After Hua Wuyan killed the third wave of zombies attracted by the suona, she noticed that each performance drew more and more zombies.
“The sky is completely dark now, and zombies have exceptional hearing. I can’t attract any more of them. My strength hasn’t fully recovered yet—if I get surrounded by too many zombies, I might not be able to break free.
I can’t stay here. Let me find a place to rest first.”
[Host, Xu Qingtian is still in the equipment room. Aren’t you going to take her with you?]
“I’ve already locked the equipment room door, and there are a few large storage crates inside. If she’s smart enough, she’ll hide in one and stay quiet. I’ll come back for her after dawn.”
[What if she’s not smart enough?]
“She’s the female lead. Didn’t you say the female lead isn’t easy to kill? Without me as a variable, she definitely won’t die.”
Three waves of zombies were piled up on the corridor floor outside the equipment room. Hua Wuyan gripped her long blade and patiently stabbed it into each zombie’s head, stirring as she searched for Crystal Cores.
She made her way from the equipment room toward the nearest law school building. No matter how light her footsteps were, zombies still lunged out from the shadows to bite.
Her sore, aching arm mechanically swung the long blade as she moved quickly through the night, soon entering the teaching building.
The apocalypse had broken out at nine in the evening. Although the law school’s evening classes had already ended, some people hadn’t left immediately—becoming the first batch of flesh tested, reduced to scraps for the Zombie Virus.
After killing the dozen or so zombies that had approached at the sound, she plunged her blade tip into their heads once more.
She’d thought getting one or two Crystal Cores from a dozen zombies would already be good, but the feedback each time her blade tip pierced a zombie’s head gradually made her less calm.
“One, two, three, four, five—seventeen zombies in total, and fifteen Crystal Cores! System, law school students really have good brains—even their Crystal Core drop rate is higher than outside.”
[Based on System analysis, the probability of generating Crystal Cores has no direct correlation with the zombie’s pre-death intelligence, Host. However, I’ve detected that the virus carried on this group of zombies is indeed much denser than the ones we killed before.
If these zombies weren’t killed, they’d have a very high chance of mutating later.]
“Never mind that. I’m hungry now. Let me go to the rooftop and grab something to eat.”
As she ran toward the rooftop, she browsed the System Mall.
“One sour soup mushroom hotpot, and give me a bit of every kind of mushroom. I heard the top-tier wagyu beef in the human world is fatty and tender—I’ll take some of that too.”
“Phoenix wings are this expensive? 50 Opportunity Points? Forget it, forget it—I’ll take two pairs of chicken wings instead. They’re all in the same family, I’ll make do. Oh, and the dipping sauce should be sour and spicy, with extra garlic and sesame oil.”
“One serving of hotpot noodles, some ice cream too, and a watermelon. Cut it up for me and keep it fresh in the warehouse.”
“Add some ice cubes next to the watermelon too. Iced watermelon on such a hot day is the most comfortable.”
[Host, that comes to 0.5 Opportunity Points total. Already exchanged for you. Seeing how hard you’re working to improve your strength, this System will gift you a special drink to help fortify your constitution.]
“How thoughtful!”
[Of course! Once the Host’s strength grows, you can complete tasks faster.]
Due to the extreme heat, even the night breeze was scorching. But it also carried the scent of food from the rooftop far into the distance.
The hotpot was spicy and sour, the watermelon and ice cream were refreshingly cold, and the drink the System gave her had a faint medicinal taste. After drinking it, her body expelled a thick layer of filthy secretions.
After eating her fill, Hua Wuyan checked the iron door on the rooftop again, exchanged points for a wooden barrel and a medicinal bath to cleanse herself, and then prepared to rest.
Rather than calling it sleeping, for a cultivator, it was meditative breath regulation.
Just two short hours of breath regulation was equivalent to an ordinary person sleeping for five or six hours.
After more than two hours of meditative breath regulation, Hua Wuyan discovered that the Qi perception in her Dantian was more condensed than when she had cultivated to the Qi Condensation Stage in the Cultivation Realm.
