Chapter 37

Day 14 of the Apocalypse Calendar, Saturday, Back-Training Day.

Early in the morning, Wang Xiong, Zhang Chengcheng, and the others got to work.

Zhang Chengcheng stood on the street in high spirits and said to Wang Xiong, Zhang Lixin, Yang Guan, Qin Lie, and Wei Jiming in a clear voice, “We’ve already made the design plans yesterday. We’ve also prepared sandbags, bricks, wire mesh, and everything else. Let’s all work hard and strive to complete it by today!”

“Okay!”

“No problem!”

The five men responded enthusiastically, showing that they were also very focused on this matter.

There was no choice but to be focused…

The advancement of an Awakened was related to everyone’s safety. This defensive line that Zhang Chengcheng called the Zombies Strike Array came from Mr. Lu Ming. It was also to better ensure everyone’s safety. No one would take it lightly.

The five men and one woman worked in full swing.

Lu Ming, who was at home, also began his daily back training. memorization exercise.

“Crack.”

“Crack.”

His attributes increased rapidly.

However, as a result, the equipment was continuously worn out.

The lifespan of the equipment would be greatly shortened if the weight was too heavy, but if the weight was reduced, it would reduce the training effect. It might not even stimulate muscle growth and increase the attributes—Lu Ming did not have a good solution to this either.

He could only place his hopes on the soldier.

An hour and a half later, Lu Ming finished his exercise for the day.

Name: Lu Ming.

Age: 25 years old.

Strength: 30.4 (31.3) ↑.

Physique: 30.9 (31.8) ↑.

Agility: 30.3 (31.2) ↑.

Fitness Lv4 (350/400).

He opened the window on the second floor and saw the busy crowd and a half-completed Zombies Strike Array.

The name Zombies Strike Array sounded imposing, but in reality, the structure of the entire line of defense was just a low wall.

The height of the low wall was limited, only about 1.3 meters, so as not to obstruct Lu Ming’s line of sight for shooting. But the disadvantage of such a low wall was that it could not really stop the zombies.

They could easily cross it with a leap.

On top of the wall, there was an additional layer of wire mesh. The overall height was less than 1.7 meters, which was practically useless.

However, the ingenuity was that the low wall was not sealed. Instead, there were two openings that were two meters wide.

One opening was directly in front of Lu Ming’s house and front window.

The other opening was directly in front of the back window on the second floor of Lu Ming’s house.

The Tier 0 zombies had no brains, and the giant zombies and hunters were not very intelligent either.

In Zhang Chengcheng’s plan, she and Wang Xiong, the two Awakened, would each block an opening. By the attraction of the Awakened to the zombies, it was enough to lure the zombies to the openings and prevent them from crossing the short wall.

Whether it would work or not was still unknown.

There were no designers or architects among the survivors, and there were limited materials. There was only so much they could do.

In the afternoon, the main part of the Zombies Strike Array was completed.

Following Lu Ming’s suggestion, Wang Xiong and the others built a nearly fully enclosed small fortress in front of Lu Ming’s house. This was the second line of defense for the survivors.

When he was building this, Wang Xiong was puzzled. This thing was an eyesore at Lu Ming’s doorstep. Why not let the ordinary survivors hide inside Lu Ming’s house?

Lu Ming could not be bothered with him, but Zhang Chengcheng provided a reasonable answer.

“The smell of the living attracts the zombies.”

“If the survivors stay here, the zombies will only attack Brother Lu’s door and not the back window. In that case, Brother Lu only needs to guard one window.”

Wang Xiong came to a realization.

That’s right. Although Brother Lu is strong, he can’t clone himself. It’s convenient to have survivors as bait for Brother Lu to kill the zombies. There’s nothing wrong with that!

By nightfall, the entire construction work was completed.

Standing by the second-floor window, Lu Ming examined the entire defensive structure and nodded slightly.

“It’s not bad.”

He was not exactly satisfied, but he was not disappointed either.

When the horde of zombies attacked, Zhang Chengcheng and Wang Xiong each blocked an opening to attract the zombies so they would not claw at the windows or break down the door.

And if Wang Xiong and Zhang Chengcheng could not hold on, it would buy enough time for Lu Ming to escape to the basement.

Just as Zhang Chengcheng looked up at Lu Ming, their eyes met, and Lu Ming nodded slightly while Zhang Chengcheng was smiling.

“Brother Lu, is everything okay?”

Lu Ming gave Zhang Chengcheng a thumbs up.

Whether he was satisfied or not was another matter. It was basic courtesy to affirm the fruits of someone else’s efforts, and Lu Ming had always been very polite.

Zhang Chengcheng continued, “By the way, Brother Lu, Wang Xiong and I are preparing to level up tonight.”

Lu Ming nodded again. “Okay.”

…

21st day of the Apocalypse Calendar, 8 p.m.

Wang Xiong and Zhang Chengcheng sat at the dining table in the safe house. In front of each of them were 10 Tier 1 Corpse Crystals.

Zhang Lixin, Meng Jie, and three others stood around, their gazes filled with concern and envy as they looked at Wang Xiong and Zhang Chengcheng.

“Let’s begin,” Wang Xiong said, and he was the first to pick up the corpse crystals.

He stuffed them into his mouth one by one.

There was no taste to speak of, but it melted in his mouth.

Soon, Wang Xiong and Zhang Chengcheng had finished consuming the corpse crystals.

A surge of heat welled up from within their bodies.

All of this was no different from when Zhang Ye advanced.

But there were subtle differences.

When Zhang Ye advanced, his body heated up and his skin turned red. However, although Wang Xiong and Zhang Chengcheng felt the heat in their bodies, their skin did not turn red.

On the contrary, Wang Xiong’s skin had a metallic luster, and when he tapped it gently with his nails, it made a metallic sound.

As for Zhang Chengcheng, her skin showed no abnormalities, but the surrounding dust strangely floated up and then slowly descended, repeating this cycle.

Meng Jie’s eyes lit up.

“Different superpowers!”

Level 2 Awakened have different types of superpowers, and the external manifestations during advancement might indicate the types and functions of superpowers!

About ten minutes later, the advancement of the two was completed!

Their physique doubled on top of their original foundation..

Wang Xiong had a better foundation, so his physique had improved more than Zhang Chengcheng.

However, this was not important. What mattered was the superpower that the two of them had awakened.

“My skin has become much harder.”

With that, Wang Xiong activated his superpower. His entire body turned ashen, like an iron lump.

“Steel Skin. I call my superpower Steel Skin.”

The Steel Skin superpower increased Wang Xiong’s resistance to attacks, which was quite compatible with Wang Xiong’s combat style. It was like adding icing on the cake.

Everyone turned to look at Zhang Chengcheng.

They saw Zhang Chengcheng stretched out her hand thoughtfully, and a twisted wave emanated from Zhang Chengcheng’s hand and landed on Wang Xiong.

Wang Xiong’s expression changed.

“I feel like I’ve become heavier.”

Meng Jie said, “No, it’s gravity.”

“Chengcheng’s superpower is gravity!”

Zhang Chengcheng nodded. “I should be able to control gravity. Not only increase it but also reduce the gravity attached to the target’s body.”

“As for the upper limit of the superpower’s effect, it’s hard to say for now, more testing is needed.”