Chapter 45: Attribute Enhancement

“Can I take all of these with me?”

Qiu Yaokang frowned.

“No. You can only use them here.”

“That’s great! If I don't have enough, can I ask you for more later?”

Fang Heng’s expression brightened with joy as he pressed further: “In exchange, I can help you get more evolution crystal shards in the future. For research purposes, the more of these things you have, the better, right?”

Qiu Yaokang’s frown deepened. He felt that Fang Heng wasn't playing by the rules.

“You can, but making the potions takes time. It will take about two or three days.”

“Deal!”

Extremely satisfied with the transaction, Fang Heng immediately took 200 evolution crystal shards out of his backpack and piled them onto an empty laboratory table.

A look of surprise resurfaced on Qiu Yaokang's face once again.

With this many evolution crystal shards, just how many zombies had this man killed?

“You can count them. There are 200 in total.”

As he spoke, Fang Heng proactively took the box from Qiu Yaokang's hands.

Evolution crystal shards were time-sensitive; they could be sold for a decent amount of money at this stage, but they would become very cheap once players' levels increased.

Fang Heng knew clearly that he was reaping the first wave of dividends from the game!

Currently, the players' levels in the game hadn't risen yet, so they couldn't trigger Qiu Yaokang's quests, let alone possess the ability to farm zombies in large quantities to earn evolution crystal shards.

Meanwhile, he had already reached Level 9 and had no need for evolution crystal shards himself.

[Prompt: You handed 200 crystal shards to Qiu Yaokang. You obtained: Improved Zombie-fied Strength Enhancement Gene Potion *6, Improved Zombie-fied Constitution Enhancement Gene Potion *7, Improved Zombie-fied Agility Enhancement Gene Potion *7.]

[Prompt: Your friendship with Qiu Yaokang has slightly increased.]

After completing such a massive transaction, the favorability had only increased slightly.

What a cold guy.

Fang Heng was in a good mood and didn't mind Qiu Yaokang's indifference.

He took a bottle of the strength potion from the box and opened the cap.

Having finished counting the shards, Qiu Yaokang turned his head to see Fang Heng starting to consume the potions and couldn't help but remind him.

“I will warn you once more: these potions have flaws. They cannot be used in large quantities.”

“I know. I have a way to solve that flaw.”

Fang Heng gave a cheeky grin. With a flick of his wrist, he pulled out another dozen or so evolution crystal shards and held them in his hand.

*Bang!*

With a slight squeeze of his hand, the crystal shards exploded simultaneously, dispersing into a cloud of red mist.

In an instant, the mist was absorbed by Fang Heng.

[Prompt: You consumed 13 evolution crystal shards. Your negative effect 'Genetic Chaos' has been eliminated.]

Fang Heng waved his arm toward Qiu Yaokang.

“Hehe, how about that?”

Qiu Yaokang narrowed his eyes, his gaze filled with astonishment.

He saw the grayish-blue tint on the back of Fang Heng's hand rapidly vanish.

Evolution crystals had this ability too?

Qiu Yaokang had discovered a new direction for research. His expression quickly returned to its usual coldness as he nodded. "Not bad."

While one hand continued to crush crystal shards, Fang Heng used the other to open the exchanged potion bottles, gulping them down one after another.

[Prompt: You consumed Improved Zombie-fied Strength Enhancement Gene Potion *6, Improved Zombie-fied Constitution Enhancement Gene Potion *7, Improved Zombie-fied Agility Enhancement Gene Potion *7.]

[Prompt: Your Base Strength +3, Base Constitution +4, Base Agility +3.]

[Prompt: Your 'Genetic Instability' status has increased to 55%.]

After twenty bottles went down, the evolution crystal shards in Fang Heng's backpack were completely exhausted.

Fang Heng opened his character attributes to check.

Player: Fang Heng. Level: 9. HP: 158/158. Stamina: 100/100. Mental: 100/100. Energy: 83/100. Strength: 10.8. Agility: 9.8. Constitution: 10.8. Willpower: 5. Perception: 15. Comprehension: 5.

Fang Heng tried swinging his arm, his knuckles cracking loudly.

With a sudden increase of 4 base attribute points, he could clearly feel the enhancement in his strength.

Fang Heng even felt like he could kill a bull with a single punch!

This effect was much more obvious than when he had just learned the Strength Training skill. After all, a Level 1 skill book only increased an attribute by 0.2.

Fang Heng checked again; each potion was still 1-2 points away from the maximum limit of 5 points per attribute.

“I will need 20 sets of each type of potion.”

“I'll come to collect them in three days. As agreed, I will need more evolution crystal shards then.”

Qiu Yaokang nodded, maintaining his icy demeanor as he issued a dismissal to Fang Heng.

“Fine. Your task is complete. If there is nothing else, you may leave now.”

*Hey...*

*It's just asking for a few extra potions. He wouldn't be angry over something so small, would he?*

Fang Heng silently waved goodbye.

“I'll be back in three days.”

Watching Fang Heng leave, Qiu Yaokang locked the iron gate of the basement entrance.

His cold expression suddenly turned incredibly fervent, and his body trembled uncontrollably from excitement.

A massive discovery!!

Evolution crystal shards!

Improving physical attributes!

Eliminating potion side effects!!!

...

In the afternoon, Lu Yu and Zhou Yi had already finished dividing the ore.

They sat before a small mountain of ore, watching the zombies passing to and fro.

Lu Yu said, "I counted them. There are 45 zombies in total."

"You're a bit of a dummy."

Zhou Yi shook his head and corrected him, "Actually, you counted wrong. It should be 43."

"Hmm..."

Lu Yu pondered for a moment.

"I graduated from the mathematics department, you know."

"So what? Do you think I'm the one who counted wrong?"

"No, Boss. I think you're right. I counted wrong."

"Sigh, it's a pity these zombies are a bit stupid. Otherwise, they'd be quite formidable. Once the game reaches the mid-stage, ordinary zombies aren't much of a threat; enemies can target them and wipe them all out."

"Even so, they're still impressive. Such a large workforce that doesn't consume stamina—they could make a fortune just mining continuously."

"True. A pro's talent is just ridiculous. It's like God is spoon-feeding him; he can make money while lying down."

In the distance, they saw a small truck approaching on the highway.

The truck pulled over to the side of the road.

The door opened.

Seeing Fang Heng step out of the truck, the two men's expressions turned strange again.

*How come he left on a motorcycle this morning and came back in a truck?*

Lu Yu felt the truck looked somewhat familiar.

*Wait? Isn't that the one from the Doomsday Merchant Camp?*

"Big Boss, did you steal the Doomsday Merchant?"

"Borrowed it."

"Oh." Lu Yu nodded and asked with mock seriousness, "Do you need to return it?"

"Uh..."

Fang Heng was momentarily speechless.

If he didn't return it, he would likely lose survival points as a security deposit, plus be hunted by all the Doomsday Camp merchants and their friends.

"I think it's better to return it."

"Haha." Lu Yu also laughed, "True. After all, we live in a harmonious society. It's not good to go around stealing, right?"

Fang Heng ordered his zombie clones to stop mining and begin loading the coal onto the truck.