Lam Pham walked up to Doan Thanh Ho and spoke softly.
"Don't take it to heart. They chose this path themselves. Whatever the outcome, it has nothing to do with you."
He was quite talented when it came to comforting people.
He knew how much energy Headmaster Doan had poured into this Martial School. Even in the apocalypse, he had worked diligently, hoping to lead the students to bring the Martial School to glory.
But who could have expected that Thoi Tieu Phi's appearance would shatter the original stability.
"Sigh..."
Doan Thanh Ho said nothing, only sighed incessantly. He was angry, of course, but what was the use of being angry? Those students were not children; they were adults with their own thoughts.
Although he was their instructor, he couldn't control their thinking.
Lam Pham said, "I haven't cleared this area yet, so it's still a bit dangerous. Going with me to the Sunshine Shelter is the right thing to do. If we nip any danger in the bud, then no danger will arise."
Previously, to give them a safe zone, he had cleared a very large area with his sword.
However, zombies could move; they wouldn't just stay in one place. Over time, they would gradually wander back here.
Ordinary zombies were nothing to fear, but if they encountered a zombie tide, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Doan Thanh Ho looked at Lam Pham, "Sigh, I understand. Going to the Sunshine Shelter is the right choice. You take them there. As the headmaster of the Martial School, I have a responsibility. I want to go find them."
Lam Pham was genuinely stunned by Doan Thanh Ho's idea.
Search for them alone?
That was no different from seeking death.
"Headmaster Doan, there's no need. You should just go back to the Sunshine Shelter with the others," Lam Pham said, hoping the other man would be more sensible. Having a sense of responsibility was a good thing, but before fulfilling that responsibility, one had to consider their own situation. Acting rashly would only lead to disaster.
Doan Thanh Ho said, "You're worried that even if I find them, I won't have the ability to bring them back, right? I've thought about that myself, but even if I don't have the ability, I still have to..."
"No. I'm afraid you won't even find them before you end up dead on the road." He had to state his thoughts directly, otherwise, it could easily lead to unnecessary misunderstandings, making Doan Thanh Ho mistakenly think that Lam Pham approved of his idea.
Such a misunderstanding was completely unnecessary.
Doan Thanh Ho's mouth fell open, staring at Lam Pham in a daze. Did he really have that little faith in him?
Lam Pham patted his shoulder. "Alright, let's not overthink this, okay?"
Perhaps there was a kind of sincerity in Lam Pham's voice.
Doan Thanh Ho finally nodded, which counted as his agreement.
Lam Pham also breathed a sigh of relief. The current apocalypse was far from being as simple as one might think.
They packed their things and prepared to register.
The Hong Nhat Martial School had a livestock farm, raising a lot of poultry, which would also inject new vitality into the Sunshine Shelter's husbandry sector.
The shelter's livestock farm was now highly valued, and many people were teaching themselves how to breed poultry, striving for continuous and stable development through scientific methods based on the current situation.
. . .
Hoang City, Sunshine Shelter.
"Wow, this living area is filled with such an ambitious spirit."
Doan Nghe observed her surroundings, letting out a cry of amazement. She then pulled on Tran Vo, who was beside her, expressing the excitement in her heart. As for Tran Vo, he had already put the previous incident behind him.
His junior brothers' departure was their own choice.
The headmaster had already done his best to persuade them.
But they refused to listen, so what could be done?
Suddenly.
Doan Nghe shook Tran Vo's arm vigorously, "Look, look... Isn't that Ha Nha?"
The name Ha Nha was not unfamiliar. In fact, in the past, there weren't many people who didn't know of this celebrity. He followed his junior sister's gaze.
Not far away, a woman was leading a group of children forward. She would occasionally turn her head, smiling and chatting with them, making the children giggle happily. The scene was very joyful.
Looking closely, it was indeed Ha Nha.
He hadn't expected the Sunshine Shelter to have a celebrity.
This should be a very fortunate thing for Ha Nha. In the apocalypse, a female star like her could easily become a target for those with ill intentions.
After all, with that halo above her head, if she were to be found by the wrong people, the outcome would certainly not be good.
She was truly blessed by the heavens to have ended up here.
"Yes, that's Ha Nha," Tran Vo replied.
Doan Nghe said, "She's my favorite! I'm going to go meet her right now!"
With that, she ran off towards Ha Nha like the wind.
Tran Vo shook his head, then walked over to the headmaster's side. At a time like this, as a student, he still needed to comfort the headmaster, whose strong heart had truly been deeply wounded.
Night.
Room 704, living room.
Co Hang, Chu Duong, Old Chung, Captain Lei, Wang Kai, and other core members of the shelter were all gathered here.
The shelter belonged to everyone, and whenever anything happened, they would discuss it together, make a decision, and execute it.
"So, you're saying that the mutators have now become a kind of malignant tumor in the apocalypse?"
