You were supposed to hoard supplies, why the heck did you hoard zombies!

Dusk, as the sky grew dark.

The sky seemed to be on fire, half of it burning bright red.

Yet on the streets within the safe zone, few human silhouettes could be seen. Those who returned from outside hurriedly entered the nearby buildings, dragging their long shadows with them.

The three of them lived in an apartment. It used to be a bed and breakfast, a four-story building with dozens of rooms of various sizes.

But the survivors housed there numbered less than thirty.

And they were all males.

The women were in another building.

The company's actions were naturally not in the name of so-called women's rights, but simply to prevent certain malicious incidents from occurring.

Survivors living in this city were each in a state of constant fear.

Malignant incidents could easily lead to chaos.

Once chaos ensues, problems arise.

Therefore, Xu Lin, the person in charge of arranging for the survivors, decisively implemented a gender separation policy, placing survivors in different locations based on their gender within each area.

But the company couldn't regulate private contacts between the two sexes.

Women also need to survive.

By nature, they are more fragile than men.

And this was especially evident in the current world.

When facing the ferocious zombies, men always had more courage to resist and even when fleeing, they had to be more decisive and faster.

This directly resulted in a majority of the survivors who went out scavenging or on cleaning missions being males.

While women could only starve in their rooms.

Want to eat something?

You can.

They had to offer something in exchange.

Some women, either with a bit of beauty or a decent figure, quickly found a way to survive.

With the constraints of law gone, this trade that existed since ancient times was eventually moved out in the open legitimately in the name of survival.

In just over a month since the establishment of the safe zone, prostitution had become the most common occupation for women.

Next were the scavengers like the men, venturing out to scavenge.

Lastly were company employees.

No sooner had Lin Mo entered than his two companions immediately followed.

One was nicknamed Cannon, the other Little Ghost.

"Brother Lin, are we really part of the company now?"

"Doesn't that mean the cafeteria—"

Company employees usually had meals included.

Under Ai Bing's suggestion, three employee cafeterias were set up within the safe zone, providing food and clean water once in the morning and evening.

But the food in the cafeteria had to be consumed on the spot, and could not be taken away.

If theft was discovered, it would be handled according to the regulations.

Little Ghost hadn't finished speaking when Old Cannon, standing beside him, slapped him on the back of his head, turning his excitement into annoyance.

"What are you doing!"

Although he was not yet twenty, he was taller than Old Cannon.

His whole body seemed to tremble as he spoke.

"Eat, eat, eat, that's all you know!"

"Eat yourself to death!"

Old Cannon didn't take the furiously glaring Little Ghost seriously at all and looked worriedly at the exchange voucher in Lin Mo's hand.

Joining the company? In the end, weren't they just mercenaries?

The three of them didn't have salaries.

They had rewards.

Rewards that were much greater than any task they had before.

Just the Titan... the T-type zombie the company referred to, was worth five hundred exchange vouchers.

Five hundred vouchers were definitely considered a fortune to the current survivors.

If it were all exchanged for supplies—

It would be enough to eat for several months.

But that was all there was to it.

If one wanted more rewards and compensation, one had to keep finding, or even capturing, more of the mutant zombies or Mutant Beasts.

Yet they hadn't even seen what a Mutant Beast looked like.

Lin Mo had raised this question at the time.

But this is what Director Zhang had said.

"Mutant Beasts have already appeared."

"It's just that you didn't know about them before."

"They are like the zombie variations, maybe even more dangerous. As for what they really look like—"

"Heh, when you see them, you'll naturally know."

Beyond that, he also told the three of them something else.

"This T-type zombie is not the second one."

"It's the third."

The meaning of this sentence was very clear.

It meant that the appearance of the zombie variations was accelerating.

And this was likely the reason why Zhang Ye had decided to specifically task the three of them with this job.

But just thinking about being chased by that Titan today sent a chill down Old Ghost's spine, and his thoughts began to grow wildly like weeds.

He looked at Lin Mo, who was resting with his eyes closed on the bed, and hesitated for a moment before he couldn't help but speak up:

"Old Lin, how about we run away?"

"Huh?"

Before Lin Mo could answer, the little ghost who was daydreaming exclaimed:

"Are you crazy?"

"Don't you know what it's like outside?"

"Besides, we just joined the company, why should we run!"

He looked at Old Cannon with disbelief in his eyes, but the other party completely ignored him and said to Lin Mo again:

"We can't do this job."

"We were lucky to survive today, but what about next time?"

"Are we still depending on luck?"

"That thing is not something that can be dealt with by human power, otherwise why would the company bother to assign it to us?"

Little ghost fell silent upon hearing this.

He knew the other man was right.

"We now have five hundred exchange coupons, plus what we saved before, altogether we could exchange at least half a year's worth of food."

"If we leave this place and just find somewhere to hide for half a year, maybe by then—"

"By then the military will have arrived?"

Lin Mo, who had been lying on the bed, suddenly sat up, his cold gaze piercingly fixed on him.

"Old Cannon, I knew you were still thinking about this."

"Aren't you tired?"

Old Cannon's expression darkened, and then he lowered his head.

It took a while before he said with a wry smile:

"Tired?"

"Aren't I tired now?"

"Have you ever thought that maybe I won't make it back tomorrow?"

Lin Mo opened his mouth, but in the end, he just sighed and said, "But you know, the government is gone, and we came from there originally."

"But there's still the military!"

"Shen Zhou has millions of troops!"

"As long as they come in, whether it's zombies or Mutant Beasts, they won't stand a chance against tanks and artillery fire!"

Old Cannon got excited as he spoke.

He had once been a soldier and naturally had great confidence in the military, even to the point of fanaticism.

And this was the hope that had always been lurking in his heart.

However faint this hope was.

"But where are they?"

"It's been so long already, can't you see the reality?"

"The military either perished with the government, or they no longer have the capability to reclaim the city."

"Right now, the company is our only hope!"

Lin Mo's words were like numerous spikes, instantly bursting the hope that had just risen in his heart.

No one knew if the military would return.

There was only the company now.