Du Chunjiang wanted to keep rambling, but Qin Luo cut her off. They still needed to head to the research center for ability monitoring, and honestly, he was utterly exhausted.

  This seafood battle wasn’t just a feast for Xu Duoduo, the little zombie who stuffed herself full of seafood; everyone had gained plenty. For a while, the base wouldn’t run out of seafood supplies.

  Du Chunjiang was in a great mood. In the end, she watched them enter the base with a smile. “Baobao, let’s meet again next time~”

  Xu Duoduo turned to look at her and gave her a sweet smile before following Qin Luo inside.

  Du Chunjiang froze for a moment, then couldn’t help but cover her face. “Oh my god, did she just smile at me?? Aaaaah, I forgot to take a picture! Ahhhh!”

  She twisted and turned behind the service desk, flustered with excitement, until the next team arrived. Clearing her throat, she instantly switched to her professional mode, adjusted her posture, and greeted them with a smile, “Hello, how can I assist you? To enter the base, please use the passage ahead. Combat teams, you can submit materials here to exchange for points.”

  The civilian-formed squads: …

  Why does this base feel so… unserious? Are we sure this is an official survivor base?

  Some teammates even glanced up at the towering walls to confirm that this was indeed the entrance to the H City Survivor Base. But why was the staff here so cheerful?

  Hearing the commotion, Qin Luo couldn’t help but chuckle. He turned back to pick up the little zombie and carried her under one arm. “Your short legs are struggling to keep up. Just stick with me, alright?”

  As he spoke, he glanced at the civilian-formed squad behind them. Xu Duoduo was also looking at them. The group appeared disheveled, many with visible injuries. They were traveling in seven or eight modified small trucks.

  The apocalypse had been ongoing for over two months now. There were always areas the official forces couldn’t reach in time. Naturally, ordinary people with abilities would emerge during their escape and form civilian-formed squads. Being able to make it to the base on their own required both skill and a fair bit of luck.

  Xu Duoduo glanced at them, her mind slowly turning. She wondered, if she hadn’t turned into a zombie, would she have survived until now?

  Blessings and curses often come hand in hand. Is it a blessing or a curse? Who can say for sure?

  Noticing the little zombie lost in thought, Qin Luo looked down at her and led her further into the base, turning right into the subway station. “Still thinking about it? Can your brain even figure it out? Stop overthinking. Even if you hadn’t turned into a zombie, you probably wouldn’t have been in such a dire state. You’ve got pretty good luck. When we went to K City for rescue missions, we were quite fast.”

  Since K City was close to the H City base, rescue operations naturally prioritized proximity.

  At that time, he would have crossed paths with her anyway. The 3A Special Operations Team would still have encountered Xu Duoduo.

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  Qin Luo clicked his tongue and said, “It’s fate that we were destined to meet, hahaha.”

  He spoke with unabashed arrogance, clearly in a good mood.

  To Qin Luo, whether Xu Duoduo was a zombie or not didn’t matter. The key was that she was Xu Duoduo. As long as she hadn’t lost her consciousness, she was still Xu Duoduo.

  This was also why the base accepted mutants. Even if their bodies had undergone grotesque changes, as long as their consciousness remained, they were still themselves in the eyes of their loved ones. No one could bear to lose them.

  Qin Luo began sharing more stories with her. “We’ve actually come across quite a few people from our class. Remember our class’s sports committee member? That guy is currently in A City. On the day the apocalypse started, he ran faster than anything else, almost like lightning. But he wasn’t wearing any clothes, which was super embarrassing. He absolutely refuses to come to the H City base and is now part of a squad in A City.”

  Xu Duoduo chuckled at this. That sports committee member, Dai, probably suffered massive social death. He was already a shy person.

  Rescue missions in K City would naturally send people to the nearest H City base.

  He probably refused to come because he was afraid of running into people he knew.

  Seeing her smile, Qin Luo felt relieved. When she looked at him expectantly, he knew she wanted to hear more. But there weren’t many stories he could share. The apocalypse had taken too many lives.

  Even the 3A Special Operations Team wasn’t as invincible as they appeared. Many familiar faces had begged them to end their suffering, and their hands had trembled as they carried out the requests.

  Qin Luo didn’t tell Xu Duoduo about the vice class president. That quiet and gentle boy had also perished in the early days of the apocalypse. After turning into a zombie, he suffered immensely. Some people simply couldn’t control their urge to attack their loved ones.

  It was a torturous battle between rationality and instinct. The vice class president was the first familiar face the 3A team encountered. At the time, Wang Weihu and the others couldn’t bring themselves to act.

  In the end, it was Qin Luo who pulled the trigger. Although the boy’s final expression was one of gratitude, Qin Luo couldn’t eat or sleep for days. Wang Weihu and the others were also silent for a long time.

  During that period, they also received news of other familiar comrades who had fallen. On rescue missions, they met other squads who had lost their teammates.

  The true pain couldn’t be put into words. Back then, everyone was like walking corpses.

  They were merely tools executing missions.

  That period was the most miserable and painful for the 3A team. But people had to look forward. The three major bases had responded quickly and saved many lives. At moments like these, they felt there was some meaning to being alive.

  Qin Luo was grateful that by the time they met Xu Duoduo, the 3A team had already adjusted their state. Otherwise, she might have been frightened by their somber demeanor. Thinking about it, he couldn’t help but mutter. When they first met, just one glance from him was enough to make her hide.

  If they had met during that dark period, she probably would’ve stayed far away from the 3A team.

  “Alright, storytime is over for today. If you want to know more, stay tuned for the next episode.”

  Qin Luo teased Xu Duoduo playfully, keeping the heavier stories to himself.

  Xu Duoduo was left wanting more. She felt like her mind was pretty clear now, remembering quite a few things, though it still occasionally got stuck.

  But it was much better than before.

  In her mind, she firmly believed: Qin Luo = Big Dog = Captain = Tasty, fragrant backup food. This logic seemed perfectly fine to her.

  Clearly, she hadn’t fully recovered. A normal 22-year-old college graduate wouldn’t think this was okay.

  The little zombie felt proud of her newfound intelligence, lifting her small head confidently.

  However, in Qin Luo’s eyes, she was only slightly less clueless than before. Most of the time, she was still adorably silly—unaware of her own cuteness.

  “Sigh, now you’re all smug again. What are you thinking about this time? Are you three years old today? Changing expressions so quickly.”

  When they arrived at the research center, Qin Luo set her down. In places like this, the little zombie cared a lot about saving face.

  Coincidentally, Da Qiao and Xiao Qiao were in the middle of a heated academic debate, their faces red with frustration. But when they noticed Qin Luo and Xu Duoduo, they immediately fell silent and turned their attention to the white-haired zombie.

  “Ah, you 3A folks are back? This mission really made you guys shine, huh? Even solved a case along the way?”

  Qin Luo couldn’t resist showing off. “Just average, a casual thing.”

  As if he wasn’t the one complaining about having to solve cases during cleanup missions.

  Xiao Qiao rushed over to Xu Duoduo, unable to resist hugging her. “Aww, oh my gosh, Baobao, you truly are the world’s most beautiful zombie baby. Awake, white-haired Baobao is even cuter than sleeping Baobao. Come home with me, what do you say?”