Yun Qing felt that enough time had passed and that he should go out. Otherwise, there might truly be no living people left in this village. Ordinary people simply could not stand against those aberrations.
He took a custom-made iron baseball bat and opened the door.
Several Zombies could be seen wandering around the village in the distance.
Apparently, they had caught the scent of human flesh, and they all began walking toward Yun Qing.
After all, he had lived through the Apocalypse before, so he was confident in dealing with Zombies. Moreover, after Marrow Cleansing and Tendon Tempering, his strength had increased considerably.
The iron bat in his hand continuously reaped Zombies. Their heads and necks were their only weaknesses. To destroy a Zombie, one either had to chop through its neck or smash its head. Another option was to use an offensive supernatural ability, such as Lightning Type, Fire Type, or Metal Type.
There were not many second-grade Zombies, only a few. Most of them were slow-moving First Level Zombies.
Zombies above the second grade had crystal cores in their heads. The Zombie Crystal Cores in this world had no attributes and could be used to cultivate supernatural abilities.
The higher the level of the crystal core, the larger it was and the more energy it contained. All these crystal cores were very beautiful.
Second-grade crystal cores resembled jade. They were white and about the size of soybeans.
Third Level crystal cores were transparent, like crystal, but colorless.
Levels four through ten were, respectively: red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and purple.
A level-ten Zombie was the Zombie Emperor. No one knew what rank came above it.
Yun Qing looked at the several soybean-sized white crystal cores in his hand and put them into his pocket. At the very least, he had to wash them clean before putting them into Space. No matter how beautiful these crystal cores were, they had been dug out of Zombie brains. Without washing them, he could not help feeling disgusted.
Yun Qing continued clearing Zombies from the village. He still had to live there for the time being, so he might as well make himself a little more comfortable.
“Young Qing, do you have anything to eat? Could you give me some? My Little Sun has not eaten anything for an entire day.”
Yun Qing suddenly heard someone calling him. He turned around and saw a window opening on the second floor of a small house. A gray-haired woman was leaning out of it, clearly the one who had spoken.
He shook his head and said, “Granny Li, I have no food left either. I was just about to come out and look for some. Are there any other people in your house? Once I finish clearing out these monsters, you can come out and look for food.”
“This? There are only my old man, Little Sun, and me at home. Can you help us?”
Yun Qing knew this Granny Li. Her son and daughter-in-law worked away from home, leaving only the elderly couple and a left-behind child, Little Sun, in the house. She was usually rather mean and had little sense of propriety, and she liked taking advantage of others.
“Sorry, but there is nothing I can do. There are monsters everywhere now. If you do not work hard for yourself, you can only wait to starve to death.”
After Yun Qing finished speaking, he left. He did not want to help people like her, who loved taking advantage of others, and he especially did not want to invite trouble upon himself. If he helped her today, she would cling to him. Having already lived through the Apocalypse once, he no longer possessed that kind of kindness.
Sure enough, he heard Granny Li cursing him. “Young people these days are so selfish. They have no upbringing at all. We are from the same village, yet you do not have even a shred of kindness. Sooner or later, the monsters will eat you!”
Yun Qing shook his head and ignored her. No one would indulge someone who could not understand the situation in the Apocalypse, and he had no need to cause trouble for her either. Collecting crystal cores and supplies was more important.
At this point, less than a month had passed since the Apocalypse began. Few Zombies had evolved to the second grade, and not many crops in the fields had mutated. Most food could still be eaten. It was the perfect time to gather supplies, so why waste time on other people?
Of course, not everyone was like Granny Li. Some people came out to help after seeing Yun Qing kill monsters.
“Young Qing, you came out to look for food too?”
“Yes, Uncle Zhao. The food at home ran out long ago.”
“Sigh, what do you think has happened to this world? How did it become like this?” As Uncle Zhao spoke, tears welled up in his eyes.
“Uncle Zhao, this should be the Apocalypse described in novels. Only by becoming stronger can we survive. The entire world has changed. It is probably impossible to continue living as we did before.” Yun Qing offered him a few words of guidance.
Uncle Zhao nodded and picked up an ax, following Yun Qing in killing Zombies.
There were not many young people in the village; most were elderly or children. Even those who were somewhat younger were already in their forties or fifties. The small village, which was not large to begin with, was completely cleared in a single day.
When he returned home that evening, Yun Qing looked at the crystal cores in his pocket. There were more than ten—not a small number. He used stored water to clean them thoroughly before beginning to absorb them.
Although he could also level up by accelerating plant growth, it was ultimately not as fast as absorbing crystal cores.
After absorbing the crystal cores, he began boiling water again and cooked a little porridge to drink.
The next day, Yun Qing began clearing the Mutated Plants nearby. He put anything useful into Space and threw away anything useless after absorbing its wood-element energy.
This way, another ten or so days passed. All the threats around the small village had been cleared out, and with his help, the villagers built high walls. The place had effectively become a small safe base.
The reason they could build the walls so quickly was that someone in the village had awakened an earth-type ability. Otherwise, with the old and the young making up most of their people, they truly would have had no way to do it.
At this time, news of Bases being established began arriving over the radio. The largest Base at present was the official Capital Base, established by the government. Its leaders were either government officials or military personnel.
In other regions, local safe bases were also established under the management of the local garrison troops. Apart from the initial panic, the situation soon stabilized.
The military began searching for survivors, spreading outward from each Base as the center. They were determined to bring all survivors to the Bases to live, then gradually clear away the Zombies and Mutated Animals and Plants and establish new homes.
Upon hearing this, Yun Qing mentally gave the leaders a thumbs-up. Only Huaguo could achieve such speed and determination.
During this period, he went into the mountains every day. As a Wood-type ability user, the forests were his home ground. Whenever he encountered a Mutated Plant, he dealt with it. His wood-type ability leveled up quickly, while his mental ability did not fall behind either. This ability was his trump card for saving his life.
Unlike other supernatural abilities, which were so conspicuous, mental ability was invisible and intangible, and even more capable of killing without a trace.
After learning that the government had established safe bases and begun searching for survivors, Yun Qing asked the villagers about it. They said they would wait for the military to come and take them away, and until then, they would remain safely in the village.
Yun Qing understood that this was a wise choice. They were different from him; they were all elderly people and children. Not taking risks was the correct decision.
However, he needed to gather supplies and crystal cores, and he still wanted to venture outside. After more than a month of experimentation, the crystal cores of Mutated Plants helped his wood-type ability the most and allowed it to level up the fastest.
Zombie Crystal Cores helped his mental ability the most. If he wanted to become stronger, he had to collect more of them. Staying in the village was indeed safe, but without crystal cores, his cultivation would slow down. Therefore, he had to go out.