"Of course it's true." Hao Ren flicked his cigarette butt into the gray fog, his expression growing considerably more serious.
"You have courage. You keep your nerve against wraiths and act ruthlessly and decisively against survivors. As for brains and strategy, you might not be a genius, but you have enough."
"And strength... I doubt anyone in this convoy could beat you." Hao Ren gave him a meaningful smile.
He had originally intended to observe him a little longer, but Su Nian's performance last night, and what he had revealed while trapping and killing wraiths this morning, warranted serious consideration.
An awakened miracle-type with two sequences had enough weight to make him step aside.
He wanted to tie Su Nian firmly to the convoy.
If they ran into another convoy along the way and Su Nian got poached, wouldn't that be awkward?
"No one could beat him?!" Gong Qing looked as though he was waiting for Hao Ren to admit he was joking.
In his view, Su Nian's sequence ability certainly had tremendous potential, but he was still only at Sequence Nine. His impressive performance so far had come entirely from his Wraith Artifact.
"He's hiding something... but who doesn't have a few secrets?" Hao Ren smiled. "His physique is much stronger than yours. When we were running yesterday, I couldn't keep up with him at all. It wasn't even close."
"He runs faster than you?!" Gong Qing's eyes widened. "But he only just awakened!"
"Ask him. How would I know?" Propping his chin on one hand, Hao Ren looked at Su Nian. "You have at least two sequences, don't you?"
A Sequence Transcendent's abilities couldn't diverge that drastically. Blood Eye was clearly a support ability for seeing through illusions. It couldn't also have something to do with crafting Wraith Artifacts.
Now that he thought carefully about it, where had the butcher's knife Su Nian carried that day gone?
Had he really just happened to pick up a Wraith Artifact? Frankly, the odds of finding one were ten times worse than winning the top prize in the Double Color Ball lottery before the apocalypse. He simply hadn't been able to figure it out, so he had stopped thinking about it.
But on closer consideration, something was definitely off.
He wasn't just being nosy. The others would discover it sooner or later anyway.
"You can awaken two sequences?" Gong Qing scratched his head, shedding another seven or eight hairs.
"Anything is possible," Hao Ren said evenly.
"Since you've figured it out, I won't hide it anymore. I do have two sequences. The other one is called the Heavenly Craft Sequence."
Strictly speaking, who knew how many sequences his system counted as?
Just then, Wen Keyi came downstairs with red-rimmed eyes, having changed back into the dress that covered her from head to toe.
She fidgeted with her hands, twisting them together.
"Sorry." Wen Keyi returned to her seat, glanced at Su Nian, then quickly looked away.
Her soul had been awake the whole time, so she knew everything Cola had said and done... How could she have rammed herself into his arms like that?!
He wouldn't be angry, would he?
"Perfect timing. Su Nian, go on," Hao Ren said.
"The Heavenly Craft Sequence can repair, craft, and upgrade items, but it needs energy. It doesn't run on mental power. I have to draw wraith energy from wraiths, so I need to kill them."
He had thought it over carefully. Sequence toxin alone couldn't fully explain his need to kill wraiths.
Explaining it outright would give him a legitimate reason to kill wraiths in the future. He also needed to exaggerate the cost. What if they asked him to help craft Wraith Artifacts? The expense was simply too great.
It wasn't that he was selfish or unwilling to help. He barely had enough for himself. How was he supposed to help anyone else?
Seeing Wen Keyi's confusion, Hao Ren offered an explanation.
"The Heavenly Craft Sequence is Su Nian's other sequence. He has two."
Wen Keyi's eyes went wide. Her voice was still muffled and thick with tears. "Oh, oh. That's amazing."
"This is the first I've heard of a sequence that doesn't need mental power. Still, the stranger the sequence, the stronger it is. Everyone else uses mental power, but you use energy from wraiths... No wonder you can craft Wraith Artifacts!"
As Gong Qing spoke, he looked at the Wraith Artifact on Su Nian's waist.
Gong Qing wasn't an idiot. Once he sorted things through, he could work out a few things himself.
The Wraith Artifact looked different from yesterday, but he had assumed that was a matter of its "form."
After all, Wraith Artifacts were strange things. Some could even turn into people, so getting a little longer or shorter was perfectly normal.
Every Sequence Transcendent had secrets. Even when they gathered together, everyone maintained some basic boundaries.
After discussing the finer points of his abilities for a while, Hao Ren brought the conversation back around.
"So, do you want to be captain? Everyone happens to be here. Even if you agree, we still need a vote... Changing the convoy's captain generally requires unanimous approval. If anyone objects, you'll have to negotiate with them yourself."
That was also meant to keep everyone united. If they went with majority rule, the convoy would run into problems sooner or later.
"Sure. Why wouldn't I?" Su Nian smiled. If someone else dared to give up the position, how could he not dare to take it?
People would laugh at him if word got out.
"All right, let's vote." Hao Ren glanced at Wen Keyi and Gong Qing.
"I vote for Su Nian as captain."
"I agree," Gong Qing said next.
Wen Keyi timidly raised her small hand. "I agree too."
As far as she was concerned, anyone but Cola would do, as long as they didn't get everyone killed. Cola would only cause trouble.
"All right. From now on, you're the convoy's captain." Hao Ren looked at Su Nian. "Let me go over a few details about the convoy with you."
"No need!" Su Nian raised a hand, his expression turning solemn. "I hereby officially appoint you vice-captain. You'll remain responsible for all the convoy's routine affairs. If I have any decisions to make, I'll speak up!"
He only wanted the authority to make decisions at critical moments. He wasn't doing all that grunt work. He'd worked before the apocalypse, and now he was supposed to keep working afterward? Absolutely not.
"Fuuuck..." Hao Ren was stunned.
How could anyone be so shameless?
Before long, the food was ready. A kindly-looking old man in a white chef's hat approached with a serving cart.
The old man's name was Wang Wei. He was the convoy's cook, responsible specifically for preparing meals for the awakened.
"Wood ear and shiitake mushroom salad, stir-fried wild greens, stir-fried cured pork, braised beef-canned-and cured pork rib and corn soup."
To Su Nian, this was living. Eating, drinking, whoring, gambling-those were humanity's primal desires, and he was no exception.
After the meal, despite Su Nian's shameless behavior, Hao Ren still had Zhang Ping announce the appointment of the new captain.
It barely caused a stir among the ordinary survivors. Ordinary people weren't likely to feel much over personnel changes among the unreachable upper ranks.
After all, it had no effect whatsoever on those at the bottom.
The change of "captain" was merely something to chat about to pass the time-and only at night, since they needed to sleep during the day.
A few ambitious people offered to drive for Su Nian, dreaming of shooting straight to the top, but he turned them all down.
For Zhang Ping, the bad news was that the captain had changed. The good news was that it seemingly hadn't affected him at all.
He was still the "chief steward" the survivors envied.
After eating, Su Nian returned to his battered Raptor and took out the Shadow-Seam Wraith's Embroidery Needle.
As Su Nian threaded the needle and began stitching, the dented, twisted bumper popped back out. The break was sewn shut, leaving what looked like a black line drawn across the bodywork!
The Raptor was black to begin with, so unless someone looked closely, they really wouldn't notice.
Before you continue