Chapter 55 - 55,1 heard you can transform 1
11 [Avoid areas with high population densities, refrain from making excessive noise, and ensure your drinking water has not been contaminated by the virus…]”
“[This is not the apocalypse! It is not the end of humanity!]11
“[Do not lose hope; we can rebuild our homes.]”
Messages like these echoed incessantly amidst the hum of static.
They encouraged everyone to keep on living, not to give up.
To seek out every possible means to survive, to wait for rescue.
Wu Heng looked at the modified tape recorder before him, somewhat incredulously.
He knew of course that this wasn’t a recording, but a message received via radio.
Normal communications had long ago failed, leaving this as the only effective method of communication.
“They indeed have a clear destination.”
In other words, these survivors must have ventured out because they had made contact with some sort of assembly point.
An area offering a better living environment.
However, they clearly failed, meeting their end at this crossroads.
“Is it the army men?” Xiao Xiao asked curiously after giving the area a once-over.
“Hmm.” Wu Heng nodded.
“Should we go find them? They’ll protect us when we find them,” Xiao Xiao floated down and spoke, leaning on his shoulder.
This…
Wu Heng glanced at the skeletons outside the bus, uncertain how to respond.
Under normal circumstances, if he hadn’t switched to being a Necromancer…
He would naturally hope for shelter from a rescue team or the army.
But now things were different.
How could he explain the skeletons?
Or the alternate dimension?
Even if he made it to a human gathering point, would he be treated like a suspect, as he had been in Black Stone Town, subjected to restrictive laws, or even dissected and studied for his spell casting principles?
He couldn’t be certain where he stood, but there was a possibility.
“We can protect ourselves for now, we’ll figure it out when the time comes,” Wu Heng said as he sealed up the iron box and carried it out of the bus.
Xiao Xiao trailed behind him, “How does it work? Can I watch TV?”
“It’s battery-powered. No, you can’t watch TV.”
Back in the residential area.
Wu Heng turned on the recorder, listening to the survivior-inspiring messages being repeated, while using his Bone Manipulation Skill to process the corpses lying in front of him.
Even if there weren’t a thousand bodies, there were still seven or eight hundred.
The bodies were piled into a small mountain.
The task that remained, fell entirely on him. Even if he processed them day and night, it would take several days to finish processing them all.
And with this weather, storing the corpses was a real issue.
He’d learned a skill called ‘Corpse Preservation’ but a preserved body could no longer be converted into a skeleton.
So, it was a rather useless skill.
All he could do was try to speed up the conversion process, and finish as soon as possible.
Only when dusk fell, did Wu Heng order the skeletons back to the rooftop.
He himself went back to Black Stone Town with Basen.
After bathing, he made himself a bowl of ramen.
He sat at the table and started to casually flip through ‘Greyhawk Swordsmanship’.
The content wasn’t difficult, but simply reading it was of no use, he also needed to practice.
When it came to practice, Wu Heng felt lie had the resolve, but because his basics were poor, he feared it might take more effort.
Similarly, another possibility occurred to Wu Heng.
He didn’t unlock the swordsmanship after reading it once, and it could possibly be due to his profession.
As a mage, he might not be able to unlock swordsmanship techniques.
It was very likely.
Knock, knock, knock!
While he was casually flipping through, the door was knocked.
After a few knocks, Yuli’s voice rang out, “Wu Heng, are you home?”
Opening the door, Yuli, with her shoulder-length curls, stood in the doorway.
“What’s up?” Wu Heng asked.
“My aunt went out, I came to see you.” After saying that, she peeked inside, “What’s that smell? It’s so good.”
“It’s my dinner,” Wu Heng answered, and noticing the expectant look in her eyes, as if waiting for him to say the next line, he added, “Care to join me?” “Yes, thank you!” Yuli grinned and directly squeezed herself into the room.
She came to the table, lifted the spoon pressing down the lid of the noodles, and a stronger aroma wafted out.
“It smells great.” Yuli fanned the aroma towards her nose with her hand.
Wu Heng looked at the door, closed it, and then picked up another pack of noodles to soak for her.
He asked, “Where did the vice-executive go?”
“I heard there’s amission, so she went out,” Yuli rested her chin in her hand and watched him prepare her noodles.
“Didn’t you go with her to see what it was?”
“No, it’s not a fun trip. There’s nothing good to see.”
“Ah, makes sense,” Wu Heng put the noodles in front of her, “Wait a while for the noodles to soak.”
“Okay,” Yuli complied.
“Did you just come to see me?” Wu Heng continued to ask.
Is their relationship that good?
“I wanted to ask you to go to the black market, but let’s talk about it after dinner,” Yuli answered, then asked curiously, “These delicious foods, did you make them yourself?”
The food was all very ordinary, but it was just the food Wu Heng brought that was delicious.
She’d been all over the city to the taverns and shops, but hadn’t found anything with a similar taste.
This made her wonder if the Necromancer in front of her was actually a chef, a preternaturally talented one.
“I certainly can’t do it, everything’s from my hometown,” Wu Heng said, sitting down at the table as well.
