15: Chapter 15 Truth is Unreasonable

Mo Yufei clenched the crystal core. The sensation of energy grew clearer, and the upgrade prompt in his mind continued to flash. He finally confirmed the upgrade.

However, the upgrade progress bar only flashed once before stopping.

Mo Yufei stared at the motionless "Upgrading... 0.1%" on his panel and guessed that it must be due to insufficient energy. On second thought, it made sense; how could a single zombie crystal core upgrade such a massive mystic realm?

Calming his mind, Mo Yufei quickly calculated in his head based on the stagnant progress on the panel.

After a whole zombie crystal core was fully injected into the mystic realm, it only pushed the upgrade progress by 0.1%—exactly one-thousandth.

Almost instantly, a clear number surfaced in his mind. He would need at least a thousand of these basic crystal cores to barely gather enough energy to upgrade the mystic realm.

One thousand Tier 1 crystal cores.

This number made Mo Yufei frown even deeper.

Currently, he had gone to great lengths just to find his first Mutant Zombie crystal core. The heads of ordinary zombies were completely empty; only Mutant Zombies that had developed a faint intelligence and could perform dodging movements would produce a crystal core.

Wanting to collect a thousand meant he would have to kill over a thousand of these Mutant Zombies. But since The Apocalypse had only just begun, Mutant Zombies were still rare. The difficulty of gathering such a massive quantity was easy to imagine.

Looking at the panel again, the 0.1% progress remained dead silent, as if silently validating this harsh requirement. The upgrade path of the Void Secret Realm was far more difficult than he had imagined.

But there was no retreat in Mo Yufei's eyes; instead, a cold fighting spirit ignited within them.

If he wanted this mystic realm to truly become his reliance, he had to find a way to collect them, even if it meant a thousand crystal cores.

For now, he stopped obsessing over the stalled progress. With a thought, he planned to deal with the last zombie in his space and continue his journey to find Mutant Zombies and collect crystal cores.

Looking at the stagnant upgrade progress on the panel, Mo Yufei felt certain that his collection journey had gained another crucial objective: collecting Mutant Zombie crystal cores.

The heads of ordinary zombies were completely empty. It seemed that because The Apocalypse had only recently arrived, they had not yet completed their initial evolution and failed to produce crystal cores. There was no point in dwelling on this now.

The urgent priority was still to follow his original plan and find a suitable dwelling to store in his space.

Staying no longer, he walked quickly down the street, remaining highly alert to any potential dangers around him.

Before he had gone far, a building along the street came into view—it was actually a bookstore.

Mo Yufei paused slightly, his gaze sweeping over the tightly closed glass doors of the shop, a ripple of emotion rising in his heart.

In The Apocalypse, there was no telling how much longer electronic devices like phones and computers could last. Once the power drained and signals vanished, the long stretches of solitude would only swallow a person in loneliness and despair. These paper books, however, were the best things to pass the time and steady one's mind during moments of isolation.

Without hesitation, he walked slowly to the storefront, raised his fire axe, and swung it hard, the sharp blade hacking violently at the lock.

With a crisp clatter, the lock shattered instantly. He reached out to push open the heavy door and stepped into the pitch-black shop.

By the faint light filtering in from the window, rows of neatly arranged bookshelves and densely packed books were clearly visible. The smell of ink and paper diluted the surrounding stench of decay, bringing Mo Yufei an inexplicable sense of peace.

Mo Yufei looked around to confirm there were no hidden dangers in the shop, then immediately activated his space. A light-blue spatial ripple swept through the entire bookstore.

Whether it was the literary classics and practical encyclopedias on the shelves, or the scattered magazines and reference books, everything was enveloped by an invisible force and silently taken into his space. In just a few moments, the bookstore, which had been packed with books, became completely empty.

Having stored all the books, he took one last look around the empty bookstore, turned to walk out, and continued on his way to find an RV.

With these books to keep him company, struggling alone in The Apocalypse in the future...

Mo Yufei moved forward, maintaining high vigilance the entire way. Whenever he saw anything useful along the road, he swept it up and stored it in his space.

