Chapter 214 - No Time To Lose
TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney
Feel free to listen to any of the song while reading!
After several minutes, a dense black orb escaped out of the Variant Zombie and into the body of Xue Jian. Xue Jian felt a burning sensation that was more intense than ever before; it was his first time experiencing this. At the same time, his alloy wrist watch also indicated that his level had changed from level 4 to level 5. There was also an ability in the status that wasn't there before. It was called [Trueshot Aura].
Frequent players would immediately understand the ability based on the name. It is a classical definition of boosting the strength, agility and ability power attributes. After releasing the ability, those nearby Xue Jian could feel a small increase in offensive and defensive, Xue Jian was like a walking beacon of power that radiated outward from his body.
Xue Jian tried to set a particular target to release his energy on, but was unable to do so. When he tried to release it upon himself, it spread outward from his body and the nearby players within several meters felt the boost. For the next 15 minutes within the beacon, physical attributes, speed, and senses had all increased.
The [Trueshot Aura] ability was quite useful in helping in team fights. Xue Jian's ability's true potential laid in raising overall team offenses. Regardless if it was against other future organized groups or against corpse tides, it would certainly be useful.
"Congratulations on entering the realms of becoming a strong player!" Zhang ShengLi, Wang DeCheng, and other squad leaders walked over to greet Xue Jian.
"Oh it's nothing, I relied on Elder Liu's special care! Thank you brothers, from now on I will obey Elder Liu's every command. His wishes are my wishes! Me and my squad will work hard for Elder Liu!" Xue Jian quickly expressed.
Elder Liu really needed a group of loyal subordinates and Xue Jian had internal conflict with himself to play that role. Being a loyal follower of Elder Liu, would guarantee survival since power is key. The rules of this world and the real world or other games are quite different, to be stubborn with internal turmoil means waiting to die. Xue Jian wasn't the type of person to be stubborn with pride.
Zhao Meng, Thunder Martial, HuJun and Zhou JingJing, witnessed yet another level 5 player being cultivated by Elder Liu. They only felt disappointment in themselves. They've followed Liu Gan for a long time, way longer than Xue Jian. Even then, it didn't seem to factor into being able to have a chance at leveling up. Seems like as more new players join, they will be push further behind in Liu Gan's heart. At this rate, it seemed like any potential player would surpass them in ranking.
What a terrible life! They didn't know when it would be their turn to level up. Even if the player chose to leave on their own accord, it would be impossible for them to survive so it would be nonsense to think they could kill a Variant Zombie by themselves.
So the best option is to continue waiting. As long as they stayed alive in the group, they believed that one day they could level up. It was already a proven fact, with Zhang Hua getting a chance to level up after gaining an achievement in helping to kill the Carapace Variant Zombie. There was hope! Just as long as they could stay alive.
Liu Gan investigated Xue Jian's ability for awhile. It was no surprise to Liu Gan. Xue Jian had been a guild leader in his previous game, many players gathered by his side. So he must have some sort of leadership ability, and the awaken ability proves that there is a correlation between personality and ability.
Every player reaching level 5 would awaken an ability. Even the enhanced local survivors would get some effect from it. There were factors that must be taken into account too, such as the person's specialty and experiences in life. Only then, a rather fitting ability would awaken.
Considering this fact, Liu Gan thought about his own first ability [Mist Armor]. Perhaps, it was that long year of being a quadruple amputee that caused him to become an introvert and resulted in him putting up his guard against others. Maybe that was why he awakened that ability?
Regardless, Liu Gan didn't want to think too much on the past. In fact, Liu Gan was very satisfied with [Mist Armor] at least with this defensive ability, he had a higher chance of survival. As for the offensive side, he has his alloy limbs, which wouldn't lose to any player. As of right now, his limbs far surpassed all the abilities of the players he had seen so far.
That would be more than enough for him.
"Lee Miao, come kill this baby." Liu Gan quickly ordered.
"Me? Why?" Lee Miao's eyes widened as she looked blankly at Liu Gan, then at Zhang ShengLi.
"Just do as Elder Liu asks of you." Zhang ShengLi walked over and whispered into Lee Miao's ear.
"Why must we kill this baby?" Lee Miao asked with a complicated expression. As a doctor, she witnessed many bloody scenes even before the apocalypse and the rise of the zombies. So she understood that the zombie baby was no longer of the human species, but she still couldn't help herself whenever she looks into the baby's sad eyes.
"Elder Liu, this baby was born from that Variant Zombie. Can I suggest to you, that if we can feed it, we can train it like a pet, it might help us in our combat strength." Zhang ShengLi whispered to Liu Gan. Zhang ShengLi was stuck between a rock and a hard place, in this situation.
"Feed it? It requires either human blood or maybe the milk produced by the mother. We've killed the mother already, so it's not feasible to find human blood to feed it. Other than that, the moment we remove the stuffing from its mouth, the scream will return and lure all nearby zombies here. We can't defend against that. Another thing is, I don't think that feeding this baby will mean that it will obey our commands."
"Lee Miao's physical attributes are nearly a match for level 4 players right? If I have her kill it, I want to see if this small baby will be considered a Variant Zombie according to The Trembling World rules. If she awakens an ability from killing a Variant Zombie this easily, it will be a good chance for her since there might not be something as easy next time. Reconsider that fact!" Liu Gan explained in detail to Zhang ShengLi.
"Thank you for explaining, Elder Liu!"
Zhang ShengLi suddenly realized after hearing Liu Gan's explanation. Normally, Liu Gan didn't explain to anyone, so what a rare moment to see how caring Liu Gan was. Now just incase, Liu Gan's presumption was correct, that this small baby would be a Variant Zombie, then Lee Miao could awaken an ability. Then in battle, she wouldn't be a liability, but an asset.
This was an only once in a lifetime opportunity! It may not come again!
Zhang ShengLi walked back to Lee Miao's side. He whispered into her ears the reasons and theories behind it. Lee Miao was happy that Zhang ShengLi was conveying his thoughts to her. Right when Lee Miao was mustering up courage to do the task, she looked at the baby, but felt unbearable pity.
Zhang ShengLi worried that Lee Miao's hesitation would make Liu Gan unhappy, and pass on the opportunity to others. Quickly, Zhang ShengLi whispered more words of encouragement and pulled her over to the baby. Finally, Lee Miao slammed down the axe countless times while it was held down by Zhang ShengLi, until the baby's head came rolling off.