Chapter Thirty-Five: A Visit! Is This How Charm Is Used?

"In the beginning, the Zhao family had three Silver-ranked powerhouses, and it seems they're all dead now."
"The new leader is also Silver, but he's the only one left!"
The middle-aged man was none other than Wang Qiushui, patriarch of the Wang family. The old lady beside him was his mother—both of them Silver-ranked.
"Heh! Everyone wants a piece of the military district—it's a fat prize. It's sealed off and crawling with zombies, and they seem to be endless, which is how they managed to produce three Silvers!" The old woman sneered, her tone icy, then continued, "But the Zhang family isn't stupid either. They're bound to be eyeing it as well. Why don't our two families join hands and pay a visit? We can split the spoils. The prize is too big for either of us to swallow alone."
Wang Qiushui nodded. "I'll go find the Zhang family right away."
Meanwhile, the same scenario was unfolding in the Zhang household. It took only half a day for the two great families to gather their people and march straight toward the Zhao family castle.

...

Gu Lang opened his status page.

[Name: Gu Lang]
[Rank: Silver (Rookie)]
[Charm: 57]
[Speed: 100]
[Strength: 100]
[Intelligence: 10]
[Skills: Imperial Bearing, Savage Charge, Ice Spike, Blades and Shadows, Group Buff, Terrifying Healing]
[Available Points: 43]

There hadn’t been any missions recently; Gu Lang had accumulated these attribute points bit by bit by killing zombies. In over half a month, this was all he had managed, even after taking down a few Silver-ranked Chosen. Otherwise, it would have been difficult to earn even a single point per day.

Now, with a storm brewing, Gu Lang needed to grow stronger as quickly as possible. He had 43 points, enough to max out his Charm, but he hesitated. Charm had yet to prove its worth and seemed rather useless. Still, perhaps three stats at 100 were the threshold for breaking through to Gold. After some thought, Gu Lang resolutely assigned the points.

[Congratulations, Host. Charm has reached 100!]

Now, all he needed was a breakthrough item! That would require completing a mission, but Gu Lang wasn’t in a rush.

He turned his attention to his skills. His list was densely packed—mostly Silver-level, with a mix of ranged, melee, and healing abilities. Anyone else who saw Gu Lang’s skill set would be stunned; he was a true all-rounder.

He focused in particular on Imperial Bearing. It was his only Gold-grade skill, and truly formidable.

With a hundred enslaved zombies at his command, Gu Lang could face a hundred foes alone and even gain free Silver zombies. Such power far surpassed that of most skills. Gu Lang suspected that reaching Gold rank brought a qualitative leap.

Currently, he had one Evolution Card left—a trump card that could grant him a Gold skill at a critical moment.

Gu Lang closed the interface and left the castle. At the gate, several dozen guards bowed deeply to him—these were the remnants of the Zhao family, all elderly, weak, women, and children. The highest among them was only Bronze-ranked.

"Master Gu Lang, we’re back… but we still haven’t found any Silver zombies!" The old man who spoke prostrated himself, his voice trembling with respect.

Gu Lang’s expression was cold. These people were nothing but tools; they had even tried to kill him before. Now he spared them only for their usefulness.

"Nothing? Did you search carefully?"

Earlier, Gu Lang had ordered them to scour the city for any sign of Silver zombies. Now, less than half had returned.

"Master Gu Lang, we did everything we could! Dawn City is vast, and Silver zombies are even rarer than human Silvers. I fear there are none left nearby..." the old man replied miserably, then quickly added, "Master Gu Lang, we just received a letter—both the Zhang and Wang families plan to pay you a visit soon. Please be careful!"

Gu Lang’s face remained impassive. He wasn’t surprised the two families were on their way. He had sent these people out to search for Silver zombies precisely to use Imperial Bearing to capture them, in preparation for this confrontation.

But since they found nothing, so be it.

"No need to keep searching. Go prepare—we must give our guests a proper welcome."

With that, Gu Lang turned and strode out of the castle. He always preferred to play it safe. The combined Silver experts of the two families might even outnumber him. Though his own attributes gave him an overwhelming advantage, there was always a risk.

In such times, Imperial Bearing was his insurance—and a simple one at that. As long as he found a Silver zombie, he could capture it effortlessly.

Soon, accompanied by a group of wives, Gu Lang left the city. Along the way, hordes of Bronze zombies blocked their path, densely packed. But before they could approach, Gu Lang had already slain them all.

By now, his strength was such that killing ordinary zombies was as easy as slicing through vegetables. Before noon, he had reached the city center, having killed over a thousand zombies.

At the heart of Dawn City stood a skyscraper—a shopping center that had once been bustling before the apocalypse. It was also a likely haunt for Silver zombies.

Gu Lang ordered some of his ordinary zombies to spread out and search the mall. He himself led his wives to the top of the building. From there, he could gaze out over the entire city, now in ruins. Zombies wandered the streets in scattered groups. Wild vines grew everywhere, interspersed with corpses and remnants of the past. The distant wails of zombies echoed now and then.

Gu Lang was used to it all by now.

But then, suddenly, a roar sounded behind him. He turned to see a zombie—an old man on all fours, moving with the speed and ferocity of a rabid dog. A Silver zombie!

"Seriously? Am I really this lucky?" Even Gu Lang hadn’t expected to stumble upon a genuine Silver as soon as he set out.

Beside him, Li Mubai wasted no words, firing an ice spike that instantly killed a Bronze zombie slave. Gu Lang then unleashed Imperial Bearing. A ripple spread out, and the rabid zombie was captured on the spot.

He now controlled two enslaved Silver zombies!

Just as joy surged within him, another sound of something slicing through the air came from behind. This time, two zombies appeared—one wreathed in flames and molten rock, the other surrounded by swirling green wind.

Both were Silver zombies—two at once!

"What’s going on? Are Silver zombies really this common?" Gu Lang’s surprise gave way to suspicion. Silver zombies were just as rare as human Silvers. Otherwise, the dozens of Zhao family searchers wouldn’t have come up empty after so many days.

Yet now, three Silver zombies had appeared in succession. Could it be...

Gu Lang’s pupils contracted sharply. If anything had changed recently, it was his Charm value!

"Dammit! This infernal system—so that’s what Charm is for!"

Sure enough, in addition to the Silver zombies, scores of Bronze zombies began converging on his location. From all sides, zombies surged forth like a tidal wave, storming the shopping center. The skyscraper became a lone boat adrift amid a sea of corpses.

Gu Lang inhaled sharply. There were simply too many zombies!