The people in the convoy panicked when they saw Chu Sheng pedal back alone on his bicycle.
Brother Hui and Old Man Li stood at the front and rushed over the moment they spotted Chu Sheng.
"Why did you come back alone?"
"Where are the others?!"
"Where are Zhu Qing and An Xi?!"
"What happened to them?!"
Brother Hui fired off a string of questions. Chu Sheng stopped his bike, panting heavily, and swallowed.
"Phew... I ran back ahead of them."
"They're both fine. At least, they were when I left."
Chu Sheng gave them a rough account of what had happened in the Small Town, but left out the part about killing an Eerie Cat.
He only said that while gathering supplies, he had seen a coffin appear on the concrete road. Then he had hidden on the second floor of a convenience store and watched them fight, before getting scared and running back early.
Only after hearing this did Brother Hui relax.
Old Man Li visibly breathed a sigh of relief beside him, too.
Brother Hui's expression eased considerably. As long as Zhu Qing and An Xi were all right, nothing else mattered.
Their convoy only had two combat-type Sequence users. If they lost them here, the convoy's future would look grim.
"Um, Captain, do you know what the deal is with that zombie?" Chu Sheng asked curiously.
Their convoy's captain was actually quite amiable. He simply lived in a different world from ordinary people, so they had little to talk about. But if someone asked him a normal question, he would answer if he could.
Pretty much everyone in the convoy knew that.
"I saw pale golden light flowing over that spear. That should be a Sequence ability, right? Even that couldn't get through its defenses."
Brother Hui glanced at Chu Sheng. Seeing his curiosity, he explained without putting on airs, "It's not too bad. The zombie you described should be an Ironclad Zombie. An Xi and Zhu Qing can't beat it or get through its defenses, but they should be fine."
"An Xi's spear is incredibly powerful. It can pierce alloy ten centimeters thick. Cutting through iron like mud isn't an exaggeration."
"That powerful?" Chu Sheng sucked in a breath.
A spear.
Alloy ten centimeters thick.
Piercing through it.
How did those three things even go together?
"Heh, that's just how terrifying it is. Ordinary people can't imagine what Sequence Adepts are capable of." Brother Hui chuckled and patted Chu Sheng on the shoulder.
"Then, Captain, do you know how to awaken a Sequence?" Chu Sheng asked a question no one else dared to ask.
"A Sequence? I don't know." Brother Hui shook his head.
"Someone might know, but I haven't had much contact with the authorities."
"The authorities?" Chu Sheng asked, puzzled.
Old Man Li cut in then, glancing at Si Hui before speaking.
"The captain awakened when the apocalypse first began. Order hadn't completely collapsed back then, and different regions could still communicate. Somehow, the government found out he'd awakened a Sequence and contacted him."
Brother Hui wasn't angry that Old Man Li had revealed this. He merely shrugged helplessly. "They asked me to form a convoy and protect more people so they could survive."
"Apparently, every Sequence Adept suited to leading the way was approached."
"All right, enough about that. We don't know any method for awakening a Sequence. My guess is that there isn't one. Otherwise, we wouldn't have to form all these convoys and wander around in the apocalypse."
"For now, the only way is to awaken naturally. It might happen while you're fighting, or while you're eating or drinking. There's no set pattern."
Chu Sheng nodded thoughtfully.
But he still had a question. "Why are you telling me so much?"
He had only asked a few questions. Why had these two suddenly rattled off so much information?
Old Man Li laughed, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth. "Why wouldn't we tell you?"
"None of this is a secret. You never asked before. If you had, we'd have told you ages ago."
"Besides, knowing these things doesn't do ordinary people much good, while Sequence Adepts naturally find out about them."
Chu Sheng nodded at that.
True, knowing wouldn't help ordinary people. If that really was how it worked, the authorities would notify every convoy's guide, so it wasn't much of a secret.
"All right, don't overthink it. Focus on staying alive first." Brother Hui patted his shoulder again and sighed. "This fucking apocalypse."
"I really hope someone in the convoy awakens. That would improve our chances of survival."
"Pass what I told you along to the others. Oh, and tell them to be ready to leave at any moment."
Chu Sheng: "..."
What makes you think I can get along with the others?
Chu Sheng didn't ask any more questions and pushed his bicycle back into the group.
The others hadn't dared interrupt while the captain was talking to Chu Sheng. Now that he was back, they immediately crowded around him.
"Chu Sheng, what happened in there?"
"Chu Sheng, did you see my son? Is he all right?"
"Chu Sheng..."
Everyone talked over one another, making Chu Sheng feel as though a swarm of mosquitoes was buzzing incessantly beside his ears.
"Stop!"
Chu Sheng shouted, drowning out everyone else's voices as he raised his butcher's knife high.
Only then did they remember that this guy was ruthless, and they all backed away a few steps.
The situation was immediately brought under control.
Only then did Chu Sheng nod in satisfaction. He preferred using a knife to using words.
Once everyone had quieted down, Chu Sheng recounted what had happened in the Small Town, then repeated what Brother Hui had told him about Sequence awakening and the guides.
After finishing, he left without caring whether the others had understood.
Upon hearing that there was a zombie in the Small Town impervious to blades and bullets, the survivors hurried back to their vehicles, ready to leave.
Meanwhile, Chu Sheng studied the survival points he had earned.
At first, cutting off one of the Eerie Cat's front paws had earned him 1,000 survival points.
But he had spent 100 survival points upgrading his kitchen knife, leaving him with 900.
Later, however, he had cut the Eerie Cat in half at the waist, pierced its head, then chopped off another front paw and gouged out its eyes.
All told, he now had 4,900 survival points.
A single Eerie Cat had earned him a total of 5,000 survival points.
Chu Sheng had tried farming survival points by cutting the Eerie Cat over and over, but it seemed he could only earn up to 3,000 that way. The final 2,000 had come only after he killed it for good.
It seemed there was a fixed limit to the survival points he could earn from a supernatural creature.
As Chu Sheng considered this, he turned his gaze back to the butcher's knife.
[Upgrading the butcher's knife requires 200 survival points. Upgrade?]
Looking at the upgrade prompt that appeared, Chu Sheng frowned in thought. If only I could choose the upgrade direction myself.
As that thought crossed his mind, the upgrade option before him began to change, replaced by a phantom image of the butcher's knife floating in midair.
That works too?!
Before you continue