Childhood Memories

The Zombie King Domain enveloped the Two-Headed Wolf, and an intense pressure filled the air.

The giant wolf shuddered, as if it had been plunged into the deep sea. Overwhelming pressure bore down on it, making its limbs go weak. With a thud, it actually dropped to its knees.

"Woohoo~~"

It let out a mournful whine, like a beaten dog. The ferocity had vanished from its eyes, replaced by sheer terror.

It was as though a single glance from Lin Dong had forced the giant wolf to kneel.

The sight before them

was simply too shocking.

It seemed the Zombie King Domain also had tremendous suppressive power over mutant beasts.

"This..."

The survivors stared in stunned silence, never expecting things to end this way.

The man before them was far too powerful.

Meanwhile, Lin Dong was wondering: the giant wolf had two heads, so did that mean it had two Brain Cores, or just one?

To verify the answer,

Lin Dong stepped forward and used his dagger to pry open the wolf heads. He discovered that each head had actually grown its own Brain Core.

Unfortunately, the Brain Cores were rather small.

They were nowhere near as large as the Awakened man's had been.

If an Awakened person's Brain Core was a cherry,

then the Two-Headed Wolf's were small cherries.

Lin Dong devoured both Brain Cores.

They still tasted delicious, and their energy was pure. It was all absorbed, making his vitality grow somewhat stronger.

Then,

he picked up his dagger and licked the blood from its edge.

He found that the Two-Headed Wolf's blood tasted excellent as well. The energy within it far surpassed that of cow's blood or chicken blood.

"Not bad..."

Lin Dong was quite satisfied. With a sweep of his hand, he stored it in his storage space, planning to take it home and feast on it.

As for the living people behind him, Lin Dong did not spare them a glance.

There was little point in killing them.

It was like running a farm. He could keep them around to continue their bloodline, or wait until they became Awakened before killing them.

Lin Dong passed straight through the wall.

Like a phantom, he vanished from sight.

The people behind him were so shocked they could not speak for a long while. They had never expected the terrifying giant wolf to be killed just like that.

"What kind of monster... is he?"

When Lin Dong returned home,

Su Xiaorou had already finished the day's chores.

"Boss, I've washed all your clothes. You can change whenever you want."

"Mm. Go rest."

Lin Dong said.

But Su Xiaorou covered the back of her neck with one hand and shook her head.

"Boss, my brain feels so itchy. Am I about to awaken?"

"Oh?"

Lin Dong glanced at her and observed her for a while before speaking.

"Go wash your hair."

"..." Su Xiaorou was speechless. Her hopes were shattered, and she turned to leave the room.

Lin Dong took a hot bath and changed into the clothes that had just been washed.

Then he tied on a pristine white bib.

He went to the dining table, picked up his knife and fork, cut off a piece of meat from the wolf he had just hunted, and began to eat.

The wolf meat tasted good and had plenty of chew to it.

It was like ordinary people eating beef jerky.

The television in front of him was still receiving survivor signals.

"There's a monster! Not only have wild beasts mutated, some have even fused with zombies! I just filmed it with a drone—everyone, take a look!"

Lin Dong chewed his meat and raised his eyes toward the television screen.

It showed a giant python as thick as a water barrel. Yet the strangest thing was that it had grown a zombie's head!

It coiled around a house, looking utterly terrifying.

This was because the giant python had devoured too many zombies and fused with them.

And that was not all. Many official shelters had also released news of fusion monsters.

For instance, there were giant spiders with human faces, as large as cars, covered in fur, whose webs were tougher than steel rebar.

There were also rats as large as sows, their backs covered in human heads.

They were packed tightly together.

They were still howling in agony.

What an appetite enhancer...

It was clear that the outside world remained fraught with danger. Mutant monsters were everywhere, and flight and slaughter played out at all times. One moment of carelessness could cost someone their life.

Human survivors not only had to guard against monsters, but also against their own kind. To fight over food or beautiful women, they would kill each other and completely cast aside their masks of kindness.

However, all that bloodshed and violence had little to do with Lin Dong.

He lay low inside his clean home.

He even had a servant to wait on him.

His life was exceptionally comfortable.

It was an entirely different world from outside the building.

Moreover, three underlings stood guard outside, and the number of underlings beneath them had reached over a thousand.

Whether human Awakened or mutant beasts, none dared come here and cause trouble lightly.

And so, Lin Dong lay low for another ten-odd days.

During that time, he consumed massive amounts of flesh and blood—more than a hundred tons in total!

The meat could not stop...

Lin Dong's strength soared accordingly.

Now, when he spread his Corpse Domain, its range had doubled to a full twenty meters, and it was stronger and more enduring.

However, over the past few days,

Lin Dong noticed that helicopters often roared across the sky outside his window. Human activity had become much more frequent.

According to the intelligence he had gathered, this was because the number of human Awakened had increased, and they were carrying out rescue operations everywhere.

By now, the official shelter in Jiangbei City had grown to fifty thousand people, seven thousand of whom were Awakened.

They had even compiled a list of the top one hundred Awakened, numbered from 001 to 100.

Their strength was ranked from strongest to weakest.

Number 001 was the strongest, while number 100 was the weakest.

Of course, this was all based on data analysis and had not been determined through actual combat.

Besides that, they released news every day about rescue teams heading out, so survivors would not mistake them for someone else or be lured away by people with ulterior motives.

That day, Lin Dong happened to be watching television.

Most of the internet had gone down, and there were hardly any programs left. Only the shelter's radar signals could still be received.

"Today's rescue team update: We have dispatched rescue personnel Cheng Luoyi and Sun Xiaoqiang, two Awakened, and they will soon land in University City. Survivors nearby, please wait for rescue."

"Hmm?"

Lin Dong had not been paying much attention, but upon hearing those two names, he set down his wineglass and looked over carefully.

He saw that the television

displayed photographs of two people.

The first was a girl. She had straight black hair with blunt bangs and exceptionally fair skin. Her large, round eyes were pitch-black, yet completely devoid of light, giving them an especially hollow look, as though she had no emotions at all.

Still, the girl was unquestionably stunning.

Paired with that expressionless face,

she looked unrealistically beautiful, like a doll...

The second was a man with dark skin, gaunt cheeks, and naturally curly hair. The most eye-catching thing about him was his eyes: one looked straight ahead while the other looked off to the side, making him seem full of "wisdom."

With the man's photo beside the girl's, the difference in their looks was enormous, like clouds and mud.

Yet these two people

were both known to Lin Dong.

His gaze involuntarily shifted toward the photograph hanging on the wall. It had been taken at the orphanage and contained nearly all of his childhood memories.

Those two people were both in that photograph.

Lin Dong remembered Cheng Luoyi most clearly. They had often played together as children, but later, the director said Cheng Luoyi had a mental illness and sent her to a psychiatric hospital. He had never seen her again after that...

Lin Dong also had some memories of Sun Xiaoqiang.

He remembered that Sun Xiaoqiang had congenital defects and was intellectually disabled. One of his eyes had always watched the road while the other stood guard, and he had been abandoned by his parents.

Thinking of this, Lin Dong recalled a classic incident. When Sun Xiaoqiang was twelve, he had kept a hamster. Later, when the hamster fell ill, Sun Xiaoqiang fed it rat poison...

The photos on the television completely stirred up Lin Dong's memories.

He had not seen his childhood companions in ten years.

He just had not expected

that the two of them would end up together and form a rescue team...

"One lunatic and one idiot—can they really save anyone???"