Thinking of this, Nan Fei’s expression turned cold as she walked outside.
Her strengthened body was now more agile and powerful. Holding a dagger, she killed zombies as easily as chopping melons and vegetables. Wherever she passed, zombies fell one after another.
In just a moment, the stairwell was piled with zombie corpses.
Looking at the continuous stream of zombies still coming her way, Nan Fei frowned.
With her spatial ability, the clothes she had picked earlier were clearly not enough. She thought about going into the store to pick more—but with these zombies around…
She would either have to kill them all before shopping, or take advantage of the gaps between waves and head down to the next floor via the escalator.
While she was thinking, more zombies arrived.
Nan Fei’s dagger moved again. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a zombie whose movements were noticeably smoother than the others.
A level 1 zombie.
In the novel, zombie levels were clearly defined.
The lowest were level 0—like the wandering, mindless zombies around her.
Level 1 zombies were like the one in front of her: their mobility was no different from normal humans. However, once zombies reached level 1, they had a chance to develop abilities.
Level 2 zombies, on the other hand, were comparable to elite athletes—far stronger than ordinary humans in every aspect. Zombies with abilities were even more troublesome.
Above that were level 8 zombie kings—one of whom was a supporter of the female lead in the story.
However, nothing beyond level 8 was mentioned in the novel.
Nan Fei guessed there probably were higher levels. After all, the female lead later reached level 9, so it was very likely zombies could also evolve further. It just wasn’t described in the book.
With that in mind, Nan Fei focused on the approaching level 1 zombie.
Having already experienced being attacked by a controlled zombie, she was highly alert.
She swung her dagger, stabbing into the zombie’s head. Then she kicked the corpse forward, sending it flying toward the level 1 zombie.
But instead of dodging as expected, the level 1 zombie was knocked down by the impact and struggled on the ground.
Nan Fei did not take her eyes off it. She watched as it quickly broke free from the fallen corpse and stood up again.
Just as described in the novel.
Of course, it was not as agile as the controlled zombie.
She withdrew her gaze and focused on dealing with the zombies in front of her.
As for the level 1 zombie—even if she wasn’t directly watching it, her psychic-type ability would still relay its movements to her.
In a sense, her psychic ability was her second pair of eyes.
Even if she closed her eyes, any movement within her range would still be sensed.
Now that the level 1 zombie was being closely tracked, its movements would be transmitted to her before others.
After killing a few more zombies, the level 1 zombie finally reached her.
Nan Fei did not change her movements, still stabbing directly toward its head.
“Roar—”
The moment the dagger pierced in, the zombie suddenly seemed to sense something and began struggling violently.
Wasn’t it supposed to have no consciousness?
Startled by its sudden reaction, Nan Fei did not stop her movement. While dodging its claws, she twisted the blade in a specific point inside its brain.
The zombie instantly stopped moving.
Level 1 zombies already had a crystal core. She tossed its body aside, planning to deal with it after finishing the battle.
Without teammates to assist her, killing an entire floor of zombies alone was indeed somewhat exhausting.
Fortunately, the noise did not spread across the entire second floor. After two hours of fighting, Nan Fei finally cleared all incoming zombies.
During that time, she also encountered several other level 1 zombies.
One of them even had a soil-type ability.
Like human ability users, level 1 zombies mainly relied on physical enhancement, and their abilities could only be used about ten times.
However, that zombie clearly didn’t know how to use its ability properly. The clump of yellow earth it threw disintegrated before even reaching her.
Nan Fei came down the escalator, gathering all the level 1 zombie corpses together.
Holding her dagger, she skillfully split open their skulls.
The crystal cores were located in the same place where she had previously stirred with her blade.
Because of that, the brain matter and crystal cores were now mixed together, making them hard to distinguish.
Nan Fei simply made a larger opening in the skull and poured the brain matter onto the floor.
The red and white mixture spilled out. After careful inspection, she finally found tiny, rice-sized transparent crystals.
Transparent cores were attribute-less cores.
Nan Fei repeated the process and retrieved the rest.
She wiped the crystal cores clean using the zombies’ clothes: eight transparent cores, and one light-yellow soil-type core.
She was tempted to try upgrading her spatial ability, but this amount likely wouldn’t produce any noticeable effect.
Still, absorbing them could at least improve her strength slightly.
In the apocalypse, strength was everything.
With that thought, Nan Fei decisively absorbed the cores in her hand.
Streams of energy entered her body, but as expected, she did not level up.
She opened her palm and brushed away the ashes of the depleted cores.
Since she wasn’t in a rush to catch up with Qin Ze and the others, Nan Fei spent a full hour exploring the second floor.
There were so many clothes and shoes that she could change outfits daily for a month without repeating. Even underwear, she didn’t miss a single piece.
When she returned to the stairwell, it was already an hour later.
Nan Fei headed toward the first floor.
There were only a few scattered zombie corpses there, but it was clear Qin Ze and the others had not left—they had gone down to the basement level.
Nan Fei glanced at the cosmetics, skincare, and jewelry displays on the first floor and felt a bit tempted.
After all, there were very few zombies here. The ones present were mostly wearing employee uniforms.
Recalling all the apocalypse novels she had read before, Nan Fei first walked toward the perfume section.
Strong fragrances, especially heavy scents, could help mask human odor if applied generously.
She dealt with a zombie that lunged at her, then picked a bottle from the shelf.
The strong scent spread quickly. Without stopping, she sprayed more onto herself.
The overpowering fragrance made her nose sting. She struggled to hold back a sneeze.
Too strong. Really too strong.
She felt like she was going to suffocate.
Frowning, she rummaged behind the counter and found a pack of masks, putting one on.
The scent was greatly reduced.
She let out a long breath and walked toward the zombies.
The zombies stuck behind the counter remained motionless, showing no reaction to her presence.
Satisfied, Nan Fei killed them and stored all the perfumes into her space, continuing to loot other items.
Everyone has a love for beauty.
Even in the apocalypse, since she had spatial storage, she could freely choose non-essential items like cosmetics and skincare.
Considering the space wasn’t infinite, Nan Fei only picked items suitable for herself instead of taking everything.
Even so, half of a room in her space was already filled.
Fortunately, with the villa and basement combined, there were four floors in total—plenty of room left.
Satisfied with her haul, Nan Fei returned leisurely to the stairwell.
Whether Qin Ze and the others were on the basement floor or not, she still needed to gather supplies.
Descending to the basement level, she saw significantly more zombies.
To the right was a bloodstained path filled with corpses. It looked like Qin Ze and the others had gone that way.
So—should she collect supplies first, or go find Qin Ze and the others… and track down the person controlling the zombies?