The King of Analysis

But no matter how he asked, there was not the slightest response in his mind. The Thousand-Hammer, Hundred-Refinement Furnace seemed to have fallen dormant, showing no further sign of activity.

Yang Yong cursed inwardly, but there was nothing he could do.

For now, he was not completely out of danger.

Those faint, elusive voices outside the vehicle kept coming, clinging like a festering sore he could not shake off.

He tightened his grip on the One-Yang God-Sealing Banner and carried the Little Golden Flood Dragon Scissors in his right hand as he walked toward the front of the vehicle, one step at a time.

His gaze swept over the survivors inside, his eyes as cold as ice.

He had been lucky when dealing with the Red-Clothed Female Ghost.

If another, stronger eerie being came along, he might not survive.

This time, he kept a relentless watch.

If anyone dared speak to the eerie beings outside, he would act without hesitation-and kill them outright!

Feeling Yang Yong looking at them as though they were already dead, everyone instinctively lowered their heads, not daring to meet his eyes.

They saw undisguised killing intent in those eyes.

They had not forgotten how that old woman and that young man with the broken leg had wailed for three full days and nights before dying after Yang Yong cut off one of their arms.

Yang Yong had clearly been capable of giving them a quick death, yet he had simply watched coldly.

This was a ruthless man!

They could not afford to cross him. Absolutely not!

Fortunately, nothing else unusual happened over the next few hours.

Only when a pale glow appeared on the horizon and a ray of sunlight pierced the darkness, spilling over the rust-covered vehicles, did those cloying voices outside finally disappear completely.

Only then did Yang Yong breathe a sigh of relief.

The convoy drove on for another ten minutes before Cao Xianming's voice came through the Loudspeaker, carrying a trace of exhaustion. "Attention, everyone. Rest here. We'll set off again tonight!"

No one dared move at the sound.

Old Cao had told them long ago not to trust any voice outside-not even his.

Only after he felt the convoy come to a complete stop, the doors of the three Off-Road Vehicles at the front opened one after another, and people poked their heads out to wave, did Yang Yong finally relax.

He could no longer hold on. He collapsed onto a seat and fell fast asleep the moment the back of his head touched the cushion.

When he woke again, it was already past two in the afternoon.

A rich, appetizing aroma of meat had woken him.

Outside, the bonfire crackled. The scent of roasting meat slipped through the gaps in the windows, making his stomach rumble.

The night of fierce fighting had left Yang Yong aching all over, as though he had been run over by a vehicle.

He picked up his food bowl, pushed open the door, and climbed down.

The moment he came to a stop, he noticed something was different.

First was his eyesight. He could clearly make out even the cracks in the bark of a crooked tree a hundred meters away;

Then there was his hearing. The survivors' whispers beside the bonfire, and even the faint sounds of firewood snapping in the flames, were as clear as if they were right beside his ears.

Not only that, but he also felt filled with strength, all his earlier exhaustion swept away.

Could it have been last night...

Yang Yong suddenly remembered how the blood moon energy had flowed through his body and poured endlessly into the Little Golden Flood Dragon Scissors last night.

A thought exploded in his mind.

Forgetting all about the roast meat, he grabbed a large bottle of water and gulped down a few mouthfuls, then quickly climbed onto the roof and sat cross-legged.

Following the instructions of the cultivation technique in his mind, he slowly closed his eyes and sensed the changes inside his body.

Just as I thought!

His dantian, which had always been completely empty before, now held a faint wisp of energy.

Was that... blood moon energy?

Yang Yong froze.

According to the cultivation technique, cultivators were supposed to absorb the spiritual energy between heaven and earth.

Eerie beings clearly ran rampant in this new world. The spiritual energy should have been denser than in the old world, so why was there... only blood moon energy?

Yang Yong could not make sense of it, his brows drawing tighter and tighter.

The aroma of meat still drifted up from below, but his heart sank little by little.

This apocalypse seemed far eerier than he had imagined.

Yang Yong did not reject it and soon put the matter out of his mind.

After all, blood moon energy was still energy, and in this world, the supply available to absorb and cultivate with was practically inexhaustible.

Cultivating with blood moon energy was indeed a good path.

Yang Yong slowly sensed the energy inside him. He could clearly feel that the restless blood moon energy had been completely tamed, becoming steady like a mass of open flame.

According to the cultivation technique he had memorized, this state was called qi induction, the first step in cultivation.

Only by using this energy to open all the meridians throughout his body would he truly embark on the path of cultivation.

Immersed in this wondrous state, Yang Yong let two hours pass without noticing.

Then Xiao Ma hurried over and called urgently, "Mr. Yang! The captain needs you. It's urgent! He said there's a meeting!"

Hearing this, Yang Yong immediately stood up, feeling comfortable all over. Even the exhaustion from the earlier battle had mostly faded.

He strode toward the command vehicle at the front. As soon as he entered, he saw Cao Xianming, Wang Ying, and Zheng Xiaofeng already waiting inside.

"Sit."

Cao Xianming raised a hand, gesturing for him to sit down.

As soon as Yang Yong settled into his seat, Cao Xianming eagerly asked, "Tell us. What exactly happened last night?"

Yang Yong held nothing back. From the unconscious survivor answering the voice, to the Red-Clothed Female Ghost boarding the vehicle, to his desperate battle with her, and finally to dealing with her completely, he recounted the entire sequence in full detail.

As Cao Xianming listened, he rapidly wrote and sketched in his notebook.

Even after Yang Yong finished, he said nothing. He merely held his chin, his fingers unconsciously rubbing the tip of his nose as he sank into thought.

Some ten minutes later, Cao Xianming abruptly looked up, and everyone's gaze instantly focused on him.

A model the size of a phone hovered above his fingertips, working at high speed like a supercomputer analyzing something extraordinarily complex.

"I've leveled up. I'm now at Data Analyst Sequence 2: Analyst."

Cao Xianming spoke under everyone's gaze, raising his right hand as he did so.

In an instant, a Light Screen appeared out of thin air, hovering before them.

On the Light Screen, a red-clothed figure was being scanned repeatedly-it was none other than the Red-Clothed Female Ghost from last night!

Having experienced it firsthand, Yang Yong recognized her at a glance.

Apart from a slight difference in appearance, every other feature of this model was identical to the female ghost from last night!

The Light Screen continued scanning as lines of information scrolled into view:

[Red-Clothed Female Ghost, quasi-rule-type eerie being. Can establish a temporary contract by conversing with a person and teleport to that person's side. Abilities: Painful Wailing, Claw Rend...]

Seeing Cao Xianming analyze the Red-Clothed Female Ghost's information so thoroughly, Yang Yong could not help inwardly exclaiming how damn impressive it was.

Wasn't this guy ridiculously capable?

Data Analyst Sequence 2-he was practically the king of analysis!

"Holy shit, that's amazing!"

It was not just Yang Yong. Even the normally serious, unsmiling Wang Ying had her eyes wide open, looking as though she had seen a ghost.