"Meow!"
Xiao Feng was brought back to reality by the black cat’s meow. He lowered his head and smiled, petting the cat’s head.
"Little guy, go ahead and drink your milk and then go to sleep!"
However, what puzzled Xiao Feng was that the black cat extended its tongue but didn’t drink the milk.
"What’s wrong? Don’t want to drink it?" Xiao Feng asked in confusion.
But the black cat shook its head in a human-like manner.
From the first time he saw the black cat, Xiao Feng knew that it could understand human language. However, it extended its tongue but didn’t drink the milk. What could be the reason?
And then, a light bulb went off in Xiao Feng’s mind.
"Are you trying to say that there’s milk available right now, and I should drink it?"
The black cat nodded repeatedly.
Seeing this, Xiao Feng suddenly understood.
Of course! Yu Lin City was like the milk right in front of the black cat. Why wouldn’t he drink it?
Right in front of him was a significant opportunity, so why not seize it?
This is common sense!
In that moment, Xiao Feng fully comprehended that controlling resources meant controlling destiny. Even if he chose to participate in the competition for Yu Lin City, he could gain many unexpected benefits. His personal growth and the advancement of his restaurant all required considerable resources. If he could obtain more benefits beyond the restaurant’s interests during the process, it would be an unexpected gain for him.
Xiao Feng had gained clarity, but he still wasn’t committed to joining the competition. Having lived two lives, he understood the complexity and dangers of such struggles. With the restaurant as his foundation, Xiao Feng could gradually develop himself. However, the condition was to thoroughly exploit the remaining value of Yu Lin City.
The next day, the healer arrived early as usual. After treating the black cat, Xiao Feng took An Ran and Annie with him. The potential value of Yu Lin City was beyond his imagination. Xiao Feng needed to fully exploit the remaining value of Yu Lin City before the attackers arrived.
Xiao Feng calculated.
Within the urban area of Yu Lin City, there were approximately thirteen elementary schools and seven middle schools, totaling twenty schools. This meant that An Ran could potentially control all the elementary and middle school zombies within these twenty schools.
Xiao Feng wasn’t sure about the total number of students in these schools, so he needed to conduct a count. In case the residents from the shelters attacked, the elementary and middle school zombies would also be their targets.
However, from a different perspective, these elementary and middle school zombies were like Xiao Feng’s subordinates.
Xiao Feng went to each school one by one and led around 20,000 elementary and middle school students to the vicinity of the restaurant. Normally, each elementary school had around 3,000 to 4,000 students, but during the apocalypse, many survivors emerged, and these survivors had killed many zombies. Thus, the remaining zombies among the students were not as numerous as expected.
Moreover, Xiao Feng noticed that the fighting capability of these elementary and middle school zombies was generally low. Among the 20,000 zombies, there weren’t even a thousand third-tier evolvers.
"It’s not very useful to be dragging along this bunch of deadweights," Xiao Feng couldn’t help but feel disappointed.
However, he soon discovered a peculiar situation. After the other zombies were atomized, they started attacking and killing each other, but the elementary and middle school zombies did not do that.
Another significant discovery was that the other zombies did not initiate attacks when they saw the elementary and middle school zombies. Normally, when other zombies encountered those of similar strength, they would attack to consume the crystal core of the other zombie, thus enhancing their own strength. However, when they saw a third-tier elementary or middle school zombie, they completely ignored them as if they didn’t exist.
Xiao Feng couldn’t understand why. He then used the system to check the information on the students, which finally shed some light on the situation.
Xiao Feng found it rather amusing that elementary and middle school zombies had a passive skill called "Nine-Year Compulsory Education." This skill protected them from attacks by higher-level zombies, but only applied to interactions with zombies.
Xiao Feng realized that this passive skill was exclusive to interactions with other zombies. It wouldn’t protect them from attacks by mutants or humans, but it was still quite useful.
Under An Ran’s command, Xiao Feng organized all the students into groups based on their school years and classes, much like the military organization of squads and platoons. Xiao Feng discovered that a third-tier student zombie could control approximately fifty lower-tier student zombies. This was the maximum limit.
Xiao Feng referred to these third-tier student zombies as "class leaders," and they formed groups of up to fifty lower-tier student zombies, which were then dispersed throughout various corners of Yu Lin City.
The first thing Xiao Feng intended to search for was gold. Before the apocalypse, the World Gold Council had reported that the official global gold reserves amounted to 34,904.76 tons. By the time of the apocalypse, the price of gold had already surged to 398 yuan per gram. During the apocalypse, gold had essentially become just another type of stone.
However, Xiao Feng understood that gold had always been considered a valuable and universally accepted currency throughout history. Despite changing dynasties and eras, gold remained the only precious metal with enduring value.
Even during the apocalypse, Xiao Feng understood the preciousness of gold. Although the current trade system was based on the energy generated by crystal cores, he knew that this was because crystal cores held tremendous energy. If another more powerful energy source were to replace crystal cores in the future, crystal cores would be phased out, and the entire trade system would collapse. People would likely return to using other valuable items as currency, and gold would be one of the most likely candidates.
Apart from gold, there were also antiques, calligraphy, and paintings. Xiao Feng believed that humanity would eventually return to a peaceful existence, and he knew that he, as a human, could never forget history. The value of these antiques and artworks would undoubtedly become apparent in the future.
Xiao Feng set his sights on various places like jewelry stores, museums, and pawnshops that had luxury items. After about a week of searching, he managed to collect a significant amount of gold, antique items, and artworks from Yu Lin City.
After undergoing a week of transformation, Yu Lin City had become Xiao Feng’s treasure trove, filled with gold, artworks, and other valuable items. During this time, the Black Cat also completed its recovery, regaining its ability to move freely.