Chapter 2: The Item Upgrade System and Repelling the Red Armored Beetle

"Sister-in-law, my foot! What sister-in-law?"

Lin Feng glanced back at the woman behind him. She looked to be about 26 or 27, over ten years younger than Lin Youzhi. Her tear-streaked makeup gave her a fresh, youthful appearance, indicating she was likely fresh out of college. 

Though he felt a bit guilty toward his sister-in-law, Yuruo, Lin Feng couldn't help but note that Lin Youzhi had good taste.

In high heels, she stood about 178 cm tall, with long, straight legs wrapped in black stockings, paired with a professional pencil skirt and white blouse. Her wavy hair and half-frame glasses added to her office elegance.

But now wasn't the time for admiration; Lin Feng needed information quickly to understand the situation. Thus, he didn't show her any kindness, especially since she tried to use Lin Youzhi's last words to emotionally manipulate him.

Lin Feng was not someone who fell for that.

The young woman flinched at his harsh words, especially the fierce look in his eyes, and she didn't dare to make a sound.

Lin Feng wiped the blood off the gun and waved it in front of her, confirming that she couldn't see the semi-transparent text floating above.

"Let's go! Upstairs first. You have one minute to organize your thoughts, then tell me what happened outside!"

He then turned to call emergency services, but his calls wouldn't connect; the lines were busy, even for the fire department and rescue services.

The woman swallowed hard, glancing outside the door at the growing number of giant red beetles that were turning the neighborhood into a hunting ground. Commuters on electric bikes were being devoured.

Amidst the rising screams, the woman shakily followed Lin Feng in her high heels.

The old neighborhood building had six floors with two apartments per floor and no elevator. Lin Feng's home was on the third floor, in apartment 301, directly across from his sister-in-law Zhang Yuruo's.

On the way, Lin Feng repeatedly examined the text floating in front of him, pondering over it as he held his gun.

Arriving at apartment 301, he opened the door and entered. The beautiful woman, after the door closed, collapsed onto the floor, curling up to calm her fear.

Lin Feng hurriedly closed the windows, drew the curtains, then went into the kitchen to retrieve an old kitchen knife and a fruit knife he hadn't used in ages.

This scene startled the woman, who quickly spoke up:

"I, I'm Chen Yanyan..."

"I'm President Lin's assistant secretary, and also his..."

Lin Feng ignored her, focusing on the kitchen knife.

"Rusty Kitchen Knife lv1/9, White Quality"

"Upgrade Points: 0/10, Damage: 1, Severely Worn"

"Evaluation: A low-level melee weapon with low sharpness but causes infection and weakness damage. Hit targets to gain upgrade points."

"Bind as equipment to activate character attributes."

As for the small fruit knife, it elicited no reaction, likely due to its low damage and quality.

Lin Feng discarded the kitchen knife, focusing on the gun in his hand, and mentally commanded it to bind. It was currently his strongest weapon.

"Binding, awaiting data reading..."

While waiting, he turned his gaze to Chen Yanyan, who was trembling on the floor, tears in her eyes.

"Tell me, what happened outside?"

Chen Yanyan sighed with relief, pursed her lips, and began:

"We were supervising the construction site, and when we excavated the foundation pit, countless giant bugs suddenly emerged, like the ones outside! They attacked the workers savagely... President Lin drove me away, but we were attacked by two bugs on the road. He fired several shots to drive them away, but his abdomen was bitten. He managed to drive here..."

"I'm sorry, I initially thought you were one of President Lin's subordinates..."

Lin Feng stared at his phone, ignoring her. Despite the weak signal, he managed to refresh some real-time news.

A series of red headlines appeared, shocking him:

"Alarm! Unknown insectoid creatures are attacking coastal cities worldwide!"

"Federal Government Urgent Notice! Coastal residents should evacuate inland immediately!"

"Unknown Giant Monsters Invading! Suspected Alien Lifeforms Invading Blue Star!"

Unfortunately, the images wouldn't load, only the text.

The signal continued to weaken as he scrolled, the loading icon spinning endlessly. Lin Feng sighed and put away his phone.

At this moment, the woman cautiously asked:

"Excuse me, are you related to President Lin?"

Lin Feng looked up at her and nodded:

"Did you, by any chance, look at the sun... the solar eclipse?"

Chen Yanyan, puzzled, nodded:

"After the sky went dark, the giant bugs appeared at the construction site. Over a hundred of us saw the disappearing sun."

