Chu Sheng stuck his head out and looked at the red-haired Zhu Qing. "You call me overpowered? I say you're overpowered."
"You turn into a giant at the drop of a hat, and you keep getting bigger over time. You heal fast, move fast, have tons of stamina, and you're ridiculously strong."
"You're the most overpowered one here."
Chu Sheng refused to admit he was overpowered.
He was just an ordinary Heavenly Craftsman Sequence Adept. In ancient times, he would have been nothing more than a craftsman.
"Me, overpowered?!" The red hair on Zhu Qing's head seemed to turn even redder as his eyes widened.
"You're seriously calling me overpowered?!"
"Let me break it down for you! The captain has the Eight Trigrams Sequence. He can divine almost anything in the world. If he wants to, there's nothing he can't calculate, even if he isn't always right."
"Old Man Li's Sequence is Botanist. Sure, he has no combat abilities, but you've seen the things he grows. They're downright overpowered monsters! I wouldn't even be surprised if he grew a Peashooter one day!"
"And don't even get me started on An Xi! Her Sequence is White Tiger, and she controls Geng Metal Power. She doesn't have many flashy tricks, but her armor-piercing attacks are practically unbeatable. And that's one of the Four Symbols! Who knows what kind of overpowered stat monster she'll become later?!"
"And you? Your Sequence is Heavenly Craftsman. Upgrading things would be bad enough, but you can even fucking fuse things to make Sacrificial Items!"
Zhu Qing's voice was filled with anguish. "Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if you built an Aerospace Carrier someday!"
"I'm the only one who's just an ordinary Giant. All I can do is strengthen my body and get a little bigger!"
"Can you believe I'm Sequence 8 and can't even beat An Xi, who's Sequence 9?!"
Chu Sheng: "..."
After listening to his tirade, Chu Sheng admitted he had something of a point, though not much of one.
Among the convoy's Sequence Adepts, aside from Zhu Qing and An Xi, the other three-including Chu Sheng himself-all seemed to have rather mysterious abilities.
And An Xi's White Tiger Sequence clearly wasn't simple either.
At that thought, Chu Sheng looked at Zhu Qing with a hint of pity.
But he soon caught the key detail.
"You're saying you can't beat An Xi?!"
Zhu Qing nodded. He hadn't expected that he, a Sequence 8, would lose to An Xi, a Sequence 9, either.
"It's mainly because her ability is way too overpowered. She breaks through my defenses like it's nothing, and I can't even catch her. Every casual kick she throws carries damage from Geng Metal Power."
"The worst part is, I can't feel pain after turning into a giant. Even when I was holding down the Eerie Pig, I only felt weak. But when she kicked me, it actually hurt! Damn her broken mechanics!"
Chu Sheng gave him another sympathetic look.
When he had first learned that Zhu Qing's Sequence was Giant, he'd thought it sounded impressive.
Instead, Zhu Qing had gotten utterly thrashed.
At that point, Zhu Qing dropped the subject and handed Chu Sheng the bag he was carrying.
"Forget all that. Do me a favor and upgrade these clothes."
Zhu Qing looked at Chu Sheng as he spoke. "They just need to stop ripping when I transform. I'll pay you half a pig spine."
Chu Sheng took the clothes and nodded.
"Sure."
Chu Sheng didn't refuse. Upgrading a few pieces of clothing in exchange for half a pig spine was a fair deal.
[Upgrading a set of ordinary clothes costs 500 Survival Points. Upgrade?]
Without hesitating, Chu Sheng upgraded them immediately.
[Upgrade complete! A set of ordinary clothes has been upgraded to an Elastic Combat Suit.] [Remaining Survival Points: 2540]
As the white light faded, Chu Sheng handed the clothes straight back to Zhu Qing.
Zhu Qing took them and gave Chu Sheng a strange look, but ultimately said nothing and left.
Chu Sheng knew what he was thinking, but didn't particularly care.
After stocking up on fuel at the Gas Station, the convoy slowly headed toward the Small Town.
The Gas Station did have a small convenience store, but it had long since been emptied. It looked as though people had stripped it bare, and more than once.
Nothing remained except a few shelves.
The fuel Chu Sheng had stocked up on would last him quite a while.
His fuel tank held forty liters, enough to travel four or five hundred kilometers on a full tank. The fuel stored in the truck bed was enough for another full tank.
That gave him a range of over nine hundred kilometers. With New Energy on top of that, he wouldn't have to worry about fuel anytime soon.
Driving the Battle-Damaged Pickup Truck, Chu Sheng stayed behind An Xi and ahead of Zhu Qing.
That was the safest position.
Switching from the sidecar motorcycle to the Battle-Damaged Pickup Truck felt completely different.
It felt like trading a musket for a cannon.
As the convoy slowly advanced, scattered houses on the outskirts of the Small Town came into view.
The moment he saw the houses, Captain Hui stopped his vehicle, and the entire convoy came to a halt.
"All right, we're here. Anyone who needs supplies can go in and stock up. The rest of us will pull back a little farther!"
Chu Sheng looked into the distance. They were still four or five hundred meters from the Small Town.
The Sequence Adepts all got out of their vehicles.
Captain Hui said, "You three, be careful. Don't go too deep. According to my calculations, there shouldn't be any major problems in this town, but stay alert. Don't get caught out by something trivial."
An Xi, Zhu Qing, and Chu Sheng all nodded.
In fact, Chu Sheng didn't have to go in to gather supplies. He could simply use his ability to fuse Sacrificial Items or upgrade things for the convoy's Sequence Adepts.
He would naturally receive a share of the supplies obtained that way.
That was what Old Man Li did.
Although he charged for the plants he grew, his prices were so low that Chu Sheng could even trade them to other convoys for a profit.
"I'm planning to drive in. Do you two want to come along?"
"Drive in?!" An Xi blinked at him.
"Yes, drive."
An Xi turned to look at his Battle-Damaged Pickup Truck, then at her own off-road vehicle. "My car isn't really suited for going in."
Driving in to collect supplies wasn't particularly difficult. The convoy used to drive straight into supply locations to stock up.
But then several Anomalies had suddenly appeared. An Xi and Zhu Qing had both been tied down, and even Captain Hui and Old Man Li had fought back-to-back against two Anomalies.
The ordinary people, however, had suffered terribly.
Back then, the convoy had six hundred people.
Now there were only a little over two hundred, fewer than three hundred.
More than half of those lost had died in that incident.
Ever since then, the convoy never entered supply locations. Anyone who wanted to replenish their supplies or was running short would follow the Sequence Adepts inside.
Everyone else stayed outside with the convoy and hid.
The convoy was still quite safe. Although Captain Hui's calculations occasionally had errors or omissions, they were right most of the time.
They regularly replenished their supplies and food, and regularly stocked up on fuel.
They could also avoid the Anomalies.
So under normal circumstances, as long as no one stirred up trouble, hardly anyone died.
Except those who fell behind.
"I'll drive the pickup in, and you two can stand in the truck bed. If anything happens, just jump down and fight. If we don't run into any Anomalies, we'll drive straight to the supermarket entrance and toss the food and supplies into the back."
An Xi's eyes lit up at his words.
Zhu Qing rubbed his hands together eagerly, too.
Before you continue