To Red Fortress!

Carline paid him no heed.

"Eva, what about you? Want some?" Maxwell asked.

Eva, hearing her name, shifted her gaze from Maxwell to the beef jerky, then looked away.

Alright then.

After finishing his beef jerky, Maxwell happily leaned back against a large rock, resting his head on his hands, gazing up at the starry night sky, feeling quite contemplative.

After watching the sky for a while, Maxwell looked at Eva and Carline, then stretched out his arms and pulled both into his embrace.

"Eva, Carline, come on, lift your heads. Let's look at the sky, at this brilliant starry expanse. One day, we'll surely have a place of our own!"

Eva and Carline, their eyes wide, stared blankly at the night sky. The stars twinkled beautifully, reflected in their pupils.

Under Maxwell's guidance, Eva and Carline also looked up at the stars, but Maxwell himself soon fell asleep.

At that moment, Carline's small head turned slightly, her eyes widening, the blazing firelight reflecting in her eyes, making them glow red as if flames were burning within her pupils.

When Maxwell awoke, it was bright daylight.

The night had passed, and Maxwell's zombie collection had grown substantially; a few mutant zombies had gathered dozens of other zombies.

Apparently, they were all attracted by the firelight Maxwell had set up.

Even deep in the wilderness, where the density of zombies was low, their numbers were still considerable.

"Good morning, Carline!"

Carline had already woken up, and Maxwell, looking at her, greeted her with a big smile.

Then, he turned and hugged Eva, kissing her forehead. "Good morning, Eva!"

Eva, treated this way by Maxwell, looked up blankly, then lowered her head again.

Her actions like these had become more frequent recently, seemingly reflecting fluctuations and changes in her emotions.

"Time to get up, we need to continue searching for zombies!"

Maxwell eliminated the zombies that his subordinates had gathered during the night, gaining a Level 8 and a Level 7 zombie.

If this had happened when Maxwell first received the system, he would have been jumping three feet high with joy in just one night.

But now...

"I didn't expect this zombie horde to actually make me greedier! But such zombie hordes aren't just found anywhere. The speed of zombie Fusion isn't something I can just increase at will."

"We have to keep looking slowly."

With this in mind, Maxwell wasn't in such a rush anymore.

After all, encountering so many zombies isn't easy. Such a wave of zombies, like the one they encountered, takes a long time to gather. It could take days or even months, and it's not an easy task!

Maxwell sent out the two second-tier zombies he had, and also dispatched a third-tier to the same direction to help the second-tiers gather more zombies.

He also sent out all eight of his sub-Level 1 zombies to search for the Red Fortress.

The mysterious description given by that young man from Supreme Hall had piqued Maxwell's interest.

If he could find it, it would be wonderful!

Since the place had previously housed many women, and had been overrun by zombies, wouldn't there be many female zombies?

If it's as he said at its peak, there could be over ten thousand female zombies!

With that many, even if they're all Level 1, that could be enough to Fuse into several first-tier mutant female zombies. At minimum, that would allow Maxwell to obtain two third-tier female zombies, and if he's lucky, he might even get a fourth-tier mutant female zombie.

Given this, he could also promote Eva and Carline by another tier, elevating them to fourth-tier, and perhaps even advance one of them to fifth-tier!

With such prospects, it was hard for Maxwell not to be captivated by the idea of the Red Fortress.

However, the terrain of this area was complex, with mountains, plains, rivers, and streams, all of which divided the landscape and scattered the distribution of zombies.

Given that the wilderness was naturally sparsely populated, the base number of humans—and consequently zombies—was low.

That said, over the past three hundred years, zombies that had initially clustered in cities had aimlessly wandered and many had drifted out into the wilderness.

Maxwell continued on his way, gathering zombies and enhancing his power through Fusion while searching for the possibly existent Red Fortress.

As time quickly passed, another half day gone, Maxwell opened another batch of treasure chests.

The loot from the chests naturally boosted Maxwell's attributes again, and not only that, but he also obtained a D-level weapon knife.

In addition to these, the chests brought Maxwell some everyday items; he could finally improve his quality of life, now having towels, toothbrushes, and toothpaste!

However, throughout his journey, he had not yet come across the so-called Red Fortress.

By nightfall, Maxwell picked up his long-missed toothbrush and toothpaste, giving himself a thorough brushing. The feeling was truly refreshing!

Afterward, he also released Eva and Carline, and cleaned their teeth as well.

"Eva, open your mouth a bit more, don't clench so tight! Ah! Open up! There we go!"

"Carline, you too, come on, ah! Open your mouth! Don't purse your lips! Open up!"

After brushing their teeth, Maxwell lit a fire like the previous night, and once again held Eva and Carline, one on each side, gazing up at the stars.

Waking up early in the morning, Maxwell discovered his hand had somehow slipped inside Carline's clothes.

He unconsciously pinched.

Realizing Maxwell was awake, Carline also lifted her head to look at him.

Her gaze was very clear.

"Good morning, Carline," Maxwell said with a smile, his hand inadvertently slipping out.

Although Carline wouldn't say anything, or even seem to notice, Maxwell still felt a bit embarrassed.

Thus, a new day began, with Maxwell's goal still set on finding the Red Fortress.

After having dealt with the previous large wave of zombies, he now had over a thousand zombies gathered by his subordinates yesterday, nearly depleting this area.

The three mutant zombies, in order to fulfill the tasks Maxwell had assigned, had to venture further afield to find and gather more zombies. Maxwell was already braced for the fact that the numbers would likely be less, not more.

Maxwell's Fusion space now had 24 compartments, and he had dispatched thirteen Level 5-8 zombies to search for traces of the Red Fortress.

Another day passed with the search yielding nothing.