That sight really packed a punch

"No!"

Lin Hui looked utterly indifferent. "I don't need a lunatic who does nothing but dissect zombies and wants to turn my RV into a morgue. Besides..."

He looked Bai Ling up and down. "With the way you're looking at me, I'm in danger."

"I'm really capable! I've awakened a Specialization!"

Seeing that Lin Hui was about to leave, Bai Ling panicked and hurriedly played her trump cards:

"I'll definitely be useful to you! Whatever the illness, even if you've been bitten by a zombie, I can treat it! And I can formulate all kinds of medicines..."

She sidled up to Lin Hui and said conspiratorially, "I can make the kind of... virility potions you guys like best! They work incredibly well. They'll make you really, really potent!!"

Suddenly, everything went quiet.

Looking at the silver-haired girl earnestly pitching virility potions to him, Lin Hui felt that this world was simply too surreal.

"Ahem..."

Su Qingqian broke the awkward silence, her face red. "Um... what Specialization did you awaken?"

Bai Ling puffed out her chest and declared proudly, "Medicine!"

"And..."

She held up two slender, pale fingers and waved them in front of everyone.

"I've already advanced to tier two! I'm really good! You definitely won't regret taking me in!!"

Tier two...

Those words exploded like thunder in all three of their ears.

Lin Hui stopped walking.

Liu Xi abruptly raised her head.

Even Su Qingqian's mouth fell open in disbelief.

Most players with Specializations hadn't even maxed out their tier-one proficiency yet.

Even the top awakened specialists in the major guilds only had high proficiency.

Not to mention that advancing to tier two required Specialization upgrade blueprints nobody had ever seen, along with various extraordinary materials!

Yet this silver-haired girl, who seemed a little unhinged and knew nothing but dissecting zombies, was already a tier-two awakened?!

She was probably the first tier-two awakened on the entire server!

"You're... tier two?" Lin Hui stared at her, his gaze turning serious.

If it was true, then this silver-haired girl named Bai Ling would be invaluable.

"Of course!" Bai Ling raised her chin smugly. "I killed quite a few high-tier mutants for materials so I could advance."

Lin Hui took a deep breath and began weighing the pros and cons again.

A powerful tier-two support who could also control zombies would be an enormous boost to their team for the upcoming trip to Cauldron City.

Even if she was a mad scientist.

"Lin Hui..." Liu Xi, still in his arms, gently tugged at his collar and said quietly,

"If she's a tier-two awakened with the Medicine Specialization, she'll be very useful to us. In this bizarre apocalypse, having a doctor and a scientist who can study monsters is incredibly important."

Lin Hui nodded.

He looked at Bai Ling. Her large, inquisitive eyes were fixed longingly on him and the RV.

"Fine. I agree."

Lin Hui finally relented. "You can come aboard as our personal doctor."

"Yay!!"

Bai Ling cheered and immediately started rushing toward the RV, only to stop and point at the battered bus.

"Then where do I put my busload of zombies? They're all my precious research specimens, and there's that tier-four Zombie Tyrant too. I can't let it go to waste!"

Lin Hui's expression darkened, and he glared at her. "Those filthy things are absolutely not coming aboard!"

Want to turn my RV into a biohazard zone? Not a chance!

"Aw..." Bai Ling's face instantly fell, like a little girl whose parents had told her she couldn't keep a kitten.

"However..."

Lin Hui changed tack as he looked at her aggrieved expression. She was a tier-two specialist, after all. He had to offer her a little incentive.

"Once my RV reaches level five, I can partition off a separate, sealed laboratory for you at the back. You can do whatever you like in there then, but right now, absolutely not."

"Really?!" Bai Ling's eyes instantly lit up again. "It's a deal!"

Although she regretted not being able to bring her zombies aboard now, the promise of her own laboratory was clearly more tempting.

"Get in." Lin Hui exhaled.

"Yes, boss!"

Bai Ling happily climbed into the RV.

The moment Bai Ling actually stepped inside, this science fanatic, who normally cared about nothing else, froze completely.

"This..."

She stood in the entryway, with a warm rug beneath her feet and soft, warm-toned ambient lighting overhead.

There wasn't a trace of the wasteland's stench of rot and blood in the air. Instead, there was a faint lavender fragrance and fresh oxygen supplied by the ventilation system.

The enormous screen on the central console gave off a futuristic glow. The leather couch was spacious and soft as a cloud, and in the open kitchen nearby, a large double-door refrigerator hummed softly.

