Everyone in the convoy saw Chu Sheng as a ruthless man. Hearing him suddenly speak to her in a tone meant for coaxing a child left An Xi feeling rather uncomfortable.
At the same time, Chu Sheng kept his eyes fixed on her supplies. An Xi instinctively shifted the supplies in front of her to one side and gave him a wary look.
"What are you trying to do?"
"Don't get the wrong idea." Noticing An Xi's wary gaze, Chu Sheng immediately turned serious again. He pointed at her spear and asked, "Want me to upgrade that for you?"
"My rates are very reasonable!"
As he spoke, he looked at a small solar panel An Xi had brought back from the supermarket.
He desperately needed it.
If his little motorcycle with a sidecar could charge using solar power, he would not need nearly as much gasoline.
Every drop of gasoline used was a drop gone. In the apocalypse, gasoline would only grow scarcer, but solar power was different. The sun hung in the sky, an inexhaustible source of energy.
Unless the sun disappeared one day.
But if that day ever came, even the apocalypse itself would be wiped out, so there would be no point worrying about any of this.
At Chu Sheng's words, An Xi's wary eyes lit up. She did not know what the upgrade would do, but surely an upgrade would make it stronger?
Still, tempted as she was, she looked at Chu Sheng with some hesitation. "What do you charge?"
To gain something, one first had to give something. That truth had never changed.
Hearing An Xi's question, Chu Sheng smiled again. "Not much, not much. Just give me all these supplies."
As he spoke, he pointed at the large pile of supplies in front of her.
Power banks, electrical wire, rope, solar panels, iron plates-he would take them all.
An Xi lowered her head to look at the supplies on the ground, then raised her spear and examined it. In the end, her desire for an upgrade outweighed her reluctance to part with the supplies.
"All right! But first, tell me what the upgrade will be like."
The instant she agreed, Chu Sheng stood up and dragged the pile of supplies over to himself. Only then did he draw the butcher knife from his waist and explain, "Just like this butcher knife of mine."
He swung it twice, instantly slicing the iron plate among the supplies into three pieces.
"It cuts through iron like butter?!"
Watching from the side, Zhu Qing's eyes went wide.
He had sliced the iron plate into three pieces without the slightest effort.
Even saying it cut through iron like butter hardly did it justice.
An Xi's eyes lit up at the sight. "That! That's exactly what I want!"
She had found her spear in a handicraft shop shortly after the apocalypse began and sharpened its edges herself.
But the spear was not made of particularly good material, and it could no longer keep up with her. With no other weapon available, she had kept making do with it.
Chu Sheng smiled and sheathed his butcher knife again. "Of course. No problem."
"But let me take a look at your spear first."
An Xi had no objection. She handed him the spear and watched him eagerly.
[Upgrading the spear requires 200 Survival Points. Would you like to upgrade it?]
Chu Sheng frowned slightly at the upgrade prompt that appeared before him.
Upgrading his butcher knife the first time had only cost 100 Survival Points, yet this spear required 200. Judging by the area marked for upgrading, it would only upgrade the spearhead, too.
After glancing at An Xi, Chu Sheng made adjustments to the phantom image before him, leaving most of the spearhead unchanged.
To everyone else, Chu Sheng merely waved one hand through the air before stopping and giving a low shout. "Upgrade!"
[Upgrade complete. Spear upgraded to Spear +1!] [Remaining Survival Points: 100]
Chu Sheng: "???"
Why hadn't his butcher knife gotten a +1 when he upgraded it?
Was the system looking down on his butcher knife?
A flash of white light enveloped An Xi's spear. Then, before everyone's eyes, the light slowly faded, revealing the entire spear.
But the spear did not appear to have changed at all. Everyone turned to Chu Sheng with strange looks on their faces.
An Xi, however, stared at the spear, her gaze fixed on its cutting edges.
The others had not noticed, but she had used the spear as her weapon all this time, and she could tell.
The edges had become sharper.
Ignoring everyone else's looks, Chu Sheng handed the spear back to An Xi and explained, "The upgrade is done."
"My ability isn't strong enough yet, so I could only upgrade the cutting edges. Try it out and see the difference."
An Xi nodded. She had noticed the change in the edges. Taking the spear, she swung it a few times where she stood, spun it through a flourish, then flung it straight into the trunk of a large tree nearby.
She ran over and pulled the spear free, examined the mark on the trunk, then inspected the spearhead. Finally, she returned to the campfire in satisfaction, draped an arm over Chu Sheng's shoulders, and praised him. "Your ability is amazing!"
"My spear is so much sharper now. If I'd used it like that before, the tip would have suffered at least some wear. Now there isn't a mark on it."
Chu Sheng smiled. "No, no, no. Mostly, you just got lucky!"
"Although I can roughly choose which part to upgrade, sometimes things don't turn out the way I want."
"For example, if I try to upgrade the tip, it might upgrade the shaft or some other part instead."
"Huh? That can happen?!" An Xi froze, then asked hesitantly, "It won't break if the upgrade fails, like in a game, will it?"
"Break? No. It might upgrade a different part, but it'll always be an upgrade. It won't fail." Chu Sheng gave another bashful smile. "It might not be what you wanted, but it'll only make it stronger."
"Good, that's good!" An Xi patted her flat chest.
"I'll come to you for my next upgrade, too!" She patted Chu Sheng's shoulder again, looking thoroughly impressed with his prospects.
Chu Sheng merely smiled. If you could get the exact upgrade you wanted every time, how would I milk you all for supplies?
He never had enough Survival Points. No amount would ever be enough.
But he could not pass up upgrading their things in exchange for supplies, either. After all, having physical materials saved him plenty of Survival Points when upgrading. The benefits outweighed the drawbacks.
It was not that guaranteed upgrades were bad, but using unreliable upgrades as an excuse to get more supplies opened up far more possibilities.
Old Man Li gave Chu Sheng a long, searching look from the side, but said nothing.
Seeing An Xi still playing with her spear, Chu Sheng thought for a moment, then reminded her, "Make sure you keep that spear safe. Anything I upgrade can hurt Anomalies."
As he spoke, he drew his butcher knife again to demonstrate.
At his words, everyone present lit up.
Although people with Sequence abilities could hurt Anomalies, they were not alone.
Before you continue