"Do you have any cookies?"

Kayla Mead adjusted his glasses and glanced at Mata Hari through the lenses with concentric ripples. He popped a chocolate-filled cookie into his mouth.

"Cookies?"

Knowing that Kayla Mead's request was so simple, Mata Hari felt the urge to vomit blood.

If she had known, she wouldn't have wasted so much saliva and energy.

"We should have some in the shelter... I think."

Mata Hari's lack of experience and young age made her flaws apparent.

If it were Lucas answering, he would have casually said that he had a warehouse filled with all kinds of cookies without even blinking.

"You're not sure either, are you?"

"Let me see your wings. How did you become like this? Are you a transformed crow?"

As Kayla Mead spoke, he leaned closer to Mata Hari.

"Can you caw like a crow?"

At this moment, Kayla Mead seemed like a different person, which caused Mata Hari's face to turn red.

"You're crazy!"

Mata Hari's thin skin made her blurt out her thoughts.

Clap—

The bus door suddenly opened, and Lucas boarded the bus, swiftly entering the restroom. He left behind a nauseating stench in the cabin, interrupting the awkward conversation between Kayla Mead and Mata Hari.

The two fell silent and opened the windows, desperately inhaling the fresh air outside.

Ten minutes later, Lucas finished washing up and came out, handing a red bug core to Kayla Mead.

He then asked for their names and some information, confirming that Kayla Mead was indeed an expert in energy research.

"From now on, come to my place to study this stuff. It might be the main energy source for humans, affecting the life and death of everyone."

Lucas handed a red bug core to Kayla Mead, and after some thought, he continued, "You can start by studying people like her who suddenly gained special abilities. Research how they absorb this substance and convert it into their own energy to enhance their strength."

He pointed at Mata Hari without considering it impolite.

"By the way, have you made up your mind? Do you want to come with us?"

"But I have to warn you, with your current abilities, it might be dangerous for you to go back alone. The two bugs that appeared earlier were of a higher level, and your current abilities wouldn't even allow you to get close to them."

Lucas addressed Mata Hari.

He genuinely didn't want to force anyone, especially a girl.

"Mead, do you have any objections to coming with me?"

"Anyway, if you come to my place, cookies will be in abundance. Even if packaged ones become scarce in the future, we can make our own. The ingredients will never be lacking."

Lucas patted Kayla Mead's shoulder to show familiarity and made a promise.

"Oh, Mead, if you're willing to come with me, think carefully about any scientific research institutions in Annan City. We need to find as many of these people as possible for the development of my place."

"Also, don't worry about lacking research equipment. As long as you provide the specifications for manufacturing equipment, I can arrange it for you."

"Let's go to your research lab now and take all the research materials you need."

Lucas decided to return early and take care of these matters. Annan City definitely wouldn't remain as peaceful as it is now.

Since someone was searching for these researchers, Lucas knew he had to act quickly before all the valuable people were taken away.

"Our research lab only has me."

When Lucas asked, Kayla Mead adjusted her glasses and replied, "Well, as for the other places..."

With Kayla Mead's response, Lucas knew that this person would join him, and he felt somewhat happy for no apparent reason.

In his previous life, Lucas never imagined that he would develop his own influence in the apocalypse.

It felt quite fulfilling to have Kayla Mead lead all the surviving researchers in Annan City to Blue Sky Lake.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"I have no friends."

Just as Lucas was secretly delighted, Kayla Mead suddenly uttered a few words.

"What do you mean by 'no friends'?"

Kayla Mead's words dampened Lucas' good mood by half.

"He means he doesn't know where the researchers from other scientific institutions are."

Mata Hari helped Kayla Mead answer Lucas' question.

In fact, when Kayla Mead voluntarily answered Lucas earlier, Mata Hari had already figured it out and made a decision.

Seeing Kayla Mead's current condition, Mata Hari knew that she couldn't take him away, even if Kayla Mead agreed at the moment, this person named Lucas probably wouldn't agree.

Mata Hari was aware of her own limitations; she definitely couldn't defeat Lucas.

Another reason was that she suddenly didn't want to go back to the days of being a slave. The person in charge in the shelter city treated her as a slave even before the apocalypse.

