Staying Up Late Brings Great Rewards!

Maxwell thought it over and decided to Fuse the two Level 1 female zombies right away, sending them out. He still had uses for the other two, so he wasn't in a hurry to Fuse them.

Although the Red Fortress was filled with many zombies, their quality wasn't very high. Many were Level 1, and there were some Level 2 zombies, but not many. He had only seen a few at Levels 7 and 8.

Moreover, the speed at which these zombies climbed over the walls was quite slow, taking about an hour to gather just five hundred.

It had completely darkened.

Maxwell's mutant zombies were still hard at work.

Inside the Red Fortress, the Level 8 female zombie continued to roam around the core area.

Many parts of the core area of the castle were sealed off. Although this zombie, directed by Maxwell, managed to enter some areas by climbing over walls, windows, and large holes, many more areas were completely locked down, inaccessible and impossible to explore.

"Looks like I'm in for another all-nighter!" Maxwell said after dealing with a wave of female zombies, as he stood up and stretched.

With his current physical condition, staying up late was a breeze, with no adverse effects.

"Ding! Daily treasure chest available. Please open your space to receive the chest!"

It was time to open the daily treasure chest again.

This time, the chest brought Maxwell significant gains, with each attribute increasing by a hundred points, and slight improvements in bone density, vision, skin resilience, and mental strength.

"If this keeps up, my attributes will go through the roof! I know my own strength, but I need to find someone to spar with to really test my limits," Maxwell thought.

He had thought about sparring with his high-level zombies, but they completely ignored him, let alone attacked him, even when he commanded them to do so.

This time, the treasure chests dropped in Eva's and Carline's exclusive slots contained special items. Carline's chest yielded a piece of soft armor, while Eva's produced a new zombie weapon, a small and exquisite hand crossbow.

This hand crossbow was very compact, about the size of Maxwell's palm, and its range was less than ten meters.

Still, it counted as a ranged weapon.

The hand crossbow could hold five crossbow bolts at a time and was capable of rapid firing.

This was quite impressive!

After opening all of today's treasure chests, Maxwell started another fire, keeping himself awake and working through the night.

Every hour, a wave of female zombies would return, and over the course of ten or so hours that night, Maxwell Fused about ten waves of zombies.

The zombies on the Red Fortress plaza were almost completely cleared out by Maxwell.

Among these ten waves of zombies, the majority were Level 1, with a small portion being Level 2, totaling over five thousand female zombies. After completing the Fusion of these, and combining them with the Level 8, 9, and 10 female zombies he already possessed, Maxwell ended up with seven Level 1 mutant female zombies.

All things considered, Maxwell now had nine Level 1 mutant female zombies and one Level 2 mutant female zombie.

After some thought, Maxwell eliminated two of the Level 1 mutant female zombies to create a new Level 2 female zombie, then combined this new Level 2 zombie with the previous one to create a Level 3 mutant female zombie.

Following that, Maxwell applied the same method, fusing four Level 1 mutant female zombies to obtain another Level 3 female zombie.

Afterward, he transferred the two Level 3 female zombies into the cells of Eva and Carline.

Thus, Eva and Carline were both upgraded to Level 4.

Currently, Maxwell still had three Level 1 mutant female zombies; one was busy gathering zombies inside the Red Fortress, while another was waiting outside the high walls.

Maxwell decided to send the one by his side to join the others.

Although the plaza inside the Red Fortress was cleared of female zombies, many other areas within the fortress still harbored numerous zombies, so the ones Maxwell had managed to eliminate and clear out were just a small portion of the total.

"Eva? Look at me, Eva!" 

Now that Eva had been upgraded to Level 4, Maxwell couldn't resist teasing her again.

Hearing Maxwell's words, Eva's large eyes moved around and then fixed steadily on him.

Maxwell felt that something about Eva had changed, but he couldn't quite pinpoint what it was.

He then placed his hand in front of Eva and waved, "Eva, do you recognize me?"

Eva continued to stare blankly at Maxwell.

"Eva, I'm your boyfriend!" 

Although Eva remained expressionless, Maxwell thought he saw a flicker in her eyes, so he continued, "Eva?"

Eva's eyes moved again, seemingly taking in Maxwell's voice with a hint of scrutiny.

Was this... a change?

Feeling slightly excited, Maxwell crouched down to be eye-level with Eva, gazing directly into her eyes.

Maxwell tried to discern some distinct emotion in Eva's eyes, but they still appeared vacant, devoid of any emotional fluctuations.

"Eva, look at me."

Maxwell positioned his handsome face right in front of Eva, encouraging her to take a good look at him.

After about ten minutes, during which Eva had been observing Maxwell, just when Maxwell was about to give up, Eva's lips slightly curved upwards.

Eva... smiled?

A wave of joy surged through Maxwell's heart.

Although the smile appeared very stiff and forced, like someone with facial paralysis trying to pull at the corners of their lips, it even seemed a bit like an illusion caused by facial muscle spasms.

But in Maxwell's eyes, it was indeed a smile, a sign that Eva was making an effort.

Maxwell placed his hands on Eva's shoulders, excitedly saying, "Eva, you smiled! Come on, smile again!"

However, at that moment, Eva's lips relaxed back to a flat expression, her face remained expressionless, and her gaze was empty as she looked at Maxwell.

"Maybe I'm being too hasty," Maxwell thought.

Just being Level 4 might not be enough.

Maxwell then shifted his attention to Carline, realizing that she had been watching him for quite some time.

The Level 4 Carline showed no typical zombie characteristics at all.

Her eyes sparkled with blue-green flecks of light, making her gaze even more captivating and profound. 

If one did not look closely, it would be difficult to recognize from her eyes alone that she was a zombie.

Moreover, when Carline looked at you silently with an expressionless face, there was a kind of indescribable stunning beauty about her.

Like an ice queen.