Apocalypse: I Can See the HP Bar, Killing Monsters Drops Loot

"Thank you! Thank you, Mr. Wang!"

Cui Sheng quickly bowed in thanks. He didn't bother with polite refusals and promptly accepted the offer.

Between big shots, courtesy was common, but the status between him and Wang Tao was not equal; this was a reward from Wang Tao. If he had refused, it would have seemed ungrateful.

Moreover, everyone was an adult and knew that interests were the foundation of relationships. He devoted himself to serving Wang Tao precisely to gain something from him. If he had refused everything, Wang Tao might have suspected ulterior motives...

After finishing breakfast, Wang Tao said to everyone:

"Let's go, we're leaving the city."

"Okay~"

Cui Sheng was still waiting outside, and when he saw Wang Tao and his group come out, he hurried to open the car door for them.

This time, Wang Tao was in an armed bulletproof minibus. It had enough space for everyone.

They could have taken a helicopter, which was parked within the Third Legion.

However, Duan Xuchang had previously warned Wang Tao that there were flying zombies and monsters outside. If the plane flew too low, it was likely to be attacked, and if it flew too high, it might stall... For safety sake, they had decided against using the aircraft for now.

The vehicle left the villa district and, after a while, arrived outside the East City Gate.

"Mr. Wang, I wish you a victorious return!" Cui Sheng said respectfully.

"Let's hope so," Wang Tao replied.

After registering, the vehicle smoothly left the Changhe Base through a side entrance.

On their first visit to Changhe Base, they had used the East City Gate. So, seeing the railway tracks outside the city evoked a sense of nostalgia in everyone.

"Eh? What's that for?" Ding Yuqin suddenly pointed to an area cordoned off by soldiers and asked.

Wang Tao glanced over and said with a smile:

"That's where the City Hall and the Legion are mining the meteorite."

"So it's here!" Ding Yuqin realized and then felt somewhat aggrieved.

"Hmph! I hope they never find anything good!"

The City Hall had promised to call Wang Tao the next day but had changed their plans without notice, which naturally upset him and his team.

"Don't worry about them," Wang Tao said, shaking his head dismissively, as it was irrelevant to him since he had already reviewed the data and drawn his conclusions.

At the city gate, there was still a considerable flow of people. As they moved further from the base, the number of people dwindled.

However, there were neither zombies nor monsters nearby, making their journey unusually safe, something they were not quite accustomed to.

Previously, whether at a military base or at Zijin Base, they had become used to seeing hordes of zombies as soon as they stepped outside...

The lack of zombies was probably due to the geographic location; Changhe Base was built on a wasteland where not only were there no cities nearby, there weren't even other buildings, so the absence of zombies was normal.

After a long walk, they finally encountered zombies.

Everyone actually breathed a sigh of relief; Wei Zhenguo even exclaimed:

"I almost thought it was before the apocalypse..."

Everyone grabbed their weapons and disembarked.

This was a group of ordinary zombies, ranging from Levels 1 to 3.

Wang Tao let Lan Yulian and He Jijun take action. One of the main purposes of this outing was to boost their HP to 110,000. Discover exclusive content at My Virtual Library Empire

He Jijun's strength was unquestionable. Wielding an axe, he easily chopped down these ordinary zombies. Although Lan Yulian was not skilled in combat, her level allowed her to easily defeat them as well.

Moments later, the group of zombies had all been decapitated. Inside their heads were gray crystal cores.

[Level 3 Crystal Core]

[Quality: Inferior quality (2%)]

[Purity: 4% (Side effects: None)]

Looking at the crystal core in his hand, Wang Tao frowned slightly, as he was not sure what it could be used for yet. However, the strength of these zombies was indeed a lot stronger, just as Duan Xuchang had described. While this posed no threat to Wang Tao and his team, it could significantly affect weaker ability users...

"Let's go."

After checking the zombie corpses and confirming there was nothing else, Wang Tao led everyone to the car and headed for the address Qu Shilin had given.

Wang Tao was quite curious about this place. When he previously found the strength mushroom, there were also defense mushrooms nearby, and he wondered if there were any other special plants here.

On the road, Wang Tao unexpectedly came across a group of over a hundred roaming zombies. Although there was no Level 4, Lord, there were Level 3 and Level 4 ordinary and elite zombies.

This was an opportunity not to be missed, so Wang Tao led his team into the midst of the zombies and started a massacre.

For Wang Tao's team, all of whom were Level 3 ability users or higher, including three Level 4 ability users, this group of zombies obviously posed no threat. However, to let Lan Yulian and He Jijun have all the kills, they spent a bit more time than usual.

After clearing out the group of zombies, Wang Tao obtained many crystal cores. Although none of them bore any abilities, being Level 3 and Level 4 crystal cores, they were still very valuable.

The most important thing, however, was that Lan Yulian and Xiang Hongbin reached 50,000 and 60,000 HP, respectively.

Although their HP wasn't full yet, they were already above the safety line, so Wang Tao no longer needed to worry.

At three in the afternoon, Wang Tao and his team finally arrived at the hillside Qu Shilin had mentioned.

"It should be... this way, let's go!"

Wang Tao parked his vehicle at the base of the hill, leaving some people to watch the car while he led others up the hill.

The hill was quite bare of trees due to the season.

Following the map Qu Shilin had given to Wang Tao, they quickly found the specific spot.

It was a very hidden cave, camouflaged on the outside just as Qu Shilin had described. Wang Tao checked and the disguise appeared untouched.

But Wang Tao did not let his guard down. He carefully peeled back the entrance's disguise, revealing a slightly smaller entrance.

Wang Tao's eyes emitted a faint green light, clearly showing that the interior was spacious with a sinuous downward leading tunnel that he couldn't see where it led. There was nothing dangerous or any mushrooms in sight within his range of view.

"It's safe, come in!"

Wang Tao led several people inside.

Then he carefully sensed his surroundings using his plant affinity. Everything within his range of perception was safe. However, the cave was very deep, and even his plant affinity couldn't reach the bottom.

Qu Shilin had previously told Wang Tao that the team cooperating with her had ventured deep into this cave and they had found nothing inside but mushrooms and other similar things.

Wang Tao had initially thought this information was reliable, but now, seeing the actual situation, Wang Tao felt that the team hadn't told the truth.

Because the cave was too deep and sloped downward at a steep angle, with some parts having a 90-degree drop.

So not to mention whether they dared to go down, whether they could come back up was a big issue.

Wang Tao felt that the team probably had not ventured down, but had also not encountered any danger, so they said it was safe here.

Clearly, there were no zombies in such a place, but whether there were other monsters was uncertain.

However, Wang Tao did not plan to go deep because he had already spotted strength mushrooms not far away.

He saw a large cluster of pure white mushrooms, speckled with red, around a corner.

Wang Tao walked over and picked one.

[Obtained: Strength Mushroom x1]

[Strength Mushroom: Crafting material, edible. Consuming it temporarily boosts strength but induces hallucinations for a duration.]

"These are the mushrooms. Go ahead and pick them. I'll keep watch."

I waved my hand.

"Alright!"

Everyone immediately sprang into action.

There were more strength mushrooms here than Wang Tao had anticipated. After picking the entire area clean, they had gathered over twelve hundred!

Besides the hundred promised to Qu Shilin, the rest could be used to make many strength potions!"Hmm?"

Just as Wang Tao had put all the mushrooms into his space backpack, his brow suddenly arched.

"Someone's coming!"