[Ding! Your level has increased! Rank upgraded. Current rank: Silver. 1000 kills required to advance!]
[Ding! Congratulations, host, on receiving system upgrade rewards: Storage Space, one cubic meter capacity, for storing inanimate objects! Detection Skill: Gaze at a target for three seconds to obtain their information (combat strength cannot exceed twice the host's). All attributes +100.]
[Ding! Your combat strength has increased. You may want to try to slaughter some small fries. Friendly reminder: The experience from killing an Awakened is several times that of zombies.]
"Awakened?"
Where did these Awakened come from? Ye Xin stared at the ambiguous group of people. The distance between him and them was only fifty meters, separated by countless infected zombies.
In a short period of time, nearly two-thirds of the students on the first floor of all the teaching buildings had fallen.
[Ding, Character: Su Zhongren, Ability: Mind Net, Data unreadable!]
[Ding, Character: Aunt Su Wu, Ability: Water, Data unreadable!]
[Ding, Character Su San, Ability Jackal, Data… Combat Power Index 963]
Unverifiable! Xie Jiuge raised an eyebrow. He locked onto the oldest of them, and this information popped up.
Su Zhongren also realized something, glanced at the distance, and smiled slightly, whispering something to Su Momo.
"Miss, there's an Awakened among those survivors up ahead! And their aura is at least First Stage peak."
"Uncle Zhong, are you sure?"
Su Momo was a little disbelieving. There were many people in Future Tong City who had awakened abilities, but they all learned later that Corpse Crystals would be produced inside zombie heads. Humans could absorb them to enhance their physical qualities, even without awakening an ability.
Right now, there was no need to confirm. To be on the safe side, she specifically told Su Wu to dig open the zombies' brains to check. If one or two didn't have any, then three or four didn't have any, it would obviously have to wait until the third day of the apocalypse.
Blood Moon descends! Zombies and plants, absorbing the essence of the Blood Moon, can then condense them.
There was one exception: the Original Species. As the name suggested, they were asymptomatic infected individuals, zombies with their own minds, and they could control zombies within a radius of ten thousand miles with their strange abilities.
Could he be Xie Jiuge?
Thinking this, Su Momo called out to Su San, "Su San, grab the person at the front and ask him some questions. Try not to hurt him."
"Young miss, can you stop calling me Su San? Just call me Su San, or Ah San, anything is fine."
Su San grumbled, then slashed at the zombies blocking his path with his claws, charging towards Ye Xin with a fierce momentum.
Ye Xin heard Su Momo's words as well.
The person at the front?
Could that wolf-like humanoid monster be after him?
Ye Xin sneered. Aside from the old man and the mature woman, the others' combat strength was roughly around a thousand, similar to his. He had skills; he wasn't afraid. If he couldn't win, he could still run.
Ye Xin gave the people behind him a look of pity. It's not that I won't help you, but these people are up to no good. Who knows what kind of karma I've created.
Sitting and waiting for death wasn't Ye Xin's style.
"Xu Chu, if you guys can swim, climb over the barrier and swim to the other side of the river!"
Across from the teaching building was a row of girls' dormitories, separated only by a three-meter-wide river.
"What about you?" Xu Chu smashed a zombie's head with a wooden stool, shouting.
"Stop talking nonsense and go quickly!"
"Everyone, listen to Ye Xin! Follow me along the river, boys cover the girls' retreat!"
Xu Chu understood the gravity of the situation and was the first to rush forward, helping his classmates climb over the obstacles. He used his height to grab the netting and pull himself over, with Ye Xin buying them time.
"Sister, that person is still helping the students. Are the Original Species really that kind? Could he be mistaken?" Su Duoduo asked, voicing her doubts.
"The Original Species are humans themselves, only possessed after the apocalypse. He might not even realize the change yet. Let's capture him first."
Next, would it be resistance, or surrender?
He thought of a problem. Killing Su San was easy, but there were so many of them. Could he really handle them all? Especially that old man, and that mature woman, he couldn't see through them at all.
Just as he was stunned, Su San, wielding his scarlet blood claws, advanced towards him step by step, his cold voice cutting through the air.
