Possessing a mammoth zombie, Lin Long now held little regard for ordinary ones. This first mammoth instantly became Lin Long's new favorite. He walked its giant form around the streets, brandishing a fire axe and easily dispatching any zombies that came too close.

After all, every downed zombie meant more crafting points for Lin Long and the more points, the better. The street was teeming with the undead, among which were several of Lin Long's underlings, all holding various weapons and busy hunting down zombies, contributing to his pool of crafting points.

Beyond, in important city entries, he had planted his smaller zombies to serve as scouts, ensuring no survivors slipped past unnoticed. The survivors couldn't even fathom the existence of an individual capable of creating and commanding the undead. Their ignorance served Lin Long well; they were oblivious to the cunning eyes watching them, ready to report to Lin Long at the first instance of their reappearance.

With this line of scouts, Lin Long could rest assured; if survivors appeared, they would step back, hide their weapons and slip into the shadows. The sight of zombies wielding weapons would be too inexplicable, putting survivors on high alert. Lin Long couldn't risk a confrontation with the survivors just yet. As long as his rotting minions steered clear of threat, a few losses here and there were acceptable.

He guided the mammoth to a crossroads and glanced at a street sign before turning it right into another street called Osmanthus Street, a part of town teeming with zombies. But the entry of the mammoth didn't cause a stir. Lin Long quickly scanned the area, spotting three mammoths and two fast-moving zombies. That was all for now. There weren't many second-tier zombies around.

Zombie transformation was a peculiar phenomenon - the more densely populated the region, the greater the rate of transformation, and the higher the chance of advanced zombies appearing. But for now, Lin Long was here to make money, not fight. The three mammoths didn't interest him. Perhaps next time he'd consider attacking them from behind but today, they were spared. His target today was the jewelry store - a quick place to get rich.

He spotted a large shopping center - Jiajia Yue. Its broad lobby hosted several jewelry brands. The appearance of the mammoth zombie didn't disturb the multiple zombies aimlessly strolling around the shopping center, not even inside where lighting was a problem. The city was without electricity, making the interior dark and daunting.

Guiding the mammoth inside, Lin Long began his raid. The mammoth walked over broken glass shards, attracting the attention of a few zombies near the entrance. With a cold smirk, Lin Long wielded the fire axe and swiftly ended their lives. With the light from the door, he could see several well-preserved counters. He shattered a well-stocked counter, snatching handfuls of jewelry and shoving them into a sack hanging from the mammoth's chest.

Illuminated by the dim light were watch counters. No luxury, but several were worth thousands. Watches weren't as promising as gold and required proper sales channels. For now, they weren't on Lin Long's hit list. Still, he picked a few appealing timepieces and threw them into the shopping cart.

After a successful raid, Lin Long steered the mammoth into a supermarket. It appeared untouched, with all shelves fully stocked. Unfortunately, most of the food items were already expired and no longer consumable. The only valuable items for survivors would be alcohol and water. To Lin Long, the value was insignificant, so he didn't linger.

He picked up the shopping cart filled with pieces of gold jewelry and expensive watches and quickly exited the perplexingly quiet marketplace. As Lin Long walked out of the mall, the only sounds to be heard were the shattering of the glass under the mammoth and the faint echoes of the once bustling city.

Lin Long, controlling the mammoth, paced down the streets which held a bizarre tranquillity, disrupted intermittently by growls and groans from the wandering undead. The burden of wealth held no challenge for the mammoth as the shopping cart filled with gold items was carried effortlessly. The weight of gold, majestic watches along with the power and command he achieved, was indeed an adrenaline rush for Lin Long.

This was a completely new form of experience for him. He was a part of a world of darkness, silence, and zombies. The thrill he was experiencing was beyond words.

Just the first counter had given him jewelry worth at least several hundred thousand. Yet this was just a drop in the ocean for Lin Long. He was not a newbie in this apocalypse anymore. He had his eyes on bigger prizes.

Casually swinging the fire axe, the mammoth crushed every incoming zombie's skull. Its giant stature and strength dwarfed the others, making them seem powerless. The sound of shattered bones echoed as a former female sales assistant fell lifeless. She once was a beautiful woman, attired in propriety, but she had succumbed to the apocalypse, turning into a terrifying monster.

