5: Chapter 5 The Fat Butler Leads a Gang to Steal Our Home

"That was close! It looks like I can only wear it down to death."

At this moment, Mu Cheng had no better way; his only option was to exploit the Second-order Zombie's lack of stamina.

After a full ten-plus minutes, he finally wore the Second-order Zombie to death... the final harvest was only a single grey crystal.

Second-order Zombies also have a one-in-ten chance of dropping the more precious white crystals, which are worth a hundred times more!

Unfortunately, Mu Cheng still couldn't escape his bad luck; if Second-order Zombies didn't have a 100% drop rate for grey crystals, he probably would have gained nothing at all.

Without wasting a second, he opened the supermarket warehouse door, entered, and immediately shut it behind him.

Supermarket warehouses are usually sealed, so even if flooded by heavy rain, the items inside can be preserved for a long time.

Mu Cheng didn't hesitate and immediately began scavenging...

The priority was cigarettes, which would have a huge market in the future; there were about three thousand cartons in the warehouse, ranging from expensive to cheap brands.

However, he pocketed all of them...

Next were salt, chili peppers, and various snacks; as for rice, he didn't want it.

Not only is it heavy, but it also needs to be cooked, which isn't as convenient as a large self-heating pot.

3,000kg of storage space was still far too little; Mu Cheng quickly filled up 2,600kg, leaving the rest of the space.

He packed some items for women, then went to the clothing section to grab dozens of outfits for himself and dozens of sets of women's clothing.

Brand-name shoes and such—he packed them all for both men and women!

Walking further, Mu Cheng finally saw the Trader, a man draped in a black robe, standing there motionless.

There were absolutely no signs of life...

"Let's see what good stuff there is first." Mu Cheng wasn't sure what kind of good items he could buy with just this one grey crystal.

But he had to try...

Already familiar with the process, he lightly tapped the Trader's head.

A high-tech screen prompt appeared: [Do you wish to enter the Trader Space?]

Mu Cheng naturally clicked 'Yes' to enter the Trader Space, which was actually a digital space containing nothing but the trading interface.

There was nothing else at all...

"Is this a newbie protection period?" Mu Cheng was instantly shocked by the items on the trading page.

high-tech bracelet: Exclusive for the Global Survival Game.

third-order detoxification potion * 10: Can cure zombie toxins below the third order.

second-order modification potion * 10: Can modify the body.

second-order ability potion * 10: Can enhance abilities.

...There were also many attribute ability cards and one very rare bloodline awakening card.

bloodline awakening card: Can awaken a Bloodline Power suited to oneself.

The main thing was that the price for everything was just one grey crystal!

Never mind five years later—even in about a month, a single ability awakening card would cost more than ten thousand white crystals.

If this wasn't a newbie protection period, what was?

There was only one of each ability card, covering various attributes like gold, wood, water, fire, and earth; as for the potions, he could buy at most ten of each.

As for the high-tech bracelets, there was no limit on the quantity; strictly speaking, this thing was a game interface.

Through it, one could learn about the Global Survival Game, such as awakening abilities, the uses of strange crystals, how to use potions, and so on.

Mu Cheng didn't care about all that right now; he bought all the ability cards and all three types of potions. As for the high-tech bracelet, it was a necessity.

Naturally, he bought it and put it on his right wrist.

After buying everything, he still had over fifty grey crystals left.

It seemed he had overthought things earlier; it wasn't that they were inexhaustible, but that he hadn't even spent half of them!

bloodline awakening cards were excellent items; in the future, their price would be more than ten times higher than ability awakening cards. In his past life, Lu Yuxuan had become one of the top ten powerhouses by awakening the Death Bloodline!

Mu Cheng knew all of this clearly; that girl's opportunity wasn't that top-tier treasure chest—it should still be at Ningcheng University!

Finally, he decided to buy ten more high-tech bracelets before exiting the Trader Space.

Knowing that abilities and bloodline awakening didn't conflict, he directly took out the bloodline awakening card.

He began the fusion...

Unknowingly... a full six hours passed before Mu Cheng suddenly jolted awake.

"The Devouring Bloodline is indeed terrifyingly powerful!"

Mu Cheng felt his entire body surging with power. When he tried to condense fire energy in his right hand, it was no longer blue flames, but black ones.

And it was significantly stronger than the blue flames!

Finally, he understood the description of the Devouring Bloodline—the so-called ability to devour everything.

Whether it could devour other things, he didn't know yet, but he was very certain that it could definitely devour other ability awakening cards.

Thereby allowing him to use various abilities!

As for other functions, he would need to investigate further to be sure.

He was about to devour the other ability cards when a loud banging sound suddenly came from the warehouse door.

...Is it already night?

Sure enough, after checking the time and seeing it was already four o'clock, he confirmed it was night.

Mu Cheng withdrew the black fire and began to think seriously.

Zombies are even more frenzied at night; he couldn't take the risk of going back and had to stay here overnight.

"Wait, I remember that any bloodline is also a type of ability, so it naturally has a way to be released!"

Mu Cheng was a veteran... Having suddenly remembered this, he immediately began trying to control it with his consciousness.

As expected, the energy of the Devouring Bloodline could be manipulated by his consciousness, though it was just a mass of black mist energy.

It had absolutely no attack power!

