Chapter 27: A Pleasant Surprise

When Ruhua arrived here, she was incredibly well-behaved. Whether it was with Liu Wen and her sister or their parents, she was always considerate and polite. Whenever Ma Yi was away, she would even help Liu Wen tidy up the house, do the laundry, and assist Liu Wen’s mother with cooking. Most astonishing of all, Liu Wen’s mother actually took Ruhua as her goddaughter. Ma Yi had no idea how Ruhua managed this; when he eventually found out, he was utterly dumbfounded—was this really a zombie? Not only did she get along splendidly with the sisters, but she also bonded easily with Liu Wen’s mother. Even Liu Wen’s father, Liu Guoliang, praised Ruhua as a good girl and told Ma Yi to treat her well.

Liu Wen herself was generous and truly kind to Ruhua, which only brought Ma Yi more happiness. Each night, Ma Yi found himself with one woman on each side, both resting against him. For matters not suitable for children, Liu Wen was surprisingly open in front of Ma Yi, and sometimes, with Ma Yi between them, the two women would exchange insights late into the night.

Sometimes Ma Yi felt he must have saved the world in a past life—how else could he deserve such wonderful women by his side? Even Ruhua, who started as a violent little wildcat, had turned into a sweet and gentle girl next door. If Ma Yi didn’t know that Ruhua often went out hunting, he would almost forget that zombies were supposed to be dangerous.

As for Liu Xue, whether it was Liu Wen or Chen Fang—his mother-in-law—who spoke to her, Ma Yi wasn’t sure, but the once wild and unruly girl had become exceptionally well-behaved. She now often cast furtive glances at Ma Yi, leaving him somewhat perplexed. Of course, Ma Yi neither knew nor needed to know the reason. As long as he was strong enough to protect everyone and keep them happy, that was enough.

“Tiezhu is back,” Ruhua announced. Hearing this, Ma Yi climbed out of the swimming pool.

“It’s been quite a while since he left. I’ll go take a look.” Standing at the mountaintop, Ma Yi could already sense the powerful presences at the foot of the mountain.

“Do you want me to go with you?” Ruhua asked with a bright, sweet smile, always cheerful in front of Ma Yi.

“No need. I’ll go alone. You stay here and keep your sister company.” Ma Yi signaled to Liu Wen, who was sitting in the pavilion, and strode out the door. Tiezhu had been gone for three full months; Hammer had returned half a month ago. Out of ten thousand ordinary zombies, fewer than a thousand remained.

However, among these thousand, over seven hundred were evolved level 2 zombies, and nearly two hundred were level 3 silver warriors. (Level 1 referred to ordinary gray J-class or S-class zombies; level 2 denoted bronze zombies, and level 3 was silver. Ma Yi had figured this out through long study—level 1 to level 2 was a short jump, and lower levels matured quickly.)

Though the numbers had diminished, Ma Yi doubted anyone else in the country could command such a powerful force. Below the mountain, a dazzling scene awaited him. Tiezhu, resplendent in gold, saw Ma Yi approaching and walked up to greet him with a big hug. Over the three months, Tiezhu’s intelligence had clearly improved.

Behind Tiezhu stood Fatty, who was now also golden. Lined up behind Fatty were more than a dozen golden warriors—both J-class and S-class zombies. Compared to Hammer’s team, Tiezhu’s group was perfectly organized and disciplined. Behind the golden warriors were more than a thousand silver warriors, and though the rest were bronze level 2 zombies, a keen eye could spot a faint silver gleam on nearly all of them.

“You’ve done well,” Ma Yi praised, clapping Tiezhu on the shoulder as he surveyed this elite force. He was glad he had treated him like a brother. Though their total numbers had shrunk from tens of thousands, those who returned were the cream of the crop.

Tiezhu, however, grinned somewhat sheepishly. In truth, not all those present had survived the journey; he had recruited and fought along the way, absorbing new followers and losing others, until the group finally took its current form.

Ma Yi didn’t care what methods Tiezhu had used; bringing back this power was enough.

In high spirits, Ma Yi immediately decided to reward Tiezhu with two portions of beast king meat. Hammer had also performed admirably and received a share upon his return, which completed his transformation to golden status. Fatty, too, received a portion of the beast king meat.

Listening to Tiezhu’s halting account of his journey west, Ma Yi realized that some zombies, after evolving, gained the capacity for command. A half-golden S3 had over a dozen level 3 subordinates. If Tiezhu hadn’t learned so much, he’d have been lost. For those who resisted, Tiezhu killed and devoured them, which was how he achieved his golden state.

Large numbers of evolved field rats had shown astonishing aggression. Even when faced with tens of thousands of zombies, they dared to attack. Zombies could devour mutant beasts, but mutant beasts could also prey on zombies—it was a battle of predators. The waves of rats seemed endless. If Tiezhu hadn’t taught the zombies various skills, even he might not have survived.

