"What?" Ron, who had just been showing off his muscles, exclaimed in surprise.

It was clear that although the others present were not as physically strong as Vikram, such obvious movement was still noticed by everyone.

However, their reaction was still a step too slow.

When everyone looked up, a massive, indistinguishable figure had already leaped from the wall.

Looking out, a large, weapon-wielding figure descended from the sky.

Its putrid body obscured the already dim view, adding another layer of gloom to the Wasteland.

Watching the figure approaching from a distance in the sky, they were all in a panic, flustered and frantic, except for Vikram.

Immediately following, accompanied by a tremendous thud, "Bang!"

Finally, the figure landed squarely in the middle of the crowd.

The immense impact generated upon landing spread outwards from the figure’s center.

For a moment, the surrounding snow flew up, a spectacular sight.

Aside from Harry and Draco, who had just emerged, only Vikram reacted, dodging several positions in a row.

The few others closer to the figure were shaken and tottering from the impact.

When Vikram looked back again, he saw that where he had just stood, there was now a figure with its back to him.

Just as he was about to take out his system to scan the massive creature in front of him, he didn’t expect Scott to react before him.

Scott, who had just been lying on the ground, got up and stabilized himself, then immediately shook off the others.

His speed was so fast, it was as if the person knocked down by Ron’s punch earlier wasn’t him.

In the blink of an eye, he had already reached the furthest wall from the suddenly intruding figure.

Without looking back, he intended to leave this troubled place.

But how could Vikram, who had already taken all of this in, let him have his way?

"Bang bang bang!"

Three piercing gunshots rang out in everyone’s ears.

Immediately following were three blood blossoms blooming on Scott’s fleeing back.

Two of the three bullets passed through his shoulder, and one lodged in his calf.

Scott hadn’t even had time to celebrate his impending escape before he fell to the ground once more.

Lying on the ground, Scott felt a sense of despair.

Just a few minutes ago, they had been leisurely observing the situation from the trees.

He had even felt a sense of satisfaction for having conveniently dealt with a meddlesome subordinate.

Who knew, a Zombie of such massive size suddenly appeared from nowhere.

Initially, when the dozen or so of them saw this Zombie, although surprised, they didn’t take it seriously.

They even thought it was a type of Mutated Zombie.

With this level of combat power, Scott alone would be more than enough to deal with it, not to mention he had a pile of homemade explosives with him.

But soon, they realized things were not as they expected.

This Zombie wasn’t just intimidating in appearance; its strength was completely different from what they had imagined.

The moment this Zombie discovered them, they were met with a club.

With just one strike, three or four Survivors crouching in the trees were instantly smashed into a pulp.

Seeing this scene, the others were naturally terrified and scattered without a second thought.

However, it wasn’t long before they discovered a terrifying truth: not only could they not defeat the opponent, but they weren’t even as fast as it.

In less than two minutes, the dozen or so Survivors who were on the mission with Scott all met their demise on the spot.

Finally, only Scott remained, barely escaping the monster’s sight by using his teammates as shields.

In his desperate flight, he chose to flee to the nearest building, which was Vikram’s wall.

He hadn’t retaliated against Ron’s attack earlier because he didn’t want to make too much noise and attract that Zombie with its abnormal physique.

Who knew, in the end, he still couldn’t shake it off.

Even his plan to have Vikram and the others attract the Zombie’s attention while he escaped in the chaos was thwarted.

When he turned his head and realized that it was Vikram again who had shot him, the veins on Scott’s forehead instantly bulged.

"It’s you!"

"Vikram! You bastard... It’s you again, damn it!!"

"I’ll kill you, damn it!!"

His plan to escape had failed, and instead, he ended up like a dead dog. Scott’s eyes immediately turned red.

He glared at Vikram, who had just fired, with a nearly frenzied look.

It was clear that Vikram’s targeted actions had completely enraged him.

Knowing that he might not make it out alive today, Scott had barely finished speaking, he unhesitatingly dragged his injured body, ignoring the Zombie that had broken into the wall, and limped towards him.

He took out all the explosives from his bag and clutched them in his hands. Even if he died today, he swore to take Vikram down with him!

But just as he was about to reach Vikram, the massive figure moved.

"Hoo!"

A characteristic Zombie sound echoed within the wall, and the opponent’s weapon, which had been dragging in the snow, was heavily lifted.

Immediately after, it swung out in Scott’s vision, which was entirely focused on Vikram.

"Thud!!"

In less than half a breath, the stick-like weapon, longer than the massive figure itself, struck Scott’s head.

By the time Scott regretted his impulsive actions, he had already lost consciousness... His blood and brains splattered across the ground.

The hot blood melted some of the accumulated snow on the ground.

As soon as Scott was dealt with by the figure, everyone present immediately reacted, adopting a stance as if facing a formidable enemy.

At the same time, Ron and others closer to the figure immediately retreated, creating distance.

Even maintaining a relatively safe distance, the solemnity in everyone’s eyes did not diminish.

They had witnessed Scott’s strength.

Now, to be headshotted by this monster with a single blow, it was clear that the creature before them was not to be trifled with.

Fortunately, after killing Scott, the figure did not attack anyone else. Instead, it used its weapon to impale Scott’s corpse.

After some disembowelment, it began to eat on the spot, under the nauseated gazes of the others.

