For Lu Yin, the most important thing now was the Stellar Energy Crystals, followed by that fugitive. The fugitive possessed the Teles Plastic Body Technique, which allowed a third body sculpting to reach the Fusion Realm, but beyond the Fusion Realm, things got complicated.
Normally, a Plastic Body Technique could only be used three times; only a stronger technique could allow a fourth sculpting. Even Willow and Bailie couldn't have such a technique—they would have to seek out someone stronger. On Earth, the only hope was that fugitive.
Although the fugitive might be powerful, Lu Yin was uncertain about what methods those four students had. So he decided to muddy the waters, drawing all the students in to fight over things. The more chaotic it became, the more it favored that fugitive. Once his third star began to operate, none of the first batch of trial participants would be a match for him. For now, he needed to buy time.
In a secluded residence in the capital city, Lu Yin closed the doors and windows, scattered Flame Crystals around the perimeter, then returned inside the room. He opened his hands, and the dice slowly materialized.
The dice's surface was dim, not yet fully restored. Without the Stellar Energy Crystals, it would take a long time to become usable again—and he didn't want to wait.
Rubbing his hands, Lu Yin's eyes glowed intensely as he stared at the dice. He crushed the precious one-cubic Stellar Energy Crystal he had painstakingly gathered, and the surging energy poured into the dice, brightening its glow until it fully restored, with the stars faintly shimmering.
Lu Yin licked his lips nervously, feeling like a gambler: "Come on, give me some luck. Let's see what I roll." With that, he pointed a finger at the dice.
The dice spun quickly; the faint stars were extraordinarily beautiful.
Lu Yin widened his eyes, staring until the dice stopped spinning. Five faces' numbers disappeared, leaving only one face showing—one dot.
"Again, a one!" Lu Yin exclaimed excitedly. One meant he could randomly get an item from someone's Void Condensation Ring. The first time he rolled a one, he got the Heavenly Star Technique and Heavenly Star Palm, which led to his rise. This was the second time.
He saw the dice emit a beam of light that pierced through the void, as if opening a portal. Then, something dropped to the ground with a sharp "pop."
Lu Yin stared dumbfounded at the floor, unable to believe it—this, this was… a snack?
On the floor lay a neatly packaged snack bag, quietly resting. The packaging was covered with words Lu Yin couldn't understand—probably an advertisement.
Lu Yin picked up the snack bag dazedly, feeling like vomiting blood.
He had spent an entire cubic Stellar Energy Crystal just to get this thing—a snack! Even a broken dagger would have been better!
The dice's glow dimmed and then vanished.
Everything in the room returned to normal, leaving only Lu Yin silently holding a snack bag, his heart bleeding—this was such a rip-off.
For ten days, Lu Yin stayed in the capital city. It had become much quieter. Outside the city, the corpse tide had decreased significantly since it clashed with the beast tide. More and more evolved beings dared to venture out.
The capital was peaceful, but Europe was in turmoil.
Ten days ago, Lu Yin had let Granny spread the news that the fugitive had appeared in the Mediterranean. At first, no one believed it, but as the whereabouts of Erde and the others were revealed, many students believed it and rushed to the Mediterranean.
A few days ago, a great battle broke out in the Mediterranean, with the sea surface evaporated in a layer. Rumors said the fugitive possessed Fusion Realm strength, killing several students and escaping, with Erde and the others injured.
The academy's strongest teams were not only Erde's group. Three teams came from Huaxia, two from northern Russia, two from Europe, plus teams from Africa and other regions. The top students formed many teams, turning all of Europe upside down.
Listening to Granny's report, Lu Yin was quite satisfied. As long as the fugitive wasn't caught, it was good. His simulation of the star operation was going smoothly, and his third star was faintly visible. It would take at most half a month to succeed, and then it would be his turn to act.
Outside the capital, countless zombies roamed the roads, sometimes wandering out of shops, biting on unknown objects.
Amidst countless gunshots, a convoy drove through, running over zombies without slowing down, leaving a trail of blood and a pungent stench.
Suddenly, a loud explosion stirred a fierce wind that overturned the convoy. All the evolved beings in the vehicles escaped, looking around in confusion—the wind had come too mysteriously.
"What's going on?" a tall man brushed off the dust on his clothes, smoking a cigarette, and shouted loudly.
"Captain, we don't know where this sudden gust of wind that flipped the convoy came from," someone reported.
The man frowned and looked into the distance. Everything around was calm—where could the wind have come from?
