The supernatural path

The moment Chen Ye saw that system notification.

He felt as though he had been dragged into an endless sea of stars, a sensation beyond words.

There was no pain, no sadness or joy.

A strange, wondrous energy coursed through his entire body again and again, like ocean waves washing over him.

Each wave left Chen Ye comfortable from head to toe.

It was as though the energy had washed every impurity out of his body.

Was this how a Sequence Transcendent awakened?

Even his mind had become much clearer.

There was no way to describe the sensation precisely.

If he had to try, it was like finishing a sauna and then spending another 188 on a full-body massage.

As his body grew stronger, a vast amount of information poured into his mind.

It seemed that this information had always been hidden in his genetic code, and the Sequence Serum had merely served as a catalyst.

The supernatural path, Smoke Apostle, Sequence 1: Smoke Initiate.

This was his Sequence Transcendent power!

A moment later, Chen Ye opened his eyes, unable to hide the excitement in them.

With a trembling hand, he pulled a Chunghwa cigarette from the pack and lit it.

It took several flicks of the lighter before it caught.

He took a deep drag, the faint glow illuminating his excited eyes.

Smoke streamed from Chen Ye's nostrils.

To an ordinary smoker, this was hardly an impressive skill.

Anyone could do it.

But Chen Ye's smoke was very different.

He exhaled thick smoke for over a full minute.

A faint haze had already filled the space within a meter of him. The smoke felt like an extension of his limbs, lingering around him without dispersing.

At that moment, Chen Ye's figure flickered in and out of sight within the smoke.

Although it did not directly increase his attack power.

Chen Ye was already very pleased with this skill.

His first ability: Smoke Aura.

This ability would grow stronger as his Sequence level rose.

At a high enough Sequence, a single mouthful of smoke could blanket an area several kilometers across.

With a slight impulse of thought, a strange light flashed in Chen Ye's eyes. The smoke around him writhed and struggled, and a roughly shaped little rabbit fought its way out of the haze.

But it soon collapsed into shapeless smoke.

Unwilling to give up, Chen Ye formed a cat out of smoke, lying at his feet.

The kitten yawned, opened its sleepy eyes, and looked curiously at Chen Ye.

His second ability: Basic Smoke Shaping.

The smoke could form any object. The more familiar he was with the target, the greater his chance of successfully shaping it.

Chen Ye had once owned a cat and knew cats well.

That made using smoke to imitate one easy.

The rabbit he had tried shaping earlier, however, had failed.

After all, Chen Ye had never kept a rabbit, so imitating one was not so easy.

His lungs felt lighter, too.

His smoking habit had always left his lungs uncomfortable, and his cough was a longstanding problem.

Now, the comfort in his lungs left Chen Ye feeling more at ease than ever.

This was Chen Ye's third ability, a passive one: Nicotine Tolerance.

It did not seem to offer any advantage in combat, but it was his favorite ability.

The Smoke Apostle Sequence of the supernatural path was the Sequence Transcendent power he had awakened.

Its three abilities were Smoke Aura, Mimicry, and Nicotine Tolerance.

At the same time, Chen Ye could feel that his physical condition had improved dramatically.

Even if it was not as absurdly powerful as the Titan Sequence, it still made him far stronger than an ordinary person.

The next time he went out to gather supplies, Chen Ye could even switch to a larger backpack.

I've finally become a Sequence Transcendent!

I! Finally made it!

Just then, Chen Ye felt his left eye go blurry.

The vision in it was rapidly deteriorating.

The sensation left Chen Ye a little panicked.

This was...

He remembered.

Iron Lion had once mentioned that every Sequence Transcendent had to pay a price.

Every Sequence Transcendent suffered side effects.

There were no exceptions.

Why did Chu Che always walk barefoot?

Ever since Chen Ye had met Chu Che, the transcendent had never worn shoes.

He had also heard Chu Che and Nana mention several times that transcendents who awakened the Titan Sequence suffered some impairment to their intelligence.

Was that the Titan Sequence's side effect?

What was the Smoke Apostle Sequence's side effect?

Chen Ye hurriedly searched through the information about the Smoke Apostle.

Soon, much of the joy faded from his face.

Chen Ye could feel that the vision in his left eye had already weakened considerably, creating a jarring mismatch with his right eye.

The physical enhancement brought by his awakening was receding in his left eye.

The distant campfire and figures had originally looked perfectly clear through his left eye. Now, Chen Ye could distinctly feel that everything he saw through it had developed fuzzy edges.

If he had a mirror, Chen Ye could even have seen the pupil of his left eye turn from black to white.

The Smoke Apostle Sequence's side effect: weakened vision in the left eye!

Obtaining great power also meant paying a corresponding price.

The weakening of his left eye's vision was the price Chen Ye had paid.

It took Chen Ye only fifteen minutes to accept that he had become a transcendent of the Smoke Apostle Sequence.

He also accepted the price of weakened vision in his left eye.

Becoming a Sequence Transcendent already meant that Chen Ye's chances of surviving the apocalypse had improved greatly.

By the time he finished his cigarette, Chen Ye had accepted the reality of his impaired left eye.

In the apocalypse, grieving over something for too long was a luxury.

Everything had to give way to survival.

Awakening the Smoke Apostle Sequence and becoming a transcendent, paying a price to improve his chances of survival, was something to be grateful for.

The desert temperature plummeted at night, turning Chen Ye's breath into white mist.

Many of the survivors around him had already crawled into their tents.

Those who sheltered in their vehicles had already climbed inside.

Only Chen Ye remained outdoors.

But he did not find the cold unbearable.

Perhaps his improved physique had also given him some resistance to changes in temperature.

Having acquired two bicycles, Chen Ye planned to use them to further modify his tricycle.

He had previously traded with Iron Lion for a set of vehicle repair tools, which would come in handy now.

Chen Ye took the toolbox out of the cargo bed and began dismantling all the components of the two bicycles.

At the same time, he used the system's upgrade tool to begin drawing up a plan.

The system's upgrade task was currently idle, and that was practically a waste of his life.

In the system's design, the wheels of both bicycles were removed, and their frames were used to weld a sturdy canopy frame onto the cargo bed.

With this canopy frame, the shelter would be much sturdier.

He could also add a roof rack, allowing him to store lighter supplies on top, just like Chu Che and the others' modified off-road vehicle.

That would also free up space in the cargo bed for resting.

As for the four wheels, Chen Ye planned to use them to build a trailer bed that he could hitch to the rear whenever he had more supplies.

By then, Chen Ye had almost finished dismantling both bicycles.

His improved physique had made taking the two bicycles apart much easier.

Unfortunately, the frames were welded together, and Chen Ye had no tools for cutting them.

After a moment's thought, an idea suddenly flashed through his mind.

"System! Can you upgrade the materials in front of me into canopy reinforcement parts?"