150. The Powerful and Reclusive Ability User!

Xue Feng crushed the skull of the fourth-tier mutant and took a quick glance.

Just like the energy cores inside the blood corpses he had encountered before, this one was entirely orange-yellow.

At the very center of the core was a trace of bright red, though this core had a slightly larger proportion of red.

It seemed that as it continued to evolve, the entire core would eventually turn red.

Prying the core out and slipping it into his pocket, Xue Feng hurried after him.

"Wait a second, brother! Without your help, it wouldn't have been this easy for me to hunt down a fourth-tier mutant," Xue Feng called out.

"Your strength is formidable. Stop playing games!" The Tyrannosaurus Rex stopped in its tracks, turned around, and let out a cold snort.

Xue Feng felt a bit awkward, not expecting to be seen through so quickly.

Truth be told, even without the T-Rex's help, he could still have eliminated the fourth-tier mutant.

"Still, you put in the effort. How about I give you two third-tier mutant cores?" Xue Feng produced two third-tier mutant cores from his hand.

In reality, third-tier mutant cores were also relatively scarce.

However, their value was far inferior to that of a fourth-tier core.

"Really? Are you kidding me?" The T-Rex stared at the cores in Xue Feng's hand with a look of intense longing.

It was almost drooling.

Of course, that might just have been because the T-Rex possessed a very large mouth, making drooling a perfectly natural occurrence.

"Of course I'm not joking. Do you know how to use these? If you eat them directly, you can absorb their energy," Xue Feng added.

In order to win the creature's trust, Xue Feng went ahead and spilled this secret.

Then, he tossed the two cores straight across.

"I'd actually figured out that secret myself. Many thanks, then!" The T-Rex nodded, catching the cores with its front claws.

With that, the T-Rex turned around as if intending to leave immediately.

"Wait! Don't run off yet, brother!" Xue Feng shouted.

"Is there something else?" The T-Rex turned its head back with a puzzled look.

"Are you all by yourself around this zoo? Why don't you join a faction?" Xue Feng asked.

Hearing this, the T-Rex's expression turned somewhat desolate.

"I... this is my home. I don't want to leave," the T-Rex replied.

"This is your home? Were you an employee here?" Xue Feng asked, finding it a bit strange.

Wasn't this place a zoo before?

Why would this ability user refer to it as his home?

After all, he wasn't an animal before the apocalypse broke out.

The only logical explanation was that the T-Rex had been a worker here.

"That's right. I've always worked here. Most humans are no good; they stole my animals, and some even roasted them right inside the zoo!" At this, the T-Rex gnashed its teeth in hatred, looking utterly furious.

Xue Feng could easily discern the reason for the T-Rex's anger.

It wasn't because those humans had deprived him of food, but rather because the T-Rex cared deeply for the animals.

"Brother, why don't you revert to your human form? Staying like this must consume a huge amount of energy," Xue Feng suggested.

The T-Rex paused slightly, lowering its head as if deep in thought.

Finally, making up its mind, it dispelled its transformed state.

To Xue Feng's surprise, the T-Rex's true form was a short, chubby guy who stood at barely over one meter sixty centimeters tall.

Furthermore, there was a scar across this chubby fellow's face.

It ran from his forehead all the way to the corner of his mouth, matching the scar on his T-Rex form perfectly.

Of course, it was worth noting that after the transformation ended, he was still wearing his original clothes.

This kind of beast-transformation ability functioned more like a physical transformation rather than a complete shape-shifting trick.

There was still a distinct difference between the two.

Looking at the chubby guy, Xue Feng roughly figured out his background.

Most likely, due to his appearance, he had worked at the zoo year-round and rarely interacted with outsiders.

Working at a zoo was grueling.

Every day involved feeding the animals and hauling heavy supplies.

There was also the constant chore of cleaning up animal waste.

Sometimes, there was even the risk of getting injured or bitten by the animals.

Most crucially, the pay was terrible!

After all, many zoos were on the verge of bankruptcy and simply lacked the funds to keep running.

How could they afford decent wages for their staff?

Yet, this kind of heavy labor was often too much for elderly workers to handle.

Consequently, most of the time, they would hire individuals with personality quirks or even people with disabilities.

Judging by the chubby guy's appearance, he undoubtedly fell into this category.

"Brother, where do you usually live? There are too many zombies around here to talk properly," Xue Feng said.

Because of the commotion earlier, quite a few zombies had been drawn over.

Though they posed no threat to either of them, they were still a nuisance.

Besides, Xue Feng said this precisely to close the distance and build a rapport with the chubby guy.

"Right inside the zoo. Though there's nothing left in there now," the chubby guy said with a hint of melancholy.

Even so, he led Xue Feng toward the interior.

True to his words, the zoo was in utter ruins, and the enclosures that used to house animals were completely gone.

In some spots, scattered patches of animal fur and bones were still visible.

The chubby guy's living quarters were located in the staff dormitory at the very back of the zoo.

Xue Feng had already realized something.

It was likely that the chubby guy had maintained this lifestyle for a long time and had very little contact with the outside world.

"What do you usually eat?" Xue Feng asked out of curiosity once they stepped inside the staff dormitory.

"Steamed rice, and sometimes animal feed. Whatever the animals could eat, humans can eat too," the chubby guy explained.

He even thoughtfully handed Xue Feng a bottle of mineral water.

A hardened badass in the apocalypse who could transform into a Tyrannosaurus Rex was currently surviving on steamed rice and animal feed!

If word got out, people would surely laugh their heads off.

This only reinforced Xue Feng's conviction that the chubby guy rarely socialized with others.

"Do you have any family left?" Xue Feng seized the opportunity to ask.

"There's nobody left. I'm an orphan, and I suffered an injury when I was younger. If the zoo director hadn't given me a job, I'd probably be out on the streets begging," the chubby guy replied with a bitter smile.

That explained everything.

It made total sense why the chubby guy was so attached to this place, refusing to leave even amidst the apocalypse.

"How did you figure out that eating energy cores could increase your strength?" Xue Feng inquired further.

"I was just curious and decided to try it out. I never expected it would actually boost my power. When I first transformed before, I was only about eight or nine meters tall, I think," the chubby guy said after a moment of thought.

He had some serious guts!

Or perhaps it was a case of ignorance being bliss.

In any case, if it were Xue Feng, he would never have taken such a reckless gamble on himself.

"Why don't you come to my base? I have a lot of people there, life is much more convenient, and we even have electricity," Xue Feng extended an invitation.

Yet, upon hearing this, the chubby guy firmly shook his head.

"You're a good person and you don't look down on me, but other people are different! Back at the zoo, whenever people saw me coming, they'd pinch their noses and walk away as if they were looking at a monster," the chubby guy sighed heavily.

In truth, that was entirely understandable.

While working at the zoo, the chubby guy was bound to get filthy, and he probably carried a strong smell.

Coupled with the facial scar, ordinary people naturally wouldn't want to get close to him.

This had long since made him reclusive.