Of Course the Apocalypse Is Fun!

Nui, despite sitting right there, didn't overhear any of their conversation. She was blushing hard, she was feeling so embarrassed, yet also so…comfortable. She knew that this should be humiliating or at least embarrassing, so why did she enjoy sitting on Zhan's lap like this?

She remembered how Zhan had again risked his life to protect them from that creature, then she remembered how injured he was, and how injured he still was right now. The golden light that had previously diminished, returned in full swing as Nui bit her lip.

Right now, at least thirty different glares filled with mild killing intent were directed towards Zhan. However, he understood why the men felt this way, so he only glanced at them and rolled his eyes.

"Shia, you awakened a power!" Miu suddenly exclaimed. She decided just this once to ignore Zhan flirting with her naive little sister. She supposed that he somewhat deserved it, and it seemed to be helping Nui's ability training….

"I did?" Shia stared blankly.

"Mm, I thought so too. The way you killed that woman, and the wounds you dealt to the others…are beyond your normal abilities."

"Right." Miu nodded at Zhan's assessment. "Shia has a strange energy circulating through her body, she can use it to boost her speed, but also to enhance the sharpness of her attacks!

"Ah!" Shia exclaimed. "Thinking about it, those people did seem to be moving way too slowly…maybe I was actually the one moving fast?"

"That should be the case." Zhan smiled. "It's good that you can defend yourself now."

"Right…I guess there's no reason for you to protect me now…" Shia looked away and murmured.

"What are you talking about?" Zhan frowned. "I said I'd protect you so I will. You even fought to keep me safe whilst I was incapacitated, you think I'd just leave you for dead? Dumbass."

Shia turned to Zhan with a bewildered expression. Did he ever actually promise to protect her? Deep down, whilst she didn't like thinking about it, she thought that he was just using her to keep the residents organised…

"If Shia practises, maybe we can spar together, haha." Zhan chuckled happily, but then a gleam appeared in his eyes. "Or we could fight side by side! I've only ever fought against people, but maybe fighting alongside someone would be fun too."

"Fun…?" She muttered in a daze. "You nearly died just now, you're saying that's fun?"

"Of course it is!" Zhan nodded seriously. "This cataclysm is the most fun I've had in my life! Not only is it exciting, but I've somehow ended up with three cute girls by my side, how could I not be having fun right now?"

Miu, Nui and Shia all stared at him speechlessly. Looking around, it was clear that everyone was terrified. These people, most of them hadn't even dared to fight, some were yet to receive a single injury. Many people had lost loved ones, and everyone was feeling despair.

Yet Zhan…was having fun? Zhan who had suffered the most, who had been injured the most, who was forced to fight constantly and was targeted whenever he let his guard down…he found all of this enjoyable?

"Actually, I…I'm happy that I can be with Zhan and everyone too." Nui mustered up the courage and finally said what had been on her mind for some time now.

In the past, she was lonely, she had no friends, but ever since meeting Zhan one month earlier, her world view had suddenly expanded. She was with her beloved sister, she made her first female friend in Shia, and Zhan…she liked Zhan a lot.

Zhan stared at Nui for a moment, as did her sister and Shia.

"Nui is too cute!" Zhan laughed and rubbed her head with one hand whilst keeping hold of her waist with the other.

"Hey, I let it slide because you were injured before, but you seem fine right now, so stop treating my little sister like your play thing!" Miu glared at him, but Zhan just laughed.

"Miu, would you rather it be you sitting on my lap instead? Sorry, you can have your turn later, Nui is practising her ability right now, see? I need Nui's help, otherwise my brain won't heal properly and I'll become retarded."

It was true…whilst the golden light had faded slightly, she was still assisting Zhan with his recovery.

Miu paused. It was true that he had been stabbed in the head and received some brain damage, but she was pretty sure that damage had already healed by now…that said, when it came to the brain, she agreed that it was best not to take any chances.

Shia watched this display and slowly began to smile.

After killing that woman before, she started to feel out of place. She had taken another human life…even though that woman definitely deserved it and she only did it to defend Zhan, she had still killed someone.

Ignoring her own guilt, how would she be viewed by others? Would people still treat her the same way?

But she realised now that Zhan was not like other people. He didn't see her any differently at all. In fact, he was actually being considerate for once, worrying more about Shia's mental state than the fact that she had killed someone.

Zhan turned back towards her and smiled again.

"Feeling a bit better? Don't overthink it too much…a lot of people are going to die in this cataclysm, you can't care about everyone."

Shia felt dazed…was this person who was trying his best to comfort her, really the same guy she had known these past years? The same loner who only ever cared about himself?

The answer was yes…only now, he had finally found some people that he cared about. Well, maybe Zhan was still in the process of realising this for himself, though.

