Chapter 508: Searching for the Zombie Horde

Zhang Yi chose to head toward Ci Qu Station. After bidding farewell to the others with a smile, he got into his vehicle and set off.

He was traveling alone, but he brought along his most trusted battle pet, Hua Hua. However, this time, he didn’t bring it for protection.

Ever since he developed the Dimensional Gate technique, his survival abilities had reached their peak. As long as he wanted to escape, he could continuously shift through the Dimensional Gate, making it nearly impossible for anyone to catch him.

What he truly needed was Hua Hua’s beastly sense of smell.

Arriving at Ci Qu Station, Zhang Yi found the entire subway tunnel frozen solid under thick layers of ice.

He took out his satellite phone, glanced at Tianhai City’s subway map, then turned to Hua Hua and said, “Let’s go find them.”

Hopping into his snow vehicle, Zhang Yi drove along the subway line through the raging snowstorm. Hua Hua crouched in the passenger seat, alert and ready.

After several hours of travel, they reached Tianfeng District, the stronghold of the Followers of the Snow God.

The cult’s headquarters was still a dozen kilometers away, but Zhang Yi decided not to proceed further. He parked the vehicle, stored it inside his Spatial Storage, and found an entrance to the subway, jumping down.

Tianhai City’s subway system was vast, stretching over 800 kilometers in total length. Traveling on foot would take at least half a month.

Fortunately, Zhang Yi had Dimensional Gate, a technique that allowed him to teleport through space. Since activating the “gate” didn’t consume Superhuman Energy, he could use it indefinitely to move forward rapidly.

This time, Zhang Yi had come to Tianfeng District’s underground with a clear objective—to locate the hidden zombie horde.

He was certain that a massive, highly aggressive zombie army was lurking somewhere down here. This was Yuan Kongye’s hidden trump card, a force meant to wipe out every other faction in Tianhai City.

If he could find them, he could move on to Phase Two of his plan.

Tianhai City’s subway system was enormous, but Zhang Yi suspected the zombies were hiding somewhere near Tianfeng District, close to the Followers of the Snow God. That was why he came here first.

Zhang Yi and Hua Hua navigated the tunnels cautiously. The cat perched on his shoulder, its eyes wide like bronze bells.

Hua Hua’s powerful nose could detect the scent of zombies within a kilometer. The stench of infected hosts was distinct from regular rotting corpses, making them easy to track.

Zhang Yi proceeded carefully, ready to escape to the surface at the first sign of danger.

In his heart, he prayed that Yuan Kongye wouldn’t notice his presence. If she realized she had been exposed, she might strike at him first.

Zhang Yi was confident that his invincible survival abilities would keep him alive.

However, if Yuan Kongye attacked his Shelter, protecting himself would be easy, but protecting everyone else would be far more difficult.

After half an hour of searching, Zhang Yi had explored every corner of Tianfeng District’s subway tunnels—but he found no sign of a zombie horde.

That meant they weren’t here.

“How is this possible?” Zhang Yi frowned. “If they’re not in Tianfeng District, do I have to search all of Tianhai City?”

“Or… am I overthinking this? Maybe a larger zombie army doesn’t exist at all?”

He quickly dismissed that thought.

“No, they must exist.”

“Yuan Kongye wouldn’t waste such a powerful trump card.”

“She may be strong, but she can’t fight an entire war alone. She needs a massive army that follows her orders completely.”

“I doubt she’s satisfied with ruling just one city.”

Even though he had found nothing, Zhang Yi had prepared for the possibility of a fruitless search.

“It makes sense,” he mused. “There was just a massive battle near the Followers of the Snow God’s base. If the zombies were hidden here, someone would have noticed.”

“No matter—if they aren’t here, I’ll search every subway tunnel in Tianhai City until I find them.”

A determined glint flashed in Zhang Yi’s eyes.

Sometimes, the simplest methods work best.

To eliminate a potential disaster and protect his people, he was willing to do whatever it took.

He opened his phone, marking all the locations he had searched in Tianfeng District.

There were still over ten districts in Tianhai City that he hadn’t explored yet.

“One by one,” Zhang Yi muttered. “We’ll find them eventually.”

He scratched Hua Hua’s head. The cat closed its eyes in bliss.

“Of course, in an ideal world, I’m just overthinking everything. Maybe there is no zombie horde, and no hidden scheme.”

Zhang Yi chuckled to himself.

That day, he scoured the entire city’s underground subway network.

Then, when he reached the northeastern outskirts of Tianhai City, in one of the most remote and desolate districts, Hua Hua finally reacted.

The moment they entered the area, Hua Hua’s fur bristled. Its eyes locked onto the dark tunnel ahead, and it let out a low, prolonged warning growl.

It had fought zombies countless times before and was intimately familiar with their scent.

For Hua Hua to be this unsettled, there could only be one reason—a massive number of zombies lay ahead.

Zhang Yi’s lips curled into a slight smile.

A sense of relief washed over him.

“So this is where they’ve been hiding.”

They were in Ao Mountain District, one of the most remote areas of Tianhai City, a borderline wasteland.

This place lacked valuable resources, so no faction had ever bothered to claim it.

Yuan Kongye had been incredibly cunning to hide the zombies here.

Zhang Yi’s smile didn’t reach his sharp, watchful eyes.

He had teleportation abilities, meaning neither he nor Hua Hua were in immediate danger.

However, he had two concerns:

First, he didn’t want to alarm the massive zombie horde and accidentally trigger a zombie stampede.

Second, among the zombies lurked intelligent creatures—Zombie Kings.

If they discovered his presence, they would immediately report it to Yuan Kongye.

That would force her hand, launching an early attack on Tianhai City’s other factions.

Zhang Yi opened his Spatial Storage and pulled out… a massive gray rat.

It was about the same size as Hua Hua, its eyes glowing with eerie red light.

However, this was not a real giant rat.

It was a mechanical spy that Lu Keran had built for him.

To prevent it from being exposed, Zhang Yi had coated it multiple times with the blood and flesh of real giant rats, ensuring its scent was indistinguishable from the real thing.

He placed it in the depths of the tunnel.

Then, he grabbed Hua Hua and swiftly retreated to a safe distance.

Author's Note