The Calm Before the Storm

On Wednesday, the fourth day of the Apocalypse Calendar, Leg Training Day.

He got out of bed and washed up. After confirming that there was no water, electricity, or gas outage, he began to enjoy his breakfast.

A basin of noodles, three eggs, and a stack of small pickles.

His appetite was much bigger than before the apocalypse. Lu Ming estimated that it might have doubled.

"But we have enough supplies for the time being."

After reading for a while, he went to the second floor and began his morning workout.

About two hours later, today's leg workout was finally over.

Lying on the exercise mat, Lu Ming panted and gasped for breath heavily, his legs feeling sore and weak, as if he were on the brink of death. However, his mental state was surprisingly good!

"It's essential to train legs in fitness; otherwise, it will catch up with you sooner or later."

"The importance of leg training is self-evident."

"When I was studying, I knew that leg training was a major undertaking, the most important and painful part of fitness… Now I kind of understand what's going on."

When going downstairs, Lu Ming used his upper body strength to support and drag himself down the stairs.

Bracing himself, he made a cup of protein powder and rested for a long time before opening his personal information panel.

Name: Lu Ming.

Age: 25 years old.

Strength: 7.5 (8.2) ↑.

Physique: 7.9 (8.6) ↑.

Agility: 8 (8.7) ↑.

Fitness Lv2 (50/200).

With the increase in attributes and skill proficiency, everything was perfect.

Seeing that it was only about 9:30, Lu Ming took out his slingshot again and began to practice his slingshot proficiency.

During the battle yesterday afternoon, Lu Ming realized the benefits of a slingshot. It was quiet, had small ammunition, was easy to reload, and was very lethal.

It was more agile than bows and crossbows and had a wider range of applications.

"Bang."

Bullseye, proficiency +2.

"Bang."

Sixth ring, proficiency +1.

"The logic behind the increase in proficiency of the Lv. 2 slingshot is the same as the increase in Lv. 1. Therefore, with my current training conditions, I can continue to improve this skill!"

The time before lunch was spent shooting slingshots.

This continued till his fingers went numb and his slingshot shooting proficiency successfully increased to Lv3!

Slingshot Shooting Lv3 (0/300): You have acquired the basic shooting technique of the slingshot. Agility increased by 0.6 (+0.3) points.

He hit another bullseye, and his proficiency increased by 2 points.

This meant that the logic of increasing the proficiency of the slingshot remained unchanged!

There was no need to shoot from long distances or hit moving targets. He could become stronger by maintaining his current training intensity.

Lu Ming was very satisfied with this.

...

He dragged his clumsy legs and made lunch.

Three bowls of rice, a steamed bun, two pounds of boiled chicken breast, a portion of stir-fried vegetables, and half a portion of protein powder.

His appetite was indeed much greater than before.

He thought that it was normal.

His physical fitness had increased crazily, so his consumption would naturally increase. Coupled with his high-intensity exercise every day, it would be strange if he did not eat much.

After watching the video for a while, Lu Ming went to bed to rest. His lunch break started at 12 noon and lasted until 1:30 p.m.

Opening his eyes, he checked his attribute panel and obtained all the attributes in the brackets.

"Another wonderful day!"

The joy of becoming stronger was the ultimate joy.

Lu Ming was very satisfied with his current life.

Just as he was feeling happy, Lu Ming suddenly thought of the giant zombie he had seen yesterday and his mood plummeted.

He dragged his still clumsy legs to the second-floor reading area and opened the observation hole to look at the street.

There was no sign of the giant zombie.

Moreover, the few living zombies that were blocking his door had all run away for some reason.

It had to be said that the existence of the giant corpse was like a stone pressing down on Lu Ming's heart, making him feel unhappy.

But at the moment, Lu Ming really could not think of a good solution.

After sensing no danger (at least not with the naked eye), Lu Ming stopped paying attention to the outside world. After resting for a while, he prepared to continue farming slingshot shooting proficiency and cold weapons combat proficiency.

...

Lu Ming was in a bad mood.

Meng Jie's mood was even worse!

She was even more unhappy than Lu Ming.

Her original plan was to go with Zhang Lixin and Wang Xiong to the shelter in the city center this morning.

Zhang Lixin was a soldier and was very strong and fierce.

And Wang Xiong was an Awakened individual, stronger and fiercer!

In Meng Jie's estimation, there was a 50% chance that this combination could safely send her and her research materials to the shelter.

Unexpectedly, something went wrong early in the morning.

In Wang Xiong's house, Wang Xiong and Zhang Lixin looked solemn as they looked at the zombies wandering outside the window.

