Mechanic endlessly amassing troops in the apocalypse

"You two will practice on the zombies on the next level. First, build up your courage—at the very least, make sure you can bring yourself to use the knife."

Li Fei moved the chair blocking the stairwell while giving instructions.

The two women nodded.

Upon entering the ninth floor, Li Fei silently followed behind, gun in one hand.

As soon as we turned the corner from the elevator, dozens of zombies roared and pounced into view. Upon spotting living people, they charged like ravenous wild dogs.

Su Wan'er was so frightened that she took half a step back.

Tang Mucheng, as if she had been suppressing her emotions for a long time, gripped her long sword tightly and charged forward without hesitation.

"Sister Mu Cheng, wait for me!"

Seeing that Tang Mucheng had already charged into the horde of zombies, Su Wan'er disregarded her fear and gritted her teeth as she rushed forward.

That's really impressive...

Li Fei watched from the sidelines, secretly gasping. He hadn't expected Tang Mucheng, seemingly aloof and arrogant, to be even more efficient at killing zombies than he was. With each swing of her longsword, a zombie was decapitated. Her control over the sword was clearly far more skillful than his own; no wonder she was so obsessed with it—she was probably a master swordsman to begin with, and it was no wonder they had survived six months in the apocalypse.

Li Fei was very satisfied with Tang Mucheng's performance.

But Su Wan'er was struggling. She lacked arm strength and was slow to react. If it weren't for Tang Mucheng's constant care, even with this protective suit, she would probably have been torn to shreds by the zombies.

A dozen minutes later, the zombies in the corridor had been cleared out.

Su Wan'er was bitten hard by the zombie several times, and tears welled up in her eyes from the pain.

"Alright," Li Fei glanced at her, somewhat amused and helpless. He did indeed hope that Su Wan'er could stand on her own more—Tang Mucheng was like an untamed wild horse, while Su Wan'er was more like a docile house dog.

Never mind, let's take it slow.

After being lightly reprimanded, Su Wan'er pouted and dared not utter a sound.

Li Fei glanced at the corpses scattered on the ground and suddenly noticed that two zombies were emitting a hazy white light.

Two crystal cores were released at once?

He quickly stepped forward and picked it up.

The first one is an ordinary crystal nucleus.

The second one, however—

[Mutant Crystal Core: Spirit +1 (Current Absorption Limit: 0/10)]

It's an attribute crystal core!

Li Fei recalled asking the boss before that crystal cores were divided into two main categories: ordinary crystal cores that enhance comprehension, and mutated crystal cores that strengthen physical attributes. The latter had an absorption limit per level and were very expensive—one core cost two hundred thousand.

He couldn't help but take a deep breath.

If I remember correctly, Su Wan'er killed both of these zombies. She only dealt with two in total.

This girl... could she be one of those so-called chosen ones?

Su Wan'er noticed Li Fei's scrutinizing gaze, blushed, and muttered softly, "Brother Fei, please don't scold me. I will definitely work hard to practice in the future... I'm different from Sister Mu Cheng. She is the national kendo champion, and I've never even touched a sword before."

Li Fei smiled, thinking he was probably overthinking things. But how should the crystal cores be distributed? After all, he wasn't the one who fought them.

After a moment's hesitation, he abandoned the idea of ​​keeping it for himself. There would be plenty of these crystal cores in the future, and there was no need to discourage people over this.

Reaching Su Wan'er, Li Fei handed her the crystal core: "It's not your fault. Here, your spoils."

Su Wan'er took it and examined it curiously: "What is this?"

"Crystal cores," Li Fei explained, "I'm not entirely sure about their specific effects, but they should improve physical fitness."

"Really?" Su Wan'er's eyes lit up. "If I use it, I can become as powerful as you?"

Li Fei smirked: "That's probably impossible."

Su Wan'er wasn't disappointed. Instead, she handed the crystal core back to him: "Brother Fei, you're the backbone of the team. It won't be of much use to me, so you should keep it."

Li Fei was taken aback, then shook his head: "No need, one more won't make a difference. Try it and let me see the effect."

"Well... alright." Su Wan'er nodded, gripped the crystal core, and gently squeezed it.

The crystal core melted in her palm like tofu, and then a soft light enveloped her entire body.

As the light faded, Su Wan'er opened her eyes, her expression somewhat dazed. She instinctively raised her right hand, and a die appeared out of thin air in her palm, the number facing up: three.

At the same time, a semi-transparent square vaguely appeared above her head:

[Level: 1]

A red health bar followed behind.

Li Fei's heart skipped a beat, and he asked, "What is this?"

"I can't explain it either," Su Wan'er shook her head in confusion, "Suddenly a panel appeared in front of me, showing my level and health, and an ability... called 'Lucky Dice.' I can roll it once a day, and the number determines how many times I'll have a lucky streak that day."

Lucky Dice?

Li Fei's pupils contracted slightly—no wonder she got two crystal cores after killing only two zombies; she had this ability.

However, Su Wan'er doesn't seem to have an experience point system?

"Do you have experience points on your panel?" Li Fei asked directly.

"Experience points?" Su Wan'er stared wide-eyed, completely bewildered. "What are those?"

Just as I expected. Seeing this, Li Fei immediately understood—it seemed that this experience point system, like Su Wan'er's lucky dice, was a unique ability of his own.

This is good news. If everyone can deduce skills based on experience points, his advantage will be gone, and he will have to be much more careful in the apocalypse.

He didn't explain further, only nodding and saying, "Understood. Leave the rest of the zombies to me."

The further down the stairs they went, the more zombies they encountered. To avoid any accidents, Li Fei decided to clear the way himself with his gun.

With the squad expanded to three members, the clearing efficiency did indeed improve. Although zombies are made of flesh and blood and are stronger than ordinary people, they have obvious weaknesses. However, during the hunt, Li Fei discovered that they were not as dull as depicted in movies—they would instinctively dodge the moment a shot was fired.

This discovery gave him a headache. If zombies possessed even basic intelligence, they would be much more difficult to deal with.

He shook his head, no longer wanting to think about it.

Eighth floor.

After firing a barrage of shots, only one zombie remained in front of him. Li Fei cut off its limbs and then said to Su Wan'er, "Su Wan'er, try killing another one and see if your amazing ability can be triggered."

If Su Wan'er's abilities are controllable, then her effects will be significant, so Li Fei couldn't wait to test her effectiveness.

Upon hearing this, Su Wan'er did not question it, and drew her long sword to chop down on the zombie's neck.

Unfortunately, no crystal core was found this time.

"It seems we'll need to study how to use this 'lucky charm' technique further. Let's continue on our way."

Despite the experiment's failure, Li Fei was not discouraged.

The group continued their clearing operation downwards.

By the time they reached the second floor, everyone was exhausted.

Since the first floor leads directly to the outside world, the situation is definitely more complicated, and it would be too risky to enter rashly.

Therefore, Li Fei decided to withdraw from the military first.

I just happened to get four more crystal cores today, so I can upgrade them first and continue to advance tomorrow.

Back at the tenth-floor stairwell, Li Fei rearranged the tables and chairs and instructed the two women, "That's enough for today. You can go back and rest now."

He paused, then looked at Su Wan'er: "By the way, Su Wan'er, cook more rice tonight, we didn't have enough for lunch."

Thinking of the pile of dishes Li Fei had brought, Su Wan'er immediately replied sweetly, "Okay, sure~"

After making the arrangements, Li Fei returned to the top floor alone, activated the teleportation array, and disappeared into the dim light.