"There's something I need to tell everyone," Ruan Yuling suddenly said. "The base's current food reserves can only last for nine days."

What?

All eyes turned to Zhang Yun, who said, "Don't worry, even if you don't join the Yunze base, I will still provide each of you with enough food for nine days."

"Brother Zhang, what about weapons? We can't possibly fight zombies empty-handed, can we?" Perhaps Zhang Yun had been too amiable, because these people had become bolder and started asking him for weapons.

“That’s right! These weapons all belong to our original base, so they should be divided equally.” someone shouted.

"That's right, we need guns too!"

"Oh?" Zhang Yun suddenly teleported in front of him, the gun in his hand pressed against the man's forehead.

Before the man could even close his mouth, he suddenly felt a gun pressed against him, and he was so frightened that he knelt on the ground, too afraid to move.

The shouting stopped, and everyone looked at Zhang Yun in horror.

Zhang Yun twitched her fingers slightly and smiled as she said to him, "Snap~"

The man was so frightened that he urinated. When Zhang Yun removed the gun from his forehead, the man collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

"Anyone else want weapons?" Zhang Yun raised his gun, aimed at the people around him, and asked gently.

The crowd was so frightened that they quickly made way for him, forming a circle around him and huddling together, trembling with fear.

"Let me think. You were the one who said the weapons should be divided equally, right?" Zhang Yun pointed his gun at another burly man.

The man was terrified and frantically shook his head and waved his hands, "No, no! I, I meant I wanted to join the Yunze Base!"

A sudden inspiration struck the man, and he quickly parted the crowd, squeezing into the group willing to join the Yunze base. He smiled and nodded at the people around him, even though no one paid him any attention.

His actions reminded the others, who quickly chimed in, "Yes, yes, leader, we also want to join the Yunze base."

A group of people squeezed through, pushing aside those who had already lined up. A little child was stepped on and burst into tears.

His father looked at the other man's tall figure, and dared not speak out in anger.

"Bang!" Zhang Yun fired a shot into the open space, stopping everyone in their tracks.

"Those who join later, line up again on the right. The moral code of Yunze Base is similar to that before the apocalypse. I don't care what you did here before, but once you're in Yunze, you have to follow the rules. Otherwise, our punishments won't be as lenient as they were in peacetime."

"Yes, yes..." Upon hearing this, the people quickly moved aside and formed two new lines on the side.

The burly man who stepped on the child's foot apologized to his father, gritted his teeth, took out a hard candy from his pocket, and handed it to the little boy with a pained expression before going to join the queue.

The little boy immediately turned from sadness to joy. Tears welled up in the boy's father's eyes. He took his son's hand, and his previously hunched body suddenly straightened up.

Ruan Yuling breathed a sigh of relief and lowered her hand from the gun.

"Want guns? Join Yunze Base. Weapons will be issued to you after you complete the training. As for the others, feel free to come and take them."

Zhang Yun addressed the remaining people who had not joined the Yunze base.

Another group of people quietly joined the ranks of those who had joined the Yunze base, but a small number of them were still hesitant.

Just then, an explosion was heard from above.

Although the sound came from the ground in the distance and had diminished considerably by the time it reached the air-raid shelter, the ground tremors were still alarming.

"You have one more night, no rush, you can take your time to think it over."

Zhang Yun finished speaking quickly, tossed a watch to Qin Dong, and said, "I'll go up and take a look. You guys take care of this. Tomorrow morning at eight o'clock, count the number of people willing to join the Yunze base. If anyone is disobedient, kill them."

"yes."

Zhang Yun's departure brought a sigh of relief to everyone.

They gathered together, discussing their future plans in hushed tones.

Ruan Yuling and Qin Dong looked at each other for a long time. Ruan Yuling gave up and walked up to the platform. "Everyone, please be quiet. I have something to tell you."

...

Leaving the hall, Zhang Yun exited through a passage and instantly teleported to the ground.

He appeared in a conference room on the third floor of an office building. The room was empty, and through the window on the east wall, which had lost its glass, Zhang Yun could see flames shooting into the sky in the southeast direction.

Clearly, the explosion originated from that location.

A dark figure shot out from the fire. When Zhang Yun saw the person's appearance, he quickly teleported over and caught him.

The flames continued to spread, and Yang Shize grabbed him and ran away with him into the distance.

The bright firelight attracted the surrounding zombies, and they quickly escaped danger, reaching the second floor of an empty restaurant.

After clearing away the remaining zombies, Zhang Yun checked his body and found that he had only suffered minor cuts and was recovering rapidly.

Zhang Yun breathed a sigh of relief. "What happened?"

Yang Shize shook his head. "When I got there, the explosion had already happened. I saw a figure in the flames and tried to go in to save him, but the closer I got, the hotter the flames became. Then the flames suddenly expanded, so I had to come out first. However, I picked this up from the ground."

He opened his palm, and a pale purple crystal core, about the size of a cooked egg yolk, lay in his hand.

"This is... a sixth-tier mental energy crystal core!"

Once a crystal core reaches the sixth rank, it will begin to have attributes. A mental energy crystal core can greatly enhance the mental energy of a high-level mental energy user.

Even Yang Shize has difficulty killing a level 6 zombie at this stage, how could this person possibly kill a level 6 zombie?!

Is this real? Is he cheating?

Zhang Yun looked out the window at the blazing flames, where countless zombies rushed in, only to be instantly reduced to ashes.

He pondered for a moment and said, "The power unleashed when an offensive ability first awakens should far exceed the level of a first-tier ability. The person inside the fire is very likely Qi Heng, the one we are looking for."

"Should we wait here?" Yang Shize asked, taking his hand.

Zhang Yun's heart stirred slightly, and she turned her head to look at him.

The flickering firelight made his handsome face even more captivating. Zhang Yun looked away and said, "Alright."

He took out a bench from his spatial storage, and Yang Shize sat down, pulling him close to his chest as they waited for the firelight outside to die down.

If you ignore the menacing, moth-to-a-flame zombies on the ground, the stench of blood and burning corpses, and the filthy, decaying post-apocalyptic backdrop, this scene would be as romantic as watching the stars with your boyfriend on the rooftop terrace of a fancy restaurant.

"I wonder if we'll ever have the chance to go on dates like we used to, watch movies together, and enjoy milk tea while stargazing on a clear night."

“That day will come,” Yang Shize said, looking at him.

Zhang Yun looked at him, and their eyes met.

Yang Shize couldn't help but lower his head, and Zhang Yun closed his eyes.

Before their lips even touched, the distant firelight suddenly vanished.

Zhang Yunruo opened her eyes as if sensing something, pushed Yang Shize away, and turned to look at the center of the flames, where a person covered in flames stood.

He sensed it with his mind and suddenly his face turned pale.

"What's wrong?" Yang Shize asked, putting his arm around him.

"That person, he..." The person bathed in the firelight was charred black all over, like a severely burned patient, and looked even more terrifying than a zombie.

Zombies continued to rush towards him, burning him to the ground as they passed by. Other zombies trampled over the corpses of their kind as they charged toward him.

The man seemed to have regained his senses and understood his situation. Without lingering in the fight, he used his supernatural ability to clear a path through the encirclement, quickly rushed out, and disappeared into a nearby building.

"Should we go after them?" Yang Shize asked.

Zhang Yun shook his head. He thought about how the other person had become terrifyingly inhuman, and he had a vague feeling that even if he didn't use his superpowers, the burn marks on his body probably wouldn't heal.

"He probably doesn't want to see other people right now."

"He can handle the zombies here. Let's go to the base and wait for him."

Yang Shize had no objection.