Volume One: The Apocalypse Begins Chapter 19: Found a Legendary Item, Better Make a Quick Escape

It was indeed a bountiful gain. Xiang Chenguang, filled with excitement, silently chanted, “Level up!”

After leveling up twice in succession, his rank changed to Zero Rank, Level 5 (225/300).

He allocated the two free attribute points he earned—one to Agility and one to Constitution. Thanks to the Enduring Body talent, his three main attributes became Spirit 12, Constitution 13, and Agility 12.

Feeling the obvious strengthening of his body, Xiang Chenguang could hardly contain his excitement. He found himself beginning to enjoy this apocalypse.

The apocalypse had only arrived a little over a day ago, yet his physical attributes had already increased by seven points—half of what he had improved over the past two years.

Moreover, with just 75 more psychic energy points, he could level up once more, and under the effect of the Enduring Body talent, his overall attributes would increase by another two points.

With this in mind, Xiang Chenguang’s eyes sparkled as he looked towards the distant mutant insects. Those creatures were no longer ugly monsters in his eyes but a group of adorable, mobile psychic energy points.

Soon, he charged forward again, full of energy.

The monster density along the way noticeably decreased. It was clear that the high concentration of monsters on the previous road segment was because many of the mutant insects appearing on Front Street had diverted to this section of Jianxin Avenue.

Still, he had spent over an hour covering just a little more than a thousand meters.

He advanced and killed relentlessly, becoming somewhat numb by the end. Roughly calculating, he must have slain over a hundred mutant insects during this hour.

Of course, he encountered more than a hundred insects along the way, but his terrifying killing efficiency caused many of the smarter mutants to flee long before reaching him.

His main goal on this trip was to reach Jianxin Street to find materials for crafting weapons, with farming monsters and leveling up being secondary. The continuous slaughter had left him numb and tired, so he paid no mind to the fleeing insects.

Even so, as he approached Jianxin Street—signaled by the dense signs of hardware and building material stores lining both sides of the road—his rank information had already risen to Zero Rank, Level 9 (35/500).

His three-dimensional attributes had reached Spirit 14, Constitution 15, and Agility 14.

Feeling the power surging within, Xiang Chenguang thought he had become terrifyingly strong.

Every time he gained an attribute point, a warm current would rise from his heart and flow throughout his body. After the warmth passed, his muscles and fascia felt thoroughly massaged, banishing fatigue.

It was precisely this effect that allowed him to sustain over an hour of intense combat; otherwise, with his barely initial-level extraordinary physical quality, he would have collapsed long ago.

Even so, his appearance was somewhat disheveled.

During intense fighting, he could only ensure that the various juices splattered by smashing mutant insects would not fall on his head; other parts of his body were neglected.

Thus, his entire body was stained in patches of ink green, blackish brown, and other colors from the insects’ splattered fluids.

But he could care less. He wiped off a relatively clean spot on his clothes with his hand, then took a bottle of mineral water from his backpack and drank it all in one go.

He paused not only because he was thirsty but also because something felt off about Jianxin Street ahead.

The entire street, about a hundred meters long, was completely deserted—no mutant insects in sight.

Could it be that someone else was also killing mutants here?

But that didn’t seem right either. The street was far too clean—not even insect corpses remained. This was abnormal; even if someone hunted mutants here, they would hardly waste the effort to clean the street so thoroughly.

Nonetheless, Xiang Chenguang, brimming with confidence from the unprecedented power within him, decided to press on despite sensing the eerie atmosphere.

Stepping cautiously into the unsettlingly silent street, even with his overflowing confidence, he couldn’t help but feel a chill creeping up his spine.

It was too quiet. No, it wasn’t just quiet—it was deathly silent.

With the apocalypse's arrival, all human activity had nearly ceased, plunging the entire small county into stillness.

Yet, with Xiang Chenguang’s heightened senses, he could usually pick up the rustling sounds of mutant insects moving elsewhere and the subdued, soft movements of people hiding indoors.

But here, all those sounds had vanished—no trace of mutants, and no human noises from the houses lining the street.

Since stepping onto Jianxin Street, he could hear only the sound of his footsteps, his steady, long breaths, and even the clear pounding of his vigorous heartbeat.

Beyond these, there was absolutely no other sound.

This made Xiang Chenguang increasingly tense as he advanced, raising his guard and trying to recall the contents of the Low-Rank Alien Creature Compendium he had studied, hoping to identify which alien creature could have caused such a situation.

However, he had only recently obtained the compendium, and there were countless zero-rank alien creatures. The knowledge he possessed was insufficient to speculate or explain what lay before him.

Most shops along the street had their doors and windows tightly shut. As Xiang Chenguang considered whether to pry open the shutter of a piping store, he suddenly noticed that one shop’s shutter on the right side, midway down the street, was open.

He immediately quickened his pace toward it.

The situation here was far too sinister; completing his objective without making too much noise was obviously best.

The shop was called Xin Xin Building Materials, mainly dealing in steel and pipes—the very materials Xiang Chenguang sought.

Through the open door, he saw a skeleton lying face down in front of the counter—more precisely, a bleached human skeleton, stark white and haunting.

Next to the skeleton lay a crossbow gleaming with a dark metallic luster.

It was already past 10 a.m., and the late June sunlight had begun to scorch.

Under the golden sunlight streaming through the raised shutter, the sight of the pale human skeleton alongside the dark metal crossbow was utterly eerie.

But Xiang Chenguang paid no mind. He stepped inside and picked up the pitch-black crossbow.

A black cloth pouch hung from the crossbow’s handle. Xiang Chenguang pinched it and judged that it contained steel balls about one centimeter in diameter.

His joy surged. This was a deadly weapon in the apocalypse, even better than firearms. After all, guns were too loud—firing one here might quickly attract a swarm of mutants.

Suppressing his excitement, he carefully inspected the skeleton on the floor.

The skeleton was remarkably intact, with no breaks or missing bones, and was very clean, devoid of any flesh. A closer look revealed it was covered in fine bite marks.

A sudden insight flashed through Xiang Chenguang’s mind—there was a type of alien creature capable of causing such damage—and a chill ran down his spine.

He stealthily checked the drawers behind the counter and found two boxes of steel balls, which he happily stuffed into his backpack.

Then, using the hydraulic cutter in the shop, he cut a bundle of threaded steel rods measuring 18 to 22 millimeters in diameter, each precisely 1.8 meters long.

The cutting inevitably made some noise, but he could no longer care.

He tightly bound the cut rods with packing straps, slung them over his shoulder, placed a bundle of steel wire on top of the steel rods, and swiftly ran outside.

His keen senses already caught the faint, tide-like rustling sounds approaching—confirming his earlier suspicions and sending shivers down his spine as he hastened his escape.

Not wanting to provoke trouble, he decided to slip away quietly.