At this moment, Mata Hari wanted to experience a different life.

"I know the locations of other scientific institutions in Annan City, but I'm not sure if anyone has taken them away."

"This time, three people with special abilities like me came, and they went to other scientific institutions."

Mata Hari didn't conceal anything and introduced Lucas to the situation of the other evolvers who came with her.

"No problem. Mark the locations of these research institutions on the map, and we'll go to each one of them."

Lucas nodded at Mata Hari and took out a paper map of Annan City.

At this moment, Mata Hari also took out a map with five red circles marked on it, indicating the research institutions in Annan City.

Because the shelter city where Mata Hari and the others were located didn't have as many evolvers, they had initially planned to send the convoy to two of the locations.

Lucas just learned that the convoy he saw on the plain was not a regular army but rather a private military force.

Many of the people in the convoy were former soldiers who had scattered after the apocalypse, so they couldn't be considered a real army.

"Great!"

Lucas glanced at Mata Hari and entered the coordinates from the map into the navigation system.

Lucas intended to visit all five locations. There were still four circles left, and it wouldn't take much time.

Kayla Mead and Mata Hari weren't aware of Lucas's true power, but Lucas himself knew very well that during this period, as long as he wasn't targeted by the military or surrounded by large hordes of creatures, he was virtually invincible in the apocalypse.

Of course, if he encountered infected individuals or creatures of yellow rank or higher, he decided to retreat immediately.

The nearest research institution was only a half-hour drive away. After instructing Kayla Mead to move the materials, Lucas settled into a seat and let the bus drive automatically towards that location.

According to Mata Hari, this particular research institution was also managed by an evolver.

The first places Lucas wanted to visit were naturally the two locations where evolvers had gone.

Perhaps most of the creatures and zombies in Annan City had gone to cause trouble on the plain. On the way, they only encountered a few zombies and didn't come across any creatures or infected individuals.

However, this situation made Lucas cautious.

The person commanding the zombies and creatures to go to the plain must have high intelligence, which also indicated that the unidentified entity, whether it was an infected or a creature, was likely to be above the yellow rank.

The drones remained on alert, and the bus stopped a few hundred meters away from the research institution.

Lucas got off the bus and pretended to look around, instructing his shadow clone to find a vantage point with a sniper rifle.

The shadow clone had its own ability, which allowed objects it touched to turn black, just like itself.

Lucas even tried to see if the shadow clone could use the invisibility ability he had copied, but unfortunately, it didn't succeed.

To Lucas's surprise, Mata Hari actually attracted a swarm of infected crows on her own initiative.

Mata Hari's intention was to inform the evolver in charge of this location that she had arrived and to ask them to come out and meet her.

After explaining her plan, Mata Hari slowly walked towards the research institution, while the infected crow swarm circled above her head.

Lucas instructed Kayla Mead to stay in the car and assigned the mute girl to protect her. Then, he got off the car himself, carrying a recurve knife.

A few seconds later, Lucas entered stealth mode and quietly followed behind Mata Hari.

According to Mata Hari, the evolver in charge of this research institution had the ability to control metal. He could make metal objects weighing up to five tons float with a single hand and use them as projectiles to attack.

Lucas wasn't particularly interested in an evolver who could only control metal in a simple way.

In his previous life, there were many metal manipulators, but their control precision was not very high. The weaker ones could only control a single piece of metal to move around, while the stronger ones could control multiple dagger-like weapons for offensive attacks.

However, what was truly impressive and rare were the evolvers who could change the shape of metal, including the ability to turn their own bodies into metal.

The evolver in charge of this facility had the ability to control metal by making their own body possess magnetic properties, which was a relatively common ability among those who awakened such powers.

Generally speaking, in the early stages of the apocalypse, the abilities of these evolvers were limited.

The infected crows occasionally let out eerie cries in the air, sending chills down one's spine in the darkness.

On a street to the left of the bus, a middle-aged chubby man was driving a borrowed off-road vehicle, preparing to find Mata Hari and the others when he heard the cries of the infected crows.

"Mata Hari moves faster than me."

The chubby man murmured to himself, sticking his head out of the car window and taking a glance. He immediately turned the car around and prepared to go back.