In a turn of cold-hearted pragmatism, Lin Long exhibited no mercy. After disposing of the threats, he moved on to another counter, systematically smashing each case and grabbing as many pieces of jewelry as he could.

The shopping cart was now overflowing with gold jewelry. He had raided every counter in the mall, which by his estimation, was worth at least 10-20 million. Even if sold at a lower price, it should still bring in at least a million. Initially, he had tried to bag everything, but with the volume of gold, silver, and diamond jewelry, he had resorted to using a shopping cart from the supermarket.

With a shopping cart teeming with golden treasures, Lin Long led the mammoth to a watch counter. It, most certainly, didn't flaunt luxury brands, but it did have its share of watches worth thousands.

"Selling these won't be easy," Lin Long mused. Common folk might mistake them for knock-offs, and true connoisseurs would hardly give them a second glance. As such, their value in this world diminished significantly, even more so when compared to the unsurpassed worth of gold.

However, they still held the potential to serve as a considerable income source, but that would require establishing a proper sales network and securing a trusted circle to help with liquidation. For the time being, watches were not high on Lin Long's priority list. Nevertheless, he shattered a counter, picking a few aesthetically pleasing pieces and dropped them into his cart.

Next, he guided the mammoth to a supermarket. It seemed untouched by survivors, with goods stocked neatly on every shelf, ranging from everyday essentials to snacks. For the first time, Lin Long was stepping foot in a supermarket amidst the apocalypse. He picked up a pack of snacks from a shelf, the ragged package had no need to bear any date, for everything inside was long expired and spoiled.

The reality of years of apocalypse was stark, the food stored in open had all fallen victim to decay. To survivors, the most precious commodities in a supermarket would probably be bottled water and alcohol, both seemingly devoid of an expiration date. A full supermarket would indeed be an invaluable treasure trove in the hands of survivors.

Yet, in the eyes of Lin Long, it amounted to nothing. He had no interest in staying longer than necessary here. Placing the fire axe upon the shopping cart filled with the spoils of his pillaging, he lifted the heavy cart effortlessly and casually strode out of the mall with the mammoth. The once thrumming marketplace, now reduced to an eerily quiet scape, was left behind as they ventured into the desolate city streets, a city afflicted by darkness yet abundant in unclaimed riches.

【You've obtained a piece of special talent shard!】Lin Long, holding his shopping cart, was only halfway home when he heard these words.

Barely processing the information, he thought to himself, "Is this the tenth piece?"

Upon confirming that it was indeed the tenth piece, excitement surged within him. The special talent shard, when gathered in a set of ten, could form a specific top-tier talent. In Lin Long's heart, its preciousness far surpassed that of mutated zombies.

For a long while, his faithful subordinates, the minions who tirelessly fought against the zombies, did not disappoint Lin Long. After such extended mayhem, they finally gathered all the pieces.

Ecstatic, Lin Long returned to his hideout. He signaled his Mammoth minion to put down the shopping cart. The cart, filled with an abundance of golden jewellery, held no allure for Lin Long. He opened the system interface.

Common Zombie: lit.Mammoth: lit.Swift Zombie: greyed out.

However, in a different area, an icon blinked vigorously on a tiny branch extending from the Common Zombie section. The extended branch was separated from the Zombie Crafting Panel, further demonstrating the unique nature of the special talent zombie.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Lin Long couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of the special talent zombie’s avatar. A rotting zombie dressed in an immaculate business suit, the attire of a successful professional.

Upon laying his gaze on this icon, a vivid three-dimensional image of this special talent zombie appeared. Despite its rotting face, hollow eyes, and the dark liquid oozing from its mouth, its clothes were impeccable. What was more intriguing was the aura it exuded - the aura of a top-notch professional.

Lin Long had encountered similar individuals before. Once, his company faced a substantial problem, and they shelled out a hefty sum to hire a visiting professor from the AI division of East China University. The aura that this professor radiated was akin to the vibe that this special talent zombie now emanated. But the zombie’s aura was on a higher level.

To create an analogy, if the visiting professor was a domestic top-tier talent.

Undeniably, Lin Long believed that the special talent zombie he would create, based on his trust in the zombie crafting system, will unequivocally be an international top-tier talent.

Impressive!

Lin Long was well aware of the fact that talent was the most valuable resource in the world.