"Kid, my young miss wants me to take you for questioning. Please cooperate and don't put up a futile resistance!"
"Oh, are you sure you're stronger than me?"
"Or what? You think you can rely on the sword in your hand?"
Ye Xin sneered, finding this person arrogant and conceited.
"How about this? Let's have a simple race. We'll see who can reach your young miss first. If I win, I ask my questions and then leave. If I lose, you can do whatever you want with me. How about that?"
Listening to this, Su San thought this person was a complete idiot, practically walking into a trap. But something felt off, he couldn't quite put his finger on it.
"What? You're afraid of a child like me?"
"Afraid!? Of you? I can't make that decision." Then, Su San glanced back at the young miss. After receiving her nod, he replied with a smile.
"Alright, the young miss agrees! You really overestimate yourself. Over a distance of 40 meters, with no zombies to hinder me, I can do it in four seconds. Even if you somehow win, what then?" Su San really wanted to say, that kid running up to them was as good as giving himself up.
"Let's do it!" Ye Xin immediately activated his Wind Sword skill, consuming 50 points of mental energy. His speed increased by 50%. With the earlier 100 attribute bonus, plus the skill's boost, his walking speed was 2.5 meters per second. But if he sprinted, it would at least triple that. Su San's agility stat of 200 was 50 less than his, which gave him the confidence to take a gamble.
"Both at the peak of First Stage, Su San is known for his speed with his Jackal ability. That Awakened dares to compete with Su San in speed?" Su Duoduo raised an eyebrow.
"Maybe, for the sake of face!" Impulsive as she was, Su Momo understood. Some people were just like that. It wouldn't look good to have Su San carry him over.
"Oh, sister, we didn't do anything to him. We just wanted to ask a few questions. If he's not Xie Jiuge, he should know something. That group that crossed the river also knows something. Aunt Wu, why don't you go and bring those who crossed the river over for questioning?"
"No need. There are plenty of survivors. Even if he's not, the Original Species will surface on their own."
While they were discussing, the Fire Sword in Ye Xin's right hand suddenly transformed into a green Wind Sword. His eyes narrowed. The Wind Sword shone with brilliant starlight. During the transformation, he felt his feet become incredibly light, as if something was lifting him up, providing assistance.
"You! What exactly is your ability?" Su San exclaimed in surprise. Forming and materializing, wasn't that a Second Stage ability?
First Stage Awakening only enhanced various aspects of one's attributes, with a wide variety of abilities.
Elemental abilities were relatively rare. At First Stage, one could already have limb mutations, such as earth spikes, wind spikes, and using things like the Fire Sword on their hands.
Second Stage can skillfully use and release abilities.
Third Stage has group release skills.
Fourth Stage masters the power of imprints to mimic and release elemental beasts to fight.
Fifth Stage can elementalize, not fearing any physical attacks, and taking half damage from mental and spell attacks.
Sixth Stage controls a realm, where all elements are at their command.
Seventh Stage breaks free from gravity, walking in the air, transcending into sainthood.
Eighth Stage is a war god, guarding a territory.
The same applies to his animal abilities. First Stage allows for partial transformation, and a half-beast humanoid form to reinforce the body.
Second Stage full form, with simple attack methods.
Third Stage has a long-range group attack skill.
Fourth Stage masters the power of imprints and can materialize them. They can use sonar to control creatures and enlarge themselves dozens of times, multiplying their combat strength.
Fifth Stage: External transformation.
Sixth Stage: Beastman domain.
The Seventh and Eighth Stages are the same.
So, he is a Second Stage Awakened?
"Let's begin. I'll give you a three-step head start!"
He also activated Wind Eye as an extra precaution. He didn't know what they were planning, but he couldn't afford to be careless.
After casually dispatching a zombie, Ye Xin called out.
Su San was stunned for a moment. Seeing that Ye Xin hadn't moved, he didn't hesitate and sprinted forward, using the wind to his advantage.
Three steps after Su San took off, Ye Xin's heels tapped lightly. His body shot forward like a cannonball, kicking up dust as he closed the distance to the two women in the blink of an eye.
A meaningful smile played on his lips. The bet was just a pretext; at this speed, the old man wouldn't be able to react, right?
Attack the leader first!