Chapter 14: The Secret of This City
[Random Generation Completed]
[Spirit Body
Mental: 30
Physical: 100
Trait: Calm Lv1]
[Searching for Random Deployment Location.]
[Note: After the random deployment is completed, the spirit body will undergo a 2-second solidification process. During this period, the spirit body will be immune to any damage.]
“Quite an average set of attributes,” she thought.
It made sense, considering she had only deployed one core.
As for the solidification process of the spirit body, Xu Zhi simply understood it as a 2-second invincibility period.
[Random Location Selected, Deployment Starting.]
At the moment this line of narration appeared, Xu Zhi’s vision went black. She didn’t experience any dizziness or strange sensations; it was as though she just blinked, and in the next second, white text appeared in the darkness.
[Deployment Successful. When you open your eyes, the solidification will begin.]
“Just as expected.”
Xu Zhi had been curious about how the game would transfer her consciousness into the spirit body. Based on the narration, she had previously guessed it might create a physical body to house her consciousness, but she also thought it might just be a pixelated character she could control in the game. Now, it seemed that the game had indeed created a “temporary body” for her.
This opened up more possibilities.
While inhabiting the spirit body, she wouldn’t need to fear death. She could perform tasks in the spirit body that she might hesitate to do in real life. While the spirit body had its costs, those were relatively minor compared to its potential uses. Xu Zhi could take risks with it, using it for various bold actions.
After mentally preparing herself, Xu Zhi slowly opened her eyes. She instinctively looked around but froze in place when she saw the surroundings.
For a full two seconds, her mind went blank. The intense shock hit her brain so strongly that she couldn’t think, and she even stopped breathing. Her breathing was halted entirely.
It wasn’t until the 2 seconds of invincibility wore off that a scarlet light flashed in front of Xu Zhi. Her spirit body died instantly, so quickly that she didn’t feel any pain. Her consciousness immediately returned to her original body, and her mind sluggishly began to function again, as if it were rusted.
But once she started to think, cold sweat broke out on her back.
What had she just seen?
First of all, there was no doubt she had been deployed to the city center. The first thing Xu Zhi saw when she opened her eyes was a bus stop in front of her, with the clear label “People’s Park Station.” People’s Park was located in the city center of Cloud City.
However, the next moment, her vision was filled with things that made her mind freeze.
They were—
Horribly deformed and terrifying-looking alien creatures, packed densely in every corner of the road and buildings, enough to trigger severe trypophobia.
And the moment Xu Zhi opened her eyes, it seemed like these creatures noticed this “other” being. Their glowing eyes, dim in the fog, all turned to stare at her. Their gazes were cold, bloodthirsty, and devoid of any rational thought.
Even though the street was silent, when Xu Zhi thought back, it felt as if she could hear the whispering of countless monsters.
They were saying: “Look, a lost lamb.”
Every creature was itching to move, and as soon as the 2 seconds of invincibility were over, one of the monsters rushed toward her.
It was fortunate that the spirit body was far too fragile for these alien creatures, causing her death to come swiftly. She didn’t even feel any pain.
At that moment, her mind went blank when she first saw that terrifying scene. She died before she could process it, but now, as she thought back, it wasn’t just fear that flooded her mind, but also a huge sense of confusion.
Why were these alien creatures all gathered in the city center?
There were too many possible reasons, ranging from something drawing them there, to a more powerful creature controlling them to head to the city center. There were countless possibilities.
Now she knew that the alien creatures were all in the city center, which explained why she hadn’t seen any of them in the past few days.
But then came a strong sense of anxiety and urgency.
Because Xu Zhi didn’t know how long these creatures would stay in the city center. What if, the next second, they left the city center and came here?
Not just here, but any place in this city. As long as these creatures existed, this city couldn’t be considered safe.
Moreover, the groups of creatures were even more dangerous than reported in the news.
As long as they wanted, no one in the city could stop them.
Was she supposed to rely on praying that the creatures wouldn’t suddenly come to her location?!
From the brief glance Xu Zhi had, she saw at least a hundred creatures, and that was with the mist blocking part of her view. From a distance, all she could see were the glowing eyes of the creatures flickering in the fog!
She couldn’t understand why these creatures were gathered in the city center. She only knew that this city probably had another hidden secret that she didn’t understand.
The excessive tension and anxiety almost made Xu Zhi angry. She had to close her eyes and take a deep breath to calm herself.
Fortunately, the stress of illness and death in the past had always been a constant companion, and encountering something this terrifying didn’t crush Xu Zhi. She spent a little time adjusting her mindset and opened her eyes again.
“It seems that I must be more aggressive.”
Her growth speed wasn’t fast enough!
Xu Zhi’s mind was consumed by the scene she had just seen, and now her goal had shifted to simply surviving under the siege of these alien creatures.
Before witnessing this scene, her goal hadn’t been this “grand.” The more she knew, the heavier the pressure on her shoulders.
Under that pressure, Xu Zhi made a decision.
She took out the gray [Moth] attribute core and, without hesitation, placed it in her mouth.
She knew that a single core wouldn’t add much power, but it was more of a resolution.
The moment she swallowed the core, it dissolved like crystal in her mouth and slid down her throat. Then, a surreal, dream-like vision appeared before her eyes.
She seemed to see countless gray moths trapped under glass domes, released one by one into the night. There were burning candles in the air, and each moth, like a pilgrim, flew toward the flame, then died, their bodies turning to ashes and falling to the ground.
Countless moth corpses covered the ground, their gray wings adorned with black patterns resembling silent eyes. They twisted and changed, staring up at the flame in the sky with a longing gaze.
Xu Zhi’s eyes followed the flickering candle in the air, and she felt an almost uncontrollable urge to approach it, even though it radiated intense heat and mercilessly burned the moths.
