"Huff, ha... ha..."
Fan Shang leaned against the sedan, dragging his axe as he panted heavily, watching the Compound-Eyed Sunflower on the ground gradually crumble to ash.
A flicker of satisfaction crossed his eyes.
"Haha, finally... finally dead. Hahaha..."
But then, Fan Shang felt a wave of weakness.
He nearly stumbled to the ground, but fortunately, he braced himself on his axe and steadied himself.
Then Fan Shang looked down at his body.
Dozens of bloody holes had appeared across his withered body.
Thick drops of blood slowly seeped from the holes, showing just how badly Fan Shang had been wounded.
He even had a feeling that if he had awakened any Sequence other than [Underworld Soldier], he would probably have died during the fight.
But his current situation was hardly any better.
After all, even though Fan Shang had been careful enough during the battle to avoid wounds to his vital areas whenever possible, he had still ended up with dozens of bloody holes in his body.
Even if the Underworld Soldier Sequence kept him in a half-dying state, half-dying was still not dead.
Even Fan Shang could not withstand injuries this severe.
In short, he... was going to die.
As the weakness in his body grew, Fan Shang felt his vision begin to blur.
But he had no regrets.
After all, he had anticipated this outcome while trading blows with the Compound-Eyed Sunflower.
Given the situation earlier, that bizarre sunflower would never have let Fan Shang leave.
Trading blows had been inevitable. He had simply been the winner this time.
"Hiss!"
At that thought, Fan Shang sucked in a sharp breath.
With his adrenaline surging during the fight, he had not felt it.
But now that he had stopped, a wave of excruciating pain slammed into him.
Fan Shang felt his eyelids twitch wildly.
But this was clearly no time to worry about that.
After all, the fact remained: he... was about to die.
With that thought, Fan Shang pulled up his panel.
If there was any way for him to survive now, Fan Shang figured the system was his only hope.
But what he saw gave him a shock.
The panel, which had looked utterly unremarkable before, had now taken on a different appearance.
A faint, ghostly blue glow rippled across it.
As Fan Shang looked at the attributes displayed on the panel, his pupils contracted slightly.
[Name]: Fan Shang [Race]: Human [Physique]: 19 (Normal human peak: 10. Physique is the foundation of human movement. Those with poor physique, such as college students, are nearly dead after running a kilometer; those with robust physique can travel dozens of kilometers a day without tiring. Affects strength, speed, stamina, defense, injury recovery time, etc.) [Spirit]: 13 (The normal human limit in optimal condition is 10. Those with abundant spirit: I really can solve math problems. Those with depleted spirit: forget things after seven seconds. Affects willpower, intuition, senses, mental resilience, etc. Provides some resistance to mental contamination such as overwhelming pressure, oppression from higher life forms, and fear.) [Qi]: 18 (Normal human peak: 10. Qi is the source of energy. Affects maximum energy, energy recovery speed, qi perception, etc.) [Techniques]: Willpower lv2, Street Elbow Strike lv3 → lv5, Learning lv3 [Sequence]: Underworld Soldier [Sequence Abilities]: Yin Soldier's Borrowed Road, Edict of Coexistence (Click to expand detailed descriptions!) [Survival Points]: 4400
What surprised Fan Shang was that he had originally expected awakening a Sequence to raise his physique by no more than four or five points.
Yet it had actually increased by a full eight points, something he had never expected.
Then there was his qi.
It had also risen by seven points. No wonder he had remained so energetic even when his body was practically a dried corpse. It must have been because of his qi.
He had also felt the qi within him drain faster when he used his Sequence abilities.
Presumably, qi was what those abilities consumed.
Last was his spirit.
I never expected it to increase by only two points.
Fan Shang thought this as he looked at his spirit stat, which stood at just 13.
At the same time, remembering what he had experienced before awakening, he mentally marked spirit as a priority.
After all, if even awakening raised it by so little, it was probably difficult to improve-and important.
As for the other changes...
Fan Shang scanned the remaining entries, pausing at the techniques section.
His mouth twitched as he looked at the Street Elbow Strike skill.
Those two extra levels had probably come from elbowing that anomaly earlier.
After that, Fan Shang looked at the Sequence section.
The Sequence field no longer read "None." Instead, it now said "Underworld Soldier."
As for the other entries, such as his Sequence abilities, Fan Shang did not examine them closely.
Their descriptions had little bearing on his current situation and could not help him.
Finally...
"Ha, I actually have 4,400 survival points."
Looking at the survival points field, Fan Shang let out a soft chuckle, his face as pale as a dead man's.
Honestly, he had never expected to have so many survival points.
In this short stretch of time, he had earned almost as many as he had collected over the entire previous week.
But if anyone asked Fan Shang to do it again, he would have to refuse.
After all, this had been far too dangerous. He had only managed because the Compound-Eyed Sunflower had a physical body. If he had encountered a formless anomaly like the Person in the Rain he had seen before...
He felt he would have been done for.
But there was no point thinking about that now. Having so many survival points was a good thing.
At least, it was good for him right now.
With that thought, Fan Shang turned his gaze toward the physique field.
[Current Physique: 19]
If any attribute could help him in his current condition, physique was the only one Fan Shang could think of.
"System, I want to increase my physique."
Fan Shang spoke in a hoarse voice.
As his words fell...
[Ding. Would the host like to spend 2,000 survival points to increase physique by one?]
"?"
A question mark flashed through Fan Shang's mind when he saw that line.
What the hell? The survival point cost has quadrupled? Are you kidding me?!
Then, as though it had sensed Fan Shang's confusion...
The Death-Announcing System's text appeared again.
[Ding. Increasing physique requires the host's body to be intact. Would you like to spend 1,000 survival points to restore your body and 1,000 survival points to increase physique?]
Seeing this...
Fan Shang understood.
The latter part of the message did not particularly surprise him either.
After all, now that he had surpassed human limits, increasing his physique naturally could not cost the same as before.
So, without hesitation-and with no time to hesitate anyway-Fan Shang made his choice.
"System, increase it."
As his words fell...
[Survival Points -2000] [Physique +1] [Current Physique: 20]
As the notification announcing the increase in physique sounded...
Fan Shang's pale, shriveled body, which had resembled a dried corpse, actually began to slowly fill out.
Even the dozen or so bloody holes began to writhe with new flesh.
Then they began to close and fill in at a speed visible to the naked eye.
During the process, Fan Shang felt an indescribable itch.
But he did not dare scratch.
After this continued for over ten seconds...
The bloody holes were finally filled in.
Even Fan Shang's body had filled out somewhat, though it had not regained the fullness it had possessed before his awakening.
Instead, his skin remained deathly pale, with faint wrinkles.
Yet the strength within it was terrifying, and it was incredibly tough.
It was just like the body of a zombie in a movie.
Fan Shang had no complaints about this.
After all, he had learned about it from the three Sequence Transcendents in the convoy.
Every Sequence Transcendent paid a price for awakening.
And that price differed from person to person.
Some changed sex, some lost vital organs, and others lost one of their senses.
Fan Shang figured this was probably the price of his own Sequence.
Along with gaining a powerful body, he had entered a half-dying state.
Skin as pale as a corpse's, white hair, and a heartbeat that had slowed by a full half.
Fan Shang pressed his hand to his chest.
He could feel that his heartbeat had slowed.
If a normal person's heart beat 60-100 times per minute, his now beat 30-50 times.
His heart rate had been cut cleanly in half.
But the relatively good news was that Fan Shang experienced no dizziness, darkening vision, fainting, or similar symptoms.
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