Chapter 151: Chapter 139: The Effect of the Level 3 Speed-type Mutated Crystal Core

The nights in Morhaven remained hot and humid. Yue Mao clutched a transparent, black Crystal Core in his hand, sprinting wildly toward the Bund.

The Level 3 Zombie Crystal Core in his hand still radiated the body heat from his frantic run. Night was the domain of darkness, and his awakened invisibility superpower made him a knight-errant of the shadows.

Except this knight-errant had just robbed the rich to give to the poor, with he himself being the ’poor’ who had just obtained his most valuable asset in a long time.

A Level 3 Crystal Core!

He originally thought he would need many more Zombie Crystal Cores to break through the Second Level. But this single Level 3 Crystal Core was enough to push his already brimming Superpower Level straight to Level 3.

’I can’t go back to the base with this Level 3 Crystal Core! The ability users in the Morhaven Safe Zone are mostly at the first level. Second Level users are rare, but they’re already considered experts. A Level 3 Crystal Core like this is too eye-catching. I’d never get it past the gate guards. If they found it, they’d definitely confiscate it.’

’Hmph. I’ll just absorb it myself before I go back!’

Yue Mao walked along the Bund for over half an hour, finally finding a large boulder stuck in a mud pit beside the waterfront road.

He looked up at the large fronds of the palm trees along the waterfront, then back down at the boulder. An idea began to form.

A short while later, the boulder had been dug out and carelessly tossed onto the sandy mud of the waterfront. Yue Mao sat down in the pit it left behind, pulling an enormous palm frond over his head for cover.

Unless someone was conducting a meticulous, blanket search, it was unlikely he would be discovered.

Level 3 Crystal Cores were beginning to carry various elemental attributes. Yue Mao gripped the translucent black crystal, concentrating as he guided the energy within it into his body.

’Incredible! The energy is so pure. It still carries a trace of viral impurity, but far less than what you’d find in First or Second Level Zombie Crystal Cores!’

After absorbing just a quarter of the Crystal Core, Yue Mao felt his Superpower Level break through.

As the energy from the Crystal Core continued to pour into him, a strange power surged into his legs, strengthening the muscles and sinews within.

When he had finished absorbing the entire Crystal Core, he realized he had not only reached Level 3, but had also gained a new ability.

Speed!

He leaped out of the pit and broke into a casual run across the muddy flats. He moved like an arrow loosed from a bow, covering a hundred meters in what felt like only six or seven seconds.

Not only that, but his agility had also increased dramatically.

He looked up at the twinkling stars, his eyes curving into crescents.

’Next time I see that pretty lady, I’ll have to thank her properly!’

Yue Mao returned to the safe zone empty-handed, and the guards at the north gate stopped him.

"Yue Mao! Get anything good on your trip out?"

The guard spoke as if he knew Yue Mao well, but his tone was laced with gloating mockery.

In this base city, lone wolves never had access to good resources. No resources meant no way to level up. And for a lone wolf, facing zombies on your own was incredibly dangerous. Morhaven’s population density had been terrifyingly high, so it was easy to run into a pack of zombies, or even a horde. Once surrounded, a single person faced certain death.

As far as they were concerned, this Yue Mao fellow was strong, but he hadn’t awakened a superpower. And for an unawakened person to refuse to join a powerful team for protection, instead insisting on going out alone every time... it was a miracle he was still alive.

Yue Mao ignored them. As was procedure, ordinary people without superpowers who entered the safe zone from the outside had to spend 24 hours in an isolation room before being allowed into the main area of the base.

The base provided one steamed bun per day for ordinary people. Since Yue Mao had returned at night, the guards simply pocketed his portion the next morning. Having been starved for a day, the moment Yue Mao was released from the isolation room that evening, he activated his invisibility and melted into the darkness.

Midnight in Morhaven was far from silent. Besides the occasional cries of unknown creatures from the surrounding woods, the faint roars of zombies could also be heard.

The moon climbed high in the sky, and stars glittered like scattered dust. At the gate of the Morhaven base city, two guards had their throats slit by a dagger from the darkness before they could even scream.

The technique was clean and decisive—a single, fatal strike.

Yue Mao wiped the blood from his dagger on a guard’s uniform, then looted their pockets for some candy and a total of five Crystal Cores before turning invisible and disappearing into the night once more.

