The five of them arrived at the storage room Ethan Monroe had mentioned, and just as he’d said, it was completely empty. The two women, who had no fighting strength to speak of, would never have abandoned the safe little room to brave the dangers outside.

They all had a sinking feeling that the women had run into trouble.

This forced them to become immediately vigilant.

After all, with the exception of Mervin Warren, the other four had all witnessed the power of evolved creatures.

Along the way, Flora Bloom had already explained the difference between evolved creatures and zombies to Oscar Owen.

Zombies were creatures mutated by a virus. They had no intelligence and only fed on flesh and blood.

Evolved creatures, however, were completely different. They were like an alternate form of natural evolution, granting certain creatures intelligence. They evolved their bodies by relying on the world’s Spiritual Energy, even developing superpowers. Of course, they could convert anything with energy into Spiritual Energy for absorption.

It was somewhat similar to how humans awakened superpowers, but there were differences. After all, the combat power of a low-level superpower user was roughly equivalent to that of a low-level zombie.

But a low-level evolved creature could fight ten such opponents, and some uniquely gifted super-evolved creatures could even take on a hundred.

Flora Bloom had heard that after the apocalypse began, a supreme expert had tamed a super-evolved creature. Relying on it, that expert had united all the base cities in the Argent region and established the only true city built since the end of the world.

It was named the City of Dawn.

She’d heard they had established a new system there, restoring some food and industrial production. His evolved creature had saved him from perilous situations many times and had even cleared a ten-li radius outside the City of Dawn, eradicating all zombies within the zone.

Originally, Flora Bloom had been highly skeptical of these stories. But in this life, she had encountered the giant mantis and the great golden cicada. The combat power of ordinary evolved creatures like them was already a clear testament to their strength. ’So what would a super-evolved creature be like?’

Having already tamed two evolved creatures, a longing for a super-evolved one suddenly grew in Flora Bloom’s heart. But she knew her own power was still too weak. ’If I encountered a super-evolved creature now, I’d probably be killed instantly, let alone tame one.’

Furthermore, every super-evolved creature was exceptionally powerful and born with an intelligence rivaling that of a human. ’Getting one of them would be too difficult.’

The sky outside was beginning to grow light. However, the temperature, which should have been warming up, remained low, sending a chill through their bodies.

The group discussed their options in the storage room for a long time before deciding to split up. Ethan Monroe and Mervin Warren would take the keys to the parking lot, get a car, and drive it to the club’s back entrance to wait for the others.

Meanwhile, Flora Bloom, Neal Wallace, and Oscar Owen would go to the horse grounds together. They would start their search at the stables, hoping to find any trace of Leigh Atwood and the others.

The three of them made their way to the stables without any trouble.

The once-tidy stables were now in complete disarray, littered with horse carcasses. Some of the bodies had clear bite marks. Each mark was on the underside of a horse’s neck, and the bite force must have been astounding; it seemed this was where the fatal wounds were inflicted.

Flora Bloom counted the bodies on the ground; there were only six. But the stables occupied a full four hundred square meters, and each individually stabled horse would have had at least ten square meters of space.

’There should have been at least forty horses here originally. Aside from these corpses, where did the other thirty-four go?’

Flora Bloom crouched down to examine the bite marks. The two rows of teeth were sharp and wide-set, like the bite of a ferocious beast.

Flora Bloom was reminded of the little tiger Oscar Owen had mentioned.

She quickly asked, "Oscar Owen, where was that little tiger Seth was raising kept?"

Oscar Owen’s expression tightened. "Follow me," he said quickly.

There was nothing in the stables but corpses. Flora Bloom followed Oscar Owen down a small path to a fenced-off area behind the parking lot.

A large iron cage sat in the very center of the area. Inside it was a huge iron bowl, which appeared to be the little tiger’s daily food bowl.

But now, the iron cage was empty. Four thick iron bars had been snapped cleanly, bursting outward. Obviously, the little tiger had already escaped.

Looking at the empty cage, cold sweat broke out on the backs of the three of them. The iron bars of the cage were a full three centimeters in diameter, and their hardness and toughness were both exceptional.

Even with bolt cutters, it would take a long time to snap through each one.

"What on earth could have sliced through the cage so cleanly?"

Flora Bloom’s words, muttered as if to herself, reached the ears of the other two.