"Pop!" With a sickening sound, Li Zhong's skull exploded like a shattered watermelon, his brainless corpse collapsing limply to the ground.
"Get down!" Baldy reacted instantly, flattening himself against the dirt. Even as someone who'd crawled out from piles of Zombies, the sight of the brain matter splattered mere inches away made him gulp nervously, stomach churning with disgust.
Xiao San lay frozen in terror, whispering frantically, "Boss, what do we do now?"
"Stay calm! As long as we don't move, we won't die!" The Bald Headed Man remained motionless on the ground, raising his voice to shout, "Brother! We mean no harm! Just came looking for food! Our bad for not asking permission first—we're leaving right now!"
Silence answered him.
Under the blazing sun, Baldy moved with glacial slowness to retrieve a grenade—his last remaining one.
This was pure carelessness. Who'd have thought their opponent would have firearms? That precision headshot meant professional-grade weapons. Please don't let it be scattered military personnel—that'd be disastrous!
He murmured to Xiao San, "When this grenade blows, run like hell for the woods if you want to live. We'll be safe once we reach the trees!"
Xiao San nodded, flashing an OK sign.
Gritting his teeth, Baldy pulled the pin and lobbed the grenade. After several heartbeats, it detonated with a thunderous boom, kicking up a dust cloud.
Both men sprang up at breakneck speed, sprinting toward the roadside woods just four or five meters away—close enough to evade any follow-up sniper fire.
The battle-hardened Baldy executed a perfect combat roll into the tree line, immediately concealing himself in undergrowth. But Xiao San, who'd been right behind him, suddenly froze mid-stride.
To Baldy's horror, Xiao San's head slid cleanly from his shoulders, his body collapsing with a wet thud. Blood gushed like a spring, quickly forming a dark pool.
"Gulp." Baldy swallowed hard again, spotting nearly invisible piano wire strung between two trees, now beaded with fresh blood droplets.
Beads of sweat the size of peas erupted across his shiny scalp. Only now did he realize—they'd encountered a professional. Every move had been anticipated.
What now?
Staying put meant certain death. Their opponent was clearly a tactical expert, and nighttime would leave Baldy even more vulnerable. Worse, that explosion probably scared off Lao Zhou waiting downhill.
That cowardly oaf might look tough, but he had the nerves of a mouse.
Only one play left. If Lao Zhou drove off with their vehicle, Baldy was truly finished. In the apocalypse, no wheels meant certain death—starvation, dehydration, exhaustion, or Zombie bites would claim him eventually.
Moving with painstaking care, he detached his canteen. Slowly rising behind tree cover, he suddenly lobbed it high into the air.
"Crack!" The canteen exploded midair with a clean hole punched through it.
Seizing the distraction, Baldy bolted downhill like a man possessed.
While running, he cursed vehemently in his heart. Having survived the apocalypse for so long, he had encountered ruthless people before, but today he had truly kicked an iron plate—what rotten luck.
The descent down the mountain was surprisingly smooth, and to his astonishment, the other party didn't give chase. Baldy inwardly cheered at his good fortune.
As the car came into view, with Lao Zhou sitting in the driver's seat, he frantically shouted, "Lao Zhou, start the car now!!"
But Lao Zhou seemed to be asleep and didn't respond.
Fury surged in his heart—this unreliable bastard! He'd teach him a lesson once they got back! But as he quickly climbed into the car, he suddenly noticed the fist-sized hole in Lao Zhou's head, and his soul nearly fled his body in terror.
He hurriedly opened the door, intending to shove Lao Zhou out, but the damn old fool had even buckled his seatbelt! Damn it!!
Pulling out a dagger, he sliced through the seatbelt and kicked Lao Zhou's corpse out of the car.
But then…
A grenade suddenly appeared on the driver's seat, its pin popping off with a sharp click.
"Damn it!" Baldy snarled viciously, but there was no stopping the explosion now.
BOOM! The deafening blast tore through the confined space, instantly shredding him into a bloody pulp with the force of the shockwave. The entire car was reduced to scrap metal in an instant.
Bai Wen leisurely descended the mountain, carrying two corpses in his hands!
Yes, those two corpses, weighing over three hundred pounds combined, felt as light as straw in his grip. This was the effect of the Enhancement Potion concocted by the SCV—after drinking it, his physical capabilities had improved dramatically.
He tossed the corpses into the blazing wreckage of the car. By the time the flames died down, all four bodies had been reduced to unrecognizable charred remains.
Just as he was about to head back up the mountain, the SCV on his shoulder suddenly announced, "Report, Commander. Crystal deposits detected. Please commence collection."
"Crystal deposits?" Bai Wen was momentarily stunned. The SCV was a construction unit from StarCraft II, and his current gear had been crafted by it—extremely useful! But it had never occurred to him that the game's crystal deposits might exist here. If there were crystal deposits, did that mean he could build a Terran Command Center?
"Affirmative, Commander. They are inside the vehicle," the SCV replied.
Bai Wen immediately searched the charred wreckage and soon found seven or eight blue crystals, each about the size of a date pit, beneath Baldy's scorched corpse.
"These are Energy Crystals?" Bai Wen examined them closely and took a deep breath. If he wasn't mistaken, these were the Crystal Nuclei formed inside Zombies. However, not every Zombie had one, and their formation process remained a mystery.
Who would've thought these were the Energy Crystals from the game!
Clutching the crystals tightly in his palm, Bai Wen felt an overwhelming surge of ambition. With this gear, he could already dominate the apocalypse—but now, with Energy Crystals in hand, wouldn't he be practically invincible?
He asked the SCV, "How many of these crystals are needed to build a main base?"
"Constructing a main base requires 400 units of crystal. These only amount to 0.8 units."
"0.8… That little?" Bai Wen was astonished. Each nucleus was only worth 0.1 units—far too little.
Let's do the math. If we're to build the Human Control Center, and considering every Zombie contains a Crystal Nucleus, he would need to kill at least 4,000 Zombies. Even if every shot could take down a Zombie, that would still require four thousand bullets!
What an enormous workload.
"Commander, there's no need to worry about weapons. I'll do my best to provide all necessary supplies. Please focus on collecting more Energy Crystals!" said the SCV.
Bai Wen nodded solemnly. Even if he hadn't obtained the SCV in this life, he wouldn't let the tragedies of his previous life repeat themselves. Now that he had such a powerful advantage, what did he have to fear?