I have an Apocalypse City

Chapter 43: The Mutation

Translator: 549690339

Song Jian, holding Li Ke’er’s hand, felt safer as they moved further from the black fog behind them. However, unbeknownst to him, in his wake was a golden eye over ten meters wide, relentlessly staring at his back.

Entering the small grove, Song Jian heaved a sigh of relief, feeling significantly calmer as though he had just escaped from a beast’s lair.

“Little Cheap Brother, shall we continue to gather stones and wood?” asked Li Ke’er.

Song Jian glanced at the sun sinking rapidly in the west; night was approaching. Although the grove seemed safe and devoid of any creatures, a sense of unease gnawed at him. He had an odd feeling that something bad would happen in the grove at night.

“We should head back first, there’s no rush,” Song Jian suggested after some thought.

Li Ke’er obediently nodded and held onto Song Jian’s hand as they headed back towards the city together.

After consuming an Attribute Fruit of golden quality, apart from intelligence, Song Jian’s attributes were comparable to those of a fully grown athlete. His strength exceeded any assumptions – including equipment modifications, Song Jian’s strength attribute was the highest among all his attributes, having achieved nine points. This essentially meant that even the strongest weightlifter in reality would be no match for him.

However, his attributes were still significantly inferior to creatures of similar level. At most, his physique was equivalent to that of a Level Three creature.

The challenging aspect of the game lay herein: levelling up did not add attribute points but only gave one skill point. Moreover, attacking creatures of lower levels would dramatically reduce experience points gained. Being at Level Five now, Song Jian could only dare to hunt creatures below Level Three. Fighting creatures of the same level posed a high risk of injury. And given that this was a “single life” game, Song Jian dared not take unnecessary risks. As for leaving the so-called “Novice Village”, that was going to take a while.

Having sent Li Ke’er back to the inn, Song Jian returned to his villa, patiently waiting for the night to fall.

Soon, as the sunset faded away, night fell, and the creatures within the city began to awaken. Roars and growls echoed everywhere as all creatures emerged from dark corners, making themselves known on the open streets.

Inside his villa, Song Jian instinctively looked out towards Camel Square, but the apocalyptic supermarket still hadn’t appeared. He fetched his gear and stepped out of the villa, sighing at the sight of all the mutated zombies on the street.

No matter how many of these mutated zombies he killed, they seemed to keep resurfacing. Whether he killed tons today, by the time night fell the next day, an equal number of zombies would appear. He sometimes wondered if these creatures would just respawn in the system.

But if they did respawn, how could he exterminate all the creatures within a kilometer radius around the safe house?

There were many aspects of the game that needed to be explored. As Song Jian pondered, he charged towards a herd of zombies, his dagger in hand.

Upon sensing his approach, the zombie staggered forward to meet him. Song Jian jabbed at the zombie’s head, dealing a critical strike of over seventy points. He instantly ducked, slashing his dagger across the zombie’s chest to dodge its two skinny arms. He sidestepped, leaving a gaping hole in its waist and emerged behind the zombie. Turning around, he stabbed it in the back. The attack wiped off the creature’s remaining vitality points.

Before he could collect the white quality material dropped by the zombie, three more zombies detected his presence and stumbled towards him.

Song Jian faced them head-on, brandishing his dagger. Like a butterfly, he darted between the three mutated zombies, leaving a trail of white slashes. Damage numbers floated above their heads. Within a few seconds, all three zombies turned to black ash.

A random zombie was much tougher than most humans. Newbies could only kill daytime zombies, whose attributes were halved. Nighttime zombies, whose attributes were normal, dominated any freshers.

But to Song Jian, these nighttime zombies were just another weakling.

On one side, Song Jian had eaten several Attribute Fruits, his attributes having surpassed those of the zombies. Besides, even though the zombies had restored their vitality, they still appeared stiff, and their slow movements gave them away. So for Song Jian, killing them was as easy as eating or drinking.

Within half an hour, he had cleared an entire street of mutated zombies, having killed at least fifty of them. Yet, his experience points had only increased by 3%. All the loot was merely a pile of materials, not a single piece of equipment.

Just as Song Jian was planning to clean up the next street, a green beam of light suddenly burst into the sky in the distance. The beam shot straight from the ground to the sky, visible from every corner of the city.

“What is that?” Song Jian wondered, staring at the intriguing phenomenon.

Soon, he heard roars of fury. Something seemed to have provoked the creatures around the green beam. They swarmed from different directions, rushing towards the beam’s location.

Curious, Song Jian quickly headed towards the beam. In the dark, he could vaguely see many people being attracted to the green beam.

After crossing two streets and climbing over a wire fence, Song Jian saw a man standing agape near a newsstand by the road. A swarm of mutated zombies rushed towards the newsstand.

“Goddamn it! Why would establishing a safe house attract a monster siege? There was no mention of this in the main task!” A man standing by the newsstand exclaimed, his face reflecting utter despair.

At that moment, a green beam encompassed everything within a ten-meter radius of the newsstand. All the monsters prowled outside the green beam, daring not to edge closer. The crazed zombies trying to break through the beam melted as though they had touched sulfuric acid, causing parts of their bodies to dissolve rapidly. Screams of intense pain prompted them to retreat.

More and more monsters gathered. From afar, at least a few hundred mutated zombies were visible, including dozens of mutated beasts. Additionally, there were a few creatures Song Jian had never seen before, but most of them were Level Two and Three creatures.

As the beam glowed brighter, the newsstand began to transform.

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