Chapter 90: Interlude (Part 1)
There was no way to contact the other four members of the Dark Night Guild since Yun Tu couldn"t find them in the Northern District. Finally, he took Bao Zi directly to the Eastern District.
Even though there was only a minute possibility of zombies capturing a human, however, since Qing Yi and the baby"s body were nowhere to be found, Yun Tu still held the hope that Qing Yi was still alive. However, it was on the premise that he could find the highest leader of the zombie tide for the answer.
On the other hand, hunting Green Zombies was the top priority to develop the guild at this stage. The Second Order Blood Crystals were strategic resources for the rapid development of the guild. Although there were also zomb activities in the Southern and Northern Districts, its numbers were also limited due to the hunt by the Awakeneds, while the growth of the lesser zombies to become Green Zombies would require them to feed rampantly on humans. Thus, the possibility of them evolving into a Second Order Green Zombie was relatively small. Then, the best choice was to hunt the Green Zombies to enter the Eastern District.
"Bao Zi, write your stats for me to look at!" Yun Tu spoke to Bao Zi while gesturing.
Of the ten mutes, nine out of them were usually deaf. Most of them had problems with their vocal cords, or because their ears were unable to hear anything so there was no way for them to learn how to speak. Bao Zi himself was completely deaf before he became an Awakened. After he became one, his hearing improved a little. However, since he was already 13 years old, he missed the best time to learn the language. He could only understand a little and relied mostly on reading the lips.
After he understood Yun Tu"s meaning, Bao Zi wrote his stats and was taken aback, since one of his main stats was 1 point higher than the rest.
Each kind of biological life need not be predatory in order to grow. However, compared to the growth of zombies, magical beasts, or creatures from the Secret Areas, the growth of human beings was relatively slower. Solely by this aspect only, it lowered their survival chances amid the rapid development occurring in the Apocalypse.
And this morning, Yun Tu also realized such a clue and deepened his understanding of his own stats.
In the peace age, the "Use and Disuse" theory in the discourse of biological evolution had long been denied by Darwin in his "Theory of Natural Selection". However, in the Apocalypse, Lamarck"s theory was proved to be correct, to a certain extent. In this case, parts of the body that were used extensively would be strengthened naturally. For instance, Bao Zi. He got his hearing ability improved a bit after he became an Awakened. These days, he had been trying hard to listen to others" speech diligently and listened to all kinds of sounds. Thus, his hearing ability grew naturally, whereas Yun Tu had his strength stat improved due to being engaged in fights everyday.
According to Yun Tu"s experience, the hearing ability was much more important in the Apocalypse compared to visual acuity. It was because every so often fights occurred in the dark nights, much more compared to daytime. With good hearing ability, one wouldn"t be easily attacked by enemies. The saying that the eyes are watching at the six directions while the ears could hear from all directions simply described that there was a blind spot in the scope of vision while the hearing had none.
In the later stages of the Apocalypse, along with everyone"s advancement in level, the continuous emergence of various occupational killing techniques led to the drastic changes in tactics and strategies, while at the same time, increasing the importance of skills where ones who had weak hearing ability were never able to become a true expert.
Since Bao Zi"s hearing stat was the first to grow among his other stats, then he could also become an expert in hearing ability. And upon knowing that his agility stat was even up to 11 points, Yun Tu decisively gave the Storm Swordsman Job Scroll to him.
Perhaps, he wouldn"t be able to become a speedster expert such as w.a.n.g Peng and w.a.n.g Yang. However, Bao Zi now could also be regarded as a veteran Awakened. Coupled with his young age and unwavering loyalty, it was the main reason as to why Yun Tu laid the path of development to nurture him.
“Thank you—Thank you.”
After so many days, Bao Zi finally learned some simple words. His p.r.o.nunciation was yet to be considered good, but it was enough for him to express his grat.i.tude and loyalty toward Yun Tu.
By becoming an Awakened with an occupation, he would be able to protect himself either in normal circ.u.mstances, and in others, he wouldn"t become a burden for Yun Tu when they strolled around in the Eastern District. The duo wandered around in the district for more than an hour before they finally encounter a Second Order Green Zombie.
Their teamwork was impeccable. Bao Zi was responsible to lure the 10 lesser zombies around it, while Yun Tu straightly engaged the Green Zombie. It didn"t take a long time for the duo to strike down their enemies, which gave them a Second Order Blood Crystal and a few lesser ones.
As time pa.s.sed by, the number of Green Zombies would increase and it would be no longer difficult to find them. Seizing the time to rest after the fight, Yun Tu directly gave the newly Second Order Blood Crystal and another one to Bao Zi.
Swallowing the two Blood Crystals at the same time, Bao Zi"s height grew taller for several centimeters and his stats also sharply increased. His 3 points hearing stat directly soared to 12 points, exceeding the stats of the average Awakeneds, while his other stats rose to 15 points and his agility stat even jumped to 19 points.