"Professor, my companion has arrived at your research facility. I need to go back and pick her up."

There were still two people sitting in the back seat of the off-road vehicle, an elderly man in his sixties or seventies who appeared to be a scholar, and a boy in his teens.

The old man had the appearance of a scholar, while the boy was dressed in sportswear, but his eyes were a bit special.

His left eye had a normal iris, but his right eye was the same as that of a zombie, a gray-white color without an iris.

What was even more peculiar was that there was a completely black cat lying on the boy's leg, without any speck of color on its body.

The cat's eyes were even more mysterious than the boy's. Its two eyes were also completely black, like two black glass marbles.

Needless to say, the boy and his cat were not ordinary humans.

"Hurry up and come back. My grandfather is not in good health, so it's better for you to cause less trouble."

The boy warned the chubby man with a strong sense of caution in his tone.

"Meow~"

The black cat also stood up at this moment and let out a meow towards the chubby man.

At that moment, the chubby man felt as if he had fallen into an icy abyss. He quickly nodded, too nervous to utter a word.

The chubby man felt like crying in his heart. The boy and his cat were too powerful, to the point where he didn't dare to show the slightest dissatisfaction.

When he arrived at the laboratory, he took a glance at the boy's eyes and found that he couldn't move his body except for his eyes. Then, after looking at the cat's eyes again, he was immersed in an illusion.

In just a few breaths, he was torn to pieces by insects within the illusion. When he woke up, he found that he had wet himself.

He felt that all of this happened just because he glanced at the boy and the cat. If these two really made a move, he would probably die a miserable death.

The off-road vehicle was not driving fast, as the chubby man was afraid of shaking the elderly professor in the back, so he drove carefully.

Fortunately, they were close, and the chubby man quickly spotted Mata Hari.

He parked the car in front of Mata Hari and saw that she was the only one. He guessed that she hadn't completed the mission.

"Why are you alone? Did everyone else abandon you, or did they refuse to go with you?" the chubby man asked Mata Hari, trying to maintain a polite tone. The infected crows in the sky were not to be trifled with.

"There are other people, but we can't leave anymore. You probably can't leave either," Mata Hari replied without beating around the bush, directly stating the situation they were about to face.

"Hmm?" The chubby man furrowed his brows upon hearing Mata Hari's words, but quickly relaxed, as if he had thought of something. "Can't leave? Are the people from the shelter doing this? Why aren't they coming out?"

As the chubby man spoke, he opened the car door and got out. He extended his arm, and the three cars parked on the roadside floated in the air.

"Professor, sorry for the trouble. I'll resolve it quickly," the chubby man said to the two people inside the car while controlling the three cars. The true meaning of his words was: If I can't handle it, you'll have to resolve this trouble.

Little did Mata Hari know that Lucas was sitting less than ten meters away from them, on the curb. He heard the chubby man's words clearly.

A thought crossed Lucas' mind as he glanced at the nearby rooftop.

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

Three consecutive gunshots rang out from a sniper rifle without a silencer.

Followed by three consecutive explosions.

The three cars controlled by the chubby man instantly lost control and crashed to the ground, turning into scrap metal.

"Meow~"

At that moment, Lucas saw a completely black cat jump out of the car window behind the chubby man. It let out a meow towards him.

Lucas was startled, and his eyes met the gaze of the black cat.

"Hmm, the cat's eyes?"

"Black eyes..."

At that moment, Lucas regretted his improved vision. With just one glance from the black cat, he felt as though he was falling from the sky. The rushing wind filled his ears, and when he looked down, he saw a gaping mouth slowly opening on the ground, waiting for him to fall into it!

Boom!

The sniper rifle fired again, hitting the car closest to the chubby man's off-road vehicle, causing it to flip in the air several times before landing on the ground.

The loud noise snapped Lucas out of the illusion created by the black cat's eyes.

"Fuck!"

Lucas cursed, realizing that his invisibility had been exposed by the eerie black cat. Remaining invisible was pointless now.

He felt a wave of fear. Fortunately, his Shadow Clone still had a trace of consciousness, or else he would have likely been in deep trouble today.

At this moment, Lucas realized that he had underestimated the various peculiar creatures in the apocalypse.