The haul

"Awooo, awooo!"

As explosions engulfed the Black Cat Mutant Beast from every direction, it finally buckled and howled in agony.

Seeing his chance, a glint of cunning flashed through Liu Feng's cold, sinister eyes.

Finish it while it's down!

"Go, Iron-toothed Insects!"

Before his words had faded, tens of thousands of Iron-toothed Insects gleaming silver in the sky swooped down, wave after wave, onto the badly wounded Black Cat Mutant Beast.

The Black Cat Mutant Beast fought desperately, but it was already too late.

As the army of Iron-toothed Insects gradually dispersed, the Black Cat Mutant Beast lay limp on the ground, barely clinging to life. Its eyes remained fixed on Liu Feng, who stood a few steps away.

Liu Feng held his automatic rifle, the corners of his thin lips curling into a bloodthirsty smile.

Rat-tat-tat!

A burst of gunfire rang out, and bullets instantly tore through the Black Cat Mutant Beast's throat. Crimson blood gradually soaked its mottled fur, and several finger-thick holes gaped in its neck.

[Ding! Congratulations on successfully killing the "Civet Beast." You have gained 1,000 experience points.]

Liu Feng was genuinely taken aback by the system notification.

Huh? Killing mutant beasts gives experience points too? And it's worth just as much as killing that hulking "mutant zombie."

This really was fantastic news for Liu Feng.

As he continued to develop his strength, perhaps hunting mutant beasts should also go on his agenda.

He could trade the mutant beasts he killed for supplies while earning experience points just as he did from killing zombies. Wasn't that the best of both worlds?

Unfortunately, compared with zombies, mutant beasts were still far too rare in this world.

Still, that was good in its own way. At least there was a balance. If mutant beasts, whose strength utterly overwhelmed ordinary people, appeared in large numbers, the disaster they inflicted on human society would be even more terrifying than the zombie virus.

Liu Feng sighed in acceptance, then pushed those stray thoughts out of his mind.

"System, bring up the control panel."

[Host: Liu Feng]

[Host summoning level: LV3 (1800/10000]

[Summonable insect species: Iron-toothed Insect, Parasitic Insect, Exploding Insect.]

[Iron-toothed Insect: LV2 (Summonable quantity: 100,000)]

[Parasitic Insect: LV2 (Summonable quantity: 100,000)]

[Exploding Insect: LV2 (Summonable quantity: 1,000)]

[Role: Squad leader]

[Insect species awaiting unlock: Toad, Spine Crawler, Sky Spider.]

He would never have known without looking, and what he saw startled him.

Since setting out that morning and following the road from the residential camp to People's Park, which was awaiting redevelopment, they had cleared out a large number of zombies without even realizing it. With the Civet Beast's 1,000 experience points added in, he now had 1,800.

Without hesitation, Liu Feng spent 1,500 experience points to upgrade his Iron-toothed Insects to LV3. After all, they remained the backbone of his forces in actual combat.

[Ding: Upgrade successful!]

[Iron-toothed Insect level: LV3 (Summonable quantity: 200,000)]

At level three, he could summon 200,000 Iron-toothed Insects. Compared with before, it was an enormous leap.

Liu Feng narrowed his eyes slightly as he studied his stats on the panel.

His summoning level was now LV3, and the first three insect species had all been revealed. The system had also shown him the species he could obtain through his next upgrades.

First came the Toad, then the Spine Crawler, and finally the Sky Spider.

Although he had yet to reach the levels needed to summon them, their names alone gave him a fairly good idea of what creatures they were. Their innate abilities, however, remained to be confirmed.

He would take things as they came. Once his level rose, everything would become clear.

Just then, a nearly choked cry suddenly came from beside Liu Feng.

"Ma Hou, hang on a little longer! I'll get you back to camp right now!"

"Ma Hou, don't be scared. You're going to be all right."

"Ma Hou, you have to believe in yourself!"

With his eyes half-closed, Ma Hou listened to the comforting voices around him, a faint, nonchalant smile appearing on his face. But the wound across his chest was beyond saving. His exposed ribs were visible through the long, bloody gash.

"Th... thank you all for... for being here. With you, my life..."

Before Ma Hou could finish, his head turned and fell limply to one side.

For a moment, everything fell silent. Only the warm blood in Ma Hou's chest continued to bubble out.

Liu Feng walked over to Ma Hou and crouched beside him. He reached out and closed his eyes.

"Fatty, find a way to dig a grave on the island in the lake. I want to bury Ma Hou there."

Fatty froze at those words, then came back to his senses. Wiping the tears from the corners of his eyes, he hoisted the axe beside him and jumped into the Artificial Lake.

Ma Hou had died at the Civet Beast's hands, and now the Civet Beast was dead too. In this resource-starved apocalypse, they naturally could not bury the Civet Beast along with him. Burying Ma Hou where the Civet Beast had lived would at least fulfill a long-held wish of his.

Once everything had been taken care of, the four of them carried the Civet Beast back to the residential camp.

For several days after they returned, Fatty remained despondent. He and Ma Hou had been the closest of friends.

It was only three days later, when Han Bing set out with the Civet Beast's hide and organs already cut up, that Fatty finally felt a little better.

With Han Bing guiding them, Liu Feng took a dozen or so of his most trusted men and hit the road in pickup trucks.

The settlement Han Bing had told them about lay roughly twenty kilometers north of the residential complex. In theory, traveling at a steady speed, the pickups should have reached their destination in an hour or two at most.

But the entire city had been completely paralyzed when the zombie virus struck, and its transportation system was no exception. Although decades had passed, the roads out of the city were still thoroughly blocked by wrecked cars.

Moreover, the two or three pickups driving in a convoy along the otherwise empty roads made plenty of noise. Their engines naturally drew out quite a few zombies, which was another obstacle slowing their progress.

They had set out in the morning and struggled through one difficulty after another along the way. By the time Liu Feng caught sight of smoke rising from the settlement, the sun was already high in the sky.

"Brother Feng, we're almost there."

Liu Feng nodded, then leaned his head out of the driver's window. Looking toward the vehicles behind him, he called out a warning, "Brothers, keep your weapons ready. If anything goes wrong, don't hesitate for even a moment! Does everyone understand?"

"Understood, Brother Feng!"

"Understood!"

"Don't worry, Brother Feng! We'll stay sharp."

Atop the seven- or eight-meter-high walls.

Several men stood beneath the eaves of the gate tower, looking toward the three pickup trucks several hundred meters away.

(End of chapter)