Steve ran from head to tail along the overturned train, like a lion patrolling his territory.
After confirming that no zombies would come to interfere nearby, he began to harvest iron ore from the first carriage.
As he expected, these ores were simply iron ore.
That bearded man claimed it was Hematite; what a liar.
Two hours later, as evening approached, Steve finally cleared out all the iron ore.
17 stacks and 35 extra—a total of 1,123 iron ores, enough to last until his next life.
In addition to these, today’s harvest also included 2 stacks of Coal Blocks and 12 stacks of Copper Blocks.
With a total of 36 inventory slots, he hadn’t even filled them up yet, and he hadn’t even needed to use a Shulker Box.
Steve originally planned to return to the camp, but it was too dark now, and there was no lighting along the way.
So, he simply used the ‘Dig Three, Fill One’ method on the spot and hid.
The so-called ‘Dig Three, Fill One’ involves digging three blocks down, jumping in, and sealing the block above your head.
It’s the most perfect and classic way to spend the night in the early stages of MC when you don’t have a bed.
A large number of monsters spawn at night, and while a bed can skip the night, this method avoids being hunted by monsters during the darkness.
Steve stood dazed in the two-block-high pit for a while.
Feeling that just waiting was a bit boring, he began to mine the surrounding stone, planning to build furnaces on the spot to smelt all the iron ore into iron ingots, since he had all the materials now.
Ten minutes later, Steve had hollowed out a huge space underground and placed twenty furnaces, beginning to smelt iron ingots frantically.
…
At five in the morning, a faint purple light appeared on the horizon.
Another safe night.
On the wall, Hawkeye yawned as he passed a member of the Security Team coming to take over the shift: “I’m going to sleep. *Yawn*… I’ll leave the rest to you, Ryan.”
“Don’t worry, sir.” Ryan nodded, raised his gun, and walked to the sentry post.
Just as he stood still, something caught the corner of his eye.
In the dark street, it seemed like something moved.
Ryan frowned and turned the searchlight, the beam of light scanning the darkness inch by inch.
The street, piled with zombie corpses, was terrifyingly quiet.
Broken limbs, dried blood, collapsed streetlights, abandoned cars—everything seemed normal.
“…Did I see wrong?”
He muttered, just about to move the light away—
At the edge of the searchlight’s beam, a corpse piled high up suddenly rolled down.
Ryan’s breath hitched instantly.
The light immediately locked onto that position as he held his breath, staring intently at the corpse that had rolled down.
It lay motionless by the roadside, no different from the other corpses.
A few minutes later, Ryan finally felt a bit more at ease, his tense muscles gradually relaxing.
Then he heard that sound.
Patter, patter, patter…
The sound was extremely fast, like…
Bare feet running on a wet road.
The searchlight swung around abruptly, and Ryan instantly felt numb all over.
He tremblingly pressed his headset, his voice tearing from his throat and echoing through the entire camp:
“North wall, enemy attack—!”
…
Steve dug out the block above his head and saw the pale light of dawn.
It was daybreak.
After a night of work, he returned to the surface with 124 iron blocks and 7 iron ingots, setting off on the road back to the camp.
At this moment, he had no idea what the camp was going through.
…
The camp, which had been peaceful just a few hours ago, had already become a Nether.
A huge gap had been torn in the north wall, and zombies were pouring into the camp through it in an endless stream.
On the wall, the barrel of an Automated Sentry Turret was smashed by a punch from a burly zombie nearly two meters tall just as it was being raised.
Below the wall, tents were torn to shreds by zombies crawling on all fours.
The sound of fabric tearing mixed with the crisp sound of breaking skeletons, and flames instantly leaped onto the rags, burning into a blaze.
A mother arched her back to shield her child in her arms, running through the burning tents.
Half of her hair was scorched, but she couldn’t stop to put it out because four or five zombies covered in fire were chasing her.
In front of a tent, an old man was knocked to the ground.
He reached for his cane a few steps away, but before he could reach it, a zombie stepped on his leg; the sound of bone snapping was drowned out by the wailing.
Ten meters away, Hawkeye had just reached back for an arrow to save the old man, only to suddenly find his quiver empty.
In that split second, a zombie bit down on the old man’s neck.
He didn’t even have time for any emotion before more zombies pounced toward him.
He used his bowstring to strangle a zombie’s neck and threw it out, knocking over two others.
The camp’s only mage, Hassan, knelt in front of the medical tent, his hands supporting a cracking Magic Circle Shield.
Behind the shield huddled over a dozen camp members who hadn’t had time to relocate—men, women, old and young.
In front, a dozen zombies with mouths agape scraped their teeth against the shield’s surface, making a sound like nails on glass.
Hassan’s nose was bleeding, as were his ears.
With every impact the shield took, his body shuddered.
“Go quickly…”
He squeezed out the words through his teeth.
CRACK—
Just as the last person crawled out, the shield shattered.
Hassan was knocked backward onto the ground by the backlash.
When he opened his eyes, a dark-red maw was descending toward him!
BANG!!
Rescue arrived just in time.
A Vibranium Shield slammed into that face, and the zombie flew backward, knocking over several behind it.
Captain America pulled Hassan up, pushed him behind him, and turned to face the remaining zombies.
His movements were still fast, fierce, and precise, but his breathing was ragged, and his arms were covered in blood—it was unclear whose it was.
A burly figure landed with a “thud” from the sky, kneeling on one knee in a superhero landing pose, a spiderweb of cracks blooming beneath him.
Only, he was no longer a superhero.
He was no longer the street protector of Hell’s Kitchen, a member of The Defenders, or a former member of Avengers, Luke Cage—he was Zombie Luke Cage.
The figure was bare-chested, his body wreathed in flames, yet the fire could not harm him in the slightest.
Captain America quickly dealt with several zombies, black blood splashing across his face, but he didn’t have time to wipe it.
He raised his Vibranium Shield and faced Luke Cage directly.
“Cage…” A flash of sorrow crossed Captain America’s brow, but in the next second, he regained his usual resolve.
He swung his circular shield toward Luke Cage!
CLANG.
Luke Cage caught the shield firmly with one hand.
Captain America wasn’t surprised; Luke Cage’s stats in all areas were stronger than his own even before he turned into a zombie, let alone now.
But he, Steve Rogers, had faced few opponents who weren’t stronger than him.
It had always been that way.
Captain America made a split-second decision, grabbing the shield with one hand while twisting his waist and spinning.
Using his full body’s strength, he leaped and flipped sideways.
Luke Cage’s single-handed grip failed, and he released the shield.
After landing, Captain America quickly retreated, standing side-by-side with the arriving Hawkeye, taking a combat stance against Luke Cage.
“This attack isn’t simple,” Hawkeye whispered, suppressing his exhaustion.
“It happened exactly during my shift change and while Block Hero was away from camp. And then this difficult guy shows up. It’s like it was tailor-made for us.”
Captain America sighed with a grim expression: “Indeed, we simply can’t handle his abilities. And I looked just now—there are no bite marks on Cage.”
Hawkeye was stunned: “…Then how was he infected?”
Captain America slowly shook his head: “I don’t know, but I do know… I can do this all day.”
Hawkeye was momentarily speechless: “…No, man… this isn’t the time for your catchphrase…”