Conversation in the Arena

With Eva's departure, the interlude ended, and Maxwell once again focused his attention on Carline.

Seeing Maxwell's gaze return to her, Carline slightly curved up the corners of her mouth.

Was Carline smiling?

It would be even better if she could speak now!

Nonetheless, Carline's expressions were quite charming now.

The night quickly passed.

Although Maxwell still felt regret that Carline had not regained her memory, he was nonetheless very satisfied.

...

"Here's the map, you can give me 100g of food coupons or food in exchange."

On the main streets of Tampa's base city, a plainly dressed man handed a piece of paper to Maxwell.

Maxwell exchanged it for some bread.

The paper depicted a map of the area.

This man was a local bigwig.

"Another question, do you know where there are more zombies around here?"

Maxwell asked.

It was the second day, and after a tender night with Carline, Maxwell had gotten up in the morning, put both Carline and Eva back into the space, and then went out to gather information.

"As for that, I really wouldn't know. I hardly ever leave the base city. Are you asking because you want to capture zombies to participate in fighting?"

The man asked curiously.

"Fighting?"

Maxwell inadvertently showed a puzzled expression.

Seeing Maxwell's reaction, the man realized he was mistaken; Maxwell hadn't even heard of the fighting arenas. He then sheepishly said, "In the post-apocalyptic world, information is the most valuable commodity..."

Maxwell then took out another piece of bread and handed it to him.

Seeing Maxwell's generosity, the man's face immediately lit up with a smile. He said, "You must be new here. Our Tampa City might not be big, but it's in a unique location, situated among several base cities, and it has rare high-altitude air routes. Look up, do you see that hot air balloon? There's one flight a day to another base city, but each ride costs 10 kg of food coupons, which is way too expensive! I really can't afford it!"

The man found Maxwell so generous that he became more talkative.

"The zombie fighting arena in Tampa City is quite famous. There are matches scheduled daily, and a major competition is held weekly. Even some Evolvers like to participate. The winners receive generous prizes, which is why many people go out to capture zombies. Some even organize caravans specifically for capturing zombies. If you want to know where there are more zombies, there's always a caravan waiting by the city gate. You can follow them to find zombies. But be careful, don't get too close. If you're spotted, it might not end well."

Pausing for a moment, the man continued, "Since you're so generous, if you're willing to pay something, the caravan might be happy to take you with them."

Hearing the man's words, Maxwell was amazed at how vast and varied the world was. Zombies and mutant beasts were a big threat to humans, but still, people enjoyed watching zombies fight each other.

"Also, are there any mutant beasts around here?" Maxwell asked.

"If you want to see mutant beasts, you just need to go a few hundred kilometers further. There aren't many around here because every time zombies attack a base city, they drive a wave of mutant beasts as the vanguard, so there aren't many left. However, you still need to be careful when moving around in the wild. Although mutant beasts aren't common, they are still out there," the man explained.

Maxwell continued to inquire about the location of the arena from the man, then headed towards the direction of the zombie fighting arena.

He was indeed curious about what the arena was actually like.

Soon, Maxwell arrived in front of a circular structure that looked like it had been converted from a previous sports stadium.

The arena was buzzing with lively human activity.

Maxwell approached the main entrance, exchanged some food for entry, and went inside.

"Sure enough, there are a lot of people!"

Maxwell looked around and saw that the place was indeed packed with people, possibly thousands.

With no television available now, this zombie fighting arena must be one of the few entertainment options available in the post-apocalyptic world.

Maxwell casually found a place to sit and turned his attention to the center of the arena.

"How do they manage to make zombies fight each other?"

Maxwell was very curious.

He could guess that, after over three hundred years of development, people in the post-apocalyptic world must have conducted some research on the zombie virus.

In the arena, two grotesque and ugly zombies were already fighting each other. Both seemed to be low-level zombies, but the spectators in the stands were watching very intently, cheering whenever one zombie gained the upper hand.

"Fred, you seem unhappy?"

At that moment, a voice suddenly came from behind Maxwell.

He turned around and saw a room resembling a VIP box behind him, where he could faintly hear voices. Perhaps because his hearing had been enhanced several times, it was quite sharp now.

"Ah, don't mention it, I had gathered some attractive women, kept them in the manor, and was just about to find an opportunity to sell them, but somehow, the manor was attacked by zombies."

"That's too bad..."

"Yeah, several hundred beautiful women, I could have made a good sum selling them. Now they've all turned into zombies! I can't bear it, I still want to go back to the manor to check things out, but among the zombies that overran the manor, there must be mutant ones. Many of the Evolvers in the base city have been called away by the alliance, and now, even with a high price, I can't find anyone above Tier 2 to hire!"

Hearing this, Maxwell was intrigued.

This was about hundreds of female zombies, and if there were mutant zombies among them, he definitely needed to check it out!

Maxwell wasn't one to shy away from more zombies. Although the zombies he currently controlled were relatively high level, he was actually short on lower-tier zombies. This meant that his future zombie Fusions might get stuck at lower levels, and besides, he could use these zombies as labor, which he was also short on!

With this in mind, Maxwell set his thoughts aside and began to wait. Once Fred left the arena, Maxwell discreetly followed him from a distance.