Chapter 125: Arriving in Kun City
「Please retain your evolution」
「1、【Feign Death Lv.1 (Blue): Allows you to temporarily conceal your life signs and blood crystal aura, making you undetectable】」
「2、【Bone Hardening Lv.2 (Gray): Moderately increases your bone defense】」
「3、【Bone Spike Lurker Lv.4 (Gray): Increases Lurker precision and range to 200m. Can simulate terrain within 100m】」
Feign Death?
With Huayibai’s help, Mask’s extraction had been a breeze, less than ten minutes.
Huayibai, controlling the giant insect, had carried Mask directly to the extraction point. Flight was definitely a broken ability; Mask’s usual extraction points were ten or twenty kilometers away, easily reached by air.
Back in her body, Lin Jiayao looked at the evolution options.
She chose the first one. She’d already tested Feign Death, successfully ambushing and eliminating a C-rank Awakened without a fight.
And in critical moments, with a suitable hiding spot, it was basically a short-duration invisibility.
It felt like it should be a purple-quality evolution, downgraded to blue perhaps only because it didn’t alter her physical appearance. She was still visible, just… undetectable. A significant limitation.
After selecting the evolution, Lin Jiayao felt a momentary breathlessness, then the familiar warmth spreading through her body.
“Hoo…”
She exhaled and opened her eyes.
Nothing to do now.
Mask and A4 were being transported by Huayibai, both in an unloggable evolution state, and Goldie was also evolving.
And the fifth zombie, in Japan, was already B-rank; logging in was too mentally taxing, especially now, so close to Kun City. She needed to conserve her mental strength.
Communicating with the building-trees using [Vascular Network] would also consume energy and blood crystals; she didn’t want to arrive without a “ticket.”
And the second zombie was already in Kun City, near the outskirts, a valuable asset. She didn’t want to risk logging in and having it respawn outside the city.
Her only available slot was the sixth, still empty.
But after that B-rank encounter, she was hesitant.
Even a B-rank had been so difficult… what if she randomly logged into an A-rank?
Would she even survive? Or return brain-dead?
Until her mental fortitude was strong enough, she wouldn’t risk it. She still had evolutions to collect from her existing zombies.
Once they reached Kun City, found a safe place under the protection of the building-trees, she could safely log into her B-rank zombies and collect their evolutions.
If all went well, they would be staying in Kun City for a while, plenty of time for logging in and recovering.
In a month or two, perhaps, she would have acquired all their evolutions… she couldn’t even imagine how powerful she would be then.
An exciting prospect.
First, they had to reach Kun City safely.
She wasn’t worried; they had been lucky so far; her plans were proceeding smoothly.
Once Mask and A4 reached the Voodoo Cult, they would be too busy to notice her.
Everything was going according to plan!
And for the next few hours… Lin Jiayao had nothing to do…
She opened her eyes, looked at the road ahead, illuminated by the headlights, and felt… a strange sense of… emptiness.
Was this… free time?
Her mental strength was still high; she wasn’t even tired.
Ever since getting the system, she’d been either logging in, resting for a login, or running from something, always busy.
Even during their two-day stay at the camp, she’d been constantly logging in and recovering, never truly relaxing.
This unexpected idleness made her feel… restless.
Instead of wasting time sitting here, she could be practicing in the Training Grounds…
Just as she was about to close her eyes, she felt the jeep slow down and stop.
What’s happening?
Without opening her eyes, she activated Blood Crystal Vision.
No blood crystals.
She scanned the surrounding area. Nothing, besides the faint glow within the car.
Not enemies…
While she was scanning, her sister had gotten out and opened the trunk.
The smell of gasoline reached her, and she opened her eyes.
Just refueling.
Huayibai, in the trunk, eyes closed, controlling its other bodies, lay still, its small chest rising and falling gently.
As Lin Xiwan finished refueling and climbed back into the driver’s seat, she noticed her sister was awake, watching her.
“Awake?” she asked, reaching out in the darkness to gently pinch her sister’s cheek.
“Mm.”
Lin Jiayao nodded as her sister restarted the engine.
The dashboard lights illuminated her sister’s face, revealing dark circles under her eyes.
Sister hasn’t been resting either…
If Lin Jiayao’s rest had been limited, then her sister’s was even more so.
She had only truly rested at the Qingzhou University Camp; even when she slept, it was a light, vigilant sleep.
And after the battles and the long drives, she was clearly exhausted.
But Lin Jiayao couldn’t do anything; she couldn’t drive. Even with bone spikes, she would crash.
And Huayibai driving…?
Although Huayibai claimed it could drive… she knew better.
Four Sprinters per hundred kilometers.
“Sister, there are no zombies nearby,” Lin Jiayao said, placing her hand on her sister’s hand on the gearshift. “Why don’t you rest for a bit?”
“No, we’re almost there, I’ll rest when we’re safe,” Lin Xiwan smiled at her sister and then, starting the engine, stepped on the gas.
Her sister’s concern and comfort made the long, monotonous drive more bearable.
With just one vehicle, and Lin Xiwan driving almost non-stop, they’d made good progress. A convoy, with ordinary drivers, would have been much slower, requiring regular rests.
