Chapter 126 - Chapter 126: Chapter 126: The Second Condition to Become a Strengthener

Chapter 126: Chapter 126: The Second Condition to Become a Strengthener

Translator: 549690339

People had long discovered that zombies harbored Brain Cores within their heads, their brains having mutated into crystals, crystals that contained unknown energy.

This energy was like nothing humans had ever seen before. Scientists tried to combine the energy from these Brain Cores with modern technology in order to bolster the power of their thermal weapons.

However, progress in this field was slow, requiring state-level laboratories to spend several years, even decades, to achieve any significant results.

But humanity couldn’t afford to wait that long.

Zombies besieged the world in a month. Society was on the verge of collapse, with order crumbling. Even assembling a team of scientists to research the integration of Brain Core energy with weaponry proved to be a daunting task.

Just when things seemed to be at their bleakest, someone discovered the true purpose of Brain Cores.

Instead of combining them with weaponry, they could be applied directly to humans. Using the body to absorb the energy from the Brain Cores. A crude method, perhaps, but it was a surprisingly effective one.

Thus, the Enhanced Humans were born.

The emergence of the Brain Cores was a beacon of hope amidst the apocalypse, piercing the darkness and giving mankind a glimmer of hope.

In the Nine States, the Brain Cores had a more pleasant name, Spirit Stones.

The Nine States were rich in Spiritual Energy, enough to produce Spirit Stone mines, whereas this world was so barren that not a single Spirit Stone could be formed. The difference in the concentration of Spiritual Energy between the two worlds was plainly evident.

The energy within a Brain Core could be considered as concentrated Spiritual Energy. However, becoming an Enhanced Human wasn’t simply about absorbing this Spiritual Energy.

If one were to purely absorb the Spiritual Energy without the correct circulation path for it, any and all who tried would find themselves crippled or worse.

According to Jiang Li’s observations, there was a second requirement for becoming an Enhanced Human the presence of zombie virus within the body.

The virulent zombie virus was spread through air-borne means, and every breath humans took contained a trace amount of this virus.

This minute amount of the virus wouldn’t zombify humans, but it could serve as a vital lubricant, aiding in the absorption of Spiritual Energy, no care for any specific circulation path. This absorption through the cells, once reaching a certain threshold, made one an Enhanced Human.

The Enhanced Human system required the concentrated Spiritual Energy from within a Brain Core to stimulate the physical body, and whilst there were techniques such as the Spirit Gathering Array to gather Spiritual Energy, they weren’t techniques that low level Qi Cultivators could execute.

The siblings needed to venture out to hunt zombies.

Luo Ying’s original plan was to protect themselves by covering their bodies with book pages bound tightly with tape, highly effective for the stage of zombies they were dealing with. However, now with the Protection of the Vajra Sutra in their possession, they didn’t need to resort to such measures.

Within the confines of the classroom, the remaining twenty-odd survivors huddled together, trembling. They had been trapped here for three days, their stomachs grumbling in hunger.

The fact that the classroom had been stocked with several barrels of drinking water was the only reason they did not have to worry about dying of thirst. Otherwise, they might have perished even before falling into the clutches of the zombies.

This couldn’t last, though. The water was bound to run out eventually, and they knew they needed to risk their lives and escape the classroom, seeking a lifeline elsewhere.

And now, they were faced with a test of life and death.

“Is it gone?”

“Luo Ying was right, there really are zombies.”

“We should have listened to him.’

“I miss my mom.”

Their classmates whispered amongst themselves. More than a discussion, it seemed like a way to vent their fear.

The gore and carnage, the walking dead; they had not ever seen such a horror, so even thinking of the time a zombie had pulled out an intestine stretching five to six meters filled them with an urge to vomit.

However, they had to suppress this urge. If they were too loud, they might attract the zombies outside.

Some of the female students bit their clothes, their eyes teary as they wept quietly.

They had all witnessed the battles between the military and the whales (zombies), hoping that they would be rescued once these whales were vanquished. However, the grim reality of the fourth-order zombies’ formidable strength shattered their hopes.

“Shush.”

The female teacher who once scolded Luo Ying for sleeping during class was now gesturing for the students to keep quiet.

Despite being frightened herself, and being worried about her parents, she knew she was a teacher and that it was her job to protect her students. So, gathering her courage, she moved cautiously towards the small window of the classroom door, careful not to make any noise.

On the first day of the zombie crisis, the school had turned into a slaughterhouse. There were too many students for anyone to escape the zombies’ rampage. The numbers of the living diminished rapidly, while the zombie population exploded.

Luo Ying’s class was on the top floor. When the students realized something was wrong, they had time to prepare. Only half of them perished.

The survivors smeared their friends’ blood on the window panes. This not only obscured their view from the outside but also concealed their scent from the zombies. This crude method allowed them to remain hidden for the past three days.

However, it was a stopgap measure at best. It seemed that a new type of zombie had made its way into the school building, its strength unprecedented. Even the metal handrails of the staircase had been deformed from its attacks.

This zombie also seemed to have a keen sense of perception as it claimed many students and teachers who were fortunate enough to survive the initial onslaught. The echo of their screams still haunted them.

And now, that zombie was lurking on the top floor.

First, the teacher pressed her ear against the door, listening carefully for any signs of movement outside. When she confirmed there were none, she voicelessly wiped a bit of the bloody smear off the window and sneak peeked outside.

She saw that the distinct zombie was feasting on a corpse far away, seemingly unaware of them.

She recognized this zombie; it was a despicable gym teacher who several female students had reported for unprofessional conduct. If not for the zombie crisis, he would have been fired in a few days.

If only they had fired that scumbag sooner, the teacher thought resentfully.

The teacher returned to her original position and whispered to soothe the students: “Don’t worry, it hasn’t noticed us.”

“M-Miss Huang…” A trembling female student raised her hand, pointing to the spot on the window where Miss Huang had wiped away the blood. There was an eye peeking in!

The zombie had discovered them.

Miss Huang’s heart stopped, and the students let out screams.

The classroom had two doors, and some quick-thinking students tried to escape through the other one, only to find two zombies crouching outside, feasting on an unidentified corpse.

The three zombies sauntered into the room, the zombified gym teacher lunging at Miss Huang.

A strong hand suddenly appeared, grabbing the zombie’s ankle and flinging it across the room with the strength of the wielder’s right arm, knocking over the other two zombies.

The owner of the hand was none other than Luo Ying.

“That was close.”

Luo Ying sighed. He had been in the same situation in his previous life, hiding here with his classmates when they were attacked by this zombie. Only Luo Ying had been lucky, being the only survivor.

Despite the race against time, he had made it just before the zombies started wreaking havoc, saving his classmates and teacher.

“Watch your back!”

Miss Huang warned Luo Ying. The three zombies had gotten up and were preparing to attack Luo Ying.

A petite figure darted past, her hand clutching a dagger, effortlessly beheading the three zombies and extracting a Brain Core..