Why were all these zombies running toward the south gate?

...

A few days ago, on the 11th day of the apocalypse.

Somewhere close to the safe house.

3:30 pm

"Julie, kill the zombies in front of you.".

Julie, Rhodes' zombie girlfriend with a flawless body and stunning appearance, was all decked out in camouflage combat uniform. Although the uniform was slightly loose, it did nothing to hide her alluring figure.

A smile found its way to Rhodes' face as he looked at Julie.

Julie's red eyes were lifeless and she was silent, at this moment. However, she would 100% obey Rhodes's orders.

She advanced on two zombies, but the two zombies did not react at all.

Bang!

Julie swung her fist out and punched one of the zombies. Her punch left a gaping hole on where its mouth used to be.

This was the incredible strength of a level-nine zombie!

Although there was a gaping hole on the lower half of its face, the zombie did not feel pain nor did it die. After a moment, it roared before it rushed toward Rhodes.

The other zombie followed suit.

"The zombies won't attack Julie? Perhaps, it's because they're low-level zombies and are only driven by instincts. This might not be the case for high-level zombies..." Rhodes muttered to himself. After a moment, he ordered Julie to attack the zombies' heads.

Julie responded with a roar.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

With just a punch, she was capable of blowing up a zombie's head. She easily killed the zombies around her with a strike each. Her strength and speed were far superior to the two zombies.

After observing for a while, Rhodes mumbled to himself, "Although she only has strength and speed and doesn't possess any special ability, it's not too bad."

In the end, he concluded that low-level zombies would not attack Julie at all. Whereas level-three and level-four zombies would be instinctively afraid of her since she was a level-nine zombie.

In any case, Rhodes did not expect Julie to help him. All he hoped for was for her to be able to protect herself so he would not worry about her when he went out.

At this moment, he looked at the girl he loved. Although she had turned into a zombie and had lost her senses, he hoped that they would be able to get along every day.

Currently, Julie would do whatever Rhodes asked of her. If he asked her to bite him, she would bite him. With every bite from her, he would become stronger and stronger. Moreover, now that she was a level-nine zombie, she would not mindlessly tear into his flesh, only driven by instincts like the low-level zombies. It was unfortunate that every time she bit him, he would be infected with the toxic zombie virus. The best solution was to let her level up as soon as possible so she could recover.

Before this, Rhodes frequently killed the zombies lingering around the safe house. For this reason, there were not that many zombies around.

Julie followed his instructions and continued killing the zombies before him.

Meanwhile, Beth, Ira, and Emma stood around him.

They wielded sharp Tang knives in their hands. These knives were his rewards to them for him getting stronger after being bitten by them last night. He had personally checked the knives and confirmed they were better than ordinary weapons.

Meanwhile, apart from the Tang knife, Emma also carried an AK-47 on her back and two pistols in the holsters on her waist. She had graduated top of her class from the police training academy so her marksmanship and combat skills were both excellent.

Currently, Rhodes had 12 Ability Points. With so many special abilities, Insight, Poison Control, Body Regeneration, and Intermediate Metal Molecule Manipulation, he could only level them up one by one. As for which one to level up, he would have to see which would be of the greatest help to him according to his situation at that time.

Rhodes was not bothered about the few straggling zombies even though he was feeling rather energetic. He took out a few clean energy crystals to give them to Julie, treating them like candy. "Julie, open your mouth. Eat some candy!"

After feeding Julie a handful of energy crystals, he turned to look at the beautiful long-legged female cop, Emma.

"Emma, how do you feel about these energy crystals now?"

"Well... I still want to eat them, but the urge is not as strong as it was yesterday."

"Then, just have a low-level energy crystal first."

"Okay." Emma, naturally, would not go against Rhodes' words.

Rhodes activated Insight.

After eating the energy crystal, Emma's zombie virus status increased from 3% to 44%.

"How do you feel now?"

"I feel... I feel like I've become stronger."

Rhodes nodded. This was as he had expected. Then, he gave another two low-level energy crystals to Emma.

He ended up giving Emma three level-two energy crystals and seventeen level-one energy crystals before he finally stopped feeding her.

With that, Emma's zombie virus status rose to 60%.

Rhodes temporarily told Emma to stop eating energy crystals.

Unexpectedly, Emma pleaded for more. "Rhodes, please give me some more. I feel as though there's some energy in my body that needs to be released."

'She feels like there's energy in her body that needs to be released? Could it be…' He recalled something the system had said: high-level zombies, zombie kings, and superhumans would appear. 

Needless to say, superhumans were stronger than ordinary humans. Moreover, some of them even possessed special abilities.

"I wonder if Emma has a special ability?" After thinking about it for a moment, Rhodes took out another energy crystal for Emma.

"This is a level-five energy crystal?" Emma was slightly taken aback.

"Yes, eat it quickly. Let me see what special ability you possess."

Rhodes ordered Julie not to move before he looked at Emma intently as she ate the level-five energy crystal.

A moment later, he activated Insight before he looked at the long-legged female cop again.

After Emma ate the level-five energy crystal, her zombie virus status increased by 10 points.

A moment later, Emma asked again, embarrassed, "Rhodes, can you give me some more?"

"You've not had enough?" Rhodes cocked an eyebrow.

"I think it should be enough, but it might take some time. I don't want to keep you waiting so if I eat more, the ability will manifest faster."

"No." Rhodes flatly refused Emma.

It was not that he could not bear to part with the energy crystals. After all, he still had many left in his possession. Moreover, he would only greatly benefit from his female slaves getting stronger. However, in his opinion, this situation was similar to how people would feel sad in just an instant while some people would take many days before the sadness hits them. Awakening new abilities was probably the same. He was not in a hurry.

Soon after, they got into a car and sped away.

...

After some time, Ira suddenly transmitted her voice to Rhodes. "Rhodes, the street ahead is blocked. Should we change direction?"

'The street's blocked? How can there be such a thing?' Rhodes felt that something was amiss so he activated Insight! With Insight, there was no need for him to rely on his eyes. All he needed to do was rely on his senses. Soon enough, he sensed someone on the left up ahead.

With this, he instantly looked in the direction where he had sensed someone. He saw a bank. The doors had long been broken, and there were green bills scattered all over the ground.

At the beginning of the apocalypse, there must be people who thought they could make a fortune by seizing the chance to rob the bank. However, the swift emergence of the zombies probably made them realize how useless money was so they threw the bills away.

In just a second, Rhodes saw a bald homeless man standing behind the broken doors.

'Why does he look slightly familiar?' Rhodes thought to himself. In any case, he was certain the bald man had something to do with the street being blocked. After all, he did not sense anything unusual in other places when he had used Insight earlier.

After a moment of studying the man, he had a feeling the bald man was a superhuman. Otherwise, it would be impossible for an ordinary person to block his and his group of zombies' path.

With this thought in mind, a smile appeared on Rhodes' face. After he had leveled up Metal Molecule Manipulation from the elementary stage to the intermediate stage, he had never tried using it. It seemed like today he would have a chance to test his upgraded special ability.