136 Two beasts!

Xue Feng had already realized that there was a reason those two had turned and fled. If the black panther hadn't bitten Xiao Hu, those two fellows would likely have already climbed the wall and escaped. There was definitely something fishy going on.

"With so many of you coming to snatch things, of course we had to run!" Xiao Hu gritted his teeth, his face twisted with resentment. His lower leg bore several bloody, gaping holes—the result of the black panther’s bite.

"Roar!" The black panther bared its fangs and let out a snarl at Xiao Hu. Xiao Hu’s face instantly turned deathly pale, and his defiant demeanor vanished. In his heart, he was consumed by terror of the beast.

"Answer my questions, or today you become the black panther’s meal." Xue Feng stroked the panther’s head before pulling a crystal core from his pocket and feeding it to the creature. After swallowing it, the panther looked satisfied.

"We... we rounded up the survivors and kept them as emergency rations," Xiao Hu muttered, head bowed.

"What!" Tang Qiqiang’s eyes widened. He never expected these two brothers to do such a thing. They were absolute animals. Then again, considering their special abilities allowed them to turn into giant wolves, calling them animals was perhaps an understatement.

"How many people have you eaten, and how many are left?" Xue Feng asked.

"We haven't eaten any yet; it’s just that food was running low, so they are all in the warehouse," Xiao Hu replied hurriedly.

When Xue Feng and his group reached the warehouse, they found over twenty people imprisoned inside, all bound with ropes. Upon seeing Xue Feng and Tang Qiqiang, they all wore expressions of horror. However, seeing Xiao Hu bound, they grew visibly agitated.

"He’s a monster! He ate my brother!"
"I don't know who you are, but please, save us!"
"Those two are nothing but beasts."

Hearing these curses, Xiao Hu glared at the crowd with fury, which actually caused the captives to shrink back in fear.

"Have you eaten people?" Xue Feng’s voice turned icy.

"No, not... not many," Xiao Hu tried to argue.

Bang!

Tang Qiqiang didn't hesitate, firing a shot that blew Xiao Hu’s brains out. With a thud, Xiao Hu’s body collapsed to the ground. "That’s what happens when you try to lie to the Boss," Tang Qiqiang sneered.

Xiao Hu’s death wasn't caused by his cannibalism; it was because he had lied.

"Tell me the situation here. Choose a representative," Xue Feng said, looking at the bound captives.

A middle-aged man immediately stepped forward and recounted the events with righteous indignation. Xiao Hu and Xiao Long had originally been market administrators who used to extort the vendors under the guise of collecting sanitation fees. The vendors had dared not speak out. When the apocalypse broke out, the two brothers awakened their abilities, leaving everyone else feeling that fate was incredibly unfair. All resources naturally fell into their hands for distribution.

At first, the brothers had directed them to search for supplies, but as the surrounding resources were exhausted and the zombies began to move faster, the brothers decided the ordinary people were dead weight. They forcibly bound them to serve as emergency rations and had already consumed several people.

As he spoke, some eyes grew red, filled with the bitterness of their fate. They had been bullied by the brothers before the apocalypse, and after it began, they were still being bullied—and even slated to be eaten.

"I’ll give you two choices. The first is that I let you go, and you fend for yourselves. The second is that you join me in executing the 'Homeland Project'—working together to wipe out all the zombies in Jiangcheng and build a safe environment. The choice is yours."

Xue Feng presented the options. Without hesitation, everyone chose the second. The Homeland Project! Eliminating all zombies in Jiangcheng—it sounded incredibly inspiring. Who wouldn't want a safe environment?

"We are all willing to follow the plan, but we don't have any ability users among us. When we face those strange zombies..." someone said with a bitter smile. The "strange zombies" they referred to were clearly mutants. Previously, this was a problem only the two brothers could solve.

"I will provide you with a rifle and a hundred rounds of ammunition. If you encounter massive zombies you cannot defeat, you can signal us, and we will dispatch reinforcements," Xue Feng said. As long as they weren't Tier 3 mutants, they could be taken down with rifles. The chances of encountering a Tier 3 mutant were slim; Xue Feng had only encountered four or five so far, and only after being prompted by his intelligence system. It was very difficult for a normal zombie to evolve into a Tier 3 mutant.

"We will follow your orders!"

Hearing this, the survivors were stirred with excitement. With guns, they now had combat power. Xue Feng then told them to elect a new leader, as it was best to resolve that issue now to prevent future conflicts over the weapons. They quickly conferred, and the middle-aged man who had spoken, a former fishmonger who had often been bullied by the brothers, was chosen. Because he was well-liked, he became the new leader.

Xue Feng handed the fishmonger a rifle and a flare gun. He also provided some food to help them regain their strength. Once they finished eating, they would have to rely on themselves.

"Also, some zombie heads contain this," Xue Feng said, showing them a crystal core. "If you find them, hand them all over to me. You are not to hoard them, or I will wipe this place out." These cores would surely be valuable in the future, and Xue Feng wanted them all. It was a fair trade for the food and weapons. He even had a premonition that in the near future, these cores would likely become the currency of the apocalypse.

"We have plenty of these! We kept them when we killed zombies, not knowing what they were for. You can have them all," the fishmonger said. He went to a side room and brought out a burlap sack. With a clatter, over two hundred cores spilled out, including a dozen from Tier 1 mutants. Xue Feng hadn't expected them to have collected so many; he had clearly come out ahead.

Just then, Liu Jun returned, carrying a massive wolf head—Xiao Long’s, needless to say. Seeing the head, the survivors breathed a sigh of relief; their greatest fear had been that Xiao Long would return.

Tang Qiqiang taught the group how to use the rifle and flare gun, and then Xue Feng’s group departed. The survivors walked them to the gate, catching sight of the armored vehicle and the rest of the team, and collectively gasped. If these people had wanted to eliminate them, it would have been effortless.

"Those cores must be something special. Why were you so honest and gave them all away?" someone asked the fishmonger after Xue Feng’s group had left.