Chapter 196: Soaring Combat Power, Important Intelligence!

The lights in Su Ze's Dormitory flickered back on; outside the window, the roars of zombies rose and fell in succession.

He ignored the commotion outside, his attention entirely focused on the system notifications that had just popped up.

[Ding! Congratulations to the host for obtaining today's free attribute points +2!]

[Ding! Congratulations to the host for obtaining today's intelligence *3!]

[Ding! Congratulations to your Dormitory for obtaining today's refreshed supplies...]

Two free attribute points.

Not bad.

Su Ze opened his personal panel and added these two points to his total.

free attribute points: 127.

He glanced at his current attributes.

[Player: Su Ze]

[Dormitory: 4th Floor - 404 - Su Ze (Room Owner · Level 3 Dormitory)]

[Personal Attributes: health 14, Strength 15, intelligence 11, Stamina 30, spirit 11, speed 40]

[Skills: Intermediate Marksmanship, Armor Piercing Strike, Primary Marksmanship, Basic Boxing, Beginner Blade Technique, Elementary Swordsmanship, Primary Grappling Technique, Elementary Reconnaissance]

[basic combat power: 121]

The next round would involve Supernatural Entities.

The importance of intelligence and spirit was already self-evident.

Su Ze did not hesitate for a moment and began to allocate this massive windfall of attribute points.

intelligence, straight up to 40 points.

spirit, also pushed up to 40 points.

These two attributes directly affected the defensive strength of the Spirit Guarding Incantation and the offensive power of the Soul-Shaking Roar, as well as his sustained combat capability; they had to be prioritized.

Next was health.

No matter what enemy he faced, staying alive was the foundation.

health, increased to 40 points.

Then speed.

In the world of martial arts, only speed is unbreakable.

The advantage of speed applied in any situation—whether it was pursuit, evasion, or strategic relocation, it was the most core attribute.

He directly increased speed to 60 points.

Finally, strength.

Considering that Supernatural Entities might have physical attacks or require the destruction of specific items, strength couldn't be too low either.

Su Ze increased strength to 20 points.

After the adjustments, 109 of his 127 free attribute points were consumed, leaving 18 points in reserve to deal with emergencies.

He looked at his attribute panel again.

[Player: Su Ze]

[Dormitory: 4th Floor - 404 - Su Ze (Room Owner · Level 3 Dormitory)]

[Personal Attributes: health 40, Strength 20, intelligence 40, Stamina 30, spirit 40, speed 60]

[Skills: Intermediate Marksmanship, Armor Piercing Strike, Primary Marksmanship, Basic Boxing, Beginner Blade Technique, Elementary Swordsmanship, Primary Grappling Technique, Elementary Reconnaissance]

[basic combat power: 230]

His basic combat power had soared directly from 121 to 230!

A sensation far more powerful than before filled his entire body; his cognitive speed and perception had sharpened by several levels.

Su Ze flexed his fingers and nodded with satisfaction.

Next, he shifted his attention to the supplies refreshed today.

When he saw the item's name, his breath hitched for a moment.

[Rare Grade Item · thunder control talisman]

He hadn't seen this thing in the Survival Mall before.

He immediately clicked to view the detailed data.

[thunder control talisman]

[Quality: Rare]

[Type: One-time consumable]

[Effect: Channels the power of heavenly thunder to deal devastating lightning damage to a designated target. Possesses absolute suppression against Supernatural Entity targets, capable of instantly killing Supernatural Entities of LV7 and below.]

[Description: A powerful talisman containing the power of thunder. Once used, it is gone forever. Please use with caution.]

Instantly kills Supernatural Entities of LV7 and below!

Su Ze's heart skipped a beat.

This was practically a trump card-level hidden ace!

Even though it was one-time use, at a critical moment, this thing was a life-saver and could even turn the tide of an entire battle.

He carefully tucked the talisman, which emitted a faint purple electrical glow, into the deepest part of his backpack.

Only after doing all this did Su Ze turn his gaze to the final and most important harvest—today's intelligence.

There were three pieces in total.

He opened the first one.

[intelligence 1: Near your current area, within the powerful survivor factions of the 'Global Financial Center', is one of the three strongest factions. The leader of this faction is named 'Lu Jiaming'. They follow a development path centered on 'Technology First', have already established several initial supply production lines, and possess a special building: 'Research Center'.]

Global Financial Center!

Su Ze's fingertips tapped gently on the virtual screen.

Technology-focused?

Production lines?

This faction was taking a completely different path from his own.

His side relied on Halos and personal martial prowess to crudely and simply increase overall combat power.

Whereas the other side was playing it safe, developing their technology tree?

Su Ze analyzed quickly in his mind.

The early combat power of such a faction might not be strong, but once they developed and reached mass production, they could undergo a terrifying qualitative change and become extremely formidable.

“Lu Jiaming...”

Su Ze muttered the name to himself.

He didn't immediately think about how to deal with this new neighbor, but instead swiped open the second piece of intelligence.

[intelligence 2: Your tenant 'Li Xinran', during this afternoon's collective training, privately contacted an old acquaintance in the Global Financial Center and revealed some intelligence about the Jinghai University District, including but not limited to the amplification effects of the 'All Hearts as One' Halo and some information regarding your own strength, Su Ze.]

The moment he saw this intelligence, Su Ze's face darkened.

Li Xinran!

That woman who had always been somewhat arrogant and had complained about his resource allocation.

He hadn't expected her to actually do something like this.

Although the revealed intelligence might not be the core secrets, this act of leaking internal information to a potential enemy behind his back had crossed his bottom line.

A surge of anger rose from his heart, but he quickly forced it down.

Lashing out now would be meaningless.

He needed to see exactly what Li Xinran wanted to do and what the attitude of the Global Financial Center was.

Su Ze took a deep breath and opened the final piece of intelligence.

[intelligence 3: In the next round of the game, 'Descent of Supernatural Entities', in addition to regular entities, a special type of Supernatural Entity will appear—the 'Inner Demon'. The 'Inner Demon' cannot be harmed by physical attacks or conventional skills. It will infiltrate the players' hearts, amplifying their deepest fears, greed, jealousy, and other negative emotions, causing them to fall into hallucinations and kill one another. The only way to combat the 'Inner Demon' is to maintain absolute rationality and a firm will, or use special spirit-type items for dispelling.]

Inner Demon!

Su Ze's pupils shrank suddenly.

The value of this intelligence far exceeded the previous two!

Cannot be physically attacked, conventional skills are ineffective, directly attacks the heart...

This kind of enemy was more terrifying than any monster you could see or touch!

If not handled properly, let alone forty thousand players, even four hundred thousand players could collapse silently and kill themselves.

He instantly understood how correct his decision to have everyone increase their intelligence and spirit that afternoon had been.

The Spirit Guarding Incantation might be able to resist part of the Inner Demon's intrusion, but the intelligence explicitly stated that the key lay in a "firm will."

And something like will was the hardest to quantify and the hardest to unify.

In a team of forty thousand people, as long as one person was controlled by an Inner Demon, it could trigger a chain reaction, causing massive chaos and casualties.