Chapter 2 - Blood Manipulation (Part 1)
Bai Zemin was confused when he heard the beautiful woman"s unusual introduction to him. However, although confused, he came to accept it rather easily.
"I see." Bai Zemin nodded. His expression was indifferent and his guard was still up. Even if he couldn"t win, at least he didn"t want to be slaughtered without fighting for his life. "So, what are you doing here?"
Lilith blinked her beautiful ruby eyes and her long eyelashes fluttered for a split second. She looked at the human in front of her with growing interest and said a little surprised, "You"re not surprised by what I just told you? You believe me so easily?"
"Believe you?" Bai Zemin smiled bitterly and pointed towards the window before looking at the fist-sized bee he had just killed as he said, "The world outside is already a mess. A bee that should normally be the same size as two or three human fingernails is now the size of a grown man"s fist... As if that wasn"t enough, these strange messages keep flas.h.i.+ng before me in a strange way. Why wouldn"t I believe you?"
"Even though you are just a lower existence, I like you... A person who knows how to accept reality as it is, the sooner the better. You can probably live a long time, human." Lilith"s lips curved into a charming smile. She looked at Bai Zemin as if she was a maiden in love and said with an innocent expression but in a seductive tone, "How about you become mine? I promise to take good care of you~"
"I"m sorry, but I don"t want you to suck my life essence to death." Bai Zemin said indifferently. But only he knew that saying those words had cost all his willpower. The woman before him was simply too beautiful; every gesture, every word, every frown, and smile was fatal to any man.
However, his life was the most important thing at the moment.
Lilith wanted to say something but soon realized that Bai Zemin was ignoring her, his gaze fixed on the red scroll in his hands.
"You only have to wish to learn it and you will naturally learn it." Lilith pointed out as if she knew about his doubts.
Bai Zemin nodded slowly before closing his eyes. He wished to learn the scroll in his hands and as if by magic, his brain seemed to receive a flood of information as a strange deep red rune appeared in his conscience.
Bai Zemin felt the blood inside his body circulating rapidly as a result of his agitated emotions. He could even hear the blood inside Lilith"s body rus.h.i.+ng normally, showing how calm she was. At the same time, he indistinctly felt that if he wanted to, he could affect the movement of his own blood; as for Lilith"s blood, he didn"t feel that he could do anything to it at the moment.
[You have learned an external active skill. You can learn 4 more external active skills].
As he opened his eyes again, green letters flickered on his retina and the blood-red scroll that was in his hands just a moment ago disappeared as if it had never been there.
Bai Zemin frowned trying to understand the meaning of the message, but it was impossible for him to comprehend it unless he sat there to study everything carefully. Unfortunately, he didn"t have that time.
Bang!
The wooden door of his room received a resounding bang from the outside and Bai Zemin was forced to prepare himself for the worst.
The banging continued uninterrupted and the grunts coming from the other side of the door made it obvious that at least one zombie was trying to break through and, seeing how hard the door was being hit and how the hinges seemed about to give way at any moment, he knew he didn"t have too much time to stand around without doing anything.
His brain worked quickly and without hesitation he rushed to the TV, ripping off the wire forcefully. He then tied one end of the long black wire to the bed and the other end to one of the desk legs.
After that, he walked over to the bee and started poking at something.
Lilith watched his movements curiously with no intention of commenting on it and silently so as not to disturb him.
Bang!
The wooden door finally could not withstand the constant a.s.sault and burst open with a small explosion. Immediately after the door was kicked down, two students who had turned into zombies staggered in.
Their blood-stained faces looked grotesque. Bai Zemin could even see several bite marks where the flesh had horribly sloughed off.
If it were him a few minutes ago, it would probably be hard for him to bear the urge to vomit from the sickening odor given off by the two moving corpses. However, after learning the skill Blood Manipulation, everything was different for him.
It was well known that emotions affect the cardiovascular system of the human body to a certain extent. The greater the stress, the greater the amount of blood pumped by the heart, thus increasing circulation as a consequence. Then, Bai Zemin came up with a slightly crazy idea... Was it possible that in some sense the blood circulation inside the body could affect the emotions a bit?