Qi Condensation was the first step of cultivation—essentially a process of refining the body and expelling impurities. The more condensed the Qi Ocean in her Dantian, the more solid her Foundation Establishment would be later.
Fortune and misfortune were intertwined. The Heavenly Dao Sovereign had punished her with Tribulation, forcing her to start cultivating all over again.
The more solid her Foundation Establishment, the further she could go in her future cultivation.
In this Apocalypse, as long as she had Opportunity Points, she wouldn’t have to worry about food. As long as she had enough Crystal Cores, restoring her cultivation was only a matter of time.
Right now, she was only lacking Opportunity Points.
As Hua Wuyan was recalling the plot of the book, a flash of light suddenly streaked across the pitch-black night sky. A golden point of light slowly descended from the sky not far away.
She stared at the golden glow, lost in thought, but the System reacted before she did.
【Host, there’s an Airdrop incoming, southeast direction, 715 meters from the school. I’ve already activated the map navigation for you.】
“Analyze the danger factors for me.”
【Host, I’ve detected three factions in the airdrop area, and people from The Base in Linjiang City are also on their way. This airdrop supplies might not be easy to obtain.】
“Which directions are those factions positioned relative to the airdrop, and how far away are they?”
【The three factions are located east, west, and south of where the airdrop will land, approximately 500 to 800 meters away.
The people from The Base in Linjiang City will take about forty minutes to reach the airdrop location. If we head over now, it’ll take us about fifteen minutes.】
“Can you detect how many people or Ability Users are in The Base and those three factions?”
【The Base’s team is too far away to detect. However, I’ve already detected that among those three factions, each has three to five Low-rank Ability Users.】
“Three to five? How strong are they?”
【Beginner Stage Ability Users are divided into levels 1-3. The Ability Users in those three factions are all level 1 Ability Users.
Based on the calculation of Ability Users versus the Host’s cultivation technique strength in the book, the Host’s current late Qi Condensation Stage is equivalent to a level 1 Mid-tier Ability User.
Although those three factions aren’t as strong as the Host, The Base in Linjiang City is full of experts, and they’ll arrive soon.
Host, should we grab it?】
“Of course we’re grabbing it! Judging by the glow of that box, it’s at least a C-rank Airdrop. That’s 100 Opportunity Points! We just need to take the box away before The Base’s people arrive.”
【I love how meticulous and decisive my Host is. Let’s go! I’ll help you avoid areas with dense Zombie Hordes and get you to the airdrop location quickly.】
It was a dark, muggy night, and the sound of cicadas was as loud as ducks fighting over food.
Even though the System helped her avoid the areas with dense Zombie Hordes, she still encountered quite a few zombies lunging at her along the way.
【Host, the airdrop has landed, in the northern area of the botanical garden ahead.】
Linjiang University is one of the top prestigious universities in China, and this botanical garden was established by investors to support the research of Linjiang University’s Plant-element professors, gradually developing into a sizable garden.
However, due to its remote location, most of the visitors are students from the school.
The zombies broke out at night, so aside from the patrol guards on duty and the staff tending to the plants, there shouldn’t be anyone else in the garden.
Hua Wuyan, holding a night-vision telescope exchanged from the System Mall, observed from a deserted corner tower outside the botanical garden for a few minutes. Only after detecting no signs of movement did she quietly make her way toward the main gate.
【Host, look! This yellow glow is even brighter than the C-grade airdrop at the fountain square earlier. It might be a B-grade or even an A-grade supply crate.
With such a bright beam, it will attract more people soon—we need to move fast!】
“Don’t worry, we’ll just grab the crate and leave right away.”
Hua Wuyan moved swiftly according to the System’s navigation, and finally, the yellow beam was within reach.
Suddenly, her nose itched. She casually raised her hand and felt a wispy, mist-like pink floret beneath her nostrils.
The next moment, a wave of dizziness hit her mind, her chest felt as if blocked by a stone, and her entire body began to burn.
“What’s happening? I… I’m so hot!”