Blood

The shaken lucky survivor watched as his boss's corpse gradually stopped twitching; thick blood flowed from the horrific gash in his neck caused by the glass, instantly filling the room with a scent of dust and gore!

As for Xia Leng, who had been blasted against the wall by the point-blank shotgun, he had been struck by the full force of the storm of steel pellets!

The high-speed rotating pellets riddled his upper body with holes, shredding his internal organs into a pulp.

Despite suffering a shotgun blast that should have been fatal, Xia Leng was still breathing and his consciousness remained clear, though he was also enduring one hundred percent of the pain.

The Blacklight Virus tentacles within his body attempted to repair these lethal wounds, writhing frantically to fill the gashes.

However, the dense wounds caused by thousands of steel pellets left these internal "doctors" feeling somewhat overwhelmed.

With one biker still remaining, Xia Leng attempted to muster the last of his strength to finish the opponent off.

Yet, the moment he exerted force, a sweetness rose in his throat, and he spat out a large pool of black blood!

His body could no longer summon any power, and he slumped helplessly against the corner of the wall...

His injuries were too severe, and the remaining energy and satiety levels in his body were insufficient to heal the wounds quickly.

Xia Leng had long since discovered that while these black tentacles repaired his wounds, they also consumed significant stamina and satiety, which was why his appetite had grown so much along the way, and why he felt an urge to devour any living creature he saw.

The "lucky survivor," startled awake by Xia Leng's coughing, looked on in astonishment to see that the man hadn't died despite being shot to such a degree?!

"You really are a Baptized One! But after taking that kind of damage, even if you possess the supernatural powers favored by the heavens, you're powerless now, aren't you! Hahahaha!"

He raised the shotgun, which still had one shell left, stepped over his boss's corpse, and walked over with a hideous grin.

As for the death of his boss, it didn't move him in the slightest; only the Light Blue Crystal that might exist in Xia Leng's brain was the treasure that could make him rich!

He had long been tired of being ordered around by others.

With this crystal exclusive to a Baptized One, its value would be enough to reorganize a biker gang, and he could finally experience the thrill of being the boss himself!

The "lucky survivor" raised the muzzle, aiming at Xia Leng's drooping head, preparing to kill him with one final shot without worrying about shattering the precious crystal inside his skull.

Because these crystals were dozens of times harder than diamonds, impervious to extreme heat or cold, and could remain intact even under the pressure of a hydraulic press.

Therefore, some "upper-class" people in the apocalypse liked to use these beautiful crystals to make jewelry to wear.

Just as he was about to pull the trigger, Xia Leng suddenly raised his head, looking at the biker with an unfathomable, cold sneer.

"Aren't you a Baptized One yourself? You've been a subordinate to ordinary people for so long, haven't you realized it yet?"

The remaining biker froze upon hearing Xia Leng's words.

A Baptized One?

He had dreamed of becoming one of these elites of the apocalyptic world—a person above others.

But he knew his own level and worth, otherwise, why would he be working for someone else?

"Hmph, me, a Baptized One? I think you're just afraid of death and trying to butter me up. Don't worry, I promise to make your end quick!"

"Haven't you noticed how lucky you are... When I fired at you, the gun suddenly misfired; when I threw the dagger at you, something fell and blocked it for you; and finally, when you were walking in front of your boss, the glass shard I threw should have slit your throat, but it inexplicably curved because of its angle and killed the boss behind you instead..."

Xia Leng's words finally made the biker recall the scene that had just unfolded.

At the time, the atmosphere had been too tense for him to notice these details.

Now that he thought about it, it did seem to be the case...

Moreover, during previous hunts with his boss and the others, similar situations of lucky escapes had occurred, but he hadn't paid them any mind, simply attributing it to occasional good luck.

"Could it be that you're saying I belong to that kind of mysterious scholar with hidden luck? Why are you telling me this? Are you trying to get me to spare your life?"

Hearing that he might also be a "noble" Baptized One, a surge of excitement that was hard to accept flooded the biker's brain, as if his dreams had come true!

