Chapter 60: The Tiger King

"Damn. That monkey really has gained intelligence."

Ethan knew there was no chance of retrieving the rifles now. He was already preparing to use Teleportation and leave when he took one last look at the largest monkey.

Their eyes met.

A flash of red suddenly flickered across the monkey’s pitch-black pupils.

Ethan’s body froze.

It wasn’t fear.

He genuinely couldn’t move.

It felt as though invisible hands had wrapped around his entire body, locking his limbs in place. Even moving his eyes required tremendous effort.

His Mental Ability felt as though it had been dragged through thick mud.

Worse, he couldn’t even draw on the energy needed to activate his Space Ability.

"It’s Mental Interference!"

The realization had barely formed when a gunshot exploded through the air.

Bang!

The bullet grazed his left shoulder blade.

Blood sprayed from the wound as the round tore through flesh before embedding itself in the wall behind him. A searing pain spread along his shoulder and down his back.

Three seconds.

That was all the paralysis lasted.

Then, just as suddenly as it had appeared, the stiffness vanished.

Ethan didn’t waste a second.

He didn’t even have time to stop the bleeding.

The moment he activated Teleportation, his vision caught one last glimpse of the Big Monkey standing below with the rifle in its hands.

It was making excited squeaking noises.

Almost as if it were celebrating.

"That damn beast..."

Ethan vanished.

He reappeared on top of the library’s clock tower, immediately clutching his bleeding shoulder.

The old wound there had only just begun to heal.

Now it had been torn open again.

The pain was intense enough to make his vision blur.

He leaned against the massive gears inside the clock tower and took several deep breaths.

Only then did the seriousness of what had just happened sink in.

Those three seconds had been enough to kill him.

If the monkey’s aim had been slightly better, the bullet would have gone straight through his head or chest.

He had escaped only because the shot had missed his vital organs.

And that red light...

It was definitely an Ability.

A highly focused form of Mental Interference.

Even compared with Daisy’s Mental Ability, the monkey’s control had been terrifyingly oppressive.

The city center really is full of monsters.

Ethan tore open his shirt and examined the wound.

Several tiny fragments of metal were embedded around the edge.

He pulled a bottle of Healing Essence from his Survival Space and swallowed two mouthfuls.

Warmth immediately spread through his body.

The pain eased slightly.

But the wound was still fresh, and his previous injuries hadn’t completely healed either.

Ethan decided not to take any more risks.

He needed somewhere safe to recover.

After circling the library three times and confirming that nothing was following him, Ethan slipped back into the air-raid shelter through the maintenance passage.

" Ethan!"

Maya was the first to notice him.

Her eyes widened when she saw the blood covering his shoulder.

Lana immediately hid behind her.

Penny rushed toward him.

The moment she saw the bloodstained shirt and the gunshot wound across his shoulder blade, all the color drained from her face.

"How did you get hurt? Who shot you?"

"A monkey."

Ethan sat down on the bedding and pulled bandages and disinfectant from his Survival Space.

"It’s a long story. Help me get the fragments out."

Penny’s hands trembled.

But she gritted her teeth and nodded.

"I can do it. My dad taught me how to treat wounds."

She carefully cleaned the injury with disinfectant.

Even with her gentle movements, Ethan couldn’t stop himself from sucking in a sharp breath.

Maya and Lana sat nearby, watching nervously.

"Bear with it."

Penny picked up the tweezers.

She examined the wound carefully, found the first fragment, and pulled it out in one quick movement.

Blood immediately welled from the wound.

She quickly pressed a clean bandage against it before moving on to the next fragment.

Once she had removed them all, she wrapped the wound tightly.

"This should stop the bleeding, but you really should see a doctor."

She looked at the wound worriedly.

"Gunshot wounds can get infected easily, especially now."

"I have medicine."

Ethan pulled out the milky-white bottle of Healing Essence.

"Just drink this."

Penny stared at the bottle, then at him.

She had watched him pull generators, food, medical supplies, and countless other things out of thin air.

The question she had been avoiding finally came out.

"Are you really a Space Ability User?"

"What else would I be?"

Ethan raised an eyebrow.

"Do you really think I’m an immortal?"

Maya and Lana immediately looked at each other.

"Wow!"

Their eyes lit up.

They were clearly much more interested in believing Ethan was immortal.

Penny rolled her eyes.

She knew he was messing with them, but she didn’t bother arguing.

---

Meanwhile, on the outskirts of the city center, Daisy and the others had reached a crossroads.

Daisy pulled out the walkie-talkie and pressed the transmit button.

"Ethan? Can you hear me? We’ve reached the city center."

Only static answered.

She waited a few seconds before lowering the radio.

"It looks like we’re more than two kilometers away from him."

Debbie sighed softly.

"Let’s go to my place first."

Daisy put the walkie-talkie away.

"Once we’re settled, I’ll go out and look for him."

The others nodded.

They continued through the alleyways.

A few stray zombies appeared along the way, but Sofia dealt with them quickly, sharp ice spikes punching through their heads.

When they passed a pharmacy, Rose noticed movement near the entrance.

A mutant poisonous spider crawled from beneath a collapsed shelf.

Her Plant Growth Ability activated immediately.

Vines shot across the ground and wrapped around the spider’s legs, pinning it in place.

