[Blood Moon Shadow (Phase 1)]
[Trait 1: Physique and Spirit are increased by an additional 10%]
[Trait 2: Bloodlust (Phase 1)]
[Trait 3: Berserk (Phase 1)]
[Trait 4: Potent Regeneration (Phase 1)]
[Trait 5: Rapid Evolution (Phase 1)]
’For other survivors, being exposed to the Blood Moon’s light weakens them. But I’m a zombie, so I get a full-spectrum enhancement instead.’ Tang Jingren’s face was twisted in a savage expression.
The Bloodlust and Berserk traits would make him stronger, but they would also warp his consciousness toward those very mindsets.
This was only Phase 1. The higher the phase, the stronger this negative effect on his consciousness would become, until it eventually turned him into a mindless monster that knew only slaughter and destruction.
This made it hostile to all sentient zombies.
Sentient zombies would regress into beast-like beings. As for zombies that had not yet developed consciousness, they would never be able to gain sentience as long as the Blood Moon Shadow persisted.
Correspondingly, however, the zombies least affected were those without sentience. Since they were mindless to begin with, they could better utilize the abilities of the Bloodlust and Berserk traits.
Tang Jingren forcefully suppressed the turmoil in his consciousness.
’My own unique nature, combined with my SSS-rank Talent Virus Monarch, means I can easily suppress the negative effects of Phase 1 if I just focus.’ Tang Jingren quickly recovered his composure.
’In fact, the bottleneck holding me back... has loosened.’
Tang Jingren looked at his dual stats of 5 points. With the enhancement, they were now 5.5.
Combined with Rapid Evolution, he had a chance of breaking through to 6 points.
Raising stats was never easy, especially since he was on his own. After assigning him a mandatory quest last time, the Doomsday Game had provided him with no further assistance.
If he weren’t a zombie, he’d probably be just like those survivors, scrounging for meager resources.
’It’s happening so fast. If I just had three more days, I could definitely have gotten my dual stats to 6 points.’ Tang Jingren was seething with frustration.
According to the profound connection he could sense, there were now only three of them left, including himself.
One was the Irregular, and the other was, naturally, the powerful zombie that had fought its way out from among the many special zombies.
Its strength was no less than his own.
The reason was simple. He and the Irregular had to devour and digest, whereas the other creature was merely recovering its original power, so it suffered no losses in the process.
If the benefits he and the Irregular could gain from the special zombies were a 1, then the other creature’s was a 10.
The consciousness originally belonged to it, not them. How could they possibly achieve a 100% lossless absorption?
Therefore, getting even a tenth of the effect was already excellent.
Due to his unique nature, the profound connection he felt was deeper than Qi Suian’s.
Qi Suian could only sense their locations, but he could sense their approximate distances and even roughly compare their power levels.
For example, the weakest was the Irregular. His sense of the Irregular was that it was only about half again as strong as an ordinary person. Meanwhile, the special zombie that had emerged victorious was only a little weaker than him.
Converted into stats, its dual stats had to be at least around 4.8 or 4.9.
Furthermore, the talents it possessed were at least SSS-rank. Combined with its original inheritance, a fight between them would likely be an even match.
However, the ones closing in on him weren’t just the special zombie, but the Irregular as well.
All three of them were planning to devour the others and become the final winner.
’First, I’ll retreat, and then...’ Tang Jingren naturally had no intention of continuing a head-on confrontation. It wouldn’t be too late to make his move after he raised his dual stats to 6 points and possessed greater strength.
He even hoped he could let the special zombie and the Irregular fight until they were both crippled, leaving him to pick up the spoils.
But plans could never keep up with reality. A massive, slightly misshapen zombie suddenly appeared right before him, using some kind of ability.
The moment it appeared, it attacked without hesitation, not even bothering with a taunt.
’Multiple abilities?’ Tang Jingren dodged without a second thought.
As a Mutated Zombie, he naturally had his own abilities.
His S-rank Energy Manipulation allowed him to control various energies in the natural world.
If his Spirit was vast enough, he could even go a step further and manipulate atoms, particles, the four fundamental forces, and so on.
Of course, he couldn’t do that now. At most, he could manipulate natural energies like water, fire, wind, and lightning, and even that had limitations, such as needing the right environmental conditions.
The ability had been S-rank from the moment he awakened it, and it could be further upgraded in the future.
The special zombie’s attack was indeed powerful, smashing a large crater directly into the ground.
’Spatial Jump, Divine Speed and Strength, Steel Body...’
From that single attack, Tang Jingren had identified three different abilities on the special zombie.
’The life force of a Profound God... even this small remnant is not something I can compare to.’ Tang Jingren didn’t know the specifics of the other creature, but he understood one thing: his own predecessor couldn’t hold a candle to its predecessor.
Even with the help of the Doomsday Game, the other creature was able to catch up to his level of strength.
It was just in an exceptionally advantageous position.
Its first strike having missed, the special zombie didn’t pause, but launched another attack.
Tang Jingren’s expression soured as he once again used his Energy Manipulation ability to dodge.
’And it has locking, perception, and reconnaissance-type abilities, too. This thing is a monster.’ Tang Jingren realized he had been completely locked onto.
There was no way to escape.
The only path to survival was to kill this monster.
The problem was, he couldn’t kill it.
They were already evenly matched to begin with. Now, with its vast number of abilities, Tang Jingren was no match for it at all.
"Thief, you are quite impressive. You are worthy of becoming a part of my body." The special zombie spoke, its voice bizarre and extremely unsettling.
Without a word, however, Tang Jingren combined his S-rank ability, Energy Manipulation, with his SSS-rank Talent Virus Monarch, rapidly activating all the energy within his Profound Virus.
At that moment, his dual stats began to skyrocket.
In a single second, they surged to 9 points.
If 10 points hadn’t been a qualitative transformation and a bottleneck, he would have been able to reach that milestone.
’As long as my stats are high enough, all its abilities are just flashy tricks.’
In an instant, he was upon the special zombie. Before it could react, he had pulverized it into a pile of minced flesh.
"HUFF... HUFF..." Tang Jingren gasped for breath. His dual stats had plummeted from 9 points to 4. This was a permanent drop; to recover back to 5, he would have to grow stronger all over again.
He could only maintain that state for a maximum of 0.1 seconds, and it came with severe side effects. Besides the stat drop, there were also other negative effects like weakness and a decrease in his zombie level.
But before he could even begin to recover, he saw the pile of minced flesh begin to writhe.