The next day

Li Xuan was eating canned food in his tent while the Little White Snake lay draped over his shoulder in a daze. According to her, the snake form was extremely boring—the world appeared colorless through her eyes, food didn't taste good when swallowed whole, and she couldn't discern any flavors.

Thump~

The pigeon transformed from Yun Xiuzhi burst into the tent. "Li Xuan! I found a mutated zombie!"

Li Xuan paused his movement. "So quickly? I told you to focus on Black Bear yesterday, and you already found a mutated zombie today?"

"Hehe~ Pretty impressive, right!" Yun Xiuzhi puffed out her chest, looking exactly like someone waiting to be praised.

"Impressive!" Li Xuan gave her a thumbs up.

Then, Li Xuan learned the entire process of how she found the mutated zombie from Yun Xiuzhi's account.

Yun Xiuzhi had flown out of the tent in the early morning hours, first locating Black Bear's residence. She planned to monitor Black Bear's movements and intercept the mutated zombie at the right opportunity, but Black Bear never left his residence even by noon.

After noon passed, Yun Xiuzhi decided this approach wouldn't work. Coincidentally, the base's exploration team was preparing to go out searching for food, and the square-faced man who had tried to extort Li Xuan yesterday was also in the team. Yun Xiuzhi wanted to find a suitable opportunity to kill the square-faced man and eliminate future troubles, so she flew overhead following the exploration team as they left the base.

Absolutely unexpectedly, during this outing, the square-faced man accidentally encountered a mutated zombie! And the mutated zombie's target wasn't even the square-faced man!

"When I flew back, I noticed the square-faced man was also rushing back! His rowing speed definitely can't match my flying speed! If we set out now! We can successfully intercept the prize!" Yun Xiuzhi said.

Li Xuan put down his can, stuffed Huo Lingling into his pocket, and declared, "Let's go!"

One man and one bird left the tent. When Li Xuan exited the base, the bald soldier guarding the main gate rubbed his chin and silently praised his own intelligence—it was better not to offend ruthless people like Li Xuan who couldn't resist going out to explore after just one day at the base.

After all, even the members of the base's exploration team didn't want to go out exploring! Every exploration meant facing dangers directly!

Dangers lurked everywhere outside—zombies hiding in the water, zombie fish swimming chaotically. The slightest carelessness could lead to infection and turning into mindless walking corpses.

The core area of the Black Bear Survivor Base contained over a dozen prefabricated houses, all sourced from a nearby construction site. After the survivor base was established, capable survivors led teams to gradually move the prefabricated houses up the mountain.

Inside one particular prefabricated house, various foods were piled together, and two young women lay on the bed.

Base leader Bear Lord sat at a table studying a map. In his post-clarity state, his concentration was particularly focused as he contemplated his next move.

"I must obtain a Supernatural Characteristic as soon as possible, otherwise I won't be able to keep the people below in line," Bear Lord murmured quietly.

He had relied on his black bear transformation to suppress a group of people and establish the survivor base, creating various rules where having food meant access to the women in the base. Once he was no longer the strongest in the base and couldn't maintain control, he would certainly die.

Mentioning Supernatural Characteristics made Bear Lord think of the defense characteristic Sister Hua had absorbed, and anger surged through him—that should have been his Supernatural Characteristic!

Sister Hua was an inheritor of a martial arts family tradition, practicing Baji Quan since childhood with strong bones and muscles that rivaled men's. After reaching adulthood, she got into fitness and directly used enhancements to build muscle, resulting in insane muscle growth that turned her into a muscular and violent woman.

While her flexibility suffered, her strength increased dramatically. Combined with Baji Quan, she became truly terrifying to fight—battling her felt less like fighting a person and more like facing an upright black bear.

Bear Lord could actually transform into a fully grown adult black bear, which was how he managed to defeat Sister Hua and become the base leader, with Sister Hua serving as deputy leader.

The two had established the Black Bear Base together, but they never got along and neither submitted to the other.

Some time ago, during a food search mission, the exploration team encountered a mutated zombie attack, and only one person escaped back from the thirteen-member team.

That person chose to report the mutated zombie information to Sister Hua. Later, Sister Hua managed to kill the mutated zombie and after absorbing the Supernatural Characteristic, returned to the base boasting widely, which was how he learned about it.

What angered him most wasn't that Sister Hua absorbed the Supernatural Characteristic first—the size difference between a hawk and a black bear was significant. Even if Sister Hua absorbed a Supernatural Characteristic, as long as it wasn't something like expansion or strength characteristics that could greatly enhance a hawk's combat ability, she wouldn't threaten his position in the short term.

Evolution through Supernatural Characteristics didn't happen overnight. Sister Hua would need time to surpass him, and he could use that time to obtain a suitable Supernatural Characteristic to secure his position.

What infuriated him most was that survivor who escaped—why didn't he report the mutated zombie information to him, but instead told Sister Hua!

He had clearly never treated that person poorly!

He had even rewarded him with a woman!

Completely an ungrateful wretch! A dog that can't be tamed!

Scar Tiger was also a strong competitor, but unfortunately the tiger he transformed into was a sub-adult form, and the Supernatural Characteristic he absorbed was taste enhancement, which provided almost no combat improvement—a purely supportive Supernatural Characteristic.

Currently, Scar Tiger couldn't threaten him, but he worried that Scar Tiger might find another mutated zombie.

Swoosh~

The door was pushed open

The square-faced man walked in, his face full of excitement. "Boss! We found a mutated zombie! Its defense is very strong, possibly the same type of Supernatural Characteristic that Sister Hua absorbed!"

Bear Lord swallowed the curse words he was about to say, the corners of his mouth turning upward as he laughed heartily. "Good! Good! Good!"

Defense characteristics would be perfectly compatible with black bear transformation!

By then, his defense would greatly increase, making him fearless against blades and weapons. What would Sister Hua use to compete with him for the boss position?

"Where was it discovered?" Bear Lord asked impatiently.

Sister Hua was an inheritor of a martial arts family tradition, practicing Baji Quan since childhood with strong bones and muscles that rivaled men's. After reaching adulthood, she got into fitness and directly used enhancements to build muscle, resulting in insane muscle growth that turned her into a muscular and violent woman.

Yesterday he had tried to extort food from Li Xuan but ended up being threatened instead, losing all face. With no food on hand and several days until the base's next food distribution to soldiers, he had no choice but to go out with the exploration team to search for food, never expecting such an unexpected delight.

Bear Lord frowned slightly. "Why didn't you help the mutated zombie kill that person? What if that person kills the mutated zombie!"

"Bear Lord, you might not know this, but that person was being chased by the mutated zombie—there's no way he could kill it!

When Sister Hua killed a mutated zombie before, she sacrificed eleven good fighters! How could that person possibly kill a mutated zombie alone?"

After the square-faced man finished speaking, Bear Lord nodded.

"Good! The two women on the bed are yours now! Just return them in half a month!" Bear Lord happily patted the square-faced man's shoulder.

The square-faced man was overjoyed. "Thank you, Bear Lord! But I don't have much food left, I'm afraid I can't afford to feed them."

"If the information is true, after I obtain the Supernatural Characteristic and return, I'll reward you with a month's worth of food rations!" Bear Lord generously offered.

The square-faced man quickly thanked Bear Lord.

Bear Lord narrowed his eyes slightly, staring at the square-faced man, his voice turning vicious. "But if the information turns out to be false, I'll fucking kill you!"

"Absolutely not false! I wouldn't dare deceive you of all people!"