"Master, be a man and withstand this punch, don't let Dawn look down on you!" Dawn encouraged from the side.
"Enough talk, got it!" Anthony forcefully stopped his subconscious evasion and took the punch from the mechanical arm head-on. At that moment, Dash's Tough Qi immediately came into play. As the fist hit his shoulder, spiritual energy automatically gathered at the point of impact, canceling out most of the force and leaving only a small portion to dissipate.
"Master, please stop your small movements and rely solely on your muscle memory," Dawn spoke again.
Anthony's ears turned red, and he exclaimed loudly, "Come again!" This time, he forcefully halted the flow of internal energy and endured the attack from the mechanical arm.
Despite his body undergoing several enhancements, this punch still caused Anthony to draw a sharp breath from the pain. Taking a deep breath, Anthony shouted, "Again!" The continuous strikes lasted for an hour, and finally, Anthony memorized this painful sensation. When faced with the approaching fist of the mechanical arm, his muscles would unconsciously begin to contract.
"I believe the master has felt the change in his muscles. The next step is to utilize the muscles as support and apply force," Dawn timely advised. "Remember, the initial goal is to redirect the force of the incoming strike, protecting oneself from the invasion of force. That is the current lesson."
Anthony nodded and silently attempted it.
Another hour passed. As the gust of the punch approached, Anthony remained motionless until the moment the opponent hit his shoulder, causing his body to suddenly tremble. In the next second, the mechanical arm that should have struck straight ahead unexpectedly changed direction and hit elsewhere.
"Finally, success!" Anthony exclaimed in excitement.
"Well done. Continue practicing tomorrow, using every part of your body as a point of force dissipation, not just the shoulders."
The two-hour training session concluded. Anthony drank the spiritual water in large gulps to replenish his body. Compared to the previous level two spiritual pool water, Anthony discovered that the changes brought about by the level three spiritual pool water were akin to body tempering from fantasy novels. He could clearly feel his body being strengthened, from the skin, muscles, and bones to the internal organs, even the tiny capillaries.
Feeling the changes in his body, Anthony whispered to himself, "System, check my body data."
"[Host]: Anthony
[Gender]: Male
[Age]: 23
[Level]: Postnatal Second Stage, Semi-Awakened
[Spirit]: 0.2 (Increases combat power by 20%)
[Wisdom]: 7.5 (Average human: 1)
[Strength]: 24.25 (Average human: 1)
[Agility]: 11.35 (Average human: 1)
[Mental]: 7.9 (Average human: 1)
[Virus Resistance]: 1.5 (Upon reaching 1, immune to Tier 1 and below common zombie viruses)
[Ability]: (Awakening Level: 42.0%)
[Skills]: Qi Absorption Method, Tough Qi Gong, Meditation, Combat (Advanced)
[Overall Combat Power]: 51"
After scanning the body data, both strength and speed had increased, but what caught his attention the most was the awakening level, which unexpectedly increased by 2%. It was a pleasant surprise.
Regarding Dawn, currently, Verna and Cheryl both had strength exceeding 400 pounds. As members of the Dawn Base, they also needed to train their own abilities to contribute to the base in the future.
After tidying up, Anthony walked to the recreation area and summoned everyone, saying, "Up until now, our Dawn Base has initially formed a team of four members. With the enhancement from the spiritual water, everyone's physical fitness has greatly improved. So, starting today, I need to assign tasks to each of you to fully exercise your abilities."
"Alright, spill it, I knew one day I'd become your worker," Dash sneered.
"Anthony, go ahead, we have no objections," the two women said. After peacefully staying in the base for these days, Cheryl and Verna felt a bit guilty. They were living off others, while Anthony, the owner of the base, went out hunting zombies at risk every day. It was indeed unfair. They had long hoped for Anthony to assign tasks.
Anthony was very satisfied with everyone's attitude and said, "First, Dash, as a combat unit, I assign you the task of clearing the street on Yanghe North Road."
"No problem," Dash readily agreed.
After assigning Dash's task, Anthony looked at Cheryl and said, "Cheryl, you and Doctor Verna will be responsible for covering and collecting crystals when Dash kills zombies."
"We promise to complete the task!" Cheryl exclaimed excitedly.
"And Doctor Verna, these days, you will practice killing zombies with Cheryl and Dash. After three days, you will focus on studying medical skills and stay in the base," Anthony said.
"No problem," Verna nodded.
In fact, Anthony had already planned each position. Verna, as a doctor, was an extremely valuable talent, but since she arrived at the base, she had been living a comfortable and stable life. This was not a good sign.
In the apocalypse, regardless of one's position, it was necessary to have a strong physique and basic combat abilities in order to improve survival chances. Therefore, Verna only needed to learn how to kill zombies. Cheryl and Dash didn't have any additional requirements for now. Being combat units was highly suitable. As the base expanded later, there might be other tasks assigned to them. But for now, the most important thing was to improve their combat strength.
After assigning the tasks, Anthony handed each person a hand grenade and instructed, "This is a Level 1 Doomsday Bomb. It has tremendous power and can injure Tier 1 mutated zombies. Keep it for self-defense. Also, I have the firearms we collected from the security office earlier. Each of you will be equipped with one. Cheryl knows where they are stored. Lastly, I want to emphasize that your personal safety should always come first. If you can't win, run away. We need to keep ourselves alive."
"We understand." The three of them felt Anthony's concern and nodded vigorously. "Good, now let's get moving."
"Lastly, I want to emphasize that you should never go to densely populated zombie areas, such as nursing homes, kindergartens, schools, hospitals, shopping malls, and other places." After the instructions, Anthony recorded the information of the three on the base gate so that they could enter by face recognition in his absence. Saying their goodbyes, Anthony left with his knife.
On July 9, 2024, at 8:40 in the morning, in the food alley across the street from the Linxian Survivor Base, a pile of scattered zombie corpses lay on the ground. They all shared a common cause of death—they were burned to charred remains, and the zombie crystals in their brains were nowhere to be found...
Inside a house in the Linxian Shaqiao community, a disheveled girl with red eyes knelt in front of two glass urns made for ashes. She forcefully knocked down, causing the cement floor to crack under the immense force. However, the girl seemed oblivious, tears continuously streaming down her cheeks. As she looked at the ashes in front of her, she murmured, "Dad, Mom, rest assured, Daisy will definitely avenge you."