Theo saw a high wall and jumped onto it, then onto the roof of a two-story shop.
There was no doubt. It wasn't as if only Violet could ride a motorcycle, but in this evacuated city, the chances of it being her were higher, and now he confirmed it upon seeing a woman on a motorcycle with long silver-white hair flowing in the wind.
As she approached, he confirmed what he was already almost certain of. Loose purple hoodie, black leggings, smoky makeup, and black lipstick with a lollipop in her mouth.
This made him recall the day he saw her for the first time.
However, he noticed something different about her.
A coldness far beyond the indifference she usually displayed.
Jumping, he landed in front of her.
When she saw him, she braked and skidded the motorcycle to stop sideways in front of him.
"Theo?" She recognized him and asked coldly: "Want to die? Why did you jump in front of me like that?"
In her hands, ice was created. It was clear that if he were an enemy, she would have attacked instantly.
"Sorry, I didn't think it through and ended up jumping in front of you because I had something to talk to you about." Theo said to her. At the same time, he was surprised by what he saw.
Her eyes seemed demonic. With a red hue instead of the white in her eyes and a coldness different from before, she looked a lot like a mutant beast. Of course, that wasn't all.
[HP: 1,110/1,110]
'She managed to evolve.' He thought.
This also led him to assume that her change was due to the accumulated impurity.
She seemed a bit demonic, so to speak.
"So, what made you stop me like that?" She narrowed her eyes.
"I see the virus in your body is spreading faster and faster." Theo asked: "Would you be interested in a way to get rid of part of this virus?"
"Huh?" Now her cold expression changed slightly.
"I learned to create a Virus Neutralizer." Theo lied: "I won't say how I did it, but I can tell you one thing, it's related to a mutant flower. You know, like that Mutant Eagle, there are also mutant flower plants."
"A mutant flower…" She became thoughtful, with her foot resting on the ground while sitting on the motorcycle.
Her reaction was quite intriguing.
Theo reflected: 'She doesn't seem very surprised. At least she seems to believe it and… Did flowers really mutate?'
He had just spouted a lie. But, from her reaction, she must have had some experience with some kind of mutant flower/plant.
'Interesting… So, as I assumed, animals weren't the only ones that mutated.' Theo thought to himself.
This also made him more confident in his own lie.
Theo said, interrupting her thoughts, making her look back at him: "By the way, this 'Neutralizer' I created can eliminate up to 10% of the 'zombie virus'."
"We can negotiate. What do you want, cores again?" She asked.
"Yes, but only the freshly hunted ones post-snow." Theo replied.
Violet laughed a little: "So you noticed… Well, I should've known you'd figure it out."
Theo pretended to take something out of his pocket and pulled the vial from his inventory out of his pocket.
Theo handed the vial to her: "This is the Neutralizer."
Taking the vial from him, she held it and shook the liquid in the vial with a curious look and a touch of longing.
To her, that was of utmost importance. After evolving, she consumed several cores to increase her power, but this also caused the 'zombie virus' in her body to build up significantly.
At the beginning, she was fine, after all, her sister, Mia, was able to purify the cores almost completely, but as she kept consuming them, she noticed her sclera turning red while it became harder to contain the 'zombie virus' in her body.
She asked: "Do I just need to swallow the liquid inside?"
"Yes." Theo confirmed.
At the same time, the sound of cars was heard, and soon he saw two jeeps in front and two trucks behind.
They weren't as modified as the cars they used before, but they had some means of protection.
"Violet." From the front jeep, Mia stepped out. When she saw Theo, she wasn't surprised. After all, this area was close to the building he stayed in.
As she ran, her large breasts bounced in her thin short-sleeved top. Her black hair was tied in a ponytail, swinging from side to side. She wore grunge makeup with black lipstick decorating her full lips and blue eyes.
The leggings she wore highlighted the curves of her legs, especially her butt, making them very attractive.
She stopped very close to Violet.
"Mia, you arrived at a good time. Take a look at this." Violet handed her the vial.
Mia stepped forward and took it.
Her eyes glowed a brighter blue as her hand seemed to produce a blue mist that enveloped the entire vial.
"It's not dangerous, but it's strange… I can't identify what's inside." She murmured.
"Theo said it's something capable of eliminating up to 10% of the 'zombie virus'." Violet said: "He managed to make it using a mutant flower as an ingredient."
