In the operating room, Anthony frowned and asked, "How is the situation?"
Verna sighed with relief and replied, "He broke two ribs, but his other organs are unharmed. I've already reattached the ribs and applied a healing potion. He just needs some rest for a while."
"That's good," Anthony breathed a sigh of relief. It's good that Dash is okay. He left the operating room and called for Lynn and her daughter.
At this moment, Lynn had freshened up and changed into clean clothes. At a glance, she had willow-leaf eyebrows, a cherry mouth, an oval face, a delicate nose, and fair skin. She was a gentle and beautiful woman.
Anthony marveled inwardly. No wonder when he first saw Lynn, she was wearing a beige trench coat with disheveled hair and a dirty face. If it weren't for her appearance, in such an environment, she would have probably... Besides her looks, the tightly wrapped deep blue knitted dress perfectly outlined her well-proportioned figure, with a towering and straight front and a moon-like roundness at the back. Add to that her slightly nervous expression and the emerald fingers fidgeting in an unknown place, the thirty-year-old woman exuded maturity and intelligence without a doubt.
Behind Lynn, a pair of lively big eyes curiously stared at Anthony. Perhaps due to lack of food for a long time, her little face had a slightly pale complexion, indicating malnutrition.
"Let me introduce myself formally. I'm Anthony, the boss of Dawn Base. You can call me Boss or Sir," Anthony began his introduction. Then he pointed to Cheryl and said, "This is Cheryl, one of our combat personnel at the base."
"Don't worry, if Anthony bullies you at the base, just come to me. I'll teach him a lesson!" Cheryl clenched her fist confidently.
"Thank you," Lynn nervously shook Cheryl's hand.
"... ," Anthony's forehead was covered in black lines. How did this turn into that? Glancing at Cheryl, Anthony pointed at Verna and said, "This is Verna, our base's doctor and part-time cook."
Verna looked Lynn up and down and squeezed out a smile, saying, "Hello, I'm Verna. If you ever feel unwell, you can come to me."
"I'll rely on you as my doctor in the future," Lynn responded nervously.
"No problem," Verna nodded.
Anthony continued, "There's one more person resting in the room. His name is Dash, and he's one of our combat personnel at Dawn Base."
After introducing everyone to Lynn, Anthony looked at her again. Lynn immediately understood and said, "Hello, everyone. My name is Lynn. Starting today, I will be responsible for cleaning, cooking, laundry, mending clothes, and other miscellaneous tasks at the base. This is my daughter, Lucy." She then rubbed Lucy's head and said, "Lucy, introduce yourself to everyone."
"I... I..." After hesitating for a moment, Lucy gathered her courage and timidly said, "Hello, my name is Lucy."
"Is Lucy's daddy handsome, or is our Uncle Anthony from Dawn Base handsome?" Cheryl smiled mischievously and hugged Lucy, her eyes flashing with a hint of mischief.
"Um... Superman Uncle is a little more handsome," Lucy bit her finger and gave an answer.
Anthony: "..."
After the introductions, everyone became acquainted. "Alright, let's leave it at that for now. Lynn, you can prepare lunch today," Anthony said directly.
"Okay, sir," Lynn nodded lightly.
Seeing this, Verna spoke up, "I'll help too." As she spoke, the two women entered the kitchen together. Cheryl, who was nearby, didn't want to stay in the resting area and followed them in. Anthony shook his head slightly. He couldn't be bothered with women's little tricks.
Soon, Lynn's cooking skills impressed everyone. If Verna's dishes were considered delicious, then Lynn's dishes were considered art. Even with the same dish, Lynn managed to turn it into a work of beauty, making Anthony feel like he had found a treasure.
During the meal, the sound of gunfire from outside occasionally rang out, making him feel somewhat annoyed. Could those damn mutants still be nesting near his base? No, he couldn't be confined like this forever.
Anthony thought to himself as he walked into the conversion room with a backpack on his shoulders. The value of a normal zombie crystal was 700 energy points, while a first-order mutant crystal was worth two points. But what surprised Anthony was that after throwing in the 700 normal zombie crystals, his energy points increased by 8,400. "A single normal zombie crystal is worth 10 energy points!"
After the surprise, Anthony became even more certain of his guess that these zombies had indeed become stronger. If the zombies continued to evolve like this, he couldn't imagine what the tide of corpses would be like three years later.
Next, he threw in two first-order mutant crystals. His energy points increased by 2,400. It seemed that the first-order mutants hadn't changed, which meant that it would take longer for them to evolve. He made a note of these data for now.
Anthony checked his remaining energy points. 11,058 energy points.
"System, open the base shop!"
"Permanent item: Level 1 Doomsday Pistol Bullets (20 energy points/round)
[Powerful enough to penetrate first-order mutants.]
Shop inventory: Level 1 Blood Burst Potion (200 energy points)
[After use, doubles body attributes, effect lasts for five minutes. Side effect: Comprehensive combat power reduced by half for six hours.]
Refresh time: 1:25:18" Due to the large purchases in the morning, only the Level 1 Blood Burst Potion is left in the shop, while the rest of the higher-grade items are grayed out and cannot be purchased.
Anthony looked at the items and thought, "Purchase 20 rounds of Level 1 Doomsday Pistol Bullets and one Blood Burst Potion."
"Ding! Purchase successful, deducting 600 energy points." The system's voice sounded, and Anthony's hand now held a blood-red glass syringe and twenty metallic bullets. After putting them into his backpack, Anthony opened the base equipment upgrade panel.
Currently, the Spirit Pool, Gym, and Energy Conversion Room had been upgraded. Anthony glanced roughly at the remaining devices. If he were to upgrade all the equipment, the remaining energy points would be enough, but the current situation required a rapid increase in strength to deal with the enemies outside. As for the other devices, they would have to be postponed for now.
With that in mind, Anthony said, "Upgrade the Level 3 Hibernation Chamber and Level 3 Storage Space!"
"Ding! Deducting 1,500 energy points, upgrade complete."
"Congratulations, host, on acquiring the Level 3 Hibernation Chamber: Each entry consumes 1 energy point, resting for six hours can restore body attributes and heal all external injuries, and it can delay the virus outbreak time. Each hibernation also increases mental attribute by 0.2. Having 0.2 mental attribute and the ability to heal all external injuries is quite good." Anthony nodded silently. With this, Dash's injuries could be healed. He continued reading the information below.
"[Level 3 Storage Space]: Total area of 10,000 cubic meters. Time freezes inside the storage space, and any stored food comes with a small spirit attachment. Consuming it automatically increases strength and agility by 0.3. It can be strengthened twice a day, with the effect halved for the second time. It automatically consumes 2 energy points per day."
Anthony's face brightened. It meant an increase of 0.45 attribute points every day. Exiting the interface, Anthony looked at his current energy points, 8,958.3 points. He would wait for the shop inventory to refresh and see if he could find something good to acquire.