Chapter 95: Blood Flows, Inciting the Fury of a Sixth-Tier (Second Update)

That day’s state of control left her endlessly amazed every time she recalled it. It was a height she could never reach in her previous life, no matter how hard she tried. Although she couldn’t recapture that state now, she believed that since it had happened once, it meant she had that potential. Once her tier rose, it would naturally come again.

Her control ability was gone, but her perception remained. She could sense things within seventy or eighty meters around her—an excellent tool for hunting targets.

With this perception, Bian Changxi quickly hunted down a mutated speckled snake with fleshy wings, a mutated bird nesting in the grass, two clumsy mutated rabbits, and a giant female mantis that had bitten off her mate’s head during mating. Altogether, she harvested one first-tier white core and one second-tier white core.

She also found a mutated shrub. After hacking off its wildly waving stems, she dug up its roots and found a first-tier golden core inside.

—Mutated plants don’t have to grow green wood-attribute cores; they can develop any attribute core, all with equal probability. The different attributes simply grant them different powers.

The same logic applies to mutated animals and zombies.

Though Bian Changxi wasn’t entirely satisfied with her haul, it was getting late, so she had to head back to the factory.

She decided to sleep outside that night. The environment wasn’t great, but staying in the farm all the time was too comfortable—she couldn’t let herself get complacent.

She went into the farm to check on things first.

After absorbing three white cores, the farm had expanded a little, but only by a square meter or two. She tied the two cows to the chicken coop, gave them and the chickens and ducks enough grass and feed, and scattered some fish food in the creek. Once the water upstairs cleared, she fetched a bucket to wash herself. The calf was still sleeping, not even changing position. Seeing nothing was wrong, she went back outside.

The moment she stepped out, something felt off.

She glanced out the window. The sky was still overcast, but it was much colder than before. The chill in the vast factory was almost tangible, and cold wind kept seeping through the cracks. It was much colder than when she’d entered the farm earlier.

She shivered, puzzled. Had the weather become this strange? She laid out a mat and a blanket on the straw pile, lay down with her backpack and Tang sword at hand, and closed her eyes, ready for a good sleep.

But only a few minutes later, her eyes snapped open. Something was wrong!

The light in the factory seemed brighter than before. She scrambled up and ran to the window—then gaped in shock.

A small half-sun was rising on the horizon?! The sun had clearly set already! She rubbed her eyes hard and stared again, only to see the reddish, ball-like sun climbing higher, radiating energy and light.

She was utterly stunned. Was this the legendary “sun rising in the west”?

But… she counted directions on her fingers. That was definitely east!

Suddenly, a possibility struck her. Her face changed and she rushed back into the farm.

After a while, the sun had climbed higher, its rays shining inside. She came out again, checked the watch she’d left outside, and her face darkened—she looked like she wanted to cry and laugh at the same time.

She’d only spent a minute in the farm, but more than ten minutes had passed outside. Good grief. What kind of time ratio was that?

In other words, while she was busy in the farm—washing up and grabbing a bite—a whole night had passed outside. It had jumped straight from dusk to dawn.

How much time had passed outside while she’d been in a deep sleep? No wonder the plants had mutated, the grass had grown so tall, and the main group had long since moved on, leaving not a soul behind.

Thinking about how she’d planned to spend the night in the farm, she felt a pang in her teeth.

Great—if she stayed in the farm a few more days, she could witness the world change before her eyes!

How unfair!

Bian Changxi slumped down, feeling deflated. She’d been secretly pleased about advancing to tier two early, but now it seemed she might already be out of sync with the world. Whether she was ahead or behind was anyone’s guess.

With that in mind, she quickly got the two cows and the calf out. Staying in the farm was just wasting time. No wonder the calf always seemed to be asleep—she’d only been gone a few hours, but for it, not even ten minutes had passed.

That left just one problem. She looked gloomily at her bed, then at the growing sunlight outside. Should she sleep or not?

...

In a short, wide alley, a woman in gray with a mask was weaving between four zombies. She moved with agility, dodging left and right so that the vicious, disgusting zombies couldn’t even touch her clothes. Suddenly, she leaped onto a trash can by the wall, spun, and kicked a zombie into the opposite wall. She flipped down, landing behind another zombie, grabbed its head and jaw with her gloved hands, and twisted—crack! The zombie collapsed, lifeless.

The third zombie was especially tall with long arms. It lunged at her, arms outstretched. She ducked low, pivoted on her bent left leg, and swept her right leg out—smack!—knocking the zombie down. She grimaced in pain. “That was tough.”

