Second rank.
In his previous life, how long did it take for himself to reach the second rank? It seems like it was two years?
Now it has only been over ten days since the start of the apocalypse.
Xiao Jun couldn't help but sigh to himself, the apocalypse was truly about survival of the fittest. The strong only grew stronger while the weak faced elimination every day.
Reaching the second rank, all his attributes had doubled once more. Even if Xiao Jun ran into a second rank zombie now, he would be fearless.
"Go gather everyone, I'll wait for you all at the school gate."
With increased strength came more confidence. The first rank zombies outside were no threat in Xiao Jun's eyes now. If not for physical limitations, he could keep fighting until the game ended.
After waiting at the gate for a cigarette’s time, a huge crowd walked over.
This...seems to be more people than before?
Xiao Jun didn't bother counting exactly, but at a glance he could tell there were more people than at the beginning.
"Brother Jun, there's a few more people, is that okay?"
Who knows what nonsense Wan Qianya’s roommates filled her head with, she came over to plead again.
Xiao Jun didn't really care anymore either. It was only a week, feeding a few more mouths was nothing. As long as they could really form an iron-blooded female army, the investment now would be worth it.
If he could truly develop this army, he had to firmly keep it under his control. The first seven days were crucial.
"Alright, since you put in a good word I won't turn anyone back now. I can still feed a few more mouths. But tell me, how will you repay me?"
Wan Qianya fidgeted shyly, eyes secretly glancing back to see if they could hear her. Standing on her tiptoes, she whispered something into Xiao Jun's ear.
After she finished, Wan Qianya’s face turned crimson while Xiao Jun’s body trembled in excitement.
...
The distance from the normal university to the hotel was not far, but the dense zombies along the way still posed quite the nuisance.
When Xiao Jun and Wan Qianya came over before, it was purely relying on their skills to sneak over stealthily.
But now with more people, wanting to sneak by unnoticed was definitely impossible. They could only fight their way through forcibly.
Luckily, he had leveled up to a second rank mutant. More than enough to crush these first rank zombies.
He only hoped they didn’t run into any second rank zombies. Even for himself those would be hard to defend against while protecting the girls.
"Qianya, protect them well and follow behind me. Remember to have people search the zombie corpses."
Even in this situation, Xiao Jun didn't forget about the mutation crystals. Those were more important than lives.
"Everyone stay close together. If you get left behind, no one's coming back for you."
After speaking, Xiao Jun charged ahead wielding his twin blades.
The female students behind him had never seen such a scene before, staring at him infatuated.
Was this man their savior? He looked so dependable swinging his blades.
"Ahem! Stop staring and take turns touching the corpses like I showed you. Anyone unwilling can leave now."
Wan Qianya looked at the women before her with unconcealed gloom. Some faint regret rose in her heart - had she brought back a group of love rivals?
Perhaps sensing the killing intent in Wan Qianya’s gaze, the female students quickly snapped back to their senses. Heads lowered as they awkwardly tried to play it off.
By this time, Xiao Jun had already carved out an area up front. Wan Qianya stopped talking and handed command over to Jiang Yue, while she was responsible for handling any zombies that slipped through.
"Hurry up, you should all understand the situation clearly by now. Leave if you don't want to help."
Some people were just natural-born leaders. She knew when to employ which methods and could accurately grasp the circumstances.
In the apocalypse, a team’s strength was far greater than an individual’s. Moreover for physically weak women. If they didn’t band together, they would either become playthings for men or die.
This was also why Jiang Yue wanted to lead this group.
Even Xiao Jun at the forefront stealing glances back at Jiang Yue. This girl really was unique, he just didn’t know if that was good or bad yet.
Pushing those thoughts aside for now, Xiao Jun continued clearing the path ahead. Behind him, under Jiang Yue’s direction, the previously chaotic female squad regained order.
The two kilometer trek from campus to the hotel, Xiao Jun sliced through the entire way dual blades swinging.
Along the road they encountered a few other human squads, but everyone tacitly avoided contact.
Ten days into the apocalypse, excellent survivors had already adapted to the laws of survival.
Without legal constraints binding society, battles between humans were often far more ruthless.
By the time Xiao Jun could barely lift his arms from fatigue, the hotel entrance finally came into view. If he kept killing like this he really would be hacked to death from exhaustion.
He didn’t know how many times his blades swung - 60 kg a piece, 120 kg total. Even with his 12x physical attribute it was reaching the limit.
He had overestimated himself in the end. If this hotel was just 100 meters further, Xiao Jun might not have been able to go on.
The only stroke of luck was not encountering any second rank zombies.
There seemed to be visibly fewer zombies around the hotel entrance compared to the morning when they left, possibly drawn away by other people. This was good news for Xiao Jun.
"Qianya, take them inside."
With the bulk of zombies cleared, it was up to the girls themselves now.
Wan Qianya walked at the head of the squad wielding twin daggers, the first to step into the hotel lobby. The zombies inside had long been drawn over by the commotion, stumbling over themselves to rush the entrance.
Unlike Xiao Jun’s wide flourishing motions, Wan Qianya’s slaughter seemed more artistic.
No blood or gore flying, just accurate lethal strikes.
"She's so good!"
Not a few of the female students sincerely exclaimed their admiration.
How could there be such a huge gap between fellow female students...
...
"Brother Jun, there's 31 people total."
Leaning completely back into the sofa, Wan Qianya was massaging his arm with her right hand. In front, Jiang Yue was giving him a report of their numbers.
Gaining so many extra mouths all of a sudden, having to provide for them for a week, Xiao Jun suddenly felt his supplies were far from enough.
This was just 31 people. If it really became an army, how much food would they consume every day? What a headache.
Living quarters was another troublesome issue.
It wasn’t that there was a lack of rooms. He had chopped open half the doors on this level. It was just not very safe for them to live scattered about.
If safety was the concern, there was still the high tech military tent outside, with interior space of over 200 square meters. But the tent was completely bare inside. Looks like he would need to go out and scavenge some mattresses and bedding tomorrow.
"Have them pick any room to rest in for tonight. I’ll handle the arrangements tomorrow."
It was already dark out now so definitely couldn’t head out at the moment.
Although with Xiao Jun’s strength, even night zombies posed no threat. Fighting at night was just extremely troublesome due to visibility issues.
Zombies didn’t need eyes. Darkness hindered humans, not them. With poor vision, combat ability would be greatly reduced.