"Now!"

Sofia raised her hand.

An ice spike shot forward and pierced the spider’s head.

The creature collapsed.

Daisy walked over and picked up the pale-purple Core.

She looked at Rose.

"Try absorbing this."

Rose hesitated.

"If your Plant Growth Ability can inherit the poison, your vines could become much more dangerous."

Rose looked at the Core for a moment before finally taking it.

She swallowed it.

A surge of energy immediately spread through her body.

Pale-purple mist gathered around her fingertips.

The vines growing from her hands suddenly developed tiny, needle-like thorns.

Rose’s eyes widened.

"It worked."

She stared at the poisonous thorns in disbelief.

The others smiled.

If Rose’s plants could now carry poison, her Ability had just become significantly more dangerous.

They continued toward the city center.

---

Several blocks from the Museum, Dr. Elena Vance stood behind the curtains of a high-rise apartment, staring down at the street.

Her hands trembled.

The sight outside was enough to make even a hardened survivor feel helpless.

Countless mutant animals had gathered around the Museum’s perimeter wall.

A massive mutant elephant, weighing at least half a ton, wrapped its trunk around a car and slammed it into the wall.

Boom!

The vehicle crumpled against the concrete.

Several winged mutant wolves circled through the sky at low altitude.

In the stagnant water surrounding the Museum, several mutant crocodiles floated almost completely submerged, exposing only their armored backs.

A moment earlier, a man had tried to enter through a side entrance.

He had barely climbed over the wall when three mutant wolves swooped down.

Within seconds, they tore him apart.

Dr. Vance covered her mouth.

"No wonder my brother said they couldn’t get out..."

Her eyes filled with tears.

The indoor zoo beside the Museum had effectively become a breeding ground for mutant animals after the apocalypse.

The creatures had turned the surrounding area into their hunting ground.

Anyone who tried to leave became prey.

Dr. Vance made up her mind.

She would return to her brother’s house first.

After that, she would find Ethan.

Only his Space Ability could safely carry people through a swarm of mutant animals like this.

---

In the Silvermont Villa District on the eastern side of the city, inside Elon Rusk’s private villa...

Elon sat comfortably on a large leather sofa, casually rolling two blue Cores, each roughly the size of a pigeon’s egg, between his fingers.

He was in his fifties.

His hair was neatly combed, his custom-made suit was spotless, and even his fingernails were perfectly trimmed.

He looked completely out of place in the apocalypse.

Max Cole stood several feet to his left.

His shoulders were slightly hunched, and he barely dared to breathe.

The last time he had returned from the suburbs, he had failed to bring anyone back because Elon’s son had already been dead.

Even so, Elon had punished him.

That was when Max truly understood the enormous difference between their power levels.

Elon had discovered the secret of Cores early in the apocalypse.

With his influence and resources, he had obtained a large number of them and awakened more than one Ability.

Max knew he couldn’t compete with him.

Since then, he had become extremely obedient.

The men standing behind him kept their heads lowered as well.

Not one of them dared to meet Elon’s eyes.

Sitting on the opposite side of the room was Blaze.

Her metal left arm gleamed coldly under the light.

Elon slowly looked toward Max.

"So, Max, you’re saying the Golden-Winged Corpse has teamed up with that Ability User named Ethan?"

His voice was quiet.

But the pressure behind it was unmistakable.

Max quickly nodded.

"Yes. Last time, we drove a group of survivors living near the Golden-Winged Corpse into the stadium and used them as bait. We wanted to capture the Golden-Winged Corpse alive."

His expression darkened.

"But Ethan showed up and ruined everything."

He clenched his fists.

"He has a Space Ability. He can teleport, and he can cut through things from a distance. He’s extremely difficult to deal with."

The moment Blaze heard Ethan’s name, hatred flashed across her face.

Elon tapped his fingers slowly against the armrest.

"Since the Golden-Winged Corpse has already developed human-level intelligence, eliminate it the next time you encounter it."

He paused.

"Leaving something like that alive could become a serious problem later."

Max nodded immediately.

"Understood."

Elon’s gaze shifted toward Blaze and then back to Max.

"As for Ethan..."

His fingers stopped tapping.

"A Space Ability User could be very useful."

His expression remained calm.

"Capture him if you can."

He paused briefly.

"If you can’t, kill him."

"Yes!"

Max and Blaze answered at the same time.

Elon leaned back into the sofa.

"By the way, what about the Snake King and the Tiger King?"

Blaze answered immediately.

"The Snake King is still entrenched in the suburbs. Its followers haven’t dared to enter the Tiger King’s territory."

She paused.

"The Tiger King has been moving around much more frequently lately. It looks like it’s considering entering the city center."

"Good."

A faint smile appeared on Elon’s face.

"If it really enters the city center, lure it toward the southern district."

His eyes narrowed.

"Let it fight those mutant beasts around the zoo."

A cold glint flashed across his eyes.

"We’ll stay out of the fight and take whatever’s left."

His gaze slowly drifted toward the window.

The Golden-Winged Corpse.

Ethan.

The Tiger King.

The mutant beasts surrounding the southern district.

The city center was becoming more chaotic by the hour.

And Elon intended to make sure he was the one benefiting from the chaos.