Apocalypse: The Primordial Pearl Recognizes Its Master, Starting with Infinite Space

Lin Chen shrugged helplessly: "But I still don't understand."

He's really confused.

I spent ages haggling with Staff Officer Chen before finally getting a chance to "make a deal." How come once we got to Dongguan, they just "handed it all over"?

Li Meng smiled slightly, a smile that carried a hint of "seeing through it but not saying it".

"Lord Lin, you can go and see Commander Peng when you have time. You'll understand once you see him."

Lin Chen nodded thoughtfully.

"Yes, I must visit when I have time."

The subsequent talks were much easier.

Li Meng was forthright, and Lin Chen wasn't pretentious either. The two chatted about the situation in Dongguan and the development in Guangzhou, and the atmosphere was quite harmonious.

Half an hour later, Lin Chen got up to say goodbye.

He took more than 500,000 crystal cores from Li Meng—more than twice as many as the Fierce Tiger Gang—without spending a single penny.

Before leaving, he thought for a moment, then casually waved his hand, leaving a pile of supplies on the open ground.

The winter clothes were neatly stacked into several piles.

Fresh fruits and vegetables were packed tightly into boxes.

There are also some odds and ends of daily necessities that might be lacking in Dongguan.

Li Meng was taken aback: "Lord Lin, this is...?"

Lin Chen waved his hand: "I didn't know what you needed, so I just left some random things."

He paused, then added, "We can't just take it for free."

Li Meng looked at the pile of supplies, then at Lin Chen, and suddenly smiled.

"Lord Lin is very kind."

Lin Chen had already turned around and was leading Yuanzai out, heading towards their last destination of the day—the old town of Dongguan.

Li Meng stood there, watching the man and the bear disappear at the end of the passage, his gaze lingering for a long time.

Lin Chen headed north, asking many survivors along the way, and finally figured out the location of the Big Knife Society.

It's called a hideout, but it's really just an underground parking lot in an old residential area. What was just an ordinary parking lot before the apocalypse has now been transformed into a hiding place.

Lin Chen led Yuanzai through the gate of the residential complex and followed the signs to the parking lot entrance. They were stopped by two guards at the gate as soon as they reached their spot.

The two stared blankly at Lin Chen—or more accurately, at the round, chubby panda behind him.

"What are you doing?" one of the henchmen asked, snapping out of his daze.

"Find your leader, Huang Jun, and discuss some cooperation."

Upon hearing the name "Huang Jun," the underling's eyebrows immediately furrowed.

"Kid, how dare you call our boss by his name?" He stepped forward and reached out to grab Lin Chen's shoulder. "Do you have a death wish—"

"Bang."

Before the words were even finished, the person had already flown away.

The underling was slammed horizontally against the wall next to him and remained motionless.

Lin Chen withdrew his gaze, his tone as calm as if nothing had happened:

"Speak politely, and don't get physical."

The remaining henchman's legs went weak, and he almost knelt down.

His lips trembled, his face was as white as plaster on the wall, his eyes were fixed on the lump on the wall, and he made a "gurgling" sound in his throat, unable to utter a complete sentence.

Lin Chen looked at him and said, "Take me inside to find your boss. We'll discuss some cooperation."

The younger brother seemed to wake from a dream, nodding vigorously like a chicken pecking at rice.

"Yes...yes! This way, please!"

The younger brother led the way, trembling, with Lin Chen and Yuanzai following behind.

The underground parking lot was even colder and more gloomy than I had imagined.

A few dim electric lights were lit sparsely, and the places where the light didn't reach were so dark they looked like they could swallow a person whole.

The air was filled with a mixture of musty smells, sweaty smells, and an indescribable fishy odor.

Lin Chen frowned.

The environment was far worse than that of the Tiger Gang, let alone compared to the military.

He glanced around and suddenly asked, "There are so few people in this shelter? How come there isn't a single ordinary person?"

The younger brother stiffened, his voice trembling even more: "B-Boss said...it's the apocalypse, so we need to follow an elite strategy. Ordinary people are just a burden, so..."

He didn't finish speaking, but his meaning was already quite clear.

Lin Chen nodded.

He had seen this kind of approach many times in his previous life. Many teams believed in this strategy—ordinary people are useless, so they should be discarded.

"roar--"

A low, guttural roar suddenly rang out.

Lin Chen looked in the direction of the sound.

In the corner, several rusty iron cages were stacked together. By the dim firelight, one could see what was inside—zombies.

Not just one or two, but seven or eight. Some were lying down, some were standing, and some were scratching at the iron bars with their rotting fingers, making a harsh scraping sound.

Lin Chen paused in his steps.

"You're even keeping zombies?"

Cold sweat instantly poured down the younger man's face, dripping down his chin and into his collar, but he didn't dare wipe it away.

"The boss said... high-level zombies are too rare..." he stammered, "He wants to try... whether he can artificially cultivate them..."

His voice grew softer and softer until it was almost inaudible.

Lin Chen didn't say anything.

He simply stared silently at the iron cages, his gaze deep and thoughtful.

These zombies are no longer the same as when they were first captured—they faintly exude the aura of the peak of the second tier, and some have even touched the edge of the third tier.

Lin Chen looked away without saying a word.

The younger brother continued to lead the way, his pace quickening, eager to escape the area immediately.

Next, Lin Chen saw many more cages like this, with plenty of fresh flesh and blood next to them!

In the surrounding darkness, you can vaguely see some small rooms partitioned off with discarded building materials.

The door, pieced together from sheet metal, wooden planks, and rags, let out dim light through its cracks.

A scream came from one of the rooms.

Then came the woman's cries and intermittent pleas for mercy.

Then came a burst of vulgar laughter.

Lin Chen paused in his steps.

Yuanzai let out a low growl from its throat—it hated the smell, the sounds, and the damp, cold place.

No one paid any attention to Lin Chen, this "stranger" who had suddenly appeared.

The people in those rooms were busy with their own things.

Finally, the two of them went down to level B2.

Four guards appeared ahead, warming their hands around a pile of charcoal. Hearing footsteps, they all looked up at the same time.

Then they both froze.

A skinny young man was leading a stranger, and behind the stranger was a giant panda—this combination looked incredibly bizarre.

"Skinny Dog?" A burly guard stood up, staring warily at Lin Chen. "Who is this guy? How did you bring him in?"

The skinny dog ​​seemed to have seen a savior, rushing over in three strides and hiding behind the man, his voice trembling:

"Brother Biao! This guy...this guy's here to cause trouble!"

He pointed at Lin Chen, speaking rapidly:

"He killed Kou Shuiwei up there just now!"