A huge thank you to Robert_Curran, Jose_Douvani_Nuevo, yuyu805, Jimmy_the_waffle, Herb_Miles, mackstar, McMeowster, Jalapeno_Jelly, Jose_Leon_1965, Don_RadJinn, Aaron_Guaman, Dieshard101, Unwilldien7days, SilentNPC, Phiak_Yu, Monsterben, Synnir, David_Lewis_4670, xMarioPandax, Toby_Morris_3701, samsta101, and Deepdragon for the Golden Tickets! Your support truly means a lot and keeps me motivated to continue writing and improving the story.

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Today was the last day of the Black Fog, so as soon as they returned to the Shelter, Vikram casually opened the chat channel.

As expected.

A large number of cheering messages kept popping up in the channel.

Some people even filmed a video of themselves standing naked in the Black Fog, pointing a finger at the sky.

The caption below the video read: "What doesn’t kill me only makes me stronger."

Vikram was speechless, not expecting that even at this point, there were still such talents in the Wasteland World.

Of course, with good comes bad.

While a group of people were celebrating, there were also wails from Survivors in the messages.

"Wuwuwu, who can help me see what’s wrong with my wife?"

"She’s been bedridden and has never been exposed to zombies, so how could she suddenly become like this?"

Vikram clicked on the photo sent by that Survivor, which clearly showed a zombie tied to a wooden bed frame.

Unlike ordinary zombies, this zombie’s skin was clearly not as severely rotted.

It looked like she had only recently passed away.

"Alas, brother, please accept my condolences. Your wife is already dead."

"You probably rarely check the channel messages. A week ago, many brothers and your wife had the same situation."

"It was all due to the toxins, and they died shortly after transforming."

It seemed that during the time Vikram hadn’t been paying attention to the channel messages, these Survivors had already clearly understood the situation with the Black Fog.

However, they didn’t come to these conclusions by experimenting with other Survivors like Vikram did.

Instead, they learned a bloody lesson by personally witnessing Survivors around them die from the Black Fog’s toxicity.

The Survivor, upon hearing this, didn’t believe it at all, or rather, dared not believe this fact.

He replied heartbreakingly on the other side of the screen, "Impossible, what nonsense are you talking about?"

"My wife is clearly still alive and kicking, she can even eat without problems, how could she be dead?"

After saying that, to prove it, he even specially sent a video.

"See? My wife is still very active. Have you ever seen a dead person like this?"

"If you’re jealous that I have a wife, just say so. There’s no need to curse my wife like this."

Looking at the constantly struggling woman in the video, Vikram and the two women watching beside him inexplicably held their breath.

Only because they realized that even now, the other party’s Shelter was still a wooden shack.

It was even worse than the initial house; judging from its crooked, dilapidated appearance with several holes.

It was clearly hand-built.

With just one glance, Vikram understood that the other party was also a pitiful person whose Territory Core had been stolen...

"Stop deceiving yourself, brother. Haven’t you seen the corpse spots appearing on your wife’s face?"

"Her eyeballs are starting to fester. Do you still think she’s alive?"

"You still don’t know that bodies of those who die from black fog poisoning will turn into zombies, do you?"

"If you still want to live, I advise you to deal with your wife quickly, otherwise... heh heh."

The other party didn’t say anything; there was no need to explain what a person would do after turning into a zombie. Every survivor knew this very well.

"By the way, you said your wife could still eat. What did you give her?"

"I remember zombies only eat fresh flesh and blood, don’t they?"

On the Wasteland today, there were no other normal creatures left. Zombies wouldn’t eat cooked food or vegetables.

The implication was very clear: the only thing zombies could eat was human flesh.

"Zom... zombie transformation?"

In the simple, dilapidated wooden house, this Survivor instantly sobered up upon hearing this, swallowing hard.

He had only lost his mind for a moment, unwilling to accept the reality of his wife’s death, but he didn’t know about zombie transformation.

Where would a Survivor like him, who didn’t even have a decent Shelter, get food?

It was true that he had just said his wife had no problem eating.

However, his wife had eaten his flesh.

On his right hand, there was a gruesome bite mark.

Early this morning, as he lay with his wife, he was inexplicably bitten.

He had thought his wife was just too hungry, which was why she acted that way.

Now, hearing this explanation, the Survivor immediately broke out in a cold sweat.

Staring at his wife, her abnormal actions and appearance in his sight gradually overlapped with the appearance of zombies outside.

"Are you sure you’re not mistaken? Will she really turn into a zombie?"

"You’re here to tease me, right? I’m just a survivor who has nothing; I can’t take this kind of joke."

"Hey, why is everyone silent? Someone tell me this is a lie!"

He sent the message, trembling, his tone vastly different from before.

Seeing the other party’s 180-degree change in attitude, how could the people in the chat not know what had happened?

"Sigh, brother, it only takes an hour for the zombie transformation to be complete. Do whatever you need to do quickly."

"Next life, definitely don’t come to the Wasteland World."

Seeing this, Vikram no longer had the heart to read on.

Although human joys and sorrows are not interconnected, Vikram could feel enough heaviness from these words.

Given the extreme difficulty of survival in the Wasteland World, it was already very difficult for the other party to survive this long on his own.

It was only five in the afternoon, just a few hours until the black fog ended.

Unfortunately, this Survivor clearly wouldn’t have the chance to last until then.

