"Is this the place?"
Maxwell, with his hands clasped behind his back, looked at the manor before him.
"Sir, this is it! I'd like to ask for your help to check inside for any human survivors. If there are any, I hope you can help rescue them. If not, I'd trouble you to clear out the zombies inside; I need to retrieve something."
A well-dressed man bowed and spoke loudly.
This man was none other than Fred, whom Maxwell had encountered at the fighting arena. Several men in black stood by his side.
With ease, Maxwell leaped onto the high wall surrounding the manor, a good ten meters up.
"Roar!"
As soon as Maxwell appeared, zombies within the manor saw him and roared angrily, then crazily surged toward the wall.
These were all female zombies, and by their looks, they had only recently turned.
In the post-apocalyptic world, the status of women, especially beautiful but powerless ones, was very low, and their fates often tragic.
"Hmm? What's with that zombie?"
Maxwell suddenly startled because he spotted a figure among the horde that looked familiar.
Of course, he didn't recognize the zombie personally, but he felt it was familiar because it resembled one of the zombies he had collected.
It was the zombie that Carline had nearly burned with fire after pinning her down in the cave.
Speaking of this zombie, she was still navigating the complicated underground passages. Despite her long journey, she hadn't discovered anything. From Maxwell's observation, he could determine that this Tier 1 female zombie was probably lost.
The underground passages were indeed intricate and naturally formed with many spaces and junctions, each looking similar, so getting lost was not unusual.
Next, Maxwell noticed many zombies that looked similar to the Tier 1 female zombie.
"Their eyes are relatively small, and their skin is like white rock..."
Rock...
That's the color of white stalactites!
Maxwell realized suddenly.
"Could they be coming from underground?"
After pondering for a moment, Maxwell jumped down from the high wall.
"Sir, what's the situation inside?"
Fred approached and asked.
Without a word, Maxwell kicked out his foot, and a large hole suddenly appeared in the ten-meter-high wall.
The noise startled the zombies inside, who surged out tumultuously.
"Sir, what are you..."
Before Fred could finish, Maxwell grabbed him by the collar and threw him into the horde of zombies.
Those women who had been trapped inside, whom he had planned to exploit, had now become the terrifying zombies that overwhelmed him. The female zombies quickly engulfed him, screaming as they tore him apart.
Fred was panic-stricken, screaming in pain as he tried to use his abilities. However, Maxwell had slapped him before throwing him out, shattering his bones and rendering him unable to summon his powers.
Behind him, several men in black quickly pulled out their guns and aimed at Maxwell, but before they could fire, a thin line of blood suddenly appeared on their necks, and they fell together with a crash.
Eva lightly shook the delicate sleeve sword in her hand, the blood on the blade quickly disappearing before she sheathed it, standing quietly behind and to the side of Maxwell.
Looking at her harmless appearance, no one would suspect that she was the one who had just dispatched the men in black.
"Even though you have turned into zombies, in this way, you have personally avenged your enemies."
Maxwell spoke to the female zombies before him.
"People like Fred are plentiful, not just in the post-apocalyptic era but even before it. The apocalypse just makes such people less inclined to hide themselves. You could say that every base city has these types of scum, and this scum isn't even an Evolver but just a minor Awakener.
But they have money and power, and the ability to decide the fate of ordinary people at will. Scum are often supported by other lowly scum, and they might even have a powerful backer, placing them in the upper echelons of the post-apocalyptic hierarchy.
As long as these scum are willing, there are few means to restrain them.
Maxwell is certainly no saint, and he usually wouldn't bother with such matters, but since he has encountered this situation, he doesn't mind stepping in to help push things along.
Fred's screams had already ceased completely, but one could imagine how miserable his final moments were, which was precisely the effect Maxwell wanted to achieve.
Maxwell released the Tier 7 male zombie, along with the Tier 1 female zombie he had decided to keep in his space for observation, and several higher-tier zombies.
Next, Maxwell began to eliminate the zombies.
Before long, Maxwell had fused several zombies together, creating a Level 10 female zombie.
There weren't many female zombies left in the manor.
The over three hundred female zombies, plus the several Level 6-8 female zombies Maxwell already had, were all fused together to form another Level 10 female zombie.
Maxwell felt that letting Fred die had indeed been too easy.
Then, Maxwell merged the newly zombified Fred and his bodyguards into the zombie mass, effectively erasing them completely from the world.
After clearing out the female zombies, Maxwell entered deeper into the manor.
Inside, there were about a dozen zombies tied to pillars, struggling but unable to free themselves.
The only zombie not tied up was being pinned underfoot by the Tier 7 male zombie Maxwell had taken in.
This Tier 7 male zombie was actually using rope as a tool!
Maxwell couldn't help but give him a few extra glances.
Standing over two meters tall, he towered like a high tower, his physique also terrifyingly robust.
Only his clothes were tattered, and the flesh on his face jiggled, the characteristics of a zombie still evident on his body, not having disappeared despite leveling up to Tier 7.
Moreover, after closer observation, Maxwell noticed a small detail—the thing between his legs was missing, and the wounds on his thighs were quite evident.
Damn, that's really tragic!
Maxwell couldn't help but empathize for a moment.
Could it be that it was bitten off back when he was first turned into a zombie?
After watching him in silence for a long while, Maxwell finally said, "From now on, you're called No.1."
"Ding! The system has detected that a zombie has been personally named by the host. The host currently has three unused exclusive cells in his space. Would you like to assign one to this zombie to prevent accidental deletion of a named zombie in the future?"
The system's voice rang out.
Maxwell decisively clicked "No."
"Just naming him, why make it exclusive? To use him as a laborer?"
Maxwell muttered.