Lucas presented a red core as a gift, and he genuinely believed it to be sincere.

Don't underestimate this red core; it's not easy for the current Evolvers to obtain one. Evolvers with the strength of Lucas are rare at the moment.

Lucas's attitude and sincerity were evident to the old professor, and his gaze towards Lucas seemed to contain less hostility.

As a scientist, the old professor had some understanding of the core. When he had interactions with the people from the Annan Shelter City before, they provided him with some information.

The old professor knew how valuable the core was.

"Taylor, keep it. Your abilities should be improved. It's my fault; if I had agreed to those people earlier, you wouldn't be lacking this."

The old professor let the boy, Taylor, accept the core Lucas gave him, feeling somewhat sentimental.

Taylor nodded at the old professor, securely keeping the core, then turned to look at Lucas.

"I won't accept your gift in vain."

"I'll lead the way down there. Black Beauty and I can drive away those monsters within a certain range using our abilities, but the time we can continuously use our abilities is short. I'm not sure about the exact range, but it should cover this vehicle without any problems."

As Taylor spoke, he walked over to Lucas and picked up the black cat, embracing it in his arms.

The black cat had a red core in its mouth, seemingly absorbing energy through its own method.

Whether it was an illusion or not, Lucas felt that the black cat's fur appeared darker than before and even smoother.

"Thank you. It's best if we can avoid direct confrontation. Ammunition is hard to come by these days."

"You can go directly to the roof of the car. No need to get off. It's safer that way. If there's any danger, you can immediately return to the car. I won't make any big promises, but those monsters will have a hard time damaging the bus."

Naturally, Lucas wouldn't mention that ammunition was irrelevant to him. The fewer people who knew his secrets, the better.

After everyone finished their food, Lucas opened the skylight, and together with Taylor, climbed onto the roof of the bus.

The bus's roof was much more crowded than before.

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The Avenger cannons occupied almost half of the roof area, and there was a square jamming device at the back.

Lucas and Taylor sat in the rear half of the roof and set the bus on an automated route.

After about ten more minutes, the black cat finally finished absorbing the core. It stretched its limbs straight and regained its vitality. It meowed several times towards Lucas and Taylor.

Lucas felt that the black cat's guard against him seemed to have lessened considerably. When he touched the black cat, it would actively rub against him.

However, the black cat was still mutated, and "obedient" was hardly a word to describe it.

Just by looking into the black cat's pair of pitch-black eyes, an ordinary person would probably have nightmares.

"Let's go. Black Beauty is excited now, so the duration of our abilities should be longer."

After Taylor finished speaking to Lucas, he felt the bus start moving and quickly entered the open plain ahead.

Lucas controlled the unmanned drone to shuttle through the infected crow flock. Currently, he hadn't found any infected zombies, and the crow flock didn't show any signs of alarm.

"Where did those things hide themselves?"

Frowning, Lucas felt that the current situation was strange, leaving him frustrated with no place to start.

The bus was running at full speed, following the same route as before, with hardly any obstacles on the ground.

This continued until the bus reached the middle of the plain. Finally, the situation changed.

Through the drone's camera, Lucas saw the infected monkey troop he had encountered on the way here.

The number of infected macaques seemed to be about half of what he had seen before. Lucas didn't know if the missing half had died or dispersed and hidden somewhere else.

Anyway, he classified these monkey-like creatures, with a body size similar to humans, as intelligent infected organisms. He avoided provoking them if possible.

Within the footage of the monkey troop, many infected monkeys were roaring towards the infected crow flock in the sky.

The bus had a silent mode, and Lucas didn't know if these monkeys had noticed their presence or just wanted to leave the plain quickly.

Unfortunately, after a minute, three yellow insects appeared in front of the bus, accompanied by an infected wild boar about the size of a bull and two infected organisms that might be tigers.

The appearance of the wild boar and tigers made Lucas instinctively glance at the sky, searching for the giant eagle he had seen earlier.

Without rushing to take action, Lucas wanted to see if Taylor and the black cat's abilities could indeed drive away the infected organisms.

Not finding the giant eagle, Lucas's gaze turned to Taylor and the black cat.

At this moment, the black cat stood up from Taylor's arms, arching its back and raising its tail high, displaying the typical defensive posture of a cat encountering danger.

As Lucas glanced sideways, he noticed a faint glimmer in the black cat's eyes.

Looking at Taylor, he noticed a red line encircling the grayish-white irises of his eyes, similar to the infected zombies.

Observing both Taylor and the black cat in this state, Lucas couldn't determine whether they belonged to evolution or infection.

Perhaps evolution and infection were fundamentally the same?

This question resurfaced in Lucas's mind.

The bus did not slow down, seemingly ignoring the insects and infected creatures ahead, as the distance between them continued to shrink.

Lucas calculated the distance, preparing to activate the Avenger cannons if they failed to disperse within fifty meters.

To be honest, if it weren't for the plain, Lucas might have already fled, considering the significance of the insects and infected creatures represented by capsules, blank blueprints, and materials for creation.

When they were only about a hundred meters away, Lucas saw the insects and infected creatures suddenly become restless through the drone's camera.

The infected creatures roared while the insects continued screeching, but their bodies moved within a small area.

At this moment, Lucas also noticed several infected monkeys appearing in his line of sight.

With the appearance of the infected monkeys, both the infected creatures and insects adjusted their direction, seemingly communicating with the monkeys.

In the blink of an eye, the bus moved another twenty meters, and Lucas had already activated the Avenger cannons, with the gun barrels raised.

"If it seems ineffective, take the black cat back into the car."

Without turning his head, Lucas said to Taylor, lifting his sniper rifle, pointing it towards the sky, prepared for the possible sudden appearance of the giant eagle.

Taylor didn't respond to Lucas. By now, sweat was streaming down his face, making it appear as if he had just been splashed with water. The red lines around the edges of his irises had thickened considerably.

Finally, when the bus was only about fifty meters away from the insects at the front, Taylor suddenly let out a loud roar.

Taylor's voice was loud, startling Lucas, who was about to open fire. He turned his head to look.

At the same time, Lucas suddenly felt a slight headache, as if someone was pricking his head with needles.