At this moment, his gaze fell upon the skeleton of one of the zombie dogs. Now that the creature was entirely stripped of its flesh, the surrounding zombies gradually quieted down.
His goal was clear: to find the cause of zombie evolution. He already knew that Corpse Pouches produced in zombie brains could induce evolution, but their effects were certainly limited. To evolve a normal zombie into a Tier One Zombie would require no less than ten Corpse Pouches.
He took a rasp from his backpack, bent down, and pried open the zombie dog’s skull.
After poking around in its brain, he discovered a thumb-sized lump. The moment he extracted it from the zombie dog’s head, a commotion immediately erupted among the nearby zombies. They turned their heads in unison, pivoting their bodies toward Luffy.
"ROAR!"
A single display of Deterrence quelled the restless zombies. He tore a piece of fabric from the clothes of a lingering zombie nearby and wiped the lump clean. Under the moonlight, Luffy could clearly see its appearance: a gray, regular polyhedron.
He wondered, "Could this be the legendary Energy Crystal?" With that thought, he popped the lump into his mouth.
Instantly, that long-lost sensation of refreshing comfort washed over him again, leaving Luffy both basking in the feeling and overjoyed. Corpse Pouches were already ineffective for him, so now that he had found Energy Crystals to elevate his strength, how could he not be thrilled?
Once the Energy Crystal entered his mouth, it slowly dissolved like candy. The dissolving process was accompanied by a release of Energy, which Luffy naturally absorbed. About three to four minutes later, the Crystal had completely dissolved, and his Energy absorption was complete.
Luffy was certain that a single gray Crystal could only bring about a slight quantitative change. However, he firmly believed that once this quantitative change reached a certain threshold, it would inevitably trigger a qualitative change. When that time came, it would be the moment to advance to a higher Tier.
For now, he needed to continue his journey. His two zombie porters had already been torn to shreds by the zombie dogs, so he had to select new ones. The evolved zombie counted as one, and for the second, he randomly picked a zombie with a relatively intact body. After transferring his weapons and equipment onto the two zombies, Luffy hit the road again.
It was now approaching the latter half of the night. Luffy drove his handful of zombies, weaving continuously through the hordes on the streets. Short of a Yellow Talisman and a Bell, he was the spitting image of a standard Corpse Driver.
As dawn approached, Luffy finally spotted the familiar large characters of his residential compound: *City Garden!*
As one of the most upscale residential compounds in LZ City, City Garden absolutely deserved the word "Garden" in its name. The community was filled with lush, verdant trees and flowers, boasting a green coverage rate of eighty percent.
The compound was divided into a high-end villa district and a mid-range duplex district. Of course, "high-end" and "mid-range" were merely relative to City Garden itself. The mid-range duplexes here would be considered the crown jewels of any other residential community on the outside.
The compound faced a river to the north and the bustling West Street Cross to the south. Its massive footprint and relatively small building area granted City Garden an extra touch of tranquility amidst the busy downtown area. Before the apocalypse, the compound boasted what was claimed to be the best property management and the most professional security system in all of Country Z. It wasn’t an exaggeration—the property management here genuinely made residents feel like family.
Since the compound was completed and occupied, there hadn’t been a single instance of theft or violent crime. Naturally, there had been many attempted incidents, but they were all rooted out by the security system before any actual harm could be done. This, of course, was the power of money. Those who could afford to live here were either incredibly wealthy or highly esteemed. Take Luffy, a wealthy second-generation heir, for example!
Gazing at the familiar compound, Luffy felt exceptionally happy. This was his "home!"
At this moment, the flora in City Garden was growing even more vigorously. Through the compound’s grand gates, Luffy could also see roaming zombies. There were quite a few of them. This meant the compound was still relatively safe—though, of course, that only applied to Luffy.
The compound’s gates were wide open. The sudden apocalypse had naturally decimated its highly professional security, leaving the guardhouse next to the gates completely empty. With his entourage of zombie porters, Luffy navigated his way to his front door with practiced ease.
He stood before a detached villa within City Garden. The villa covered a vast area and was surrounded by high walls, its gates currently shut tight. Pulling out his keys, Luffy unlocked the gate, led his zombies inside, and then securely locked the gate behind them.
Aside from some fallen leaves and bird droppings in the garden, and a thin layer of dust covering the exquisite furniture inside, everything at home remained exactly as it had been. He didn’t let the zombies enter the villa, afraid they would dirty his home. Instead, he personally carried his weapons and ammunition into the villa’s basement, sorting and arranging them neatly.
This task took him an entire morning. His father had renovated the villa’s basement, outfitting it with a gym, a study, and a home theater. Back when his parents weren’t home, Luffy had brought a few female classmates down here to sing, hook up, and have threesomes. The soundproofing was phenomenal; even if you set off firecrackers inside, no one outside would hear a thing. It was an absolute paradise for letting loose.
Right now, however, he was the only one in this lonely villa. What depressed him more was the lack of electricity. He didn’t know if there was a citywide blackout, or if he was just unlucky and only the villa district or City Garden had lost power. His satellite phone was also dead.
However, it didn’t matter. This city lacked nothing—as long as one dared to venture outside.
Next, he spent an entire afternoon going out to scrounge for essential supplies like gasoline generators and car batteries. By dusk, the villa’s storage room was packed with these supplies. Barrels of gasoline were placed against the exterior corners of the villa; he was worried that if the fuel caught fire, it would burn the entire house down.
His satellite phone had long since been fully charged. It was simple—there were cars everywhere outside, and eighty to ninety percent of them still had the keys in the ignition. He just found a random one and charged his phone.
After nightfall, Luffy curled up alone on the living room sofa, staring blankly at the satellite phone in his hands. Before coming home, he had wanted to get back as quickly as possible so he could call his parents. Yet, at this very moment, he didn’t dare dial that familiar number.
He was afraid no one would answer, afraid it would be powered off, and even more afraid that someone might pick up, only for it not to be his parents.
After deliberating for a moment, Luffy finally dialed the number. Everything was in the hands of fate, and running away wasn’t a real solution.
BEEP... BEEP...
The phone wasn’t turned off. Luffy’s heart seized in his chest.
BEEP... BEEP...
The line timed out. No one answered!
Luffy’s heart sank. He thought, "I’ll try again. It’s the apocalypse, their phone is probably on silent!"
He dialed once more, but the result was exactly the same.
CLATTER!
The satellite phone dropped to the floor as Luffy hung his head in despair. It was true—this was the apocalypse. How could anyone be that lucky? Perhaps all of his family’s luck had been entirely used up by him alone.
In an instant, his hopes were shattered. Luffy’s personal apocalypse had descended upon him once again. The first time was when he got bitten by a zombie. The second time was right now, when the satellite phone wouldn’t connect and the chances of his parents surviving were next to none. With his parents gone, leaving him to live on all by himself, Luffy wondered if there was even any meaning to it.
An unknown amount of time passed, but Luffy just sat there, keeping his head hung low in a daze.
Suddenly, the phone on the floor began to ring. In the dead silence of the room, it sounded like a bolt of lightning from a clear blue sky.