Swallowing Blood Beads

This newly arrived convoy was far too rude.

Chen Fan was displeased.

He was a convoy leader in his own right. How could he join someone else?

"Never mind. Our convoy has no plans to join anyone else for now."

Chen Fan found them rude, so his tone turned cool.

Among the people opposite him, the woman with seven swords on her back looked a little surprised.

"A convoy? You few people are a convoy too? I thought you were just friends banding together to survive."

Chen Fan's face darkened.

What kind of thing was that to say?

Just a few hours ago, he had been the leader of a three-hundred-person convoy, okay?

"A Lin, don't talk nonsense."

The man with glasses spoke up, then said to Chen Fan with an apologetic look, "Sorry, my friend speaks her mind. Please forgive her if she offended you. We've disturbed you, so we'll take our leave."

With that, the group departed.

He watched them leave, looking at their massive convoy.

Chen Fan was actually a little tempted.

In the apocalypse, convoys were still very useful.

Unless they encountered an enormous crisis like the one they had just faced, which wiped out an entire convoy, the sardine strategy for survival in a convoy was actually very useful against the strange beings and monsters they usually encountered.

The supernatural were not fearless in the apocalypse.

Those strange beings and monsters did not pursue people endlessly, either.

Most of the time, like beasts hunting prey, they stopped chasing once they had "eaten their fill."

Besides, the other convoy had four supernatural people, and his side had three.

Together, the two sides would have seven supernatural people.

In his three months in the apocalypse, Chen Fan had yet to see a group with seven supernatural people.

With supernatural people gathered and strong forces joining hands, their chances of survival would surely be greater.

Judging by the bespectacled man's attitude just now, he was also easy to talk to.

A convoy like that should be relatively comfortable to get along with.

"Captain, are you tempted?"

A sudden whisper in his ear gave Chen Fan a fright.

Li Yuanyuan had come up beside his ear without him noticing and performed a little "devil's whisper."

"What the hell are you doing? You know you could scare someone to death like that?"

Li Yuanyuan wore an expression that said he saw through everything. "You were staring straight at their convoy, okay? You were completely absorbed. How is that my fault?"

A little embarrassed, Chen Fan coughed. "I'm a convoy leader, and they have one too. If we join them, who listens to whom? Can there be two bosses? Ridiculous."

Li Yuanyuan was speechless. "Come on, man, it's the apocalypse and you're still this hung up on being in charge? What good is being captain in the apocalypse? Supernatural strength is the foundation of everything, okay? As long as you're strong enough, forget being captain-you could be the retired emperor of the convoy and no one would dare interfere."

Chen Fan drew in a sharp breath.

He looked deeply at Li Yuanyuan.

Li Yuanyuan found Chen Fan's stare a little hard to bear.

He wrapped his arms tightly around himself, looking wary.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"I didn't expect you to see things so clearly at such a young age."

Li Yuanyuan rolled his eyes.

"Listening to you is just like listening to you," Chen Fan said with feeling. "You have a point. But you can't blame me. I've really had enough of being poor. Three months! Do you know how I got through these three months in the apocalypse?

"I've had more than enough of being a bottom-rung survivor. I finally managed to become a convoy leader, and before I'd even warmed the seat, the convoy was gone. Sigh... You wouldn't understand even if I told you more."

Li Yuanyuan found it amusing. He patted Chen Fan on the shoulder and said, "Don't worry. Even if you lead us into their convoy, you'll always be our convoy leader in our hearts.

"Captain Chen forever, amen-"

Qian Lei, standing nearby, also hurried to pledge his loyalty. "Brother Chen, you'll always be the only captain I acknowledge."

Chen Fan looked at them, feeling gratified.

"You little brats, getting all sentimental. My stomach feels warm listening to you."

Although they were all somewhat tempted, Chen Fan still planned to give it more thought.

After eating and drinking their fill, they squeezed into the truck to rest.

They agreed to take turns keeping watch, with Chen Fan taking the first shift.

Once they had all gone to sleep, Chen Fan found a small dirt slope by the roadside and sat there alone.

He wanted to see what aspects of his abilities he could improve.

All his magic artifacts were currently low-grade.

Even at low grade, Chen Fan felt they were already very powerful.

He wanted to see how powerful they would be if they reached middle grade.

