The [Underworld Soldier] Sequence's second ability-there were always fools who didn't know better

Yes, his Sequence ability.

With that thought, Fan Shang finally opened his own Sequence panel.

[Name: Fan Shang]

[Sequence: Underworld Soldier]

[Rank: Sequence One]

[Traits:]

[① Yin Soldier's Borrowed Road: Briefly materialize Sequence energy to permeate reality, forming a Ghost Road that belongs to you alone. (Length: 100, width: 2) Underworld Soldiers on this Ghost Road will receive enhancements to strength, speed, reflexes, and more.

Note: This road belongs exclusively to Underworld Soldiers. All creatures on the Ghost Road other than Underworld Soldiers will be subjected to the intimidation of death.]

[② Edict of Coexistence: Underworld Soldiers possess the ability to issue an Edict of Coexistence. Any creature on the verge of death or dead for no more than three days is eligible to receive an Underworld Soldier's edict. A creature that receives the edict will be imbued with the Sequence and become undead, its fate linked to the Sequence User. The Underworld Soldier will also gain some of the abilities of the creature bound by the Edict of Coexistence.

Note: As long as the Underworld Soldier lives, the spirit will never perish. This is the foundation of an Underworld Soldier's upper limit. The more powerful or unusual the individual, the more the abilities an Underworld Soldier gains will vary. Use with caution!]

[Description: How did he awaken this Sequence? Other people's Sequences reach the heavens, but yours reaches the underworld???]

Reading the system's introduction to his Sequence, Fan Shang fixed his gaze on the description of [Edict of Coexistence].

Yes, this was the last solution Fan Shang had come up with.

Use Edict of Coexistence on Little Black.

That would link its life to his, and it wouldn't have to die.

But the price was that if he died later, Little Black would die with him.

After all, the ability came from him. It was only reasonable that it would dissipate after his death.

At first, Fan Shang hadn't wanted to use this method. Each Underworld Soldier Sequence could only form a symbiotic bond with one creature, so he had to choose carefully.

Binding Little Black's life to his wasn't necessarily a good thing either, but he clearly couldn't afford to worry about that now.

As for his upper limit, Fan Shang only thought about it briefly before deciding he didn't particularly care.

After all, as a cat that could see and detect eerie entities in advance, Little Black was clearly an unusual individual. Even forming a symbiotic bond with a human or a Sequence Transcendent wouldn't necessarily be more useful than Little Black.

Whether this would be a loss or a gain was still hard to say.

Besides, even if Little Black weren't that special, it wouldn't matter.

He still had the system to improve Little Black's bloodline, or even turn it into a transcendent creature.

With that thought, Fan Shang turned his attention back to Little Black.

The black cat was already on the brink of death. Fan Shang looked at the cat that had saved him several times.

A flicker of emotion appeared in his pitch-black eyes, which had looked like those of a dead man.

"Little Black, do you want to sign a contract with me?"

Fan Shang spoke.

But this time, Little Black's body didn't stir. It only looked at him, its pale blue and pale gold eyes beginning to lose focus.

Then a faint meow sounded, and the black cat closed its eyes.

"Meow..."

"All right. I understand."

Fan Shang said nothing more after that. Little Black's reaction had already given him an answer.

He extended his right hand and slowly reached toward Little Black.

An eerie blue light rippled across his palm. Then a talisman resembling the ones inscribed on yellow paper in zombie films, bearing something like "The great general has arrived," slowly took shape.

But unlike the righteous-looking talismans made with black dog blood mixed with cinnabar in those films, the talisman in Fan Shang's palm was different.

It was an eerie green and radiated a cold, sinister aura.

It had nothing whatsoever to do with righteousness.

Yet Fan Shang could sense a special power within it.

It was the power of an "edict"-no, perhaps "investiture" was a better word.

Fan Shang placed his hand on Little Black's forehead, and the eerie green talisman imprinted itself firmly upon it.

[Ding. Host's use of Edict of Coexistence detected.]

