Chapter 65: Combat Power Increases Once Again

In the evening, to celebrate his housewarming, Lin Yi specially treated Liu Bo to a lavish dinner.

Naturally, Liu Bo readily accepted the invitation from his Brother Yi.

At the dining table, seeing Liu Bo sporting a pair of dark circles under his eyes and looking thoroughly overworked from excessive overtime, Lin Yi couldn't help but chuckle.

"Is your team that short-staffed? They're working an appena-adult kid like you to the bone?"

Liu Bo sighed between bites of food. "Sigh, it's not just me. Captain Zhang, Zhao Shuang, and Brother Zhou from our team are all run off their feet. They grind levels in the Apocalypse World during the day and pull patrol shifts at night. I haven't had a proper night's sleep in days."

"Haven't you considered recruiting more people?"

"We did take on two newcomers, both of whom happened to fall into the Apocalypse World right here in our city. But their levels are too low, so even if we bring them on, they can only handle peripheral tasks. The captain wanted to send them to the capital for training, but training slots are limited, and unluckily, our city doesn't have any left."

Lin Yi asked, "Alright then, have there been any Apocalypse monster invasion events in Linhe City recently?"

At the mention of this, Liu Bo perked up a bit.

He raised his head and said, "Brother Yi, there actually was one. Just the day before yesterday, a juvenile heart-devouring wolf appeared in a residential compound within Captain Zhang's jurisdiction."

Lin Yi raised an eyebrow. "A heart-devouring wolf?"

"Right, a heart-devouring wolf. I heard these mystical beasts are exceptionally smart and possess formidable combat power. Fortunately, this one wasn't fully grown—only level seven. The moment it was discovered, Captain Zhang rushed to the scene and, with the firepower of the armed police forces, managed to kill it."

Lin Yi was extremely familiar with treacherous and cunning mystical beasts like the heart-devouring wolves, having crossed paths with them more than once.

Given Zhang Baichuan's level-nine combat strength, dealing with it probably hadn't been easy even with firearms providing assistance.

"Were there any casualties?"

"Yes, I heard around a dozen people died, but the matter has been suppressed and won't be reported."

Lin Yi sighed. It seemed that as Planet Blue gradually fused with the Apocalypse World, not only would more and more people be born into the awakening, but an increasing number of monsters would also invade their world.

This truly was a monumental upheaval unprecedented in both ancient and modern times.

Only by walking further along the path of transcendence could one have a better chance of surviving in the future.

"Xiao Bo, such incidents will probably become more frequent in the future. Doesn't the official authority have any countermeasures?"

"It seems they do. I heard someone from headquarters estimate that there are already tens of thousands of awakened individuals nationwide. However, many of them haven't been officially registered yet. If they die in the Apocalypse World, it's very likely to trigger monster invasion incidents. That's also a major reason why monster invasions have been happening so frequently lately..."

Stuffing a mouthful of meat, Liu Bo continued, "So, I heard from Captain Zhang that the authorities want to establish a website for the awakened. It will contain comprehensive information collected by the government, including the distribution profiles of mystical beasts and eerie spirits, stat allocation, external martial arts, equipment, and similar data."

Lin Yi nodded slightly. "That's actually a good thing. If some basic information can be popularized, the mortality rate among the awakened will drop significantly."

Liu Bo finally finished eating, wiped his mouth, and said, "That's what they say, but I think the official goal is to collect information on unregistered awakened individuals. After all, once you log onto the website, you definitely won't be able to escape being tracked."

Lin Yi smiled; Liu Bo's perspective was even more penetrating than his own.

"By the way, Brother Yi, how have you been developing in the Apocalypse World lately?"

"Me? I've become the vice village chief of our village."

"Vice village chief?"

Liu Bo thought he had misheard and instantly wore an expression of astonishment. "Brother Yi, your village doesn't have anyone left, does it?"

"Your village is the one with no one left!"

Lin Yi explained, "I got lucky. A few days ago, I accepted a quest to retrieve the heritage knowledge for our village and was rewarded with the position of vice village chief."

"Really? Is it a vice village chief with real power, or just a nominal title?"

"There's a bit of real power, and there's a monthly stipend of provisions: three catties of blood-meat and a bottle of divine water that increases stats."

Hearing this, Liu Bo couldn't hide his envy. "Brother Yi, you're way too awesome. I remember you mentioning before that the blood-meat in your village can increase vital energy and blood values. Good grief, three catties of blood-meat—how long does that last?"

Lin Yi smiled and said, "If you were in our village, kid, I'd definitely spare some blood-meat for you, guaranteed to let you eat your fill every day."

Actually, for Lin Yi now, eating blood-meat daily no longer added much to his vital energy and blood values, and the three catties per month far exceeded what he could use.

