After Qin Kuan retreated, the King of Lu surveyed the hall's furnishings. "It seems Qin Kuan has profited quite a bit. For such a remote small city, the reception hall is quite well-built."
A personal guard accompanying the King of Lu stepped forward and said, "Your Highness, should we..."
"No need. Those who are greedy can be used by this king. Greedy people have desires, and with desires, they can be controlled. It's more reassuring to use such people."
Indeed, that was why Qin Kuan's first thought upon seeing the crystal was to report it to him so quickly, along with the news.
...
Apocalypse Fallen City.
After closing his shop, Lu Heng returned to his room and entered his space.
There were only a few samples displayed in front of him. Even if those four-level crystals were lost, it wouldn't be a loss for Lu Heng.
Emerging from the small building, he went directly to the city wall to find Lin Yu.
In recent days, Lu Heng had found time to return during the day and take Lin Yu out to train outside the city. With their strength, they would occasionally kill zombies at night as well.
While strength was important, more practical combat experience was the icing on the cake.
"Brother Lu, you're here." Lin Yu's perception ability had improved significantly compared to before. Lu Heng hadn't deliberately hidden his aura, so as soon as he reached the city wall, Lin Yu came to greet him.
"Mm, today I'll take you to a place with many zombies to practice. Last time we killed zombies, I noticed that some individual zombies were evolving quite rapidly. Places with many zombies likely have more of those types of zombies."
"Okay."
A few mutated animals were left in the city to guard the premises. They couldn't have their home stolen after they left. The golden eagle had a wide field of vision from high up, so Lu Heng left it in the city as well.
The animals taken out were directly recalled into his space. Regarding the explanation for his space being able to hold living creatures, Lu Heng simply said that his storage accessory had more advanced functions, allowing it to hold a limited number of living beings.
Having already acquired a storage ring, Lin Yu's comprehension ability was strong, and he had no doubts about Lu Heng's words. Whatever Lu Heng said, he believed it to be true and correct.
The two of them directly drove an off-road vehicle, with Lin Yu driving and Lu Heng sitting in the passenger seat.
Before the apocalypse, Lin Yu came from a good background. As a high school student, he had learned to drive early, but that was only in certain private venues. Without a license, he couldn't drive on public roads.
The two of them headed towards the location they had previously found on the map.
Their current vehicles were modified with many steel bars installed on the outside, and those steel bars had outward-facing spikes. For the few zombies they encountered, the vehicle could directly crush them. For zombies caught on the spikes, Lu Heng would control his wind blades to directly cut them down.
They drove rapidly along the road for nearly two hours. At an intersection, Lin Yu executed a beautiful drift, and the car entered a fork in the road without slowing down.
"I've researched this. This was also a densely populated city before. The resources inside were average, not excessively abundant. So, I estimate that not many people came specifically to collect resources in the early stages, and those without strength wouldn't dare to come to such a zombie-infested place to kill them," Lin Yu said while driving.
"It's good that you're researching these things, but it also shows you're quite idle now," Lu Heng said, looking at the scenery in the distance.
The vehicle had already left the highway and was now on what should be a provincial road. The number of scattered zombies in the surrounding area had clearly begun to increase, but before those zombies could even approach, their vehicle had already sped away.
Lin Yu's driving skills were good, and his youthful reactions were quick. When turning, he barely slowed down.
Some building structures could already be seen in the distance, indicating they were likely close to that city.
Soon, Lin Yu parked the car in a place with fewer zombies.
However, the number of zombies that had been following their car was considerable. These four-level zombies were now much faster in their movements than before, no longer moving at a sluggish pace.
Especially at night, some speed-type zombies, when running, could almost match the speed of a normally moving car.
"Brother Lu, I'll kill the surrounding zombies first, and then we'll explore the city."
After getting out of the car, Lin Yu quickly recalled it into his storage ring. Fortunately, his storage ring had a large enough capacity.
He then released his Netherflame towards the nearby zombies. The Netherflame burned at a much higher temperature than ordinary elemental flames. The zombies that were touched by the Netherflame quickly ignited, and within a short time, they were reduced to ashes.
Lu Heng watched from the side. He could clearly sense the surrounding situation. Lin Yu alone could handle all the approaching zombies.
Some mutated zombies began to use their abilities from a distance, attacking Lu Heng and the two of them. However, Lu Heng created a wind wall that completely surrounded them. The attacks from those mutated zombies dissipated invisibly upon contact with the stronger wind wall.
After a while, the approaching zombies gradually decreased until only a few were left. Lin Yu then stopped attacking. With Lu Heng's wind wall protecting them, they moved towards the city.
Along the way, when they encountered zombies, Lin Yu would take turns controlling various abilities to attack them. It was a pity, though, that the crystal cores of the zombies killed by the Netherflame also disappeared, turning to ash along with them.
Therefore, later on, Lin Yu mostly used his other two abilities to kill zombies, and then controlled his wood-elemental ability to collect the crystal cores and store them in his storage ring.
"Huh? Is this crystal a level five fire-elemental crystal?" Lin Yu handed a recently collected crystal to Lu Heng for him to see.
"Mm, it seems some individual zombies have indeed evolved here. However, that zombie's attack was stronger, but there were no other special changes."
Lu Heng had already noticed that zombie earlier, but he didn't mention it. After all, with Lin Yu's current abilities, he could easily handle these zombies.
The number of zombies in the city was indeed considerable. If they stayed here, even killing them as they went, it would take them half a month.
"Brother Lu, are we going back tonight?" Lin Yu knew that Lu Heng had to return to that world every morning. Although he could kill zombies on his own now, it would be troublesome to meet up with Lu Heng again after he left.
"Find a courtyard around midnight. You can rest there, and I'll leave Fatty Tiger and the others with you. I'll be back by noon tomorrow."