"Good job!" Brian Carter stepped forward and rubbed the black panther's neck. Just now, he clearly felt a trace of pure mental power flow from that bedroom into his own river of mental power. He knew this was the contribution from the zombie that the black panther had just taken down. After checking his own status, his mental power had increased from 5 to 6 points. This perfectly confirmed Brian Carter's calculations from a few days ago: killing zombies could grant mental power.

Next up were the residents on the other side. This side was a bit more troublesome, with two zombies. But they were both ordinary zombies, so it only took the black panther a dozen more seconds. When the black panther came out, there was just a bit more crimson at the corner of its mouth.

Now that he had a rough idea of the black panther's combat ability, Brian Carter decided to make a trip to the Wanjiale Supermarket today and bring back that gasoline generator.

"Hopefully those people haven't taken it away. Not only is that thing heavy and fuel-consuming, but it's not much use to a mobile convoy anyway."

※※※※

"Whew..." A light breeze blew by, carrying a faint scent of blood over the deserted intersection. The sky was overcast with clouds, and the vehicles that had once clogged the intersection had been completely cleared to the sidewalks on both sides. Piles of scattered car parts were stacked up, and only a few intact transport trucks remained parked by the roadside.

Brian Carter followed behind the black panther, cautiously jogging toward the Wanjiale Supermarket. Over the past few days, he had figured out the zombies' activity patterns.

Most zombies were unwilling to come out during the day. These reeking corpses, except for the first day when they went berserk and rushed out, had not once appeared on the streets during daylight hours since then.

But there were occasional exceptions.

He made his way calmly along the main road of the neighborhood to the entrance of the Wanjiale Supermarket. The red supermarket sign was slanted at the entrance, covered in dried blood. Most of the beautiful celebrity's face on the sign was obscured by bloodstains, giving it a strange, eerie beauty.

From the entrance, Brian Carter looked inside. The supermarket had four or five additional windows open, making the interior quite bright. The rows of food shelves were empty, and the soft sound of Brian Carter's sneakers on the smooth white marble floor echoed quietly. The black panther, however, moved like a ghost, completely silent, loyally following at Brian Carter's side.

"Bang!" The dark storage room was suddenly kicked open, and light instantly streamed in from outside.

"Cough, cough, cough..." A short-haired man in light blue jeans and a black long-sleeved T-shirt appeared at the storage room door. The hem of his T-shirt was tucked into his jeans, making him look a bit odd.

"Sure enough, it hasn't been taken away." A faint smile appeared on the man's not-so-handsome face. At his pant leg, a black panther's head the size of a washbasin poked out, calmly surveying everything in the storage room.

"Woof... woof woof!!" Just then, a burst of urgent barking came from outside.

"Bang!" Then came a gunshot.

"Damn it! Where did these Sun Chasers come from? Those damn dogs weren't here just now!" a loud-voiced man roared angrily.

"Aim for the neck! The neck, Andrew!"

"Boss, don't move, I can't aim!" another male voice shouted anxiously.

"Let me do it!" This time it was a somewhat gloomy male voice.

"Bang." After this gunshot, the barking stopped abruptly. It seemed to be over.

Suddenly, Brian Carter seemed to hear something in his ear. He squinted and listened carefully for a moment, his expression suddenly changing. He didn't even bother with the generator and quickly led the black panther toward the supermarket entrance—just in time to run into the newcomers.

Brian Carter had to stop and size them up. The leader was a burly man with a buzz cut, wearing a black tank top that exposed large, solid muscles. A prominent tiger head was tattooed on his right arm.

Following behind were two others: one was a gloomy-faced young man with long hair, still changing the magazine in his gun; the other was a boy who looked like a high school student, with a youthful face, probably not even eighteen.

The burly man with the tiger tattoo was cursing under his breath, rubbing his right shoulder. When he saw Brian Carter coming out of the supermarket, he immediately grinned.

"Hey! Another one—today's our lucky day." The big man chuckled twice, his gaze sweeping over the black panther at Brian Carter's feet, eyes narrowing slightly.

"Did you escape from the city?" Brian Carter asked, gently stroking the black panther's neck.

"Buddy, do you live around here?" the big man replied, dodging the question.

"I need some information about the area. Looks like you're the boss—want to trade?"

"Trade? Heh heh..." The big man laughed.

"What's so funny?" Brian Carter said in a low voice.

The long-haired young man with the gun curled his lips, slowly finishing loading his pistol.

"Bro, times have changed. Haven't you watched the news or TV? The whole world..." He exaggeratedly raised his arms in a wide gesture. "It's all infected. The government, the army, it's all a mess. You know the Third Military District near Minshan City? It's a disaster in there... tsk tsk..."

"That's not right. Just a few days ago, I saw army armored vehicles leading a convoy out toward the suburbs," Brian Carter paused his hand on the black panther, squinting as he spoke.