Ten Punches a Second

Yang Xiaomei began explaining her extraordinary ability.

"[Cat Mage] gives me the abilities of a cat, and it also lets me turn objects of my choosing into cats. Little Red is a product of my ability."

Little Red was the cat bus.

Next, it was Shen Li's turn.

"My extraordinary ability is [Boxer]. It enhanced my physical abilities, and at my current stage, I can already throw ten punches a second!" Shen Li smiled and rubbed his nose with his thumb, looking rather proud of himself.

The others, however, were unimpressed.

He had no choice but to drop the expression, looking deflated.

Last was Ma Wuyuan. He glanced at Shen Li and said with a contemptuous laugh, "Is ten punches a second impressive? Before the apocalypse, there was a martial arts master named Li Silong who could throw nine punches a second. Your extraordinary ability only gives you one more punch than an ordinary person."

Shen Li grew agitated. "Does Li Silong count as an ordinary person? Before the apocalypse, if he'd lived in the same era as you, he could've taken on ten of you at once. Besides, don't you know that once you reach the pinnacle of a field, even improving by 0.1 is incredibly difficult?

"Li Silong was stuck at nine punches a second his entire life. He even used electric shocks to temper his body, but still couldn't break through.

"He struggled to reach even 9.1 punches a second. Before I awakened, I was a 996 office worker on the verge of dropping dead from overwork. After I awakened, I surpassed the human limit and accomplished something a master dreamed of but couldn't achieve in his entire life. Isn't that badass?"

Ma Wuyuan chuckled. "If you ask me, an extraordinary ability has to have supernatural power to count. Take my [Lightning Whip], for example. Any whip weapon I use comes with a lightning attack.

"As for your [Boxer], I doubt you'd last a single move against me."

Shen Li sneered. "Your Lightning Whip can only strike five times at most. After that, it's useless. As long as I dodge five of your attacks, you're nothing but some guy on the street."

Ma Wuyuan looked displeased. You weren't supposed to expose people's shortcomings, but this kid had gone and revealed the weakness of his extraordinary ability.

"What do you know? It means my extraordinary ability understands not to go too far. As the saying goes, traditional kung fu stops at the point of contact. After five lashes, whether I win or lose, the fight should already be decided.

"Besides, what makes you think you can dodge five lashes from me?"

Shen Li retorted, "My [Boxer] comes with boxing footwork, you know?"

Seeing that the two were about to keep arguing, Chen Fan stepped in and changed the subject.

Who wanted to listen to two noobs pecking at each other?

"By the way, what was your former captain's extraordinary ability? He seemed pretty strong to me."

Chen Fan asked curiously.

Shen Li didn't want to keep arguing either, so he took up the new topic. "I heard him mention before that his extraordinary ability was [Olfactory M Receptor]. It apparently let him smell special scents and grow stronger when attacked."

At that, Shen Li's lips twitched. "Anyway, it was pretty bizarre."

Ma Wuyuan also said, "That man was scum. If it weren't for the apocalypse, I'd never have associated with him."

Yang Xiaomei nodded too, a look of disgust on her face. "Calling him scum is too generous. He was a thoroughly disgusting pervert."

Chen Fan smiled. "You knew he was a pervert, but you still teamed up with him."

Yang Xiaomei's face reddened slightly, a rare occurrence. "It's the apocalypse. Who isn't just trying to stay alive? That guy had a sharp nose. He could smell monsters and give us advance warning. Besides, ours was just a working relationship.

"Whenever he led the way or we helped each other, supplies were exchanged. Most of the time, we stayed out of each other's business.

"How can you slander my good name like that?"

Seeing Yang Xiaomei defending herself with a red face,

everyone on the team laughed.

For a time, the table was filled with a cheerful atmosphere.

Just then, Wang Bing, who was sitting on the other side, suddenly took a swig of alcohol.

"If there's nothing else, I'll head back first."

With that, Wang Bing turned and left.

The sudden departure left everyone present stunned.

The lively atmosphere cooled somewhat.

Qian Lei scratched his head. "What's wrong?"

Nie Shufeng waved a hand. "Don't mind her. She's having a little trouble figuring something out right now, so she's distracted. That's how her extraordinary ability is; it easily affects her mood. It has nothing to do with any of you, so don't take it to heart."

Everyone nodded and thought no more of it.

As the meal went on, everyone drank and relaxed considerably.

They got along a little better, too.

At some point, a kitten had emerged into Yang Xiaomei's arms. She held and stroked it as it purred all over.

It wasn't something she had created with her ability, but a real kitten she had adopted during the apocalypse.

It was a long-haired tabby kitten, probably a mixed breed rather than a purebred, but it was very affectionate.

Yang Xiaomei had named it Banban.

Chen Fan and the others had just taken turns holding and petting it, and by now the kitten was tired of being petted.

Not far away, Li Yuanyuan was pulling Shen Li and Ma Wuyuan into a sparring match.

Neither of them had been willing to concede that the other's extraordinary ability was better.

So Li Yuanyuan planned to practice with them using the Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms.

The cost of her extraordinary ability was that she was battle-hungry and liked sparring with people.

After she had asked Chen Fan to spar and been knocked flat, she had come clean to him about it.

Though all three had first-tier extraordinary abilities, Shen Li and Ma Wuyuan's were clearly inferior to Li Yuanyuan's.

Before long, Li Yuanyuan had knocked them both down with one palm strike each.

Elsewhere, among the survivors, Zhao Xing and Zhao Xin ate compressed biscuits and watched the lively gathering of extraordinary people, their faces full of envy.

Within the group, a clear class divide had formed between the extraordinary people and the survivors.

Unless something came up, the survivors didn't dare bother the extraordinary people.

They watched them talking and laughing around the table, eating a lavish meal and even playing around with their extraordinary abilities.

Of everyone in the convoy, only those people were still living like human beings.

Their lives were barely comparable to life before the apocalypse.

The survivors, on the other hand, ate compressed biscuits and drank cold water.

It was fine for an occasional meal, but after eating them for too long, their stomachs cramped up.

Even so, they were relatively well off. At least they could eat their fill.

Many people could only eat two meals or even one meal a day, and lived in a constant state of hunger or malnutrition.

Zhao Xing then looked toward the back of the convoy, where the people traveling on foot had gathered.

A monk stood among the crowd, speaking about something with a devout expression.

Around him, older men and women sat on the ground, listening with equally devout expressions.

A few young people stood on the outskirts, listening too.

Zhao Xin looked over as well and asked curiously, "Brother, what are they doing?"

A wary look entered Zhao Xing's eyes. "I don't know. Let's leave them alone and stay out of it. Remember, in the apocalypse, we listen to whoever can keep us alive and takes real action to do it. We ignore everything else. No matter how much someone says, words don't mean a thing."

Zhao Xin nodded thoughtfully.

"Come on, let's get in the van and rest, so we can keep moving tomorrow."

The brother and sister had been squeezing into the same van.

That kind of vehicle used relatively little fuel and could carry cargo.

It wasn't impressive-looking, but it was practical.

After the extraordinary people finished their meal, they played around for a while longer before returning to their vehicles to rest.

Chen Fan had returned to his RV long ago.

He wasn't particularly fond of lively gatherings, or perhaps he was somewhat aloof.

So he hadn't stayed and played around with them.

Inside the RV, the long white robe Chen Fan had asked Sun Hong to have his people make was finished and laid out on the table.

He rubbed his hands together, a hint of excitement in his eyes.

A white-robed sword immortal was about to be born...