"W-what just happened?!" I asked myself as my gaze landed on the palms of my hands— the very location where my high-leveled rabid human was lying down a split second ago.
The realization gradually hit me as the System's prompt was soaked in my mind. It did say that my rabid human has returned to my barracks or something like that. If that was true, then what was the point in bawling my eyes out?
Bring me back my tears!
"I-I was trying to tell you, Yongrui." The System stammered as if she was bashful about it. "But you were too into crying that I didn't want to ruin the mood."
"Thanks for not ruining the mood... I wasted precious tears because of you."
Once again, the system gave me a useless title. I clicked my tongue in disgust as I remembered how my tears flowed when I realized that my rabid human was on its death's door. For sure, I could say that I feel a bit of empathy towards rabid humans even though they're already dead. As for why I don't know either.
Maybe when I was bitten by Natalia five years ago, something clicked in my brain, making me feel emotions towards rabid humans... er, I mean, empathy towards rabid humans. If I say I feel emotions towards them, then that would cause countless misunderstandings.
I stood up and brushed myself off. After sitting in a cultivating position for a long time, my legs got numb and I felt a slight itch and pain as blood rushed through my legs once again.
Time to head out!
Right now, the possibility of turning into a rabid human is on the negatives so I didn't have to worry about it. However, it's not like I would just go back to Yu Sying and Lin Xian. That would just be awkward. So with that thought in mind, I decided to head northward, to the shelter that Lin Xian escaped from.
Honestly, I'm not quite sure whether to destroy the shelter or just get rid of its governor. On one hand, destroying the shelter would only expose all the survivors inside to outside dangers such as high-leveled rabid humans. And on the other hand, if I let it continue, they would just suffer as their numbers slowly dwindled. By that, I mean, because they eat each other.
As I continued my walk, the clouds that partially blocked the moonlight finally dispersed, revealing the chaotic mess that I was in. Dilapidated buildings, broken-down roads, and exactly everything you see was just wreckage. Adding to that, countless rabid humans lurk around the night. They were in their dormant state so they weren't running around chasing each other and biting each other's heads off.
And there were no people around.
To think that it had been five years ever since the outbreak happened. I still can't find it in me to accept it. For me, it was just yesterday when I was attempting to reach the Transcendence Realm and-
Wait!
As I turned around, seeing a rabid human look at me. Then a realization suddenly hit me!
When I supposedly died five years ago, my cultivation level reset to zero and it took me five years to return to being human and reaching the Spirit Realm, which was the second realm that preceded the mortal realm.
"T-then... that means," I muttered, stopping short as I continued gazing at the rabid human in front of me. "All those who survived the initial virus outbreak are well ahead of me in terms of cultivation?! No way!"
A simple calculation would prove that those who were behind me in cultivation back in the day would have had five years more to cultivate and that would either put them in my peak level or somewhere along those lines. And also, someone who reached the fourth realm, the King Realm, would have had an easy time eliminating the rabid humans at the commencement of the outbreak. Meaning to say, ninety-nine percent of them were capable of surviving.
To say the least, that puts me at a disadvantage as someone who's just in the Spirit Realm. If I don't get stronger, I would just get tossed around by them if I happen to meet them.
This leads me to my conclusion... I should just level up and cultivate until I could face them head-on. With the help of the System, I should be able to cultivate at a faster pace than them but nevertheless, I feel like it won't be long now before I meet some of them again.
Some of my rivals in terms of cultivation, like the White Dragon Sect Master, or the Immovable Mountain Sect Master. Five years ago, they were already in the Dao Realm like I was and they were also striving to attain the Transcendence Realm. As it turns out, I was the unfortunate one for having my cultivation destroyed. By now, they would've reached at least the Second Stage Transcendence Realm, assuming that it takes much longer to cultivate in that Realm compared to the lower ones.
As the rabid human stared into my soul and I did the same, it lost its composure and propelled itself towards me, arms flailing and teeth chattering. It didn't growl nor moan, it just offensively went after me as it clenched its teeth.
Without a second to spare, I activated the Virus Qi Core in my body and directed the flow of its qi energy to my fists. I finally got a little bit of enlightenment when it came to using the Virus Qi Core but it wasn't enough to permanently stabilize its flow. Nevertheless, it did the trick as I punched the living daylights out of Stage 1 Low-Leveled rabid humans.
<1 EXP gained>
Just as I expected, leveling up would make it harder for me to gain more exp. "Oh well, 320 low-level ones aren't that many. And I need to practice how to use my Virus Qi Core efficiently."
"It's time for a killing spree!" I shouted, attracting various zombies nearby.