111 The Secret to Enhancing Abilities!

The zombies that had charged in were mostly caught in the explosion. The majority of the remaining zombies, having lost their leader, reverted to their usual mindless, sluggish state and no longer advanced toward the cannery.

Qin Fengshan looked at the leader lying on the ground, his expression one of disbelief. "You actually captured him!"

In Qin’s mind, the leader was a powerful, invincible figure. His bizarre supernatural abilities were like those of a demon. He never imagined that Xue Feng could defeat him—and seemingly wipe out the zombies in the process.

"That’s right. I’m going to interrogate him now. If anything he says doesn't add up, let me know," Xue Feng said with a nod. He had already changed into a fresh set of clothes; he had no interest in parading around half-naked in front of another man.

"Understood!" A look of excitement flickered in Qin Fengshan's eyes. He knew Xue Feng’s methods of interrogation were terrifying. If he had been slightly less lucky back at the television station, it would have been him suffering that fate.

"By the way," Xue Feng noted before beginning, "there don't seem to be any women in your base." He had scanned the area and found no signs of other survivors; they had all been consumed by the zombies. It was strange that among the survivors, not a single one was female.

Qin Fengshan’s face darkened. Just as he was about to explain, the leader spoke up from the ground.

"Heh, what use are women? They’re nothing but baggage! The apocalypse has no need for women; they only serve to erode a man’s fighting spirit," the leader scoffed.

What? No need for women? Xue Feng found this answer bizarre and instinctively glanced at Qin Fengshan.

"It’s true. There are no women in our base; they were all killed," Qin confirmed with a nod. The reasoning was just as the leader had stated—in his eyes, women were a liability.

Xue Feng found this incredible. In the previous survivor bases he had encountered, women were considered vital resources. Beyond fulfilling the physiological needs of the men, they could handle various chores. In Gu Xiaoqian's base, a civil war had even broken out over women. It was inconceivable that this place would reject them entirely.

No normal man could endure such isolation. Especially under the high-pressure environment of the apocalypse, failing to release that pent-up stress would eventually lead to a mental breakdown.

"You aren't impotent, are you?" Xue Feng stared at the leader. It was the only explanation he could think of—that the leader simply lacked the desire.

"What! You... you're spouting nonsense!" The leader became agitated instantly. If he hadn't been bound and exhausted, his angry expression suggested he would have summoned his dark shadows to fight to the death.

"Now that you mention it, I’ve never seen him with a woman! So, he really has lost his manhood!" Qin Fengshan added with a mocking sneer. While the base didn't keep women, the other members would inevitably enjoy themselves with female survivors they captured before killing them. The leader, however, never participated.

"You!" The leader glared at Qin with eyes that seemed ready to burst into flames. The fact that Qin was talking to Xue Feng was proof enough of his betrayal.

The leader’s anger soon faded, replaced by agonizing wails. Xue Feng had too much to learn from him to be gentle. He had no intention of letting the leader live, so he made sure the interrogation was as painful as possible. Such a powerful esper could never be controlled; he would only eventually turn on him.

Initially, the leader tried to grit his teeth and endure, but he quickly begged for a swift death, spilling every secret he knew.

His story was simple: he had been a security guard at an apartment complex. When the apocalypse broke out, he discovered his powers. Survivors gathered around him for protection, and as they fawned over him to stay alive, he began to feel like an emperor. His mindset shifted, and he became addicted to the feeling of total control. Eventually, when the food in the area ran out, he led dozens of people out to look for a new sanctuary, eventually stumbling upon the cannery.

What Xue Feng cared about most was how the leader leveled up his powers. After crushing all six of the leader’s toes, the secret finally came out.

The leader had been experimenting ever since he discovered the crystal cores. He found that swallowing them was the simplest method. Once ingested, the core didn't pass through the body; its power was gradually absorbed. However, one couldn't consume too many at once. A core from an ordinary zombie took three days to digest, while an elite mutant's core took ten days. A second-tier mutant's core took about a month. He hadn't tried a third-tier core yet because it was the size of an apple—too large to swallow. Perhaps it would have to be cut into pieces.

Furthermore, the higher the rank of the core, the more energy it provided. Ordinary cores no longer worked for him; he now consumed only second-tier cores.

Xue Feng wasn't surprised by this information. He had suspected as much; his own dog, Panther, had eaten several cores without any adverse reactions, becoming stronger and smarter instead. Xue Feng simply hadn't reached the point of insanity required to perform human experiments, nor would he ever subject his own women to such risks.

To verify this, after the leader breathed his last, Xue Feng cut open his stomach—there were no other esper corpses left, as the rest had been mangled by zombies. Sure enough, inside the leader's stomach lay a crystal core, mostly absorbed. It had bonded with the human tissue, preventing it from being passed and posing no danger.

"To think the secret of evolution is so simple: it is merely consumption," Xue Feng remarked with a sigh. Zombies evolved by consuming humans and other living things, with mutants becoming less interested in ordinary humans and more focused on espers. And the path for an esper’s evolution was the same—devouring the crystal cores found within the brains of mutants!