The RV slowly drove out of the camp. The cement road was very dry, and there was no trace of last night's snow, but the wind was stronger and colder, with a noticeable drop in temperature.

Soon, the RV arrived at the county road leading to Niuquanzi Town. However, before it could approach the town center commercial district, the vehicle stopped.

"Eh?"

Zhao Dezhu was about to ask a question but was dumbfounded when he looked up.

"Damn, where did all these zombies come from? We've traveled this road hundreds of times, and it's always been clean!"

About five or six hundred meters away lay the town street entrance, where the excavator was parked. When Zhang Su and his group first came, they hadn't encountered any zombies on this road. But now, there were zombies!

Not just on the road, but there were also scattered zombies on the wastelands on both sides, as if they had sprung up from the ground overnight...

"It's not too many, just kill them. Let's go, kill zombies!"

Having not left the camp for a long time, Pang Dakun was unusually excited. He tightened the strap on his shoulder, grabbed a steel rod, and prepared to get off the vehicle.

"Dakun, wait a minute!"

Zhang Su stopped Pang Dakun and said, "There are at least a dozen of them. If the noise attracts more from afar, it would be troublesome. You all should work together to quickly finish it, and don't let any accidents happen. I'll drive the car over!"

Because they had to repair the excavator, Zhang Su brought seven members today, all of whom were exceptionally skilled in combat. Even though Zhao Dezhu's arm hadn't fully healed, he was a formidable fighter. With their full strength, they cleared the zombies on the road leading to the town center.

To avoid unexpected incidents, they also specifically eliminated the nearby zombies in the fallow fields and piled them up in the field nearby, planning to load them onto the vehicle when they returned.

For the people on Celestial Horse Island, zombie corpses are now premium fuel, even better than coal for heating!

"Big guy, these zombies are acting strange!"

When Zhang Su got out of the vehicle, Zhao Dezhu shook the steel rod in his hand and said, "They seem stronger than before. When they charged at us, it felt different, and they moved swiftly. But maybe I'm just not used to fighting with one hand..."

"It's not about being unaccustomed; I felt it too!" Guo Dachao nodded, "The zombies are not the same as before. Could it be due to the cold weather?"

Zhang Su focused his eyes toward the depths of the street, where a few more zombies had appeared in the cleared area. He shook his head and said, "Maybe it's not the cold weather, but the snow from yesterday!"

"Snow?"

"Oh, right, damn, snow is rain!"

"Exactly, snow is rain, no wonder the zombies have become stronger, damn it!"

Guo Dachao looked at them confusedly and asked, "What do you mean? What are you talking about with the snow and rain making them stronger?"

Zhang Su turned around, took his bag from the vehicle, and said, "Dachao, do you remember the great rain that fell shortly after the disaster broke out?"

"I remember it well. It was massive. Xiao Jie, one other companion, and I were trapped in an internet cafe, and the water flooded the entire first floor!"

"Yes, that rain. We observed that zombies acted very strangely in the rain, as if they were absorbing energy from the rainwater. Or, to put it differently, the rain was replenishing their energy!"

"After that rain, the zombies received a boost, with enhanced strength, agility, speed, and perception, based on our practical comparison. Before the snow, their maximum sprint speed could reach one hundred meters in sixteen seconds. If there's further improvement after yesterday's snow, we have to be extra cautious!"

"In summary, if you encounter zombies in the wild now, without any obstacles to utilize, running away is almost impossible..."

Normal adults are faster than sixteen seconds per hundred meters, but can't sustain that pace for several hundred meters. Even after the apocalypse's challenges, maintaining full speed for three to five hundred meters is the limit, considering whether they're carrying weight, whereas zombies can keep running for kilometers...

"This is my first time hearing all this!"

Guo Dachao was dumbfounded by Zhang Su's words. While they struggled to survive on the edge of life and death, others were already researching the zombies' capabilities, showing the stark differences.

"You need to understand one thing: while we study how to deal with zombies and establish defensive structures, zombies are also evolving. Never assume victory is guaranteed; you must go all out every time. Now, let's get to work!"

