Zhou Ming opened his eyes and looked around, finding himself in a spacious office.
Scattered documents, a computer knocked over on the floor, and withered green plants seemed to tell him that a chaotic emergency had occurred here, and no one had visited for a long time.
This mission was a team effort. Besides Zhou Ming, there were three other men and one woman, all surveying their surroundings and their teammates for this mission, just like Zhou Ming.
Zhou Ming didn't rush to greet them. His consciousness sank into his Aperture, and he first scanned the Gu worms on his body.
Confirming that no Gu worms were missing, and that they weren't rejected by this world and unusable, meaning his own strength was unaffected, Zhou Ming finally relaxed and smiled with satisfaction.
After leaving the Family, Zhou Ming traveled southeast, stopping at Markets along the way to browse, buy, and sell Gu worms, and see if there were any suitable ones for his own use.
Now, he had several more Gu worms on him.
Rank Three Serrated Grass Leaf Gu, Rank Three Bewitching Nectar Flower Gu, Rank Three Bloodsucking Vine Gu, and Rank Three Wood Charm Gu—these were all Gu worms from that Wood Path Family Elder and were quite suitable for him, so he kept them.
As for the Exploding Pine Needle Gu, also from that Wood Path Gu Master, it was recycled by Zhou Ming to the Main God Space because the food required for its feeding couldn't be preserved for long.
Also recycled were the Rank Four Golden Body Gu, Rank Four Golden Ring Gu, Rank Four Golden Cloud Gu, Rank Four Golden Spear Gu, and some other Rank Three and Two-turn Gu worms scavenged from the Golden Giant.
Additionally, he bought some Wood Soul Gu for refining his soul, which, after forming a Wood Soul, would provide a certain degree of amplification to Wood Path Gu worms.
And one day before the mission started, after the mission prompt was issued, Zhou Ming purchased a Corpse Heart Gu.
A Rank Three Corpse Heart Gu could produce Two-turn Corpse Refining Gu, and its food was the hearts of zombies.
The Two-turn Corpse Refining Gu was a consumable Gu that could refine corpses into zombies for one's own command.
This was a sudden idea Zhou Ming had—he wanted to see if corpses from other worlds could be refined into zombies by the Corpse Refining Gu.
Especially in a world like this, overrun with zombies and various mutated entities, perhaps it could bring him unexpected surprises?
Besides Gu worms, Zhou Ming also purchased a large amount of resources in the Main God Space.
Madly reselling Gu worms had made him a fortune, and he was very generous, spending lavishly to add many trump cards to his arsenal.
Compared to the previous story world, Zhou Ming's increase in strength could be described as skyrocketing.
Just then, the four teammates also seemed to have finished checking their own status and began their usual communication.
"Gentlemen, we've all completed two story worlds and are about to shed our rookie status. We're experienced Reincarnators, so there's no need to be so reserved, is there?"
A burly, one-meter-ninety tall man in a black tight-fitting vest and leather pants, with a red cape and exaggerated muscles, said coldly as he crossed his arms and surveyed everyone.
"I'll introduce myself first. My name is Whale Shark, and I've enhanced the magnetic field rotation power system. I'm currently in the Electric Propulsion Realm."
'I can tell... from his attire and the aura of a magnetic field maniac that nothing can hide...'
The others silently grumbled in their hearts.
Although this tough man, Whale Shark, was the first to introduce himself, it was surprisingly brief. After uttering those two sentences, he crossed his arms again and continued to survey everyone, waiting for the next person to speak.
"Alright, I'll go second."
Another man, who looked about forty, wearing a wrinkled white lab coat and with a scruffy, unkempt natural curly hair, scratched his head. Despite his dejected expression, he still managed to force out a very gloomy smile.
"I seem to be the oldest here. Hmm, my name is Gong He. You can call me Uncle Gong, Brother Gong, or Old Gong."
"As for my enhancement... I guess I'm a Daoist. Sigh, I'm good against supernatural entities, but I seem to be at a disadvantage in this world."
As he spoke, Gong He pulled out two pistols from his white lab coat and waved them in front of everyone.
"I'm pretty good with guns too. Heh, these things are still useful!"
After saying that, he stuffed the guns back into his white lab coat and looked at the others, indicating he was done speaking.
Well, he didn't know where he stuffed the guns under his empty white lab coat.
Zhou Ming and the last male teammate exchanged glances, smiled slightly, and gestured for him to go first.
"Alright." The man helplessly pushed up the glasses on his nose.
"Xiang Zenan, *cough*, don't look at me like that. It's the 'Xiang' from Xiang Yu. My parents named me, what can I do?"
It seemed he had encountered similar situations many times. Xiang Zenan calmly ignored everyone's strange looks and continued his self-introduction: "My enhancement is a Zanpakuto. You've all read the manga 'Bleach,' right? Hey, don't look at me like that, I really am not just some otaku who only knows about anime!"
