Unlike with Jacob, Jenny continued to chat with Fredrinn for an extended time.

Even when he wasn’t being particularly enthusiastic over the talk, she managed to find a topic that always had something to talk about.

However the talk had to come to an end when Max was done with his chat with Christine.

He glanced at the group and cracked his neck lazily, "I heard that there’s a safe zone created by the army in Ohio?"

Chaos erupted.

The other normal members of the group obviously didn’t know anything about that information since Jacob had decided to keep them out of the loop, forcing Leon not to blabber to others.

But with Max revealing it openly, Jacob’s lips twitched.

The reaction of the crowd was exactly as he had predicted.

Over 90% of the people were in favour of abandoning their current hideout and making their way towards the safe zone.

It was a 2-3 hour drive there, which was manageable but the problem was the vehicles.

Who was going to assemble that many cars, vans or buses to take everyone safely?

And what about the zombies that may attack on the way?

But of course, the crowd didn’t have that foresight.

A slim, lanky man with the glasses pointed out the same issues, but Max was there in his cocky and overbearing self.

"You all are overestimating those zombies. I have fought them myself. A lot of them. They are dangerous, but only if they come near you or manage to bite you.

Otherwise? They are weak." Max said.

"Still... Managing such a large group over a long distance is–"

Max smiled at the slim, lanky man, "Huh? What do you mean by managing a large group? I am not obliged to carry all of you with me. If you have any merit, then maybe, but otherwise? This is a nice place. Hide here till the zombies break down the blockades some day."

His words were cold and obviously unappreciated.

The crowd went feral, several of the men cursing Max’s entire generation as they talked about morals and the fairness of the situation.

Jacob, on the other hand, stayed silent.

He watched how Max was playing the audience, realizing that the man in front of him wasn’t simply a brute but a man with a brain and some lofty goals that only he himself knew.

Max listened to the raging crowd, not offering any retorts while they cursed, cried, begged, threatened, and did everything that involved speaking.

After all, none of them had the guts to actually do something to the man who was an awakener and was armed with an Uzi.

Jenny glanced at the crowd, giggling slightly before turning to Fredrinn, "What about you three? Are you interested in going to the alleged safe zone?"

Rhea and Andrea exchanged a glance.

From the location of the safe zone, they had realized an important fact that the location was near Kentucky.

If they were lucky and the stars aligned, they could find their families there.

Like hen pecking chickens, they nodded their heads at Jenny’s question.

"Yes."

Fredrinn chuckled at their reactions, shrugging before agreeing as well.

Hiding here sounded great in theory, but he had more important things to worry about.

Like completing the quest by Lust to find the location of his family.

He wasn’t worried about voluntary thralls, there were enough girls around that he could just make do with anyone if it meant achieving his goals.

But he still had no clue what those zombie cores he needed to collect were. Lust refused to give him any information regarding it, saying that it doesn’t want to spoil his adventure.

Though, Lust did confirm that it was rare and none of the zombies he killed yet possessed any cores.

Fredrinn guessed that if that was the case, then he probably needed to fight more difficult zombies.

After all, he had already found out that zombies could get stronger by devouring each other.

"Great!" Jenny clapped her hands, "You three are warmly welcomed then."

"And what about those?" He glanced at the crowd who was still arguing wildly.

"Them?" Jenny hummed, placing a finger on her cheek and tilting it cutely, "Who knows? Max will handle that."

And handle is what he did.

*bang*

A suppressed bullet sound echoed in the enclosed room, instantly killing off any conversations that were going on.

Everyone turned towards the sound, staring widely at the Max who was standing with his Uzi raised and slight smoke coming out of the nozzle.

Behind him, his other 3 teammates and Christine stood like they couldn’t care less about the mob.

Christine hadn’t interacted much with the original group in the beginning, but after making her plan she had also gotten herself busy.

She used her beautiful looks to her advantage, talking to some people who were knowledgeable about useful real-life skills such as driving, medical, engineering and what not.

Thus now, she knew who needed to be saved and who was okay to leave behind.

Thanks to Max’s bullet, the crowd was silenced and the vested man could speak again without straining his voice box.

"Calm down, people." He said, "It’s not like I am leaving everyone behind. Only those who are useless. Ask yourself, are you useless?"

A collective gasp went across the people before a gruff voice instantly called out saying, "No."

Obviously, it was Charlie who didn’t have a single trace of fear on his face.

He walked forward as near Jacob and Max made no move to stop him.

Jenny smiled at Fredrinn and requested him to follow her closer towards Max, who complied with Andrea and Rhea following him like baby chicks.

It was clear that everything was going way too fast and no one was prepared for it, but still... there was a strange sense of peace and harmony about it.

Like there was nothing wrong with it.

Fredrinn only narrowed his eyes towards Max for a split second before deciding to go along with the flow, feeling curious.

"Hey Max! This is Fredrinn, he’s the second awakener of this group and he is apparently Epic level 15." Jenny introduced Fredrinn to Max with a wide smile.

"Level 15?"