Virus King [Translation]

People often underestimate how quickly things can change.

In just over two days, after Novak ruthlessly crushed the budding riot with iron-fisted measures, the entire camp had undergone a transformation. It was no longer the same place it had been just days before.

Along the mountain road leading to Ocean Blue villa, evolutionaries had set up stalls, displaying low-level equipment they had scavenged after painstakingly hunting zombies. The air was filled with the sound of vendors shouting:

"F-grade zombie mask! Same as Master White Emperor! Only five copper coins!"

"Bloodstained belt, top-level equipment at level 2! Just five copper coins!"

"Fresh organic vegetables, guaranteed pollution-free and grown in clean soil! Only one copper coin a piece!"

In less than a week, the shadow of the pre-apocalypse modern society had nearly vanished, replaced by a new, grim reality—a post-apocalyptic society run by evolutionaries and their powerful families. Here, only strength mattered.

Yet, many felt fortunate. Compared to De M-anila, the massive city ten kilometers away where millions of survivors still struggled in a hellish landscape, they were safe behind the towering walls of the Ocean Blue base. As long as they paid their copper coin fee, they enjoyed absolute protection. They could even leave the camp to hunt zombies with peace of mind, knowing the gathering place now had the means to produce the zombie virus serum.

However, the attention of those manning the stalls along the mountain road soon shifted toward the horizon. Many were wild evolutionaries who had fled the city, while others were relatives of the base's original guards. Their eyes brimmed with envy.

At the base of the mountain, a brigade of more than 200 people was marching into the city. Every one of them carried the scent of blood and a fierce, hardened aura.

"That's the cleanup team from outside the city! I heard they're all at least level 3 now! The top captains are already above level 4!"

"Level 4? Wow, it takes a full 1,000 experience points just to go from level 2 to level 3. How much more does it take to reach level 4?!"

"I heard Commander Song and Captain Nicole can now access the secret realm in the sewers across the mountain! They don't even need Master Novak to go with them!"

"Nonsense! Master Novak leads every mission himself. Do you even know what that means? There are only ten known secret realm dungeon videos from the entire Kepler—'ten'! And Master Novak led the capture of two of them!"

"Master Novak is incredibly strong! I don't get it...why aren't we all like him?"

"Shh, it's starting again..."

All eyes turned toward the commotion not far off. Anticipation and anxiety flickered on the faces of the onlookers.

Trailing behind the group of elite fighters was a logistics team, pulling wooden carts down the mountain road. Each cart carried piles of corpses—thousands of them. There were zombie corpses, but also the bodies of mutated zombie beasts.

The crowd watched in horror as the carts reached the gates of Ocean Blue, where the walls surrounding the mountain loomed. Without hesitation, the corpses were dumped at the base of the city wall.

The massive gray walls, still and silent moments before, suddenly opened, revealing a gaping maw of darkness. As if alive, the wall began to writhe and swallow the corpses, digesting dozens of them at once. The once still and silent structure seemed to move like a living creature, expanding slowly along the trench that had been dug around it.

At the summit of Mountain, where villas dotted the landscape, a smaller wall emerged, enclosing the area like a city within a city.

This had always been part of Novak's plan—a tiered structure for the Ocean Blue gathering place. The villa district at the mountain's peak served as its core, reserved exclusively for the elite. Even the most powerful combat team members were denied residence there. Below them, the middle class occupied the residential zone on the mountainside, while at the mountain's base, the common folk lived in shacks and makeshift stalls.

These three areas—villas at the top, houses on the mountainside, and shacks at the bottom—divided the Ocean Blue District into three clear social classes.

Here's a more polished version:

As the people of Ocean Blue continued to feed zombie corpses to the ever-growing living wall, Novak stood atop the villa district, surveying the entire mountain like a king overseeing his realm.

There's nothing wrong with saying that, though.

In just a few short days, he had leveled up again. After clearing the old sewer dungeon once more and obtaining another piece of the Plague Armor set, Novak led Daphne and the others to De M-anila University. There, while clearing out the surrounding zombies, he single-handedly took down the incinerator dungeon once again.

What was particularly strange this time was that upon re-entering the dungeon, the giant incinerator was gone. 

Only the resurrected boss remained, and the final biochemical demon was now a grotesque combination of the 'silenct teacher' and spliced corpses. Their power had also noticeably diminished. 

This made Novak even more curious about the mysterious '?? Face' sealed in the hidden warehouse, but he refrained from retrieving it carelessly. If the object had indeed been locked away by the God of Commerce, discovery could lead to serious trouble.

Standing beside him, Daphne sighed softly, "You're leaving?"

Novak nodded. "I won't be gone long. I'm heading to Haguna San Redro to bring someone back. The strength of the people here, especially your group, is enough to keep things secure while I'm away. If anything comes up, you can reach out to me."

Although mobile phones were no longer functional, there is a group chat among the evolutionist, so Novak wasn't worried about the gathering place's safety during his absence. 

And a week had passed since the apocalypse began, and if his memory served him right, the Demon Hunter job transfer scroll should appear soon.

"Safe travels! Your beloved mistresses at the White Emperor's Palace are still waiting for your return," Daphne teased, though a rare note of reluctance tinged her voice. In this post-apocalyptic world, even for someone as strong as Novak, every farewell carried its own weight.

Yet, the man Dane often called a "scoundrel" simply glanced her up and down before suddenly asking, "Have you reached level five yet?"

Daphne was briefly taken aback before realizing what he meant, left speechless by his question. The somber mood between them evaporated, disrupted by his casual remark, though she still nodded.

Novak's eyes gleamed as he noted how Daphne's figure, now more pronounced due to her enhanced constitution, had only become more striking. "Well, what are you waiting for? Let's test it first before I leave!"

What's the saying?

Meticulous yet rewarding, satisfying and refreshing!

——

Under the ominous dark sky, where the shadow of despair lingered, the world's transformation had quietly begun. As the old era faded and the new era slowly dawned, Novak took the lead.