Top talents were even rarer, and all major companies and top-tier educational institutions had already scooped them up. Small companies couldn’t afford to employ such significant figures.

But now, the tables had turned. All he had to do was craft it, and the talent produced by the zombie crafting system would be loyally devoted only to him. He controlled their life and death with a flick of his thoughts.

Faced with such temptation, how could Lin Long not be thrilled?

It was not hard for him to deduce from the given information.

The places where such special talents demonstrated their brilliance were certainly not in the post-apocalyptic world, but in the present. In this apocalyptic world, regardless of what kind of special talent you are, you're ultimately a zombie.

In this world filled with zombies, many of them used to be talented and capable individuals. But once they turned into zombies, they became nothing more than walking corpses.

Only after going through a real-world system, and stepping into the present era, they found the right stage to shine.

His thoughts fixated on this blinking icon.

【The fusion of special talent requires funds. Do you wish to proceed?】

A query notification sound played out,which left Lin Long stunned for a moment.

The cost of the fusion was greater than Lin Long had imagined. He had initially thought that to create a special talent, a massive amount of funds would be required. But surprisingly, it was merely ten times the cost of manufacturing a common zombie. It was on par with the cost of creating a Mammoth.

One hundred thousand - really not much.

One could even say that it was an exceedingly high-cost performance. With 400,000 funds in hand, if the special talent piece hadn't dropped, Lin Long’s plan would have been to manufacture another four Mammoths.

Yet, the emergence of the special talent saw a shift in Lin Long's mindset. He understood the importance of shaping and strengthening this post-apocalyptic world. However, the modern world on Earth also needed advancements.

Lin Long's plan was to strike a balance between the two. Running his hand over his chin, his mind began to deliberate at lightning speed.

Every field has its own language, and this saying was never wrong. Lin Long would be more familiar with the industry he had worked in for several years than any other.

Consequently, his first thought was to leverage his expertise. The company he had resigned from was a typical IT company in the city of HaiDong. Their main focus was on software services and AI.

Lin Long was a regular employee in this company whose duties were merely to fill in some peripheral codes, dull and mindless work which could not inspire any form of interest or passion.

Artificial Intelligence seemed to be a touted buzzword-to enhance the company's reputation, but in reality, it was just an automated program created to impress the layman.

The computer industry is a broad spectrum, with countless specializations that could terrify anyone. However, in Lin Long's view, the field with potentially the most significant impact in the future could just be AI.

The notion of AI-driven autonomous vehicles was a derivative of this field. Numerous automotive companies and software firms had thrown large sums of money at perfecting self-driving technology. Yet, as of now, autonomous driving tech was far from being as reliable and glamorous as it is rumored to be.

Auto-manufacturers would flaunt the level of their autonomous driving tech but the reality was far from perfection.

Lin Long did not want to haphazardly choose the first special talent zombie. The arena of new energy battery technology held immense potential, but he neither had adequate knowledge nor dared to rashly enter this field.

Furthermore, the barriers to entering this field were exceedingly high. Lin Long didn't have the necessary talent or funds to play around in this area.

However, AI was a different ball game. It relied more on coding, combined with some hardware outside. To exaggerate, any single individual with a computer could generate a preliminary level AI. The deciding factor, in this case, was human input. In terms of hardware, there were no obstacles whatsoever.

Therefore, Lin Long set his sights on the field of AI.“Yes!”Only after thorough consideration did Lin Long give his response.

【Please select the field of ability for the Special Talent Zombie!】

The prompt appeared, which made Lin Long's heart race even faster.

The choices that soon popped up included numerous categories from countless industries on Earth. They spanned from military to civilian fields, from aerospace to deep-sea technology. As long as it's a developed technical field, it was there for selection.

This sight left Lin Long completely stunned.

From this point, it's evident how incredible this special talent mechanism was. Even nuclear weaponry was an option!

"That’s too much trouble," Lin Long shook his head. After some consideration, he finally confirmed his choice for the AI field.

【Are you sure you want to choose the AI field?】Faced with the prompt, Lin Long pondered a bit before decisively responding with a 'yes.'

【Fusion starts!】In almost a fraction of a second, countless golden light particles appeared before Lin Long. The color of these light particles was different from the white light particles seen when creating zombies before.

