The roaring zombie on the bed brought Lucas back to reality.

Lucas glanced at the infected dog nearby and found it much more pleasing.

"I can't save your owner either."

"You've tried mushrooms, but they didn't work. Nothing else will either."

"Do you understand?"

"The only way I can help you is by killing him and burying him."

Lucas knew that the infected dog couldn't understand his words, but he still wanted to say them.

In this situation, he couldn't directly kill the zombie on the bed, or the infected dog would surely misunderstand.

In the end, Lucas didn't take action. He just shook his head a few times at the infected dog.

Zombies also starve to death.

The early-stage zombies, without consuming flesh and blood, would perish within a week.

Lucas had no intention of feeding the zombies.

Moreover, he couldn't afford it, as zombies don't eat regular food.

After shaking his head at the infected dog, Lucas checked the time and searched the nearby metal shed for some items.

Mainly corn and some knives and such.

He couldn't bring back too many things. Besides, the people in the metal shed were too poor, and there wasn't much to scavenge.

However, Lucas was tempted by the few acres of land behind the metal shed, where vegetables like tomatoes and cabbage were being grown.

At that moment, in the bag hanging from Lucas's waist, there was a bag of vegetable seeds he had found in the metal shed.

In the apocalypse, vegetables were worth countless times more than meat. Only the privileged few could afford to eat them.

In the apocalypse, it was difficult for people to have vegetables.

After scavenging the items, Lucas still had some time left before the purified mushrooms lost their effect.

The system remained silent, indicating that the mission was not yet complete.

Looking at the infected dog crouched by the bed in that metal shed, Lucas felt helpless.

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He had to return to the yard. Who knew what would happen in the vicinity in a while, whether zombies or insects would appear.

In a maximum of three days, the first wave of scattered mushroom spores would start to grow.

In Lucas's memory, the mushrooms were always like this. It wasn't until twenty days later, when humans accidentally discovered that they had to cut them down before they fully grew.

Until then, the mushrooms appeared every three to four days, and many people survived the first disaster but couldn't avoid the subsequent ones.

That's why Lucas had prepared a lot of oxygen cylinders from the beginning.

But he wasn't too worried now. The bus had a filtering system that could be added. The blueprint of the bus on the system panel had a "+" sign indicating the filtering system.

Once added, Lucas wouldn't have to worry about it while staying on the bus.

Lucas felt like the mission couldn't be completed. He prepared to return with a pile of things.

Before leaving, Lucas called out to the infected dog, bidding him farewell.

This time, when he returned to the yard, Lucas planned to stay temporarily on the bus and wouldn't easily leave the yard.

He didn't want to encounter insects, infected beings, or even humans for now.

In the apocalypse, these were all dangerous factors.

With the bus and the system, Lucas thought being a lone ranger was quite good.

Digging some soil and planting vegetables on the bus was a good idea.

He just didn't know if they could survive without sunlight.

If they could, that would be truly great.

Lucas was well aware that he only needed to repair the bus before the nuclear bomb went off in nineteen days, and then temporarily leave the seaside city. He could return ten days later.

After all, the nuclear radiation generated by the bomb was absorbed by a mysterious force, and the natural environment wouldn't deteriorate to the point of being uninhabitable.

Three months later, when the sun reappeared, the shelter city in the seaside would be established. At that time, Lucas would consider his future destination.

With a pile of things, Lucas ran all the way, taking along two mushrooms.

Finally, he made it back to the yard within twenty minutes.

Throwing the things onto the yard and the bus, Lucas quickly cut down the purification mushrooms that had started to wither and dragged them back.

Closing the door, Lucas almost collapsed.

It wasn't time to sleep yet.

At this time, it should be noon, but the world was still in darkness.

Those who were alive probably felt true despair upon seeing that the sun hadn't risen.

Lucas lay quietly in the car and could faintly hear the deafening sound of gunfire coming from the central city.

In a daze, Lucas couldn't resist and fell asleep again.

He slept for more than ten hours until the deafening sound of gunfire erupted nearby.

Finally, the ground forces were mobilized...

Lucas got up and looked at the area about one kilometer away from the yard, which had now turned into a battlefield.

A massive battle between humans, infected beings, and insects had begun.

In the darkness, there were not only the sounds of human gunfire but also the piercing screams of insects and the distinct voices of zombies.

Lucas knew that in this large-scale battle, the human army had suffered direct losses of more than half.

If it weren't for the timely retreat, the entire army could have been wiped out. weapons had limited effectiveness against insects.

Even with simultaneous missile launches, most of the targets eliminated were just zombies.

Infected flocks of birds had already appeared in the sky. Even a single infected sparrow could cause collective harm to humans.

Weapons like tanks on the ground could only fire a few rounds before being overturned by insects, and no matter how thick the armor was, it could easily be pierced by insect limbs.

The situation was even worse for aircraft in the sky.

Countless infected birds launched suicide attacks and would not let planes fly freely in the sky.

At this point, the high-ranking officials of humanity should have taken refuge in underground shelters.

In the post-apocalyptic world, people referred to these shelters as Doomsday Fortresses.

Originally, these facilities were built by the upper echelons of humanity to prepare for nuclear warfare.

Now they served as havens to escape the apocalypse.

Lucas wasn't sure how many Doomsday Fortresses there were in his own country, but he knew from previous news that there were around five to six thousand fortresses of various sizes in other countries on the other side of the planet.

Each fortress stored enough supplies to sustain a thousand people for over ten years.

Just the thought of it amazed Lucas.

During the eleven years of the apocalypse, Lucas had participated in the restoration of several Doomsday Fortresses, and these facilities were indeed like heaven in the apocalypse.

Unfortunately, they had nothing to do with ordinary people.

With the sudden appearance of the military nearby, Lucas couldn't help but think of the Doomsday Fortresses.

Could there be one nearby?

The possibility crossed Lucas's mind, shaking him internally.

Could there be something wrong with the yard he was currently in?

Although it had been abandoned for decades, the yard had never been demolished.

The metal walls surrounding the underground warehouse were also intact.

However, the fact that this place had been abandoned for so long without being demolished... was it because it served as an entrance to a Doomsday Fortress?

The more Lucas thought about it, the more uneasy he felt. After observing the situation in the yard, he quickly got out of the car and ran towards the underground warehouse.