It's unclear when it all began, but the zombie outbreak has turned once-thriving cities into wastelands.
The once-bustling shops are now in ruins, the streets littered with garbage that flies through the air with every gust of wind. Cars that have been smashed or collided with are haphazardly parked along the roadside.
Some have crashed into storefronts, others are overturned on the street, some are burnt out, and still others have shattered windows with trapped zombies inside, struggling to crawl out.
On the streets, one can see severed limbs and a few wandering zombies crawling on the ground, gnawing on the freshly dead bodies.
A sedan comes speeding down the road, and several zombies, hearing the noise, move towards it.
"Thud"
Without slowing down, the car knocks the zombies flying and continues to speed forward, ramming everything in its path.
Sterling sits in the back seat, staring intently at the "Heroic Battle-Type Exoskeleton Combat Armor" card.
[Heroic Battle-Type Exoskeleton Combat Armor (Purple Equipment)]
[All Attributes +20]
[Special Description: Growth-type equipment, upgradable, and combinable. For every level increase, all attributes +20]
Although the exoskeleton armor is cool, Sterling would rather not have this purple equipment if he could help it.
During Sterling's daze, the atmosphere in the car is unusually strange.
Amelia is focused on driving, while Alice sits in the passenger seat, occasionally stealing glances at Sterling through the rearview mirror, biting her tongue several times before finally speaking up.
"What was that with you discharging electricity all over your body before?"
Amelia also chimes in, breaking the awkward silence.
"Mmm, you were amazing. Seeing you in action was like Thor, the God of Thunder, descending."
"I'm still too weak."
For the first time in his life, Sterling feels utterly powerless.
If he were stronger, Captain George and the rescue team members wouldn't have had to sacrifice themselves.
"Still weak?"
Alice turns to stare at Sterling, incredulously saying:
"If you're considered weak, what does that make us?"
"I knew I made the right choice in following you. The abilities you've shown are those of the Chosen One, you are the Savior!"
Alice's eyes are filled with admiration, genuine and heartfelt.
But Sterling doesn't think so; he wants to become stronger, at least strong enough to stride confidently through the apocalypse and stand tall in this chaotic world.
"Bang"
The car suddenly hits a lone zombie, and the sudden noise startles Alice.
Sterling stops overthinking and puts on the [Exoskeleton Equipment], distributing all his [Remaining Attribute Points] evenly.
At this moment, Sterling's strength soars once again.
[Host: Sterling (Mythical Level Talent)]
[Combat Power 1376+1000]
[Strength: 125 (+25)]
[Speed: 12 (+25)]
[Reaction: 12.1 (+25)]
[Mental Strength: 26.1 (+25)]
[Special Equipment: Mutated Fire Axe; Madman's Dagger; Heroic Battle-Type Exoskeleton Combat Armor]
[Ding]
[Host's mental strength has broken through 50]
[Activation of Talent Attribute]
[Please select the first talent]
[Wind, Earth, Water, Fire, Light, Dark]
There are six talents to choose from, and only one can be selected. Sterling doesn't know the effects of each option, but as he ponders, a phrase comes to mind.
Who says heroes only stand in the light.
On impulse, he selects the [Dark Attribute] talent.
[Ding]
[Congratulations, Host, for choosing the Dark Attribute as your first talent]
[Dark Attribute Description: Can hide in the darkness, concealing form and presence, and can extract dark energy for personal use.]
Sterling had just finished reading the talent description when Alice, driving, knocked over another zombie.
It wasn't a big deal; they had collided with quite a few zombies along the way, shattering the windshield, which was now covered in a web of cracks.
But this impact revealed a small black dot within the zombie's body, which floated to Sterling's face and merged into the system interface.
Immediately after, the words "Dark Energy: 1" appeared in the top-left corner of the system interface.
Sterling was taken aback. Extracting dark energy, could it be obtained by killing zombies?
But what use could this dark energy serve?
Before Sterling had time to analyze, he heard a gasp from Alice in the passenger seat.
"My goodness!"
Sterling looked up to meet Alice's eyes, filled with delight.
Sterling asked in confusion, "What's wrong?"
Alice pointed at Sterling, speaking incoherently:
"You, when did you put on such a cool exoskeleton? It's so sci-fi!"
Sterling then glanced down at himself, clad in a black exoskeleton armor, similar in style to what Captain George and his team wore, full of mechanical and technological flair, indeed very cool.
"Making a fuss over nothing."
After responding, he looked ahead, through the cracked windshield, and saw the street ahead filled with zombies.
With his significantly enhanced attributes, Sterling could even see the ferocious faces of these zombies.
"Bang"
After colliding with a few more zombies, Amelia shouted in panic:
"There are so many zombies, should we take a detour?"
After chasing for more than ten minutes, they finally caught up with the embassy convoy.
However, the large convoy had attracted quite a few zombies following behind, the number was no less than a small zombie tide.
"We can't take a detour, follow the convoy ahead."
While speaking, Sterling opened the car door.
In Alice's incredulous gaze, Sterling climbed onto the roof of the car.
"Hey, what are you doing?"
"Drive your car!"
Sterling barked, then closed the door.
"He's really crazy!"
Alice could only mutter in horror.
Standing on the roof, Sterling looked down at the zombies blocking the way ahead, a large number of them, all with repulsive faces, spreading across the entire street, right to the end of the embassy convoy.
"Beasts!"
Sterling took out the mutated fire axe and leaped.
With the inertia of the moving car, his body traced a parabola in the air, jumping out more than ten meters away, like a god of slaughter descending into the crowd of zombies.
"All of you, die!"
Before even landing, he swung the axe in a full circle.
Within two meters around Sterling, all the zombies were cut in half.
"Kill!"
"Huff huff huff"
The fire axe roared like a tiger, unstoppable as it cut through the zombies like they were nothing.
In the blink of an eye, he had slain all the zombies blocking the way.
"Woo~"
The car approached, and Amelia honked the horn long and loud.
Just as the car was about to hit Sterling, both Amelia and Alice tensed up and covered their eyes.
Without even turning his head, Sterling nimbly jumped back onto the car roof, using the car's inertia for the second time to leap forward more than ten meters, repeating the process and clearing another wave of zombies from the path.
The two women inside the car were stunned.
"Is he even human?"
"Is he Superman?"
Although they knew Sterling was formidable, they had never seen him like this; it was like a scene from a superhero movie.
For a moment, the two women were so shocked their jaws almost hit the ground.