You must be short of Awakened ones here!

On the way back, Xue Feng continued to converse with the bearded man and the others.

He learned that the bearded man was named Dong Pingguo.

Despite his full beard, he was not yet forty years old.

Before the outbreak of the apocalypse, he had been a truck driver.

Although these six people consisted of three men and three women, they were not couples.

They simply happened to form this group of six.

"Boss, how many people are there in the base?" Dong Pingguo could not help asking along the way.

"Nearly two hundred, I suppose. Too many people would only cause trouble, but all the other large and small factions in Jiangcheng take my orders," Xue Feng replied.

Nowadays in Jiangcheng, Xue Feng's word was absolute.

There was a reason why he had not completely incorporated all these other people.

If he absorbed all of them, it would inevitably increase the base's expenditures.

The more people there were, the higher the management difficulty.

Maintaining the status quo was actually the best approach.

It allowed the people inside the base to realize how fortunate they were to remain there.

This would boost productivity, ensuring no one would slack off at work.

Moreover, other factions in Jiangcheng could assist Xue Feng in completing some dangerous tasks.

Since they were not his subordinates anyway, Xue Feng did not have to worry about their safety.

Of course, there were no such tasks at present, only the elimination of zombies.

"Um, Boss, what is your superpower?"

At that moment, a woman beside Dong Pingguo could not resist asking.

The look in this woman's eyes toward Xue Feng had long since shifted from initial vigilance to utter adoration.

She asked not to gather intelligence, but simply out of a desire to know more about Xue Feng.

"Is that something you should be asking?"

Dong Pingguo turned angry instead and directly scolded her.

Realizing her mistake, the woman hurriedly apologized.

Her eyes were filled with fear, terrified of being suspected as a spy gathering information.

"It's fine. My ability is rather complex; you just need to know that I am very strong," Xue Feng said calmly, waving his hand.

Seeing that Xue Feng was not angry, Dong Pingguo and the others finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Furthermore, a specific word echoed deeply within their minds:

Very strong!

Xue Feng was very strong!

Soon, the Jianghuai Villas came into everyone's view.

When Xue Feng arrived at the gate of the base, he noticed a dozen unfamiliar faces standing not far away.

Their faces were sallow and emaciated, bearing the look of long-term starvation.

Wait, these did not seem to be unfamiliar faces after all.

By noon that day, Xue Feng had already seen them—they were the group of people from the Happiness Residential Community!

Ever since Lin Heng and his group had ventured out to find some food,

they had begun searching for other gathering places.

Coincidentally, they encountered another group of survivors who were clearing out zombies.

Lin Heng immediately stepped forward to negotiate, hoping to join their ranks.

However, they were rejected by the other party.

The reason was simple: the other group only consisted of a dozen people themselves.

Suddenly adding another dozen members would drastically increase their survival pressure.

Besides, who knew what intentions Lin Heng and his people harbored?

What if they tried to seize their territory?

Unwilling to give up, Lin Heng seized the opportunity to fish for information from them.

He wanted to find out where a large-scale survivor group was located, as he desperately wanted to join one.

Consequently, the other party directly named the Riverside Residential Community.

It was the strongest survivor faction in the entire city of Jiangcheng.

Any survivors within Jiangcheng had to obey their commands.

Upon hearing this, Lin Heng was ecstatic and immediately led the others here.

When he saw the high walls of the Riverside Community and the electrified barbed wire,

Lin Heng instantly realized that the living conditions here must be exceptionally good.

He could not wait to join this place.

However, Lin Heng was blocked right at the entrance.

The guards stated that they did not welcome new survivors joining them.

They only engaged in trade with survivors.

One had to provide crystal cores in exchange for supplies.

Crystal cores?

Were those the things found inside the brains of zombies?

Lin Heng had eliminated quite a few zombies and had indeed discovered strange things inside their heads.

Yet, Lin Heng had never taken crystal cores seriously.

He hadn't even bothered to pick them up.

Who could have imagined that crystal cores could be used to trade for supplies?

At that moment, he felt a myriad of regrets in his heart.

Regret was useless now, though; Lin Heng stepped forward and declared that he was an ability user.

He requested an audience with the leader of the base.

Hearing that Lin Heng was an ability user, the guards did not refuse outright.

Instead, they reported the matter to An Xiaowei.

An Xiaowei could not make up her mind for a moment, as she had no idea what Lin Heng's intentions were.

Yet, since he was an ability user, he possessed at least some value.

Therefore, she told Lin Heng to wait right there for Xue Feng to return.

Upon seeing the roaring apocalyptic armored vehicle, Lin Heng instantly realized this must be the boss of the Riverside Base.

Who else could possibly have such an imposing presence besides the leader of the Riverside Base?

"It's you! I never expected it would be you! You saved our lives, please accept our kowtow!"

When Lin Heng saw that the person stepping out of the vehicle was Xue Feng, accompanied by that majestic and awe-inspiring large dog,

he became extremely excited. He never imagined it was the same person who had helped them eliminate the tier-3 mutated entity earlier.

Without hesitation, he dropped to his knees and kowtowed to Xue Feng.

Seeing Lin Heng kneel, the dozen people behind him dropped to the ground simultaneously, kowtowing frantically.

Some even bruised their foreheads against the ground.

Dong Pingguo and the others were somewhat bewildered by this scene.

What was going on here?

"Get up. Stop making a fool of yourselves here. What are you lot running over here for?" Xue Feng frowned slightly.

He had not expected Lin Heng and his group to show up here.

He held no favorable impression of these people.

After all, when Xue Feng first encountered them, these individuals had been cowering around a corpse.

In Xue Feng's view, although a tier-3 mutated entity was powerful,

Lin Heng was an ability user; it wasn't as if he had zero chance of winning.

Even if he couldn't win, he should have figured out a way to escape.

For a dozen people to hide in a basement and not dare to come out was a sign of utter cowardice.

What would they do once their food and companions ran out?

They would simply starve to death!
Or perhaps fight desperately only when facing imminent death.

"Um, benefactor, we want to join this place. We can do anything, we'll even work like beasts of burden for you!" Lin Heng said ingratiatingly.

"We don't need you," Xue Feng said calmly.

There was no superfluous dialogue, merely a flat refusal.

Lin Heng's expression shifted slightly; he had not anticipated Xue Feng rejecting them so decisively.

Thus, Lin Heng hurriedly added, "I am an ability user. Your base must be lacking in ability users, right?"

"Lacking in ability users? Show them what you can do," Xue Feng said, turning to Dong Pingguo and the others.

This also served as an opportunity for Dong Pingguo to display their abilities to him.

Dong Pingguo and his companions knew very well that this was a chance to shine.

All six of them simultaneously activated their abilities.

In an instant, six massive beasts materialized before Lin Heng's eyes.