Closing the chat, the four women who had been watching beside him all along had, at some point, wrapped their arms around his waist.

One on each side.

Feeling the somewhat tight squeeze on each sides, Vikram was slightly startled.

"Vikram, do you think we will one day end up like them?"

It wasn’t that the two of them looked down on these poor people.

Rather, the dangers of the Wasteland World were endless, and even though their lives were hundreds of times better than other Survivors’.

This feeling of potentially sinking into the mud at any moment still made them feel incredibly suffocated.

Holding Vikram’s waist tightly, Divya buried her face in his chest and said.

"What nonsense are you talking about?"

"Just one infected Survivor appeared, and it scared you two like this?"

"I don’t remember you two being so fragile."

Hearing their, they all became relieved, the three of them had killed hundreds, if not thousands, of zombies in the Wasteland, so they certainly weren’t afraid of zombies.

Vikram knew that they were more confused and at a loss about the future.

Not to mention them, Vikram himself sometimes worried about this.

But he was worried about something else, not about this, since he knew, till he has his plants army, nothing can kill him easily.

Looking at the two gloomy women, Vikram spoke calmly, "There’s no need to think so far ahead. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it."

"Zombie infection?"

"Don’t even say I can save you if you’re infected by one zombie; believe it or not, I’ll still have a way even if you get infected by zombies every day?"

Vikram rubbed each of their heads, saying confidently.

The two women thought Vikram was just trying to cheer them up, and their worries instantly disappeared, replaced by a sense of security.

"Stinky Vikram, you only know how to talk nonsense."

"Besides, are we pigs to get infected every day?"

Anjali reached out and gently pinched Vikram’s cheek, looking disbelieving.

Vikram chuckled.

He wasn’t talking nonsense.

In his Territory, not any natural disaster will come, and here they have light mage, so even if they nearly transform into Zombies, he can easily make them human again.

After a brief moment of intimacy with them on the sofa.

It was soon dinner time.

The five of them once again became cheerful.

"Oh wait, stinky Divya, I haven’t finished taking pictures yet."

"You take pictures every day, aren’t you tired of it yet?"

Divya rolled her eyes, picked up a mouthful of stir-fried cauliflower. The fresh vegetables grown in the fertile soil and smart greenhouse were crisp and tender, without any earthy taste.

"Hmph, you’re just jealous that I can cook. If you could, you’d definitely show off every day too."

Anjali tilted her head back and gave Divya a triumphant smile.

This left Divya speechless.

[Geetanjali: Here it comes, here it comes, it’s my favorite mealtime segment again.]

[Geetanjali: Today’s dishes have a strong flavor, perfect for my dry bread.]

Geetanjali, on the other side of the screen, looked at the picture, air-picked dishes, and ate her bread with great relish.

[Radhika: Heh heh, Geeta, your perspective is a bit narrow, isn’t it?]

[Radhika: Smart people like me directly save Big Boss Vikram’s family’s dinner pictures every day.]

[Radhika: What do you want to eat? Don’t you just choose whatever you like?]

[Geetanjali: Holy cow, why didn’t I think of that trick? You really know how to play.]

[Bobby: Oh my god, today is the last day of the black fog, and how many days have you all been eating big meals consecutively?]

[Bobby: Big Boss Vikram, I beg you, can you trade me some food? I’m starving to death.]

Looking at the pitiful messages in the group chat, Vikram couldn’t help but smile wryly.

He knew they were all just joking.

Vikram had inquired about their Shelter environments, and they weren’t that pathetic.

However, some confused group members clearly didn’t think so.

An older-looking Survivor clearly took it seriously and spoke up:

[Lucius: Heh heh, if a few young girls are so short on food, would you like to come to our Shelter?]

[Lucius: In our Shelter, we have three meals a day, and we guarantee you’ll be full.]

[Lucius: The most important thing is, you don’t even have to do too much heavy work.]

[Lucius: How about it, two little beauties, what do you think?]

Lucius directly ignored Bobby and Vikram and asked the two women.

The conditions in his shelter sounded quite good.

But the members in the group weren’t ordinary people; how could they believe a few casual words from him?

Even if it were true, Radhika and Geetanjali weren’t lacking what he offered.

By chatting in the group every day, their lives were actually much better than those of other Survivors.

Truly struggling Survivors wouldn’t have time to chat.

Just like the Survivor whose wife had turned into a zombie in the chat channel earlier, for meaningless things like chatting, it was better to spend more time getting food.

Moreover, everyone present could immediately understand the meaning behind Lucius’s words.

Three meals a day, all you can eat, and no need to do too much heavy work.

There were many such benefits in the Wasteland, but they were exclusive to top-tier Survivors.

Lucius knew nothing about the two women, other than seeing their profile pictures.

To offer such conditions, he was either a swindler or just lonely and looking for a young girl to relieve his urges.

Of course, they were well aware of such things.

[Radhika: Heh heh, no thanks. I have a huge appetite, and someone like you...]

[Radhika: With all due respect, you definitely can’t afford to keep me.]

[Geetanjali: Exactly. If you’re feeling itchy, just fiddle with some needlework yourself. Don’t ruin the atmosphere here.]

Both of their responses were equally assertive and unsparing.

Ever since Kashif Ali invited so many people into the group, all sorts of riff-raff had popped up.

They had no need to maintain relationships with these scumbags.