บท 13: Recruiting a Doctor
Zhan was uncertain as to why humans weren't affected in the same way as the animals, mutating naturally as a direct course of the wave, but he suspected that this matter had some relation to the system. He didn't believe that the system was some generous tool to assist humanity in their time of need, it was definitely something suspicious. However…the power the system gave him was indisputable.
Even if it was sketchy, he would use this power to gain an advantage. If others could have superpowers, then why could he not have a system? If anything, the people with abilities were the real lucky ones, they didn't even need to work for their power, whilst Zhan was forced to battle and slaughter mutated beasts!
After resting for three hours, he was ready for the fourth battle. He arranged the order of the battles by his perceived strength of the beasts. He had already seen each beast and observed it closely, so its appearance wasn't a shock.
Still though, this thing was really bizarre.
It stood at 12 feet tall, and resembled a human somewhat. It wasn't a human though, but a mutated gorilla that escaped from the Blackwater City Zoo.
A normal silver back gorilla was dangerous enough, but this one was 12 feet tall, snow white in colour and had eyes like a wasp. It was really creepy.
This battle was difficult, as expected.
Zhan tried his best to avoid the ape, but he ended up getting slammed in the chest, shattering five ribs. Perhaps the damage would have been significantly worse had he not increased his defence.
That wasn't all though, the gorilla was smart. It actually baited him in, then stomped down towards Zhan's head as he stabbed it with his spear!
He lost grip of his spear and his arm was broken from blocking the stomp. He then fell into a pitiful state and was struck multiple times as he tried to get his spear back, but ended up getting frustrated and thrusting his hand into the gorilla's eye.
Who would have thought that such an attack would actually slay the beast? His hand pierced through the eye, the black honeycomb layer strangely shattered like glass, then his arm travelled straight through the soft eye ball and stabbed into its brain. The gorilla dropped like a sack of spuds, never to move again.
This battle landed Zhan in the doctor's office once again. He wasn't as badly beat up as last time, but Miu started making plans to put him in a full body cast before Zhan woke up and told her to stop.
Broken bones took too long to heal, but his vitality was incredible. He once directly increased his 'bone vitality' by 0.5 life-points, but this still wasn't enough. He placed another 0.5 points into this area, then an hour later, he was back on his feet and walking around. Miu watched on dumbfoundedly as Zhan recovered at a visible speed. Within another few hours, his wounds had all become scars and his bones were fully healed. An x-ray showed that they were even more dense and thus stronger than before!
This improvement showcased itself in Zhan's defence, which increased by 0.1 points naturally.
"You're a freak of nature…though I suppose, there are others with even crazier powers than this nowadays." Miu commented.
Zhan let her keep thinking that he had an ability, the system would be impossible to explain anyway. Even he didn't really know what it was.
Before Zhan left, Miu grabbed his arm. Zhan turned around and gave her a questioning look. He saw that she appeared to be uncertain about something…perhaps even afraid. Miu was a kind woman, but she always remained strong hearted. Seeing this expression on her was a first for Zhan.
"What's your plan…for this 'second wave'?" She asked him.
"Right now, I'm training. Other than that, I don't know how else to prepare." He sighed.
"Zhan, you don't have any friends, right?" She suddenly said seriously.
"Ouch…but I guess…"
"Then, could you…could you look after my little sister during the second wave? Please?"
Zhan blinked, somewhat taken back. He was expecting Miu to suggest that they stick together, and honestly, he wasn't against the idea. A doctor could be useful after all.
But her sister? He didn't even know the girl. And yet, Miu was even willing to ask that he look after her sister without even asking about herself. Her intention was clear…she thought that Zhan might be willing to help one person, but not a group.
"And what about you?" He asked plainly.
"I'll find a way to survive the month." Miu bit her lip, but showed determination and resolve.
Zhan sighed. He originally didn't plan to tell her this just yet, but whatever.
"The second wave isn't the end. The second wave is one month, but the third wave will come a month after the end of the second wave."
Miu paled in fright and quickly asked:
"How long will the third wave last?"
"It won't end. The third wave is the final stage of the cataclysm, the end state of the earth."
Her expression was difficult to describe, but it certainly reflected her complicated mood.
"Miu, if you and your sister want to follow me, then that's fine." Zhan started slowly. "But I will always look out for myself primarily. I will keep you safe if I can, but my own life will be my priority. There are no guarantees that I can keep you safe. I can't even guarantee that I can keep my own life, no matter protecting other people too. My advice is that you prepare yourself, learn to fight, find a way to get stronger, get a weapon, or drink some beast blood and perhaps you'll develop a power. Miu, I need to go now, we can talk again after my last battle."
Zhan patted her shoulder gently as he walked past her. Miu didn't move and stayed silent as he left. After a while, she heard the bell ring to signify the start of the match and she quickly looked up at the screen.
