Broadcast from Cloud City Affiliated High School

Countless gray Moths fluttered around her, gray powder drifting down from the air. In her daze, Xu Zhi felt as though she had drawn a little closer to the candle flame hanging impossibly far above.

The shift in distance was actually too slight for the naked eye to detect, yet for some reason, Xu Zhi could feel that she had gotten closer.

Instinctively, she wanted to take a few more steps forward, to get closer still. But the moment that thought arose, she immediately recalled how, before consuming the Core, she had repeatedly warned herself to [Keep Rational].

Xu Zhi broke free from the entranced urge to approach it, only then realizing that she was standing in a gray pavilion suspended in the air. The path beneath her feet was made of countless Moth corpses. If she had taken one more step forward just now, she would have fallen from the sky.

The instant Xu Zhi completely regained her senses, she escaped that illusory dream.

Once awake, Xu Zhi recalled what had just happened but could not empathize at all with why her past self had been so obsessed with that candle flame.

"...That was really dangerous."

Out of habit, Xu Zhi raised a hand and rubbed her temples. After calming herself down a little, she picked up the book on the table and continued reading.

However, she had not been reading for even half an hour when she suddenly heard some strange noises outside.

Someone was shouting through a loudspeaker. The voice was distant and hard to make out, but it was gradually drawing closer. It sounded a little like the neighborhood committee driving around to broadcast announcements in the past.

Half a month ago, it would not have been anything unusual. But hearing it now was genuinely unsettling.

"Who's this reckless?"

Most humans still alive were keeping their heads down. Who would dare be so conspicuous?

Unless they were not human.

Xu Zhi raised an eyebrow, set down her book, and walked to the window. She did not open it, only tilted her head and listened carefully.

The loudspeaker outside gradually became clearer. Whoever it was really was approaching the Old Residential District, and Xu Zhi could hear every word being broadcast.

"Attention, all surviving citizens! We have been abandoned in this city, with no water or electricity, and there are Mutated Animals and monsters threatening us! Humans cannot survive unless we stick together!"

"The teachers of Cloud City Affiliated High School have joined forces with the students still here to establish a survivor base! The school cafeteria has ample food supplies, and the students have Transcendents who can go out to gather resources and protect everyone!"

"Cloud City Affiliated High School welcomes every surviving human. There is no charge at all. We hope everyone who hears this broadcast understands that in times of crisis, we must help one another!"

That message played on an endless loop through the loudspeaker. After circling the residential complex at a crawl, the vehicle carrying it left, most likely heading to the next place to spread the word.

"Ha." Xu Zhi gave a short laugh by the window, her tone faintly mocking.

What survivor base? It was clearly a trap prepared by evil spirits.

Still, some people might really fall for it. The disaster had begun less than a month ago, and many people were still hiding at home, their way of thinking unchanged. Hearing a broadcast like this now, some idiots would probably treat it as a lifeline.

And this broadcast was meant to deceive those overwhelmed by Fear, those desperate to band together with their own kind.

Even people who were not normally so foolish might spend too long in the fog and have their minds affected. They would overlook the danger and blindly seek the sense of security offered by this so-called survivor base.

Rather, anyone who still stayed home instead of going to Cloud City Affiliated High School after hearing that vehicle's propaganda could basically be confirmed as someone capable of staying rational in the fog.

"So those lunatics want to harvest people who can't completely stay rational, but are still more or less normal?"

Xu Zhi did not feel good about it, because she truly could not understand why those lunatics harbored such intense killing intent toward living people.

Would killing normal humans give them something?

Or had the fog simply damaged their minds, making them crazily want to kill?

And what would happen after they killed this batch of people?

She did not believe those lunatics would spare the other surviving humans.

Xu Zhi had no intention of saving anyone, nor did she want to concern herself with those who had fallen for it. What irritated her was that there were first the Aberrations gathering in the city center for unknown reasons, and then this group of lunatics nearby hunting living people.

No.

Xu Zhi's expression darkened. She thought that she needed to find an opportunity to wipe out those lunatics.

She could not keep running forever. Wherever she went, she would still be trapped within this sealed-off city.

As for hoping someone else would step forward and solve this problem, that was nothing but a daydream.

Xu Zhi knew better than anyone that there was no one in this world she could rely on except herself.

"Let me think."

She briefly sorted through the current situation, then realized that her only advantage at the moment was her Familiars. If she wanted to deal with the lunatics at the Affiliated Middle School, she would probably have to let her Familiars act.

But she only had two Familiars, and she had no idea how many lunatics there were.

Xu Zhi blinked, an initial idea taking shape in her mind.

"Tomorrow, I'll go make a new deal with the neighbor upstairs."

Her plan required the other party's assistance.

She could not act too late, because she did not know whether those lunatics were simply bloodthirsty or had some other goal.

If they could grow stronger by killing people for some reason, letting them continue would only make them harder and harder to deal with.

"Sigh." Xu Zhi let out a breath.

The only consolation now was that when her Familiars killed those lunatics, they gained Evolution Points—and quite a lot of them.

But those people did not seem to drop Attribute Cores. Or perhaps the ones killed so far had simply not been strong enough to drop Attribute Cores?

"Maybe I can figure that out while I'm at it."

If they could drop some Cores, she would feel a little better.

Having made up her mind, Xu Zhi stopped paying attention to the outside. After refining her plan in her mind for a while, she returned to her book.

That night, when the two Familiars finished their second round of hunting and she counted the spoils, she discovered that they had actually brought back six Cores this time.

Four of them had been hunted by Little One, while Doggie only had two.

That was understandable. Mutated Animals that were too weak would not produce Cores.

However, the six Cores this time were not all [Blade] and [Moth]. There was also a pale red Core with a slightly pink tint.

"A new Attribute?"

At a time like this, she would rather have received another [Blade] Attribute Core.

For now, the only use a new Attribute had for her was gaining knowledge from it and stockpiling it to feed to the Spirit Vessel. What disappointed Xu Zhi even more was that neither Familiar had accumulated enough Evolution Points to level up. There were only three [Blade] Cores this time, and even feeding all of them to Little One would not be enough for another level. "Looks like I can only hope to find a black fruit tomorrow morning."

Thanks for pointing out typos. I'll correct them as soon as I see them; everything readers have pointed out so far has already been fixed.