"This is too weak! Wait... let's see if I can do this." The first thing Mu Cheng thought of was vines.

After a short while... the Devouring Bloodline was actually condensed into shape by him, becoming a Black Vine about ten meters long.

Controlling the Black Vine with his consciousness, it instantly pierced the ground, creating a hole about two meters deep.

"This destructive power is too strong! Next time I encounter a Second-order Zombie, I can definitely insta-kill it with the Black Vine."

Mu Cheng was also very shocked and even more curious about what kind of terrifying existence the Devouring Bloodline truly was...

Could it really devour everything as the description said? Wouldn't that make it an invincible existence?

Whatever, I can't go back anyway!

Mu Cheng continued to devour other attribute cards. As expected, devouring ability awakening cards took a lot of time.

Just the lightning attribute ability took him a full six hours.

After some thought, he continued by devouring the ice attribute ability card... taking another six hours.

Fire Ability for area attacks, Lightning Attribute Ability for single-target attacks, and Ice Attribute Ability for defense and control. Finally, Mu Cheng chose...

To devour the wind attribute ability to increase his speed and gain an all-around boost.

Another six hours passed. Mu Cheng was clearly on a roll and continued to drink the second-order ability potions.

After consuming all ten vials, Mu Cheng's Devouring Bloodline finally reached the second order...

"The price was quite high, but my ability has improved. Even if a Third-order Zombie appears now, I'll still have a fighting chance."

Mu Cheng also found it quite surprising. Generally, a single second-order ability potion could raise a first-order ability by one level.

He had to drink ten vials just to raise the Devouring Bloodline to the second order.

It was terrifying to think about; he needed ten times the effort of others. Reaching the third order would also require ten third-order ability potions.

Or one hundred second-order ability potions...

This method of increasing strength certainly consumed resources, but Mu Cheng could accept the results.

He could also release other attribute abilities of the same order. Forget being invincible among his peers—he could even hold his own against those of a higher level.

Upon reflection, Mu Cheng also found it very strange. The appearance of this Devouring bloodline awakening card came along with gold, wood, water, fire, earth, wind, ice, lightning, space, and time.

All ten basic abilities were present and accounted for... but then he thought about how he had cheats, so naturally, he had a protagonist aura.

So he didn't dwell on it. After downing a bottle of the second-order body modification potion...

His physical strength had reached four times that of a normal person!

"It's already daytime? I'd better head back first!" Mu Cheng suddenly realized.

Checking the time on his bracelet, it was already nine o'clock!

After a whole day of exertion, Mu Cheng was extremely exhausted—the kind of mental fatigue.

Plus, since no new hidden prompts had appeared... he had no choice but to return to the Xinhua Hotel.

Presidential Suite.

"Could Brother Cheng be in danger? He hasn't come back all night. Could something have really happened to him?"

Lu Yuxuan was lying on the bed, feeling very anxious. The dark circles under her eyes showed she hadn't slept well all night.

Although she couldn't calm down, she knew clearly that with her current strength... never mind finding Mu Cheng, she would probably struggle just to stay alive if she went out.

So at this moment, she was like... the third emoji on a phone; she couldn't stand or lie down, feeling extremely restless!

Downstairs, on the thirty-second floor, in Presidential Suite 3104.

There were five people inside: two men in suits—one of whom was that Fat Butler—and three young waitresses.

They were currently giving a massage to the man in the suit on the sofa.

He had a fat, bloated face and a body weighing over three hundred pounds; he was a fat pig, through and through.

But it wasn't hard to tell that he was a nouveau riche!

"Boss, that guy on the thirty-second floor I told you about... he went out yesterday and doesn't seem to have come back, but there's still a young girl in the room."

The Fat Butler had been closely monitoring Mu Cheng's situation these past few days. Now that their food was almost gone, he was forced to explain the situation again.

This disaster had come too suddenly, and he had no other choice but to rely on the nouveau riche pig in front of him.

"Look at you, such a coward. A little girl scared you this much? Are you absolutely sure there are really a lot of supplies in that room?" the fat pig in the suit asked slowly.

It was obvious... he didn't care for the Fat Butler at all, remaining lost in the gentle massage of the three young women.

"I'm certain. I can guarantee with my life that it's absolutely true." The Fat Butler still had that much confidence.

"Fine, we don't have many supplies left anyway. What are you waiting for? Organize the others and let's go together!" The fat pig in the suit said while enjoying his massage.

Since he didn't have to do the work himself, he'd just let the others go.

"Damn pig. If you weren't a nouveau riche, I would never bow and scrape to you. If I don't see a million after this is done, I'll make you pay even if it costs me my life."

Of course, the Fat Butler wasn't just doing this for food; the main reason was that the man in the suit had promised him a million once it was over.

...Even now, he naively believed that this was just a small-scale disaster.

If he just endured it, wouldn't the million be easily within reach? He certainly couldn't let such a good opportunity pass.

With someone leading the way, many others followed—about twenty or so survivors.

There were women with children, elderly people, and so on...

"The people inside better come out. I know you have a lot of supplies... please open the door and share some with us."

The Fat Butler took the lead in knocking on the door, trying the soft approach first, then the hard way if that failed!

After all, there's strength in numbers; even if they were doing something wrong, he wouldn't be the only one bearing the responsibility.