Chapter 14

“Awakening? What awakening?”

Hearing Meng Jie’s words, Wang Xiong was still confused.

He listened as Meng Jie explained, “The moment the tower appears, it will release a magical substance invisible to the naked eye. This substance will fuse into the air. Elderly and frail individuals who inhale this substance will turn into zombies.”

“However, if an ordinary person inhales this substance, there is an extremely small chance that a beneficial physical evolution would occur in their body—which is what we call awakening.”

Professionals were indeed different.

It was only the third day of the apocalypse, but Meng Jie had already grasped the origin of the zombies.

But obviously, compared to the origin of zombies, Wang Xiong was more curious about Awakening.

Facing Wang Xiong’s curious gaze, Meng Jie smiled and said, “We don’t have much research on Awakened ones either. In fact, Mr. Wang, you’re the third Awakened individual I know of. The first two are a military soldier and a shelter resident. They’re currently in the shelter in the city center, but I’ve never seen them.”

Hearing Meng Jie say that she had not done much research, Wang Xiong was a little disappointed. Unexpectedly, Meng Jie changed the topic.

“However, based on the blood samples of the two Awakened individuals, we discovered some interesting phenomena.”

“Firstly, it can be confirmed that awakening should be random, although the probability is extremely low, ridiculously low, similar to winning the lottery.”

“This is unrelated to physical fitness.”

“The awakened individual from the military does indeed have a strong physique, but the other awakened is a weak and powerless woman.”

However, as long as one is awakened, one will no longer be afraid of being infected by zombies.

“Furthermore, when the Mystery Factor is combined with the human cells, it will stimulate the activity and strength of the cells. According to research, the better the original physical fitness, the stronger the power after awakening.”

“Comparing the two awakened individuals from the shelter, the military awakened individual’s physical strength surpasses the other awakened individual by a large margin.”

Wang Xiong’s eyes lit up upon hearing this.

“How is that military awakened compared to me?”

In terms of physical fitness, Wang Xiong believed that he was not inferior to anyone.

Zhang Lixin hesitated for a moment and replied vaguely, “About the same. The two of you are quite formidable. I can’t discern who is stronger.”

Meng Jie added, “Lastly, according to the research at the shelter, it seems that there is further potential for the awakened ones. However, the current sample size is too small, and I’m not sure how the awakened ones will develop.”

Becoming stronger was an instinct of living beings.

In the apocalypse, actively seeking power becomes even more important.

Hearing that the shelter was doing research in this area, Wang Xiong’s eyes lit up.

He rubbed his hands together and said somewhat embarrassedly.

“Look, do I have the right to enter that shelter you both mentioned?”

Zhang Lixin was slightly stunned, giving a strange look to Meng Jie, and quickly laughed it off.

“Of course you can. As long as you’re a survivor and a Chinese national, you’re qualified to enter the shelter.”

With that, Zhang Lixin sighed again. “It’s quite far. It’s still more than 10 kilometers away.”

With a car, this distance was nothing.

But without a car, with zombies everywhere on the road, these dozen kilometers become a bit difficult to handle.

However, Wang Xiong patted his chest and said confidently.

“I’m here, don’t be afraid!”

“Alright, I’ll leave it to you, Brother Wang!”

“Great! Shall we set off now?”

“No hurry. It’s already dark outside. We can leave tomorrow morning.”

…

Having witnessed the giant zombie himself, Lu Ming was not in a good mood.

After dinner and a short rest, Lu Ming went to the second floor and relieved his stress by punching a sandbag.

Lu Ming only stopped when his unarmed combat level had increased to Lv2 (3/200) and his strength and stamina had increased by 0.2 points.

Wiping off his sweat, he went to the window of the reading area, and quietly looked outside through the observation hole.

During the day, the sounds of gunfire from the military lured most of the zombies away from Good Hope Village. However, as the battle subsided, the residents in the village came out in search of food, attracting some of the zombies back with the noises they made.

On the streets outside, illuminated by dim streetlights, many zombies could be seen loitering.

However, Lu Ming had not seen any of those burly giant zombies again.

He opened the [Record Book of the Black Mist Tower Apocalypse Events.].

While observing, Lu Ming began to write with his pen.

[Something happened today, and I have blood on my hands, but this is only a necessary means of self-defense, and I don’t regret it.]

[And I discovered a terrifying situation today. I saw a two-meter-tall, muscular zombie among the horde. I will refer to it as a giant zombie.]

The physique of a zombie was stronger than that of an ordinary person, and the physique of a giant zombie was clearly far beyond that of a normal person—this put some pressure on Lu Ming.

[But if it’s a single giant zombie, it shouldn’t pose too much trouble for me. I’m worried about one thing… That is, zombies have the potential to evolve.]

Lu Ming still felt relatively confident about the safety of his home.

However, all of this was based on the assumption that zombies would remain as zombies and nothing more.

If, as depicted in some novels and movies, zombies were to evolve into three-meter tall beings with immense strength, carrying strange things like Gatling guns, then even the strongest houses would have no security.

The pen paused. Lu Ming couldn’t help but scratch his head.

[Always safe to think about the worst-case scenario.]

[If zombies can really evolve to that extent, what should I do then?]

Lu Ming couldn’t help but shiver at the thought that his home was no longer safe.

On second thought, Lu Ming had a plan.

“Attribute system.”

“This is my other guarantee besides my home!”

“Giant zombies may be terrifying, but if I can increase my attributes to more than 10 times that of a giant zombie, then when it or they threaten my personal safety, I will definitely teach them a lesson!”

With this in mind, Lu Ming suddenly had a strong desire to become stronger.

Closing the notebook, Lu Ming turned around and took the fire ax, metal bat, and dagger from the table.

“I need to train with long-range weapons, not only for the attributes but also for accuracy in shooting.”

“As for unarmed combat. It seems that the priority of training has to be lowered a little.”

Engaging in hand-to-hand combat with zombies would be madness.

Cold weapon combat was good—at least much better than unarmed combat!

He earnestly swung the fire ax a few times, then switched to the baseball bat and dagger, swinging them for a while. Soon, there was feedback on his attributes panel.

Cold Weapon Combat Lv1 (1/100): You have mastered the basics of cold weapons combat. Strength and stamina have increased by 0.1.

Name: Lu Ming.

Age: 25 years old.

Strength: 7.5

Physique: 7.9

Agility: 8.

“Go on.”

For a while, the crackling sound of air in the room was incessant.