Three days have passed since Ainsworth, Rian, Dante, and the survivor group they brought with them had arrived at the military-established human survival base.
With a little scheming, Ainsworth successfully sabotaged the water system in the survival base by letting his father zombie virus contaminate every drinking water.
Of course, Dante and Rian were free from those as they would get bottled water and food supplies from him and he didn’t put any contaminants in their water bottles or food.
With his father zombie virus infecting everyone in the base, even the leader of the base, it was safe to say that Ainsworth had already planted slave collars on their necks.
Anytime he wanted, he could let the zombie virus inside them explode and activate, letting them either become zombies or evolvers. Either way, they’d all be part of his Hive Mind.
Formulating such a simple plan, Ainsworth shook his head in refusal, thinking, ’Putting mere slave collars is the work of an amateur. Most dictators who do that always get deposed after those slave collars were removed from the necks of their slaves for various unforeseen reasons.’
’In other words, what I can learn from that is that you can enslave someone’s body with a slave collar, but you can’t enslave their mind, heart, and soul. Or at least, the father zombie virus can only enslave someone physically and the Hive Mind can only enslave their minds.’
’However, even the Hive Mind isn’t fully foolproof. Although those part of the Hive Mind cannot remove the Hive Mind, others who aren’t affected could assist in freeing those who were enslaved by it.’
’With such shortcomings, it would be foolish and arrogant to think I can merely enslave just their bodies and minds and be done with it. There’s no eternal dictatorship, or at least, I can’t achieve it yet.’
’But, if I were to not only put a leash on their body and mind but also their hearts, I can ensure that even if someone managed to remove the father zombie virus and snap them out of the Hive Mind, they’d still stay loyally devoted to me like a bunch of slaves who’ll sacrifice their lives for my sake.’
’It might be overkill to do that as it would be more work when the targets aren’t that much worth it, but I prefer having a foolproof plan as much as possible. In this case, I’ve already succeeded when I ensured that my Church of Evolution’s believers are fanatically devoted to serving me.’
’Even if someone managed the slave collars I placed on my believers, they’d still wholeheartedly devote me. After all, my charm, speech, and charisma as a God-Level Cult Leader is a cognitohazard when combined and it already rewrites their entire being.’
’Even if they are snapped out of the slavery I put them in, everything about them has already been deeply scarred by what I’ve put them through and so it cannot be restored through normal means.’
Looking at the base and smiling at the survivors who passed by him, Ainsworth indifferently continued his thoughts, ’So, I plan to do the same to these people. They won’t have the same treatment as my believers as they won’t worship me as a god, but in terms of loyalty and devotion, it’s all the same.’
’Those who use mere slave collars are just a bunch of amateurs. The best way to control someone is to impose both external and internal control. In other words, I’ll have to proceed with the plan of starting a zombie tide and manipulating them into seeing me as the hero.’
’Then, when that happens, I can slowly let those who were infected with the zombie virus become evolvers and then brainwash everyone in the base into becoming my suicide squad.’
With that plan in mind, Ainsworth contacted the Special Zombie from Zombie Kingdom who was assigned to this city by Zombie King Kyle via the Hive Mind.
After conveying his orders, he waited in the base. To pass the time, he took out potato chips, opened them, and ate them.
Savoring the salty crunch, Ainsworth found himself enjoying life in the Otherworld as it made him feel free.
When he was spending his three days in this base, he had already obtained everyone’s positive impression of him, and all the survivors were even loyally devoted to him due to him regularly giving them the supplies they needed.
In other words, the act he was going to perform later on was just reserved for the soldiers, military officers, and the leader of the base, who only had a really good impression of him but wasn’t fully brainwashed by his charm and words.
He had already commanded the soldiers who had been successfully brainwashed by him to let themselves sacrifice their lives on the battlefield in order to fend off those zombies.
Their purpose was to make the zombie tide a real threat that reaped lives so that when his team swooped in to save the day, his team’s victory would be more valued and it could sway their hearts even more.
Aside from that, he also spent the previous three days micromanaging the Church of Evolution and the Zombie Kingdom out of boredom. With the Zombie Kingdom already established in this city, he didn’t even have to collect the sun crystals or moon crystals as they would hoard them on his behalf.
Not only in this city but in all cities in the country as well. With Solar Moon crystals he combined from this country’s three days’ worth of moon crystals and sun crystals, his viral energy stat attribute had finally been upgraded to B- grade along with the rest of his stats aside from Luck, Spirit, and Charm.
When he reached that stat grade, he felt that he was nearing the power level limit of the Zombie Apocalypse World so it wouldn’t be long before he reached the power level limit which was B+ grade.
Thinking about his progress, Ainsworth was pleased, ’In just a week of staying in this world, I’ve already upgraded my stat attributes from E+ grade to B- grade.’
’World domination will easily be achievable when I reach this world’s limit and then I can speedrun this world to completion.’