Chapter 1044: Doomsday Big Boss 48

To ensure that everyone in the base could survive the coming winter, Tang Wan had to spend time in the fields every single day. Alongside other plant-type ability users, she helped cultivate crops like potatoes and sweet potatoes—foods that were easy to grow, high in yield, and crucial for survival.

Because of this, even though the base had many ability users, Tang Wan quickly became one of the most popular figures. After all, food was life.

On top of that, she was beautiful, gentle, and approachable—naturally attracting even more attention. There were quite a few young men who liked her, openly or otherwise.

Hu Tongxia, of course, was well aware of how popular she had become. So every time he saw a group of people gathered around her, chatting and laughing, he would immediately stride over, slip his hand into hers, and say in a soft, possessive tone, “Wanwan, are you tired? It’s time to go back and rest.”

But when he looked at the others, his expression would turn cold and sharp—an unmistakable warning.

Stop eyeing my girlfriend.

Tang Wan could only feel both amused and helpless when she saw this behavior.

In the second month after the red snow began to fall, Hu Tongxia and the others went out as usual to clear zombies nearby. That was when they stumbled upon something unusual.

They hadn’t been actively searching for it—instead, they saw one zombie attacking another, tearing open its head and pulling out a red, sticky substance before swallowing it. After consuming it, the zombie’s strength visibly increased.

Seeing this, Hu Tongxia immediately recalled scenes from the zombie novels he used to read. Without hesitation, he smashed open a zombie’s head and began searching through the mess.

At first, he found nothing, but he didn’t give up. After killing a few more zombies, he finally found it—a red, sticky mass hidden inside the skull.

Lao Zhou, watching him hold that disgusting-looking object, couldn’t help stepping forward. “Tongxia, what are you doing with that? Be careful—you might get infected!”

Hu Tongxia narrowed his eyes, then tried something bold—he attempted to absorb it. To his surprise, it worked. A faint but clearly perceptible energy flowed into his body, and his eyes lit up instantly.

Turning to the others, he said excitedly, “This thing… it can increase our strength!”

“What?!” Lao Zhou and the others were stunned.

“It can be absorbed! It strengthens our abilities! If you don’t believe me, try it yourselves,” Hu Tongxia said immediately.

Hearing this, the group exchanged glances, their expressions quickly turning heated with excitement. If what he said was true, then they had just found a way to grow stronger.

Without wasting another second, everyone began targeting zombie heads directly, searching for more of the red substance. At this early stage, however, the crystal nuclei had only just begun forming, so they were rare and not every zombie had one.

But that didn’t matter.

What mattered was that Hu Tongxia was right.

That disgusting, red, sticky substance could truly enhance their power.

For a moment, everyone looked at Hu Tongxia with bright, grateful eyes.

“We knew it—sticking with you means we get to eat meat!”

Hu Tongxia’s greatest trait had always been his sense of loyalty. He could have kept this discovery to himself and quietly used it to grow stronger.

But he didn’t.

Instead, he shared it immediately—with everyone.