When Zhou Ming returned to the temporary stronghold, the four of them were startled by the tall zombie following him.
"What… what the hell is that?"
Gong He clicked his tongue in wonder, scrutinizing the blue-furred zombie from head to toe. As he approached and touched the waves of fierce Evil Qi emanating from the zombie, he felt a shiver of fear.
"My prey." Zhou Ming didn't explain much; he just wanted to know where Dr. Max was.
"Good zombie!" Whale Shark walked over, his eyes shining as he stared intently at the blue zombie.
"A hard body, a powerful aura. It's known to be a top-grade among zombies! Hmph, this threatening aura is simply strong and powerful, so strong and powerful!"
"…"
Everyone tacitly moved a little further away from Whale Shark.
His thought process was truly beyond the comprehension of ordinary people.
"Dr. Max has replied." Qin Wumeng walked out of the room, her gaze lingering on the blue zombie.
Even though she had just seen this massive monster, she still couldn't help but glance at it a few more times.
"37 Dick Street, that's the address he set for us to meet."
"What about the time?"
"Tomorrow morning, ten o'clock."
"Then let's rest for the night and meet him tomorrow."
The five quickly finalized their plan and rested. The loyal blue zombie Incarnation became the most dedicated guard, standing motionless outside the stronghold, keeping watch for them.
A night passed in a flash. The five set off for Dick Street, leaving the blue zombie behind at the temporary stronghold to guard it.
The main reason was the concern that this ferocious zombie might scare Dr. Max.
Having mutated zombies in this world was already enough to drive people mad; there was no need to add further stimulation.
The five walked to Dick Street, arriving at their destination in about half an hour.
"This place… it doesn't look like somewhere people would live!"
Looking at the narrow, dilapidated streets, the low, crumbling buildings, and the zombies wandering everywhere, Xiang Zenan said in a low voice.
"Dick Street is in the civilian district. Those who live here are working-class laborers. Of course, it wouldn't be a place for a successful person like Dr. Max to live."
"It seems Dr. Max still doesn't trust us."
Zhou Ming chuckled and announced, "Maybe he's hiding somewhere nearby right now, secretly observing us!"
"Cough, cough." A light cough came from the second floor of a building across the street. A head peered out from the balcony, revealing a face familiar to everyone.
"Let me clarify, I just arrived too. I only hid to avoid startling the zombies."
Dr. Max said earnestly.
"You're right, Doctor. With so many zombies here, it's a good idea to avoid them for now."
Zhou Ming gave his teammates a look, and they immediately started walking towards that direction.
Then they heard Dr. Max call out, "You don't need to come up; I'll come down to you."
Subsequently, to everyone's surprise, he leaped down from the balcony, landing steadily on the ground with a thud.
He didn't look like someone who exercised regularly, nor did he absorb the impact when he landed. The full force of the impact hit him, yet there was no trace of pain on his face.
Clearly, Dr. Max's physical fitness was far beyond that of an ordinary person.
His display was obviously intended to intimidate them upon their first meeting.
Unfortunately, he chose the wrong targets. The Reincarnators would at most be slightly surprised, but never intimidated.
"Hello, my friends. Thank you for coming all this way." Dr. Max extended his right hand and walked towards them.
"Hello, Doctor." Zhou Ming stepped forward without hesitation and firmly grasped Dr. Max's hand.
Immediately, their clasped hands made a series of "crunching" sounds. Dr. Max's face instantly contorted in pain and rapidly turned crimson.
Zhou Ming chuckled and released his hand. Dr. Max immediately recoiled as if electrocuted.
"Oh, you're very strong!" Dr. Max said with a pained expression, "Has Shandar City also begun research into human genetic evolution?"
A while ago, when Qin Wumeng was communicating with Dr. Max via radio, she did say they were from Shandar City, hoping to gain Dr. Max's trust more quickly.
"Yes, Doctor." Zhou Ming admitted without changing his expression, "That's why we came to find you, Dr. Max. The experiment has hit a Bottleneck. To eliminate the zombies, we need a Genius like you to lead the experiment. For the future of humanity, please come with us to Shandar City!"
"For the future of humanity…" Dr. Max's mind drifted into a trance.
How long had it been since he heard such words?
Ever since the zombie virus outbreak, he had tried to find other survivors. However, over such a long period, the few times he did find other humans only brought him deeper pain.
In the apocalypse, human hearts couldn't be trusted!
