Chapter 118: Simulated Challenge
Three golden eggs?
The three golden glows almost blinded Lin Jiayao, making her freeze momentarily, forgetting to raise her arms for her sister.
“Yao, lift your arms a little higher, I can’t pull the shirt down.”
“Oh, oh.”
Hearing her sister’s voice, Lin Jiayao complied.
Due to the lack of bras in her size, she had to go without until they could find a suitable one.
And to prevent chafing, Lin Xiwan had thoughtfully placed band-aids over her nipples.
Band-aids were plentiful now; small wounds healed quickly, and they were useless against larger wounds, so their main function now was this.
This only worked for her and Huayibai, however; their… smaller chests… weren’t a problem, but Lin Xiwan needed a proper sports bra.
They could use bandages if necessary, but it hadn’t reached that point yet; they’d just left the camp and just needed smaller bras.
And besides chest-related issues, surviving in the apocalypse as a woman also meant dealing with… monthly inconveniences… and those supplies were also difficult to replenish.
But Lin Jiayao wasn’t concerned with such matters now. Ignoring her sister’s ministrations, she focused on the evolution options.
The first, Dermal Armor… a purely defensive evolution, likely the source of the fifth zombie’s incredible durability, its skin even masking its blood crystal signature.
But the description mentioned blood crystal consumption, and the conversion rate depended on the skill level.
Although she didn’t know the exact conversion rate, it would undoubtedly be costly.
Let’s see the next one.
Perfect Regeneration…
Lin Jiayao looked at the “Max” level and then at the system’s note, understanding its meaning.
So, this “Max” was equivalent to Lv.1 for other gold evolutions. It wasn’t particularly powerful, just… as high as it could go.
She already had the purple Mutated Regeneration; she didn’t need this gold version. Choosing this would truly turn her into… Tang Sanzang’s flesh, irresistible to demons.
And if she was severely injured, she could always log into the fifth zombie, draw some of its blood, and bring it back.
Thinking this, Lin Jiayao suddenly opened her eyes and slapped her left palm with her right fist, slightly annoyed.
Why hadn’t she thought of bringing back some of the fifth zombie’s blood or flesh? It would have been incredibly valuable!
A small amount each time, and she wouldn’t have to worry about medical supplies. And the fifth zombie would regenerate quickly anyway.
A missed opportunity.
She still had much to learn about resource management.
“What’s wrong?” Lin Xiwan, having finished dressing her sister, was now helping her into her pants, a curious look on her face.
“Nothing, just… remembered something,” Lin Jiayao said casually. “I left that bottle of cola at the resort camp.”
“Pfft,” Lin Xiwan chuckled, pinching her sister’s cheek. “You still remember that? You little glutton.”
“Mm-hmm.”
Lin Jiayao finally turned her attention to the third evolution.
Crystal Resonance. Undeniably powerful, an area-of-effect attack, and she had witnessed its power firsthand.
It could easily incapacitate a C-rank Awakened. With enough power, it could even crush anyone who got too close.
A terrifying ability, a domain of sorts.
The more blood crystals, the wider the range and the stronger the effect. With enough blood crystals, it could even stun a B-rank.
She lacked offensive abilities; Crystal Resonance filled that gap perfectly.
And it didn’t require mobility; she could activate it while sitting still, a perfect ability for her.
After reviewing the options one last time, she chose Crystal Resonance.
“Thump—”
A sudden, loud thud inside her head as she selected the evolution, and she felt her control over her internal blood crystal fluid increase.
And another enhancement.
Her heart felt… stronger, more resilient, probably impervious to ordinary bullets now.
A strong heart seemed to be a prerequisite for this ability; the fifth zombie’s heart had been unusually large, even glowing.
Like a Gundam’s reactor – a biological engine.
After the evolution, she felt a warmth in her chest, a faint pulsing energy.
Just inject blood crystal fluid, and she could activate Crystal Resonance.
“Done~” Lin Xiwan tied the drawstring on her sister’s sweatpants, looking at her with a smile. “How are you feeling?”
“Thank you, Sister,” Lin Jiayao said, opening her arms.
Lin Xiwan, seeing her sister’s gesture, understood.
She leaned down and hugged her sister, returning the embrace.
After a while, Lin Jiayao pulled away. “I need to rest for a bit,” she said.
“Me too, I’ve been driving for too long, my eyes are blurry,” Lin Xiwan said, stroking her sister’s head.
Their jeep was parked on the highway, surrounded by open, barren land, any potential threats easily visible, a relatively safe location.
Lin Jiayao was already thinking about her “promotion.”
Her earlier dizziness could be attributed to a sudden breakthrough, and by secretly converting some blood crystals, she could easily mimic a D-rank Awakened.
Her sister, a genius Awakened, developing a secondary ability… it wasn’t that implausible.
With communication and information so limited, even if her abilities seemed… exceptional, it wouldn’t be questioned.
The sooner she reached “B-rank,” the sooner she could openly use some of her more… impressive abilities without having to explain their origins.
And after healing Huayibai, she could also “promote” it to B-rank.
Geniuses, naturally gifted, no further explanation needed.
So, she would use this “rest” to… evolve.
Lin Jiayao lay down, closing her eyes.
She had already instructed Huayibai to keep watch and to consume the two blood crystals in its backpack if they encountered any enemies.
Her mental strength was too depleted for another login now. She needed to rest and then check on A4, see if it had reached the extraction point.
