GuoSan Base celebrated for three full days.
Nine years.
Nine years since the seventy-plus members of the Gu Team had last stood within these walls.
For the younger generation, they were legends.
For those who had survived the earliest days beside them, the feeling was different.
Pressure.
Heavy, suffocating pressure.
Not because the Gu family was cruel—far from it. They were warm, approachable, even gentle with ordinary civilians. But their presence… their aura… it was like standing before a mountain range that pierced the heavens.
To the outside world, Xiao San was publicly acknowledged as the strongest ability user—Level 11.
But when the Gu Team stood together, even Xiao San felt like a junior.
The difference in foundation was visible to anyone sensitive to energy.
For the base-wide celebration, the Gu family provided nearly one million livestock.
Cattle. Sheep. Chickens. Mutated but domesticated species from the forest.
Smoke rose from massive grills. Children laughed. Music echoed through the streets.
After years of scarcity and fear, the feast felt like a declaration:
We survived.
But they were not the only ones stepping out of hiding.
—
In B Province, something else had been growing.
A mafia family.
Before the apocalypse, nearly every member had been among the top 100 most wanted criminals in Hua Country.
Human trafficking. Organ harvesting. Black-market weapons. Experimental drugs. Political assassinations.
There was no darkness they had not touched.
On the first day of differentiation, they turned into zombies.
But unlike ordinary zombies—
They retained their minds.
Their hunger was controlled.
Their memories intact.
They immediately slaughtered the humans around them—those who remained normal and those who developed abilities.
They chose B Province as their domain.
One strange limitation existed:
They could not bring themselves to eat human flesh.
They hunted animals instead.
Humans with ability cores, however… were different.
They killed ability users.
Extracted the cores.
Fed the bodies to their less intelligent subordinates.
Soon, B Province was entirely theirs.
Zombies from surrounding areas were called back—gathered like soldiers responding to a silent summoning.
From Level 4 onward, zombies developed abilities.
So naturally, this family did as well.
Their power grew rapidly.
The intelligent ones traveled by vehicles.
The mindless hordes marched on foot.
A member of this family eventually reached Level 11.
Then he raided two massive bases in C Province.
He slaughtered every ability user.
Consumed their cores.
And broke through.
Level 12.
Zombie King.
Above Level 6, zombies regained human-like appearances.
They were pale.
Bloodless.
But almost indistinguishable from humans at first glance.
Under the Zombie King's command, over one hundred million zombies from three provinces began converging toward Q Province—near the capital.
Now, in the entirety of Hua Country, only three major human bases remained:
The Capital Base.
L City — GuoSan Base.
P City Base.
They formed a triangle around the capital.
—
In Gu Yunchen's past life, he had believed he alone summoned that endless tide of zombies.
He had never known the truth.
It was the Zombie King who had released them.
Used him.
Conveniently.
When Gu Yunchen and Gu Ruisheng died in that life, the zombies annihilated the remaining bases.
Tang Guo died during that annihilation.
After wiping out all humans in Hua Country, the zombies named themselves:
The Blood Empire.
They destroyed forests.
Eradicated animals.
When food dwindled, they branched outward.
They conquered other nations.
They allied with other zombie kings.
They erased humanity from an entire continent.
When nothing remained to consume—
They slept.
Nearly one hundred years later, an alien civilization known as The Empire discovered the planet.
It appeared desolate.
No visible life.
They landed.
Their soldiers vanished one by one.
The sleeping zombies awoke.
Realizing the planet was compromised, the aliens chose to destroy it.
As the planet exploded—
The world consciousness had just begun to awaken.
It had been preparing to erase the zombies and restart life.
But there was no time.
So it used all remaining power to rewind.
It latched onto the most vital fragments of its existence—
Gu Mian.
Tang Guo.
Gu Yunchen and Gu Ruisheng were accidents in the rewind.
—
Now.
History was approaching the same fork.
The zombies were once again marching toward the capital.
But this time, things were different.
In GuoSan Base, the lowest cultivation was Level 8.
All were dual cultivators.
Ironically, Level 8 had been the global peak twelve years into the apocalypse in the previous life.
Yet now—
Same twelve years.
Higher survival rates.
Higher cultivation.
Better foundations.
The zombies moved in waves.
Intelligent ones rode in stolen armored vehicles.
The masses advanced on foot, black rivers pouring across highways and farmland.
War was coming.
But humanity did not know.
The capital was confident.
Arrogant.
They were preparing to send forces outward to clear nearby provinces.
They believed the zombie population had decreased significantly.
After all—
They had not encountered large hordes in years.
Little did they know.
Every zombie in the country was heading toward them.
And this time—
Gu Mian was awake.
So was Tang Guo.
And the world consciousness was watching.