Withered Corpse Physician

"Captain, I've awakened a sequence," Su Yue said softly.

[Su Yue]

[Physique: 5 (a combined measure of health, damage resistance, stamina, self-healing, carrying capacity, and physical strength. Reaching zero causes immediate unconsciousness/death. Can recover naturally through eating and rest. The limit for normal humans is 9 points.)]

[Spirit: 6 (used to resist mental corruption and illusions, and for cognitive processing. If the value falls too low, self-doubt sets in. At 1, complete madness follows. The limit for normal humans is 9 points.)]

[Talent: withered corpse physician (Sequence 9)]

"Barefoot medical apprentice (Sequence 9): basic treatment of external injuries. Can rapidly heal cuts and fractures, distinguish ordinary ailments from wounds left by wraith corruption, and treat injuries using herbs and simple suturing. Can only alleviate wraith curses, not eradicate them."

Su Nian smiled and nodded. "That's great. Welcome aboard."

He now had another layer of protection when hunting wraiths, and he could save some Survival Points whenever he got injured.

Su Yue froze. Wasn't he going to ask which sequence I awakened, then test me? He just takes my word for it? What if someone pretends to be a Sequence Transcendent?

"We've got another awakened," Su Nian said, looking at Hao Ren as he got out of the vehicle.

"Is awakening that easy for people with the surname Su?" Hao Ren rubbed his chin, a trace of suspicion lurking in his eyes.

Su Nian, Su Yue. Both of them have the surname Su. Had enough people died for two people to awaken?

Gong Qing got out of the vehicle and offered a suggestion.

"Why don't you change your surname too? Call yourself Su Ren from now on. Maybe you'll awaken another sequence. It even sounds better than your current name."

"Sure. I don't care." Hao Ren shrugged.

He really didn't care. If it meant awakening a second sequence, forget taking the surname Su-he would even call Su Nian his dad. But things couldn't possibly work that way.

"Hello, I'm Wen Keyi." Wearing a sweet smile, Wen Keyi held out her hand.

"Hello!" Su Yue rather shyly reached out and shook her hand.

Everyone sat down at the table.

Hao Ren looked at Su Nian and gave two dry coughs.

"If your throat's itchy, go see a doctor," Su Nian said irritably. He knew Hao Ren was hinting at something, but he honestly had no idea what it was.

Hao Ren rolled his eyes. No test? You're just taking her word for it?

"We need to run a little test on your ability," Hao Ren said to Su Yue.

"If you're pretending, then I'm afraid we won't be so nice." An unfriendly smile appeared on Hao Ren's face.

If she was lying, he wouldn't let it slide just because she was pregnant.

Su Nian rolled his eyes, finally understanding. The others had no idea what he was capable of.

An impostor wouldn't get past him.

Su Yue nodded without the slightest trace of anxiety. Her awakening was real, after all.

"My sequence is withered corpse physician. I can treat some external injuries, as well as minor illnesses like colds and fevers."

Su Yue stood up and walked over to Hao Ren. She raised her hand toward the gauze covering his left eyebrow, and a pale green glow lit up her palm.

Hao Ren felt his wound itch. A moment later, the itching stopped, and he peeled off the gauze.

Gong Qing looked at where the scar had been. The wound was gone, and even the newly grown skin was exactly the same shade as the skin around it.

"Does that mean I passed?" Su Yue asked.

"Of course! Welcome aboard." Hao Ren nodded, his smile becoming much friendlier. "I didn't test you because I had anything against you. It's because someone fooled me before."

"It's fine." Su Yue smiled. She could understand that.

"You've been fooled before?" Su Nian asked curiously.

"Ah." Hao Ren let out a heavy sigh.

"It was only my third month here. A woman pretended to have the wayfinder sequence. Things were urgent, and the captain didn't verify her claim. He just let her lead us as we ran. She ended up taking us to a mass grave."

"We ran into a Class C Wraith there. We're always held back when facing wraiths because we don't know their killing rules. We're not like you, with your Blood Eye." Envy appeared on Hao Ren's face.

"We nearly lost the entire squad that day. Four of the seven awakened died. I was lucky to survive."

A vicious glint surfaced in Hao Ren's eyes.

"You didn't know Gong Qing or Wen Keyi back then?" Su Nian picked up on that implication.

"That's right. Later, I had a disagreement with a convoy and left. Then I met Gong Qing and an older guy. That guy later died protecting me and Gong Qing."

"He died protecting me. Don't drag yourself into it. The more you say that, the worse I feel," Gong Qing said irritably, sorrow surfacing in his eyes.

"It's all in the past." Hao Ren smiled, then continued, "We met Wen Keyi afterward. She really left an impression on me back then. She'd share her biscuits with other people..."

As though his talkative side had been unleashed, Hao Ren began chatting freely about the past.

"Then one day, after it rained, she got sick. She had no food or medicine, and not one of the people she'd helped came to help her. She fell behind everyone else. I thought she was definitely going to die, but who would've thought... she awakened later. Just like you, she awakened especially early."

"She awakened through the strength of her own convictions."

From the looks of it now, Su Nian had probably awakened through his convictions too. The "luck" generated by the deaths of so many survivors must have gone to Su Yue... or so Hao Ren thought.

Wen Keyi smiled bashfully. She had only wanted everyone to work together and help one another.

Even though things had turned out that way, she didn't regret it. She had simply helped the wrong people. There was nothing wrong with her kindness.

The world was already cold enough. People's hearts couldn't be allowed to grow cold too.

Still, that was only an ideal. Afterward, she had directed that kindness toward people who deserved it. As for the survivors... there were too many. She couldn't help them all.

"That's how the apocalypse is. There are always some kind people who give you supplies, or... become supplies after they die." Gong Qing smiled.

"Our convoy forbids it, but in other convoys, ordinary survivors have another use."

For many convoys, "making full use of resources" helped them survive longer and ensured nothing went to waste. In short, there wasn't a single downside.

Ordinary survivors gave everything they had, especially young women.

Su Yue couldn't help imagining some awful scenes. She had been here for quite some time, and she had seen such things.

One woman often had to service a dozen men or even more. There was no way she could survive.

She had always been thankful that her convoy wasn't like that.

The fate of vulnerable people-elderly people, women, and children-often rested on a single word from an awakened.

The awakened were the only source of order in the apocalypse. They could amplify evil, or suppress it.

If not for the convoy's rules, the moment her husband died and she lost a man's protection, her fate probably would have been grim.

In times of prosperity, a woman was worth a fortune in gold. In times of chaos, a beauty was worth half a flatbread.

That was how cruel it was.