Before Xu Duoduo could answer, a mutation core was tossed into her arms. She held it in her hands, still feeling a bit dazed. The core felt ice-cold to the touch.

Meanwhile, Qin Luo was facing questions from Chen Xiaofei and Bai Shu. He replied, "It's just a lowest-level mutation core. Let her eat it. Isn't her value worth more than a level one core? I'll take responsibility if headquarters questions it."

Since the captain was willing to take responsibility, the other two followed his lead, trusting he could handle it.

But Wang Weihu didn't know about this!

He hadn't witnessed the scene of collecting cans, nor had he seen Xu Duoduo taking porridge.

Just as Wang Weihu was about to ask something, with his loud voice and people all around, the sharp-eyed Chen Xiaofei noticed and quickly pulled him aside. After a round of explanations, Wang Weihu's eyes widened in disbelief!

This little zombie classmate actually had an ability? And it was the rare spatial manipulation type?

She could even eat mutation cores?

Wang Weihu was instantly shocked.

After all this commotion, it was almost dawn. It would be safer to travel during the day.

So they packed up and set out immediately.

With luck, they could reach the survivor base before nightfall. It wasn't far, just in the neighboring H City.

Unfortunately, the entire K City had completely fallen and was no longer habitable.

Although there was no sun today, it was very bright.

As they drove along, ruins were everywhere, mostly remnants from zombie clearance operations. Some areas clearly showed signs of fierce battles.

Those were encounters with mutant beasts.

Xu Duoduo was still in the car, this time without ropes binding her. She curled up in the back seat, with Qin Luo sitting nearby, fiddling with his knife.

This guy was skilled with both knives and guns.

However, after last night's brutal fight, the four of them plus one zombie were all filthy.

There was no time to clean up properly. This was the apocalypse, not the old days.

Qin Luo secretly glanced at Xu Duoduo. Since last night, she seemed a bit afraid of him, which wasn't surprising considering he had almost eliminated her.

The reason for bringing her along was partly duty, partly sentiment from their younger days.

If she had lost her sanity at that moment, he would have had to follow orders and kill her, just as he would have to personally end the lives of infected teammates or survivors.

The apocalypse was always cruel.

Fortunately, she hadn't lost her mind.

Qin Luo was actually relieved she was alive, because this disaster had taken away far too many people.

Bai Shu and Chen Xiaofei had also stopped their antics. After last night's mutant beast attack, everyone was a bit exhausted.

Luckily, the rest of the journey was smooth. Before they reached their destination, they could see a massive wall in the distance, truly enormous.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

At least twenty to thirty meters high.

Xu Duoduo was amazed. It had only been about a month since the apocalypse began, yet they had managed to build such a tall wall?

The top seemed to be electrified, as no birds dared to approach.

Not far from the survivor base, they finally saw other rescue vehicles. They exchanged greetings by honking at each other.

Xu Duoduo peered out the window. The vehicles of other teams were in no better shape, all battered and dented from unknown creature impacts, or covered in colorful stains. Some even had bizarre mutant animal carcasses tied to them, looking like sheep but not quite.

When the vehicles stopped at the survivor base entrance, everyone had to get out for inspection.

Qin Luo got out of the car and grabbed the old blanket, gesturing for her to come over.

He just quietly waited for her.

Xu Duoduo suddenly understood what this meant. If she wasn't tied up, people might be afraid, because even she didn't know what kind of creature she was now.

But her consciousness still leaned towards the human side. She didn't want to harm humans. In the past, it was the warm grandparents who took her home.

She liked warm people, and although humans had some flaws, there were always good people.

So to stay on the human side, she had to cooperate a bit.

Xu Duoduo voluntarily moved closer, allowing Qin Luo to tie her up, then lift her onto his arm, carrying her in a seated position.

This posture was much more comfortable.

Certainly better than being slung over a shoulder.

Meanwhile, other survivors arriving here were stunned, staring blankly at the huge city gate.

A familiar loudspeaker announcement played at the entrance: "Welcome to H City Survivor Base. All newcomers must enter the passage to isolation rooms for 24 hours of quarantine. After quarantine, personal information registration is required. Those with injuries, please use the left passage..."

Everyone felt a bit like they were in a different world, but also felt like they had come back to life.

Without Wang Weihu needing to call out, they all voluntarily lined up for quarantine.

Chen Xiaofei stretched as he got out of the car, "Man, we're finally back. I'm exhausted."

Bai Shu reached to push up his glasses but found nothing, "I need to go find new glasses as soon as we get back and wash up for a nap. I'm not used to being without glasses."

Their vehicle was also being inspected by the staff at the city gate.

Qin Luo carried Xu Duoduo to a small cabin by the city gate, knocked on the window, registered, and then made a special phone call inside, moving to the side to do so.

Xu Duoduo was left staring at the staff member, a young woman who signed the papers and stamped them, then gently reassured her, "Everything will be alright. Coming to the base means you can rest easy. The base will provide suitable work for you all."

Unfortunately, she still couldn't speak, possibly due to psychological reasons.

The female staff member felt a bit awkward. Just then, Qin Luo returned from his phone call. The staff seemed quite familiar with him and immediately said, "Brother Qin, who is this little sister you brought back?"

Qin Luo clicked his tongue, telling her not to pry, then turned and picked up Xu Duoduo, waiting for someone to come and receive them.

The woman behind them grumbled about his harshness, then called out loudly, "Brother Qin, remember to go to the hospital for ability data monitoring after you enter!"

Qin Luo just waved his hand perfunctorily, considering it a farewell.

Xu Duoduo noticed the name "Du Chunjiang" on the staff member's work badge.

What a nice name.

She looked back at the woman a couple more times. How wonderful it must be to still be human.

Qin Luo caught her small gesture and didn't miss the envy in her eyes. He felt a sour, bitter feeling in his heart that he couldn't quite describe.

Xu Duoduo didn't have to wait long before a scholarly-looking man in a white coat came hurrying over to where Qin Luo had brought her by the city gate.

"Is this the classmate Xu you mentioned? Hello, I'm Ji Yan. You can call me Teacher Ji."

Perhaps it was the man's gentle demeanor that made Xu Duoduo's tense heart ease a little. She pursed her lips and nodded, docile in a way that didn't seem zombie-like at all.

Professor Ji had never seen a case like this before. He kindly asked if she could walk on her own.

Xu Duoduo nodded.

Professor Ji glanced at Qin Luo, who scratched his face a bit awkwardly.

"Since you can walk, please come down. Let's remove these bindings. I can see that Miss Xu has no aggressive tendencies, but to avoid causing panic, you'll need to wear this collar. Don't worry, as long as you don't show any aggressive behavior, it won't harm you."

To reassure Xu Duoduo, he even cited recent cases of increasing mutations, where many people's bodies had mutated and even become deformed and frightening in appearance, but they still retained human consciousness and were harmless.