I buried the gods in the restricted area.

The process of leaving the city went quite smoothly.

Although the corpses that had stood on the street all night had not disappeared, and those empty and eerie eyes had followed the group's movements from beginning to end, whenever they met Jiang Mian's gaze, those eyes would immediately become incredibly clear, and it would be difficult to see any malice in them.

It's as if... they suddenly appeared here just to play the role of residents of this city, so that it wouldn't seem too empty.

Zhou Kai walked at the very end of the group, his gaze fixed on Jiang Mian ahead of him, his eyes deep, his fingertips unconsciously stroking the hilt of his knife.

"Brother Zhou, is something wrong?" the short man following closely beside him asked in a low voice.

He had noticed long ago that Lei Cheng, who had tried to escape alone last night, had somehow become a member of the horde of zombies and was now wandering aimlessly.

This sent a chill down his spine, making him even more grateful that he hadn't acted rashly last night—the danger of the City of the Dead last night was probably far greater than he had imagined.

Of course, he could see that it might be safer to stay by the side of that monster who called himself Jiang Mian, but who knew when that thing would reveal its true nature? Besides, even if it was just for the sake of getting the job later, he needed to build a good relationship with Brother Zhou.

Therefore, unlike Jiang Rou who chose to stay by Jiang Mian's side, he walked closely beside Zhou Kai from the moment he came downstairs.

"fine."

Zhou Kai shook his head slightly and said calmly, "I'm just thinking about a question."

"What's the problem?" the short man asked quickly, looking like he was willing to help share the burden.

Zhou Kai looked down at the dagger in his hand, a thoughtful look in his eyes: "Last night, I just wanted to touch the dagger, but those two corpses immediately stopped me. They seemed to not want Jiang Mian to see me make a move, or rather... they didn't want him to see me kill anyone."

"It seems that's indeed the case..."

The short man's expression turned serious. "After all, once someone dies, it will trigger the rules of the City of the Wrongfully Dead, causing the corpse to resurrect. Those two corpses seem to be very worried about letting that monster notice this."

"So I'm thinking about another possibility."

"What?"

"What if... I don't let Jiang Mian see me kill someone?"

The moment he finished speaking, Zhou Kai flicked his wrist.

The short man felt a blur before his eyes, suddenly clutched his neck, widened his eyes, and staggered to the ground.

Almost simultaneously, Zhou Kai clearly felt countless cold gazes instantly fixated on him.

But the corpses did not move.

They simply gathered silently, using their bodies to shield the short man's corpse, as if his death was nothing more than a speck of dust brushing past a street corner, too light to elicit even the slightest echo.

"Sure enough, if used properly, these corpses will not only not attack me, but will also cover for me..." Zhou Kai narrowed his eyes.

His intuition told him that there must be more secrets hidden deep within the City of the Dead, and that it was better to keep them in his own hands than to report them to the company.

This is precisely why he suddenly went berserk and killed people.

At this moment, everyone was only thinking about escaping the City of the Dead as soon as possible, and had no time to look back. In addition, the streets were too crowded, and there was no room to turn around. As a result, for a while, no one noticed the short man's disappearance.

But as the number of people in the group dwindled, even the most oblivious person gradually realized that something was wrong.

But it was too late.

With Zhou Kai's strength as a D-level mutant, killing a few ordinary people would be a piece of cake. If he weren't hesitant to use the power of the "Secret Digger," he could have killed everyone silently in an instant.

"That's strange, where have all your friends gone?"

Jiang Mian pondered where to find the tombstone the whole way, and when he turned around, he found that many people were missing from behind him, which puzzled him.

"Oh, they had some urgent business to attend to, so they left first."

Zhou Kai responded calmly, then looked at Jiang Rou, who had just turned around with a look of surprise on her face, and said without changing his expression, "Jiang Rou, come here for a moment, I have something to tell you."

Jiang Mian didn't mind. Since it was a private conversation between friends, he should avoid it for the time being. Just as he was about to turn around, Jiang Rou suddenly grabbed his hand tightly and said loudly, "Mr. Jiang Mian, I also have something to say to you!"

Zhou Kai frowned slightly.

Jiang Mian was stunned for a moment, only to find that the girl in front of her seemed unusually nervous, her body was trembling slightly.

He glanced at Zhou Kai first, then asked, "What did you say?"

Jiang Rou hesitated, unsure of what to say. Seeing the growing suspicion in Jiang Mian's eyes, she suddenly gritted her teeth, adopting a desperate expression:

"Um... I think I've fallen for you!"

"You like me?"

Jiang Mian paused, then asked, "We've only known each other for less than a day. What do you like about me?"