Zhan's plan in saying all of this to Miu was to give her a realistic expectation of what he could provide. He didn't want her to have some delusion that he would be some ridiculous hero, sacrificing his life to save the beauty. He had never been this sort of person…though truthfully, he had never been close enough to someone to care about them to that extent.
However, he didn't know that his words ended up having the opposite effect. What he had just described, what he offered her, was far more than Miu was expecting! She was genuinely shocked that he was willing to help both her and her sister! After all, Zhan had experienced the first wave, he had also battled many mutated beasts, he knew the dangers that were to come…yet he actually agreed to help them!
She never expected some promise that he would fight to the death to protect her, just agreeing to group up with her and her sister was already more than she'd hoped for!
Miu clenched her fists tightly shut and watched Zhan's battle on the screen above. As he fought, she didn't even blink.
The final battle, the beast he assessed to be even more powerful than the gorilla. Before entering this battle, Zhan assigned more of his life points, resulting in his current status panel:
-
Race: Human (Civilian)
Strength: 4.5
Defence: 3.5
Agility: 5.0
Stamina: 4.3
Vitality: 6.5
Perception: 2.8
Intelligence: 1.6
Will: 5.0
Life-points: 0.4
-
He added points into strength, defence and agility. These were the most essential stats to a one on one battle, and he honesty felt like he would need this improvement in all areas to battle the last beast.
This beast gave him an even more dangerous feeling than the centipede.
That was before he added his stats though. Now…Zhan felt confident in his victory.
As for the beast, it was certainly the largest and most intimidating looking beast that he had fought as of yet. It was definitely a pig at one point in its life, but this pig now closer resembled a boar, if a boar was genetically engineered to be the size of a whale.
The boar, grey all over, 20 feet long and 10 feet tall, glared down at Zhan and pointed its two enormous tusks towards him. It kicked back dirt, then charged.
Thump, thump thump!
Its hooves created pits on the floor as it ran, kicking up dust and partially hiding the battle from the cameras.
'Just how did they capture and contain this thing?' Zhan thought to himself. He remembered that the old man mentioned that this pig just kept growing, so maybe that was it.
BANG!
The boar slammed its head down into the ground, but Zhan nimbly dodged. The boar's movement speed was high, but its acceleration and ability to turn was not. It was large and slightly cumbersome…but it was large.
The beast kept charging at him, slamming its tusks down, to the side, up, into the walls…
CLANG!
The arena walls had always held up, but right now, there was a large dent in the side. The syndicate members paled in fright…that was 12 inches of stainless steel, just how strong was the boar?!
Zhan knew that receiving a direct attack would spell his death, so he avoided each strike. He didn't attack for the first three minutes of the battle, calmly assessing the boar's weaknesses as he let it wear itself down.
And indeed, it began to tire. In its rage, it used up all of its strength. Its speed slowed to a half, and the previously devastating strikes had lost their ferocity.
'Now!' Zhan suddenly jumped upwards as the boar swiped its head towards him tiredly. Startled by his sudden change of tactic, the boar tried to buck its head up to slam Zhan in the air.
A smile crept onto Zhan's face, this was exactly what he was expecting.
The boar's head was so large and heavy that he felt the wind rushing at him before the strike even landed. Zhan ignored the rustling of his clothes and pulled the spear up above his head. The boar felt a sense of extreme danger, but it was too late to pull back…
PUCHI!
Zhan stabbed down with his full strength and pierced through the eye. Fighting the gorilla allowed him to realise that on these large beasts, the eye was by far the weakest part of the body.
"GRAAAA!" The boar roared out and violently jumped from side to side. Zhan gripped tightly onto his spear and drove it down further. After turning it clockwise then back a few times and pushing it in as deep as he could, the boar finally fell to the floor. Zhan grabbed the spear and jumped away, afraid that this thing would crush him to death.
A white light travelled from the boar into Zhan. This white light was faint, and only Zhan, as a system owner, could see it.
Up above in a VIP booth, the old syndicate leader was sitting down as a middle aged man stood besides him.
"Well?"
"He's a system owner, no doubt…" The middle aged man nodded, but his eyes were wide and disbelief covered his face.
"But?" The old man smiled.
"He's way too strong…he might have a superpower too." The middle aged man speculated.
"Haha! I don't think so. This kid is just a freak and loves the rush of battle. I bet he killed a lot during the first wave. He also killed multiple powerful beasts in my arena."
"But…his skill is something else."
"Indeed." The old man nodded. "Recruiting him would be useful, but this kid is too much of a loner, he's probably only thinking about how much he'll be able to battle in the second wave. We can reach out to him later on, but really…can anything match modern weaponry?"
The old man smiled viciously, making the middle aged man feel chills rush through his body. He was a system owner and thus knew about the power of the system, but this 'normal' old man still made him feel pressured. He nodded in agreement with the syndicate leader's statement…he also believed that superpowers could only go so far. Could any individual really beat an army equipped with tanks, bombs and guns?
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