At that moment, a distant shop was cut apart by an invisible attack. The next second, all the evolved beings stood stunned in place, their upper bodies falling flat to the ground. They were all wiped out by the invisible assault.
Originally, the deaths of these evolved beings were nothing extraordinary, but in the following days, more and more evolved beings were successively wiped out by invisible attacks, drawing the attention of the Huaying.
After a Huaying Earth-level expert was killed, Zhang Dingtian stepped out of the capital. The Earth-level expert who was killed was the strongest in the capital after the Heavenly-level experts like them. Without Zhang Dingtian's intervention, no one in Huaying dared to act.
Zombies roared and charged at Zhang Dingtian from both sides of the road, and strange mutated beasts squirmed underground.
Zhang Dingtian's expression remained unchanged. With a casual wave, a gust of energy wind cut down all the zombies.
Perhaps sensing Zhang Dingtian's strength, silence fell on both sides of the road. After walking for quite a while without encountering any attacks, Zhang Dingtian thought for a moment and put on the personal terminal given to him by Bai Xue. The terminal was from Paris; Zhang Dingtian had originally despised using it, but at this moment, nothing else was more suitable.
He lightly tapped the terminal. Soon, it emitted a series of beeping sounds. Zhang Dingtian's gaze sharpened as he looked northeast. Raising his blade, he slashed out with a huge strike, cutting through the earth in a sweeping arc. There, a figure fled in a panic, its left arm wounded by the strike, letting out a low growl.
Zhang Dingtian charged fiercely forward and swung the back of his blade horizontally. The figure turned around, revealing a hideous and terrifying face—it was a zombie.
With a bang, Zhang Dingtian pinned the zombie to the ground with a blade. Its crimson eyes emitted a cruel glow. Its hands swung, and the invisible gale transformed into blades slashing toward Zhang Dingtian. Zhang Dingtian casually slapped the gale blades aside, flipped his blade, and swept across. The zombie's head rolled away and was shattered by the aftershock.
Zhang Dingtian frowned at the zombie, his expression strange. In his understanding, zombies were merely failed products of human evolution and should not possess strong powers. But this zombie not only had Earth-level strength but could also wield a gale with its hands—this was odd.
Zhang Dingtian quickly returned to the capital and found Dean Lian to report the zombie situation. Dean Lian was shaken. "What did you say? Zombies possess Earth-level strength? And can wield gales? Impossible. They are merely failed mutations of the human gene."
Zhang Dingtian said solemnly, "That's the truth."
Dean Lian fell silent, her gaze heavy. The number of zombies on Earth now far exceeded the survivors. If zombies could truly evolve, it would be a disaster. Humanity would have to face not only powerful mutated beasts but also zombies.
What's more, wielding gales—that was not something evolution could produce. Currently, only two known people could wield supernatural powers, and even Zhang Dingtian himself had no supernatural abilities. How could zombies possess such power?
"If one appears, a second will follow. That Lu Yin is from Jinling, right? Ask him if he has encountered such zombies," Dean Lian said.
Zhang Dingtian immediately ordered for Lu Yin and Bai Xue to be summoned.
When Lu Yin heard about Zhang Dingtian's encounter with a corpse king, his eyes changed.
"You know about it?" Zhang Dingtian stared at Lu Yin and asked.
Lu Yin nodded and recounted the situation with the Long-Haired Corpse King. He had originally guessed that the capital should know about it but hadn't expected they were only encountering it now.
Bai Xue was incredulous. "Consuming natural energy crystals to generate supernatural powers? Impossible. Humans can't even do that."
Lu Yin said solemnly, "What I saw was exactly that. There's no reason for me to lie."
Dean Lian's expression grew serious as she looked at the three of them. "We've always thought zombies were failed products of human evolution. The facts prove that most zombies are indeed like this—just wandering around, weak in combat, only a threat to ordinary people. But on the other hand, if zombies are not failures but another path of evolution, wouldn't that make sense?"
Zhang Dingtian's gaze changed. "Humans can absorb energy crystals from mutated beasts to become stronger. Zombies can do the same and might even absorb supernatural energy crystals to gain even greater power."
Dean Lian said gravely, "No one has ever seen zombies consume energy crystals. A mutated beast can easily tear apart many zombies and can escape even if seriously wounded. So zombies can't get energy crystals, and no one would willingly give their hard-earned crystals to zombies. That's why this possibility was ruled out from the start. But we cannot deny that some extremely lucky zombies might get energy crystals. If that possibility truly exists, Earth will change drastically."