The meeting ended, everyone left, and only Ian Song and Helen Guo remained in the room.
"So, have you made up your mind?" Ian looked at her and asked.
Helen nodded, her expression a mix of reluctance and a hint of shyness.
"No regrets?" Ian pressed.
"No regrets!" Helen nodded again, her gaze at Ian tinged with annoyance.
"Then let me hear you say it!" A teasing smile appeared on Ian's lips.
"Ol—older cousin..." Helen called out, her voice so soft it was barely louder than a mosquito.
"What did you say? I didn't hear anything."
Ian's teasing grew even stronger—this girl had bullied the previous Ian so badly as a kid, it was time to collect some interest.
Helen's almond-shaped eyes widened as she was about to lose her temper.
Ian's voice came with a hint of threat: "Think carefully—this is late Dark Strength we're talking about!"
Hearing Ian's threat, Helen gritted her teeth in frustration, but in the end, the lure of power won out over her annoyance. She shouted, "Older cousin!"
"Ah!" Ian replied with obvious enjoyment, then winked at Helen, "Cousin, my shoulders are a bit sore. What do you think I should do about that?"
"I'll bear it!" Helen thought to herself, forcing a smile onto her face. "Let me massage your shoulders, older cousin!"
"Thanks for the trouble, cousin."
After a while, Ian said, "Cousin, my legs are sore too!"
"I'll bear it again!" Helen fumed inwardly, then started massaging Ian's legs without protest.
Seeing Helen swallow her pride like this, Ian thought, 'Well, former Ian, I've finally gotten some payback for you.'
"Cousin, I'm a bit thirsty! Go get me a glass of water, will you? I'm really thirsty!"
"Okay!"
Seeing that Helen didn't lose her temper, Ian felt a bit bored and lost interest in teasing her further.
He took out two Evolution Crystals and handed them to her: "Eat them!"
"You want me to eat this? Ian Song, don't go too far!"
Helen finally exploded—the white crystals were taken from zombie brains, and now this guy wanted her to eat something so disgusting. How could she stand it?
"If you really don't eat them, don't regret it later!" Ian grinned slyly, and as he spoke, he pocketed the two Evolution Crystals.
Seeing this, Helen vaguely sensed something.
She took a deep breath to suppress her anger and looked at Ian. "Why do you collect these disgusting things?"
"Disgusting things?" Ian sneered. "If you knew what these could do, you definitely wouldn't call them disgusting!"
Suddenly, a light went on in Helen's mind: "Wait... can these things actually boost a martial artist's strength?"
"You're not dumb!" Ian chuckled. "These are called Evolution Crystals. Not only can they boost a martial artist's strength, but even ordinary people get a huge power-up after taking them. Jason Long only advanced from early Ming Strength to Dark Strength after consuming a few Evolution Crystals!"
Helen's eyes flashed with a burning light as she stared at Ian. "Did you get your power from eating these too?"
Ian shook his head. "My strength has nothing to do with Evolution Crystals. Besides, at my level, taking them hardly makes a difference." As he spoke, he handed the two Evolution Crystals to Helen again.
This time, Helen didn't hesitate. She grabbed the crystals and tossed them straight into her mouth.
As the crystals liquefied in her stomach, two streams of heat raced through her limbs and bones.
Instinctively, she stretched out her arms and started practicing a set of boxing forms in the room.
Ten minutes later—
She absorbed all the energy from the two Evolution Crystals and broke through from late Ming Strength to Dark Strength. Feeling the condensed internal force in her meridians, Helen couldn't help but feel overjoyed.
"Here, try three more!"
Ian tossed three more Evolution Crystals to Helen.
In the end, after consuming a total of nine Evolution Crystals, Helen reached late Dark Strength. The whole process took about two hours.
"You've advanced too quickly, so your foundation is a bit unstable. Tomorrow, come with me to kill zombies so you can master your new power!"
"Thank you, older cousin," Helen said gratefully—this time, she called him cousin willingly.
Ian waved his hand. "No need to thank me, we're family! Oh, go see Kevin later and have him arrange a private room for you!"
A heavy rain arrived out of nowhere.
Using his Clairvoyant Vision to observe the campus, Ian saw something bizarre: zombies hidden in the shadows all walked out into the rain, opened their foul mouths, and let the rainwater pour in.
"Do zombies need to drink water too?"
Ian had a vague feeling that the zombies stepping into the rain wasn't just about thirst.
But after watching for a while, he didn't notice anything else unusual and had to put away his Clairvoyance, feeling a bit frustrated.
The next morning.
Ian was eating breakfast delivered to his room when Kevin hurried in.
"What happened?" Ian glanced at him and asked.
Kevin looked troubled. "Some people have banded together and are demanding we increase the food supply."
"Who's leading them?"
Ian asked calmly.
"Eight of them: five guys, three girls. According to our records, they're all second-generation elites—kids of officials or rich businessmen!" Kevin said, looking worried.
"Kill them."
Ian said slowly after taking a bite of his steamed bun.
"Kill them?"
Kevin's face changed dramatically.
"If you want everyone to truly obey, you have to kill the chicken to warn the monkeys. Since they jumped out, who else should we use as an example?" A cold light flashed in Ian's eyes. "Fortresses are usually broken from within. I won't allow discord in my base, especially if it gives others an opening."
The system's third mission had been issued last night.
This time, there's no time limit—the mission is to build a large settlement with a population of one million. The reward is huge: two billion Fame Points.
After a brief silence, Kevin said, "Alright, I know what to do now!"
At the cafeteria food windows, hundreds of people crowded together in chaos. If not for the Combat Corps holding them back, the mob would have stormed the counters to grab food.
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Just then, Kevin arrived with a grim expression.
Leo and the others hurried over. "What did the President say?"
"Kill the ringleaders causing trouble!" Kevin said coldly.
The atmosphere instantly froze.
But Leo quickly barked, "Great, I've been sick of those bastards for ages! I'll go slaughter them right now!"
"I'm the Discipline Corps Leader—if anyone's doing the killing, it's me!" Ray Wang snorted, then waved his hand and led his men into the crowd.
"Let Ian Song come out! Why can the Management Council eat freely while we only get half a jin of grain a day?"
"Yeah, we want fairness!"
"Give us an explanation—or we'll revolt! President? He thinks he's somebody!"
...
The eight men and women at the front shouted angrily, cursing the Management Council and Ian Song. But they'd forgotten who actually saved them from the zombies.
At that moment, Ray led the Discipline Corps into the crowd and surrounded the eight ringleaders.
"What do you think you're doing?" The eight started to sense trouble.
"Inciting others and leading an assault on the cafeteria—the President has ordered: kill without mercy!"
Ray stared coldly at the eight, pronouncing each word with chilling clarity. After killing so many zombies recently, he'd built up a powerful aura of death.
"What?"
Hit by the words 'kill without mercy,' the eight instantly turned pale.
"You wouldn't dare—my dad's the chief of the city public security bureau!" one of them shouted, trying to sound tough.
"Yeah, my dad's the president of EverSky Group! If you kill me, he won't let you get away with it!" another chimed in.
"Drag them out. Kill them!"
Ray sneered. Discipline Corps members grinned wickedly as they dragged the eight out toward the cafeteria exit.
Moments later, blood-curdling screams echoed from outside the cafeteria.
The rest of the troublemakers shrank back in terror.
Ray swept the crowd with a cold gaze. "This time, only the principal culprits die. If there's a next time, none of you will get away!"
Ray's icy words sent a wave of fear through everyone.