Joseph hacked and slashed at the zombies with all his might, not even considering a break despite the heavy toll on his stamina.

  If you were to ask who was most devastated by Ellie's rise in the rankings, it would undoubtedly be Joseph.

  Originally in third place, he had now fallen to fourth, a situation he couldn't accept.

  Although it was only a single spot, the reward difference was a two-star piece of equipment, illustrating the magnitude of his loss.

  "F*ck, did Ellie crawl out from under a rock?" Joseph grumbled about Ellie, but his zombie-slaying didn't slow down one bit.

  On the leaderboard, he had no hope of surpassing the two gods, Ellie and Jason Williams, but there was still a sliver of a chance to overtake Frank Lawson.

  With four days left until the end of the zombie world, Joseph resolved to surpass Frank Lawson's score within that time.

  Meanwhile, Frank Lawson was looking at the leaderboard, marveling at what he saw.

  He knew that the bee-controlling girl beside Jason Williams was named Ellie.

  No wonder Jason Williams was so fearless in the park, not worried about killing high-level zombies at all – he had Ellie as his trump card.

  "Boss, Joseph's score is rising quickly. He seems to want to compete with you for third place..."

  Frank Lawson's subordinate, noticing Joseph's rapid increase in points on the leaderboard, alerted him.

  Understanding his subordinate's meaning, Frank Lawson walked to the window and sent out his flying sword to kill zombies.

  …

  Roar~

  A three-meter-tall high-level zombie roared continuously, summoning nearby common zombies to gather around it.

  It was the last high-level zombie in the city.

  Even as unintelligent as it was, it knew that its kind had been killed, and danger would soon be upon it.

  So it needed to gather as many zombies as possible to protect itself.

  However, as dusk fell, it failed to notice the black shadow circling in the sky.

  With its constant roaring, the black shadow in the sky finally locked onto the last high-level zombie.

  The black shadow dove down rapidly, its sharp stinger piercing the air.

  This black shadow was none other than Ellie's mutated queen bee.

  The high-level zombie seemed to sense something and looked up at the sky in confusion.

  *Thwack!*

  The mutated queen bee was too fast, giving the high-level zombie no chance to react. The stinger directly pierced its skull.

  If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  The last high-level zombie was easily dealt with by the mutated queen bee.

  At the same time, that mysterious voice echoed in everyone's minds.

  [All high-level zombies have been eliminated. The instance world is now complete. Everyone will return to the Escape World in ten seconds.]

  "What? We're returning already?"

  "Who is Ellie, ranked first? She must have killed all the high-level zombies."

  The surviving people in the city discussed animatedly, all surprised and delighted by the early end of the zombie world.

  This was especially true for the teams ranked lower.

  If Ellie hadn't stepped in, they would have been dead for sure.

  Of course, some were happy, and some were sad.

  Joseph, who was in the middle of hacking at zombies, froze in place. The zombie world had ended early, and he had no hope of reclaiming third place.

  On the other side, upon learning that the zombie world was over, Ellie's expression changed drastically. Her eyes welled up with tears, and she threw herself into Jason Williams' arms.

  "Jason Williams, I… I don't want to be separated from you."

  Ellie's voice trembled with a hint of a sob. She never expected that killing all the high-level zombies would end the instance world early.

  She hadn't spent enough time with Jason Williams; how could it be over already?

  Kira also looked on with a complex expression, wanting to comfort Ellie.

  But seeing Ellie in Jason Williams' arms, she couldn't bear to interrupt their last ten seconds together.

  After all, no one knew when they would meet again.

  Jason Williams also hadn't expected the zombie world to end early. Holding Ellie, he felt a pang in his heart.

  Jason Williams still wanted to use the four days to get More Favor Points with Kira and Ellie and develop their relationship.

  But the instance world ended prematurely.

  Holding Ellie, Jason Williams quickly consoled her, "It's okay, Ellie... We'll definitely meet again in the future."

  Ellie wanted to say something but hesitated.

  She believed that she would have the opportunity to meet Jason Williams again, but they couldn't be together.

  Because Ellie was also a vehicle owner, would she have to abandon her own ride to get on Jason Williams' RV?

  Ellie held Jason Williams without speaking, cherishing every second she had with him.

  Ten seconds passed quickly.

  Everyone was enveloped in white light and left the zombie world.

  …

  Gusts of wind stirred up sand and dust, creating a light dust storm.

  On a certain highway.

  Inside a dilapidated van that was originally empty, five people appeared in a flash of white light.

  "We finally left that zombie world!" Beautiful couldn't help but exclaim.

  After all, they had offended that man named Jason Williams. If they didn't leave the zombie world early, Jason Williams would find them sooner or later.

  The five people in the van were in a terrible state. Each of them had several swollen welts on their faces, clearly stung badly by the bees.

  The worst off was David Lee, whose entire face was unrecognizable.

  Beautiful sisters all remembered that David Lee was not doing well and quickly became concerned.

  "Fatty, how are you doing? Are you feeling better?" Monty and the others asked with concern.

  None of them wanted David Lee to die because the van would disappear with him, and they would have to go to the bus to survive.

  So Beautiful sisters all wanted to save David Lee.

  David Lee was already in despair. He was swollen and in pain all over, having difficulty breathing, and even his consciousness was a little hazy.

  Clearly, a large amount of bee venom was taking effect in his body.

  At this rate, he wouldn't last long.

  At that moment, Beautiful quickly said, "He's about to die. Don't we have ranking rewards? Use the Attribute Orbs to strengthen his physique. There might still be hope for him to survive."

  The eyes of everyone in the van lit up.

  Even David Lee, whose consciousness was hazy, perked up. Sure enough, he received the rewards from the system's settlement.

  David Lee's ranking was originally eighth, but after being stung by the bees, he didn't have time to kill zombies, so his ranking dropped to over ten.

  Therefore, he only received six Attribute Orbs.

  David Lee hated Jason Williams. If it weren't for Jason Williams, their team's ranking could have steadily remained in the top ten.

  Now he had almost been stung to death by the bees, all thanks to Jason Williams.

  David Lee gritted his teeth and absorbed the six Attribute Orbs, then strengthened his physique.

  Now David Lee's physique attribute was E+ Rank, and with the strengthening of the van's ability, David Lee's physique had reached D- Rank.

  With a D- Rank physique, David Lee clearly felt better, and his body was recovering.

  "Jason Williams, you just wait..." David Lee slurred.