No matter what kind of Doctor he was, no matter what methods he was researching to combat the zombie virus, they only wanted to seize food, water, and a better living environment!
After several physically and mentally exhausting experiences, Dr. Max became even more reclusive. He no longer actively sought other survivors but hid himself in his underground laboratory at home, relying on the limited resources he had to frantically research the zombie virus, trying to find a way to eliminate it.
Occasionally, he would leave the laboratory to capture zombies for experimental material.
Most of the time, he was alone, relying on talking to himself and using plastic mannequins as human interlocutors to keep himself from being driven mad by loneliness.
This time, if not for the continuous, full-spectrum broadcasts searching for him, he still wouldn't have paid any attention.
Even so, he went through multiple internal struggles: "Should I respond?", "Should I meet them?", "Test them," and "Show force."
And now, Dr. Max's psychological defenses were completely shattered by Zhou Ming's phrase, "For the future of humanity"!
All his doubts, worries, and disappointments vanished at this moment.
"What stage has Shandar City's experiment reached? What is your research direction? Have you made any special progress in inactivating the zombie virus? Have you performed post-RNA transcription…"
Dr. Max excitedly rattled off a series of questions.
"I apologize, Doctor, I am a warrior, not a researcher, so I cannot answer your questions."
Zhou Ming said with a smile, "Once we return to Shandar City, we have a professional research team you can question freely. There might even be some familiar faces there!"
"Right, right." Dr. Max said excitedly, "James, Carver, Hawke, they were all safely evacuated during the emergency, so they should be there now…"
Watching Dr. Max and Zhou Ming chat happily and animatedly, Xiang Zenan raised an eyebrow at Gong He and whispered, "Uncle Gong, did Zhou Ming use some special method? Dr. Max was so wary of us just now."
"That's the art of language, you don't know anything!" Uncle Gong glared at Xiang Zenan. "Tell me, in our team, one idiot, one ice queen, one madman. Thankfully, there are still two normal people, otherwise, we wouldn't stand a chance."
"Yes, yes." Xiang Zenan nodded repeatedly, "As a normal person, I'm under a lot of pressure."
"?" Gong He almost laughed in exasperation. "Who do you think I was calling an idiot?"
"Ah, wasn't that just Uncle Gong being modest?"
"…" Gong He was utterly speechless. He would never call Xiang Zenan an idiot again. No, he now felt that he was the real idiot… "Doctor, without further ado, let's leave for Shandar City immediately!"
After much persuasion, feeling that the timing was right, Zhou Ming once again extended the invitation to Dr. Max.
"Of course… No, no!" Unexpectedly, Dr. Max suddenly changed his mind, retracting his words on the spot.
"I still have a very important experiment. All the experimental conditions are ready, and it must be completed here. I have been waiting for this day for a long time!"
Zhou Ming was silent for a moment, then asked, "How long will this experiment take?"
"Three days!" Dr. Max stated firmly, "After three days, whether the experiment succeeds or fails, I will take the research data and leave with you."
Zhou Ming looked back at his teammates. Their gazes exchanged, and they quickly reached a consensus.
"Very well, we will wait for you for three days. However…" Zhou Ming smiled slightly, "Doctor, can you invite us to your home as guests now?"
… "What are your thoughts?"
"Given the Main God's nature, something will definitely happen within these three days. Otherwise, I'll eat shit while standing on my head!"
"Don't try to freeload here!"
"There should be danger, after all, according to our previous speculation, Dr. Max will inevitably encounter some crisis. If we arrived late, Dr. Max would have been killed by this crisis, causing our Mission 1 to fail. But if we arrived early, then Mission 1 is completed, and the danger that Dr. Max should have faced alone now becomes something we face with him."
"Why don't we take him away now? Anyway, the mission only requires us to bring him to Shandar City; there's no need to wait for him to complete any experiment. Even if he resists, we can…"
"That won't work. Mission 2 has no requirements, but don't forget the kenny potion mentioned in Mission 3. I suspect the kenny potion has a significant connection to Dr. Max's current experiment!"
"Kenny… sounds like a person's name."
"Indeed, Kenny was Dr. Max's son, who died during the zombie virus outbreak."
"…"
This was a small team meeting. After this meeting, everyone entered intense preparations for battle.
Although they didn't know when the crisis would arrive, at least they could make every possible preparation before it did.
Time flew by, and in a blink, three days had passed amidst their busy preparations.