"Let's go to Jingyuan Hotel after we're done eating!" Wang Luo said.
"Ah? You're willing to go with me?" Zhao Qingxuan looked at Wang Luo in surprise.
"What are you talking about? He's my future father-in-law. Of course, I have to go see him!"
"Thank you, Wang Luo. No matter the outcome, I thank you in advance!"
"Why be so polite? Just drink some papaya soup tonight!"
"..."
After breakfast and a short rest, the two left the villa.
The villa area wasn't densely populated, so there weren't many zombies, just a few scattered ones wandering aimlessly.
"A zombie's fatal weakness is its head. If you blow up its head, it dies."
"Also, some zombies have energy source crystals in their heads. Absorbing them can increase our Awakened levels!"
"And the number of energy source crystals we can absorb varies depending on the level of awakened ability."
Wang Luo explained some basic knowledge to Zhao Qingxuan.
"How do you know so much?" Zhao Qingxuan was surprised.
"Because I'm handsome enough!"
At this moment, a nearby zombie spotted them and let out a roar before pouncing.
Zhao Qingxuan's face turned pale, her hands trembling as she gripped the baseball bat. Although she had awakened her ability, she hadn't yet grasped any skills, so her attacks were still primarily with cold weapons.
However, she didn't panic. The green zombie bloodstains on her baseball bat indicated she had killed zombies before.
Wang Luo stood to the side, holding "Yuan," with no intention of intervening. How could the "Dark Night Empress," who had awakened an SSS-level ability, not overcome such a small obstacle!
Furthermore, after awakening her SSS-level ability, Zhao Qingxuan's physical condition had surpassed that of ordinary people. Despite her slender frame, she could easily knock down a two to three hundred pound strong man with a single punch, she just hadn't mastered this strength yet!
Seeing the zombie lunging at her, Zhao Qingxuan quickly sidestepped. She swung her baseball bat fiercely, smashing it into the back of the zombie's head and splitting it open!
"You're so violent!" Wang Luo teased, looking at her pale face.
"Not at all, I just didn't expect my strength to be this great!" Zhao Qingxuan gave a wry smile.
"Huh? Is this an energy source crystal?" She forced herself to endure the nausea and pulled out a milky white rhomboid crystal from a pile of green viscous matter.
"Lucky you, this is an energy source crystal. Its appearance rate is only 10%!"
"This is just an ordinary-grade energy source crystal. Later, there will be Black Iron, Bronze, and Silver grades."
"Absorbing enough ordinary-grade energy source crystals can allow an ordinary-grade Awakened to upgrade to Black Iron!" Wang Luo explained.
"What is an ordinary-grade Awakened?"
"It's like us, those who have just awakened their abilities and haven't absorbed enough energy source crystals to level up are ordinary-grade Awakened!"
"Oh! Then this is for you!" Zhao Qingxuan handed over the energy source crystal.
"You should keep it. I collected quite a bit yesterday, and you'll likely need about 90 to upgrade to Black Iron. That's a significant task!" Wang Luo refused, not accepting it.
He himself had collected over twenty, and with another day of collecting, he should reach around fifty. Moreover, it took zombies about a month to evolve from ordinary to Black Iron, so he wasn't in a hurry to upgrade. As for other Awakened, they were all still in the exploration phase, and no one would break through in the short term.
"Alright, I'll keep it for now. Remember to tell me if you need it!"
"Yes, I won't be polite."
Then, Wang Luo led Zhao Qingxuan in hunting zombies in the villa area. Of course, he didn't stand idle.
Seeing a zombie lunging at him, his dark blade was instantly unsheathed. Then, sawtooth-like cyan wind power wrapped around the black blade. With a light swing, "shriik," the entire zombie was cleaved in two.
This was not a new skill, but an extended application of his palm blade! The wind energy that could originally only envelop his hands was now attached to "Yuan." This was a technique he had mastered in his previous life!
However, with just this one strike, he felt drained. He hadn't started absorbing energy source crystals yet, so there was no energy stored within him. Using skills naturally required energy, which led to his depletion!
But it wasn't a big problem; he just needed to rest. In fact, energy source crystals could also be used to restore internal energy, but Wang Luo was reluctant to use them now!
"It seems it's best not to use skills until I upgrade to Black Iron!" Wang Luo thought to himself.
"So strong!" Zhao Qingxuan exclaimed from the side. With just a casual swing, such a large zombie was dismembered!
"What's so great about that? After you pass your coming-of-age ceremony, I'll show you something even stronger!"
Zhao Qingxuan blinked, confused, "Why after the coming-of-age ceremony? Can't you show me now?"
"Are you sure you want to know now?" Wang Luo looked at her with a playful smile.
Zhao Qingxuan instantly realized what he meant, her face flushing slightly. She chided him as a pervert! Although society was more open now, her upbringing was strict, and she hadn't dated anyone yet, making her sensitive to such matters.
"What are you thinking? I meant I'll develop more powerful skills later!"
"Pervert!" Zhao Qingxuan twisted her waist and ran off to kill zombies. She now had the ability to kill zombies on her own.
"Tsk tsk! So sexy even in jeans. If she wore black stockings with letters, imagine that?" Wang Luo chuckled. The woman he couldn't win over in his past life was destined to not escape this one.
"In my past life, you pinned me to the ground and rubbed me. In this life, I'll pin you to the bed and rub you. Then we'll be even!"
But not now. Although order had collapsed, certain moral boundaries remained deeply ingrained in his heart.
An hour later, Wang Luo's expression turned grim. He had killed over twenty zombies, yet not a single energy source crystal.
"I got another energy source crystal!" Zhao Qingxuan shouted gleefully from not far away. This was her fifth energy source crystal.
"This makes no sense! She got five energy source crystals from killing nine zombies, while I got none from over twenty?"
"Could it be that women are more likely to get crystals than men?"
"I refuse to believe this!" Wang Luo went on a killing spree, and after several tens of minutes, he finally obtained his first energy source crystal of the day. His luck was truly terrible! But Zhao Qingxuan had already collected eight...
Wang Luo was somewhat dejected! He couldn't understand the reason. He walked further out towards the periphery, where there were more zombies. He refused to believe his luck would remain this bad!
The reality was that his luck wasn't bad; Zhao Qingxuan's luck was just too good! She truly found an energy source crystal every two to three zombies, while his was... unspeakable...
Not far from them, a man wielding a fire axe was decapitating a zombie.
"Huh? What's this?" Chen Zhou curiously picked out an energy source crystal, stained with green viscous matter, from the zombie's shattered head. His gaze fell upon Wang Luo, who was also extracting an energy source crystal from a zombie's head. He shouted, "Brother, do you know what this thing is used for?"
Wang Luo looked up at him. "Give me what you're holding, and I'll tell you!" There's no such thing as a free lunch! Chen Zhou immediately understood that this was something valuable, and he had found one after killing several zombies, so it must be very precious.
"Brother, you're taking advantage of the situation, aren't you? The world has become like this, shouldn't we help each other?"
Wang Luo nodded seriously. "You're absolutely right. Actually, that thing can enhance the body when absorbed!"
Chen Zhou's expression lit up. Enhance the body? So it really was a good thing! To survive in the apocalypse, one needed strength!
"Brother, how do I absorb it?"
"Swallow it directly. Be sure to do it while it's warm. Once it cools, the energy inside will dissipate!"