After crossing, I will open a shop in the end of the world

In the heart of the ruined city, a bewitching purple light enveloped the entire area.

The purple glow emanating from the ground and walls in the darkness might have elicited a curse in peacetime—who was so inconsiderate as to turn on such a powerful light in the middle of the night?—but in the apocalypse, such an anomaly only inspires fear and a desire to flee. The desolate city and the bizarre scenery, no matter how you look at it, signify danger.

Indeed it is.

Outside the purple light, shadowy figures twisted and swayed, seemingly trying to approach but also appearing hesitant. However, it was quite obvious that the closer the shadowy figures got to the purple light, the more robust they seemed to be, and their bodies had developed numerous bone-spur-like growths.

These are zombies, all of them mutated zombies. They did not participate in the previous zombie horde, or perhaps they are just waiting for something.
It seemed as if something big was about to happen, and the zombies gazed at the center of the purple light as if on a pilgrimage.

Unnoticed by any zombies, a glimpse of clothing flashed past a hidden corner of a wall.

Yun You leaned against the wall, using the bushes for cover. She stared at the large red circle on the map in her hand, still somewhat shaken. This map had been a huge help; otherwise, she might have simply charged straight at the horde of mutated zombies.

Having seen the appearance of those zombies, Yun You easily thought of the wolf-like beast they had encountered on their way here.

The proliferating bone spurs and purplish-black crystals exuded an ominous and eerie aura.

She is now certain that something must have gone wrong at the third vulnerability point.

Those things shouldn't be on zombies. The third loophole's rules are broken, and the power spilling out from the corruption seems to have been used by the zombies.

This is not normal.

According to the information she had about the previous timeline before she came to carry out the mission, there was no mention of mutated zombies.

Yun You stared at the system panel that had been pulled up, noticing that the task to fix the third vulnerability had been paused. She frowned and sighed softly, "This is not good news... Perhaps my arrival has triggered something?"

But it's too late now...

Yun You adjusted her mindset. She needed to fix the third leak as soon as possible. Although she didn't know the principle of mutation, at least this way the number of mutated zombies would not increase.

Thinking back to the battle against that mutated wolf-like beast...

Otherwise... Dawn will be in big trouble this time.

Yun You selected a light-specific protective shield from the system shop. She glanced at her balance in the system shop; aside from a few high-damage weapons that she couldn't use casually, she could basically buy everything in the system shop.

She couldn't help but sigh, the feeling of cooperating with the base and letting them manage the store, while she simply acted as a hands-off manager attending necessary meetings, was truly wonderful. Furthermore, with the system contract in effect and binding force, she didn't need to worry about the store falling into disarray.

Her current balance in the system shop is the foundation of her confidence in venturing into the zombie horde, coupled with her innate immunity to supernatural abilities. For now, even highly skilled martial arts users like Han Qichuan can be suppressed by her.

After equipping himself with some more items, Yun You, clutching a four-card poker deck, vanished from the spot with a flash of deep blue light in his eyes.

In contrast to the outer areas, the center of the ruined city, bathed in purple light, was almost devoid of zombies and had few buildings, with only a few ruins remaining.

The place appears spacious, like a city's central square. However, in this central square, a bottomless crack runs through the entire center, like an unhealed wound on the earth.

The crack emitted a strong purple light, which was actually coming from deep within the crack.

The crack was not narrow; its opening was extremely large, and the bottom of the crack was not the narrow slit one might expect, but rather flat. The surrounding soil and walls were covered with clusters of purplish-black crystals. If one ignored the strange allure of these crystals, this place resembled a rare mineral vein.

Yun You quietly entered the interior of the crack, and just as she had thought, these unknown purple lights were indeed harmful.

It accelerates cell aging, as if devouring life force. This sensation is even more pronounced when the limbs touch those purple crystals. Yun You didn't perceive these things herself; they were determined through the system's assessment.

Supernatural power represents chaos and disorder. Therefore, the stronger the rules of a plane, the easier it is for supernatural power to be suppressed into the microscopic world, making the world more stable. In this post-apocalyptic plane, where the rules are broken and it exhibits characteristics of a semi-magical plane, the overflowing damage cannot harm Yun You herself. After all, Earth, as a purely non-magical technological plane, has extremely strong rule barriers.

After scanning the appraisal messages on the system panel, Yun You felt more confident. She cautiously surveyed her surroundings and slowly moved forward.

The more she observed her surroundings, the more anxious she became.

There were no other zombies here, and all was quiet, as if she were the only one deep within the crack... except for the faint but steady heartbeat.

She muttered to herself, her eyes revealing her frustration: "The worst may have happened."

Yunyou continued walking forward, the sound of her heartbeat growing clearer in her ears, and the clusters of crystals around her becoming denser, until she turned a corner of the crack.

The intense purplish-black light was so bright that it was almost blinding; it was the source of all the purple light—a huge crystal embedded in the ground.

The colossal creature, nearly twenty meters tall, made Yun You appear tiny in comparison.

It was like a perfect crystal, but there was a flaw in the center of the crystal, a slightly larger black shadow than Yun You, and the source of the heartbeat was that spot.

What looks like something is being nurtured inside the crystal?
This was Yunyou's first thought.

But when she used the playing card to get closer to the dark shape, she could see its appearance clearly.

Yunyou felt a chill run down her spine.

That wasn't a living being... it was a zombie, curled up as if asleep, a fully cooked corpse. She'd seen it before... at Ming Lei's base when dealing with the Devouring Light Pillar.

At this moment, Yunyou knew where the zombie mutation had occurred.

Four vulnerabilities appeared in this post-apocalyptic plane, intertwined and forming a strange balance that delayed the plane's collapse. When Yun You dealt with the first Black Forest vulnerability, the balance among the four vulnerabilities was broken, and the rules at the other three vulnerabilities collapsed in different ways until a new balance was reached.

Therefore, the time allotted for the second repair point mission kept decreasing. Once the second repair point was completed, there were no guardian creatures to delay the process at the third location. The dimensional consciousness, unable to withstand the strain, instinctively tried to save itself; perhaps it was taken advantage of, or perhaps it was forced into it.

The dimensional consciousness dragged and anchored the creature wandering in the third location. The third location was in a zombie city, where only zombies roamed.

This is a big problem.

During the repair process, the anchored creature has half the permissions.

This zombie clearly wouldn't side with humanity; in fact, it needed the power spilling over from the broken rules to mutate its zombie army. Therefore, she had to deal with it before she could repair it.

While it is asleep right now.

The playing cards beside Yun You began to spin rapidly, each one gleaming with a chilling blue light. As Yun You's fingers moved, the cards seemed like sharp arrows aimed directly at the dark crystal shadow.

The system's funds are being consumed rapidly, and each playing card is given the maximum boost.

As if sensing danger, the zombie inside the crystal suddenly opened its eyes.

A sharp, piercing scream rang out, stirring the surrounding energy field.

The blue-glowing playing cards collided violently with the purplish-black energy. (End of Chapter)