Sun Qiang, seated in the front cage, was remarkably quiet, emitting no zombie roars.
His suppressed breaths were drowned out by the car engine's hum, and no passing ability users noticed the anomaly beside them.
Lu Heng continuously monitored Sun Qiang's condition with his divine sense. Should Sun Qiang lose control of his emotions, he would release Lin Xue to suppress him.
As the car approached the city gate, Lu Heng used the walkie-talkie to instruct the vehicle ahead to halt.
They idled beside the convoy entering the city. Sun Qiang was currently kneeling inside the iron cage, his hands gripping the bottom of it.
Veins bulged on his arms, and his body began to tremble.
He constantly suppressed his craving for the humans around him, the scent of flesh and blood filling his nostrils, relentlessly challenging his limits.
At that moment, several soldiers, supporting a man, walked past the car. The man's outer garment was stained with dried blood, and one of his arms was bandaged.
Lu Heng called out to them, leaning out of the car window and pointing at the injured man.
"What happened here? It wasn't a zombie that injured him, was it?"
The men Lu Heng had called out to stopped beside his car and saluted him.
Although they didn't recognize Lu Heng, they were very familiar with the military vehicles used within Wuming City.
"Reporting, Officer. Li Sheng sustained a minor superficial wound. He wasn't paying attention and was scratched by a protruding piece of sheet metal while chasing zombies."
"How long ago was that?"
"Reporting, Officer, it's been two hours."
"Let me see the wound."
The men supporting the injured man exchanged glances before finally looking at the injured man himself.
The injured man nodded to the person beside him. "Help me unwrap it and show the officer."
Lu Heng's intention wasn't truly to examine the man's wound. After such a long time, if he had been infected with the zombie virus, he would have already been assimilated into a zombie and wouldn't be present within Wuming City.
He did this to expose the wound and see if Sun Qiang could still suppress his craving for fresh blood.
The moment the bandage was unwrapped, Lu Heng clearly sensed Sun Qiang's agitation.
The car Sun Qiang was in shook a few times, and the sounds of heavy objects hitting metal emanated from beneath the tarp.
"Officer, what is this..."
The people who had been walking normally beside the car stopped in their tracks.
They cast puzzled glances towards the pickup truck. However, with the thick tarp covering it, they assumed it was likely some mutated animal captured inside.
This was because mutated animals contracted by Lu Heng often appeared within Wuming City, and during the early stages of Wuming City's establishment, these seemingly domesticated mutated animals had helped humans overcome several crises during zombie attacks.
Therefore, everyone assumed that what was confined beneath the tarp was definitely a mutated animal.
Sun Qiang had been suppressing himself, refraining from letting out zombie roars, but he was truly struggling to contain his craving for fresh blood.
"It seems to be fine. You should go back and have a city doctor treat it."
Lu Heng glanced at the pickup truck, which was still shaking intermittently, and waved his hand at the people outside.
"Hurry back."
Then, he closed the car window, took out the walkie-talkie, and issued the command to return to the driver of the vehicle ahead.
The car started moving again. After moving away from the fresh blood, Sun Qiang gradually calmed down.
He remained calm until they returned to the research center, collapsing in the iron cage as if exhausted.
Upon reaching the research center, there was no longer any need for concealment. The moment the tarp was lifted, Sun Qiang was seen lying at the bottom of the cage.
"You did well this time."
Lu Heng wasn't particularly worried about Sun Qiang's self-control.
Sun Qiang's father had previously thrown many living people to Sun Qiang to feed him, yet Sun Qiang had managed to kill them completely without consuming their flesh and blood.
His self-control was actually very strong. However, after being confined in Wuming City for a period and not having contact with large numbers of living people for a long time, Lu Heng wanted to observe his reaction.
Lu Heng was quite satisfied with this test.
He had someone carry Sun Qiang back to his original room and, after dismissing everyone, said, "You did well this time. In a few days, I'll take you to try your luck against a horde of zombies."
Lu Heng wanted to further test Sun Qiang's control over zombies.
If Lu Heng's initial hypothesis succeeded, Sun Qiang would become another useful weapon in his arsenal.
After a day of activity, the sky had already darkened. Lu Heng then headed from the research center towards his residence.
Upon arriving home, Lu Heng saw the Director asleep on the sofa.
The Director, perhaps dreaming of something, occasionally twitched his feet as he lay on his back.
Lu Heng smiled and shook his head, returning directly from the living room into his spatial dimension.
After a day of running around and visiting many places, Lu Heng needed to take a hot bath and rest.
Soaking in the bathtub, Lu Heng relaxed his body, sinking completely into the water.
The current apocalyptic world was vastly different from his previous life.
Especially with his reincarnation and intervention, many things had been altered.
In particular, humanity's progress in killing zombies had been accelerated due to Lu Heng's involvement.
This time, he had also encountered aliens, something he hadn't experienced in his previous life, thus learning the reason for humanity's mutation into zombies.
Perhaps, fate had granted him a second life so that he could save humanity and find a cure for the zombie virus.
With his fire ability, Lu Heng could adjust the water temperature to keep himself in a comfortable state.
However, he couldn't soak for too long.
After getting up, Lu Heng changed his clothes and quickly fell asleep on the soft bed within his spatial dimension.
In a daze, Lu Heng felt himself once again falling into a strange dream.
The dream that hadn't appeared for a long time.
However, the scenes of entering the dream were different each time. This time, he found himself in a grand Chinese hall.
He was seated in a comfortable square chair, with several steps directly in front of him.
Below, on both sides, stood people dressed in flowing robes.
These people, young and old, male and female, were dressed in a manner reminiscent of historical dramas.
Lu Heng was somewhat confused and quietly observed the people below.
"Emperor, Chi Yan has repeatedly provoked the other Immortal Lords..."
Lu Heng, startled by the sudden voice, sat up straight. He instinctively turned his head in the direction of the sound.
An old man with a white beard and white eyebrows, holding a whisk, stood on one side of the hall, eloquently expounding on something.
Lu Heng could no longer hear what the person was saying, but he was certain that the speaker was addressing him.
He didn't recognize the people below, but they seemed to know him very well.
Lu Heng instinctively raised his hand to touch his face, wanting to confirm if he was dreaming.
The features on his face were still his own, but the skin he touched was as delicate as a woman's.
He lowered his gaze to his hands. On his thumb was an ancient-looking thumb ring, which seemed to contain boundless power.