Chapter 8

Lu Li walked down the empty corridor, constantly looking around.

The apocalypse had been in effect for over four hours, and there were no students moving alone in the school.

Most people had chosen to huddle together for warmth, cowering in the classrooms, waiting for rescue.

But they would soon find out that no rescue was coming.

With the arrival of the apocalypse, everyone had awakened with different abilities.

The original social order and organizational structure might barely hold, but it wouldn't last long.

No one could resist becoming stronger.

So when a chance for a major reshuffle arrived, chaos was inevitable.

"Lu Li."

A voice called from the corner, making Lu Li pause in his steps.

Ying Zian emerged from the shadows, a smile on his lips.

The friendly expression, combined with the blood covering most of his body, made him look rather sinister.

"Why are you out alone? Where are Xu Xiao and the others?"

"Oh, I didn't join Xu Xiao's group, so they naturally wouldn't act with me."

Lu Li's expression was calm.

"You didn't join Xu Xiao's group?" Ying Zian seemed to think of something, his smile growing wider.

"Then aren't you afraid of the danger? There are monsters everywhere now. A player like you, who can't protect yourself, is in a pretty bad situation..."

"But I have you, don't I?"

Lu Li also smiled, genuinely.

His experience from the previous life made his act flawless.

"You have me?" Ying Zian was taken aback, and the claws he had prepared for an ambush were discreetly retracted.

"Yes." Lu Li nodded. "Didn't you say you wanted to cooperate with me? So I came out to find you."

"I see."

Ying Zian chuckled, extending his hand in front of Lu Li.

"Cooperation is no problem, but you need to show the same sincerity as before."

"Second-grade essence crystal?" Lu Li deliberately showed a troubled expression. "I don't have it anymore."

"Don't play dumb!"

Ying Zian suddenly dropped his smile, becoming incredibly fierce.

He grabbed Lu Li's collar, his气势汹汹地说：

"Don't think I don't know that Xu Xiao, that bitch, gave you both essence crystals. Hand them over now! Or I'll kill you right here!"

"Don't, don't, I'll get them out."

Lu Li pretended to be afraid, trembling as he took out the essence crystals he had prepared in advance.

Ying Zian was overjoyed, snatching the essence crystals and absorbing them completely.

The 40 points of experience gained instantly boosted Ying Zian to Level 2.

【Detected player Ying Zian as the first player globally to reach Level 2. Do you want to announce it globally? Yes/No.】

【Note: After global announcement, you will receive 2 Black Iron Upgrade Chests. If you choose not to announce, you will forfeit the reward.】

"Announce it immediately!"

Two completely black treasure chests appeared out of nowhere.

Ying Zian felt his attributes growing, his face beaming with unrestrained joy.

His guess was right!

The rank of the awakened abilities didn't matter; only by absorbing high-grade essence crystals and leveling up was the right path!

As long as he maintained the top level, he would continuously receive upgrade chests, and his strength would grow like a snowball, getting stronger and stronger!

Lu Li calmly watched Ying Zian laughing wildly, glancing at his watch.

11:50.

Ten more minutes.

At 12:00 on the first day of the apocalypse, the level ranking would appear.

At that time, the top 100 players on the ranking would be fully exposed to everyone's view!

At the same time, the mechanism for cross-level challenges would also appear.

If anyone could defeat a player on the level ranking, they would receive a slaughter chest!

In the early stages of the apocalypse, the slaughter chest was one of the few ways to obtain mythic items!

Players like Ying Zian, who had no backing from powerful factions, would inevitably be seen as ripe targets by those factions.

But Ying Zian was completely unaware of this.

He just arrogantly ordered:

"Lu Li, find a safe place, I want to open the chests!"

In Ying Zian's eyes, Lu Li, who had awakened the [Scout] ability, was no different from an ant.

This useless player, who had no combat ability, could be crushed by his fingers at any time!

So Ying Zian didn't guard against Lu Li at all.

Lu Li also showed no resistance.

He didn't even hesitate, his face beaming with approval:

"Let's go to the multimedia classroom. It's empty and probably the safest place."

The two walked side by side to the multimedia classroom, unaware that a pair of eyes had been watching them the entire time.

...

At the same time, a clearly reinforced Hummer car crashed through the school gates.

The loud noise startled the people hiding in the guard room.

"Old Li, what's happening outside? Are the monsters coming?"

A middle-aged woman, over forty, cowered in the corner, her eyes full of fear, staring at the guard room door.

He Shufen, a Chinese teacher at the high school.

She had intended to catch late students at the gate, but the apocalypse arrived, and she was trapped in the guard room by a mantis monster with a blade arm.

Although the mantis monster, which had killed three students, had left an hour ago, the blood outside still made the teacher too scared to open the door.

The students' lives were not as important as her own!

Moreover, since the students were dead, the safest thing to do was to stay in the guard room and wait for the police.

"I don't know, Teacher He. The noise is so loud, maybe another powerful monster has come..."

Old Li, dressed in a security uniform, muttered, holding a riot fork and cautiously approaching the door.

Before Old Li could get close, a loud thud came from the door!

"Oh my God!"

The sudden noise almost gave Old Li a heart attack. He quickly stepped back and looked out the window of the guard room.

There were no monsters outside, but a scar-faced bald man stood there.

"A human?" Old Li was surprised.

"Open the door, I have a question."

The scar-faced bald man turned his gaze from the nearby corpse to the window.

The moment their eyes met, the old security guard shuddered again.

"Old Li, it's a monster outside! Don't open the door..."

He Shufen, cowering in the corner, trembled and said.

"Thud!"

Another thud came from the door, and the scar-faced man seemed to have lost his patience.

"Open the door quickly! I just have a question!"

Old Li instinctively went to open the door but found his clothes tightly held by Teacher He.

"Don't open it, Old Li! We'll be dead if you do!"

"But Teacher He, I think it's a human. Maybe it's a rescue..."

Before Old Li could finish, the guard room door was kicked open with a "bang."

"Damn, dilly-dallying, wasting my time!"

A Hao, dissatisfied, muttered, his expression even more ferocious with the scar on his face.

"What do you want?!"

Seeing that it wasn't a monster, Teacher He felt a bit more confident and raised her voice to ask:

"This is a school! If you keep acting like this, I'll call the police on you!"

A Hao ignored Teacher He and looked at Old Li, who was sitting on the ground.

"Old man, I'm looking for Zhao Hui. Do you know where he is?"

Since the global announcement only showed a rough location and not the exact position, A Hao only knew that the person his boss wanted was at the high school.

"Zhao Hui? Is he a student?"

Old Li was taken aback, asking instinctively.

"He could also be a teacher."

A Hao's tone softened slightly, seeing that the other person seemed to know something.

But before he could continue, Teacher He screamed again.

"Hey! I'm talking to you! You don't look like a good person. If you know what's good for you, leave now before the police come and you regret it!"

A Hao's eyebrows furrowed, and he reached for his waist.

Just as Teacher He was about to continue her tirade, she found a black gun barrel in front of her.

"You're really noisy..."

---

Note: The last line is a direct translation, but it might be more natural to say, "You're really noisy..." in English.