A glint of understanding passed through Mia's eyes.
Since yesterday, they had started paying more attention to flowers/plants that might be different. Especially those with a seductive effect that made them want to eat them.
The reason they went out wasn't just to hunt zombies; it was mainly to find rare flowers/plants. That was primarily why Mia joined them this time, as she could tell if they were poisonous or not.
"I already tested it in the same proportion as the liquid in this vial." Theo lied: "Thanks to that, a good portion of the 'zombie virus' in my body was eliminated."
"How many vials of this do you have?" Mia asked.
"At the moment, just one." Theo said: "But I can get more."
'With the right price, I can buy more with essence.' He thought.
Mia's eyes sparkled a bit upon hearing this.
She also signaled to the back for no one to get out of the cars and approach.
"How many do you want for this vial?" Mia got straight to the point.
"I assume you hunted a lot of zombies today and got a good amount of cores, right?" Theo said: "Let me choose 20, and this vial is yours."
"Only 20… *Cough*." Mia coughed, realizing what she said wrong and added: "Alright, let's do it."
She looked worried, thinking he might raise the price due to her reaction, but Theo had no intention of doing that.
In fact, he expected them to lower the price.
"Yes, but it's only valid if you let me choose the cores." Theo replied.
"Of course, that's more than fair." Mia agreed.
Violet said: "Can I drink it now?"
"Huh? Sure. Go ahead." Theo replied generously.
Without hesitation, she took the vial from Mia and opened the cap. Then she drank.
After drinking all the liquid in the vial, Violet's sclera, which had been red before, started turning white.
Seeing that filled Mia's eyes with joy.
Before, Violet had to contain the virus in her body with her own willpower, and because of that, she became colder.
"How are you feeling?" Mia asked in a gentle tone.
Taking a deep breath, even Violet's demeanor became less cold. She gave a faint smile: "Much better."
"That's great, that's good." Mia was overjoyed.
Right after, Mia stepped away to talk with the main leaders who came with them.
Then, she returned with a bag full of cores. There were probably about 100.
"You can choose." She said: "There are 96 in there, 20 are yours."
Since he trusted them, she also trusted him, handing the bag of cores to him.
Theo took it and saw Violet get off the motorcycle and gesture for him to use the bike's seat.
Placing the bag on the motorcycle seat, he began to rummage through it.
[It was identified that the Host found a level 3 core of the [Stealth] skill with 73% purity, do you wish to absorb it normally or to enhance the [Stealth] skill?]
Theo pulled the core from the bag and placed it on the motorcycle seat.
He continued searching and only found two more.
Among the cores he rummaged through in the bag, there were some special ones, but he didn't take them. They made no difference to him. He had already tested, and they gave the same amount of essence. The only advantage was that he could awaken a special skill, but at the moment, that was useless to him.
And the special skills weren't of interest to him, but he set aside the ones he saw were ice-related.
A total of 14. Unfortunately, he didn't find a single one with the [Purify] skill. If he had found one, he would have tested giving it to Emily.
His actions were strange.
In the end, he chose the 20, being 3 of the [Stealth] skill, 9 of level 4, and the rest of level 3.
"I'll choose these twenty and…" He pointed to the 14 he had separated: "These are for ice manipulation."
"You can tell them apart?" Mia asked with great interest.
Before the zombies became special zombies, they couldn't differentiate the special skills of the cores. If they could, in the first place, those 14 with ice manipulation skills wouldn't even be there.
"Yes." Theo didn't deny.
"Can you…"
"No, I don't want to keep identifying cores." He lied: "I did it this time because I was already choosing mine. However, doing this requires some effort and gives me a really bad headache afterward. And it's not 100% certain."
"Even if it's around 50%, that's pretty useful." Mia said: "But it's a shame. Anyway, thank you."
Violet, who knew he did this mainly for her since she had the ice manipulation skill, thanked him: "Thanks, I owe you one. You can choose one more core if you want."
Theo didn't refuse and took one more core from the bag.
Before leaving, Theo said: "If you want more vials, you know where to find me. I should be able to produce 5 vials like this per week, but I don't guarantee it."
Hearing this made the sisters' eyes light up.
One of their biggest concerns about continuing to strengthen themselves was the accumulation of the zombie virus in their bodies.