【Host, it’s better than nothing. Right now, we’re still in the early stages of the apocalypse, and the probability of zombies producing Crystal Cores in their brains is extremely low.
We’re too close to the city center here. The commotion from you killing those zombies will soon attract a new wave of them. For the Host’s safety, it’s best to relocate as soon as possible.]
“In my original body’s memories, about two weeks ago, an Airdrop Supply Crate fell near the school. Even though it was only a D-rank one—System, how many Opportunity Points can a D-rank Airdrop Supply Crate be exchanged for?”
【10 Opportunity Points.】
“Better than nothing. The Sanctuary at Linjiang City Safe Base came from an S-Rank Airdrop. After the owner of the Sanctuary took everything inside, there’s no way they could have taken the crate itself.
I’ll take this chance to go find that S-Rank Airdrop.”
【That’s doable, but what about Xu Qingtian?】
Hua Wuyan glanced helplessly at Xu Qingtian on the ground. “She really is a burden.” But now, for the sake of the mission, she had no choice but to keep the girl by her side.
She pulled up the System Mall, browsed the tools category, and found the rope section. “System, help me exchange 1 Opportunity Point for that set of rope.”
【The rope has been exchanged for the Host. What does the Host plan to do?】
“Hehe, as long as she doesn’t die, it’s fine. Of course I’m going to make full use of her.”
Smack! One slap turned Xu Qingtian’s filthy blackened face bright red.
Xu Qingtian’s previously steady breathing became erratic from the slap, her molars grinding audibly, yet she still refused to open her eyes.
Hua Wuyan let out a cold laugh. “Keep pretending. Go on, keep pretending.” Her strength at Mid-stage Qi Condensation was no joke—let’s see how long she could keep up the act.
Just one second before her palm was about to fall again, Xu Qingtian jolted awake in terror, eyes wide as she screamed.
“Hua Wuyan, you’re going too far! What right do you have to hit me?!”
“I hit you because I want to. Do I need a reason?”
Only then did Xu Qingtian realize her hands had already been bound. The rope was made of hemp mixed with steel wire—there was no way she could break free.
“What exactly are you trying to do?! Restricting my personal freedom is illegal!”
“When you forced me to go out alone to find food for a whole group of you, why didn’t you talk about morality? When you shut me out of the equipment room to fend for myself, why didn’t you think that was murder?”
“And have you forgotten? This is the apocalypse now. In the apocalypse, what law is there? And I’m no longer someone you can push around however you please. You’d better get ready to enjoy the surprise I’ve prepared for you.”
Xu Qingtian followed behind like a stray dog, her figure disheveled and pathetic.
Her cheeks were swollen and red, and two large footprints were stamped across her chest—each mark a testament to Hua Wuyan’s brutality.
Tears washed a small patch of her filthy face clean, but when she wiped it with her hand, it only made things dirtier.
“Hua Wuyan, I can’t walk anymore!”
Hua Wuyan gave the rope in her hand a sharp tug, and Xu Qingtian let out a shriek as she tumbled to the ground.
“Ah! What are you doing?!”
Hua Wuyan yanked the rope and pulled her back up. “See, you can yell pretty loudly. Looks like you’ve still got plenty of strength left.”
Hearing this, a flash of light flickered in Xu Qingtian’s eyes. She stood up straight from the ground and looked at Hua Wuyan with an air of arrogance.
“Hua Wuyan, I advise you to let me go right now! Otherwise, I’ll scream at the top of my lungs and lure all the zombies over here, and then we’ll both die together!”
Hua Wuyan raised an eyebrow with a light chuckle. “Oh, you’ve gotten smarter, have you? Now you know how to threaten me.”
“I’ve always been smart. Hurry up and untie me, or neither of us is getting out of here alive!”
Instead, Hua Wuyan pulled the rope in her hand even tighter and kicked Xu Qingtian right in the back of the knee.
Xu Qingtian, who had just stood up, felt her knee buckle and dropped to the ground again. A short, sharp cry escaped her lips, only to be cut off by the sound of a slap.