"I'm so envious. I'm level five right now, and my vital energy value is so low that I can't unleash much power from my external martial arts skills. Our village does have something called a Vitality Pill, but the price to redeem one is sky-high. If only you could bring blood-meat out into reality..."

Seemingly recalling something, Liu Bo quickly added, "Oh right, Brother Yi, do you remember when I agreed to join the Black Card Alliance?"

"I remember. What about it?"

Liu Bo had mentioned this to Lin Yi before. After Zhao Yilong from the Black Card Alliance contacted Liu Bo that time, he extended several more invitations for Liu Bo to join. With Zhang Baichuan's permission, Liu Bo had eventually joined and even received the membership number 118.

"After joining the Black Card Alliance, I asked Zhao Yilong about bringing items from the Apocalypse World out into reality. He answered me back then, saying he had two methods. He could tell me one, but the other was an organizational secret he couldn't share."

Lin Yi grew interested. "What is the one method he told you?"

"It's killing people—killing other awakened individuals. As long as you kill an awakened person in reality, the supplies in their inventory will drop out."

Hearing this, Lin Yi couldn't help but freeze.

Killing people?

That method was ruthless!

Since Zhao Yilong knew about it, he must have tried this approach.

"Did you tell your captain about this?"

Liu Bo replied, "I did. Our captain said Zhao Yilong harbored malicious intentions and all that, but this might actually be true. Killing an awakened person in reality really might cause the supplies in their inventory to drop. That makes it easier to understand how resources from the Apocalypse World can be brought into reality."

Lin Yi pondered for a moment before saying, "Based on what you're saying, there's actually another way to bring Apocalypse World resources out: when a player dies in the Apocalypse World, the passage between the Apocalypse and reality opens briefly. Think about it, Xiao Bo—since a heart-devouring wolf managed to come through, tossing some supplies out shouldn't be too difficult either."

Liu Bo's eyes lit up. "Brother Yi, the method you mentioned actually makes sense too."

Lin Yi shook his head. "However, both of these methods require the lives of awakened individuals as the price for experimentation. In any case, we won't have a way to prove it anytime soon."

"Brother Yi, do you think the second method Zhao Yilong mentioned is the one you talked about?"

"Not sure. Maybe..."

The two chatted late into the night about how to bring resources from the Apocalypse World into reality.

It was clear that Liu Bo was very interested in both methods, but lacked the guts to experiment with them.

As for Lin Yi, he didn't have an urgent need to bring Apocalypse World resources out just yet.

......

The next day, Lin Yi logged into the Apocalypse World and appeared in his small loft.

Following his usual routine, he first drew a talent, but only pulled a green-tier talent called [Eidetic Memory].

If he were studying for graduate school exams, this talent would be truly fantastic for learning. Unfortunately, in a world of transcendence, it was useless to him.

Next, Lin Yi tried drinking a bottle of divine water. Of course, to avoid the previous day's divine water not being fully digested yet, Lin Yi took small sips one by one.

Fortunately, he managed to finish the entire bottle of divine water before his body showed a feeling of satiety.

It seemed his current digestive capacity allowed him to consume at most one bottle of divine water a day.

However, the stats increased by this bottle of divine water were distributed quite unevenly, mostly going into constitution, which was Lin Yi's lowest stat.

Lin Yi's current four-dimensional stats were:
Strength: 26+8
Constitution: 25
Agility: 25+8
Stamina: 23

Judging from his four-dimensional attributes, it was still pretty decent; it looked like he was developing into an all-around warrior.

Counting the constitution, strength, and stamina stats increased yesterday, Lin Yi's current health pool had grown by nearly 200 points, and his vital energy value had also increased by a small margin.

Since the [Vitality-Blood Intercommunication] talent was still active on him, Lin Yi thought for a moment and converted 200 health points into 20 points of vital energy.

After all, one thousand health points were already enough to save his life; what he lacked right now was sustained offensive capability. The higher his vital energy value, the stronger his combat power.

Lin Yi's total vital energy value had now reached 146 points.

He estimated that even Gu Chenghu and Gu Man, who had grown up eating blood-meat since childhood, wouldn't have a vital energy pool as robust as his current one.

A vital energy value approaching 150 meant that Lin Yi could unleash three strikes of the five-fold Flaming Sun Blade Technique at its most powerful during combat.

Moreover, the higher his strength attribute, the higher his baseline attack power would be.

If he were to encounter yesterday's level-ten heart-devouring wolf again, as long as he seized the right timing for his attack, Lin Yi now had an eighty percent confidence of slaying that heart-devouring wolf.

Furthermore, Lin Yi still had four bottles of divine water and five attribute fruits on him.

Once he finished consuming all of them, his combat power would probably increase by quite a bit more. Coupled with his ability to manipulate white mist, he could truly be considered invincible beneath the professional tier.