Extracting with a B-rank zombie was risky. If it encountered any danger, it would be a sitting duck.
Goldie was stuck in that city for now, the second zombie, the Building-Tree Guardian, was on standby in Kun City; her only options were Mask or A4.
But even without logging in, she could still acquire evolutions.
She still had the Zombie Loot Box.
Having been… disappointed… by the last Loot Box result, she’d been hesitant to use it again, wanting to log in and acquire some evolutions first.
It was… unpredictable.
But now, she opened the Zombie Loot Box interface, took two blood crystal stones from her remaining ten, and placed them in the slot.
According to the system, the more you spent, the stronger the zombie, so two crystals should at least guarantee something better than a low-level mutated zombie.
As the crystals were consumed, an image slowly formed in the display box.
A fish?
No… not quite a fish… more like a… fish-man.
Not the typical fish-man with legs instead of a tail, but one whose fins had been replaced by human arms, flailing wildly.
Its large, flat head had no eyes, just some mangled flesh, as if injured, and from its white belly extended several soft, pink tentacles.
This seemed to be the zombie fish’s current state, its human-arm-fins propelling it across… land, seemingly.
Then, in the projection, it stumbled, fell, and thrashed on the ground, its bloody maw snapping at the air.
This… this is what two blood crystals get me?
It’s about to die before it even extracts?
Seriously, system, are you messing with me?
But then, she noticed something.
The pink tentacles on its belly began to writhe, tearing open the zombie fish’s stomach, spilling its dark intestines and blood.
A pink, fleshy mass, resembling a large sea urchin, emerged from the fish’s belly, its hidden mouthparts now visible, and started devouring the zombie fish.
As it ate, it expelled small, grayish-white eggs, covering the fish’s body.
Like insect eggs on a leaf, or barnacles on a ship’s hull, or a bowl of… tapioca pudding with black specks.
So the actual zombie wasn’t the fish, but this… sea urchin…?
A parasitic, aquatic zombie?
Lin Jiayao looked at the extraction time: four hours. Longer extraction times usually meant better rewards.
And she could already see blood crystals stored within the sea urchin’s translucent body.
As long as it didn’t… expel them before extracting, they were hers.
At least she would break even.
Seeing the zombie start its journey towards the extraction point, Lin Jiayao closed the Zombie Loot Box interface.
Judging by its movements, it was definitely on land… So, even Japan was being invaded by sea creatures.
Why were the sea creatures suddenly so eager to come ashore? Was something driving them out of the ocean?
Perhaps she could find the answer in Japan, but for now, she was far from the coast.
Closing the system interface, she opened the Training Grounds.
Simulating battles here didn’t consume mental energy; it was a form of rest, and right now, she couldn’t afford to rest, unless she fainted.
Time, and the Voodoo Cult, wouldn’t wait.
She would simulate two battles.
Goldie and Huayibai vs. the head-Hive zombie.
And herself vs. the Voodoo Cult leader.
She had seen the Voodoo Cult leader during her previous login and wanted to practice, to figure out how to defeat her.
Know your enemy, know yourself, and you will never be defeated.
If the Voodoo Cult leader came looking for them, she wouldn’t expect that, despite it being their first encounter, Lin Jiayao already knew her abilities.
Unfortunately, even after numerous attempts with Goldie and Huayibai, Lin Jiayao couldn’t overcome the sheer number of blood insects.
And transforming spores into tendrils took time and energy; she could only infect a small portion of the swarm before being overwhelmed.
A difference in scale, like that B-rank Voodoo Cult zombie against the Building-Tree Guardian with its unlimited energy supply.
If she could defeat that head-Hive, the rewards would be immense.
She even tried using her main body in the simulation, assisting Goldie, and it was surprisingly more effective than Huayibai.
Her newly acquired Crystal Resonance was incredibly effective against the insects.
Although numerous, the insects were individually weak, only the larger ones reaching C-rank level, and even those were only fast and had strong bites, no special abilities.
If, before the battle, she consumed all of Goldie’s tentacles, the resulting Crystal Resonance pulse should be enough to pin down the entire swarm, leaving the head-Hive zombie vulnerable.
But even then, getting past its endless tentacles was a problem.
Her main body couldn’t approach it. Better focus on the Voodoo Cult leader…
No, wait.
She also had spore division and mimicry…
Could she use Huayibai’s method, “smuggling” herself into America through the safehouse, along with Huayibai?
Would her clone retain her abilities?
This thought consumed her. She quickly ran a simulation. But unfortunately, the spore clone only had the basic fungal abilities, none of her own evolutions.
Well… that made sense… hundreds of clones, each with all her abilities… the Voodoo Cult wouldn’t stand a chance, not even two or three more B-ranks could stop her.
She put aside the plan to farm the head-Hive and simulated a battle against Wu Hejun.
Setting her pain receptors to 0%, she started the simulation.
“Zzzt—”
The moment she released her tendrils, a red flash pierced her chest, and the “Battle Failed” message appeared.
Lightning?
So fast…
Lin Jiayao increased her pain sensitivity slightly and started again, repeating the simulation over and over.
As her tactics improved, her survival time also increased, but only up to seven seconds.
Each second earned through countless simulated deaths.
And with each battle, her control over her abilities improved.
After reaching ten seconds, she felt she had reached her limit.
Defeating a B-rank alone was simply too difficult.
After reviewing the battles, unable to find any further improvements, she started adding other factors to the simulation.
Her own controllable units.
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