The one riding the black horse was naturally Wang Luo.
With nothing to do in the villa area all day, he rode Mare Wang out for some fresh air, and to see if there were any supplies he could scavenge.
"Huh? Someone?"
Wang Luo saw several people walking towards him.
"Such good luck? Encountered survivors?"
Just then,
Dozens of zombies nearby discovered them and immediately roared, charging towards them.
Zhou Quan and the others tensed up, ready to act at any moment.
It wasn't that they weren't afraid; they were only Black Iron rank.
Facing zombies of the same level, they didn't dare to be careless.
A flash of black light, and more than a dozen giant wind blades were unleashed. In an instant, all the charging zombies were cut into several pieces.
"So strong!"
Zhou Quan and the others exclaimed.
Even if they had to work together to deal with those zombies, it would have taken them some effort, but for that person, it was a single strike.
"Brother Zhou, why is this person so strong?"
Someone behind Zhou Quan asked in surprise.
"I don't know!"
Zhou Quan shook his head.
They had also discovered that energy source crystals could upgrade the ranks of ability users,
but
they could only ingest a few per day. Too many made their stomachs uncomfortable, and they seemed unable to digest them.
Therefore, they could only progress slowly, eating a few each day, constantly accumulating energy.
In fact, this was how people initially used energy source crystals, and Wang Luo was no exception in his previous life!
However, direct ingestion was very inefficient, and it took time for the body to digest the energy source crystals, which was equivalent to a cooldown period, not as fast as directly channeling abilities to absorb energy.
This resulted in awakeners who ingested energy source crystals generally having lower ranks.
"Hello, brothers. Are you interested in joining us?"
Wang Luo rode Mare Wang to the front of the group. He had no intention of forming personal connections and spoke directly.
Zhou Quan shook his head. "To be honest, we are not from Anluo City!"
Wang Luo was surprised. "Not from Anluo City? From other cities?"
"Exactly. We are from Ningcheng County. We originally came here seeking help, but... we didn't expect this place to become like this!"
Wang Luo shook his head. "It's useless. The entire world has become like this. Even if you go to the provincial capital or the capital, it will be the same!"
"We already expected that!"
Zhou Quan smiled helplessly.
After seeing the state of Anluo City, they had already guessed as much.
"How many survivors are there in your county?" Wang Luo asked.
"About tens of thousands!"
"And how many awakeners like you are there?"
"Around several thousand, I suppose!"
Wang Luo nodded. Several thousand awakeners was a considerable number!
He didn't care about the number of ordinary people,
but if they wanted to establish a city in the future, they would definitely need a large number of awakeners to defend against zombies!
"How about you meet our leader? Maybe they can provide you with help!"
"This... really?"
Zhou Quan and the others trembled.
If they returned without success, how could they face those who risked their lives to escort them out?
"I can only act as an introducer. Whether it works out depends on our leader's decision!"
"Please introduce us, young man!"
Zhou Quan pleaded.
Wang Luo nodded. "Follow me!"
The group seemed to see a glimmer of hope and quickly followed behind Mare Wang.
"Brother Zhou, could they have ulterior motives?"
Someone whispered.
After all, the other party was too casual about it.
And just letting them into the base like this, weren't they afraid that they might have malicious intentions?
Inviting wolves into the fold?
"We have nothing now. What could they possibly want from us?" Zhou Quan shook his head.
"But this is the apocalypse. Will people eat human flesh?"
Zhou Quan's steps paused slightly,
then he shook his head. "Use your brain. If they were strong enough, they would have acted already!"
"Besides, he doesn't look like a wicked person!"
"Brother Zhou, one must guard against others. Look how ruddy and glowing his complexion is. This is clearly because he eats meat often. Where can we find meat at this time?"
"Shut up! We're here now, what's with all the nonsense?"
Zhou Quan glared at them.
At this point, they were still thinking about these useless things?
Wang Luo smiled and shook his head.
These people were really interesting!
As for eating meat,
he certainly ate meat every day, and not just meat, but also drank milk!
Not long after,
Wang Luo brought the group to Zhao Qingxuan, who was leading a team to kill zombies.
"Holy crap, Brother Zhou, this is bad. Their complexions are all ruddy. Could this be a cannibal organization?"
The few behind Zhou Quan almost wet themselves when they saw the more than a hundred energetic awakeners.
It had been nearly two months since the apocalypse, and no one's complexion was this good?
And so many of them?
It must be cannibals without a doubt!
Even Zhou Quan felt a bit apprehensive.
Would these people force them to join, and as a condition for joining, they would have to eat human flesh?
Then, should he eat it or not?
Wang Luo explained the specific situation of the group to Zhao Qingxuan, who looked surprised. Survivors from other cities?
"Does anyone know how far Ningcheng County is from here?"
Zhao Qingxuan asked.
She had never been to those small counties.
"Ningcheng County is not very far from our Anluo City, only a few dozen kilometers away!"
Someone beside Zhao Qingxuan said.
"A few dozen kilometers?"
"This distance is not too far for us awakeners!"
Then she looked at Zhou Quan and the others with a smile, revealing a row of bright white teeth.
This was so terrifying it made Zhou Quan and the others' scalps tingle.
"Cannibal loli!"
Zhou Quan and the others were so scared they almost ran away.
Despite the cute smile, in their eyes, it became incredibly sinister and terrifying.
"Welcome to join us,"
Zhao Qingxuan smiled, then said eerily, "The first condition for joining us is that you must—eat meat—at noon!"
"As expected, they really are a cannibal gang!"
Zhou Quan and the others shivered with fear.
It was too terrifying.
They shouldn't have come.
"I'd rather die than eat human flesh!"
Zhou Quan roared and took off running.
However, before he could run a few steps, he was surrounded by others behind Zhao Qingxuan!
"Hehehehe~~~"
The crowd let out strange laughter.
"No!"
Zhou Quan and the others showed despair.
...
In the mess hall,
Zhou Quan and the others, under the watchful eyes of over a dozen burly men, tearfully ate "human flesh"!
"Brother Zhou, why do I feel like this meat tastes a bit like pork?"
Someone whimpered in a low voice.
And why did it taste better the more they ate?
Was this the taste of human flesh?
Did they have hidden cannibal genes?
"Mine tastes a bit like beef..."
"Stick to your principles, don't be misled. This is human flesh. We'll spit it all out later!"
Zhou Quan growled.