Guo Dachao, Tan Huajun, and Jia Shiqin stayed at the street entrance to study the excavator repair while Wang Xin kept watch for them. Zhang Su led the others to clear zombies on the street and then proceeded to the side street to gather resources.

After experiencing an ambush from Beita Camp, the pace of resource gathering had slowed down. Even areas that had already been searched were scrutinized again.

During the process of clearing zombies, Zhang Su also noticed changes; not to mention anything else, just the running motion felt less mechanical than before, more agile, and even the impact was stronger, causing the wire mesh to clank loudly.

However, they were still simple to kill; a strike to the brain would suffice. Yet, this gradual enhancement still imparted an inexplicable pressure.

"We keep researching weapons and building defenses to fend off zombies, and the zombies are gradually growing stronger. It's just a matter of who progresses faster!"

Zhang Su pulled out the steel rod with a swish and expressed his feelings.

"We still have the advantage!" Zhao Dezhu said with a wide grin, "Zombies can't emerge out of nowhere; their numbers are fixed. Each one killed is one less! Whereas for us in the camp, on average, we've each killed at least fifty zombies, right?"

"What you said..." Zhang Su twitched his mouth, "The total population of Qin City is three million. According to our estimation, over two million turned in the initial wave. Even if all later casualties were killed without turning, there are still at least one and a half million zombies now!"

"How many of us humans are there? A hundred thousand? Fifty thousand? You say there's one less zombie when one's killed; for us humans, that's even more true—every loss is permanent. A zombie just needs a bite to turn a human into one of their kind; we have no way to reverse humans from becoming zombies. So, which side do you think has the better odds?"

Zhao Dezhu paused, and then his eyes brightened, "Big guy, you're wrong. We can have babies, more and more, but zombies can't, hehe..."

Talking about having babies, he couldn't help but chuckle.

Zhang Su glanced at Zhao Dezhu curiously and asked, "Hey, Zhuzi, you didn't get Teacher Xiaoyu pregnant, did you?" 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"No, no!"

Zhao Dezhu denied repeatedly and then grinned mysteriously, "But there's such a plan, hehe..."

"Wow, Uncle Zhuzi, impressive!"

"Oh my, this plan is crazy..."

Pang Dakun and Zhang Ya exclaimed, with the former admiring Zhao Dezhu's boldness from the bottom of his heart, while the latter marveled at their audacious plan.

"Phew..." Zhang Su exhaled deeply, lit a cigarette, and asked, "Zhuzi, honestly, is this your idea or Teacher Xiaoyu's?"

Zhao Dezhu rubbed his clean-shaven head and laughed, "Hehe, it's my idea, new year, new atmosphere."

"Zhuzi, I don't have the right to deny anyone's right to reproduce, but I advise you to consider this matter when the situation is more stable."

Zhang Su said earnestly.

From his perspective, having children in this environment is extremely dire.

"I know, I know." Zhao Dezhu nodded and said, "I'll wait until our camp develops further."

"Zhuzi, I'm not joking with you; this is a very serious matter. Wanting children is understandable, but you must think about yourself, the child, Yu Qing. Don't rush into consequences without considering!"

Zhang Su sensed that Zhao Dezhu hadn't realized the severity of the issue, so he stopped his work and began speaking seriously.

"We don't even have a decent medical setup now. Can you guarantee it will be available in ten months? I hope we do, but what if? Also, a child doesn't have the choice to decide whether to be born, but do you really want to bring them into this damned world?"

To talk about passing on lineage, no one has better conditions than Zhang Su, with the potential to have two women pregnant simultaneously. But he's never considered it, nor have Zheng Xinyu or Zhong Xiaoshan mentioned it.

"Yes." Zhang Ya chimed in, saying, "I saw a TV program about wildlife once, which stated that when the natural environment is harsh, they stop reproducing... The environment we face now can't even be described as harsh."

Zhao Dezhu, after being taught by both Zhang Su and Zhang Ya, showed signs of contemplation and sighed as he looked at the zombies flailing in the distance, "I was impulsive. Don't worry, big guy, I won't do anything foolish."