"So is that treasure in the jungle gone?" Xiong Kun who was stationed in the camp couldn"t help but ask. Lou Yuan had to personally come here because of the important information they got from the research inst.i.tute – a huge amount of unknown energy appeared in the barren forest, it might be a meteorite.
Lou Yuan took up the task to bring back this "unknown energy". They searched the forest the whole day only to find that the sensors provided by the research inst.i.tute were completely unresponsive.
"Maybe it was taken by others, or it might have disappeared on its own…" Lou Yuan felt that the former was more likely. Anyway, it had already disappeared which means their task failed.
"But we have to solve the zombie herd caused by it." Lang Mu added, marking the approximate positions of the zombies on the simple map. They continued discussing the arrangements for tomorrow"s battle and so on.
They kept talking until about 11 pm. After Xiong Kun and the others left, Lou Yuan went to the bathroom to wash up. Suddenly his brow was raised, his face reflected in the mirror showed a stiff smile. What amused him was Shi Lingxi who lived in the room across him.
"The host gains beast type ability: Shapeshifting (foxtail), proficiency 1%, Rating S (S-level lucky candy buff bonus, host gains fox blood transfusion lasting 7 days).
The system meant that by exerting his abilities Shi Lingxi gained a second skill that could be used at this stage. A big hole was ripped in the back of Shi Lingxi"s pants and a furry fox tail half his height appeared.
Shi Lingxi who turned around was startled and his entire tail hair stood up. Undoubtedly, he was frightened by his own tail. He stretched out his hand and hesitantly poked his tail. The furry and weird sensation made him feel like he was dreaming.
He blinked his eyes again and again. The ability really gave him a tail. Shi Lingxi t.i.tled his head and along with it, his tail swished left and right automatically.
Shi Lingxi stiffly took two steps forward, then flopped and tripped himself. Suddenly a tail was added, it was like gaining an extra limb. He couldn"t even walk properly.
After falling twice in a row, Shi Lingxi calmly held his tail in his hands and sat on the ground to think. Judging from the power grade, this tail that tripped him is far from the ordinary. Moreover, he also used the only S level candy he had according to the systems proposal.
"The candy was so delicious…" Shi Lingxi murmured. He clasped the tail in his hand and slowly walked back to his bed. He was lost in thought for almost half an hour before he finally fell asleep.
He wanted to have a comfortable sleep, worrying about his tail could be left for tomorrow. Maybe after he wakes up tomorrow the tail might disappear on its own. He is really tired to fret about such things now.
Lou Yuan who came out from the bath felt that he unexpectedly understood the meaning of the word "interesting". He thought that Shi Lingxi"s various antics were extremely interesting. He smiled as he immersed in a different type of relaxation compared to the past.
Lying on the bed, Lou Yuan"s mental perception was filled with the image of Shi Lingxi clinging to his tail in a very delightful manner. He also closed his eyes and slowly fell asleep.
Shi Lingxi woke up to a furry sensation. He was startled again. Even though his face didn"t have much change in expressions his entire tail hair stood up. It was the most convincing piece of evidence that he was yet again frightened by his tail.
"Why is it still here?" Shi Lingxi communicated with the system via his mind. Shi Lingxi"s mental strength was above average and he had managed to successfully integrate with the system. So he didn"t need to speak out, he could directly communicate with the system using his thoughts.
"S-level lucky candy bonus was added. So the host received fox blood transfusion lasting seven days. Before the transformation is complete, the host will posses a fox-tail and the shape is fixed. If it is forcibly broken or lost by external factors, the fox-tail will disappear and the transformation will end in advance. Hence, please consider this carefully."
Shi Lingxi knew that the tail was completely connected with his body. The so-called breaking was no different than cutting off one of his limbs. He shuddered and subconsciously embraced his tail. Or to be more precise the tail jumped into his arms. A few moments later Shi Lingxi looked tangled as he let go of his tail. It seemed that he was inexplicably timid. No, it should be said that he became more sensitive. Now he was hungry, the said fox blood transfusion seemed to increase his hunger.
Shi Lingxi took out the leftover water and biscuits. Before he finished eating, tasks related to Lou Yuan were refreshed one by one.
"DING! DING!!
Daily task 1: Get Lou Yuan to take the initiative to touch the head. Task Rating: E (simple);
Daily Task 2: Conversation with Lou Yuan acc.u.mulates to at least 100 sentences. Task Rating: E (simple);
Daily Task 3: c.u.mulatively spend more than 12 hours with Lou Yuan. Task Rating: E (simple).
Note: Daily tasks are updated at 6 am every day."
Three consecutive daily tasks were released, all of which were inseparable from Lou Yuan. Though the task rating was still E it didn"t seem that simple to Shi Lingxi. Also, the system hadn"t finished releasing tasks.
"Show Love Mission Main Task 1: Get Lou Yuan to embrace the host actively. Time Limit: Three days. Task Rating: E (simple). Failure to complete the task before the deadline will result in an E2 level punishment. Additionally, the host must complete 60% of the daily tasks, or will face an E1 level punishment."
In other words, if he doesn"t want to be punished by the system, he must complete the main task, and any 2 out of the three daily tasks.
As soon as the system"s voice ceased Shi Lingxi put on his cloak, took his backpack and hurried downstairs. He didn"t notice that his tail was comfortably hidden in the cloak.
Before Shi Lingxi reached the courtyard, two soldiers blocked his way. Xiong Kun immediately came over and asked them to open the path "Today our boss is going out you…"
Xiong Kun hadn"t finished speaking when Shi Lingxi quickly bypa.s.sed him and ran to Lou Yuan"s side "Can I follow you?"