By now, the few people finally confirmed the figure’s identity: it was a massive Zombie.

It was just that its skin, which was slightly more intact compared to a typical Zombie, had prevented them from recognizing it earlier.

Vikram first gave a look to the few Shelter members present, signaling them not to act rashly, while he secretly began to scan.

[Lord Zombie: Epic-level, a lord-level combat power among Zombies, possessing a certain degree of intelligence. Special ability: Corpse Summon, can summon all weaker Zombies in the vicinity to fight collaboratively.]

[Four-dimensional Physique: Strength: 57, Speed: 56, Stamina: 60, Reaction: 56.]

When the system’s analysis appeared before him, Vikram’s eyes immediately widened.

"Epic-level Zombies are already appearing outside the Wasteland?" Vikram secretly thought, ’This is bad...’.

The Survival Platform previously mentioned that more powerful creatures would appear in the outside Wasteland.

He thought it was just an increase in the number of Mutated Zombies.

After all, the current Wasteland was facing a quadruple threat: black fog, toxins, zombies, and the Survival Platform’s challenges.

In his opinion, there shouldn’t be any more variables, otherwise it would seem too unreasonable.

However, the Wasteland World clearly had no logic, and the Epic-level Zombie in front of him harshly proved him wrong.

One must know that this was an Epic-level Zombie that had previously been a ruin boss, yet it had appeared outside.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t deal with this level of zombie now.

When his physique was only in the forties, he had managed to trick and kill one. When he had less than a hundred, even the Legendary Zombie died, it was another thing that it was all done by his plants team.

Now his physique has crossed hundred, it was naturally even less of a problem. It was like a man fighting a child.

What truly worried him was the danger of venturing out in the future.

Some Mutated Zombies with bizarre abilities were already troublesome enough; with the appearance of Epic-level ones, the difficulty of going out to collect supplies would undoubtedly increase significantly.

When that time came, perhaps they wouldn’t be going out to search for resources, but rather, zombies would be breaking through shelters everywhere, using humans as their food.

Immediately, Vikram’s expression became even grimmer.

"Perhaps I need to go out and search for resources more often, and sooner rather than later."

He muttered to himself.

Just then, "Crunch! Crunch!"

The crisp sound of bones being chewed echoed in front of him, slowly pulling Vikram back to reality.

Vikram hadn’t forgotten the threat before him.

Vikram didn’t know why this zombie had climbed over his wall.

He felt it was related to the deceased Scott.

But none of that mattered anymore.

The immediate priority was to kill this Epic-level Zombie without incurring any casualties.

But since his stats were double of the opponent’s.

This made him breathe a sigh of relief.

At least it showed that dealing with this zombie was like toying with a kid.

Outside the wall, there were continuous sounds of metal being scratched and hit.

The noise made by this Epic-level Zombie and the gunshots just now were clearly quite loud.

The zombies outside were becoming even more restless.

He didn’t know how many Mutated Zombies were outside, but there were definitely not a few.

Once these Mutated Zombies crowded to the closest position to the wall, things would definitely become even more troublesome.

He had to finish the fight quickly!

Although it seemed like many thoughts flashed through Vikram’s mind just now, in reality, only a few seconds had passed.

The pistol he had just used to prevent Scott from escaping was raised again.

While the Epic-level Zombie was still gnawing on bones, Vikram first gave a signal to Divya and Anjali.

Then he drew his gun and fired!

"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The remaining four bullets in the magazine all flew out, their tips carrying dazzling flames, shooting through the air towards this intruder.

"Puff!" The sound of bullets entering flesh reached his ears.

"It’s working!" Vikram’s face lit up with joy.

Using firearms instead of direct melee combat, besides being faster, he also wanted to verify the limit of this weapon’s power.

Now it seemed, causing damage was not an issue.

But his joy didn’t last long, and the smile froze on his face.

The bullets indeed struck the back of the zombie’s head, but only shallowly embedded into its skin, unable to penetrate further.

The hit zombie turned its head; its meal had been interrupted by Vikram, and a cold glint flashed in its eyes.

After casually throwing the food on the ground, it turned and swung a pole at Vikram.

It was then that Vikram noticed the origin of the weapon in its hand.

This was no iron rod; it was clearly a street pole.

It was far inferior to the boss’s weapon in the previous ruins.

But that’s all, facing the sweeping attack, Vikram slightly bent down to dodge.

Before its next attack could come, the sound of bullets firing from a gun barrel came from behind it again.

"Puff! Puff!"

Ron, while Vikram dodged the attack, pulled the trigger.

They accurately hit the back of the zombie’s head, successfully adding a few more dents to its skull.

As it dug out the bullets from the back of its head, it was about to attack Vikram again, but several arrows flew from its front-left.

Although except of Ron the other four didn’t have firearms, Vikram had given them alloy compound bows earlier.

While these weapons couldn’t cause substantial damage to Epic-level creatures, they were certainly effective in distracting them.

---

Dear Readers,

I noticed that a few of my recent Chapters are not performing as well as expected. If you find any part of the story boring, slow, or less enjoyable, please let me know in the comments.

Your feedback is very important to me, and I will do my best to improve those Chapters and make the story more engaging.

Thank you for your continued support and for helping me make the novel better!