The woman wore a green ring, the same as Zhang Chen's.
Only the newest batch of transmigrators like Zhang Chen possessed such a thing as physical limits.
In reality, their strength, if not for the protection of the high walls, would render them unable to survive even a single day outside.
We were originally a group of lucky ones, transmigrating into this city!
The cities here had continuous power, and the shopping malls were full of daily necessities.
We even thought we had transmigrated into an abandoned city, and some speculated it might be a prank from a reality show!
Others suggested it could be a live-streamed game initiated by a bored rich person, and perhaps our every move was being watched by the entire world...
So, at first, we all strived to display the best of human nature, helping each other, comforting each other, and warming each other, pretending we were still on Earth, living a peaceful life.
As she spoke, the woman's lips trembled, as if recalling a painful past.
But before long, someone exploring the city accidentally stumbled into a laboratory.
By chance, they opened a sealed iron door.
Subsequently, an endless stream of zombies poured out from within.
We had no combat experience, and for the sake of peaceful coexistence, no one privately hoarded weapons!
Thus, the team that went to the laboratory was annihilated, and the spreading zombies immediately filled every street and the city.
The survivors, completely unprepared, were slaughtered in large numbers. The screams of survivors, mixed with the low, terrifying groans of zombies and the sounds of flesh being torn, resulted in only a little over a thousand survivors out of nearly ten thousand people in the entire city.
Zhang Chen listened silently. While he could understand the woman's feelings, he couldn't grasp what she was saying and its connection to the monsters she had mentioned creating.
Xue Li was also growing impatient, but since Zhang Chen didn't rush her, she could only endure and listen.
Only Xiaobai listened with relish, as if hearing a fairy tale.
Seeing the woman pause, she quickly urged, "What then? What happened next? How did you survive? Did you fight the zombies? It must have been exciting!"
The woman smiled wryly and said,
It was already too late when we started preparing to fight the zombies.
Mutated Type II Infected and Mutated Type III Infected appeared successively.
With our current strength, we were already struggling to deal with ordinary zombies, let alone higher-level ones.
There was a manager from our company in the team. He suggested that everyone concentrate their zombie-killing core crystals on one person, enhancing that person's strength. Once that person could suppress the zombies, they would then redistribute the acquired core crystals to everyone, thereby achieving the plan of everyone cultivating a strong individual, who would then lead everyone!
Xue Li shook her head and said,
That plan is very foolish. The first part is usually the easiest to implement. Everyone cultivates a strong individual, they mutually check and balance each other, and there's also the aspect of face involved, so most people won't object.
But implementing the latter part becomes difficult. The core crystals are all in the hands of the strong individual. Whether to distribute them or not depends entirely on their will! Even if they don't want to share, what can others do?!
The woman looked at Xue Li in surprise and nodded, saying,
Indeed. When designing this plan, the manager had considered this issue. Therefore, the core crystals were divided into two portions, cultivating two strong individuals of equal strength to mutually restrain each other!
Initially, the plan proceeded smoothly. Our team not only had strong individuals to fight against the advanced infected, but all of us also gained improvements in our strength.
With enhanced strength, our ability to acquire core crystals became even greater, which in turn accelerated the cultivation of strong individuals. We formed a positive feedback loop. The number of zombies decreased, the strength of the survivors increased, and everything was developing in a good direction...
Soon, the zombies in the city were cleared out, and we regained our peaceful lives...
The woman sighed softly at this point, then continued,
But new problems emerged. The absence of new zombies meant that everyone's strength would forever be frozen at this moment!
The strong would always be strong, and ordinary survivors would always be ordinary survivors.
However, the two strong individuals were at odds with each other, both wanting to become the leader of the team, and so they began to fight.
It was then that I realized... at the same level, awakened individuals possessed identical strength. Neither of them could defeat the other.
The survivors in the camp also divided into two factions, supporting different strong individuals.
This balance was actually designed from the beginning to prevent any single party from becoming too dominant!
If things had ended there, the survivors would have lived in peace. After all, such a large city could easily accommodate two groups that mind their own business.
But... one of the strong individuals, possibly close to leveling up, secretly killed several survivors from their own team to advance to the next stage.
The strong individual on the other side, to avoid being killed, also secretly killed several people from their own team.
Since the members of the opposing team were protected by their strong individual, they couldn't be directly targeted. Thus, these two strong individuals, in a rather ironic twist, turned their guns on their own people.
The survivors who supported them, who should have been protected, became tools for their advancement...
These monsters, aren't they what we've been nurturing bit by bit with the resources in our rings?
Their ambition and greed, with the growth of their strength, continued to expand, eventually transforming them into a horde of murderous monsters...
Some survivors, unwilling to be slaughtered so wantonly, also began to kill people in secret, continuously improving themselves in the hope of matching the strong individuals.
Now the entire city is in chaos, people are hiding everywhere... If you encounter other survivors, being bullied is considered lucky; you might even lose your life...
The woman said.
It seemed she had narrowly escaped a disaster just now.
Currently, those who tend to band together in the city are the harmless weak. On the other hand, those who walk alone are the ones to be wary of!
The woman reminded them, still trembling.
So I belong to the harmless type. This is the first time I've heard such a description!
Zhang Chen chuckled and said.
No matter what your strength is, believe me, do not provoke those guys. They are bloodthirsty, and their strength has long since reached an unimaginable level. I advise you to leave immediately, and take me with you!
The woman grabbed Zhang Chen's pant leg, pleadingly.
Unimaginably strong? I'm suddenly quite interested!
Zhang Chen smiled slightly and said.