Luo Feng started the jeep and drove away.
He followed the map from the system in front of him.
Along the way, he cleared some scattered zombies shuffling along the road.
It didn't take much.
Just a bullet to the head, and with his reflexes, it was a breeze.
At some point, his peaceful journey had to stop.
It was because of the groups of refugees he spotted.
Not too far from him were groups of people of different sizes shuffling forward.
Luo Feng checked his map and then turned back to them.
As he thought, they were all moving in a certain direction.
And that direction was also where he was heading.
Luo Feng parked the jeep at an inconspicuous spot, then alighted.
He was covered in blood from close encounters with zombies and looked a bit messy.
But just to be safe, he smudged dirt on his body, especially his face.
The original owner had a normal appearance, not too handsome, but still somewhat good-looking.
It didn't hurt to be safe.
Luo Feng walked to the edge of the crowd and shuffled along with them.
Then he spotted a weary, dark-skinned middle-aged man holding a ten-year-old girl.
Luo Feng shuffled over to his side.
"Excuse me," Luo Feng whispered beside him.
The man was startled, his eyes weary.
He eyed Luo Feng, then his feet shifted back a bit.
But when his eyes darted to the large crowd around them, his shoulders eased a little.
Luo Feng didn't take it to heart and opened his clenched fist.
Inside his open palm was a piece of milk candy.
The little girl, held tightly by her father, turned to them.
Her eyes glued to the candy, her vacant expression brightened.
Her little hands tugged at her father's shirt.
The man looked at Luo Feng with narrowed eyes, obviously suspicious.
Luo Feng reached into the bag slung on his shoulder.
Using the storage space of the system, a bottle of water appeared in his hand.
Luo Feng shook the bottle lightly.
"Exchange for information," Luo Feng said quietly.
The man hesitated, but his eyes involuntarily turned to the little girl.
He saw her chapped lips, then gritted his teeth and accepted the water.
Luo Feng gave it to him without asking anything yet.
He just watched him take a few gulps, then pass it to his daughter.
After that, Luo Feng personally handed the candy to the little girl.
"Where are you going?" Luo Feng asked.
The man was less hostile now, especially after seeing his daughter brighten up.
"The base that is said to have the best weapons," the man's voice was rough, probably from stress and the kind of life he had survived.
Also, his tone wasn't arrogant—meaning he was a commoner.
"How are you so sure it's safe?" Luo Feng asked curiously, hearing the trust in his words.
"It was told to us by those damn fanatics," the man said.
"Fanatics?" Luo Feng raised an eyebrow.
"The Guides," the man replied matter-of-factly, expecting no more questions.
"I've been stuck at home until now, so I really haven't been paying attention to the outside world," Luo Feng said.
He guessed these so-called Guides must be important.
The original owner certainly had no memory of them.
Hmm… maybe they never met.
"Did you get attacked by a horde too?" the man sighed.
His tone carried the weight of someone who had experienced the same thing, so his gaze was kinder.
Luo Feng nodded.
"The Guides are a group of mad people who suddenly appeared after the apocalypse. They go around persuading people to join a base."
"Is it a specific base?" Luo Feng interrupted.
"No, they send people to any base. Just as long as they don't stay alone," the man said.
"Send?"
"So they force people and make sure to take them all the way to a base?" Luo Feng asked.
"Yeah. They'd even fight zombies just to make sure people get to a base as safe and as soon as possible," the man chuckled.
"Are they really that selfless?" Luo Feng was shocked.
"People didn't believe it at first, but they developed an impressive record. The only problem is they're too obsessed and force you to join," the man said.
"How so?" Luo Feng asked.
"It's always one of two things." He raised two fingers.
"Either they stall you repeatedly somehow…" He put down a finger as Luo Feng interrupted.
"Would they abandon the rest of the people they're helping just to stalk someone?" Luo Feng asked.
"No. They'd somehow find you after dropping the others at a base and stalk you," the man shook his head.
"Can't you just chase them away or scare them off?" Luo Feng asked.
"They're crazy. Even if you shoot at them, they'd just be more aggressive in their stalking," the man responded.
"How about killing them all?" Luo Feng said with a sharp glint in his eye.
"They have some sort of weird ability that prevents them from dying." The man didn't even bat an eye at the suggestion of murder.
