The screams of the woman caused everyone, including some soldiers who were nearby, to have splitting headaches.

Fortunately, it was just a headache, and no substantial harm was done to anyone.

Looking at the red bug that wanted to sting the woman, not even a sniper rifle could stop its insect legs. At this moment, it was suspended in the air, completely motionless.

Perhaps due to the proximity, the woman's screams did have an impact on the bug.

Lucas removed the mute woman's hand and used the sniper scope to observe her.

The woman's expression was full of fear as she stared at the bug's legs, which were not far from her head. It seemed like she had taken a sharp breath.

Lucas quickly covered his own ears.

The screams resounded again, and the sound grew louder and louder, not only unbearable for humans but also causing the movements of the zombies a little farther away to slow down.

Looking at the bug, under the continuous screams of the woman, its whole body seemed to be in a state of stalemate.

Lucas carefully looked around, casually found two pieces of paper to stuff in his ears, and grabbed the sniper rifle as he got out of the car and ran towards the woman.

"Stop screaming!"

"Move aside!"

When he reached the woman's side, Lucas directly lifted the woman, who was in a state of shock, and then turned around, shoving the barrel of the sniper rifle into the bug's deformed mouth.

Boom!

A green mist of blood exploded.

Various pieces of flesh splattered all over Lucas.

Finally, Lucas shot the bug's head, causing it to explode inside its mouth.

"Keep attacking!"

Lucas didn't have time to clean off the green bloodstains and sticky flesh on his body. He shouted at the soldiers.

The woman's screams rendered the zombie corpses stiff, slowing down their speed. It was the perfect opportunity to attack.

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The deafening sound of gunfire suddenly intensified.

The soldiers with flamethrowers kept pulling the triggers non-stop.

Flames erupted, and masses of zombie groups started to burn.

"Why are you all standing there? Go find weapons and fight!"

Lucas yelled at a few stupefied soldiers, glanced at the infected dog lying on the ground in the distance, seemingly not dead yet, and pulled the screaming woman back onto the bus.

Smack!

A bag was thrown from the bus and landed in front of the boy who was crying next to the infected dog.

"Feed it!"

After yelling at the boy through the window, Lucas closed it directly.

The bag contained mushrooms.

Whether the infected dog could survive after eating them was not Lucas's concern.

After letting the woman sit in the seat behind the driver's seat, Lucas handed her a bottle of cola and a piece of chocolate.

The woman drank a few mouthfuls of water and took a bite of the chocolate. Finally, her condition improved, and she regained her senses.

Then, she began to cry uncontrollably.

Surviving a disaster, for a woman who used to be delicate before the apocalypse, being able to cry meant that things weren't too bad.

"Congratulations!"

"Your chances of staying alive have increased countless times."

Lucas watched the woman cry, without offering any comfort. Instead, he suddenly said something that the woman probably couldn't understand.

Indeed, upon hearing Lucas's words, the woman's crying immediately lessened, and she curiously looked at Lucas.

"You have evolved."

"It's hard to explain this matter. Just understand that you have gained skills to deal with those bugs and zombies."

Lucas didn't say much. He couldn't say much about the evolved humans since he hadn't evolved himself, and most of what he knew was hearsay.

"This thing was dug out from the bug's body. Take it and see if you can gain something from it. If you can sense what's inside and absorb it, you will become stronger in the future."

"Rest well."

Lucas generously handed the red bug nucleus he had saved to the woman and prepared to dig into the evolving bug's body for its nucleus.

Encountering evolved humans at this time, Lucas naturally had some thoughts.

Although Lucas was puzzled by the occurrence of the evolution phenomenon nearly half a month earlier than expected, he couldn't be bothered to understand the reasons since he didn't know them.

The value of this woman had changed in Lucas's mind.

While the evolved humans in the early stages of the apocalypse might not be as powerful as imagined, Lucas might be the only person in the world who knew how to make evolved humans continue to evolve.

In the previous apocalypse, humans only discovered how to make evolved humans continue to evolve three months after the dark period.

Rapidly cultivating some evolved humans would undoubtedly greatly enhance Lucas's strength.

But at the same time, Lucas knew that he had to be stronger than these evolved humans in order to control them.

Unconsciously, Lucas added a lot of pressure to himself.

Using an unnamed knife, he dug out the bug nucleus.

The nucleus still emitted a hint of red luster, proving that the bug had not evolved into a yellow bug.

Lucas believed his speculation was correct. This bug must have evolved after consuming another bug's nucleus.

Unfortunately, although the red luster of this nucleus was slightly deeper than that of a typical red bug nucleus, it still had its limits.

Just like the exoskeleton of this bug was slightly stronger than that of a typical red bug, Lucas's sniper rifle could still shatter it. However, he might have to shoot from a closer distance.

Lucas muttered a few words, telling the system to store the bug nucleus and exoskeleton, then he returned to the bus and continued shooting with his sniper rifle.

The entire bus was quiet.

The woman seemed to have stabilized her emotions and was studying the bug nucleus.

She didn't speak and Lucas wondered what she was thinking. She would occasionally glance at Lucas and the mute woman sitting there, seemingly lost in thought.

But she seemed more interested in observing the bus.

The supplies filling the bus, along with the mature cucumbers and cabbages, made the woman's curiosity about the bus and Lucas grow stronger.

Another hour passed like this.

The zombie horde was almost completely eliminated, with only a few bugs disappearing in areas untouched by the fire.

The battle was over.

The raging fire from the battle continued to burn, spreading over a larger area. It seemed likely that it would engulf the entire Phoenix Mountain and even continue burning along the mountain range.

At this point, no one naturally cared about the fire.

After the bugs had disappeared, the soldiers finally breathed a sigh of relief and rested in areas where they wouldn't be affected by the fire.

At this moment, two officers approached the front of the bus and stood straight, saluting Lucas.

"Sir, thanks to you, we were able to overcome the crisis smoothly."

"To express our gratitude for your forgiveness, we hope to offer you some compensation."

"If you have any requests, please feel free to ask. As long as the two of us can fulfill them, we will definitely meet your demands."

The older officer spoke to Lucas, and Lucas could feel that the officer had no ill intentions towards him.