Sima Lei's manor was located in a wealthy neighborhood with high security.

Of course, after the meteor shower and the entire world was put to sleep, the security was as good as nonexistent.

The fact that there were fifty or so zombies that had gathered inside Sima Lei's mansion and the reasoning behind such an event naturally happening was questionable.

After all, even if the total population in the community consisted of the wealthy homeowners in addition to their hired hands and the security guards, how could so many zombies possibly be gathered in one massive mansion when the distance between each residence was so substantial?

Although the man who killed Sima Lei certainly hated him very much, wouldn't it be too inefficient to personally run far distances to attract zombies just to gang up on one person? Furthermore, it was unreasonable no matter which way one looked at it since if he truly wanted Sima Lei to die or turn into a zombie, he didn't need a horde to do it.

That was why Feng Xinya felt that the zombies possessed superior senses and perhaps even a sixth sense that could detect the fluctuations of an ability-user's power.

The only materials he could work with were the fact that Sima Lei's ability exploded right before his death, as well as his own currently unstable ability, and the crystal nuclei he'd dug from the corpses on the staircase earlier.

The shockwaves of Sima Lei's strong ability could have resonated with the zombies, attracting them to his location.

As for the initial strength of abilities upon awakening at the beginning of this apocalypse, Feng Xinya could not say. After all, he only had Sima Lei to work from and even Sima Lei's ability was akin to fireworks blooming beautifully before disappearing. Due to that occurrence, Sima Lei's memories of his ability were not useful in gauging its initial power level upon awakening.

Furthermore, Feng Xinya wasn't sure if the ability's level was set in stone from the beginning or if it would have room to grow just based on his knowledge of the existence of crystal nuclei. This was something only time would tell.

Feng Xinya's ability was leaking from his body, but it was terribly weak and almost undetectable to the point that he couldn't even use it anymore. He felt that only the more sensitive zombies would be able to find him if they were truly capable of perceiving the fluctuations in the air caused by abilities.

Regarding the crystal nuclei that were extracted from the undead, Feng Xinya theorized that since Sima Lei had a crystal nucleus that was akin to a medium to use his ability, the zombies should probably have something similar. Of course, just because they had a nucleus did not mean they possessed abilities like Sima Lei's or even sensing abilities. This was because the energy from the nucleus could be fueling the corpses rather than serving as a medium for abilities.

The only way he could confirm the function of the zombies' crystal nuclei was to observe them personally.

Feng Xinya let Xiao keep the fifty small, gray nuclei within the system space before he strolled out the tall doors of Sima Lei's manor.

The distance between Sima Lei's manor and its gates normally took about five minutes to cross by car, but as he wasn't in a rush, Feng Xinya decided to walk. This would give the zombies ample time to approach if they could detect him. Moreover, Sima Lei's garage was probably also ransacked by his killer, so it wasn't as if he had a vehicle to drive in the first place.

So, Feng Xinya took a scenic walk through his own front yard full of trees, grass, and shrubbery. Sure enough, there were the occasional stragglers wandering around, and as soon as they noticed his figure they would saunter over at full speed.

The fact that the few remaining zombies were simply loitering in Sima Lei's front yard evidenced that they were initially attracted to the area by something, but as if a signal had been cut, they soon lost their momentum and wandered aimlessly until something else popped up.

The initial drawing force was probably Sima Lei's self-detonation, and as the fluctuations that were caused by it died down, the less perceptive zombies lost their direction and diverged from the path to his body.

After gauging their average scope of range and disposing of them, Xinya slashed their heads in half to dig out their crystal nuclei. The fact that all of the zombies he'd dissected so far possessed nuclei already made him surmise that the crystal probably served more like a battery to the undead rather than a vessel for abilities. At least, the few that he'd seen did not possess anything out of the ordinary aside from some variations in speed and strength. Moreover, the size and color of the nuclei were roughly the same with almost no distinction from one another.

It could be that all of the zombies possessed a shared ability to detect human ability-users, thus explaining the existence of nuclei within all of them but that conjecture was still a little far-fetched with his lack of evidence. If anything, maybe the ability to detect and track their prey was ingrained within their instincts and wasn't an "ability" at all, not needing to be stored within the crystal nucleus.

Although it didn't really matter to Feng Xinya what capabilities the zombies possessed, he didn't want to be caught unaware and more importantly he felt that uncovering the logic behind the nuclei would bring him closer to unveiling the method to materialize his own in this world. In fact, he'd already hypothesized a few solutions, but he was going to wait for Xiao to get back to him with the information in order to confirm his theories.

When Feng Xinya finally arrived at the outer gates of Sima Lei's residence, he observed that the streets of the community were desolate and barren. Crashed cars decorated the roads and sidewalks, with dried and fresh blood dripping from the doors and windows. Some of the doors and windows had been burst open and the seats were empty. Clearly, the corpses had become reanimated and probably already fell victim to Xinya's sword.

As this rich neighborhood with a large surface area and sparse population wasn't the best place to find surviving humans to observe them, Xinya promptly hot-wired the closest and least wrecked vehicle—a red Bugatti Chiron—using Sima Lei's memories.

He planned to head directly to the nearest military base in order to more accurately assess the current status quo of the humans and the zombies. Moreover, as a Major General of Z Country's military, Sima Lei would be expected to immediately report in such a dire emergency situation. By heading to Z City's base, he would not only be reporting in according to his duty, but he would also be able to gain relevant information since aside from police offices, military bases would attract the most attention from people in states of emergencies due to the speed at which they circulated information.

The way to the base was predominantly free of obstacles aside from the smashed cars and fallen light posts. Sima Lei lived relatively and conveniently close to the base, so he didn't have to pass by any urban areas or busy highways.

Sure enough, even though it had only been a little over two days after the meteor shower, there was already some sense of order within the compound. That was, if one could ignore the bloodied walls and ground, as well as the tense atmosphere lingering above the sentry guards.

When Feng Xinya rolled in with the flashy red sports car, the three sentry guards immediately lifted their rifles, ready to fire at any uninvited visitors. The fourth man seemed to have left to relay to the higher-ups of a possible troublemaker, as the sports car Feng Xinya was in was pricey and served as a symbol of the driver's social status. Even if it was the apocalypse, it was only the beginning. The soldiers did not know if it was okay to offend the bigshots.

Driving up to the area slowly so as to not alarm the remaining three guards, Feng Xinya parked the car when he was about fifty meters away from the compound's gates. Seeing this, the soldiers silently let out their breaths in relief but kept their guards up.

Feng Xinya unhurriedly opened the door, causing the tension in the air to rise to an all-time high as the guards anxiously waited to find out just which heavyweight they could have possibly offended already. His stylish dark brown ankle boots touched the floor as Xinya rose from the vehicle to a stand. The tall and daunting figure faced the three sentries, causing them to sharply suck in the cold winter air.

The first to drop their gun was the left-most man, his hands trembling and his face paling as he stood on top of the wall.

"M-Major General, sir!" As respectfully as he could whilst still immersed in shock, the guard saluted respectfully, causing his comrades to similarly break out into a panic and following his actions.

""Major General, sir!""

Although the guards were caught off-guard by Feng Xinya's sudden appearance, they were also glad and relieved that their most reliable commander was back when they needed him the most.