His Level 3 invisibility superpower even allowed him to briefly remain unseen while attacking. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

Unfortunately, maintaining invisibility during an attack consumed an enormous amount of his superpower, and he couldn’t sustain it for long at his current level.

Still, Level 3... Only three people in the entire base had reached Level 3. He was now the fourth, able to hide in the shadows and move amongst the other experts. He loved the feeling of being concealed in the darkness.

Flora Bloom stormed back to the weather station with her six small pets in tow. Just then, Joel Bloom, the anesthetic having worn off, was coming down the stairs with support from Jade. Aside from being thinner, he showed no signs of ever being injured.

"Joel, I feel sick. Please, let me go!" Lucia cried out when she saw Joel Bloom walk down the stairs completely unscathed. He didn’t have a single scar from head to toe; in fact, he looked even more vibrant than he had before the apocalypse.

’This team has some incredible secrets,’ she thought, ’something even more powerful than that bitch Shauna Wallace’s healing! Otherwise, how could Shauna’s healing only temporarily save Joel’s life, while he spends just half a day upstairs and comes down good as new?’

Medical equipment and surgery couldn’t have healed him so quickly, much less without leaving a single scar.

This solidified Lucia’s resolve to stay with the group. Flora Bloom was a handful, but Joel was her brother. As long as Joel still had feelings for her, she would have a place on this team.

To her surprise, however, Joel only gave her a passing glance before walking right past her toward Kyle Warren and his companions.

The heavyset female office worker had lost both her legs. Viscous drops of blood were still slowly trickling from her thick thighs. She had been unconscious for some time and may have already stopped breathing.

The two men who had lost hands and arms lay against a nearby wall, their faces ashen. They stared blankly at the floor, not saying a word.

When Kyle Warren saw Joel Bloom approaching with an axe in hand, he muttered in disbelief, "Impossible. I broke your legs with my own hands. How could they be healed without even a scar?"

He suddenly turned to look at Shauna Wallace, who was resting amongst the other group with an indifferent expression. No, it couldn’t be her. Shauna Wallace’s healing arts could never have fixed such a severe injury. Even the most advanced medical technology couldn’t have restored his legs!

"There’s a lot you can’t imagine," Joel said. "For instance, how I’m about to kill you."

Kyle Warren suddenly burst out laughing. The sound was awkward but loud, and he kept shuffling backward as Joel Bloom approached.

Flora Bloom returned to see her brother closing in on Kyle Warren with an axe. Behind his back, Kyle was already gathering a Fireball in his palm.

At Flora Bloom’s direction, a dense cloud of water vapor instantly enveloped Kyle Warren. Water was the natural enemy of fire. As a mere Level 1 Fire Ability User, Kyle’s power was severely weakened by Flora’s vapor. He became like a damp piece of flint; after sputtering a tiny spark, the Fireball in his palm fizzled out completely.

No matter how many times he tried to summon it again, the result was the same.

Flora Bloom controlled the Water Energy within the weather station, focusing it solely on Kyle Warren. A paltry Level 1 Fire Element stood no chance of making waves within her large-scale elemental field.

Joel Bloom saw Kyle Warren enveloped in a nearly transparent white mist. He glanced over at Flora Bloom, who was leaning against the wall by the entrance, and knew his sister was helping him.

He had been in such a rush to get downstairs and take his revenge that he had almost forgotten Kyle was a Fire Ability User.

Seeing his superpower completely suppressed and unusable, Kyle grew even more frantic.

"You witch! It was you! What did you do? Why won’t my superpower work?"

Flora Bloom shot him a sidelong glance but didn’t bother to reply. She just looked at Joel and said, "Make it quick. We need to get back on the road tomorrow."

Joel Bloom nodded. He strode up to Kyle Warren and raised his axe. "Wait, wait! Don’t kill me!" Kyle screamed. "You just hate me for breaking your legs, right? Well, they’re healed now! Is there really any need to kill me?"

"And—and Lucia! That woman is no good! I slept with her to make her leave you. I was doing you a huge favor! You should be thanking me!"

"Please, I’m begging you, don’t kill me! As long as you spare me, I’ll do anything you want! I’ll be your slave!"