“Smack!”
Resentment and unwillingness swirled in her eyes before finally dissolving into fear.
“F-fine, I won’t yell anymore, okay? J-just don’t hit me again.” Her face hurt too much.
The scorching sun beat down from overhead, leaving her cheeks in a state of searing, burning pain.
“Smack!”
Another slap landed on Xu Qingtian’s other cheek. This time, the resentment she had just suppressed exploded to the surface. She glared at Hua Wuyan and cried out,
“I already said I wouldn’t yell! Why are you still hitting me?!”
“You misunderstood me. That deserves a hit!”
“What did I misunderstand?!”
“I want you to yell as loud as you can. You only stop when I tell you to. Got it?!”
She had been racking her brain for a good way to attract zombies!
Linjiang University was far from the city center, and the zombies along the way were growing fewer and fewer.
Low-tier zombies at this stage had no eyesight—only hearing and smell.
Xu Qingtian was the female lead. If she used her blood to lure zombies, she was afraid she wouldn’t be able to control the amount and would bleed the girl dry, which would get her erased by the System.
What she needed right now were Crystal Cores. The drop rate for Crystal Cores was low, so she’d make up for it with sheer numbers.
She’d have Xu Qingtian scream as they traveled, gathering the zombies along the way so she could kill them all in one go.
And so, on the small path leading from the East District to Linjiang University, a girl in a red dress led another disheveled woman by a rope.
The former was full of energy, while the latter walked along, tilting her head back and letting out a shriek every few seconds.
If more than five seconds passed without a scream, the sound of a slap would follow.
Before long, Xu Qingtian had grown so accustomed to it that she kept screaming for a full hour without prompting.
The zombies gradually gathered behind the two of them, drawn by Xu Qingtian’s string of screams. Because of the blazing sun, the zombies’ activity was reduced, and they moved slowly.
Every time their numbers approached fifty, Hua Wuyan would tell Xu Qingtian to shut up, then charge into the crowd of fifty zombies and fight her way through.
At first, Xu Qingtian tried to slip away while Hua Wuyan was locked in combat with the zombies.
But as soon as she ran, she discovered that the rope binding her was extremely long—like a leash. Once she got a certain distance away, the rope would automatically retract, yanking her back to Hua Wuyan’s side.
With her hands bound by the rope, she was flung back and slammed straight into a zombie. Just as the zombie lunged to bite the easy prey that had been delivered right to it, Hua Wuyan’s long blade pierced its skull with pinpoint accuracy.
One strike, one kill. A Crystal Core dropped from the hole the blade had punched through its head.
Though it was stained with the zombie’s black blood and nauseating brown bits of flesh, the brilliance of the Crystal Core was impossible to hide.
“What a beautiful stone. Is… is this the Crystal Core that forms inside a zombie’s head, like in those novels and short dramas?”
She stared at the Crystal Core on the ground and swallowed hard.
She’d read plenty of apocalypse novels and watched plenty of short dramas. If this Crystal Core worked like in the stories, maybe all she had to do was absorb it and she could awaken as an Ability User?
Just as she reached out to pick up the Crystal Core, Hua Wuyan walked over, stepped on the back of her hand as if it were nothing, and picked up the Crystal Core beside her.
The back of her hand made a strange cracking sound as it was stepped on, and then Xu Qingtian let out a scream.
“Ah! Get your foot off me! You’ve crushed my hand!”
“It’s clearly your fault for putting your hand under my foot. Why are you talking nonsense? Could it be that you’ve been bitten by a zombie and started raving?”
“You!” Seeing the long blade of Hua Wuyan’s knife covered in black blood, Xu Qingtian swallowed the rest of her words, turned them over in her mouth, and spat them out again.
“Senior Wuyan, please have mercy and take your foot off my hand. It hurts so much, I beg you!”
“Hmph.” Hua Wuyan lifted her foot, and Xu Qingtian’s hand shot back. That hand, which had once been nimble enough to play the piano and the violin, was now completely deformed from being stepped on.