Just then, the fourth zombie, which had been lingering on the outskirts, finally opened its mouth and spat out a fireball. The woman’s eyes narrowed; she dodged swiftly and charged at it. Mid-run, she pushed off with her left foot, her body lifting slightly, and brought her right leg down hard on the zombie’s skull. Its bulging eyes popped out, hanging from its rotting face, and its neck sank into its chest as it collapsed.

She let out a breath and finally drew the Tang sword from her back, finishing off the four defeated zombies.

This woman was Bian Changxi. It had been two days since she discovered the massive time difference between the farm and the outside world. In those two days, she’d avoided entering the farm as much as possible, only popping in briefly to check on the chickens, ducks, cows, and fish—never staying more than half a minute. She was now even more desperate to collect crystal cores to restore the farm’s vitality.

Driven by this urgency, she’d drained the last energy from her crystal cores, using her powers day and night to heal her body. She’d finally recovered completely yesterday and swept the little prairie one more time. Realizing she’d never get rich there, she moved on ahead of schedule to Longyue Town.

Sure enough, there were plenty of zombies here. Those shambling figures were practically walking crystal cores. In just a few hours, she’d wiped out over thirty zombies, gaining one blue core, one green core, and more than thirty white cores—mostly first-tier, with only a few second-tier.

She tossed all the white cores into the farm for it to absorb. The first-tier green core was only marginally better than nothing for her now, but at least it matched her attribute, so she kept it for herself. The blue core she saved as a valuable resource.

Of course, her impressive haul and efficiency were partly because she was only operating on the outskirts of Longyue Town, where most zombies were first-tier and spread out. If she went deeper into town, things would get tougher.

With her second-tier strength, fighting these low-level zombies felt almost like bullying. So from the start, she’d used them as practice for her new powers. After a while, she couldn’t resist trying hand-to-hand combat, since she noticed her physical abilities had improved greatly—her body felt full of energy, and her mind automatically mapped out how to handle zombies without powers or weapons. So… she started brawling with them directly.

The results were satisfying. As martial arts novels say, “Of all martial arts, speed is the key.” She now felt that as long as her body was strong, her reflexes quick, her strength great, and her mind clear, she’d have a huge advantage in a fight. Training her skills was twice as effective as before.

She smiled as she dug out two first-tier white cores and one second-tier white core. The fire-type zombie had even yielded a nearly second-tier red core.

She took off her gloves and mask—after all this, she was sweating again, even though her new tier made her more resistant to heat and cold. Before, she’d have been drenched. Her clothes were stained all over. She frowned; at her current rate of changing clothes every two or three days, she only had enough for a month or so, and she hadn’t had much chance to collect more. She didn’t have many loose tracksuits like this. Food was also running out, and she couldn’t count on the farm to grow any vegetables or grain now. If she didn’t restock soon, life would get tough.

She looked toward the center of town. After all this warm-up, it was time to go deeper.

She wiped her sword clean with her mask, tossed it aside, shook out her gloves and hung them at her waist, then got on her motorcycle and headed forward.

The road into town was a concrete avenue lined with trees and some factories and homes. Further out were rice paddies, now overgrown with weeds but full of life. The road was littered with wrecked vehicles and old bloodstains and remains. She could even identify a few cars by their convoy numbers, though she didn’t know if they were left by the main group or the earlier scouting party.

She memorized the route. If she couldn’t get through Longyue Town, she’d have to double back and take the mountain road.

The road wasn’t long. In less than five minutes, she reached a gas station beside a small middle school. She parked, slung on her backpack, and looked around. The gas tanks were bone dry, the convenience store had been cleaned out, and the school was silent and empty. That was normal—this wasn’t a boarding university, so there wouldn’t be crowds of people or zombies.

The small restaurants and snack shops outside the school were also empty, just a mess left behind.

Up ahead was a fork in the road. Bian Changxi had never been to Longyue Town and didn’t know where the main shopping areas were. Judging by the situation, the smaller shops were likely to have been picked clean, and only the more dangerous places would still have what she needed. So she headed toward the denser, taller buildings.

ps:

Thank you to __风锺訫声 for the Peach Blossom Fan—what a lovely surprise! Thank you so much, hugs! \(≧▽≦)/

Thank you to 蹊跷叶子 for the pink ticket! And thanks to every friend who supports me!

One more thing: I originally planned to wrap up this arc of Xiaoxi leaving the team in a few chapters, but sitting at my computer this morning, nothing felt right. The more I thought, the more plot ideas came, so I decided to slow down the pace! I personally prefer a more detailed style, but detailed doesn’t mean filler—I’ll do my best to write useful and engaging content o(n_n)o~"