The saw made from insect legs was inserted into the shell of the red insect, splattering green blood.

Lucas turned his head and glanced at the escaped prisoners still standing nearby.

"Sir, let's go back to the car immediately. Don't worry, we will take good care of the child," said the leader of the escapees.

The leader of the escapees felt a chill down his spine when Lucas looked at him, as if he had been targeted by a wolf.

Lucas turned his head without looking at the departing escapees and inserted the insect saw again...

A insect core and a shell were quickly obtained.

Lucas still kept them and hadn't exchanged them with the system yet.

The system automatically stored these materials for Lucas.

This was also the reason why Lucas didn't immediately exchange the insect core and shell, otherwise he wouldn't be able to take the shell with him.

However, apart from insect cores and shells, the system wouldn't store anything else for Lucas.

This situation further proved what was useful to the system in the apocalypse.

At least food and drink, as well as general energy resources like gasoline, were not valued by the system.

At the moment, Lucas didn't feel like starting the tasks sent by the system.

The group of people ahead was too large, and it would easily attract insects and zombies. There was no way to avoid them.

The insect that he had just shot in the head was fortunate to be discovered by the drone, which happened to make it the first dead insect under Lucas's sniper rifle.

It had to be said that the sniper rifle was indeed powerful, especially when combined with the insect leg shell as ammunition. The red insects had almost no ability to resist.

Where there was one, there would be another. Lucas felt that trouble would only increase.

In addition to the road the group of people had passed through, mushrooms had also grown in other directions, which would attract the presence of insects.

Lucas also noticed that the people ahead were still not infected.

On the other hand, the escaped prisoners behind, who knows where they found masks with strong filtering capabilities, also showed no signs of infection.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

Lucas planned to find an opportunity to study their masks.

To see if it was the reduced infectivity of mushroom spores or if the masks were just highly effective.

He didn't believe that mushroom spores couldn't infect humans anymore.

The infected people he had encountered in the yard before, the zombies he had seen, and the masked army that occupied the yard had already provided the answer.

"Could the problem lie with the soldiers and ordinary people ahead?"

"Did they consume something or receive some antibodies, or are they simply a group of problematic individuals?"

Lucas's thoughts were scattered and chaotic at this moment.

Conspiracy theories in the apocalypse?

It was a belief held by many people in Lucas's previous life.

They believed that the apocalypse was a planned event, but the identity of the mastermind was unclear.

"As long as it doesn't involve me, I don't care," Lucas muttered, retracting the drone and taking it to charge.

After eating something, Lucas finally decided to open the yellow capsule.

As for the blank yellow blueprint, Lucas didn't have a good idea for it at the moment.

First, he didn't know what he needed at the moment, and second, after drawing the blueprint, he would have to find materials to produce it, and Lucas was too lazy to move.

"Congratulations, host, for obtaining a level 1 Nutrient-Rich Soil with an area of three square meters."

Lucas was a bit surprised by what the yellow capsule yielded and immediately opened the description.

"Level 1 Nutrient-Rich Soil: Shortens the maturation time of any plant by ten times, doesn't require fertilizer or sunlight, permanently useful (upgradeable)."

"Good stuff!"

Although it was just a brief description, Lucas knew how important this reward was.

Food was the scarcest resource in the apocalypse, and as time went on, obtaining food became increasingly difficult.

Having a piece of land suitable for growing crops was crucial.

Three square meters of space might not yield a lot of staple food at once, but it was perfect for growing vegetables.

Without any hesitation, Lucas cleared a three-square-meter space inside the bus and laid down the nutrient-rich soil. Then he sprinkled the cucumber seeds he found in the corrugated iron house onto the soil.

Lucas was well aware of the growth cycles of many edible plants. After all, in his previous life as a lower-class human, farming and gardening were part of his job.

It was early summer now, and according to the function of the level 1 nutrient-rich soil, these cucumber seeds would be ready for harvest in about ten days.

Lucas could wait, even if the maturation period was a few days longer.

Just the thought of it made him feel great!

In those eleven years, vegetables were a luxury reserved for the upper class. As a lower-class human, Lucas didn't even have the privilege of tasting wilted vegetable leaves.

Lucas had seen people executed for stealing a few wilted vegetable leaves.

After watering the cucumber seeds, Lucas felt a rare sense of joy. He started the bus and drove forward.

"Let the child sit in my off-road vehicle."

"Don't provoke that monster dog."

While Lucas was happy about planting vegetables, the group of escapees behind him started treating the boy like a prince.

"Don't worry, little brother. Are you hungry? Here are some instant noodles and water. We can only make you eat it like this, as we have no way to heat the water for you."

The leader of the escapees, Cobra, put on a fake smile.

Cobra was his nickname; nobody knew his real name, and it had been many years since anyone called him by it. He probably had forgotten it himself.

Those who knew him called him Cobra, and his subordinates naturally referred to him as the boss.

Cobra was a thug, but he wasn't good at fighting, and his heart wasn't ruthless enough.

However, he valued principles, had a sharp mind, knew how to talk, and was a person who excelled at observing others' words and expressions.

Relying on these qualities, he was considered a minor figure in the coastal city.

Unfortunately, as a bus driver before the apocalypse, Lucas had no knowledge of Cobra.

If Lucas knew that Cobra would become the human guardian of the shelter in the coastal city five years later, his attitude towards him might have changed.

But Cobra himself had no knowledge of what the future held.

At this moment, all Cobra had in mind was to cling tightly to Lucas's thigh.

Cobra had a feeling that following Lucas would greatly increase his and his comrades' chances of survival—perhaps even more reliable than following the military.

Since Lucas seemed to care about the boy and the monster dog, Cobra could start from here to win him over.

"Little brother, what's the name of the gentleman in the bus up ahead? What's your relationship with him?"

Cobra somehow found a packaged chicken leg and handed it to the boy.

The boy seemed unwilling to tell Cobra anything about Lucas.

To Cobra, the boy's "I don't know" seemed to indicate an unwillingness to talk and a lack of trust.

As a result, Cobra used all his methods to win over the boy even more.

Finally, after understanding that everything was because of the monster dog, Cobra felt like he had wasted his efforts in vain.