He added, panting "You said we"ll continue talking today so I"ll answer your questions on the way. Besides I"m a doctor and I also have powers. I won"t cause trouble."
Although his fighting ability is dirt in front of high-level zombies and powers, he also has skills others can"t replace. He is not a nuisance, Shi Lingxi has always been clear about this.
Xiong Kun took big strides and reached their side. He did not act rashly and waited for Lou Yuan to make a decision. If their mission hadn"t failed, then Shi Lingxi"s reason wouldn"t be adequate and Lou Yuan could not be responsible for Shi Lingxi"s safety.
But now they only have to clean up the remaining zombies and mutant beasts, there would be no problem taking an additional Shi Lingxi with them.
"Come with me." Lou Yuan didn"t answer Shi Lingxi"s question, but instead walked to a room and demanded that Shi Lingxi keep up. The answer was present in his actions.
After Lou Yuan took Shi Lingxi away, Xiong Kun scratched his head while trying to figure out his boss"s plans. He really couldn"t understand what his boss was thinking. Even if it was alright to bring Shi Lingxi with them, based on his boss"s personality it was unlikely to do so. So many newcomers in Beicheng base wanted to follow their army, but their boss didn"t agree. Those people were no worse than Shi Lingxi, some of them were even stronger. Xiong Kun"s suspicions were not cleared but he couldn"t chase after Lou Yuan to ask about these matters.
Lou Yuan took Shi Lingxi to the logistics office. He asked Shi Lingxi to change into a modified combat uniform developed by the research center. He was equipped with guns, knives and a new set of surgical tools given by Cheng Mu. Shi Lingxi originally had a set with him, but it was damaged on the way to Beicheng.
Lou Yuan glanced at Shi Lingxi, who had forgotten his exposed tail upon seeing those surgical instruments, and said "You can use the cloak to cover yourself. Here"s some food. You can eat as much as you want. Don"t worry about saving them for later"
Lou Yuan is not a doctor but his mental perception is more accurate than some medical diagnosis. Shi Lingxi is rapidly consuming the energy in his body. Shi Lingxi seemed experienced in fighting hunger, but it will aggravate the depletion of his body.
Lou Yuan had seen Shi Lingxi"s health checkup records. He weighed only 49 kg and was too thin. His height was also stunted. Both of his parents are not short so Shi Lingxi should at least reach 180 cm under normal conditions.
Lou Yuan walked out of the room first, Shi Lingxi hastily stuffed the food into his backpack and followed him out. They left the camp and went into the wild forest.
Shi Lingxi was short and thin, he looked out of place following a group of big strong men who carried huge backpacks. The other nine members of the team, except Lou Yuan, couldn"t help but glance at Shi Lingxi from time to time.
"Um… Can I speak?" After walking for some time Shi Lingxi weakly asked Lou Yuan.
Once again Shi Lingxi carefully paid attention to the details of the task. The so-called dialogue task can be regarded as a success only when he gets Lou Yuan"s responses in between. Because Lou Yuan was too quiet the 100 sentences daily task progress reached just about 1%.
Lou Yuan nodded his head, perceiving Shi Lingxi"s disappointment, and said "hmm."
Sure enough! Shi Lingxi saw the daily task progressing a bit, his eyebrows curved, he went from disappointment to joy.
"Speaking of Mincheng base city, before I left there were 10 strong powers, of which the strongest was called w.a.n.g. But later when I was in Hangjing city, I heard that he died during internal conflicts."
Shi Lingxi"s mental strength is higher than ordinary people, which indicates that his memory and observation ability is very strong. He is also good at collecting information. He can do these things on the escape road, this is something ordinary survivors are incapable of. Lou Yuan realized this, so he attached more importance to the information brought by Shi Lingxi.
In the same way, Lou Yuan"s subordinates were listening to Shi Lingxi with rapt attention. Their army"s goal is to clean up all zombies, restore the connection between base cities and expand the living s.p.a.ce for the survival of mankind. While they worked hard for such a goal, there were many forces fighting for power and profit, killing and weakening other forces, thus reducing the overall strength of the humans.
Shi Lingxi continued speaking mostly focusing on the distribution of forces among various bases and the zombie herds he encountered. "I have reached the conclusion that the evolution of zombies in the initial stage is faster compared to powers but their bottleneck in the later stages is greater than that of powers."
The research centers of major bases had already reached this conclusion, but then, not all bases know about it.
"A year and a half ago, my entourage was attacked by a green-eyed zombie, with night vision abilities comparable to that of psionics. Its sneak attacks were well organized. I think it"ll only be a matter of time before fully intelligent zombies develop." While Shi Lingxi spoke, he couldn"t help but reminisce about the horror and blood of that night. His tail hidden in the cloak trembled subconsciously.
"There were nearly 500 survivors in the town, that night, only less than twenty survived. Several powers died in the fight." Shi Lingxi, a doctor was the only ordinary person who survived. The premise was that he had helped many powers and their families. So he was rescued several times that night.
After Shi Lingxi spoke this, he was silent for some time. Then he continued to talk about his subsequent experiences. However, Lou Yuan, among others started looking at Shi Lingxi in a different light. At least they were convinced of Shi Lingxi"s sincerity.
This is not a simple narrative, but the desperate situation and danger Shi Lingxi faced. Most people would not have the courage to recall such experiences.
Meng fox MC spotted. Also the tasks released by the system are getting more daring. It won"t be long before you know ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)