Xu Ruina leaped forward with a whoosh, soaring high into the sky in full view of everyone, becoming a tiny black speck before landing on a building over forty stories away.
“Hey, Shirley, hurry and contact everyone in this world! Tell them to return home and gather!”
“I’ve discovered some terrifying things, and I hope I’m wrong, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. Zhang Mo must be protected!”
Xu Ruina said with great anxiety.
“What happened, Researcher Xu?”
“This world… even Zhang Mo himself can’t be harmed by anyone, right?”
Shirley asked in surprise.
“This world is so trash, of course, it’s not here.”
“I’ll explain in detail when everyone is gathered. In short, I predict a very terrifying enemy will come for Zhang Chen.”
“If they can’t find Zhang Chen, they’ll go after Zhang Mo. We need to be prepared.”
Xu Ruina said seriously.
“Understood, I’ll do it now!”
Shirley nodded earnestly. She had never seen Xu Ruina so tense, or emphasize something so strongly.
This matter was clearly of utmost importance.
“I’m going to the apocalypse for a trip. I’ll tell Zhang Wenwen and the others, and I’ll be back soon!”
“Okay, Researcher Xu, please be careful too!”
After hanging up the phone, Xu Ruina quickly opened a portal and returned to the apocalypse.
Her teleportation destination was the laboratory, so naturally, she returned to the laboratory.
Tang Houde and Mo Pai, who were wearing blue rings, were researching something, and the surrounding researchers looked tense.
“Professors, did anything happen in the apocalypse while I was away?”
Xu Ruina walked with a confident stride, her long legs carrying her to Mo Pai and Tang Houde.
They were looking at a dead lizard-man lying in a glass case in front of them.
“Oh, it’s Researcher Xu, you’re back.”
“Actually, speaking of which… I don’t know if it’s something new or if it was always there!”
Mo Pai pointed to the lizard-man in front of him.
“Lizard-man? These monsters exist in the apocalypse. According to records, they should be experimental products of the native gene faction.”
Xu Ruina glanced at the lizard-man and replied casually.
These creatures were not very strong, their biggest advantage being their sheer numbers. Occasionally, some would use weapons and armor, but they were never a significant threat.
What was so worth researching about these things?!
“Our understanding was the same as yours, but recently their behavior has been very strange. They frequently attack survivor convoys and border towns.”
“Furthermore, according to news from the front lines, these lizard-men are imitating our combat styles, including weaponry, equipment, and formations.”
“We even found their crafting stations in conquered lizard-man camps. Although very crude, they can process basic weapons and armor.”
Tang Houde pointed to a rough-looking device nearby.
This device looked similar to what primitive humans used, but the fact that the lizard-men could create tools did surprise Xu Ruina slightly.
“Lizard-men and other species are all products of combining human genes with monster genes from the apocalypse.”
“It’s normal for them to evolve a certain level of intelligence, right?”
Xu Ruina analyzed with a hint of hope.
However, she also knew that if it were just simple intelligence, it wouldn’t cause the two professors to research it so diligently.
Gorillas in zoos can also use simple tools but pose no threat to humans.
“If manufacturing weapons and armor isn’t novel enough, you’ll be shocked by what’s next!”
“We captured a few lizard-men and placed hidden markers on them to track their camp locations.”
“But in the end, we discovered two astonishing results.”
“The first is that the lizard-men not only have camps but also something akin to a capital city.”
“These lizard-men are not as simple-minded as we thought; they actually have a social structure, albeit a slave-based one.”
“A capital city, cave dwellings, engineer lizard-men, breeding lizard-men, noble lizard-men, etc. They are far from the rabble we imagined.”
“If this isn’t shocking enough, the next part will surely blow your mind.”
“The second discovery is that the lizard-men we marked were captured during a second battle, and their strength levels increased!”
Mo Pai finished, staring directly at Xu Ruina.
“What? Their strength increased? You mean, lizard-men can also absorb energy to increase their strength!?”
Xu Ruina’s pupils widened in shock upon hearing this.
The strength of creatures in the apocalypse was generally fixed, with their power only gradually increasing through natural growth processes.
For instance, a baby burrowing worm was weaker than an adult burrowing worm.
After severing all its tentacles, a Rejuvenator would evolve into a stronger Berserker.
However, such changes in strength were generally within a certain range.
As long as they were the same species, there wouldn't be significant differences in strength.
For example, if a Berserker was a Mutant Type V infected, then there wouldn’t be any powerful Berserkers here; they would all be Type V, not reaching Type VI.
This was the most fundamental difference between monsters and survivors in the apocalypse.
Survivors could grow stronger by killing monsters and absorbing energy, but monsters couldn’t; their strength was constant.
The lizard-men, however, broke this rule.
“That’s right, so we can no longer understand lizard-men from the perspective of monsters!”
“It should be said that they are a new race, perhaps even a race comparable to humans.”
“If that’s the case, then Water Blue Star in the apocalypse might be facing a new crisis.”
Tang Houde narrowed his eyes and said.
“A new crisis… lizard-men who can suddenly upgrade their abilities?”
“Could it be… this is also part of their experiment?”
“These people behind the scenes don’t even need to fight directly; they just need to tweak the rules of the apocalypse, and humanity will be put in a passive position.”
Xu Ruina admired and was somewhat curious about these behind-the-scenes players.
She wondered if these people could be infected by the zombie virus.
If they could… controlling and dissecting a few of them would surely yield a lot of knowledge!
“Who are these people you’re talking about?”
Mo Pai and Tang Houde asked, completely bewildered.
“It’s nothing. You just do your jobs. I’ll figure this out!”
“Also… give me Xu Linna’s body. I have a use for it!”
Xu Ruina said.
In fact, Xu Linna’s body was a combination of Zhou Feifei’s genes and other powerful genes from the apocalypse. To some extent, Xu Ruina had a stronger claim to this body.