Apocalypse Version

The Mysterious Version, the Myth Version, and the Apocalypse Version—these were the three versions Lu Yan could choose from this time.

When he saw the information on the three versions, Lu Yan instinctively furrowed his brows. Not one of them was easy to deal with.

There was no need to say much about the Mysterious Version. It involved True Gods and the Old Ones, making it a high-risk version. According to the information, even supernatural powers were extremely dangerous things within the Mysterious Version.

A version this dangerous was clearly unsuitable for Lu Yan, who had only just entered the Qi Refining Stage, to explore.

Strictly speaking, the Myth Version should be a rules-based horror game.

Before the rules of such a game, low-level cultivators were practically no different from ordinary people. Unless one had the means to pry open the rules, the Myth Version was definitely not a good choice.

As for the Apocalypse Version, it had already appeared during the previous Version Update.

However, among the three choices last time, the Apocalypse Version had been the dangerous one.

But among this round's choices, the Apocalypse Version was instead the safest.

At a rough glance, anything after the apocalypse seemed dangerous. But whether it was a Nuclear Apocalypse or a Zombie Apocalypse, at least the dangers within them could be traced.

With little room for thought, Lu Yan decisively made his choice.

"Update, Apocalypse Version!"

The next moment, the world outside the window began undergoing earth-shaking changes.

One after another, brand-new, prosperous skyscrapers were replaced by dilapidated high-rises. Yellowed stains lingered across the buildings, as though they had been gnawed away by the erosion of time.

Large stretches of low houses had long since become ruins, while the city's roads were littered with car wreckage. As far as the eye could see, it looked like a city that had died long ago.

Lu Yan looked toward the house he was in. The furniture in the room was strewn into a chaotic mess, and quite a few wooden pieces had even been dismantled for firewood. Garbage was scattered everywhere across the floor.

"This is the world after the apocalypse?"

Lu Yan curiously examined everything.

This city seemed to have been abandoned for several decades. There was no sign of any living activity.

After exploring the room for a while, Lu Yan discovered that nearly everything of value had been looted. There was no food at all.

The tap water and electricity had been cut off for an unknown number of years. The only thing he found was a desk calendar on an abandoned desk, its date frozen at 2012.

Yet this exploration was not without good news.

Lu Yan could sense that the spiritual energy concentration in the Apocalypse Version was at least ten times higher than in the Urban Version.

Since he had not cultivated in the Xianxia Version, Lu Yan was not sure what its spiritual energy concentration was. But clearly, the concentration in the Apocalypse Version was already sufficient to support his cultivation.

Even if he spent three months cultivating bitterly in the Apocalypse Version, it would still be a fairly profitable deal for Lu Yan.

"The thing most lacking in the Apocalypse Version should be supplies. Luckily, to prepare for the Version Update, I prepared three months' worth of food and daily necessities in advance. They can come in handy this time. However, this room is no longer fit for people to live in. I should first find a more suitable room to stay in temporarily, then explore the dangers of the Apocalypse Version."

Lu Yan raised his right hand and drew several spirit talismans from the Storage Bag. He clasped several of them in his palm before walking out the door.

This was an old-style apartment building. Lu Yan was on the seventh floor in the middle, and the corridors were littered with garbage and dried blood. In some rooms, several corpses had even been piled up. But after who knew how much time had passed, they had long since turned into gleaming white bones.

Lu Yan had expected this. He began searching for a suitable room to live in, but most of the rooms had already been thoroughly wrecked. Some even contained massive piles of feces.

Clearly, after the tap-water supply had been cut off and the normal toilets could no longer be flushed, survivors had used these rooms as public toilets.

It was only when he was almost at the top floor that Lu Yan discovered a room with its door closed.

After glancing at the old security lock, Lu Yan flicked a finger, channeling his magic power to destroy the lock cylinder, which had long since rusted and decayed. He pushed open the door.

The room was also a chaotic mess, with large patches of dried blood staining the floor. However, compared with the rooms that had been wrecked beyond recognition, this place was clearly much cleaner.

But Lu Yan did not let down his guard. Instead, he warily observed his surroundings.

Every other room had been thoroughly ruined, yet this one had remained intact. No one would believe there was no problem inside.

Just as Lu Yan approached the bedroom, a foul wind accompanied by a hoarse roar suddenly struck. What appeared before Lu Yan was a zombie whose entire body had long since rotted.

Lu Yan had been prepared. The spirit talisman in his palm flashed, and an ice spike instantly condensed in midair before stabbing toward the zombie. Frost spread out, freezing it in an instant.

However, the danger was far from over. The zombie's roar seemed to have flipped a switch. More zombies rushed out of the room—there were actually more than a dozen packed into the tiny bedroom.

Lu Yan immediately realized that the former survivors must have deliberately lured the zombies inside, then locked the door to trap them.

Their flesh had long since rotted away. Quite a few zombies had even lost their vocal cords entirely and could no longer make a sound.

Yet these rotting zombies still displayed agility far beyond that of ordinary people.

Lu Yan's expression turned solemn. These zombies did not pose a particularly great threat to him; he could easily kill them by using spirit talismans.

But the number of spirit talismans in Lu Yan's hands was limited. If he had already spent so many on this initial exploration, what would he do if he encountered stronger zombies later?

With a hand seal, a Soul Banner instantly fell into Lu Yan's hand. With a wave of the Soul Banner, four Vengeful Souls comparable to the First Level of Qi Refining flew out and pounced toward the more than ten zombies.

The gloomy ghostly energy condensed into frost, slowing the zombies, while the Ghost Claws stabbed directly into their mostly rotten bodies.

As the Ghost Claws withdrew, an illusory soul appeared in the hands of the Vengeful Souls. The zombies' rotten bodies collapsed with a crash, as if they had lost their support, and their flesh rapidly decayed at a speed visible to the naked eye, turning into white bones in an instant.

Lu Yan froze for a moment, then his face filled with delighted surprise.

"These zombies actually still have souls?"

"No! Rather, it should be that precisely because they have souls, these corpses that should have rotted away long ago were able to remain until now."

The methods of Vengeful Souls at the First Level of Qi Refining could mostly only target souls, so Lu Yan had thought they would be of little use against zombies.

Who could have expected that these corpses, which looked as if they were nearly rotten away, would still have souls? Their souls were even far weaker than those of normal people. Facing more than ten zombies with feeble souls, the Vengeful Souls completely overwhelmed them in a one-sided slaughter.

Every time the Ghost Claws flashed, they could effortlessly peel the souls away from the bodies they clung to, while the zombies' attacks could not harm the Vengeful Souls in the slightest.

In just one minute, all the zombies had turned into white bones. Only fifteen illusory wandering souls remained in the room.