[Symbiotic creature: Heterochromatic Black Cat]

[Time until assimilation is complete: 00:23:59]

As the system notifications disappeared.

Little Black, which had been so weak it was barely clinging to life, instantly began breathing steadily, and its wounds started to heal.

Fan Shang could even sense an aura within Little Black slowly growing stronger.

Seeing this, Fan Shang immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

He looked up toward the front of the car.

He had stopped because of Little Black's condition. Now it was time to return to the convoy.

Fan Shang shifted gears and released the clutch, setting the car in motion again.

He drove slowly toward the convoy.

"Tch, I was planning to collect some supplies today, but we've spent all this time driving and running away. Who knows what the leaders are thinking? Fuck, my legs are killing me!"

At the rear of the convoy, a shifty-looking survivor spoke from inside a pickup truck.

"Shut up, Xiao. A little complaining is enough. You know what's going on. How many of the people who fell behind today have you seen come back?"

Beside him in the truck bed, a stubbled middle-aged man held a cigarette butt and sniffed it as though it were a treasure before speaking.

"From this morning until now, only two people have rejoined us. When they got back, they even tossed a corpse out of their car with its neck hacked to pieces. Tsk, tsk..."

"Then... Brother Wang, you mean they..."

"Mean? What else could I mean? Of course they ran into something eerie. Otherwise, why do you think nobody's dared make a move on that college girl riding the electric scooter?"

"Of course it's because we're afraid there might be something wrong with them. Why else do you think I stopped you, you ungrateful little bastard? Can't even keep that thing in your pants under control!"

Brother Wang took the last drag from his cigarette butt, then threw it straight at the young man's head.

"B-Brother Wang, you're saying that woman might have..."

"Yeah, what else? Heh, you even dared glare at me when I stopped you earlier. If Brother Li hadn't told me to keep an eye on you, why the hell would I care how you died?!"

Hearing that, even the shifty-looking young man couldn't help feeling a little embarrassed.

But Brother Wang didn't care. He knew exactly what people like them were like.

Embarrassed? Stop them again next time, and they'd still treat you like an enemy.

"So quit your damn whining. Keep a proper watch. If there's danger, or any other easy marks rejoin the convoy, we need to know right away."

"Huh? Brother Wang, didn't you just say they all ran into something eerie? How could anyone still make it back now? And danger... the esteemed Sequence Transcendents already checked the surroundings. What danger could there be?"

The shifty-looking young man spoke dismissively.

Brother Wang, who had taken out another cigarette butt and was sniffing it, was about to curse him out when the hum of an engine reached his ears.

"Just keep watch when I tell you to. Why all the damn-"

He looked toward the sound and saw a blood-spattered Wuling Hongguang driving toward the convoy.

Brother Wang's eyes widened, and he immediately jumped to his feet.

"Fuck, someone really did come back! Come on, Xiao, hurry and get Brother Li. We've got an easy mark!"

"Huh? Brother Wang, didn't you just say we should be careful?"

"Idiot. If it were something eerie, it would've caught up long ago. Anyone only catching up now is probably one of those lucky bastards who survived."

Meanwhile, Fan Shang had reached the convoy.

As the Wuling Hongguang slowed down, its headlights disturbed the others in the convoy.

"Isn't that someone who was in the convoy earlier? He actually caught up?"

"Yeah, I thought everyone who fell behind was dead. Only two people caught up all day. I didn't expect another survivor."

"Do you think he has supplies? Nearly seventy people fell behind earlier. If this kid made it back alive, he must have plenty of supplies in his car!"

At those words, the expressions of the survivors who had merely intended to watch the show instantly changed.

A gleam of greed flashed in their eyes.

At the same time, a burly man with tattooed arms shoved through the crowd with three others and headed toward Fan Shang.

Inside the car, Fan Shang narrowed his eyes slightly as he watched the four men approach, their hostile intentions obvious.

He knew exactly what those four were after.

After all, even in the apocalypse...

"There were always fools who didn't know better."