Since his original hearing stat was too weak, although Bao Zi took two Blood Crystals to upgrade it to enter the 2nd Level, but Yun Tu believed that after he broke through to the 3rd Level from the 2nd, his hearing stat, which was the weakest, would reach or even exceed that of the normal Awakeneds at the same level. After all, his greatest capital was his young age, while his loyalty was the main trait Yun Tu needed the most.
Bao Zi spent nearly an hour to advance in Level. As noon came, the duo continued moving after eating some dry rations. Shortly after, they encountered other Green Zombies, and this time, there were two of them, along with quite a lot of lesser zombies.
"Use your gun on the left one and keep its aggro on you. Do you dare to do that?"
With 19 points of agility, Bao Zi should be able to lure the Second Order Green Zombie, and Yun Tu himself didn"t want to waste his time in the process. Since they b.u.mped into two of them, he decided to act boldly.
Although the task was a bit dangerous, Bao Zi took the gun from Yun Tu and ran directly.; he didn"t even object.
With one person to lure one Green Zombie, the strongest of the pack would only be the Black Zombies as Yun Tu also took care of the other Green Zombies along with a few Black ones.
In order to save time and end the battle quickly, Yun Tu used his Stealth Step and rushed forward to strike at the Green Zombie. The technique itself consumed his stamina quite a bit, but it ensured the success of his first attack, catching it by surprise.
He suddenly appeared behind the Green Zombie. Although the latter could sense him, his first surprise attack was successful as Yun Tu"s dagger severely wounded it. After engaging in a dogfight for a few blows, he finally won the bout.
The course of the battle, as always, was never something that could be executed based on theory. Yun Tu knew that Bao Zi"s strength was much inferior to his, let alone his experience. The pressure he had to face was much bigger than him, and even the slightest mistake would lead to unexpected accidents.
After having killed the Green Zombie, Yun Tu didn"t even waste his time taking the Blood Crystal from it and quickly dashed toward Bao Zi.
When he arrived at the scene, he saw Bao Zi standing in the middle of the road with blood all over his body as though the G.o.d of War, whereas the Green Zombie that had chased him had fallen under his sword with its entire body still twitching on the asphalt.
His highest stat was his agility. Under normal circ.u.mstances, with 19 points of agility, if he were to face the Second Order Green Zombie, he could be said to be at disadvantage. However, victory and defeat were proved to have never been depended on stats only.
Although there was nothing special to be discerned from the last four surviving children among the previous dozens, in fact, none of them was weak. In addition, the sword Bao Zi was using also had been tempered by Yun Tu twice.
"You"re good. But do pay attention to strategy later, understood?"
Yun Tu gave him a thumbs up. And Bao Zi replied it with a simple and honest smile upon receiving Yun Tu"s recognition.
Quickly removing the Blood Crystal from the Green Zombie, immediately after, they also killed a few Black Zombies that were chasing them. When the duo returned back again to the place where Yun Tu killed the first Green Zombie along with a few other Black Zombies, there were three men and a woman there, taking the fruit of his victory.
“Someone is coming! Hurry up!”
The woman in her 30s, who was acting as a sentry, found Yun Tu and Bao Zi coming over. She suddenly turned anxious and urged her teammate.
There few human activities in the Eastern District. And in this spot, there was a ready-to-harvest dead Green Zombie and a few Black Zombies here and there. Surely, the ones who killed these things were not far away. These people who were picking up the fruits of others" hard work for cheap, certainly had no intention to grab the chance at first. But after hiding in the corner for a few minutes and confirming that the opponents" battle seemed to be at least a mile away from here, they finally succ.u.mbed to their greed and carefully approached.
“How many are there?”
Among the few who were immersed in their work, the one who seemed to be the leader and responsible to take out the Blood Crystals from the zombies heard the warning. He didn"t stop as he worked more quickly when he asked.
"Two, two men!"
The woman was apparently a timid one. Upon seeing that the Yun Tu duo was getting closer, her voice slightly quivered.
"It"s just only two people, why the f.u.c.k should you be afraid?"
Their purpose coming to the Eastern District this time was very clear. That was, to kill the Second Order Green Zombie and advance in Level. At first, when they found the corpse of the Green Zombie, he thought the number of people who killed it was a lot. He didn"t expect that there were only two of them.
Certainly, it was wrong to s.n.a.t.c.h someone else"s spoils of war. However, if the ready-made food was in front of him and the circ.u.mstances were ripe, Yun Tu himself would also do the same. But, since he was exactly the victim at present, the situation was not something he could let go.
"Brothers, there are more than enough Blood Crystals you in the entire Eastern District. You better get the f.u.c.k out quickly, or you will all die with your f.u.c.king corpse dismembered."
Upon seeing others wantonly picking up the fruits of his hard won victory, Yun Tu dashed quickly and loudly threatened them with a cursing tone.
"What the f.u.c.k are you talking about? Who can prove these Blood Crystals are yours?"
Seeing that the opponents were only two people and one of them also had blood all over his body, obviously injured, one the three men calmly stood while the other still dug up the Blood Crystals without stopping as they finally stood after taking a piece of the Second Order Blood Crystal.