ice crevice. Lin Songsong reacted quickly, grabbed her arm, and pulled her back.

The situation was critical, and Shi Dong immediately conjured up a thunderstorm. Several thick bolts of lightning crashed down, but they were blocked by the dense branches and leaves of the giant tree. They only scorched the outer branches and did not damage the main trunk at all.

Seeing this, she immediately stopped and grabbed Fu Yunong's arm, shouting, "Let's go!"

Lin Songsong carried the injured Huangfu Jinrang on his back, with Xiao Linfang following closely behind. The group ran desperately across the cracked ice.

They ran wildly ahead, pursued by the cracks behind them. The cracking sound of the ice breaking mingled with the howling of the giant trees, creating a chilling atmosphere.

Fortunately, Xing Jiajia's men noticed the commotion, and several armored vehicles rushed over with their headlights on. Soldiers in the truck beds reached out and pulled them up.

The driver floored the accelerator, and the armored vehicle sped toward the shore, the ice behind it completely shattering within seconds.

Back at the temporary camp on the shore, medical personnel immediately treated Huangfu Jinrang's wound. Her thigh had been pierced by vines, leaving a bloody hole, and the skin around the wound had turned bluish-black.

Just in case, Fu Yunong immediately purchased a special antidote from the system at a high price and fed it to her. Seeing Huangfu Jinrang's complexion gradually regain its rosy hue, the others breathed a sigh of relief.

Fu Yunong came out of the tent, gazed at the black water, and sighed, "This is troublesome."