After bidding farewell to the siblings, Mo Shao ventured slightly deeper into the city. She sought out other survivors to question, primarily looking for those living in high-rise buildings or those like Tang Bing who had ventured out to explore. This way, she could gather more information.
Once she had finished collecting the necessary data, Mo Shao was finally able to form her own judgment.
The threat level of the zombies was not low, but it wasn't overly high either; it was within manageable limits.
The zombie Phantom Realm had manifested in the south-central part of the city. The entire zone was diamond-shaped and stretched almost across the entire width of the city.
Over the past few nights, the zombie tides had gathered to wipe out the larger “factions,” so the zombies were currently concentrated in a few specific areas.
Based on the observations of the explorers over the past few days, she could conclude that there was no “Zombie King” capable of controlling the zombie tides during the day.
This meant the next steps were simple. As long as they avoided the gathering points of the zombie tides, it wouldn't be difficult for them to pass through.
Mo Shao observed that taking a route through the northern part of the city would work; there were extremely few zombies there.
However, it wasn't without risk. If they ventured too far north, they might encounter Nurglings, so they had to remain vigilant.
...
On her way back to where the team was stationed, Mo Shao decided to pick up a Crystal Core for herself—sourced from a Kapok tree.
Yes, the common Kapok trees often planted along the roadsides in Guangdong Province had become classic mutant plants of the zombie apocalypse, and they also possessed Crystal Cores.
As for why Mo Shao targeted a tree?
In a zombie apocalypse, mutant plants and mutant animals were often more powerful than ordinary zombies.
Furthermore, the only creatures in the city that possessed Crystal Cores and were solitary were these mutant plants. After all, they were the only ones currently unable to move!
Moreover, trees were easy to deal with. She just had to pour a bucket of lava over one to finish it. This Kapok tree couldn't resist her in the slightest!
As for how she got close enough to pour the lava?
The answer was that Mo Shao didn't need to get close at all!
After she Dead-bound the Jewel of Life back at the ruins, the items she had Dead-bound in her previous life had finally unlocked!
Specifically, the Snake Talisman and the Rooster Talisman!
...
She already had a Snake Talisman in this life, and no fusion or upgrade occurred between the two. She had known this for a while; she had touched her motorcycle from her previous life earlier, and nothing unusual had happened then either.
However, the Snake Talisman from her previous life was a Dead-bound object, so its invisibility effect would scale with her own strength.
As for the function of the Rooster Talisman, it was “levitation.” Thus, she had simply used it to float the lava bucket over and pour it out.
The Rooster Talisman was indeed incredibly useful!
Even now, besides manipulating objects to float and move, it could also help her significantly extend her flight time!
Furthermore, its primary function allowed her to control her various energy releases with much greater precision.
For example, if she fired a lightning ball, she could use the Rooster Talisman to make adjustments to its trajectory after it was launched!
This was far more effortless and effective than using mental strength to guide it or mana to directly adjust it.
After all, she had been doing exactly this throughout her previous life. Compared to using mental strength or mana, wasn't she far more practiced with this method?
...
In the end, the Kapok tree's Crystal Core melted in Mo Shao's mouth. The ability it granted her was: Vitality Enhancement!
It gave her own vitality another boost and could also be used on others, achieving a healing effect of sorts.
Unfortunately, she wasn't a traditional healer like those found in games.
Although this ability could produce a healing effect, the process was quite “scientific.”
Specifically, her ability enhanced a person's vitality, which naturally included their “self-healing capacity.”
However, she was only responsible for the enhancement and didn't provide any energy herself. Therefore, an injured person who was enhanced would have to quickly absorb high-energy substances.
Otherwise, if they consumed too much energy, they would actually die faster.
It was a decent enough ability. It was barely passable, and adding some defensive utility in the apocalypse was never a mistake.
You had to survive first before everything else mattered!
...
However, after swallowing the Kapok tree's Crystal Core and gaining this ability, one of her own Live-binding slots was “locked” by it.
Only when she had familiarized herself with and integrated this ability would the Live-binding slot be unlocked again.
Of course, this was only a “soft lock,” not a “hard lock.”
If she truly encountered a situation where she desperately needed that Live-binding slot, Mo Shao would abandon the ability without hesitation.
But such a situation was unlikely to occur. With Mo Shao’s strength, she would be able to complete the “unlocking” very quickly.
Furthermore, the Feedback from [Order] gained by killing monsters could also accelerate this “unlocking” process!
In her previous life, before the Skyscreen events appeared and the truths about [Order] and [Chaos] were revealed, everyone had coincidentally misunderstood this phenomenon.
They had collectively assumed that “combat accelerates the improvement of Compatibility.”
After all, that was a reasonable explanation, and it matched the reality of the situation perfectly...
She could only wonder how many “settings” she took for granted still held deeper “explanations” that she remained unaware of, even after her rebirth.
...
While her thoughts drifted, Mo Shao returned to the team's base. Everything was normal, with no unexpected incidents.
“You’re back!” Little Ka seemed to have spotted her from afar, running to the front and happily welcoming her return.
“Mm, I’m back,” Mo Shao replied briefly with a smile, then turned to look at the others.
“I have a good grasp of the situation inside the city now. I’ll give you a brief summary of the situation, and you can help analyze it.”
After Mo Shao finished describing the various details of the city, someone actually managed to find a small blind spot that Mo Shao had overlooked.
“We should look for some electric scooters or motorcycles first. Better yet, bicycles,” Wu Yingzhe suggested.
“After all, you can pedal a bicycle as long as you have two legs.”
“That’s true.” Mo Shao realized he was right and nodded. In the flat terrain of the city, those things were indeed very useful.
She had been flying a bit too much recently, and in her previous life, she had been a motorcycle herself, so she hadn't needed those things at all...
It had caused her to subconsciously overlook these modes of transport.
“Then let’s set our next target here.” Mo Shao pulled out a Minecraft map and pointed to a general location.
The place she pointed to was the shopping center, “The MixC.”
While she was at it, she might as well go and scavenge some miscellaneous items.
Rate on N.U.