"Could the appearance of these monsters be related to the solar eclipse?"

Lin Feng furrowed his brow and shook his head. It seemed only he had loaded an additional system, while others experienced no changes and couldn't see the floating tags on items.

With this confirmed, the text in his vision completed the binding process:

"Item Upgrade System Loaded"

"Lin Feng, lv0/9"

"Health: 10, Constitution: 6, Spirit: 8"

"Equipment: Inferior Handgun lv1/9, White Quality"

"Initial Skills: Upgrade, Appraisal"

As he browsed, Lin Feng felt a warm stream flow from the small handgun into his body. His level increased by 1, his health by 2, and his constitution by 1.

"Lin Feng, lv1/9"

"Health: 12, Constitution: 7, Spirit: 8"

It seemed that binding an item as equipment not only upgraded the item but also enhanced his personal attributes.

Luckily, he had bound the handgun; acquiring upgrade points with the kitchen knife would have been much harder.

Lin Feng felt the lightness in his body, sensing the noticeable increase in his internal strength.

He then turned to Chen Yanyan, using the appraisal skill on her:

"Human, lv0/9"

"Health: 7, Constitution: 4, Spirit: 7"

"Weak human female, somewhat intelligent apart from being attractive."

A rather weak woman.

Lin Feng slowly got up, intending to head to the window to appraise the giant beetles' data to see if he could sneak a few shots.

Just then, a scream sounded outside the door.

Lin Feng's expression changed—it was his sister-in-law Yuruo's voice!

He quickly approached the door, looking through the peephole. Across the hall, Yuruo was struggling to close her door as a two-meter-long, one-meter-wide red giant beetle tried to squeeze through.

After confirming no other beetles were nearby, Lin Feng quietly opened his door, extended his gun, disengaged the safety, and aimed at the target, smoothly pulling the trigger!

"Bang!"

Fortunately, during his university military training, Lin Feng had handled guns a few times. Although he hadn't fired live rounds, the instructor had explained the firing process.

As he fired the bullet, Lin Feng also appraised the giant beetle's data:

"Red Armored Beetle, lv3/9"

"Health: 30, Constitution: 8, Spirit: 2"

"The lowest-ranked worker of the insect race, responsible for digging nests and gathering food. Low attack power, high defense."

With 30 health points, the inferior handgun needed ten hits to completely take it down.

The bullet struck the beetle's hind leg, shattering the joint and causing it to lose balance and tilt, preventing it from forcing its way inside.

Zhang Yuruo seized the opportunity and decisively closed her door.

The beetle, losing its target, turned toward apartment 301, following the gunshot.

Lin Feng saw its health drop to 27 and immediately fired again.

This time, he aimed at the beetle's head, firing three consecutive shots and hitting each time!

Bang! Bang! Bang! At only two or three meters away, the bullets retained their full power, creating bursts of blood on the beetle's head.

The beetle lost one of its compound eyes to the shots, half of its head was completely damaged, and it screeched, turning to flee downstairs.

Lin Feng exhaled in relief, firing at the bug once more.

However, as the distance increased, the bullet only left a dent in the beetle's thick red carapace, reducing its health by only 1—its defense was formidable.

Fortunately, the three consecutive headshots had dealt critical hits, causing double damage and drastically dropping the beetle's health by 18, prompting it to flee in fear for its life.

As Lin Feng closed the door, a prompt appeared in his vision:

"Inferior Handgun lv1/9, White Quality"

"Upgrade Points: 13/10, Damage: 3, Effective Range: 15 meters, Remaining Bullets: 1/12"

"Inferior Handgun can be upgraded!"

Lin Feng looked at the handgun, nodding inwardly.

He had fired five shots and gained 7 upgrade points.

It seemed that only by inflicting 3 base damage could he earn corresponding upgrade points, with the headshot criticals doubling the damage and thus the points. The final shot dealt negligible damage, so no upgrade points were gained.

As the handgun upgraded, Lin Feng, concerned about having only one bullet left, opened the door slightly and called across the hall:

"Sister-in-law... Sister-in-law! The bug is gone!"

Seeing the door of apartment 302 open, Lin Feng left his apartment, glanced back at Chen Yanyan hiding inside, picked up the fallen beetle claw, and headed across the hall.

Chen Yanyan, hiding behind the bedroom door, hesitated but eventually followed Lin Feng's lead.