11: Tier 1 Evolver

"Jiang, I feel like my abilities have undergone a qualitative leap!" Zhang Lei said excitedly.

"Oh? Tell me about it." Jiang Xin was also very happy.

"First, in terms of physical fitness, I feel that my stamina, strength, speed, and reflexes are now more than five times what they were before!" Zhang Lei gestured excitedly as he spoke.

"Impressive." Jiang Xin nodded. Zhang Lei's strength was very beneficial to him. The Red Alert Soldiers currently lacked exceptionally powerful individual combat capabilities, so if they encountered more powerful special zombies in the future, they would certainly have to rely on Zhang Lei's Supernatural Ability.

"My fire and water control abilities have also improved significantly," Zhang Lei continued. "When fighting with enchanted weapons, I can last for about half an hour, and if I fight by directly manipulating my Supernatural Ability, I should be able to reach about 10 minutes as well. Furthermore, the fireballs I condense have astonishing power, equivalent to a 50mm shell! The penetrating power of my water arrows is also very formidable; I feel that even the armor of our armored personnel carrier could be easily penetrated. I think I can truly be called an evolved human now."

Based on Zhang Lei's situation, Jiang Xin also made some detailed analyses.

First, a single zombie crystal core could unlock the key to human evolution. Whether one could obtain a special Supernatural Ability or simply gain physical enhancement like him was random.

Consuming 20 zombie crystal cores allowed one to become a true Evolver, gaining extraordinary abilities. For now, let's call this a First-Tier Evolver. A First-Tier Evolver already possessed the ability to fight against hundreds of ordinary zombies and was completely immune to the zombie virus.

However, obtaining 20 zombie crystal cores was truly difficult. As it currently stood, the drop rate of zombie crystal cores was only about 5%. This meant that to obtain 20 zombie crystal cores, one would need to kill at least 400 zombies, perhaps even more.

Zhang Lei looked at the long-handled military saber in his hand, feeling it didn't quite match his abilities. He preferred long weapons—guns, spears, long blades, mountain-splitting axes, halberds—as long weapons could better utilize his elemental enchantment abilities. But there were no conditions for forging weapons right now, so he would just have to make do for the time being.

Zhang Lei and Jiang Xin sat in the helicopter cabin, looking down at the city below, where zombies were moving in swarms, dense and packed. 3 kilometers was not far for a helicopter, but they needed to clear obstacles for the convoy.

At this moment, the voice of the 1st Platoon Leader, Zhang Long, came over the walkie-talkie. "Commander, a very powerful zombie has appeared ahead and is blocking the convoy. It's extremely fast, and Li Ang is unable to lock onto the target."

Jiang Xin was startled; speak of the devil.

Zhang Lei, who was nearby, also heard Zhang Long's voice and took the initiative to volunteer to go down and deal with this special zombie. The helicopter hovered at an altitude of 10 meters, and Zhang Lei slowly descended along the rappelling rope.

He looked ahead. Battling the troops was an exceptionally well-built zombie, with especially long, slender legs and sharp claws measuring 6cm. Zhang Lei tentatively called it an Agile Zombie. It dodged Li Ang's Sniper rifle shots with nimble movements. By now, Li Ang was covered in sweat; he had already missed 4 shots. This zombie was too fast; unless they used large-caliber artillery, it would be difficult to hit. Moreover, as a Sniper, being in a frontal battlefield was very disadvantageous for him.

"Platoon Leader Zhang, have the troops cease fire. I'll deal with it," Zhang Lei said as he rushed toward the Agile Zombie.

Zhang Lei stood firm in front of the Agile Zombie, confronting it. The Agile Zombie suddenly let out a shrill, piercing shriek, as if it couldn't stand Zhang Lei's provocation, and launched an attack first. It waved its sharp claws and lunged at Zhang Lei.

Facing this sudden attack, Zhang Lei remained very calm. He quickly raised the riot shield in his hand, accurately blocking the Agile Zombie's claws. However, this was only the beginning.

The moment he blocked the claws, Zhang Lei didn't hesitate to unleash his enchantment skill. The shield instantly froze over, freezing the Agile Zombie's claws, and the surrounding air became very cold. Immediately after, he violently swung the long blade in his hand, slashing directly at the Agile Zombie's head with blazing flames.

This strike was as powerful as a thunderbolt, unstoppable. However, to his surprise, the Agile Zombie quickly broke through the ice covering its claws; its reaction speed was completely unaffected by the freezing cold. Like a ghost, it instantly dodged this fatal strike.

Zhang Lei was secretly startled. He realized that although this Agile Zombie's strength wasn't particularly great, its speed was astonishingly fast. Not only that, during the previous exchange of fire, ordinary 5.56mm assault rifle rounds caused very slight damage to its non-vital parts, merely grazing it. Clearly, this was no longer in the category of ordinary zombies.

"Even if this zombie hasn't reached the First-Tier, it's probably close," Zhang Lei thought to himself. "But this is only the second day of the zombie outbreak! The zombie's evolution speed is shockingly fast!" He had to know, he himself had relied on a Red Alert force of hundreds of people to successfully evolve to the First-Tier.

Just as Zhang Lei was thinking, the Agile Zombie attacked again. It rushed toward Zhang Lei like a gust of wind, its speed so fast it was dazzling.

Zhang Lei sparred with it for over a dozen rounds.

The moment the Agile Zombie dodged, he quickly conjured a huge fireball, predicting its landing spot. Although this fireball didn't directly hit the Agile Zombie, the explosion radius partially covered it.

With a loud "boom," the fireball exploded violently, and the powerful shockwave blasted the Agile Zombie away. This sudden explosion caught the Agile Zombie off guard, causing it to lose its balance in mid-air, looking quite wretched.

At this very moment, Li Ang, who had been in the unit, seized this fleeting opportunity. He didn't hesitate to pull the trigger. With a "bang," a bullet sped out like lightning, and the 12.7mm armor-piercing incendiary round accurately struck the Agile Zombie's head.

Following the gunshot, the Agile Zombie's head exploded, and its body fell to the ground, motionless.

Zhang Lei moved like lightning, quickly stepping forward to pick up the crystal core.

This white crystal core had a faint yellow tint, white with a hint of yellow.

"It seems the crystal core of a First-Tier Zombie might be yellow, and this Agile Zombie should be a special zombie on the verge of breaking through to the First-Tier," Zhang Lei pondered inwardly.

After dealing with the Agile Zombie, Zhang Lei quickly boarded the helicopter.

The group continued to speed forward. In front of the armored personnel carrier, which weighed twenty tons and was like a moving fortress of steel, ordinary family cars were like small toys and could not stop their advance at all.

Even if they encountered heavy trucks, it was just a matter of a rocket from the Heavy Infantry that could be easily resolved. If the situation was worse, a 50mm infantry cannon round from the infantry fighting vehicle would be enough to blast open any obstruction.

After a full hour of intense fighting, Jiang Xin finally succeeded in leading everyone to the government office building complex.