Chapter 17: Level Up

Crossbow bolts pierced the body of the alienated zombie, bursting out clusters of foul-smelling black liquid.

The zombie clone’s movements were stiff, and each round of reloading the crossbow took over ten seconds.

Fang Heng wasn't in a hurry; he only needed to hide in the shadows and fire cold shots anyway.

Ten minutes later, the alienated zombie, now bristling with crossbow bolts, let out a howl and collapsed to the ground, unwilling to accept its fate.

"Whew!"

Fang Heng wiped the sweat beading on his forehead.

He was a bit tired.

He sat down with his back against a large tree and rubbed his throbbing temples.

Maintaining such precise control over the zombies for this long was extremely draining.

【Notification: Your zombie clone has killed an alienated zombie. Your skill: Basic Training - Strength EXP +24.】

【Notification: Your zombie clone has killed an alienated zombie. You have gained 15 Survival Points and 1x Complete Evolution Crystal (Tier 1).】

Huh?

That’s impressive!

It actually dropped a complete evolution crystal!!

The sudden good news made Fang Heng excited all over again, and the fatigue from just a moment ago vanished instantly.

"Go!"

Fang Heng commanded the zombie clone to climb over into the prison plaza from the guard shack and retrieve the evolution crystal left on the corpse.

Item: Complete Evolution Crystal (Tier 1).

Item Description: A special crystal containing powerful energy. It can increase a player's character EXP (only effective for players below current level LV: 10).

Fang Heng gripped the retrieved complete evolution crystal tightly in his palm.

"Pop!"

The crystal shattered.

A dense red mist condensed in his palm and was quickly absorbed by his hand.

【Notification: You have absorbed a Complete Evolution Crystal (Tier 1). Your level has increased to LV: 6.】

【Notification: Due to the influence of the talent skill Enhanced - Split Zombie Clone, you have gained an additional 6 zombie clones.】

The soil at Fang Heng’s feet began to churn again.

"Shhh! Shhh!"

Grey-brown palms reached out from the earth one after another.

Soon, six newly resurrected zombies stood still behind Fang Heng.

Although one had just been killed by the alienated zombie, he had gained six more as replacements after leveling up.

This was a profitable trade!

In his original plan, Fang Heng thought it would take a while to level up again after reaching level 5, but he hadn't expected it to happen so quickly.

With a wave of his hand, Fang Heng controlled the zombies to put down their crossbows and return to the interior of the prison to continue grinding monsters.

As for him, he slowly sat back down on the ground and began crafting wooden spears for the newly resurrected zombies.

Given the earlier incident, to avoid any further emergencies, Fang Heng completely abandoned the idea of returning to the shelter. He sat silently on the grass, watching the zombies "AFK."

...

【Notification: Your zombie horde has obtained 142 Evolution Crystal Fragments, Blueprint - BBQ Grill, Blueprint - Iron Shovel, Blueprint - Czech Hedgehog, Recipe - Golden Crab Pot, 3x Bandages, 4x Precision Parts.】

After watching the zombies "AFK" for five or six hours, Fang Heng stretched and casually tallied the gains.

Besides dropping evolution crystal fragments, zombies also had a very small chance of dropping rarer items upon death.

Things like crafting blueprints, for instance.

The Czech Hedgehog was quite good. He could place a circle of them around the shelter later; mindless low-level zombies would rush forward and impale themselves on the spikes.

It could significantly increase his safety rating in the early stages.

As for the BBQ grill and the recipe, they were a bit lackluster—useful for satisfying the taste buds, but not much else.

"Strange, my role isn't a chef, so why do I keep getting these things?"

"Besides, are you sure I can even gather the ingredients for a Golden Crab Pot?"

Fang Heng muttered to himself, tapping the blueprints and recipes against his head to learn them.

More skills never hurt; it was always good to learn them.

【Notification: You have learned the crafting of Czech Hedgehog, Iron Shovel, and BBQ Grill.】

【Notification: You have learned the cooking method for the delicacy - Golden Crab Pot. Your Cooking skill EXP +20.】

Fang Heng stood up to stretch his body and took the opportunity to observe the state of the prison.

About two-thirds of the zombies in the prison plaza had been cleared. The remaining three large buildings hadn't been searched at all, and he estimated there were still quite a few residual zombies inside.

"It’s a big project. Optimistically, it will take another day to finish clearing it. If there are alienated zombies inside the buildings, it will be even more troublesome..."

Fang Heng muttered to himself, "The safety rating of the prison is much higher than the wooden cabin. The sooner I finish clearing this place, the sooner I can move."

【Notification: Your survival radio has received an emergency communication from your friend, Jimmy.】

Is Jimmy in trouble?

The sudden game notification made Fang Heng’s heart skip a beat.

Previously, to prevent accidents, the group had added each other as friends in the game, allowing for private contact via the survival radio.

Fang Heng sensed something was wrong. He immediately opened the survival radio and clicked on the unread message.

Lu Yu: "Big shot, want to collaborate? Our company sincerely invites you to be our company's..."

Trying to freeload off me again!

Fang Heng didn't have time to deal with Lu Yu. He didn't even finish reading it, skipping his private message to check the next one.

Jimmy: "Fang Heng, we’ve run into some trouble. You’d better come back to the wooden cabin quickly."

Fang Heng replied: "Got it, coming back now."

Closing the radio, Fang Heng commanded the zombie clones to return the way they came, while he took his mountain bike out of his backpack and rode back to the shelter first.

Compared to when he left, the shelter had been reinforced. The broken wooden windows had been sealed again with wooden slats, and the hole in the roof had been patched up.

The shelter door was tightly shut, looking as if they were facing a formidable enemy.

Did they encounter an attack?

Fang Heng’s heart sank as he pushed the door open and entered.

Liao Bufan and the others were huddled together discussing something; they all looked up when they saw Fang Heng.

Fang Heng’s gaze swept toward Jimmy, who was fiddling with a crossbow bolt in his hand.

"What happened?"

"Damn it! We got robbed!"

Liao Bufan was extremely annoyed and answered first: "At noon, Liu Lin went to trade with a group of players. We didn't expect them to ignore the rules and just snatch the food. If Liu Lin hadn't been carrying a crossbow, making them wary, who knows what might have happened."

Fang Heng’s expression shifted slightly. He turned his head to look at Liu Lin.

"Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine."

Fang Heng nodded, falling into reflection.

Everything had gone too smoothly these past two days, and he had been a bit complacent.

The crisis in the apocalypse didn't just come from zombies; it also came from players!

Letting Liu Lin go alone to trade with other players was indeed very dangerous.

Fortunately, Liu Lin was unharmed.

Liu Lin felt a bit guilty. She had considered herself an experienced veteran player, which was why she dared to go trade supplies alone. She hadn't expected to be plotted against.

"They were prepared. The person who traded with me at first was a woman who acted very cooperative. She even had the supplies ready for the trade. I was a bit careless; I didn't expect that as soon as I took out the food, several people would pop out from the surroundings and force me to hand it over."