In his past life, when he encountered fourth-tier zombies, as a wood-type ability user of the same tier, he was barely able to handle them. He knew their intelligence was higher than third-tier zombies, and as Xu Nuo pointed out, the higher the zombie's intelligence, the less they would be fooled by their simple arrays.
In the future, dealing with zombies en masse using arrays would become increasingly difficult. However, since Lü Xia was sitting in front, even though they trusted her more now, some secrets couldn't be openly discussed in front of her. So, Park Su just nodded in acknowledgment, "I think your guess is probably right. By the third tier, their intelligence is already quite high.
I think as zombie intelligence grows, they won't be tricked by our simple traps anymore, and higher-tier zombies might control lower-tier ones. Like the situation we encountered at the resort, if they have any strategy, they won't let low-tier zombies fall into our traps, reducing our opportunities to deal with zombies the way we have been."
Hearing this expected answer, Xu Nuo fell into deep thought. It seemed that zombies had only two advantages over humans: their overwhelming numbers and their ability to spread their virus.
However, after this battle, he suddenly realized there might be another advantage: their evolution rate was much faster than that of human ability users.
Like the ability users around them now, most were mid-tier first level, with a few reaching the peak of first level. Among these ten, only one had reached the second level.
Xu Nuo, being concerned about their situation, had naturally overheard their conversations and learned that in Base S, second-level ability users were already highly sought after by these teams. If he didn't have three dependents with him, he might have been able to move to a better place.
Understanding this situation, Xu Nuo could infer that the number of second-tier ability users in the entire Base S was probably not very high.
As for third-tier ability users, they were even rarer, with only about ten of them according to previous conversations he had overheard.
Considering that the population of Base S had reached 100,000, including ordinary humans, this meant that only one in ten thousand survivors had reached the third tier.
Yet, today, the number of second-tier zombies he encountered was more than double what he had faced at the resort a month ago. This evolution speed was truly astonishing, but upon reflection, it wasn't impossible. After all, post-apocalypse, nearly 80% of humans turned into zombies, possibly because zombies were more suited to survive in this strange new world.
This realization also instilled a sense of crisis in Xu Nuo. In his view, if zombies continued to evolve at this rate and humans couldn't find a way to mass eliminate them, extinction would only be a matter of time.
A third-tier zombie could lead first and second-tier zombies to attack a person or a place, even claiming territory to find things beneficial for their evolution. Therefore, a fourth or fifth-tier zombie could lead even more low-tier zombies, and with time, higher-tier zombies would control larger groups, possessing some thought and intelligence without feeling pain.
This meant that encountering a high-tier zombie was like facing a whole zombie army; even if it couldn't beat you one-on-one, it could wear you down with attrition.
But that wasn't the most terrifying part. The more frightening aspect was that as the level of the high-tier zombies increased, so did the number of zombies they could control.
When these zombies feel ready to plunder for food, they would organize and march towards the bases, which in their eyes would be like a vast granary to the starving masses.
The reason they haven't attacked yet is simply because there are too many ability users in the base for the scattered zombies to handle.
However, if they came in droves, would they still be able to defend against them? From this, Xu Nuo concluded that high-tier zombies would soon disrupt the status quo, so to prevent this, he needed to kill even more high-tier zombies.
It had to be said, at times like these, Xu Nuo's thoughts aligned with his past self.
At the same time, Xu Nuo began to ponder how to more effectively and quickly deal with large groups of zombies. If arrays were no longer as effective, perhaps firearms could be a good alternative.
But before the apocalypse, firearms were strictly controlled by the state, and since he had no contact with the military before the end, finding where they were stored wouldn't be easy. So, Xu Nuo thought about creating a talisman or weapon with similar destructive power.
After all, he planned to build a team in the future, and if his team had such weapons, their combat strength would significantly increase.
However, while Xu Nuo was keen on tinkering with such things, the current situation seemed to demand more focus on enhancing his Taoist techniques and his own ability level.
Never mind, since the idea of building a team was still just a thought in his head without any concrete form, there was no rush. He could take his time and pay attention to any talent that might be useful in this area when seeking out team members.
They continued to clear out some residential areas and small supermarkets along the way. Finally, they stopped near a large supermarket, where Xu Nuo found another apartment building with fewer zombies. He went up with Park Su and Lu Shang to clear it out, then had everyone split into groups to settle in for the night.
The team members were much more obedient today than before; previously, they only speculated about their leaders' strength, but now they had seen it firsthand. The sight of the towering pile of zombie corpses when they came out was jaw-dropping. They couldn't believe that just the two of them had killed so many zombies.
This made them admire Xu Nuo even more. Initially, Xu Nuo seemed aloof and unapproachable, but after seeing Park Su with minor injuries while Xu Nuo stood emotionlessly outside waiting for them to finish looting, how could they not feel a chill?
Thinking back to when they first joined the team and saw these two young guys as leaders, they thought it was incredibly unreliable. Now, they were thoroughly impressed. There was no choice in the matter; the apocalypse was a world where strength was paramount.
They felt fortunate that even though they had doubts about their young age at first, they never spoke out of turn, at most just nagging about safety instructions. But those were out of concern for everyone's well-being, not out of disrespect, so after this incident, the team members concluded that no matter who it was, respect was still necessary.
Later, in the apocalypse, this principle helped them avoid many disasters since there were plenty who played the fool to catch prey.
Seeing the team members look at Xu Nuo with eyes full of admiration mixed with a touch of fear, Park Su couldn't help but laugh from inside the car, using his psychic energy to tease Xu Nuo, "Looks like your act was very successful; you've truly earned their reverence."
Xu Nuo didn't mind the teasing at all, maintaining his stern facade while secretly replying with psychic energy, "I don't need their reverence; I only need yours."
Park Su felt embarrassed by this playful banter, knowing he couldn't compete with Xu Nuo in shamelessness, so he decided not to engage further and returned to his room alone.
Everyone arranged their tasks efficiently and rested well overnight. The next day, they quickly cleared out the large supermarket before heading towards Gujiadi.
They continued their policy of sweeping everything clean as they traveled, and they managed to reach Gujiadi before sunset. When they arrived, Cheng Mingxu's team was not there yet. The team members were still in the mood for looting, eager to do more before nightfall.
However, their two leaders disagreed, giving a very considerate reason: they had already gathered a significant amount, making their victory in the bet almost certain, so there was no need for further exhausting work.
More importantly, their current haul was already making them somewhat suspicious; gathering more would look bad. Although they had agreed with Cheng Mingxu not to cause trouble over the bet, considering his status and the size of his team, who knew if he might lash out in anger upon losing?
Instead of going into a confrontation while tired, it was better to use the remaining daylight to rest, eat, and prepare to face Cheng Mingxu's team with full energy.
After hearing such thoughtful reasoning, the team members were deeply moved, wishing they could always follow such considerate leaders. They knew well that Park Su and Xu Nuo didn't plan to stay in Base S, meaning their considerations were entirely for their sake.
Yesterday night, I wrote 3200 words, but right before posting, a friend sent me a message, I clicked wrong, deleted it, and had to rewrite until now. It might not feel as good as the first time, and I had to push the plot forward. I hope everyone doesn't mind the delay!