"Shimada-kun, is that you?"

From the rubble, a small, pitch-black figure stumbled out, looking at the tall man standing in the sunlight.

"Shimada-kun, are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Qinghua."

"Huh? What happened to your voice? But, it's a nice voice!"

"Is it? If you like it, then that's good."

"Didn't Keiko-chan say she was coming to find you first? Where is she? Let me tell you, Keiko said she was going to confess to you when she saw you. Did you say yes?"

Shimada didn't answer. Or rather, Zaizai was using its brain cells, frantically calculating, what all this meant. It didn't sound like she was looking for someone. And what was with the girl's expectant expression?

"Didn't you?"

Qinghua's previously calm expression almost failed to hold.

"Did something happen to Keiko!"

"..."

Qinghua suddenly grabbed Shimada's collar excitedly, "Huh? What happened to your neck? Why are there so many cracks?"

"It's nothing. Keiko is fine."

"Ah, is that so? Oh, no, I mean, that's great."

"Yes, I took her to a safe place. She's very well now, doing great, no longer has to worry about food and safety, and has many guards."

Qinghua was stunned. Even the hand holding Shimada's collar dropped down. "How could there be such a place?" Her voice was very soft, and her eyes were dull, as if the words were leaking out unconsciously.

"How could there be such a place! How could it be!"

"Why couldn't there be? I can take you there too."

Shimada said calmly. These kinds of simple conversations weren't a problem. The parasite Zaizai had only changed his operating system. The memories and knowledge that were already on the hard drive were still there.

It was just that, in terms of thinking, everything was based on the Queen's orders. Now, the thing in front of him, his prey, the Queen's target, had lowered her guard.

"Really! You're not kidding, are you? This isn't something to joke about. How come I've never heard of such a place?"

"It's something that only appeared recently." Wasn't that the case? The Zaizai had only just established the evolution chamber.

Lin Mo was already smiling. This was too much fun. It was a real-life game. The panel in front of Lin Mo showed Shimada's perspective and the language that could control Shimada to speak, just like playing a game.

Kaka was meticulously acting as the server. If the Queen was happy, Kaka wouldn't be sad either, definitely not for the Queen's snuggles or anything.

"Come with me, it's too dangerous here. It's all ruins, and you never know when a monster will suddenly jump out. I was attacked by such a monster."

"Wait a minute, Shimada, what's that on your back!"

Qinghua pointed at the large fleshy ball on Shimada's back that he was trying to hide and asked suspiciously.

The suspicion grew heavier. This was too suspicious. How could he have suddenly become like this?

It was as if it was a sudden change.

"I'm going to ask you a few questions."

"Okay."

Qinghua asked Shimada a series of questions, some of which even the original body might not remember. It was Kaka who found the answers by searching the underlying memories. The child's CPU was about to burn out.

"Now you can be sure, right?"

Qinghua obediently followed behind Shimada, advancing towards the location of the evolution chamber.

Actually, there was no need to reach the evolution chamber at all. On the way, in the area where the creep Zaizai had a relatively large range, the East Coast did not have any radioactive dust, so the creep Zaizai still retained a large area.

As long as they reached here, the so-called Evolvers were simply at their mercy. They could do whatever they wanted. The Evolvers had no ability to resist at all.

It was like falling into a living mud swamp. Unless they were esper, and one who could control themselves to fly, otherwise, they simply couldn't resist the creep Zaizai.

"This place is so strange. How can there be grass?"

Qinghua was a little incredulous. After all, any greenery should have been eaten up by the survivors long ago, right? How could there be greenery? And still in such a large area.

She was already starting to believe it. Before this, Qinghua absolutely didn't believe it, and just thought it was some kind of prank. But now, Qinghua believed it. She couldn't help but believe it. It was too unscientific.

"So soft! So soft, haha!"

Having not seen greenery for too long, Qinghua happily ran over to it, jumping and bumping around, getting in touch with nature. She didn't even notice that it didn't smell like soil.

"Try lying down, it's very comfortable here."

"Really? Do you want to join me?" Qinghua tilted her head, sat on the ground, and extended an invitation.

"No, I have other things to do. Just stay here and help me out."

Qinghua's face turned red. "H-help with what? Let's get this straight, we can't do 'that' here. What if someone comes along?"

"It's very simple."

Qinghua closed her eyes, looking like she was ready to be taken.

Lin Mo was speechless. Seriously? Didn't she have any self-awareness about what she looked like right now? Looking like this, who would have such thoughts?

"Oh, stop it, don't grab my feet. Does Shimada-kun like that? I... it's not like I'm against it..."

"..."

Having waited for the embrace she had imagined, Qinghua slowly opened her eyes and was immediately shocked. Shimada was nowhere to be seen!

As for her feet, they were already tied up by a purplish-black tentacle as thick as a forearm.

"Ah!"

Chila—

The creep Zaizai's tentacle was immediately torn apart, but that was useless. Instantly, like bean sprouts, countless black tentacles grew out of the ground in an instant.

"Help!"

She turned to run, but unfortunately, the creep Zaizai liquefied, and the foothold under her feet disappeared. With a swishing sound, the creep tentacles tightly wrapped her into a ball of flesh.

The underground drone Zaizai skillfully pushed the ball towards the evolution chamber, just like... well... that thing-a-majig, pushing an object even larger than itself.

From time to time, one could still see the struggles within, but it was all in vain. She had the strength, but no way to use it.

Shimada respawned, turned into a brand-new human face, and once again walked towards the isolated survivors.

If they were male, they would be assimilated on the spot. If they were female, they would be more valuable.