"Congratulations! By using a special item, your talent has received an upgrade!"
"Homebody's Haven": In addition to the original talent effect, you now possess the "Reward Stacking" talent upgrade.
"Reward Stacking": The more you use talent rewards, the higher the level of rewards you'll receive, with a significant increase in the chance of obtaining advanced talent rewards.
"Huh? A luck-based upgrade effect?" Yi Bai tilted his head, studying the description with satisfaction.
Increasing the effectiveness of talent rewards was definitely a good thing.
Though the upgraded effect didn't guarantee that every reward would be a high-tier one, Yi Bai received rewards every day.
If he kept this up, there was bound to be a time when he'd hit the jackpot with a top-tier talent reward.
"Let's try this one!"
Yi Bai picked up the last special item, the Personal Skill Voucher.
He'd seen it before in the points shop, but had never purchased it. The price was simply too high for the early stages.
Moreover, its effect conflicted with Yi Bai's shelter-based talent, as he was unlikely to leave the shelter often.
Even if he did acquire a personal skill, he wouldn't have much use for it, given that he rarely ventured out.
But now, since this item was essentially free, he figured he might as well use it.
"Use!"
Yi Bai activated the Personal Skill Voucher, and silver light appeared in his palm before dissolving into his skin.
The next moment, a new prompt appeared before him.
"Congratulations! Using the Personal Skill Voucher has granted you a D-rank skill: Comprehensive Resistance."
Comprehensive Resistance: Passive Skill; Your body has a slight increase in resistance to diseases, high fever, extreme cold, and penetrating disasters. Your bones have also become stronger, making it less likely to suffer fractures from falls.
"Ah? A D-rank?" Yi Bai felt a bit disappointed. He had hoped for a C-rank at least.
And it was a passive skill, improving his own traits.
Looking at the skill description, it seemed strong, but the slight increase left Yi Bai feeling underwhelmed.
How much could a "slight increase" really help?
For example, Yi Bai could now feel that the room didn't feel as cold as usual.
He got up and opened the window, letting in a gust of hot air, which enveloped him warmly.
Normally, if he did that, the heat would be unbearable. But today, it felt much more tolerable.
"Well, there's some effect, but it's not that obvious. I still feel hot," Yi Bai shook his head, thinking the skill wasn't worth 2,000 points.
"Why didn't that unlucky guy use his 2,000 points to upgrade the shelter?"
"Upgrading the shelter would be a huge boost, giving access to new rooms and essential combat modules."
Yi Bai stroked his chin thoughtfully and opened the shelter's level rankings.
It was already the seventh day of the apocalypse, and the only Level 1 shelter in the whole city was his—everyone else still had Level 0 shelters.
"Strange, why hasn't anyone else upgraded their shelters?" Yi Bai frowned. "With so many survivors, there must be others who qualify for an upgrade."
"Wait... they might be missing something other than points... Talent? Or upgrade materials?"
Yi Bai recalled the five requirements for upgrading his shelter. For him, points had been the biggest hurdle.
But for the bandits and raiders outside, points were certainly not an issue.
The only problem was talent and upgrade materials.
Upgrade materials, as far as Yi Bai knew, could only be obtained through dispatch missions. There didn't seem to be any other way to acquire them.
As for talent, Yi Bai's shelter was filled with gifted individuals, most of whom had been recruited through talent rewards.
The only exception was Jiang Xiaoci, who had been awarded through a national-level achievement.
And then there was Chen Qiuren, who had been recruited through a special talent lottery item.
"So, talent units are quite rare!"
"Even that unlucky guy must have reached some special condition to qualify for the talent item."
"As for the others, unless they have a special channel, they probably can't recruit even a single low-level shelter talent."
Yi Bai mumbled to himself, pondering: "Why didn't that guy use his item to recruit talent earlier?"
"Could it be... he only just earned the right to buy the item?"
"Or maybe he didn't have enough points until recently and had to grind for them by raiding nearby shelters? Maybe he only gathered enough points tonight?"
Yi Bai felt that his guess was likely true. If so, then the guy was indeed in for some bad luck!
Just when he was about to achieve his goal, Yi Bai swooped in and took it all.
The item was gone, the points were gone, and the guy was dead!
"By the way... does this mean..." Yi Bai's eyes widened. He felt an excitement building in him.
"Even if there are other survivors with ways to recruit talent, there can't be many."
