You say the cataclysm only comes after you've cleared the entire dungeon?

Luo Zeyan's brows were so furrowed they could trap a mosquito.

"You mean, that Class B zombie was raised by a superhuman?"

He had never heard of such a heinous operation before, and he tried to find some theoretical support for it.

Lou Fengyue shook her head, her eyes as deep and unfathomable as a cold pool. "The entire neighborhood is being kept in captivity. Those survivors are food for the zombies, and the crystal cores in the zombies' heads are food for the superhumans."

Such perverse behavior has occurred during the Trials of Natural Disasters.

Some people awakened supernatural abilities and became "managers" of an area, righteously declaring that they would go out to find survival supplies for others.

The supplies were recovered and used to feed a large number of people.

Everyone revered it as a savior, unaware that it secretly kept zombies at home.

It's not difficult to keep a few F-class idiots locked up.

Leaving a few idiots as a cover to prevent other survivors from escaping is not difficult.

Then, find a suitable reason to take away a few survivors every now and then and send them to feed the zombies.

Once the zombies level up, kill them and absorb the crystal cores to enhance your abilities.

This upgrade method is much faster than simply going outside to kill zombies.

Li Yichen's eyes reddened, and his throat was dry and hoarse. He forced a smile that looked more like a grimace: "Your imagination... is a bit too wild, isn't it?"

"There are plenty of perverts even in peacetime, let alone in the apocalypse?" Lou Fengyue replied calmly, knowing that Li Yichen wasn't questioning, but rather disbelieving.

If it were her parents being kept as food for zombies, she would probably be even more anxious than Li Yichen.

They even went so far as to bulldoze the entire neighborhood.

There was a moment of silence, so quiet it was hard to breathe.

Lou Fengyue glanced at the two silent people and suddenly remembered what her awakened original ability was... Dark-type ability?

Can it teleport in the dark, or hide in the shadows?

Does that mean that if there's a shadow in the door crack, she doesn't need to pry open the door; she can simply slip through the shadow into the room?

You can observe who lives in each room without showing your face.

They can even scale walls and rooftops!

[The host has grasped the advanced uses of this ability; with sufficient control, it can be achieved.]

Lou Fengyue's eyes lit up almost imperceptibly. This was practically an invincible, advanced version of wind magic combined with teleportation!

No other superhumans have been detected in the community yet, so the "administrator" behind the scenes probably hasn't returned yet.

She can use this time to scout out the situation.

"Show me a picture of your parents," she said. "I have a way of confirming whether your parents are among the survivors."

Luo Zeyan and Li Yichen exchanged glances. Neither of them doubted Lou Fengyue's abilities, nor did they ask her how she would accomplish it.

I simply pulled out a group photo and handed it over.

"This photo was taken during our two families' trip last National Day holiday," Luo Zeyan said.

Lou Fengyue took the photo, looked at it for a few seconds, and then placed it on the coffee table.

He then took out his phone and snapped a picture of the two of them.

"I will use anti-sensory technology to seal this room. You all wait here."

She stood up, paused at the door, and turned to look at Luo Zeyan.

"Lock the door."

Without hesitation, Luo Zeyan locked the door from the inside.

At noon, the sun was shining brightly outside.

All the windows on the first to third floors were sealed with old newspapers, which actually made it easier for Lou Fengyue to move around.

She reached the third floor, crouched down, and touched the shadows on the floor with her fingertips.

Close your eyes and draw upon that unfamiliar, never-before-used power within your body.

Dark-type abilities are neither as violent as lightning nor as cold as ice-type abilities.

Instead, it was heavy and viscous, like an undercurrent in deep water, silently enveloping her.

Lou Fengyue felt her body becoming lighter, but her consciousness becoming exceptionally clear.

The perspective shifted as she sank into the shadow of the ground.

Each shadow connects to another: the light gaps under the door, the dark corners cast by the window frames, the gaps at the bottom of the cabinets... like underground tunnels, crisscrossing and winding through this old residential building.

Lou Fengyue glided along with her shadow, like a drop of water flowing along the veins of a leaf.

She went down and slipped under the door to enter the first apartment on the third floor.

The living room lights were off, the curtains were drawn tightly, and only a candle burned in the corner, its flame flickering in the draft.

The two women huddled on the sofa, hugging their knees, their faces ashen, staring blankly at the candle.

There was a man boiling water in the kitchen, using an old-fashioned gas stove, with only a little gas left in the gas cylinder.

The kettle lid was hissing from the steam, but he didn't turn off the stove. He just stood there, gazing out the window in a daze.

Lou Fengyue withdrew and followed the shadow into the second house.

There are no parents for Luo Zeyan, nor for Li Yichen.

Three households, four households, five households.

The curtains in every household were drawn, which suggests that the "manager" had been using the PUA tactics quite a bit.

The zombies roaming outside are used to scare the survivors, keeping them completely unaware of what's happening outside, thus becoming "nourishment" for those trapped in the cages.

Lou Fengyue saw Li Yichen's father in a unit in the middle of the first floor.

The man leaned against the balcony door, clutching an iron pipe in his hand, his eyes fixed on the outside of the window, as if he were guarding something.

He was much thinner than in the photos; his cheeks were sunken and his eye sockets were deep, but his back was very straight.

There was another woman in the living room, Li Yichen's mother. She sat at the dining table with a half-empty bottle of mineral water and an opened bag of biscuits in front of her. She didn't eat, but just stared blankly at the family photo on the table.

In the photo, Li Yichen is wearing an academic gown, smiling broadly and showing off his teeth, looking very spirited.

Lou Fengyue observed the situation inside the room.

There were no superhumans, no zombies, no one else, just the couple, and a few bottles of mineral water and some instant noodles and biscuits in the corner.

The door was locked from the inside, not trapped from the outside.

That means they didn't know they were being treated like livestock, and they even trusted the person who gave them food and water.

Lou Fengyue emerged from the shadows.

The viscous, heavy feeling gradually disappeared, as if I had been dredged up from the deep sea.

The figure gradually appeared in front of the woman, who was so frightened that she dropped the cookie in her hand and was about to scream.

Lou Fengyue quickly covered her mouth and whispered, "Don't shout, Li Yichen sent me."

Upon hearing her son's name, the woman's eyes instantly reddened, and tears fell onto Lou Fengyue's hand.

The man standing guard on the balcony heard the noise, turned around, and was startled to see that there was someone else in the house.

But the existence of superhumans was already common knowledge, so he quickly calmed himself down and simply assumed it was a type of superpower.

Lou Fengyue turned her head to look at Li's father, then at Li's mother in front of her, and slowly withdrew her hand.

Li Jingshuo and Tao Yi exchanged a glance, seemingly wary of whether they should trust the person in front of them.

Lou Fengyue deftly pulled out her phone, opened the photo she had just taken of Luo Zeyan and Li Yichen, and handed it over: "They're upstairs. But this neighborhood isn't safe. I'll just ask a few questions and then leave. Don't disturb anyone else."