His subsequent explanation was completely ignored by everyone.
"My name is Zhang Wei." Zhou Ming said with a gentle and friendly smile: "I'm a Reincarnator with two and a half missions completed. I specialize in blades, guns, applying buffs, summoning..."
The four of them stared at Zhou Ming in unison, with expressions that clearly said, "Are you effing kidding me?"
"Ah, you don't like this way of introducing myself? No problem, I have another one prepared."
Zhou Ming's gentle smile remained unchanged as he continued: "My name is Zhang Wei, 43 years old, living in the Main God Space, unmarried. I serve the Main God, and I have to fight for my life every time I go on a mission to return. I like to smoke, drink, and perm my hair. I stay up all night until dawn, sleeping less than two hours a day. Before bed, I always drink a liter of alcohol, then do manual labor for an hour. Once in bed, I continue to stay up until morning, leaving all the fatigue and stress for the next day. Doctors say it's abnormal that I'm still alive."
"Don't openly pad the word count!" Xiang Zenan shouted. (Okay, I said that)
What Xiang Zenan actually said was: "Don't openly appropriate lines from anime characters!"
Zhou Ming shrugged, indicating that his self-introduction was over, and looked directly at the last unspoken woman, gesturing for her to perform.
Everyone: "..." We feel like he said a lot, but also like he said nothing at all. Is this our collective delusion?
The last person was a young woman with a good figure, wearing a ponytail, a black mask with a blue Doraemon drawn on it, and a neat combat suit, with a long box strapped to her back.
"Qin Wumeng, specializes in long-range sniping, with some close-quarters combat ability."
Hmm, a very brief self-introduction, comparable to that tough man Whale Shark, and a stark contrast to Zhou Ming.
Zhou Ming could even feel the others looking at him with a hint of "Look at her" and a sense of disappointment.
[No identity information arranged for this world, Reincarnators' appearance and attire are not disguised! Mission Start!]
The Main God Space's prompt made the five people's expressions solemn. That familiar sense of detachment disappeared, replaced by the vivid reality of integrating into the world, which always left a deep impression, no matter how many times it was experienced.
"The mission has started, so, what are everyone's thoughts on the main mission?" Gong He was the first to ask.
"Mission 1 is to go to Dick State and find Dr. Max. I think we should first find a map, determine our location and Dick State's location, and then head to Dick State."
Xiang Zenan, despite having a seemingly unreliable persona, said something surprisingly reliable.
"Perhaps the clue is in this room." Zhou Ming pointed to a bookshelf against the wall, and everyone's gaze followed.
Like the rest of the room, the bookshelf was in disarray. Many books had fallen to the floor, with obvious footprints and damage.
The books fortunate enough to remain on the shelf were also toppled over, piled haphazardly, as if someone had hastily rummaged through them for something.
Zhou Ming walked up and pulled a book from the shelf.
It was a beautifully bound magazine, with a cover featuring a white man in his thirties, wearing a white lab coat, looking capable and exuding the confident aura of a successful person.
At the very top of the cover, four large letters were written.
"TIME"
"Holy cow, this world has Time Magazine too?" Gong He squeezed over and exclaimed.
Zhou Ming smiled without speaking, pointing to the bottom of the cover.
Michael J. Max.
He completely rewrote humanity's research direction on ancient microbiology.
"It seems we've met Dr. Max before we even found Dick State."
"Ancient microbiology?"
Gong He, intrigued by the term, mused, "Could it be that the zombie virus is an ultra-ancient virus that humans dug up and researched, leading to the outbreak?"
Zhou Ming handed the book to Gong He, then casually pulled another book from the shelf, smiling, "Perhaps we'll know the truth once we find Dr. Max."
He opened the newly acquired book, revealing a map tucked inside.
"'Gil National Geographic' magazine? Is this a national map of Gil?"
Gong He picked up the map in surprise and unfolded it.
"Yes, usually geographical magazines like this come with a map. I saw this book was quite new, with no signs of being read, so I guessed the map should still be inside." Zhou Ming explained.
The others gathered around curiously.
"Ah, found it. Dick State is here."
The sharp-eyed Xiang Zenan pointed to a spot on the map, then immediately frowned.
"Such a large area!"
"Of course, it's a state in Gil after all." Gong He sighed, "The mission's scope is too broad."
"We don't even know where we are right now!" Xiang Zenan also fretted, "Otherwise, we could head to Dick State first, then look for other clues."
"May I see that book?" Qin Wumeng gestured to the Time magazine in Gong He's hand.
"No problem, Young Miss." Gong He, in a gentlemanly manner, passed the magazine over, but unfortunately, his actions and attire were so mismatched that it gave no sense of gentility, but rather seemed a bit comical.
"Thank you." Qin Wumeng took the magazine and began to flip through it.