However, the next second, the scene in front of her began to twist, and a strong dizziness overwhelmed her, pulling her out of the hallucinatory dream-like state.
Her clothes were soaked with cold sweat, and Xu Zhi couldn’t help but feel a little terrified. If she hadn’t snapped out of it in time, would she have ended up like those moths, flying into the flames?
She tried to feel if there were any changes to her body, but unfortunately, after some time, she couldn’t sense any difference. So, she picked up her game console, hoping the narration might offer some clues.
Sure enough, the narration didn’t ignore any of her actions.
[The scene you saw in your spirit body left you trembling with fear and made you resolve to change. Swallowing an attribute core was indeed a bold move, but was it not the right choice in the moment?]
[Your affinity with the Moth attribute has increased, but this is not enough for you to acquire an ability. Perhaps you will need more attribute cores.]
[But please be aware, you should have noticed that consuming attribute cores carries risks for beings with rational minds, especially for dangerous attributes like Moth.]
[Please keep your sanity and do not let yourself fall into ‘fascination.’]
“Fascination?”
It seems that the sensation she just had, almost like the moths, where she couldn’t help but want to “self-immolate,” was a sign of being “entranced.”
However, one core is truly not enough.
Where should she go to get more [Moth] attribute cores?
Xu Zhi glanced at the time. She thought not much time had passed, considering that her spiritual body had been killed instantly, and she didn’t experience the illusion for long. But when she checked the time, more than an hour had already passed.
In a little while, her two familiars would be done with their tasks.
Up until now, though, the game hadn’t provided any hints about the black fruit. It seemed like her luck today wasn’t great.
Xu Zhi put down the game console, got up, and washed up. Although she brought medicine with her when she moved, it was only for emergencies. After her dog leveled up to 10, her physical condition had improved a bit. Now, her body was still weaker than a normal person, but she could manage without medication.
After washing up and changing her clothes, Xu Zhi fiddled with the washing machine in the room and did some laundry before returning to her bedroom.
She sighed. “Even in the apocalypse, I still have to wake up at 5 am and do my laundry myself.”
When she became stronger, she definitely planned to recruit someone to do the laundry and other household chores for her.
After finishing these tasks, it was about time. Xu Zhi picked up her game console to check, and sure enough, her two familiars had gained nothing this morning.
“Well, I can’t expect to find good things every day.”
Xu Zhi sent the two familiars out to level up on their own and didn’t idle herself. Apart from some daily necessities, her luggage mainly consisted of books.
She knew she couldn’t use her free time to exercise her weak body, nor could she recklessly go out searching for opportunities. The only thing she could do was to seize every moment to enrich her mind, gaining more knowledge. Even if this knowledge might not be immediately useful, it’s better to be prepared.
In addition to having her familiars hunt, she also instructed them to keep an eye on the nearby library. This morning, she cleared a relatively safe path so she could continue adding more to her knowledge after reading the books at home.
“Ah, if only there were the internet.”
The network in Cloud City had been cut off. Otherwise, she could just use her phone or tablet and wouldn’t need to go to the library.
After the first round of hunting ended, Xu Zhi finally looked up from her book to check their results.
After reading for seven hours, Xu Zhi felt a bit tired, but there was a hint of excitement in her eyes. She had noticed that her energy bar had increased significantly, and even her memory and comprehension had improved. She was reading faster than before.
And it wasn’t just reading hurriedly and skimming through; she was truly absorbing the content, understanding it, and retaining it.
Perhaps the [Moth] attribute didn’t give her a noticeable physical boost, but it had certainly benefited her in this regard.
“If I digest enough cores, could I reach the level where I can remember everything at a glance?”
Xu Zhi pondered for a moment before looking at the game screen.
Both of her familiars had accumulated enough evolution points to level up again. But more importantly, in the [Special Items] section, three attribute cores were suddenly displayed!
Xu Zhi looked carefully: two [Blade] attribute cores and one [Moth] attribute core.
“Not bad.”
She didn’t urgently need new attribute cores to increase her “knowledge” at the moment, but she lacked cores that could increase her strength.
She planned to feed both [Blade] attribute cores to Yi. Attribute cores were a rare resource, and at this moment, rather than spreading them evenly, she preferred to cultivate a more powerful combat force.
Besides, she needed Yi to reach level 20 quickly to unlock the third familiar.
Xu Zhi first instructed Yi and Gouzi to find a place to level up, having both familiars level up by one. Then, she ordered Yi to consume the two [Blade] attribute cores while Gouzi continued with the next round of hunting, which would last for 7 hours.
Gouzi reached level 11, with its spirit increased by 22 points, and its physical strength boosted by 120 points, reaching 860 physical attributes. There were no other upgrades at the moment.
After Yi consumed the two [Blade] attribute cores, its evolution points reached the upgrade threshold again. More importantly, thanks to absorbing the attribute cores, Yi’s [Blade] attribute had increased, and its traits had been enhanced.
Yi’s panel updated again:
[Familiar: Snake Lv14
Spirit: 200
Body: 800
Attributes: Blade
Traits: Toxin Lv5 → Lv6, Sharp Lv3 → Lv4, Bloodthirsty Lv4, Cunning Lv3
Special Ability: None]
[Evolution Points: 200/3000]
The Toxin and Sharp traits had each leveled up by one, but it still hadn’t evolved an active skill.
“Alright, go back to hunting.”
It had been an hour since Gouzi set off, and the time spent leveling up and digesting the [Blade] attribute cores had taken some time. Xu Zhi looked at the [Moth] attribute core in her inventory, didn’t hesitate, and took it out, consuming it directly.
However, this time, she was mentally prepared for what would happen after eating the core and remembered to maintain her rationality.
Yet, this time, the dreamy illusion seemed to undergo some subtle changes.