Since there had never been anyone capable of controlling the blood to affect emotions, such a thing could never be proven. But after acquiring Blood Manipulation, Bai Zemin discovered to his delight that while he was still a bit nervous, he was no longer as scared as before.
The two zombies advanced rather slowly in Bai Zemin"s direction. Although the creatures" eyes were completely white as if they were blind, they seemed to be able to smell life emanating from his body since their movements had a fairly clear direction.
Just as they advanced, the two mindless zombies suddenly tripped over the wire that Bai Zemin planted a few centimeters above the ground. The bed creaked and moved slightly due to the strong pull, but it was enough for the two zombies to fall flat on their faces.
Bai Zemin"s eyes flashed as he shot forward at full speed unwilling to pa.s.s up the opportunity. Reaching in front of the first zombie, he mercilessly stabbed the head of the now helpless creature with the sting of the bee he had killed not long ago.
The mutated bee"s stinger had a length of two human fingers and a width of at least three fingers; so it easily pierced the zombie"s head, crus.h.i.+ng the brain and killing the creature.
Before the second zombie could react, Bai Zemin quickly stabbed its head ruthlessly, killing it in a second as well.
[You have acquired soul power of Normal Zombie level 4. You get +4 Stamina].
[You have acquired soul power of Normal Zombie level 3. You get +1 Stamina].
[You have leveled up to level 2. You get 2 status points to distribute freely].
Before Bai Zemin could sigh in relief and relax his nerves, two more zombies staggered into the room while growling in his direction.
Due to the strong pull of the other two zombies, the wire was currently practically dragging on the ground, making the small trap completely useless.
However, Bai Zemin did not panic and quickly concentrated. With a thought, he mobilized the mana within his body according to the instructions of the skill Blood Manipulation.
After spending twenty mana points, Bai Zemin used the blood of the two zombies killed by him earlier and, just as the two new zombies pa.s.sed by the corpses of their kind, two arrows of red bloodshot out at full speed towards the back of the creatures" heads.
The congealed blood arrows were extremely sharp after being controlled by Bai Zemin and easily pierced through the head of the two zombies, crus.h.i.+ng part of the brain and killing the two creatures easily.
[You have acquired soul power of Normal Zombie level 3. You get +1 Stamina]
[You have acquired soul power of Normal Zombie level 3]
"Strong!" Bai Zemin"s eyes flashed as he looked at his hands. However, he soon noticed that from the corpse of the second zombie, he did not gain any stamina boost or other attribute.
Seeing his frown, Lilith, who had been silent, patiently explained: "The more creatures of the same type and level you kill, the less benefit you will get as your soul power acquires some resistance against them. Only by killing other creatures will you be able to acquire more benefits... Of course, you can still level up by killing those low-level zombies, but you will only get two status points when you level up, no extra benefits."
Bai Zemin looked at her gratefully which his doubts were cleared. However, he soon asked again, "Why are you here?"
Only now that his nerves had calmed down a bit did he finally dare to ask more questions. If he had done so earlier, he might have died in a zombie"s mouth or been killed by the giant bee from before.
Lilith puckered her lips and giggled playfully as she pointed to the door and said, "I"ll explain everything later. For now, don"t you think it"s better for you to look for a safe place?"
Bai Zemin looked at the broken-down door and finally nodded. In fact, this was not the best place to ask questions so he quickly said, "You"re right. Let me pick up a few things and then we"ll leave this place."
He quickly grabbed a mountain backpack and stowed the cable he had used earlier, two large bottles of pure water, and some snacks he had bought earlier. He had nothing else of use there.
Then, Bai Zemin looked out the window and couldn"t help but complain, "Really me and my bad luck..."
Bai Zemin"s room was on the fifth floor. It was impossible for him to climb down through the window. With no other option, he had no choice but to walk to the door to get out of the building.
Lilith"s beautiful ruby eyes had a strange glint in them as she looked at the head wound of the two zombies that Bai Zemin had killed with his Blood Manipulation skill. Her full red lips curved into a charming smile before slowly following him out.