Encounter with a Robbery Gang

Henry made his way up the stairs to the rooftop.

He removed all the strange plants growing in the flowerpots.

Then he planted five Meat Potato Seeds into several large pots and watered them.

[Meat Potato Seeds have begun to sprout. It will take 120 days to mature!]

120 days?

That means it takes four months to mature?

Forget four months, who knows what the world will look like in one month!

Right, I can use [Mutant Fertilizer]!

Isn't this supposed to speed up the maturation of crops?!

Henry pulled out a large clump of [Mutant Fertilizer].

Ding! Each crop can only be fertilized once per day, are you sure you want to use [Mutant Fertilizer]?

Note: Using [Mutant Fertilizer] can shorten the maturity period of [Meat Potato] by 10 days!

Only ten days shorter?

That seems less than ideal.

Henry frowned.

It seems, for the first thirty days, it's relatively safe.

Henry should take this time to accumulate more food.

No one knows what will happen after 30 days!

So, the more I can shorten the period, the more Meat Potatoes I can produce, and the more food can accumulate.

Combine!

Henry combined 10 [Mutant Fertilizer] into 1 [Accelerated Fertilizer].

[Accelerated Fertilizer] can shorten the growth cycle of [Meat Potato] by 60 days!

This will work!

Although the total time reduced by [Accelerated Fertilizer] is less than that reduced by 10

[Mutant Fertilizer], time is of the essence, and I must choose [Accelerated Fertilizer].

Use [Accelerated Fertilizer]!

Ding! Usage successful!

The growth of the Meat Potatoes seemed to be fast-forwarded.

From rooting, sprouting to growing.

Changing visibly at an observable speed.

Soon, five half-meter tall broad-leaf plants appeared in the pots.

[Meat Potato will mature in 60 days!]

[Accelerated Fertilizer] was only half used, it can be used again tomorrow!

Henry stacked the [Accelerated Fertilizer] next to the flowerpots.

He quickly ate breakfast and then left building number eight with Snow.

Snow obediently followed by Henry's side.

Occasionally, it would look around distractedly or sniff a corner on the ground.

But it quickly caught up to Henry's pace.

Together, man and pet soon arrived at the community's main gate.

There, Henry witnessed a scene that made him furious.

A group of four or five survivors, armed with mismatched weapons including baseball bats, fruit knives, and a machete, were busy clearing out the zombies that Henry had lured to the gate the day before.

The woman in the tree had been rescued, her hands tied to a lamppost.

She was treated like a prisoner.

With the protection of the community's fence, the zombies couldn't attack the survivors.

For these survivors, it was as if they had stumbled upon a windfall.

But they hadn't considered who had drawn the zombies here...

They were plundering Henry's spoils of war!

"Hey, what are you doing?!" Henry shouted angrily.

With a swift motion, he brandished his sharpened Katana and raised his riot shield.

Snow also sensed his master's anger, baring its teeth and growling a warning.

"Huh? Someone's there?"

The group quickly turned around nervously.

When they saw it was just one man with a small dog, their wariness significantly decreased.

"What do you want?"

A burly man with a beard, glancing at the woman in low-cut attire, assumed Henry was here for her.

He sneered and said:

"I saw this woman first; she belongs to me now!"

"If you want her, sure, trade some food for her?!"

"Or... I think your Katana looks nice, you could give it to me to play with!"

"And that little dog, though small, could make a nice snack for us!"

"Ha ha ha!"

Hearing the bearded man's words, greed flashed in the eyes of the others.

They laughed maliciously.

"A woman? What woman? I'm talking about the zombies!"

"Release those zombies! They are mine!"

"Now, I give you two options!"

"One is to stay away from those zombie bodies, leave immediately, and I won't kill you."

"Or two, I kill all of you and then collect the zombies. Choose!"

Henry spoke slowly, a chilling aura of menace rising around him.

This time Snow didn't retreat to the corner but excitedly wagged its tail at Henry.

"Damn, this kid is bold!"

"Just one person, acting all high and mighty? He must not realize that the world doesn't care about who was here first anymore!"

"Ha ha ha, this guy doesn't understand the situation; there's so many of us and just him, and he's talking about killing us?!"

"We found these zombies, so they are ours now, including this woman!"

The gang jeered and mocked Henry.

The bearded man chuckled too, then his expression turned sinister:

"You could have had a chance to escape, and maybe I wouldn't have bothered chasing a lone survivor."

"But now... I've changed my mind. Your Katana, this little dog, and whatever else you have in your storage space, I'll take it all!"

Saying this, the bearded man and his gang started to slowly encircle Henry.

Henry coolly assessed their group.

Four men and one woman, armed with a machete, a baseball bat, two kitchen knives, and a fruit knife.

Four men and one woman?!

Hmm?

This suddenly reminded Henry of something he heard in the chat channel yesterday.

Someone mentioned a gang robbing survivors nearby.

Their group consisted of four men and two women!

Could they be that group?!

Or perhaps, was there another woman hiding somewhere??

Regardless...

Any group of survivors who can roam freely in the post-apocalypse is definitely not to be trifled with.

"In this day and age, you either don't offend anyone,"

"Or if you do, you have to eliminate the threat completely."

"Sorry, but I'm afraid of your revenge, so you'll have to die here today!"

The bearded man loosened his shoulders and pulled out a modified cutting board from his space.

It was retrofitted.

On the other side of the cutting board was a handle, allowing it to be used as a shield.

The others also pulled out their makeshift armor, things like frying pans and pot lids.

Anything that could be used was being utilized.

The dried blood stains on their shields hinted at the many battles this group had been through!

"This idiot even brought a puppy!"

"He must have plenty of food, otherwise, what's he feeding the puppy with?"

"You guys attack from the front, I'll go grab the puppy!"

"We'll dismember this puppy right in front of this man. While he's distracted, you'll have the chance to kill him!"

The tattooed woman continued to devise plans.

"Alright, let's do it!"

The bearded man grinned wickedly.

This tattooed woman effectively served as the brains of the entire group.

Under her advice, they had started off on a path of robbery.

On the first day, they killed several survivors and successfully stole food.

After tasting success, they became unstoppable.

Along the way, they killed every survivor and zombie they encountered, leaving none alive.

The reason they hadn't killed the woman in the low-cut attire was because they realized she was willing to do anything to stay alive.

She was easy to control!

In the future, she could be used to seduce survivors within other groups, breaking them down from the inside.

"Get him, you rotten kid, go die!"

The bearded man roared angrily, charging forward with his three underlings.

"Wait, something's not right!"

Henry's expression hardened.