WHOOSH!

The sharp sound of something slicing through the air rang out, causing the surrounding air to tremble slightly.

Paige Summers’s Crossbow Arrow was incredibly accurate and powerful, so much so that the few people fighting the Zombie were momentarily stunned. They watched as the Crossbow Arrow not only viciously struck the dark figure attacking the child but even sent it flying several meters back!

In that same split second, Paige Summers herself had already moved to stand between the child and the heavily injured man.

The dark figure—no, now she could see it clearly. The incredibly fast shadow was a Zombie. It had a hunched, naked body less than a meter tall. Its face, which should have been that of a young child, was a deeper shade of sickly gray-green than an adult Zombie’s. Its less-than-prominent eyes stared at Paige Summers, who had shot it, with an eerie gaze.

It was utterly chilling!

It didn’t die immediately. It struggled, digging its small hands with their blackened fingernails into the dirt and crawling forward, inch by inch...

Paige Summers stared at it blankly. Only when it had nearly crawled to her feet did she snap out of her stupor, whip out her knife, and swing at its head.

The knife, of course, was extremely sharp.

With a powerful slash, the small Zombie went still. Its skull split in two, revealing the yellowish-white matter inside. Paige Summers bit her lower lip so hard she could almost taste iron. Only then, with stiff movements, did she use her knife to pry the Crystal Core from its brain.

It was a Fourth-stage Crystal Core.

Even with the filth clinging to it, its allure was undeniable.

Of the women Marcus Monroe and his group had rescued, only one was still on the battlefield fighting alongside the men. The rest had long since hidden themselves a safe distance away. And while some of them had physically relaxed, their minds were racing.

They were simultaneously shocked by the Crossbow Arrow’s killing power and secretly mocking Paige Summers for her clumsy-looking kill.

Now, however, their gazes were fixed on that Crystal Core, filled with undisguised greed!

However, when Paige Summers lifted her head, their eyes happened to meet her icy gaze, and they almost simultaneously looked away in fear. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

In truth, Paige Summers wasn’t paying any attention to them. She just felt deeply uncomfortable.

She didn’t have to do it right then; she could have retrieved the Crystal Core later. But she was furious with herself for her uncharacteristic reaction to the Zombie, so she forced herself to adapt through sheer force of will.

’There will be many more moments like this in the future.’

’I can’t lose to myself before I’ve even really started!’

Her emotions gradually calmed. After placing the Crystal Core in a cloth pouch, she turned back to the child.

His small face was filthy, but when he looked at her, his eyes were dark and bright, like brilliant jewels. He didn’t say thank you, but a warmth that welled up in her chest told her the boy knew how to be grateful.

She reached out and patted the child’s head, then turned to the severely injured man.

Having made medicine with Levi Young for a while, on top of her prior self-study, she knew a thing or two. After checking his pulse, she knew the man’s internal organs were severely damaged. It was a sign of impending death.

Sighing inwardly, she silently shook her head.

The other man nearby had lost too much blood; his face was ashen. He couldn’t be saved either.

The light in the child’s eyes dimmed bit by bit, his expression unreadable. It was like sadness, yet also like regret, mixed with a hint of matter-of-fact cruelty...

’The apocalypse... Even children aren’t children anymore...’

Paige Summers abruptly straightened up and looked toward the battlefield.

Marcus Monroe signaled that her help wasn’t needed, so she stood still, remaining vigilant of her surroundings and pushing aside her useless sentimentality.

’Since this is reality, all I can do is accept it and adapt!’

It didn’t take long for Marcus Monroe and the others to finish off the remaining Zombies. The Crystal Cores they harvested were low-level, but the drop rate from Zombies was far higher than from mutated plants and animals.

’I guess that’s to be expected from what were once higher-order animals...’

Paige Summers tossed the Crystal Core in her hand to Howard Everett and told him that the two men were done for.

Marcus Monroe, who was standing to the side, nodded.

Nearby, the woman who had been fighting Zombies with them until the very end heard this and threw herself at Marcus Monroe’s feet. "I know you’re High-level Superpower Users, please save him! As long as you can save him, I’ll do anything! I’m begging you, please save him!"

Her voice was hoarse but not choked with sobs. Instead, it was a deep, heavy, contradictory mix of hope and despair. The atmosphere seemed to freeze, leaving only a thick sorrow hanging in the air.

Marcus Monroe glanced at her. "You heard what she said. We can’t do anything."

His voice was as steady as ever, without much fluctuation.

’He’d seen too much of this, these partings of life and death... whether it was family or lovers, no emotion, no matter how deep, could bring back a life that was already fading!’

’If you want to protect someone, only strength matters.’

The woman silently backed away and threw herself down beside the man.

Before long, after a few labored gasps, the unconscious man’s body went limp and fell back to the ground. He had breathed his last.

The woman caressed his brows and eyes, murmuring softly.

A short distance away, the child hung his head, his thoughts a mystery.

After she moved away, Marcus Monroe’s group paid her no more attention. Grant Yardley went to drag over the two men who had been knocked out earlier, while the others walked toward the women cowering to one side.

Paige Summers followed them.

She felt a pang of sympathy for the fate of what looked like a family of three, but there was no point in letting it overwhelm her. It was useless. Therefore, she didn’t have to make a show of it; quietly backing away was sufficient.

Meanwhile, Howard Everett had already begun asking about what had happened.

A pretty young woman with eyes that seemed to glisten with moisture looked at him and said, "I was at Dawnbringer Base before. Everything was fine, but five days ago, the Base Chief suddenly announced that the base was about to be hit by a Beast Tide. So, we had no choice but to get out and flee for our lives."

"A Beast Tide?"

"Yes." The woman sighed. "I don’t know if it’s true or not. The Base Chief just up and left. He built the base himself, so of course his guards and everyone left with him, along with all the High-level Superpower Users... Basically, anyone with connections or a way out is gone. All that’s left is us women and children. If there really is a Beast Tide, there’s no way we could defend the place. We could only use the time we had left to find somewhere else to take shelter. I was wondering if you all..."

She didn’t finish her sentence, her eyes landing on the two men Grant Yardley was dragging over.

She wasn’t the only one who saw them; the other women did too.

They were instantly incensed!

And so, the two men were painfully woken up by a flurry of kicks and punches. In the midst of it, someone landed a vicious kick. As a pig-like squeal of agony rang out, the women stepped back with cold smirks, revealing the two men clutching a vital spot on their lower bodies, looking like they were in unbearable pain.

The scene made the corner of Paige Summers’s mouth twitch.

’What on earth did they do to be hated this much?’

The woman who had spoken earlier noticed that the expressions of the other men present had also turned strange, and she quickly stepped forward to explain.