Without stopping, he quickly navigated through the streets and alleys by the morning light. By the time it was fully bright, he finally arrived at his destination: an RV dealership.

On the wide plaza in front of the main entrance, various types of RVs were neatly parked, looking exceptionally conspicuous in the empty city.

Devoid of their past bustle, all the vehicles stood silently. A thin layer of dust covered their bodies, yet it still could not hide their excellent quality.

Mo Yufei's gaze swept across the area, and he was immediately drawn to a giant RV in the center of the plaza. Shaped like an elongated bus, its body was spacious and grand—at a glance, it was clearly a model with ample space, suitable for long-term living.

Beside it stood several heavy-duty truck RVs with rugged, imposing designs. They had higher chassis and sturdier bodies, exuding excellent off-road and protective performance.

Without the slightest hesitation, Mo Yufei stepped straight into the lobby of the RV dealership.

By now, the place was already in a complete mess, with counters overturned and documents scattered everywhere.

Recalling the "key-finding rule" he had formulated back at the 4S dealership, Mo Yufei's eyes sharpened. He bypassed the messy showroom and headed straight for the office area in the back.

As expected, he found a key cabinet in a locked archive room.

He split the cabinet door open with his axe. Inside, rows of key rings were neatly arranged, with each tag clearly labeled with the vehicle model and serial number.

With eyes like a hawk, Mo Yufei quickly locked onto his targets: the keys to the elongated bus RV he had taken a liking to, as well as those for the two heavy-duty truck RVs.

Without another word, he stored the keys directly into his space.

Stepping out onto the parking plaza, the elongated bus RV and the two heavy-duty truck RVs vanished instantly, appearing safely inside his space the very next second.

After searching a bit more, he finally found the entrance to the RV warehouse.

Expending some effort to pry open the iron door, a heavy scent of engine oil and dust rushed over him.

Sure enough, quite a few vehicles were stored inside the warehouse. Several brand-new heavy-duty truck RVs stood silently, with a few small trailer RVs scattered beside them.

However, none of these were his current focus. Mo Yufei's gaze was locked onto a pile of massive objects at the very back of the warehouse.

They were RV modification equipment, as well as a mountain of solar photovoltaic panels, cases of energy storage battery packs, and various inverters and solar charge controllers.

Mo Yufei squatted down, his fingertips brushing over a photovoltaic panel that gleamed with a cold light.

A faint glimmer of light persisted year-round in the mystic realm space. Although it was extremely dim, he held onto a sliver of hope.

If he laid out so much equipment, perhaps it could generate electricity. Even if it could only barely keep one or two devices on standby, every little bit would add up, and it would get him through for a while.

Just as Mo Yufei finished storing the last batch of solar equipment into his space, before he could think further about the power supply in the mystic realm, a sudden clamor of human voices drifted in from outside, reaching his ears clearly.

"They were clearly right here! Yesterday, I saw with my own eyes a bus RV and several heavy-duty truck RVs parked on the plaza. How are they gone?!"

"Could someone have beaten us to the punch and snatched them last night?!"

The voices drew closer. Judging by the sound, there were at least three or four people. Their tones were filled with anxiety and resentment; they were clearly after this batch of RVs as well.

Before Mo Yufei could slip out through the warehouse's side door, several hurried footsteps headed straight for the warehouse. The door was violently pushed open, and several people rushed in, immediately spotting him standing in the middle of the empty space.

One of the men, who had a buzz cut, swept his eyes up and down Mo Yufei, immediately sneering as he shouted to his companions, "I didn't expect a zombie to be hiding here. It's probably a former employee of this place."

As soon as he finished speaking, the man raised his hand.

Mo Yufei's pupils contracted sharply. The other party was actually holding a 'Truth' rifle.

Mo Yufei's heart instantly turned cold. Looking at the style of the firearm, it was clearly a standard-issue military weapon. Most likely, this group of people had picked up the gear of a fallen soldier yesterday and was now using it directly.

The group of people did not give Mo Yufei any chance to react.

*Bang!*

A deafening gunshot rang out, and a bullet whistled through the air, piercing straight through Mo Yufei's skull and exiting from the back of his head, carrying a splash of dark red.