Anyway, Zhan wasn't the type to heavily overthink his own actions. If he wanted to do something, he did it, it was as simple as that.

Zhan wanted to protect these three girls. As for the reason, he could justify it however he wanted, but in the end it didn't matter. Since he wanted them to live, he would do his best to ensure their safety.

As for the fact that he had already taken some risks to ensure their safety? Haha, so what? Zhan was someone who took risks just for the fun of it anyway!

"Hah…" Nui panted slightly and the golden glow dimmed down.

"Don't push yourself too hard Nui, you've already healed me enough now." Zhan said warmly. Not only was she healing the damage to his brain and throat, but also the broken ribs in his chest. His vitality was now extremely high at 8.3, so combined with Nui's healing, he was more or less fine, aside from some slight bone damage, but that wouldn't limit him in combat.

Thinking about all of this, Zhan decided to check his status panel, to see how many life-points he obtained after killing that bird-bat from before.

-

Race: Human (Civilian)

Strength: 5.2

Defence: 5.0

Agility: 6.0

Stamina: 5.8

Vitality: 8.3

Perception: 3.5

Intelligence: 2.0

Will: 5.2

Life-points: 3.3

-

His eyes widened slightly, but his shock was soon replaced with happiness. He actually earned 3.1 points from killing that one speedy bat! It made sense when he thought about it though. Despite being small, that creature was certainly extremely powerful, it was a much tougher opponent compared to the giant.

Zhan glanced around and saw that the people here were organised enough to handle anything coming in. He then glanced back towards the gymnasium, the direction from where the bat came.

Zhan thought back to that last fight and realised a few of his shortcomings.

Firstly, was his intelligence.

His agility was high enough that his reflexes were incredible, but the problem lay with his mind. Unless his mind was powerful enough to keep up with his reflexes, then it was impossible to think about his next move during a fight. Against that bat, he could only fight entirely on reflex and instinct, because his mental processing speed simply couldn't keep up.

Of course, Zhan remembered the last time that he increased his intelligence, it wasn't a pretty sight. He was stupid back then and increased his intelligence by 0.4 points in one go, whilst his mental stamina at that time wasn't sufficient to endure such an improvement to his intelligence.

Since then, he increased his mental stamina by 0.3, then increased his overall stamina by 0.5. Zhan's mind was already at a level where he could probably manage another 0.3-0.4 points of intelligence, but he decided to be safe and just improve his intelligence in 0.1 points increments.

There were many sub stats for intelligence, but Zhan wasn't sure what would happen if he started messing with his brain's internal balance. So, in the end, he just added the tenth of a point directly to the full 'intelligence' stat.

Immediately, he felt a hot sensation stemming from his head. His face reddened slightly and a migraine assaulted his brain. It was painful and for a few seconds, his vision became heavily blurred. Dizziness swept over him, but Zhan gritted his teeth and endured. Compared to before when he suddenly added 0.4 points, this was easily more tolerable.

It seemed that once he was able to get through the first minute, the improvement calmed down and he was left only with a slight headache and a feeling of being slightly out of it. His thoughts started running faster, his memory improved and he was able to process sensory information at a much higher rate.

It was this sensory processing, combined with decision making, that were important for rapid action during combat.

Miu watched with a mixture of intrigue and confusion. She had long since noticed that every now and then whilst resting, Zhan would undergo some changes, becoming stronger after the change wore off. She didn't ask him about this after he casually dismissed it the first time, but she was extremely curious about his strange ability.

Zhan would have liked to go further and add more points into intelligence, but in the end, he just sighed and shook his head. Unlike the other stats, intelligence took hours to fully integrate and adapt to. If he kept adding points, the changes would stack and he would eventually become incapacitated like before. Adding 0.1 points was fine, but adding 0.2 would leave him feeling more dizzy and would negatively impact his combat ability. For now, he could only leave it at that.

Every decimal point in intelligence was a big difference and took time to adapt to, though he would probably adapt faster if he could adjust to his newfound intellect in a combat situation.

After thinking some more and seeing that everything was being handled by others around him, Zhan took a deep breath and took a small risk.

'0.5 points to strength.'

'0.5 points to defence.'

'0.5 points to stamina.'

'0.5 points to agility.'

He rapidly expended 2 life points just like that. His stats were now high enough that he could handle a 0.5 point boost without it affecting him badly, but adding half a point to 4 different stats at once was difficult to manage. He felt his entire body fill with a powerful itchy sensation. He felt energy coursing through his veins, whilst tiredness assaulted his mind at the same time. Time slowed down before him, yet his reaction speed also slowed down to a crawl.

This enhancement was quite uncomfortable, but Zhan grit his teeth and persevered.