Jiang Rou's momentum faltered, and her tone softened slightly: "Um... because you're very handsome?"

To be fair, Jiang Mian may not be a stunningly handsome man, but he is definitely good-looking, so it's not hard to understand why a girl would fall in love with him at first sight.

"Your name is Jiang Rou, right?"

After a moment's thought, Jiang Mian said earnestly, "You know, you can't just look at someone's appearance if you like them."

"I know, I know!"

Jiang Rou nodded repeatedly, "We also need to see his inner..."

"No."

Jiang Mian shook her head slightly, interrupting her, "It also depends on one's appearance."

Jiang Rou's expression froze.

What do you mean by "still having to consider one's appearance"?

She considered herself to be pretty, even if she wasn't a stunning beauty, she was still quite charming. Wasn't Mr. Jiang Mian's words a bit too hurtful?

Seemingly realizing her words had been too blunt, Jiang Mian added, "What I mean is, liking someone is a collision of two souls. What I want is that kind of love that's completely open and honest, do you understand?"

"I can be completely open and honest with you too!" Jiang Rou quickly said.

In fact, she certainly didn't suddenly fall for Jiang Mian; she simply keenly sensed Zhou Kai's intentions—

Two hundred years ago, with the emergence of forbidden zones, a group called the Alienators appeared in the world.

As the name suggests, the mutants have undergone a mutation in both their mind and body, and possess terrifying power far exceeding that of ordinary people.

No one knows the source of this power. Some speculate that it is a genetic mutation, some guess that it is contaminated by a restricted area, and others regard it as a gift from the gods.

But whatever the speculation, one thing is certain: aliens can only be born at birth, that is, it is predetermined from the moment of birth, and ordinary people can never become aliens in their lifetime.

But in this day and age, no one is willing to be an ordinary person.

Therefore, many people have turned their attention to the forbidden zone, attempting to extract power from this taboo land that could rival that of the mutants.

Zhou Kai's company, the behemoth called "The End," possesses such a unique promotion path—

Secret digger.

As long as they devour enough secrets, the Secret Diggers can continuously grow stronger. For this reason, since its inception, the End Company has always been committed to finding the truth behind the appearance of forbidden zones. Some even say that the secrets held by "End" may be more than those held by the Bureau of Paranormal Affairs, which is specifically responsible for clearing out forbidden zones.

The excavators weren't the only profession to emerge from forbidden zones, but they were the first. Since then, supernatural power has no longer been the exclusive domain of mutants; all those who wield power are now called mutants.

Zhou Kai is also a secret hunter, which means that if he wants to become stronger, he also needs to devour enough secrets.

It's obvious to anyone with eyes that Jiang Mian must be carrying a major secret—which might be the key to his advancement to a C-level mutant.

But as we all know, when many people know a secret, it ceases to be a secret.

Therefore, in order to keep this secret for himself, Zhou Kai would definitely kill someone to silence them.

Based on last night's experience, Jiang Rou believed that Zhou Kai was capable of such a thing, but she didn't expect him to be so impatient. The others hadn't left because of something; they had clearly been killed by him!

Fortunately, she could roughly guess Zhou Kai's concerns. He probably wouldn't dare to make a move under Mr. Jiang Mian's nose, otherwise he wouldn't need to hide it. Therefore, from now on, she must always be within Mr. Jiang Mian's sight to ensure her safety.

Jiang Mian was unaware of Jiang Rou and Zhou Kai's thoughts, but she could sense that the atmosphere between the two was somewhat strange. However, she did not point it out, but said in a half-joking, half-serious tone, "When I said I was being completely honest, I really meant it."

Jiang Rou trembled slightly, not daring to reply, but still held Jiang Mian's hand tightly, afraid that if she let go, she would be out of his sight.

She knew in her heart that unless Mr. Jiang Mian could leave the forbidden zone, she would probably not escape death once she left the City of the Dead.

But every little bit more I can live is a good thing.

She didn't want to die so meaninglessly.

Zhou Kai watched this scene expressionlessly. Perhaps he also thought that Jiang Mian would not be able to leave the restricted area. He was not in a hurry. He just glanced at Jiang Rou with a faint expression and then strode to the front.

Each restricted area has only one entrance and exit. Unless Jiang Rou stubbornly refuses to leave the City of the Dead, it's only a matter of time before she's dealt with.

The reason he acted so hastily was that once they left the restricted area, the company would sense the signal from the miniature cameras implanted in the new recruits' eyes. If he then tried to silence them, it would be difficult to explain to the company.

However, if it's just one person... the report is much easier to write.