“Ah, where is your hometown, is it far?”
“Far, very far, it’s quite hard to get there.”
Yuli looked at him. Judging from his hair color and appearance, Wu Heng indeed didn’t possess the features of the locals.
What he said about his hometown being far away made sense.
After exchanging a few pleasantries, their instant noodles were just about ready.
“It’s ready.” Wu Heng took out a few snacks and placed them on the table.
A smile unconsciously appeared on Yuli’s face.
She opened the lid, picked up her fork, and immediately began to eat.
As she ate, she mumbled that it was delicious and that if Wu Heng were to open a pub, it would definitely be a hit.
Wu Heng also opened his and began to eat. It was a bit soggy since it had been soaking for a while.
After they wolfed down the instant noodles, they began to snack on the goodies on the table.
“They say Druids can shapeshift.” Wu Heng asked her.
“Of course.”
“So, what can you shapeshift into?”
Yuli glanced at him and said, “My aunt said I shouldn’t tell random people.”
“No, we’re teammates. If we know more about each other’s abilities, we can collaborate better on missions.”
“Then you go first, what can you do?”
“Me? I can summon skeletons.”
“Anything else?”
“In terms of spells, I know Acidic Attack, Grease Skill, Decay Ray, and Corpse Preservation.”
“Wow, your spells are all so dark and sinister.” Yuli said, then added, “But they suit your profession.”
“Your turn.”
” I can change into many things, like a wolf, a bear, or a raven.”
“Can you transform now?”
“What do you want to see?”
Wu Heng looked around his small living room, “A raven.”
“Ok, watch this.”
In the next second, Yuli, who was sitting on her chair, suddenly transformed into a raven with black feathers. She flew around the room and then landed on the table.
She was still wearing her shrunken leather armor in her raven form, clinging closely to her body.
Pick, pick, pick!
The sharp beak pecked at the peanuts on the table, quickly devouring two.
Next, the raven landed on the floor and transformed into a brown wolf, which paced in front of him for a couple of rounds.
The wolf’s furry body was still wearing the leather armor.
It seemed that the armor of a Druid was a magic item. Wu Heng had been wondering what Druids did with their clothes and equipment when they transformed. Would they have to dress up again after they returned to their human forms?
As a profession that had passed down through generations, they had already taken this into account.
“No need to transform into a bear,” Wu Heng said.
After all, the room was small and he wouldn’t want to pay for any damages.
The wolf jumped back to the chair and transformed back into a human.
“How was it?” Yuli asked with her chin lifted, a hint of pride in her voice.
“Quite impressive.”
“Of course, we maintain a balanced fighting power and basically have no weaknesses,” Yuli said herself.
That was actually a good analysis.
Speed was the strength of a wolf, plus they had some attack power, ravens were good at reconnaissance, and bears were all about muscle power.
She mentioned three forms, all of which would be handy.
The concept was not bad, but he wondered if it could withstand bullets.
“Can you attack from a distance?”
“I can, but not very proficiently,” Yuli said in a vague manner, pointing at the potato chips, “Do we have more of these?”
Wu Heng took out some more and put them in front of her.
After chatting for a while, Yuli stood up and prepared to leave.
“Are you going to the black market tomorrow?” Yuli asked at the door.
Her main purpose of coming today was to ask him to stroll around the black market. They chatted and she almost forgot about it.
“I have something else to do tomorrow, I won’t go. But you can go to East District in the city; it’s lively there too.”
“Okay, I’ll come find you when I have time.” After saying that, Yuli left with a hop and skip.
Watching Yuli’s departing figure, Wu Heng closed the door tightly and started studying his swordsmanship.
The next day, Zombie World.
Wu Heng was sitting on a wooden chair with Basen standing behind him and Bawudong standing with his hands folded behind him.
The radio, with its batteries replaced, was broadcasting words of encouragement for everyone to keep surviving, as well as emergency methods and evacuation strategies.
From the content, it could be heard that there was still no significant progress or solution to the catastrophe, and the main strategy was still to take refuge and wait.
While listening, Wu Heng released his Bone Manipulation Skill to transform the pile of corpses in front of him.
For him, a Necromancer, corpses were not a problem; his own slow conversion speed was the real issue.
If he does nothing else and just focuses on the transformation, it would still take several days to complete this task.
But he didn’t have a better alternative.
He couldn’t ignore the piles and bury all the corpses too, right? He killed them with difficulty after all.
At this moment, the content of the radio broadcast changed.
It began to explain about the ‘Leukoencephalopathy’ in the body of the Mutated Zombies, referred to as the ‘Corpse Core’ by the system.
” [A first tier Leukoencephalopathy is completely white and can enhance human physical strength, with strong infectivity. A second tier Leukoencephalopathy is covered with fine bloodlines on the surface; it enhances physical strength and may also provide special abilities. But the possibility of resisting the infection is extremely low….].”
What the hell?
Wu Heng, who was casting his spell, froze for a second.
A second-tier Leukoencephalopathy?
Special abilities? Infectivity?