After teaching Han Rui how to absorb the crystal core, the rest of the group rested on the spot, waiting for Han Rui to absorb it slowly.

In order not to let Lu Sheng down, the young girl put in all her effort and spent a full ten minutes painstakingly absorbing the surging spiritual energy within the crystal core into her body.

"Sister Lu, I feel a bit full right now." Han Rui's face tightened. "I feel as full as if I ate a family bucket for breakfast."

Han Rui's ability level is probably around level seven. Absorbing an level eight crystal core all at once is like a primary school student eating a super-sized lunchbox, so full it's about to burst.

Lu Sheng tossed over a bag of hawthorn slices, "It's okay, take your time."

The more Lu Sheng tried to comfort her, the more anxious Han Rui became, and soon her face turned bright red.

The surging spiritual energy surged through her body like a raging flood, as if trying to tear her small, limited head apart.

Han Rui endured the excruciating pain without uttering a sound.

She couldn't let Sister Lu down, since Sister Lu trusted her so much!

Pfft.

After a crisp sound, Han Rui finally felt the excruciating pain all over her body disappear.

She quickly opened her eyes and eagerly asked the others, "Did I succeed? Did I succeed?"

The people present hesitated to speak.

Only Zhang Xiaojuan casually opened the hawthorn slices Lu Sheng had given her, stuffed one into Han Rui's mouth, and said, "One good news and one bad news, which do you want to hear first?"

"Emm... listen to the good stuff first."

"The good news is that you have successfully absorbed the energy of an eighth-level crystal core."

"And the bad news?"

"Touch your head yourself."

Han Rui raised her hand with some skepticism, feeling a delicate and soft touch on her fingertips.

The touch is like touching a baby's bottom—smooth, tender, and with a slight bounce.

"???"

Han Rui hurriedly touched her head a couple more times. What was that thing growing on her head?!

It's bouncy and soft, like a little mushroom?

"Can this stuff be eaten?" Zhang Xiaojuan asked curiously, poking at it a couple of times. "You know what, it feels pretty good, much better than what you can find in the market."

Contrary to expectations, Han Rui didn't cry and whine. After learning that a mushroom had grown on her head, the little girl excitedly looked at Lu Sheng and asked, "Can I use the mushroom to control corpses or zombies?"

"Give it a try."

At Lu Sheng's prompting, Han Rui scurried over to Sukura's corpse and planted a small mushroom on it while it was still warm.

The remaining people all stared intently in the direction of the person and the corpse.

"It's a success!"

Amid Han Rui's excited voice, Sakura's corpse swayed as it stood up, its grayish-white eyeballs turning eerily once before finally staring blankly at everyone.

"..."

"He doesn't seem very smart."

"It gives off a feeling of college students being both innocent and foolish."

"Just like with pets, they might resemble their owners to some extent."

While several people were complaining about Sakura, only the little sunflower drooped its leaves and lay on Zhuangzhuang, looking like a sad little dog.

"Can I talk to her?" Tong Ziqi asked suddenly, surprised.

Han Rui's face flushed with excitement. "What do you want to ask? I'll try."

“We want to know where Professor Chen Yanhong is.” Tong Ziqi’s eyes lit up with hope. “Professor Chen was tricked into coming here with us. She is one of the leading bioengineering experts in China.”

"I heard that Professor Chen has already developed an antibody against the zombie virus. If you want the vaccine and catalyst, finding Professor Chen will make things much easier!"

At Lu Sheng's instruction, Han Rui whispered to Sakura.

Because she is not yet proficient in using her powers, Sakura's expressive ability is limited, and many of her words are vague monosyllables.

The group of people used gestures and guesses to finally figure out the answer.

She said Professor Chen was in the greenhouse on the other side.

With the exact location confirmed, everyone immediately set off.

With Sakura leading the way, the group quickly found the huge greenhouse located on the other side of the factory area.

"There are many precious medicinal herbs in the factory, all of which were obtained in advance by Xiao Rizi and his gang through various channels," Tong Ziqi said indignantly. "I had heard before that they artificially cultivated Chinese medicinal herbs, but I didn't expect it to be true."

The greenhouse was larger than Lu Sheng and the others had imagined, a huge greenhouse of several hundred square meters, where various precious medicinal herbs were being grown.

"I heard before that Xiao Rizi had registered a patent for traditional Chinese medicine. These people are really addicted to stealing things," Zhang Xiaojuan complained, rubbing the little mushroom on Han Rui's head.

The greenhouse was surrounded by a full set of security measures, but with Sakura's iris unlocking, the group crossed the security zone without breaking a sweat.

As soon as the door was pushed open, a series of tinkling sounds came from behind the layers of green medicinal herbs.

"Meow?"

A Ragdoll cat, about the same size as Zhuangzhuang, hopped out, its beautiful blue eyes curiously observing Lu Sheng and his group.

Who's outside?

A crisp female voice then rang out.