But naturally, he wouldn't believe the other party entirely; it wasn't as if he could pry his own skull open to see if there was a Light Blue Crystal exclusive to a Baptized One inside.

"I'm telling you this simply because I don't want us, the noble new humans, to become lapdogs for those stupid old humans to order around. Whether you believe it or not is up to you. Do it. Dying by the gun of one of your own is better than dying at the hands of those common refugees, cough, cough, cough!"

Xia Leng leaned against the wall, and after finishing these words, he coughed up another large pool of black blood, then fell silent and weak, putting on an expression of someone ready to be liberated.

"Is that so? Then I really thank you. There aren't many good people like you left in the apocalypse, but I think you should know what happens to good people, hehe."

The lucky survivor didn't want to listen to any more of the man's words; the smell of blood here was too heavy, and if it attracted monsters he couldn't handle, that would be a real problem.

"Alright, I've let you talk enough. Now, go to hell!!"

He raised the shotgun in his hand again, grinning as he placed his index finger on the trigger, thoroughly enjoying the feeling of holding the life and death of a noble Baptized One in his hands.

Just as he was about to pull the trigger and reach the pinnacle of his life, Snap~

Suddenly! A crisp sound of a bone being twisted and broken rang out, accompanied by a chill at his ankle, followed by a heart-wrenching pain surging from his foot!

It caught him off guard, causing him to lunge forward onto the ground, and the shotgun in his hand was thrown several meters away!

He looked back in astonishment, only to see a hair-raising black tentacle that had coiled around his ankle at some point, having twisted his right foot a full circle, leaving it in a bizarre position...

And this tentacle had condensed from the pool of black blood beneath him—blood that had naturally flowed from Xia Leng's body to his feet...

This... what kind of monster is this?! It can actually use blood to launch an attack?!!!

When he turned his head back, the look of resignation on Xia Leng's face had long since vanished, replaced by cold, dark pupils that were like black holes capable of swallowing him whole, making his entire body tremble uncontrollably...

So, the opponent had been stalling all this time not out of fear of death or a desire to live a little longer, but because he was waiting for that pool of black blood to spread beneath his feet!

When his intellect finally clicked into place, he lunged forward desperately, reaching out to grab the shotgun that had been tossed to the side.

A tentacle rapidly coalesced from the black bloodstains, coiled around his outstretched arm, and gave it a violent twist!

"Ah!!!!"

Watching his arm bent at a one-hundred-and-eighty-degree angle, he finally let out a heart-wrenching scream. A desperate will to survive drove him to beg this terrifying man for mercy, offering to serve as a beast of burden if only he could live.

Xia Leng, however, maintained his icy expression. As he watched the burly man before him beg with snot and tears streaming down his face, the corners of his mouth curled upward slightly.

"Since you don't believe you are a Baptized One, allow me to confirm it for you."

No sooner had Xia Leng finished speaking than another tentacle surged from the blood, wrapping tightly around the man's neck just as he was about to wail again, choking him until his face turned a deep shade of crimson!

Then, following a single thought, the tentacle tightened with a sudden, violent snap!

Crunch.

The goddess of luck no longer favored this once-arrogant biker gang member; his head was twisted clean off, rolling to a stop beside Xia Leng, an expression of utter disbelief still frozen upon his face...

Finally, the remaining blood began to move as if possessed by a consciousness of its own, crawling onto the corpse and wrapping it into a black, humanoid mound that began to writhe frantically.

In less than three seconds, as the blood dispersed, the corpse inside had vanished entirely, transformed into nutrients for the Blacklight Virus, which then merged back into the blood and flowed into Xia Leng's body.

At the same time, the Blacklight Virus, now fully replenished with energy, began to work feverishly at the site of Xia Leng's wounds.

They wove together to fill the missing flesh, squeezing the numerous shotgun pellets out of the wounds and even repairing his damaged internal organs until they were as good as new!

When everything was over, Xia Leng stood up once more, and even his black hooded sweatshirt looked as brand new as it had at the start, without a single bullet hole to be found...