Chapter 27 - Night

As the first known Awakened who had advanced, Zhang Ye took the initiative to classify his current state as a Level 2 Awakened.

Level 1 was the state of the previous him, and the current Wang Xiong, Zhang Chengcheng, and the others.

Ordinary people were considered Level 0.

This corresponded to the levels of the zombies.

In the courtyard, Meng Jie assisted Zhang Ye in conducting the test.

Strength, speed, physical fitness, and so on.

About an hour later, the test results were out.

"Double."

"Your current state is twice as strong in all aspects compared to before."

If, for example, Zhang Ye's average three-dimensional attributes were 10 points at Level 1.

Then it had now increased to 20 points.

And the exponential growth of attributes meant a breakthrough in real combat power!

With Zhang Ye's current state, he could even defeat the outstanding Level 1 Awakened—Wang Xiong—with one hand!

"That's not all."

After Zhang Ye finished speaking, he stretched out his right hand in front of everyone.

One could see a faint red light emanating from Zhang Ye's hand and soon, a small flame appeared in his hand.

This magical scene made everyone present gasp in awe.

Zhang Ye casually flicked the flame, and it traveled ten meters before landing on the ground and exploding with a bang, producing a blast comparable to a hand grenade.

"This is what I've previously mentioned, my new awakened ability!"

The three Level 1 Awakened marveled at it, and Meng Jie summarized, "Level 1 Awakened don't have such a special ability. In other words, only Level 2 Awakened can awaken such a special ability."

"Let's call it an extraordinary power for now."

A new term was born.

...

As the saying goes, good things come in pairs.

Today, two major events occurred in the Zhang family's stronghold.

First, it was the addition of a new Awakened, Wang Xiong.

Second, Leader Zhang Ye successfully advanced and became the first known Level 2 Awakened.

At dinner, even the ordinary survivors received an extra can of meat.

The Zhang family's stronghold implemented a communal meal system.

The supplies were distributed uniformly. Unless there were special circumstances, if one wanted to eat, they had to come to the dining hall.

Yu Fei and Bai Lu took their trays and got their meals at the counter.

There wasn't much, half a bowl of white rice, some dried and pickled vegetables, and of course, a can of meat.

Before the apocalypse, Yu Fei and Bai Lu would have looked down on such a meal - they had bootlickers to take them to fancy restaurants every day.

But, after more than 10 days in the apocalypse, the edges of the two fairies had been smoothed out. At least, this was the most delicious meal they had in the apocalypse. Previously, they only ate packaged food like instant noodles near Lu Ming's house.

They were no longer concerned about maintaining their image.

Yu Fei and Bai Lu ate with gusto, and wolfed down their food.

While they were eating, they heard a voice next to them. The two of them looked up and saw a young and beautiful woman smile and take the initiative to sit beside Yu Fei.

"Hello, my name is Zhang Chengcheng. I see there's no one with you, do you mind if I sit here?"

"No problem. Be my guest."

Even though they had only been here for an afternoon, Yu Fei and Bai Lu had heard of Zhang Chengcheng—Zhang Ye's biological sister, an Awakened in the gathering place.

At first, the two of them were a bit awkward, but Zhang Chengcheng, despite her high status and strong abilities, had a cheerful and genuine personality.

The three girls were all attractive and close in age, so they quickly started chatting.

Zhang Chengcheng asked, "By the way, where was your gathering place before?"

Yu Fei: "Over at Guangping Street."

"Are there many zombies over there?"

"There are no zombies near our gathering place. They have been all cleaned up by Brother Wang and Brother Lu, but there are many zombies at the entrance of the village. These were the ones that were previously fighting Zhang Lixin and the others. Many of them are still blocking the entrance of the village."

Yu Fei's reply intrigued Zhang Chengcheng.

She knew about the military situation but had not investigated it herself.

At noon, she heard from Zhang Lixin that there was leftover military equipment and vehicles there. This was undoubtedly a great treasure trove for the Zhang clan gathering place.

At this moment, while casually chatting with Yu Fei and Bai Lu, she also wanted to inquire about the situation over there. After all, their original gathering place was relatively close to the battlefield.

Unexpectedly, Yu Fei told her another piece of news.

"Brother Lu? Who is Brother Lu?"

"Lu Ming, an Awakened from our original gathering place."

Another Awakened…

Wang Xiong had never mentioned this.

Zhang Chengcheng asked curiously, "Why isn't he here?"

Yu Fei chuckled softly. "Brother Lu, how should I put it? He's very, very strange. I've lived there for a week, but I haven't seen that person leave the house."

Bai Lu added, "When we decided to move out yesterday, Brother Wang even went to tell Lu Ming to come along. But for some reason, that weirdo hid at home and didn't budge. Now, he's the only one left over there… I reckon we'll be able to collect his corpse before long."

Yu Fei and Bai Lu's words made Zhang Chengcheng frown.

She wanted to say something, but thought better of it. Instead, she just changed the topic.

"Are you comfortable staying here?"

Yu Fei and Bai Lu nodded repeatedly.

"Comfortable! The bed sheets and covers are new."

"The food is also better here, much, much better."

"And there are more people, so it's safer."

"I've been there for a week, but I haven't even tasted any meat. But here, we get to eat meat right away…."

In short, this place is good, while the other place is not.

For some reason, Zhang Chengcheng felt a l,bit bored chatting with these two women.

She politely smiled and said, "You guys eat. I have something to do."

Then she left on her own.

Before leaving the dining hall, Zhang Chengcheng caught a glimpse of Li Zi sitting at Yu Fei and Bai Lu's table, occupying the seat she had just left, chatting and laughing with the two women.

...

Lu Ming's dinner was rice, boiled chicken breast, and dehydrated vegetables.

The portion was generous, but the taste was mediocre.

However, Lu Ming was not a picky eater. He only ate to replenish his daily consumption.

After dinner, Lu Ming opened his attribute panel.

Name: Lu Ming.

Strength: 28.5

Physique: 29

Agility: 27.3

Hand-to-hand Combat: Level 8 to Level 9

The peaceful day was coming to an end.

After going up to the second floor and practicing archery for a while, he suddenly heard rumbling footsteps from outside.

The sound insulation in Lu Ming's house was quite good…

If Lu Ming could hear the footsteps at home, it showed how loud the outside noise was!

He quickly went to the window and opened the observation hole.

At a glance, Lu Ming saw a large number of zombies mixed with sporadic giant zombies walking towards the village like an army…

With just a glance, Lu Ming immediately closed the observation hole and took a deep breath.

"It's the group of zombies from the village entrance!"

"A zombie outbreak!?"

"No, this is clearly a targeted and organized operation!"

"It looks like something is going to happen tonight…"

He quickly fetched his weapon.

There were so many zombies outside that they could easily overwhelm Lu Ming. From the current perspective, the horde's target was not Lu Ming, so he didn't want to actively provoke the zombies.

But a threat was still a threat!

Lu Ming was uneasy.

"Unfortunately, my attributes are still not enough. If my three-dimensional attributes were over 100, no, over 200, I would definitely kill all of you!"

At this moment, Lu Ming thought of Wang Xiong.

He is truly an excellent meat shield…

If he were still here…

After a simple simulation, Lu Ming shook his head. "We still can't beat them."

"So, it goes to show that you have to rely on yourself!"