"After all, right now, I'm the only one with a shelter upgraded to Level 1, and the unlucky guy who could've upgraded was killed by me."
"Even if others want to upgrade, they probably won't be able to do so anytime soon. After all, the game mechanics for acquiring talent have yet to be revealed!"
"Huh... I feel like I'm ahead of everyone in this version of the apocalypse!"
The more Yi Bai thought about it, the stranger it felt.
Talent units were a scarce resource, and he had a whole bunch of them. Meanwhile, the other survivors didn't even have a single one.
It was like he was playing a beta version of the game while everyone else was stuck on the public release.
"The SS-grade talent really is something! It's packed with potential!" Yi Bai grinned.
At first, he had underestimated his talent, thinking that the rewards were a bit underwhelming. But now, after a week of the apocalypse, it was clear that he was the only one ahead of the game.
"You guys can't even upgrade your shelters, and I already have a whole team of talent units!"
"Nice!"
Yi Bai grinned, rubbing the back of his neck. He then flopped onto the bed.
"Sleep!"
"Sleep is the best way to pass time. I'll wait until tomorrow noon for the next wave of rewards!"
"Hopefully, tomorrow's talent rewards will give me even more talent!"
Yi Bai had realized the rarity of talent units, so he was hoping for more to be given to him in the next talent reward.
He slept soundly until noon, and when he woke up, it was already 11:30 AM.
As he got out of bed, he noticed Jiang Xiaoci was busy setting up breakfast on the dining table.
Noticing Yi Bai's gaze, she looked up and smiled. "Good morning, sir. Come wash up and have your meal."
Her gentle demeanor made Yi Bai feel a strange sense of family, as if he had a wife and children.
"Mm, what about Chen Qiuren?"
Yi Bai got dressed while asking about the new recruit.
"Sir, he's already started work."
"Work?"
"Yes, he seems to prefer working on his own terms, so he's set up his own schedule."
Jiang Xiaoci explained, "I looked over it, and it seemed fine, so I left him to it. After all, he's loyal to you, sir. I didn't want to impose on him."
"His own schedule? Tell me more."
Yi Bai was curious and sat down at the table.
"He said he'll wake up at 8 AM every day and work in the medical room until 8 PM."
"After 8 PM, he won't do any medical work unless you personally order him to."
"Also, every weekend, he wants a day off from work."
"Lastly, he wants access to Li Ya's research facility. I think he wants to work on something there... probably poison."
Yi Bai chuckled. "Even in the apocalypse, this guy's setting office hours? He even wants weekends off?"
"Does he really think he's a doctor?"
"The real doctors are busier than him, with emergency shifts and all."
Jiang Xiaoci asked, "Sir, should I allow it? If not, I can ask him to change it."
"It's fine. There aren't many people in the shelter yet, and no one gets sick every day. Let him adjust for now."
Yi Bai shook his head. "Let him get used to it for a while. By the way, how did Li Ya respond to his request for the research facility?"
"Li Ya won't let him in."
Jiang Xiaoci spoke softly, "I couldn't convince Li Ya. It seems she's working on a new tech module, which might help the shelter, so I didn't want to disturb her."
"Good job." Yi Bai nodded. "Ask Chen Qiuren what equipment he needs. Send out some soldiers to find it. If we can get it, we will; if not, let him wait."
"His main job is healing, so we don't need him for poison or killing right now. No need to rush."
"By the way, we should resume the shelter's exploration missions today. We need to focus on collecting upgrade materials."
Yi Bai's shelter was well-stocked, equipped, and had plenty of talented individuals.
What he lacked was the upgrade materials to further level up the shelter.
Now that he was in the lead, Yi Bai wanted to take advantage of it and upgrade his shelter as much as possible before the others caught up.
One level wasn't enough!
He hoped to get his shelter to Level 7 or 8 before anyone else could catch up.
"Yes, sir." Jiang Xiaoci nodded. After a brief conversation on other matters, it was time for the talent rewards.
Yi Bai had just sat down with a cup of tea when a new prompt appeared in front of him.
He looked up in anticipation, but when he saw the notification, he froze. His full cup of tea slipped from his hand, splashing all over his pants.
"Ow! Damn! That's hot!"
Yi Bai cried out, completely caught off guard.
"Ah! Sir!" Jiang Xiaoci, quick to react, rushed over in alarm to help.