Most importantly-

"A constant twenty-six degrees..."

Bai Ling murmured to herself. She held out a hand, feeling the warm air from the central air conditioning, and a sheen of tears actually appeared in her gray eyes.

"This temperature-controlled environment... this sterile-grade air filtration..."

Beside her, Su Qingqian puffed out her chest and introduced it proudly. "What do you think? This is the boss's..."

"It's perfect!" Bai Ling abruptly interrupted her, gesturing wildly with excitement.

"This temperature-controlled environment was practically made for cultivating bacteria and parasites! If we remove the couch, we could fit at least three large culture dishes here! There's so much power too. It could run both a centrifuge and a low-temperature freezer!"

As she spoke, she somehow produced a tape measure and started rushing toward the master bedroom. "Is that biggest room the bedroom? If we just throw out the bed, I can..."

Smack.

A large hand mercilessly clamped down on her head.

Lin Hui's face was dark, a vein throbbing on his forehead. "That's where I damn well sleep! Just try touching my bed!"

Bai Ling drew her neck in miserably and muttered, "You only need two square meters to sleep. What a waste of space..."

"Shut up." Lin Hui pointed toward the bathroom. "Now. Right this second. Go take a shower. Wash that bloody smell off yourself. That's an order."

"Oh..."

Only after watching Bai Ling take the clothes Su Qingqian had prepared and disappear into the bathroom did Lin Hui let out a long breath, his temples throbbing.

Fifteen minutes later.

The sound of running water in the bathroom stopped.

Click.

The door opened.

A cloud of warm steam carrying the fragrance of body wash drifted out.

Liu Xi and Su Qingqian, who were drinking coffee on the couch, turned their heads at the same time. Then... both their expressions grew a little strange.

Bai Ling walked out.

She hadn't put on the modest pajamas Su Qingqian had prepared for her. Instead... she wore nothing but one of Lin Hui's spare, oversized white shirts.

Because she was so petite, the shirt hung on her like a dress, barely covering the tops of her thighs.

Her pale legs were straight and slender, her skin tinged a faint pink from the hot water and so white it dazzled the eyes.

Her long silver-white hair hung wet over her shoulders, water still dripping from the ends and running along her collarbones into the plunging neckline.

Most devastating of all, because she wasn't wearing any underwear, the soaked shirt clung to her curves, half revealing them with an utterly primal, unguarded allure.

"Phew-so much better!"

Completely lacking any feminine self-consciousness, Bai Ling strolled over to the couch and plopped down.

As she moved, the hem of the oversized shirt rode up slightly, exposing a broad stretch of snow-white skin.

"Cough, cough!"

Su Qingqian nearly choked to death on her coffee.

Her little face instantly flushed crimson, and she instinctively looked across at Lin Hui to see his reaction.

Oh no, oh no!

This newcomer might be a science nut, but that figure... that skin... this was practically cheating! And she wasn't even wearing underwear! If the boss couldn't control himself...

Lin Hui hurriedly turned his head away and took a big gulp of cola to steady himself.

He might have been a gentleman, but that sight really packed a punch.

Su Qingqian panicked. Like a little hen guarding her food, she rushed over, grabbed a blanket, and wrapped Bai Ling up tightly.

"No! You have to wear something! We're in the RV, and there's a man here! How can you have no sense of shame at all!"

"Shame?"

Bai Ling blinked her large eyes and poked her little silver-haired head out of the blanket, defending herself in a matter-of-fact, scientific tone.

"We're all human. Our skeletal musculature and organ structures are more or less the same. What's there to hide? Medically speaking, it's just a combination of fat, water, protein, and inorganic substances."

She looked at Lin Hui, her gaze utterly clear and innocent. "Boss, do you want to look? If you want to study my anatomy, I can take my clothes off and cooperate, as long as you let me study yours too."

"Pfft-"

This time, it was Liu Xi's turn to spray out her drink.

Looking at this outrageously formidable airhead, the mature woman's internal alarm bells went wild.

What mad scientist? She was clearly a master manipulator... no, she genuinely didn't care! This kind of unwitting flirting was the deadliest!

"I don't want to look! And I'm not interested in being studied by you!"

Lin Hui said through gritted teeth, "I don't care how you dress. Even if you wear nothing, I won't interfere!"

"But."

"If you mention studying me again, I'll throw you out of the RV immediately!"

"Oh." Bai Ling's eyes remained clear.

Lin Hui rubbed his temple. "Now, let's eat!"