Meng Jie stood behind the two of them and asked softly, "How's the situation?"

Wang Xiong shook his head. "Not good…"

Zhang Lixin added, "Judging from the situation, we won't be able to leave the house today."

This situation was a little strange.

Everything was fine yesterday, but early this morning, Wang Xiong woke up to find about 10 zombies blocking the entrance of his house.

This situation alone was not strange.

Yesterday, there were few zombies in Good Hope Village because the zombies had been attracted by the military. However, as the survivors went out to find food and drink, there was a lot of commotion, and some of the zombies were lured back.

It was not surprising that there would be more zombies today than yesterday.

The strange thing was that these zombies seemed to have self-awareness. Even if there were noises not far away, they did not move. At most, there was a little commotion.

They seemed to have targeted Wang Xiong, Zhang Lixin, and Meng Jie and were unwilling to leave at all.

"I'll take a look."

Meng Jie squeezed past Wang Xiong and Zhang Lixin and leaned against the window to observe quietly.

A moment later, Meng Jie frowned and left the window, looking troubled.

Wang Xiong immediately asked, "So, Dr. Meng, have you figured out what went wrong?"

Meng Jie shook her head and then nodded. "The zombies outside seem normal. I didn't notice anything unusual about them."

Wang Xiong looked disappointed when Meng Jie continued, "But I have a hypothesis."

"The strange actions of these zombies may be due to orders of higher-level zombies."

As soon as he finished speaking, Wang Xiong and Zhang Lixin were stunned.

"Order from higher-level zombies?"

Meng Jie nodded and said, "Yes."

"As I mentioned yesterday, theoretically speaking, Awakeners do have the potential for further advancement."

"But don't forget that the Awakened are actually similar to that of zombies—both originated from the mystery factor infection in the tower. However, one is malignant, and the other is benign."

"This also means that if the Awakened have the potential for further advancement, then the zombies also have the possibility of evolving again. In fact, this possibility is very high."

Meng Jie spoke solemnly, but Wang Xiong and Zhang Lixin broke out in cold sweat.

The most ordinary zombies had the physical level of professional athletes—in terms of attributes, their strength and agility were about 6 points.

And if the zombies could evolve again, how terrifying would that be?

At least, Zhang Lixin did not even dare to think about it.

Wang Xiong pinched his chin and muttered solemnly.

"In other words, there's a high chance that we're targeted by high-level zombies?"

Meng Jie nodded and contemplated.

"In fact, I'm still considering another possibility."

"There's something about the evolution of zombies and the Awakened, or their way to advance…"

Speaking of this, Wang Xiong immediately became interested.

"What is the way?"

Meng Jie said softly, "Let me make it clear first that everything I'm about to say is just speculation."

"My guess is that since the zombies and the Awakened are both infected by the mystery factor infection, will the method of advancement also lie in the mystery factor?"

"For now, we'll call the zombies 'failed infections', but research shows that even if the infection fails, the mystery factor will still be combined with the cells in the zombie's body."

"And through a blood sample test of the Awakened, it was discovered that the cells in the body of the Awakened had also combined with the mystery factor.

"If a zombie or an Awakened wants to advance, the greatest possibility is to increase the degree of integration of the mystery factor with the cells in the body. Or to put it another way, there's a need to ingest more mystery factors…"

At this point, Meng Jie paused.

"Hunting and plundering."

Then Meng Jie said nothing more.

There was no need for her to say anything else—the meaning was clear.

Wang Xiong looked at his hands in disbelief and couldn't help but mutter, "So, I've become monk Tang Sanzang?"

...

Outside Wang Xiong's house, directly opposite a street.

A pair of pale eyes looked down at the other party through the window gap.

This was the giant zombie that Lu Ming had seen with his own eyes.

Following its instincts, the giant zombie arrived and led its subordinates to surround Wang Xiong's house.

Because it could feel it.

There was a feast in that house.

A feast that was far more delicious and nutritious than ordinary people.

But it was in no hurry.

This was because a sumptuous meal corresponded to a difficult hunt.

It had a feeling that it and its dozens of lackeys might not be a match for that feast in the restricted environment.

But it didn't matter.

The last thing it lacked was patience.

In just one night, the giant zombie had already worked out a set of hunting techniques.

Besieged.

They waited for their prey to weaken or take the initiative to walk into the encirclement.

Then a sneak attack.

"Gulp. Gulp." The sound came from his stomach.

This represented hunger.

However, the giant zombie's eyes became deeper.

It was like the calm before a storm.