And she was afraid that if she slowed down, the Voodoo Cult would catch up… they were a persistent nightmare.
Her sister’s safety was her main concern.
She couldn’t bear the thought of leaving her alone, or of being left alone herself.
That was unacceptable; she only wanted them to be together, always.
Thinking this, she squeezed her sister’s hand.
“Hmm?” Suddenly, feeling a strange tingling in her sister’s hand, Lin Xiwan blinked, slowed down, and looked at her.
“Did you… level up?” She asked, unsure, then, feeling the distinct pull of blood crystals, slammed on the brakes. “You leveled up?!”
How was that possible? Her sister had just become an Awakened!
This was Lin Jiayao’s pre-planned “reveal.” She’d simply released the blood crystal fragments from the safehouse into her mouth and let them dissolve, storing the fluid.
“Level up?” Lin Jiayao blinked innocently, feigning confusion. “Level up… what?”
“I know why you were feeling weak earlier… oh my god… I didn’t even consider that…”
Lin Xiwan rubbed her forehead and then explained, “You’ve reached D-rank, the level your poor sister has been stuck at for so long.”
She patted Lin Jiayao’s head. “Don’t worry, it’s a good thing.”
Although her sister seemed nonchalant, Lin Xiwan was stunned.
She had leveled up?
Just like that?
She’d always been the one protecting her sister, and now… suddenly… her sister could protect herself?
Although not a bad thing, she felt a strange sense of… redundancy.
And also, a huge wave of insecurity.
She had struggled for years, painstakingly reaching D-rank, then, near death, finally reaching C-rank.
And her sister had leveled up… while sleeping.
It felt like… she’d been fishing diligently for years, catching nothing, and then a child, with a simple string, had suddenly pulled out a huge fish.
Humiliating.
But the insecurity quickly faded, replaced by pride and affection. She ruffled her sister’s hair enthusiastically.
“You’re so amazing! As expected of my little sister!” She kissed her sister’s cheek, then asked, “Did you develop any new abilities?”
Leveling up so quickly, and a new ability… that would be… excessive.
But her sister’s talent was a good thing. Perhaps, in a few years, her sister would be the one protecting her.
Hmm…
She tried to imagine being held protectively in her sister’s arms…
Couldn’t quite picture it.
She playfully rubbed her sister’s cheeks again.
“Mmmppph—”
Only when her sister, annoyed, pinched her waist did she stop, laughing, and restart the car, accelerating.
Having played with her sister, Lin Jiayao no longer felt restless.
She would enjoy this break, accompany her sister on this night drive.
It would only be five or six hours.
And she could also wait for the Zombie Loot Box’s Nest Zombie to extract and collect the rewards.
“Still no signal on the radio…?”
“No, it’s been quiet…”
“I’m hungry, Sister…”
“We have food…”
Lin Jiayao’s presence and their conversation lifted Lin Xiwan’s spirits; she smiled.
At least she wouldn’t be driving while drowsy now.
After about three hours of smooth driving, Lin Jiayao opened the Zombie Loot Box interface.
As expected of a Nest Zombie, it had yielded three blood crystal stones… it must have extracted right in its nest.
Since she’d invested two, it was just a one-crystal profit and a retained evolution.
Sadly, the Nest Zombie’s evolutions were usually disappointing. She’d even gotten a white [Bite Lv.1].
But she had also acquired a useful, and fitting, ability: the purple [Danger Sense Lv.1].
Nest Zombies were notoriously difficult to kill, not just because of their… appearance, but also their abilities.
Agile and with precognitive danger sense, some higher-level individuals could even predict and dodge bullets, like cockroaches of the zombie world.
And this dodging ability came from [Danger Sense].
It allowed her to sense how she would be injured two seconds before it happened, enough time to react.
A potentially game-breaking ability, perhaps downgraded to purple because of its two-second limitation.
After selecting the evolution, Lin Jiayao continued chatting with her sister. Gradually, Lin Xiwan’s grip on the steering wheel tightened, and she slowed down.
“Thump, thump, thump—”
The jeep shook violently; the road was incredibly rough and uneven.
In the headlights’ beams, she could see vines and tree roots blocking the path ahead, the sides of the highway shrouded in darkness.
“What… is this place…? Are we in Yun Province?” Lin Xiwan’s speed had dropped to 40 km/h.
Seeing the familiar vines, Lin Jiayao was almost certain they had entered Yun Province.
She hadn’t realized the building-trees’ vines could extend so far.
“Yao, look over there, what’s that?” Lin Xiwan pointed to a small dot on their right.
A faint, green, glowing dot in the distance.
“That is…” Lin Jiayao activated Blood Crystal Vision, scanned the area, and then, looking at the distant light, said, “A building.”
“A building? Glowing?” Lin Xiwan blinked, then her eyes widened. “Is that… Kun City?!”
They had reached Kun City!
Not only were there plants everywhere, but also lights in the distance!
This likely meant there were people, a settlement!
“Should we… get closer…?” Perhaps because she could finally stop driving, Lin Xiwan’s voice was filled with excitement.
“Yes, let’s get closer,” Lin Jiayao nodded, relieved.
Kun City… they were almost safe.
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