Captain Lei knew about the mutators; that group had come to the Sunshine Shelter before. In his heart, those people were potentially more harmful than zombies.
Wang Kai said angrily, "Damn it, these people must be so full they have nothing better to do! Why are they always creating these things that are obviously terrifying? Zombies are already hard enough to deal with, and now we have to be on guard against them all the time."
To think that he, as an employee of the waterworks, had been fighting against the apocalypse all this time. Who would have thought that some people, instead of helping, would actually get in the way? They were simply the scum of humanity.
Just thinking about it made him furious.
Lam Pham said, "Whether they're a malignant tumor or not is still hard to say. The Thoi Tieu Phi who took the students away was Headmaster Doan's beloved disciple. He clearly had such strength but didn't make a move, instead letting the students leave with him voluntarily. From this, we can see that he still has his humanity, so his threat level might not be that high."
Co Hang said, "I was wondering why Headmaster Doan was in such low spirits when he arrived at the shelter. So it's because his former beloved disciple turned into a mutator. Anyone in his shoes would feel terrible."
Chu Duong said, "If we had been able to ask for his location back then, maybe so much trouble could have been avoided. Brother Lam, how many factions do we humans have to face now?"
As the apocalypse had progressed to this point, they all understood that the situation had become quite complicated.
It was very different from the early days.
Lam Pham summarized, "The Creator among the zombies, the Qin Ling organization, and the mutator organization. Simply put, it's three factions."
Though it seemed straightforward, in reality, any one of these factions, taken alone, was extremely terrifying.
Especially the Creator, the King among zombies, and their numbers were likely not small. It didn't seem too difficult for a single city to birth one Creator.
So, no one could say for sure just how many unknown Creators were out there.
"No matter when, even when true disaster strikes, there are always people who want to do those terrible things. Whether it's the Qin Ling organization or the mutator organization, they're all experimenting on normal human bodies. Have they never thought about uniting to solve the apocalypse together?" Co Hang lamented.
Ha Khanh, who was to the side, slowly spoke, "No matter the time, as long as there are benefits and profits, even if the world is ending, there will still be people who can't control the desires in their hearts and will take reckless actions out of desperation. Perhaps the apocalypse is indeed terrifying, but the truly terrifying thing might still be the disaster we humans bring upon ourselves."
Seeing that everyone's mood had become a bit gloomy, Lam Pham smiled and said, "It's alright. We are all developing in a good direction. Everyone is united and moving forward. The Zombie Emperor Wang Zixuan is also working hard for our better life, and so are Officer Hoang and the others..."
Negative news often affects one's mood.
So, he had to pick something better to talk about.
Hearing Lam Pham's words, everyone chuckled.
. . .
Night, somewhere in the wilderness.
The students who had left with Thoi Tieu Phi were sitting around a bonfire.
They didn't leave the Martial School because they disliked it, but because they wanted to transform from ordinary people into powerhouses. Only after coming outside did they realize the dangers of the world, where zombies were as ferocious as wolves and tigers.
With their current strength, they absolutely couldn't hold them off.
But when Senior Brother Thoi faced that group of zombies, he merely said a single word, "Scram," and scared them all away. To be honest, it made them quite envious.
"Senior Brother Thoi, can we really become as strong as you?"
As this student spoke these words, the surrounding students all looked at Senior Brother Thoi with anticipation. Even though he had told them before that they would become as strong as him, they still wanted to hear the answer again.
Thoi Tieu Phi said, "You will. You will become very strong, transcending the realm of ordinary people. To survive in the apocalypse, you can't do it without strength. I know you think the apocalypse will end one day, but have you ever thought about how many people there are in the world, and how many have turned into zombies?"
"The human body needs time to evolve. We humans became the apex predators in nature through countless years of evolution."
Listening to their senior brother, they all nodded silently.
It was true.
What Senior Brother Thoi said made a lot of sense.
"Senior Brother Thoi, do you mean that the time for our human evolution has come again?"
"Yes, at least in my eyes, the time for our evolution has arrived. The appearance of the Awakened is a sign of evolution. But you are not Awakened, so how can you evolve? You can only rely on external forces to have a chance to step onto this path of evolution," Thoi Tieu Phi said slowly, calmly explaining his understanding to his junior brothers.
"Senior Brother, were the wings from before also a change that occurred during evolution?"
"Yes, a change, a physical change. You can think of me as a mutator..." Thoi Tieu Phi was originally an Awakened. Later, he fused with zombie genes, and his strength increased by leaps and bounds. But today, he knew he had hit a bottleneck; the path to further evolution was blocked.
He needed stronger zombie genes.
Just then.
Thoi Tieu Phi suddenly shot to his feet, his brow furrowed as he stared into the distance.
An extremely dangerous aura was coming from that direction.
There weren't many things that could make him feel a sense of danger.