245: Does it not yet have the potential to evolve?

"Roar..."

Da Wang glanced at her disdainfully, turned its butt toward Ai Yue, and then continued watching television intently.

"Hey, I can't believe I can't handle you. Get out!" Ai Yue said nothing more, grabbed its hind leg, and flashed outside with it.

Da Wang, landing on the ground, blinked and growled unhappily at Ai Yue. It leaped toward her, and Ai Yue instinctively reached out to catch it.

Just as she was about to touch it, Da Wang vanished without a trace.

Ai Yue's face darkened.

She understood; it had run back into the space.

Ye Rui laughed unkindly. "Hee hee, Sister, don't even bother with it. Ever since it learned to watch TV, it won't stop until it's finished those cartoons."

Ai Yue snorted coldly. "I've raised it for so long for nothing; it doesn't know how to help the family solve problems at all."

"Pfft, you're a grown-up; why are you always getting upset with Da Wang? If it wants to watch, let it watch. It's no big deal," Li Shilan said with a chuckle.

"Mom, if it came out to kill zombies too, wouldn't our harvest be even greater?" Ai Yue retorted, unconvinced.

It was rare to see Ai Yue fussing over something, and Li Shilan found her quite cute at that moment.

"That's true, but who does Da Wang listen to now? It doesn't listen to anyone. It comes and goes from your space as it pleases; no one can control it," Li Shilan said, spreading her hands helplessly.

Ai Yue sat down on the ground. Sigh, wasn't that the truth? Da Wang actually possessed the ability to enter and exit the space freely. If her parents had that ability, she wouldn't have to work so hard to find all sorts of things to upgrade the space.

Ai Yue stopped thinking about it and seized every moment to rest. Anything said now was empty; waking up early tomorrow to kill a few more zombies was what really mattered.

Although they were quite close to the Yingjin Safety Tower, they didn't encounter a single zombie all night; it was unexpectedly safe.

That night, the group took turns resting and woke up the next morning feeling refreshed.

Just as the sky was beginning to brighten, they got up, had a quick bite to eat, and prepared to continue killing zombies.

Just as they were about to set off, the satellite phone in Ai Yue's backpack rang.

Ai Yue took it out and saw it was Gong Qiuqiu.

She hesitated for a moment but decided to answer. She wasn't sure if Gong Qiuqiu was looking for her because of the Nameless Monster.

"Ai Yue?"

"It's me!"

The anxiety in Gong Qiuqiu's heart dissipated slightly.

"Ai Yue, you didn't treat me as a friend. You should know that no matter what happens, our base can protect you; you didn't have to leave. If Gong Qiumu hadn't gone to see you on a whim, we wouldn't even have known you left."

Ai Yue smiled slightly. "Our family has troubled the base for many days without being of much help. We certainly couldn't bring disaster upon you."

"Ai Yue... you're really treating me like a stranger. I thought we were already friends," Gong Qiuqiu said softly.

Ai Yue pursed her lips slightly. "It's precisely because we are friends that I shouldn't bring you trouble."

"I'm not afraid of Dayu Base at all!"

"I know, but Songzhou Safety Tower isn't yours yet. Alright, I appreciate the sentiment. Besides, we've already left and won't be coming back. No need to say more; we're doing fine out here, so don't worry."

Gong Qiuqiu wanted to say more to persuade her but ended up swallowing it all. Taking a deep breath, he asked: "Then where are you now? Do you have enough food and water?"

"Of course. When wandering the world, one naturally prepares everything. As for where we are now, we're outside the Yingjin Safety Tower killing zombies," Ai Yue said lightheartedly.

The anxiety in Gong Qiuqiu's heart vanished completely. True, with Ai Yue's survival skills, his worry was indeed redundant.

"Alright, if you need help, be sure to tell me. Also, the gates of Songzhou Safety Tower will always be open to you, and..."

Gong Qiuqiu paused before continuing, "I have a lot of say in Songzhou Safety Tower, so you don't have to worry about me being unable to protect you."

Ai Yue chuckled and said, "Okay, I understand. If anything happens, I'll definitely come to trouble you."

Gong Qiuqiu was silent for a moment before saying: "Your family should be careful out there... It's very chaotic now. Most of those roaming outside are vicious people, even more terrifying than zombies and Alien Insects. You must be careful."

"I know. Since when did you become so long-winded? You're almost catching up to my mom," Ai Yue said jokingly.

Gong Qiuqiu had been giving heartfelt warnings, but receiving such a response made his face darken and he felt a bit embarrassed. Clearing his throat, he said: "In short, it's dangerous outside, especially since human hearts are unpredictable. Just be careful! Alright, I'll notify you when it's time to set out and hunt the monster. Hanging up now!"

With that, the line went dead. Looking at the hung-up phone, Ai Yue felt a warm current in her heart.

It wasn't for nothing that they had faced life and death together so many times; there was a bond after all.

Ai Yue put away the phone. "Let's go, the sun is about to come up."

The group delayed no further and immediately headed outside the Safety Tower.

When they reached the location, they found others were already there before them.

But that had nothing to do with them. Once Ai Yue and the others were far enough away, they began killing zombies with tacit cooperation, just like yesterday.

By the end of the day, they found they had collected several hundred more third-rank crystal cores than yesterday. As for the first and second-rank ones, the amount was roughly the same.

Similarly, Ai Yue sent them all into the space.

Similarly, the space expanded and grew taller quite a bit, but there were no other changes.

Ai Yue wasn't discouraged and continued killing zombies.

Eight days passed like this. During these days, Ai Yue and the others didn't encounter any high-rank zombies. She didn't know if they hadn't evolved here yet or if they were hiding within the zombie hordes and not coming out.

Over these few days, if nothing else, Ai Yue and her group were definitely among the best when it came to the ability to kill zombies cooperatively; no team could match their speed.

Another day passed, and the group returned to their campsite. While eating, Ye Rui asked casually: "Sister, the space has consumed so many crystal cores; does it still not intend to evolve?"

Ai Yue shook her head. "After we finish eating, I'll put today's harvest of crystal cores in and see."

After dinner, the group tallied the crystal cores. There were over forty thousand in total, with over ten thousand being third-rank crystal cores—a bountiful harvest.

Ai Yue once again put all the crystal cores into the space and waited for it to finish vibrating before she entered.

After entering the space, she found that there were still over ten thousand crystal cores on the ground that hadn't been absorbed.

Ai Yue frowned, realizing that this type of crystal core no longer worked on the space. She looked back at the space again; other than expanding to ten kilometers, there were no other changes.

Standing in front of the villa and looking at the empty expanse, Ai Yue muttered to herself: "It seems I'll have to find higher-level crystal cores. These... are useless to the space now."