Xu Ruina certainly wouldn't misidentify Tang Houde; he was her mentor and her direct superior.
Although nine years had passed since the apocalypse, she had only regained consciousness two months ago, and her memories were frozen at the nine-year mark.
Her impression of Tang Houde was practically etched into her mind.
"Tang Houde!"
Xu Ruina screamed.
Her voice was filled with anger, ferocity, and a hint of killing intent!
The primal instinct of fear drove the survivors around Tang Houde to instinctively step back, isolating him.
"Ah... ah?!"
Tang Houde was so scared that he collapsed onto the ground, his black-rimmed glasses falling and one lens shattering.
"Huh? You... you're not Tang Houde!"
Just as Xu Ruina's claws were about to grasp Tang Houde, she suddenly froze and stopped.
"I... I am Tang Houde..."
Tang Houde replied blankly.
Logically, if someone ferociously called your name and then realized they might have mistaken you, you should deny it immediately to survive.
But this Tang Houde seemed a bit dense; he even corrected Xu Ruina.
"Tang Houde shouldn't have a ring on his hand..."
Xu Ruina pointed to the blue ring on Tang Houde's finger.
"This... this is something I got after穿越 (chuānyuè - traversing)!"
Tang Houde weakly argued.
"A blue ring, you're the latest batch of轮回者 (lúnhuí zhě - reinkarnators)?!"
"You're also from Water Blue Star, so... do you know me?!"
Xu Ruina leaned her face close to Tang Houde and asked.
"I... I haven't seen you, I don't know you..."
Tang Houde shook his head and denied it.
"You don't know me? Does your world have the Raven Laboratory?"
Xu Ruina blinked and casually asked.
"Yes... yes, there's the Raven Laboratory, and I'm the chief researcher..."
Tang Houde said tremblingly.
"I'm also from the Raven Laboratory, I'm a senior researcher, my name is Xu Ruina, and my mentor is also called Tang Houde!"
"This world is also Water Blue Star, it's a parallel world to yours, everything should be more or less the same!"
Xu Ruina asked again.
"Well... I do have many students, but none named Xu Ruina. If you're talking about similarity..."
"We had a very intelligent girl among our students named Xu Linna... it's a pity she was eaten by a monster during the traversal..."
Tang Houde shuddered as he recalled Xu Linna's tragic death.
"I can confirm, he's telling the truth, we are all researchers from the Raven Laboratory."
"And we know all the senior researchers, we've never seen anyone named Xu Ruina before!"
"Even though parallel worlds are highly similar, not everyone's growth can be the same, so it's possible you didn't become a senior researcher!"
"Oh, right, let me briefly introduce myself, my name is..."
A spirited old man walked up to Xu Ruina with an unhurried and composed demeanor, his expression serene.
However, before he could even utter his name, Xu Ruina spoke first:
"Mo Pai? You're Mo Pai? The chief researcher of the Genetics School?!"
Mo Pai raised an eyebrow, not particularly surprised.
If Xu Ruina recognized Tang Houde, it was only natural for her to recognize him.
"That's right, it's me."
Mo Pai replied indifferently, while also helping Tang Houde up from the ground.
"Yang Haishan, Xu Conghui, Mosika..."
Xu Ruina steadied herself and then noticed that many people present were familiar faces.
They were among the few senior researchers at the Raven Laboratory, so Xu Ruina was quite familiar with them.
She rattled off the names of six people present; the remaining dozen or so seemed to be ordinary researchers, whom she wouldn't know as well.
"You actually know all of them..."
Tang Houde adjusted his chipped glasses onto the bridge of his nose, his expression full of astonishment.
"Let's compare. I'll list the names of the senior researchers I know, and you can see what differences there are between our two worlds!"
Xu Ruina suggested.
Seeing that Xu Ruina knew the chief researcher and had named so many people, their guard was significantly lowered, and they all gathered around.
As Xu Ruina spoke, Tang Houde and Mo Pai, along with others, made comparisons.
Before long, all the senior researchers were accounted for, and all the researchers Xu Ruina knew were also matched.
Not a single mistake!
What existed in this world also existed in that parallel world, and their positions, research achievements, and personalities were basically consistent!
The only issue was... that parallel world didn't have Xu Ruina.
No one, but only she was missing?!
Xu Ruina found it somewhat unbelievable.
"Were the mutated creatures around killed by you?"
Shirley, not forgetting the mission objective, steered the conversation back to the main topic.
"Yes!"
Mo Pai nodded calmly and said with a smile.
"Your strength doesn't seem sufficient to eliminate monsters of Type IV mutation or higher..."
Shirley asked directly.
"That's right. Since we're considered allies, I'll tell you the truth."
"We discovered a large amount of experimental materials in this laboratory, as well as semi-finished mechs."
"By browsing the experimental data here, we deduced the calculation formulas and corresponding physics and biological principles."
"We used all the materials to assemble two mechs. Of course, there's a huge difference compared to the magnificent 'Pioneer' mech on the blueprints, but with them, self-preservation isn't difficult."
"It's just that the surrounding monsters seem endless no matter how many we kill. The more we kill, the more there are."
"Fortunately, you arrived. Otherwise, we would truly be trapped here. Our last bit of food was just distributed, we're completely out of supplies!"
Mo Pai said with a self-deprecating smile.
Shirley chuckled inwardly.
It wasn't that there were too many zombie creatures in this city, but rather that Xu Ruina had thrown all her captured test subjects, successful or failed, into this city.
With Xu Ruina's current combat strength, the number of zombies she transformed daily was far greater than what these two rickety mechs could eliminate. When the deployment exceeded the elimination, the monsters would naturally increase.
"Alright, you can come back to my camp with me. I can guarantee your safety, food, and accommodation."
"But I have one condition!"
Xu Ruina said, raising her two claws and waving them in front of everyone, "You need to help me solve this problem."