It was safe to assume someone who had survived this long in the apocalypse wasn't a clean person.
He must have blood on his hands.
Especially a father with such a young daughter.
Similarly, the girl didn't react and just continued licking her candy.
"Healing abilities?" Luo Feng probed.
"It's hard to describe. It's not that they heal, more like… they just don't die. I even heard you can empty your gun at them, but they'd just brush it off. Besides, this act leads to the second thing… they kill you." The man put down his second finger.
"Truly crazy." Luo Feng was speechless.
"You also mentioned you were chased by a horde?" Luo Feng asked again.
"Yeah, they just stormed in one day, killing everyone." The man's face twisted with terror.
"How did they get in?" Luo Feng wondered in thought.
A base that had survived this long should at least be able to hold off a horde long enough for people to escape.
"That's the weird thing. They just arrived out of nowhere and the door was wide open," the man said gloomily, lost in bad memories.
"Oh." Luo Feng said no more.
But his thoughts were spinning.
This third life seemed more dangerous than the last.
The last two worlds didn't have fanatics or mysterious destruction of bases.
But the only good thing about this third life was that he hadn't seen or heard about any zombies with special abilities.
The zombies he saw only had advanced physical strength.
And the special ones had strength that bordered on magical.
Like a zombie that could move so fast it was a blur, its legs swollen with monstrous muscle.
The rest of the way was made in silence.
…..
They eventually reached the so-called weapon-enforced base.
[ Task complete ]
[ Reward distributed ]
[ Main task – investigate the New Hope base ]
Luo Feng looked at the streams of messages and felt that he had arrived at the right place.
The refugees lined up outside and were checked in one at a time.
Luo Feng was shocked that they weren't checking for bites or injuries.
Then he remembered—the zombies in this world didn't infect people.
Either you turned on the first day of the apocalypse, or you died by a zombie's bite.
Yet humanity was still so few.
People still struggled to survive despite such a huge advantage.
Luo Feng had watched enough movies to know infection was the biggest killer in most zombie apocalypses.
Because zombies could reproduce infinitely.
So long-term battles always ended with humanity's loss.
But here the scales were equal.
Yet the death rate was twice that of an infection-based apocalypse.
Sigh.
Luo Feng felt this might be the toughest world yet.
Too many strange things were happening.
His attention was drawn by the female attendant checking them in.
His eyes swept the compound and saw heavily armed guards patrolling.
They looked tough, and their guns were sleek—and special.
The guns had no visible trigger.
He could only guess they were some kind of high-tech sci-fi weapons.
He had only seen such things in movies.
And the original owner hadn't seen them either.
After all, there hadn't been large-scale wars between countries.
But between nobles, there might have been a few disputes.
Mostly, it was because the original owner was a commoner.
And the only high-tech weapons were made in the hands of the Noi family.
No wonder the system called the base New Hope.
It was because the Noi family ran a popular orphanage named Hope.
They were probably the ones running the base.
Now Luo Feng had seen it himself.
After a while, everyone was checked into the base.
It was just a superficial search for dangerous objects, so it didn't take long.
They were given uniforms and duties around the base.
Luo Feng thought about it and directly chose the hunting party.
It was currently the highest and most dangerous job available.
That was why the job of a hunter was voluntary, never forced.
Luo Feng chose it because he guessed the hunting party should hold considerable prestige in the base.
Prestige made it easier to persuade people to talk—or force them to—without fear of repercussions.
The female attendant reminded the crowd that slackers were not allowed.
Anyone caught neglecting their duty would be kicked out.
And they could do it because hidden spy cameras were placed all around the base.
Each camera was assigned to one person, ensuring strict supervision.
Some people began searching themselves at that point.
The female attendant just snorted.
At this point, Luo Feng could see the woman wasn't simple.
She had the aura of a militant or soldier.
"Don't bother looking. You won't find them," she gazed at them coldly.
Luo Feng frowned.
Was it reasonable for a noble family to have such strict subordinates?
By her sharp aura, they must have diligently cultivated soldiers.
Luo Feng suddenly thought the rumors about the Noi family being gangsters might be true.
But he wasn't worried, even if they were.
After all, he wasn't here to stay long, and he wasn't afraid of them.
All he needed to do was complete his task and go home.
Thinking about his small apartment made Luo Feng solemn.
His gaze turned unfocused as he stared into the distance.