“There are mutant beast armies as well?” Ma Yi exclaimed in surprise.

Tiezhu smiled mysteriously and led Ma Yi down the mountain.

As Ma Yi approached, every warrior knelt on one knee in perfect unison, like a regular army, which left Ma Yi amazed and slightly unnerved. Tiezhu had truly learned a thing or two—after three months, he’d managed to instill such discipline. Still, Ma Yi took pleasure in it and followed Tiezhu through the ranks.

When Ma Yi saw the small force assembled before him, he was genuinely stunned, and a series of unusual ideas flashed through his mind.

Behind the J2 warriors, over a hundred enormous rats lay motionless on the ground, each about half a meter long, except for the largest, which was one and a half meters, fat, with silver fur marked by golden patterns. The rest were all silver, and at a glance, they almost looked like metallic sculptures, except for the twitching of their small noses.

Tiezhu explained that this giant was originally the rat king. During a fierce battle, even when surrounded by Tiezhu and a dozen silver zombies, it had held its ground and killed five J3s. Tiezhu was furious—he was a golden-tier being, yet he’d lost half his strongest men to a mere rat. In the midst of the fight, the rat suddenly collapsed and mutated into a zombie, at which point Tiezhu’s superior strength subdued it.

Upon checking, Tiezhu found that one of his S3s had managed to claw the rat’s belly. Its fur was so tough that even Tiezhu’s blows did little harm, as if it were a solid rubber ball, its defenses impressive. Only a small patch on its belly lacked fur—a possible weak spot.

After hearing this, Ma Yi ordered the giant rat to roll over and inspected it himself. Afterward, he could only smile wryly and praise Tiezhu’s luck. The hairless spot was, in fact, the opening for a certain organ—no matter the species, that always seemed to be the weak point.

The other silver rats had evolved by devouring countless corpses of their own kind and zombies. Out of hundreds of thousands of rats, only this hundred or so had mutated—an almost unimaginable number, nearly blanketing the mountains.

“What abilities do they have?” Ma Yi asked, eager to know more.

As Tiezhu explained, Ma Yi grew ever more excited. These rats could dig—and dig at astonishing speed. Beyond fighting, they could tunnel through the ground.

Tiezhu casually pointed at a level 2 zombie rat, and in the blink of an eye, it drilled a hole thirty centimeters wide into the ground, only to reappear twenty meters away a minute later.

“So fast?” Ma Yi marveled, watching the little rat return to the ranks. He was delighted—this was a treasure. Upon further investigation, he learned that a single rat could dig a tunnel thirty centimeters wide and over a hundred meters long in one night—not just in soil, but through rock, especially if other rats assisted in clearing debris.

“These are real assets.” Ma Yi selected four of them to bring back up the mountain for experiments.

“Has Swift Wind returned?” Covered in stone dust, Ma Yi arrived at the parking lot now occupied by his lieutenants. Seeing these powerful followers, he felt a surge of pride—they were all his troops.

With a sharp sound, a jet-black zombie with golden markings leapt to his feet. The S4s were even faster than S3s; their skin now resembled that of S1s, which was dark blue-black, but S4s were black as night, adorned with golden patterns along the forehead and spine—proof of their exceptional status.

“From tomorrow, I want you to capture living mutant beasts—any type will do. I need them for experiments.” Ma Yi glanced at Tiezhu and Hammer. “From now on, reassign all S-class subordinates to Swift Wind’s command.”

The two golden giants nodded immediately. Though their followers were their own, Ma Yi’s word was final. Besides, he had divided the J2s and Fatty between them equally; Fatty went with Hammer. In this way, Tiezhu and Fatty, Hammer and Fatty No. 2, each formed a pair of partners.

Since the day Swift Wind had first been subdued by Ma Yi, it had acted like a loyal servant, carrying out every order to the letter.

By the following evening, thirty mutant beasts of various kinds were delivered to Ma Yi—one-meter-tall roosters, three-meter-tall cattle, and dogs over two meters long, along with cats resembling leopards.

These former domestic animals and pets had all grown enormous and highly aggressive. Among them, only the three Tang dogs were relatively obedient, likely because their genes retained a natural submissiveness to humans. It had taken Swift Wind the loss of over a dozen S2 subordinates just to capture these three, proving how formidable they had become.

When the Tang dogs saw Ma Yi, they behaved, unlike the cats and cattle, which still tried to escape. Mutant beasts, as a rule, could resist corpse poison; otherwise, they would not prey on zombies, which made things a bit awkward.

“What use is a rooster?” Ma Yi pondered, rubbing his bald head as he examined the giant bird. He decided to experiment first and ask questions later. Following his instructions, Swift Wind used his razor-sharp, virus-laden claws to test the rooster. As Ruhua had said, Swift Wind’s claws were especially virulent.

Four roosters were injected with the virus in different spots. After fifteen minutes, if no transformation occurred, another site was chosen. None of the roosters survived the third round.