Someone Had Been Here

After having dinner at a tavern along the way, he returned straight to his residence.

After resting for a while, he began practicing short spear combat with Bartholomew.

Ever since he had Bartholomew, the skeleton, he had stopped using wooden targets for practice.

Real combat was far more effective than practicing against a wooden target.

As the spar continued,

a System Prompt appeared by his ear once again.

Specialty Unlocked: Short Spear Mastery (Beginner)

Hmm?

The sudden prompt distracted him for an instant.

His movements slowed, and Bartholomew's dagger slashed toward his neck.

Startled, he hastily dodged to the side.

"Pause!"

After evading, he immediately shouted.

Bartholomew stopped moving, instantly sheathed his dagger, and stood where he was.

Wu Heng touched his neck. After confirming he was unharmed, he opened the Attribute Panel for a look.

Name: Wu Heng

Class: Necromancer

Level: 3 (1109/2700)

Attributes: Strength 10, Agility 13, Constitution 15, Intelligence 16, Perception 10, Charisma 13.

Specialty: Short Spear Mastery (Beginner)

Skills: Bone Manipulation Technique, Acid Splash, Grease Spell.

Short Spear Mastery (Beginner): You have attained beginner-level proficiency with short spear weapons.

Sure enough, there was an additional specialty on the Attribute Panel.

It did not grant any fixed attribute bonuses. It merely stated that he had reached the beginner level.

That meant he could unlock proficiency with other weapons through training as well.

No, this was probably just the panel's way of presenting data. Proficiency itself still came from training.

Between real combat and daily practice, he had already put in quite some time.

"What about practicing swordsmanship next?"

Compared with short spears, more people carried swords on the market.

That also proved how practical swords were among the general public.

Since training could unlock weapon proficiency, he could practice with a sword.

After checking his attributes, he stood up again. "Come on, let's practice a little longer."

The two stood in the open space at the center of the living room and resumed their practice.

It was not until late at night that Wu Heng went to bed.

The next day.

Zombie World.

Wu Heng led the Skeleton Squad and continued yesterday's work.

Arriving before a building that had yet to be cleared, he opened the stairwell doors one by one and led the Skeleton Warriors inside to clear out the Zombies.

He then opened the doors of each apartment and continued clearing the Zombies inside.

The same unchanging battles repeated themselves.

These isolated Zombies posed no threat at all to the current Skeleton Squad.

Soon, the first building was cleared, and they moved on to the Zombies in the next one.

They used their numerical advantage to finish the battle.

After clearing the Zombies from Building 3, just as they were about to turn around the corner,

Bartholomew, the Skeleton Rogue serving as scout, ran back from the distance.

He made a gesture for them to stop advancing.

Wu Heng immediately ordered, "Stand by where you are."

Clatter! Clatter!

The advancing Skeleton Army immediately halted, standing ramrod straight as they entered Standby State.

Bartholomew squeezed through the crowd, came before Wu Heng, and pointed behind the building blocking their view.

"Danger?"

Bartholomew nodded his skull lightly.

"Take me to have a look."

Bartholomew nodded again and led Wu Heng out of the Skeleton Squad. At the corner, Wu Heng poked his head out to look ahead.

Ahead was a Small Plaza within the residential complex, with a Cement Ground and several pieces of exercise equipment.

A blue bus had smashed through the complex's fence and overturned along one side of the plaza.

More than twenty Zombies wandered around the Small Plaza. Quite a few wore identical blue work uniforms.

They were probably workers from some factory who had been on the bus.

"The numbers are still manageable."

More than twenty Zombies was not a small number.

But with the Skeleton Army's current numbers, along with several skeletons possessing souls, it would not be too difficult.

With preparations made in advance, they could also minimize losses to a greater extent.

Just as he was about to call the Skeleton Army over,

whoosh, whoosh!

Three black shadows suddenly darted out from a distant stairwell.

They pinned down the wandering Zombies and forcibly tore off their arms and lower legs.

Before the other Zombies could surround them, they quickly ran off, leading the Zombie horde in circles.

"Mutated Zombie Dogs!" Wu Heng's eyes widened.

Like Skeleton Poodle Teddy, all three were large Mutated Dogs.

As though toying with prey, they led the Zombies around in circles.

Using their speed advantage, they constantly darted about in every direction, occasionally even turning back to wait for a moment.

With this commotion, the number of Zombies began to grow, gathering in increasing numbers in the Small Plaza.

The advantage of Zombie Dogs lay in their speed.

When Teddy had been killed, it had been trapped in a stairwell, which had greatly restricted its movements.

In an open area like this, they would be hard to catch.

Even if they could beat them, the dogs could simply turn and flee, making them difficult to pursue.

Wu Heng patted Bartholomew on the shoulder. "Let's go back."

They retreated and left with the Skeleton Army.

They needed to think carefully about how to deal with these three Zombie Dogs. It would be best to surround and trap them in the middle; otherwise, they would truly be difficult to handle.

They retreated all the way to the building where he lived.

He began directing the skeletons to carry corpses while Wu Heng started converting them.

Skeletons rose one after another, while Sword One, Sword Two, and the other skeletons handed the prepared cleavers to the new skeletons.

At dusk.

Wu Heng returned to Blackstone Town with the One-Handed Iron Sword.

Having unlocked Short Spear Mastery, he would begin practicing swordsmanship tonight.

He would try to unlock another specialty or something.

Besides, when he had practiced with the short spear, he had simply trained blindly on his own. For swordsmanship, he could ask the people from Fourth Squad for guidance.

If that did not work, he still had Sword One and Sword Two.

They possessed Basic Souls and were not much different from ordinary people. The only difference was that they could not speak.

They should have no problem giving simple demonstrations or correcting his movements.

He set the Iron Sword aside. Just as he picked up the Backpack on the table to head out,

his hand paused slightly.

Someone had gone through the Backpack.

Although nothing inside was missing, the positions of the items had changed.

Wu Heng immediately inspected the room again. There were signs that the other places had been searched as well, though everything had been returned to its original position.

If he did not have the habit of keeping things in fixed places in his Backpack, he probably would not have noticed any of it.

"Not a thief."

The Silver Coins in the drawer were still there.

Besides, no thief would put things back where they had been after searching through them.

With that kind of professionalism, who would still become a thief?

He found no clues in the room. Slipping the Backpack onto his back, he left the house alone.

As soon as he emerged from the alley, he saw the landlord chatting with neighbors.

"Heading out?" the landlord asked.

"Yeah. Did anyone come looking for me today?" Wu Heng asked directly.

"No one came. Why, was someone looking for you? If you're not around, have them go to my place. I can pass along any message for you," the landlord said generously.

"Oh, it's nothing. Just asking."

Just as he turned to leave, the landlord suddenly added, "Oh, right. A fur seller came looking for you during the day. I happened to see him when I went out."

"Furs?"

"Yeah. He said you two had talked at the market yesterday. When he saw you weren't home, he left."

Happy National Day!