After a minute, the light particles converged into a lifeless woman, a zombie, standing before Lin Long. She looked no different from other common zombies.

Upon close inspection, she resembled any random zombie one might come across in the streets.

"So this is the special talent zombie?" Lin Long circled around her, his face full of bewilderment. It was highly praised in the introduction, but at a glance, it just looked like an ordinary zombie.

Moreover…

Lin Long raised his eyebrows; this female zombie seemed too young? By his estimate, she would be in her twenties. She had a good figure and was tall. A woman of 1.7 meters was indeed outstanding among others.

"Could it be a fake?" A top AI expert in her twenties? Who was he trying to fool?

【Mind your brain!】The notification appeared. Lin Long grinned. The exterior was just randomly awarded by the zombie manufacturing system. As long as her brain was fine, it was all okay. He didn't care if it was male or female, old or young.

As long as she was a top-tier AI expert, that was what mattered.

"How do I bring her to the modern Earth?"

The real person feature was undoubtedly powerful.

The area that made Lin Long anxious was about the cost he had to pay to bring her to modern Earth.

【Would you like to pay the original load of real human effects?】【Note: After the real human effects are loaded, they will automatically appear at the host's spawn point on modern Earth!】

"Huh???" Twenty thousand? Lin Long widened his eyes and looked several times to make sure he was not mistaken.

It really only needed 20,000 to bring her to the modern world, which seemed a bit different from his astronomical expectations.

Soon after, Lin Long was elated.He had enough funds to pay for this.

"YES!”

This was was the top AI expert. The value was immeasurable in terms of annual salary in the world. But now, with just ten fragments and 300,000, he could own her.

The funds were deducted at once, then the zombie woman standing in front of Lin Long turned into light particles and disappeared.

It seemed like she had been transported to the modern Earth? Lin Long was rubbing his hands, waiting to see how the top AI expert looked in the modern world.

Unfortunately, he was still some time away from returning to the modern Earth.

……

By noon, Lin Long was watching a countdown with only three minutes left to return to the present.

This time, his harvest was far greater than the first. Deducting the few lost zombie minions, Lin Long still had 158 zombies.

At this moment, they were all under Lin Long's command, hiding in the buildings on both sides of the street.

He didn't trust them while he was absent. A group of zombies wielding weapons and chopping other zombies would be a big problem if they were encountered by survivors.

Not considering the 158 minions, what followed was the unlocking of the Mammoth.

Creating a special talent zombie.

And also...jewelry worth more than 20 million.

If he could achieve this much every three days, Lin Long was satisfied.

The mammoth was kept in the room, firstly to protect it, and also to ensure his safety when he came back to this world.

As soon as the countdown was up, Lin Long vanished.

In the rental house on modern Earth, Lin Long opened his eyes and then took a deep breath of air. He was much calmer this time, thanks to his prior experience.

However, just then…"Ahh!" He exclaimed.

This was due to the exceptionally beautiful woman standing right next to him. She had a stunning face, emitting an icy aura. Her tall figure was around 1.7 meters, and she was staring at him with chilly eyes. Dressed in professional clothing paired with black stockings, and high heels that made her almost as tall as Lin Long.

Lin Long was quick to react; this woman was definitely the special talent he had created.

Indeed!

Lin Long sensed the fluctuations in her body and felt a new sensation in his heart. He could control everything about her, including life and death.

"Boss, I'm Su Mei!" she spoke in a simple, somewhat abrupt manner.

Lin Long was full of wonder. When he crafted Su Mei, she was a lifeless, rotting, hideous zombie.

But now, she had transformed into a living, breathing human. The zombie manufacturing system was extremely potent - it could essentially resurrect the dead or perhaps even transfer souls.

Lin Long nodded. Among all the women Lin Long had come across, Su Mei was undoubtedly the most beautiful. In comparison, Lu Yao from his company seemed like an ugly duckling.

"Are you a top-tier AI expert?"

"Yes, I am a top-tier AI expert."

Their conversation was straightforward. Su Mei's response was indeed proud and confident.

Lin Long didn't doubt her words. After all, the power of the zombie manufacturing system was colossal, able to transport zombies to modern Earth and remove the virus, resurrecting them back to human form.

This type of capability was thousands, if not hundreds of times more astounding than any AI expert.