Beg for mercy? You are not worthy!

The plan of the bald man was simple: he would draw the attention of Xue Feng and Shen Ruyan, while the others would rush in all at once. No matter how formidable Xue Feng was against the zombies, in the end, he was only one person and could not possibly be their match. As long as they killed Xue Feng, all the supplies in the supermarket would be theirs.

In the next instant, a cold glint flashed. Blood spattered everywhere. In the blink of an eye, three heads flew into the air together.

The bald man’s eyes widened in disbelief. Xue Feng, wielding a nano-sword, had lopped off three heads in a single breath. The other men nearby were so terrified they dared not move.

“This weapon is impressive,” Xue Feng remarked, his attention fixed on the sword in his hand. It was incredibly sharp, slicing through iron as if it were mud, and astonishingly light.

“Don’t just stand there! Attack! He’s alone—there’s no way he can take us all on!” the bald man roared as he regained his senses, brandishing his machete and charging forward. Yet before his words had faded, Xue Feng seemed to become a phantom. The bald man didn’t even have a chance to scream before his head soared skyward. Blood sprayed onto Xue Feng, making him appear fearsome and demonic—like a grim reaper incarnate.

“We surrender! We surrender!” someone cried out. “It was Brother Long who forced us! We didn’t want to oppose you!” “Please, spare us! We can go out and scavenge for food for you—we’ll be your lackeys!” The remaining men, broken in spirit, fell to their knees and kowtowed, desperately begging for mercy. In their hearts, they cursed the bald man countless times over. So much for “gaining trust and then striking.” Xue Feng was simply not someone they could handle. From the moment they turned against him, their defeat was sealed.

Xue Feng looked down at them, his eyes filled with contempt. Some even began to plead with Shen Ruyan, hoping she would speak up for them. But after their betrayal, Shen Ruyan’s heart had already grown cold.

Xue Feng raised his sword, and the ground was soon littered with more than a dozen corpses.

Shen Ruyan was taken aback, not having expected Xue Feng to act so decisively. These were more than a dozen lives. Noticing the change in her expression, Xue Feng asked, “What is it? Are you going to plead for them?”

“In the apocalypse, if you’re soft-hearted, the corpses lying here would be us instead,” he added with a dismissive curl of his lip. From the moment the bald man begged for mercy, Xue Feng had never believed a word they said.

“No, it’s nothing,” Shen Ruyan replied quietly, shaking her head. She realized Xue Feng had likely endured countless hardships to become the person he was today. She had simply been too naïve until now. To survive in this world, she would have to adapt to its new rules.

Though the bald man and his group had been dealt with, Xue Feng had no intention of recruiting any women from among the other survivors for his base. They were all ungrateful traitors—untrainable dogs with no loyalty. He didn’t need such people in his base, nor did he care about their fate.

“How do you plan to get out of here?” Shen Ruyan asked.

“Through the front,” Xue Feng replied.

She pondered his answer. “There are just too many zombies out front. But there might be a way—there’s a fireworks shop directly across from the main entrance. If we can set it alight, the explosion will draw the zombies away.”

Xue Feng nodded. This was exactly the kind of value Shen Ruyan brought. Although she had once been a CEO, the business world was a battlefield of sorts, and her strategic mind had not dulled.

“It just won’t be easy to pull off,” Shen Ruyan said with a wry smile.

“For me, nothing in this world is too difficult,” Xue Feng replied confidently. He then asked Shen Ruyan to take him upstairs, where they could see the fireworks shop from the second floor.

With a burst of divine power, a thunderball shot from the mall’s second floor and crashed into the fireworks shop. Crackling and popping, the sound of firecrackers erupted. The surrounding zombies, frenzied by the noise, surged toward the explosion.

“That’s a lot!” Xue Feng’s scalp tingled as he saw the dense horde—at least a thousand zombies. He hadn’t realized so many had been lurking nearby. He was grateful he’d listened to Shen Ruyan; if he’d rushed out blindly, he would have been surrounded in no time. With such numbers, he would have been hard-pressed to escape unscathed.

Once the zombies had mostly left, Xue Feng took an armored vehicle out from his storage space, astonishing Shen Ruyan once again with his extraordinary abilities. They climbed into the vehicle, and with a stomp on the accelerator, Xue Feng sped off, crashing through obstacles, his driving a display of wild abandon as he headed toward the base.

On the way, whenever he spotted a gas station, he would stop to search for fuel—even though gasoline wasn’t an immediate necessity, it was still a valuable resource. With a tanker truck in his possession, he could store as much as he liked.

They soon returned to the base. When An Xiaowei and the others saw Xue Feng bring back another woman, they considered it a good thing—another pair of hands to help. But when Shen Ruyan discovered the villa had hot water, abundant food, and more than a dozen other women, she was stunned. She hadn’t expected that, despite all this, Xue Feng was the only one with real combat ability. Yet it was he alone who had built everything they had.

“Today, I’ve brought gifts for those of you rated as A-level,” Xue Feng announced with a mysterious smile to An Xiaowei and the others.

“Brother Xue Feng, what is it?” An Xiaowei’s eyes shone with delight. Anything Xue Feng brought was especially precious to her; whatever it was, it meant she was in his thoughts—not just a tool for satisfying his desires.

The others were also visibly excited. You Haoyun was moved to tears, believing herself useless and never expecting to receive a gift from Xue Feng.

“Divide them among yourselves,” Xue Feng said, laying out the revealing lingerie and jewelry from his storage backpack before them. He was very satisfied with their reactions; this was the first time he’d brought them gifts.

Women, he mused, cannot be spoiled. The more you fawn, the less they respect you. Normally, one should be cold and domineering, keeping them in awe. Then, a rare act of tenderness would move them to tears of gratitude. If you’re always too good to them, they’d come to take it for granted. Even a slightly harsh tone would feel like a grave insult to a spoiled woman.

“Wow, this bracelet used to cost over twenty thousand!” An Xiaowei exclaimed, unable to put down a gold bangle she had spotted.

“I like this outfit—it’ll look beautiful on me,” Wang Xinyu said, her eyes on a nurse costume, knowing it must have been meant for her.

Only You Haoyun hesitated, feeling unworthy to choose anything. Without a word, Xue Feng tossed her a very revealing bunny girl outfit.

“Put it on now!”