[Consume 1,000 origin material points to refine the low-grade Ten Thousand Souls Banner into a middle-grade Ten Thousand Souls Banner?]

Raising a low-grade magic artifact to middle grade actually cost a thousand origin material points. That was a little expensive...

But Chen Fan had enough points right now. He had 2,300.

With that thought, Chen Fan hesitated no longer.

Refine!

But just then, Chen Fan suddenly felt a stabbing pain deep in his soul.

Chen Fan shook his head. The pain vanished as quickly as it had come.

"This..."

Chen Fan quickly figured out what had happened and felt helpless.

His supernatural level was not high enough yet, so he could not wield a middle-grade magic artifact.

To use a middle-grade magic artifact, his soul strength had to reach tier two, which meant he first needed to advance to tier two as a supernatural.

It seemed he still had to prioritize obtaining Soul Pearls and Blood Pearls so he could advance to tier two as soon as possible.

As for refining other magic artifacts, Chen Fan had no ideas at the moment.

Refining a magic artifact only took a short time, so it would not be too late to do it when a suitable opportunity arose.

With that thought, Chen Fan took out the two Blood Pearls he had converted from insect corpses on the road.

Half the insect corpses in the cargo compartment had ultimately yielded only two Blood Pearls.

But Chen Fan did not think that was too little.

These things could directly increase his strength. Other people wanted them but could not get any.

Chen Fan tossed the two Blood Pearls into his mouth as though they were roasted beans.

They were very hard, so he swallowed them whole.

To be fair, they took effect as soon as they entered his mouth. His body felt wonderfully comfortable, and all his fatigue seemed to disappear.

He could also feel his body slowly growing stronger.

The strengthening did not happen all at once, making him stronger the moment he swallowed them. Instead, their effects were released slowly, strengthening his body bit by bit.

"Slowly" was relative. It was not truly slow; he could feel it himself, and his strength changed with every passing minute.

Compared with other supernatural people, who could only passively wait for their supernatural powers to improve, he was definitely fast.

He checked the time. It was still a while before the shift change.

Chen Fan then summoned Old Zhao's ghost and used the Snake Hand ability.

The green snake was fairly relaxed, so it looked like there was no danger nearby for the time being.

Time passed quickly, and Qian Lei took over the middle watch.

After telling Qian Lei to call him directly if anything happened, Chen Fan squeezed into the van to rest as well.

He had slept for just over three hours when he suddenly heard Qian Lei calling him.

Normally, Li Yuanyuan should have been next on watch. Why was Qian Lei calling him now?

Chen Fan rolled over and scrambled up, looking at Qian Lei.

"What's going on?"

Qian Lei hurriedly said, "The convoy next door packed up and is moving out. I also sensed it was time to 'go online and take orders' again, and as soon as I went online, I felt there was a risk of running overtime. A monster might be coming."

Chen Fan summoned Old Zhao's ghost. Sure enough, the green snake began to grow restless.

"Let's get moving too."

He woke Li Yuanyuan, Yan Kuan, Sun Hong, and the others.

Chen Fan said to them, "Qian Lei sensed danger approaching. With so few of us, the risk is too great in this situation. I'm planning to talk to the other convoy about traveling together. What do you think?"

Li Yuanyuan, Qian Lei, and the others exchanged looks.

"No problem. We'll do as you say, Captain."

Chen Fan nodded. "Then let's go."

Sun Hong started the truck, Chen Fan got into the passenger seat, and Yan Kuan and Li Yuanyuan stayed in the cargo compartment.

Qian Lei rode his scooter alongside the truck.

The other convoy had nearly finished packing up. Several vehicles at the front had already pulled onto the road, ready to depart at any moment.

Chen Fan had Sun Hong drive up beside the SUV at the very front.

It was the bespectacled man's vehicle.

With the two vehicles side by side, Chen Fan lowered his window, and the man lowered his own and looked over.

Chen Fan said, "You must have sensed it too. Danger is approaching. How about teaming up? We can join forces for now."

As he spoke, Chen Fan pointed at Qian Lei.

"My buddy here has excellent intuition. He can lead the way up front."

The bespectacled man smiled and made an OK gesture.

"No problem. In the apocalypse, we should be helping each other anyway."