Friends

He slept soundly, without a single dream.

At dawn, in the tennis lounge, Wang Changle stared at the school outside the window.

Two heavy trucks were chasing each other, crashing wildly through the school grounds. Their massive, roaring engines drew a swarm of zombies, though many of those zombies were crushed beneath the trucks' wheels.

"Snap."

After a gunshot, the heavy truck's horn blared continuously. The loud, piercing sound echoed throughout the campus, attracting even more zombies to swarm toward them.

"Boom—crash!"

One heavy truck suddenly smashed through the wall in front of the supermarket.

A second later, it appeared on the street not far from the tennis stadium, finally slamming into a storefront, its horn still blaring.

Countless surging zombies poured out from the breach, and the truck behind it followed through the same gap, crushing and ramming the zombies in its path.

Taking advantage of this gap, he had already driven a small truck, roaring as he slipped into the rear exit of the campus.

He slammed on the gas, stopped at the exit, and jumped out of the car to run toward the school playground.

Glancing at the two women digging for zombie crystals a thousand meters away, he chose not to approach.

Instead, he followed from a distance, storing the corpses—now stripped of their crystals—into his Mark Space.

Yes, his goal was these very bodies.

These terrifying, foul-smelling zombies with gaping holes in their foreheads!

To others, they might be useless trash, but in his eyes, they were an unexpected fortune.

Although these were only the lowest-tier Level 1 Zombies and their Magic Crystals had been removed, they were still mutated zombies; their corpses would still contain some residual energy.

This energy might be useless to others, but it was useful to the Blood Rose in the courtyard.

As long as he collected enough zombies, he could trade for more Flesh Roses—items that could actually be taken out of the Doomsday Roulette World.

He soon realized that using the Mark Space to collect zombies was both convenient and fast.

A swipe of his palm and the collection was successful; he could load five corpses at a time before running back to the small truck.

Before long, he had harvested 200 zombie corpses. Through the plant's feedback, he sensed that Ye Zhongming was approaching rapidly.

To avoid affecting the plot's progression, he chose a tactical retreat.

He didn't yet have the ability to handle the variables that would come with changing the plot.

Moreover, this main quest was crucial to him, so a stable plot development was more beneficial.

This way, he could reap the benefits of the information gap, just like now, as he quickly arrived in front of the old-fashioned courtyard.

In just one night, the roses in the courtyard had undergone significant changes. Not only did each flower seem to have grown in size, but the pristine white petals were now tinged with a hint of pink.

The Rose Flowers, which had originally been confined to the courtyard, had now grown out onto the street.

Layer upon layer of flowers seemed to be spreading outward bit by bit, gradually occupying half the street.

As a breeze blew, the flowers swayed like ocean waves, beautiful and dreamlike.

Wang Changle released his mental fluctuations as he usually did, wanting to communicate with it.

Among the thousands of Rose Flowers, a male zombie appeared. A long vine was connected to the back of its head, guiding it to stand before Wang Changle.

Looking at this surreal scene, Wang Changle was somewhat shocked; it seemed to have evolved.

"Hello, my friend. What surprise have you brought me this time?"

A voice devoid of emotion came from the mouth of the zombie before him. This wasn't feedback from the Heart of Nature, but a real voice.

In just one night, it had evolved from mental communication to verbal communication. Although it achieved this by controlling other zombies, it was still far too advanced.

"You can speak? You've evolved again?"

"Yes, thank you for the gift you brought yesterday, my friend."

3-star mutation!

At the moment his guess was confirmed, he still found it hard to believe.

He knew that in the original timeline, a 3-star mutated plant didn't appear this early.

He had a faint feeling that perhaps because of him, a terrifying existence had evolved ahead of schedule. He couldn't help but think of the Yama Tree and the Maiden Vine that existed in the original timeline.

But it was only for a split second before Wang Changle adjusted his mindset.

Even if that were the case, so what? It wasn't his world anyway. What he needed to do now was exchange for resources.

He opened the truck door, revealing the mountain of zombie corpses. However, this time the vines didn't snatch them all away immediately; instead, they picked and chose, taking only a small portion.

He observed that the ones the vines took were mostly zombies whose limbs were intact, or those with younger, relatively robust bodies.

Clearly, the evolved Blood Rose had not only made significant breakthroughs on a mental level but also had higher requirements for its food.

In this world, if humans wanted to evolve, they needed to rely on the Doomsday Roulette and evolution potions, but mutated creatures didn't.

Mutated creatures only needed to acquire more energy to complete their evolution, and the most direct method was to devour other mutated creatures!

As long as they could devour enough energy from other mutated creatures, they could continue to evolve, theoretically without an upper limit!

Although he knew the Blood Rose was extraordinary and understood the rules of this world, the fact that it had transformed into a 3-star existence and developed consciousness in less than a day was still somewhat chilling!

"Thank you for your gift. But I need higher-quality energy now. Just like the one you gave me yesterday."

The emotionless voice carried a craving for evolution; it had developed desire!

Although it wasn't entirely satisfied with this batch of food, the Blood Rose still gave him a reward.

A pale pink Rose Flower wove through the sea of flowers and was finally delivered into Wang Changle's hand.

The flower felt soft and warm to the touch, smooth and delicate like a young girl's skin, its stamen in full bloom, resembling a shy maiden.

[Notification: You have obtained Human-faced Rose x1]

[Human-faced Rose]

Origin: Doomsday Roulette World

Type: Consumable

Quality: White; 10 (Rare)

Effect: Apply the petals to your face. Within 30 seconds, you can freely mold them to form a new appearance. Duration: 12 hours. 12/12.

Introduction: This is a flower nurtured from a young girl's skin.

Value: 1,500 Paradise Coins. Can be taken out of the 'Derivative World'.

Although the Human-faced Rose was only of white quality, he had a feeling that if used correctly, this functional item could have miraculous effects.

The flower in his hand suddenly sparked an idea in his mind: perhaps he could invest in it!

He knew the direction of the plot, and the current plot was still on its original timeline.

The Blood Rose before him was a 3-star mutated plant that had developed consciousness and desire; it had the potential to be invested in.

In the real world, he was betrayed by his friends and family, isolated, and burdened with blood debts.

Yet, in Cycle Paradise, in this first 'Derivative World', a place that didn't belong to him, he had found his first 'friend'.

Although he didn't know what the word 'friend' meant to this mutated creature, it was the only existence in this 'Derivative World' that had helped him.

At the very least, the entity held no malice toward him. It was opposed to humanity, but not to him, and their transactions had been reciprocal and always harmonious.

From the perspective of the Doomsday Roulette World, he wasn't its opponent.

And in the world of the Paradise, it wasn't his mission target. Since they didn't conflict with each other, there was a foundation for cooperation.

Rather than investing in a protagonist destined to rise, only to become his cannon fodder or subordinate, it would be better to invest in a powerful being with the potential to rise and become its ally!

With this thought, Wang Changle made his decision.