Bai Hanlin stared tensely at every movement by the doorway.
His nerves were stretched to their absolute limit, feeling as if every single strand of hair was standing on end.
Two ordinary zombies were hardly a threat.
But outside, there was a group of armed militants.
He sought revenge, but he also needed to survive!
In the past, he could have died for his family.
But now...
He carried his family's hope.
He absolutely could not speak of death lightly anymore!
Live!
This was Bai Hanlin's sole conviction now!
Roar!
Uh...
The two zombies, attracted by the gunfire outside, let out strange cries and charged out.
Bai Hanlin followed closely behind.
Having zombies scout ahead and absorb bullets was the best possible scenario.
However, the moment he rushed to the doorway,
He saw a colossal figure leap out abruptly.
It directly bit off the heads of the two zombies.
It was a brown bear!
Ah, no!
It was considerably larger than a brown bear, and it had a long tail...
This... a wolf?
A giant wolf much larger than a bear?!
What kind of monster is this!
Bai Hanlin gripped the scalpel in his hand tightly.
He readied himself for battle!
Tak tak tak!
Gunfire erupted from the other side.
Countless bullets struck the giant wolf's body, yet it remained completely unharmed!
This...
Bai Hanlin quickly retreated a few steps, darting into a corner for cover.
Watching the Westerners outside being torn apart and killed by the giant wolf,
He felt both satisfaction and terror in his heart.
It wasn't until Zhang Chen emerged from the mall, and the man and wolf gradually moved away,
Was this... human?
To be able to tame a monster, and possess such formidable combat power...
Bai Hanlin was deeply shaken by Zhang Chen's retreating back.
If Zhang Chen could do it...
Did that mean he could too, with enough effort?!
I must become as powerful as this person!
Only then could he avoid being bullied in the apocalypse and survive better!
And only then could he live up to his family's expectations...
Bai Hanlin looked at the blood-stained scalpel and silently vowed...
On the other side...
After collecting the corpses from the mountain of bodies, Zhang Chen had met the conditions for an upgrade.
Ding! Congratulations, you have met the upgrade conditions. Do you wish to upgrade immediately!
Upgrade immediately!
Ding! Congratulations, you have advanced to Advanced Awakener Level 1!
Your physical attributes have been greatly enhanced!
The energy field enveloping your body has become even more potent!
Ding! [Metamorphosis] 3/3 passive triggered, your attributes have been reinforced by another 2 times!
Ding! [Metamorphosis] 3/3 passive triggered, your attributes have been reinforced by another 2 times!
[Gene Evolution Path] has gained 1 talent point!
[Energy Evolution Path] has gained 1 talent point!
Next level: Advanced Awakener Level 2!
Current upgrade progress: 0/200*2!
200?
Zhang Chen thought he was seeing things.
He took a closer look.
It was indeed 200.
But the content that followed had changed.
Previously, it was 20000*2 [Energy Core].
Now, Zhang Chen needed 200*2 [Concentrated Energy Core] to upgrade!
In a corner of the interface, it was marked: [Energy Core] Remaining: 3007!
[Concentrated Energy Core]: Advanced Awakeners have a chance to drop [Concentrated Energy Core] upon killing high-level infected. The higher the infected's level, the greater the chance of dropping [Concentrated Energy Core]!
Ding! A new talent tree has been unlocked!
[Gene Evolution Path]:
[Pioneer]: 0/3, increases the drop rate of [Concentrated Energy Core] and rare items from infected/monsters/mutated creatures by 33%/66%/100% (added on top of the original, not total).
[Death Storm]: 0/1, swing your weapon (melee weapon required) to unleash a circle of powerful energy storm around you! After the storm ends, leap high and deliver a forceful strike to the strongest or a designated target, dealing 500% damage!
[Weakness Perception]: 0/1, any normal attack and skill has a chance to inflict a critical hit, dealing an additional 100% damage!
[Energy Evolution Path]:
[Energy Extraction]: 0/3, you can synthesize one [Concentrated Energy Core] by consuming 1000 [Energy Core], with a success rate of 20%/35%/50%. Upon failure, 0%/25%/50% of [Energy Core] will be returned!
[Soul Burn]: 0/1, devour your own [Energy Core] or higher-level cores to exponentially increase your combat power! The greater the devoured energy, the stronger your amplification!
[Blink]: 0/1, instantly arrive at any location within your line of sight, with the maximum distance increasing with your strength! If Blink cannot reach the target location, it will automatically choose to arrive at the nearest safe location (if any).
Zhang Chen took a look.
He currently had 2 Talent Crystals.
Combined with the 1 point each for both paths granted upon leveling up,
It was equivalent to having 3 talent points to use for each route.
There was nothing much to say about the [Energy Evolution Path].
[Energy Extraction], [Soul Burn], and [Blink] each received one point.
He directly obtained 3 additional skills.
Although [Energy Extraction] seemed very helpful for leveling up, that help was ultimately limited.
Even if it reached maximum level,
A 50% chance to synthesize a [Concentrated Energy Core] from 1000 Energy Cores...
Even with a 100% chance,
To gather 400 [Concentrated Energy Cores] would require 400 multiplied by 1000 [Energy Cores].
A whopping 400,000 [Energy Cores]...
Even if Zhang Chen cleared several more waves of zombie hordes, he couldn't gather that many cores.
So, the function of this skill was merely to turn excess [Energy Cores] into something useful.
In terms of the fastest leveling speed...
At this stage, it was no longer the [Energy Evolution Path], but the [Gene Evolution Path]...
Previously, the pickup bonus from the [Energy Evolution Path] could definitely give survivors who chose this path a head start in leveling.
But now... it was time for the [Gene Evolution Path] to shine.
A doubled drop rate for [Concentrated Energy Core] and rare items!
This meant that by eliminating the same number of monsters, the [Gene Evolution Path] would receive double the [Concentrated Energy Cores]!
The leveling speed would naturally be double that of the [Energy Evolution Path]!
Truly, fortunes turn in cycles...
However, no matter how the cycles turned, for dual talents, it was merely switching hands.
Zhang Chen looked at the [Death Storm] and [Weakness Perception] in the [Gene Evolution Path].
Both were skills that increased damage output.
With [Soul Burn] in existence,
It was fine to upgrade these skills later.
Upgrade [Pioneer]!
Ding! Upgrade successful!
[Pioneer] 3/3: Increases the drop rate of [Concentrated Energy Core] and rare items from infected/monsters/mutated creatures by 100%!