Chapter 44: Awakening Crystal

Lifting his hand from the head of the giant rat, Ao Xin removed the tables and chairs blocking the shop's entrance, bludgeoned several zombies that were crowding in front of the door to death, and then dragged these zombies into the shop, placing them right in front of the giant rat.

"Hungry, aren't you? Have a taste."

With the gentle tone of someone feeding a pet, he "invited" the giant rat to eat.

Yet, the giant rat still dared not move.

Slap!

A heavy blow landed on the giant rat's head. "Eat!"

"Squeak—squeak!"

The giant rat bared its teeth and squealed. It lacked human intelligence and could not comprehend why it was being hit.

Struck once more, it seemed to dimly grasp that the human before it wanted it to consume these rotting chunks of flesh.

Tasting a bite cautiously, a strange, bizarre energy surged into its body.

The giant rat froze for a brief moment before it began to ravenously tear into the zombie meat.

"Good, very well."

Ao Xin stood quietly to the side, watching it feed, while Ao Chen closely trailed behind him, not daring to stray away.

"Brother, why are you feeding it zombie meat?"

A swarm of giant rats gnawing on corpses—wasn't this scene utterly repulsive?

At this moment, even Yuan Fei, who had been sitting alone in the corner, cautiously crept over to Ao Xin's side.

The sight of a restaurant filled with rats the size of fat cats was simply too terrifying.

The rats gnawed at the zombie chunks, the leader's stomach seeming like a bottomless pit; even after devouring an entire thigh, its belly showed no signs of swelling.

Finally, after consuming both thighs, its body doubled in size once more!

Resembling a medium-sized ferocious hound, the rat king bared its sharp fangs, its pupils flashing with a fierce light, completely devoid of its previous docility and obedience.

"Squeak!"

At the rat king's command, the horde—previously suppressed by the Color of Conquerors—suddenly leaped forward, pouncing toward Ao Xin and the others.

The rat king went straight for Ao Xin's throat, intent on tearing his windpipe out.

What Azure Dragon? At this moment, the rat king felt it could slay a dragon!

"Beasts are truly beasts after all, utterly incapable of gratitude."

Ao Xin smiled faintly, exerting force in his hands. With fingers curved like hooks, he crushed the skull of the giant rat, and a breath of scorching heat billowed forth, instantly reducing all the rats to ashes.

"Squeak! Squeak!"

Even with its cranium shattered, the rat king continued to struggle, its body thrashing as it tried to bite Ao Xin.

"Snap!"

The dragon claws closed, and the rat's head was utterly pulverized in his grip. Left in his palm was merely a pool of blood and a tiny crystal.

"Huh? What is this?"

Ao Chen looked curiously at the crystal in his hand. Had it not been stained with rat blood and brain matter, she surely would have reached out to examine it closely.

"Is this the crystal core commonly found in novels?"

With the rat horde completely wiped out, Ao Chen regained her usual liveliness. "Does eating this make you stronger?"

"Ew~~ This thing is so gross, I am definitely not eating it!"

Ao Xin casually pulled out a tablecloth and wiped the crystal clean.

The crystal was tiny, no larger than a fingernail, possessing an octahedral structure. At the center of the crystal floated a delicate, minuscule thread of unknown origin.

"You could call it a crystal core, but it's not the same as the ones in your imagination," Ao Xin explained. "Things like this are only useful to ability users. They're called Awakening Crystals, and they can help ability users enhance their fruit powers while accelerating fruit awakening."

"As for improving physical strength and realm, that still relies on combat to temper Haki. This thing is useless for that."

Awakening Crystals required a living organism to consume zombie flesh while being infected by the zombie virus without fully turning. There was a chance such a crystal would form in its brain.

Generally speaking, the leader of a biological colony had a higher probability of generating such a crystal.

In his past life, once people discovered this phenomenon, they began devising ways to breed various creatures and feed them chunks of zombie meat to artificially harvest them.

There were even depraved organizations that used humans as cultivation vessels!

Humans were part of the living world, too, and naturally capable of producing such crystal cores!

There were also madmen who sought to boost their own strength by inducing the formation of these crystals within themselves. However, such crystals would devour the brain and twist the soul.

Not only did it cause genetic mutation, stripping them of their humanity, but even their souls were no longer their own, turning them into a new, far more dangerous species!

They were known as: Crystal Men!

Crystal Men evolved by devouring zombies, and the flesh of their own kind held a potent attraction for them as well.

Naturally, the brain crystals of Crystal Men were also a tremendous tonic for ability users; whenever the two sides met, it was a battle to the death.

He explained the uses of the Awakening Crystal to Ao Chen. "In the future, we'll need to set up a cultivation base. Not only will it accelerate fruit development, but selling them will also make for a hot commodity."

This was precisely why he wanted to build a faction. It wasn't merely about protecting his family; many things simply could not be accomplished alone.

Now that he had Feng Kun's faction of migrant workers, he could start considering the establishment of an introductory base.

After resting, the three of them stepped out of the building. On the street, despite the multitude of zombies he had just slain, the cleared pavement was soon repopulated by wandering zombies; the city's zombie population showed no signs of diminishing.

Along both sides of the street, people could occasionally be seen fighting from the shelter of buildings. More than half a month had passed since the apocalypse began, and the annihilation of the military unit had made everyone realize that in this end-times, they could only rely on themselves.

They had to figure out how to acquire supplies, kill zombies to earn points, and then fight to enhance their strength after acquiring those points.

Suddenly, the street fell into chaos. Not only were people scrambling into buildings, but even the zombies, as if spotting a natural predator, scattered and fled in all directions.

These were mindless zombies, after all. For such a reaction to occur, there could only be one explanation.

A higher-tier zombie had appeared, and its oppressive aura forbade these low-tier zombies from lingering in its presence.

"Roar!"

A furious roar shook the firmament. Ao Xin was already familiar with this sound, and even Ao Chen immediately recognized its source.

"Brother! It's a zombie!"

Not far away, a zombie with stiff limbs, capable of moving only by hopping forward, was driving a massive horde of zombies to slaughter humans.

Those who had relied on clever tactics to trap zombies using terrain and pick them off watched helplessly as their obstacles shattered instantly.

Even sturdy reinforced concrete walls were easily pierced by the zombie.

The sheet metal of cars was like thin paper, and thick utility poles were as brittle as biscuits.

The appearance of this zombie turned the buildings humans previously relied on into mere decorations.

Screams rang out once more, panic spreading. Yet, where could these ordinary mortals possibly escape to?

Their homes were smashed to pieces, the streets were choked with zombies, and they quickly became meals in the mouths of the undead or were infected to swell the zombie ranks.

Clutching his steel whip, Ao Xin said to Ao Chen, "Stand back, protect yourself. If you're in danger, just tunnel underground and run."

Ao Chen nodded, already accustomed to the routine.

A resonant dragon roar echoed through the air as Ao Xin transformed into a dragon-man. Wielding his steel whip, he strode forward to charge at the zombie.