Scavenging

Xia Leng stared in astonishment at the extra "clothes" on his body. He had only just thought of it, and these wormlike tendrils had already woven him an identical outfit?

They had even perfectly imitated the patches on the original animal-hide clothes!

Seeing this, he remembered how those deformed drifters had just chewed his body to pieces, and how these writhing tendrils had repaired his wounds. Now, not even a scar remained. His skin was even smoother and more delicate than before!

Could this be the power of the Blacklight Virus?

Xia Leng knew nothing about the Blacklight Virus's exact origins. From the fragments of memories that had just surfaced, he gathered that it seemed to have been in his brain for a long time.

He rubbed the animal-hide clothes. Their surface was just as smooth and soft, quite unlike ordinary fur, yet far more comfortable. They felt so light, almost like a layer of skin clinging to his body.

If these tendrils could follow his thoughts and weave whatever clothes he wanted...

At Xia Leng's tentative thought, the animal-hide clothes underwent another bizarre transformation!

They melted into countless fine strands, then wove themselves into the pure-black hooded sweatshirt he had imagined!

Its black was purer than the night sky. If he pulled the hood over his head and hid in the dark, no one would ever spot him. Its concealment surpassed even that of the Ghost-Faced Spider!

At the same time, he noticed something different about his legs.

His muscles were tougher than before, their streamlined definition making them look explosive!

After he absorbed the crystal he had taken from the Agile Hunter's skull, his legs had gained a corresponding boost in strength...

Xia Leng had begun to grasp the Blacklight Virus's general nature. Did it let him devour enemies and take their strength?

Well... that was pretty damn overpowered.

After being infected with the virus, Xia Leng also felt a new hatred for the Baptized Ones, as if he wouldn't be satisfied until he had wiped them all off the face of the Earth.

It was as though they were invaders from elsewhere, while he was the true master of Earth.

Xia Leng had no idea why such an outrageous thought had suddenly entered his mind. Wipe out all the Baptized Ones?

He'd probably be struck dead by lightning before he even laid eyes on one of their controllers...

He stopped dwelling on it and casually stepped over the leader's headless corpse. He still felt nothing.

After years of struggling to survive, his mental fortitude had long since surpassed that of ordinary people. He quickly accepted his newfound power, though he had no intention of revealing it lightly.

Whenever a Baptized One appeared with a new branch of abilities, they disappeared soon afterward.

Word was, some high-end mercenary companies snatched them away and took them to labs to be sliced up and studied...

He headed for the only sheet-metal shack in the ramshackle tent camp. It was clearly the leader's "luxurious" home.

Xia Leng stepped inside. It had everything from a bed frame to a table and chairs. Compared to the drifters sleeping rough out in the wilderness, it was practically a five-star suite. The moment he entered, he spotted a social insurance magazine on the table, its pages nearly worn out from being flipped through.

He rolled it up and stuffed it into the backpack he had picked up. He wasn't interested in that sort of thing; the magazine was simply a valuable trade item in the wasteland market.

After all, in the harsh conditions of the apocalypse, people's skin had been ravaged by the strange climate, leaving it rough and dark as sandpaper. Women were no exception.

So pictures of the delicate women from the old world had become the object of men's wildest fantasies, and their prices had naturally skyrocketed.

Xia Leng searched the rest of the shack and found an old safe hidden under the bed. Its locking mechanism no longer worked.

He dragged it out and opened it. Inside lay a pistol that looked brand-new! It seemed to be a Glock police pistol.

On top of that, all sorts of information about the gun's specifications and performance flooded his mind, as if it had already been in his memory!

Astonished, Xia Leng took it out and weighed it in his palm. The whole thing was coated in gun oil for maintenance.

A Glock 17 with an empty magazine should weigh about 675 grams, but this one weighed 75 grams, which meant there were probably five 9mm Luger rounds in the magazine.

Xia Leng removed the magazine to check. Sure enough, it held five bullets, polished to a gleam and just as well maintained!

He was stunned by what he saw. It wasn't that the leader had managed to get his hands on a precious pistol; it was that Xia Leng had calculated its precise specifications in such a short time!

It was as though information about firearms had been forced into his brain just like the Blacklight Virus, back when he was still in swaddling clothes...

Judging by the wear on the muzzle, the weapon was essentially an unfired Peace Gun, yet that man had kept it in such excellent condition.

Xia Leng casually slipped the pistol into his backpack. For a lone wanderer like him, this kind of weapon was practically a death gun.

The loud gunshots it would make in the apocalyptic wilderness could draw every dangerous creature within several kilometers, and they would tear the gun's owner to pieces. Only when an entire army carried firearms would the mutant monsters stay away.

So to him, the gun was just a valuable trade item. The other weapon in the safe, a serrated dagger, was far more useful.

In the lower part of the safe beneath the bed lay a military dagger gleaming with a metallic sheen. Its blade was also coated in gun oil, and the leader had kept it inside like a treasure.

Xia Leng gripped the handle. It felt well balanced and fit his hand perfectly.

"Stick with me. You'll be tasting blood from now on."

The reclusive Xia Leng gave the dagger a wry smile, then tucked it away.

He had scavenged nearly everything of value from this "five-star suite." The rest was too bulky to carry.

Bringing it along would waste his energy on the journey and make him more likely to attract the attention of other bandits.

His backpack now held the pistol, the social insurance magazine, metal bottle caps, and other portable trade goods. There was even a bottle of Grade Two drinking water!

The Black Rain five years ago had contaminated all the water sources. He didn't even know if the murky water was safe to drink. All he knew was that the moment you went near the water's edge, all kinds of terrifying, gigantic mutant fish would leap out and swallow you whole...

The mutations had turned these fish into ferocious amphibious monsters.

The few other water sources that were still barely drinkable had naturally become fiercely contested by the various Fortresses.

Once he had packed away his spoils, Xia Leng opened the door.

But outside, the ugly, foul-smelling deformed drifters had packed themselves tightly around the entrance...