Z City's official base far surpassed Black Bear Base in terms of population, defensive capabilities, and combat strength.

Compared to it, Black Bear Base was like a small private workshop.

The base was established within an oversized residential complex covering more than two hundred acres. The zombies inside had long been cleared out, leaving only living people.

The complex walls had been heightened and thickened, with many barbed wire fences installed. Outside the walls, zombie flesh and blood were scattered around, making it difficult for zombies to detect the scent of living people inside the complex.

Soldiers in every building used telescopes to observe the situation outside the walls. If zombie numbers increased anywhere, teams were immediately dispatched to eliminate them, preventing accumulation that could form small zombie hordes.

"Prepare the flamethrowers! Machine gun teams stand ready to fire! Don't let zombies get within ten meters of the base!"

Squads armed with various weapons guarded one side of the base.

The zombie horde attack launched by the mutated colossal squid wasn't targeting the main gate, but the rear!

"Deputy Leader! Team Leader Yun has sent word - someone will support us. Be careful not to accidentally harm allies." A young woman who had transformed from a pigeon landed and spoke to a middle-aged man.

Many soldiers in the base had been recruited after the apocalypse. Before the end times, the young woman had been a small business owner running a nail salon. After gaining the ability to transform into a pigeon, her high mobility made her valuable, and she joined the base defense forces as a messenger.

"Support? Who would support us?" the middle-aged man asked curiously.

"Reportedly transformation ability users, more than one person. They're confident about suppressing the zombie horde. Team Leader Yun told us to prepare for the possibility they might fail. If their operation fails, we need to buy as much time as possible while waiting for Team Leader Yun's return."

The middle-aged man was skeptical. Transformation ability users could suppress a zombie horde?

How powerful would a transformation ability need to be to achieve that?

So far, the strongest transformation ability user he'd seen was the Brown Bear, who possessed both Defense Enhancement and Strength Enhancement characteristics, and was a key cultivation target for the base.

The Brown Bear transformation ability user hadn't gained their ability by secretly eating protected animals. Instead, they had inherited a brown bear bone passed down through generations. Their family had used it to make medicinal liquor, and since it had been steeping for so long, some fragments had dissolved into the alcohol.

When the darkness descended, the Brown Bear transformation ability user happened to be drinking with family. The entire family gained brown bear transformation abilities, with their 23-year-old daughter who had just graduated from university adapting fastest to the transformation. She demonstrated greater combat strength than other family members and voluntarily joined the base as a soldier.

Even someone as strong as their carefully cultivated elite - the Brown Bear who mastered two supernatural characteristics - couldn't possibly suppress an entire zombie horde. At best, they could kill a few more zombies.

The strongest he'd heard of was the Prehistoric Colossus, whose transformation ability was simply outrageous. It was hard to imagine how incredibly lucky someone would need to be to gain the ability to transform into a giant beast.

The middle-aged man suddenly wondered - could the supporters be the Prehistoric Colossus?

"Alright, I understand."

Hiss~ Roar!

Zombies surged toward the base like a black tide, their continuous hissing and roaring instilling fear.

Bang!

Someone fired a shot, which acted as a signal. Countless bullets poured out, forming a metal storm that crushed everything in front.

The black tide paused, but the zombies fearlessly pressed forward. Without intelligence, they didn't retreat even when seeing companions fall, driven forward by their bloodthirsty genes.

"The mutated colossal squid is within range!"

"Fire! Snipers! Open fire!"

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Heavy sounds echoed as sniper rifle bullets much larger than ordinary rounds shot out, instantly hitting the mutated colossal squid's head. The bullets penetrated the flesh but didn't pass through.

Rockets launched into the air, accurately targeting the mutated colossal squid.

The mutated colossal squid swung its tentacles, colliding with the rockets. Explosions erupted with thick smoke, black tentacles flying everywhere as rotten flesh splattered in all directions.

"Continue firing! Kill the mutated colossal squid!" the middle-aged man shouted.

"Deputy Leader! Bad news! It's hiding in the mall's underground parking garage!"

"What? It's that intelligent?"

The middle-aged man grabbed his telescope and indeed saw the mutated colossal squid retreating. It seemed to know how to evade human weapons.

"Hurry! Don't let it hide inside!"

Rockets flew out one after another.

The mutated colossal squid continuously used its remaining tentacles to protect itself.

Soon, all its tentacles were blown away, and half its body was destroyed.

But it still wasn't dead - its head had retreated into the underground parking garage!

The middle-aged man's expression turned grim. "Where's the air unit? Can they drop bombs to destroy it?"

The young woman said, "Deputy Leader, the underground parking garage it's hiding in has three levels. Destroying it won't be easy. Should we contact X City and have them launch a nuclear bomb to blow up the parking garage?"

"Blow up the parking garage? With a nuclear bomb? We're so close we'd die too! Our goal is to kill the mutated colossal squid without casualties and suppress the zombie horde, not perish together with it!" The middle-aged man knocked the young woman's head angrily.

"What about missiles? A more powerful missile might work."

"It's not as simple as you think," the middle-aged man said gravely.

Suddenly, a roar echoed.

The young woman's mouth gaped open as she pointed at the sky. "Boss! There's a monster!"

The middle-aged man looked up, his pupils contracting.

What was he seeing?

A giant beast was flapping its wings, flying toward the underground parking garage where the mutated colossal squid was hiding!

The beast stood at least forty to fifty meters tall, with absolutely substantial weight. How could a beast of this size even fly?

This was simply unbelievable!

The giant beast crashed directly into the underground parking garage, its sharp claws cutting through concrete walls and tearing open ceilings.

It grabbed the hiding mutated colossal squid!

Hiss!

The mutated colossal squid hissed, but with only half its body remaining, it couldn't resist the giant beast. It could only control nearby zombies to attack the giant beast.

Before the zombies could approach, the beast's tail swept through them, shattering zombies into pieces across the ground.

The giant beast extended its claws, tearing apart the mutated colossal squid's body, cutting open the bones hidden within, extracting the supernatural characteristics from the bones, and swallowing them in one gulp.

Adaptation Characteristic! Size Expansion Characteristic! Constitution Enhancement Characteristic! Venom Characteristic!

The giant beast absorbed four characteristics at once, opening its evolutionary path. Its body expanded as latent power hidden in its genes was unleashed. Its muscles, bones, and blood vessels all evolved, quietly generating a new organ within its body.

Crack!

The giant beast visibly grew larger, expanding from forty-five meters to fifty-five meters tall in the blink of an eye. Its wings also enlarged accordingly, with a wingspan reaching seventy meters.

The newly formed venom sac began producing poison. Once enough venom accumulated, the giant beast could instantly coat its claws or teeth with venom at will. When biting enemies, it could even inject venom directly.

Perhaps the toxicity of the giant beast's venom wasn't top-tier, but the quantity would definitely be the greatest!

When the giant beast's venom sac filled completely, it could release over one hundred liters of venom in one breath. The sheer volume could overwhelm countless creatures to death. If the injected venom exceeded the enemy's blood volume, how could it not be effective?