Chapter 42: Points Exceed 100,000, Third-Tier Evolution Fails

Yellow-Tooth skipped outside to buy food, while Liu One handed him a cigarette and chatted with him casually.

Yellow-Tooth returned shortly after, carrying two large plastic bags in his hands.

Li Xingyue had been puzzled at first as to why they needed so much food, but he later learned that the four of them had been so worried about his safety that they hadn't eaten at all, and had almost set out for Star Sea City just a moment before.

Hearing this, he was genuinely touched and urged them all to wash up and get ready for dinner.

Opening the food containers, an enticing aroma instantly filled the entire dormitory. To his surprise, what Yellow-Tooth bought was an ultra-luxurious roast duck set meal, along with several stir-fried dishes combining meat and vegetables.

This meal must have cost a pretty penny; it had to be at least several hundred contribution points.

Catching the fragrance, the group could no longer restrain themselves and began to feast hungrily. Liu Two popped open five bottles of beer, handing one to each person. Parched with thirst, Li Xingyue took his, drank straight from the bottle, and quickly finished it all.

About an hour later, everyone had eaten their fill. Li Xingyue took out all the wristbands from his pockets and placed them on the table.

This action left everyone dumbfounded.

"Old Li, where on earth did you get so many wristbands?"

"Some of these still have blood on them. Captain, did you go on a killing and looting spree?"

Li Xingyue shook his head. "These belonged to the group that went to Star Sea City. I just grabbed a few and ran during the chaos."

Yellow-Tooth tapped on the wristbands one by one, and all of them were astonished when they saw the balance of points.

"Good grief! Not a single one has less than 5,000 points!"

Li Xingyue counted them and found that there were quite a few points in each wristband, especially Wu Di's, which totaled over 15,000 points.

Combined, these added up to more than 50,000 points. Together with the points the five of them already had, the entire team's total had now surpassed 100,000!

Upon learning this figure, the four members were all extremely excited.

Liu Three's eyes gleamed with brilliance. "Captain, with this many points, it's enough for all of us to evolve to Tier 4!"

"Three, don't aim too high. Let's break through to Tier 3 first."

"Yeah, Tier 3 is manageable, but Tier 4 is a formidable threshold. Quite a few people are stuck at that rank."

Li Xingyue clapped his hands. "Hold on and listen to me. How about this: after we finish breakfast tomorrow, we'll go buy five Tier 3 serums, and we'll inject them as soon as we get back."

"Great! Once our injections are successful, we can move directly into Sector B. I've been longing for Sector B for ages."

"That's right. I hear Sector B is much more prosperous than Sector C. We've got to rent a big place then—I really don't want to sleep on these bunk beds anymore!"

"Alright, since we have no missions tomorrow, let's drink to our hearts' content today. Cheers!"

"Cheers!"

The group was in high spirits today and drank all the way into the small hours of the morning before finally drifting off to sleep one by one.

Li Xingyue was the last to go to bed. He carried each person onto their bed, tucked them in, and then crawled under his own covers.

Thinking about how he could break through to Tier 3 tomorrow—or perhaps even reach Tier 4—and how much his strength would increase as a result, a wave of involuntary excitement stirred within him.

The more he thought about it, the harder it was to sleep. Eventually, he sat up, picked up the cigarette from the table, and lit it.

He couldn't help recalling how just a few weeks ago, he was still in another world, rushing around every day just to survive, assuming he would live that kind of life forever.

Yet suddenly, he was told he was about to die. Before he could fully process that news, he transmigrated into this apocalyptic world and unexpectedly became friends with zombies—something he would never have dared to imagine before.

Never mind, it's useless to dwell on these things. Time to sleep.

After smoking two or three cigarettes, Li Xingyue could no longer hold out against his exhaustion. He crawled back under the covers and this time quickly fell into a deep sleep.

At around eleven o'clock the next morning, the group woke up one after another and began to dress and wash up. Li Xingyue was the last to get up.

Once he finished tidying up, they all headed out toward the cafeteria.

Walking along the road, Liu Two kept yawning. "Hah—yawn, oh man, I'm so sleepy."

Yellow-Tooth cast a disdainful look at him. "Who told you to keep drinking so late last night? You made me miss breakfast and lunch today."

Liu One pulled out a cigarette case and offered it to the others. "Have one before the meal."

Li Xingyue took a cigarette, lit it, and took a satisfying drag. Ah, that hits the spot.

Soon, they arrived at the cafeteria. It was extremely crowded at that hour. After getting their food, they searched the corners until they found a few empty seats.

Because they were all preoccupied with the thought of breaking through to Tier 3, none of them dawdled while eating. They shoveled the food into their stomachs in a flash, left the cafeteria, and headed straight to the Zombie Hunting Branch.

Entering the hall, they found a staff member and explained their purpose. The staff member retrieved five Tier 3 evolution serums from the warehouse, costing a total of 12,500 points.

Li Xingyue picked up the serums and returned to the dormitory with the others.

"You guys inject yours first. I'll watch over you, and I'll start after you're done."

As soon as Li Xingyue finished speaking, the others wasted no time and injected the serums into their bodies.

Almost immediately, they felt intense pain, beginning to struggle and writhe continuously until they lost consciousness in less than ten minutes.

Checking his watch, Li Xingyue noted that about four hours had passed when all four of them woke up. To his surprise, they all possessed decent potential and successfully evolved to Tier 3!

"Captain, hurry up and inject yours. I'll keep an eye on you."

Li Xingyue nodded, pierced his arm with the syringe needle, and soon felt a cool stream flowing through his body.

However, just a few seconds later, sharp, agonizing pains began to wrack every part of his body. Especially his head, which felt as if it were about to split open. The very next second, he lost consciousness.

Liu One knitted his brows, feeling that something wasn't right. "Why is Xingyue's reaction so intense?"

Yellow-Tooth's face was also plastered with question marks. "Tell me about it. He only lasted a few seconds before passing out. He truly lives up to being a one-second man!"

When Li Xingyue woke up again, the stars filled the sky once more. Looking around, he saw that Yellow-Tooth, Liu Two, and Liu Three were all half-asleep.

Only Liu One was sitting in a chair smoking a cigarette. Seeing that Li Xingyue had woken up, he woke the others.

Liu Three wiped the drool from the corner of his mouth and hurried over with a curious expression.

"How is it, Captain? Do you feel full of power all over now?"

Before Li Xingyue could reply, Yellow-Tooth clenched both fists. "Definitely! After I finished my breakthrough this afternoon, I felt like I could crush a zombie's skull with one hand!"

The group waited for Li Xingyue to speak, but Li Xingyue kept his head lowered and said nothing.

"Captain, what's wrong? Are you hungry? Should I go get you something to eat?"

Li Xingyue shook his head, his voice bitter. "I... I think my evolution failed..."