Chapter Thirty-Two: The Future Lord of the City?

Fang Xia headed toward the drop point of a promising supply crate. No matter the circumstances, supply crates were always the highest priority.

Soon, Fang Xia spotted the crate, which had landed in a small plaza. After several days of relentless zombie rain, even a modest plaza was now crawling with dozens of the undead.

There was no time for hesitation—action was all that mattered.

But from another direction, six people suddenly appeared, their intentions clear: the crate in the plaza was their target as well.

Having already set his sights on it, Fang Xia couldn’t allow anyone else to snatch it away. He picked up his pace, and within seconds, he arrived before the crate, leaving a trail of fallen zombies in his wake.

As those six cleared zombies from their path, they kept a wary eye on Fang Xia. When they saw him dispatch the undead with such ease, all six stared in disbelief, eyes wide with shock.

A mess kit and a canteen—when the white light faded, it was clear this was just a basic supply crate.

By the time the six finally reached the crate, only the fading glow remained; Fang Xia had already taken everything.

“Hey, brother, with skills like yours, how about joining us?” one of them called out.

Losing the supplies was no big deal—there was a person worth far more.

Someone with such ability—perhaps only one or two in their entire camp could compare. Seeing him alone, it would be a waste not to recruit him.

Fang Xia shook his head as he stowed away the items, preparing to leave.

“Brother, in times like these, we humans should stand together,” they pressed on. “In our survivor group, we’ve already gathered over a thousand survivors, and the numbers grow daily. With your skills, join us and you’ll never have to worry about food or shelter again.”

Fang Xia paused, intrigued by the mention of a survivor group.

If memory served, in his previous life, Dawn City had started as a survivor group. Over time, it grew, became a city, and the group’s leader established the City Lord’s Mansion, becoming the city lord himself.

Noticing Fang Xia’s hesitation, the speaker quickly stepped forward.

In the survivor camp, everything was based on contribution points. Bringing back someone of this caliber was worth far more than a basic crate—at least enough for a mess kit and a canteen.

“Our group’s leader is Chen Gang,” the man continued. “He’s already a second-tier fighter, or so they say. Join us, and you’ll be safe.”

Chen Gang—so it really was him, the lord of Dawn City, and the city’s strongest fighter.

Fang Xia, having only just reached the second tier himself thanks to his past life’s experience, was impressed that Chen Gang had done so this quickly.

Feigning interest, Fang Xia let his face show a hint of temptation, though he hesitated.

Sensing this, the man pushed further. “Brother, is something troubling you? Once you join our survivor group, your problems become our problems.”

[As long as you join and I get my reward, the rest isn’t my concern,] Fang Xia thought. This guy must have worked in pyramid schemes before—recruit and move on.

“It’s not that,” Fang Xia replied. “It’s just that I have some family and friends. I need to discuss it with them first. Why not give me your group’s location? Once we’ve decided, we’ll come by ourselves.”

He had no intention of joining for now—he had the strength to be self-sufficient. Why submit to someone else’s rules?

The man hesitated. It wasn’t exactly a secret, but if Fang Xia came on his own, the reward for recruitment might not go to him.

He wanted to say more, but Fang Xia insisted on discussing it with his people first.

There was nothing more the man could do—he couldn’t force Fang Xia, especially since he wasn’t a match for him.

“Brother Fang, when you come to our group, make sure to mention my name!” the man called as they exchanged names and parted. The man, named Wang Ding, kept reminding Fang Xia, unwilling to let that reward slip away.

“So the survivor group’s base is in a middle school,” Fang Xia mused. “That’s actually a good choice.”

He wondered if he should consider moving as well.

While middle schools weren’t as big as universities, they had dormitories, so lodging wasn’t an issue. Unlike hotels, which could be surrounded by zombies at any time, making escape impossible, a school’s main gate could be closed to keep out all but the daily parachuting zombies. As long as they cleared the campus each morning, no new zombies would appear during the day.

It was practically a monster-farming zone—safe and efficient, with the added bonus of supply crates potentially dropping right inside.

If he had more people, he could consider a school too. But for now, with only thirty or so, camping in the hotel would suffice.

After parting ways, Fang Xia continued searching for new supply crates, hoping to find more storage gear.

Storage equipment was in short supply. The city’s resources were impossible to haul away, and when the fourth disaster—an earthquake—came, everything here would be buried under rubble, making future scavenging much harder.

In his previous life, at the dawn of Dawn City, countless people spent their days digging through the ruins, hoping to unearth a supermarket warehouse or even a small convenience store for a windfall.

Luck seemed to be on Fang Xia’s side today. He hadn’t gone far before spotting two crates, placed side by side.

In the distance, a four-person team was fighting their way through zombies, heading for the crates.

This time, Fang Xia didn’t rush forward. He’d spotted a familiar foe—a second-tier zombie.

Most wouldn’t recognize a zombie’s tier at a glance, but for a seasoned survivor like Fang Xia, he could tell even without seeing its claws.

The next moment, the second-tier zombie sprang into action, targeting the four.

Treating it as an ordinary zombie would be their doom.

Its claws tore through their wooden weapons as if they were nothing, and in moments of terror, it turned them into more of its own kind.

Fang Xia sighed—it was time to step in.

Perhaps because there were so few second-tier zombies, wherever one appeared, the number of first-tiers would be noticeably lower.

Now, with four new minions, the zombie was caught off guard seeing another human step forward.

But with its limited intelligence, it couldn’t grasp the situation. It bared its teeth and lunged at Fang Xia.

With a vertical chop, Fang Xia’s combat blade clashed with the creature’s claws, producing a thunderous sound.

He couldn’t fathom how these zombies developed such claws, able to rival a battle blade.

That one blow from Fang Xia would have cleaved through alloyed steel, yet the zombie’s claws remained unscathed.

Not giving it a chance to recover, Fang Xia gripped his blade with both hands and brought it down again and again.