NOVEL NEXT Chapter 69: You Didn’t Sacrifice Yourself, Did You?
Chapter 69: You Didn’t Sacrifice Yourself, Did You?
Xiaoxiao floated down from above, pointing at the cabinet and shouting, "Uncle, there's another living person here!"
A living person?
"Barson, step back a bit."
Barson moved back a little, and Wu Heng continued, "Are you still alive? If you are, come out."
"I... I'm still alive!"
A trembling voice came from inside the cabinet.
Then, a petite nurse stood up.
Hugging herself, she cautiously looked at the people and skeletons in the room, her eyes filled with confusion and fear.
Wu Heng sized her up and asked, "Are you injured?"
Not just bitten or scratched by zombies.
Any wound that comes into contact with zombie blood or decaying flesh could cause infection.
So, it's better to be careful.
"No, no, when the zombies broke in, I hid in here, and then the shelf fell over, trapping me underneath."
"Come out!"
The nurse stepped out.
"Turn around."
She obediently turned around.
It seemed there were indeed no signs of injury.
Wu Heng continued, "Li Yanhong, Barson, take her aside and check her over to make sure she’s not injured."
"Oh, okay!" Li Yanhong nodded and said to the nurse, "Come with me over here."
A short while later, Li Yanhong returned with the nurse.
She said, "I checked, she’s not injured."
Wu Heng nodded and asked, "What's your name?"
"Wang Ke!"
"Where is the communication equipment you were using?"
The nurse pointed to a collapsed shelf nearby and said, "It was over there before."
"Go take a look!"
Barson moved forward, clearing away broken boxes, bottles, and jars to reveal the equipment underneath.
It was an old, army-green device that looked like it had been around for years.
"Is this it?" Wu Heng asked.
"Yes!"
"Take it out." Wu Heng continued, "You know how to identify some medicines, right? Go with Li Yanhong to gather some common medicines; we’ll leave shortly."
The two women left to search the pharmacy for supplies.
Meanwhile, Wu Heng found a cardboard box and packed the radio equipment into it.
He had a skeleton carry it as he continued to explore the hospital.
There were quite a few things here, but not much that he could use.
Unless he was planning to open a hospital.
After circling around twice.
The two women returned, each carrying a cardboard box.
Once Wu Heng confirmed there was nothing else they needed, they all headed downstairs together.
Exiting the hospital building.
He had the skeletons carry the corpses and began the journey back.
.........
They returned to the residential area.
The corpses were all thrown onto the nearby pile.
Wu Heng continued, "The information was accurate this time. What do you need? Let me see if I have it."
Contributions deserve rewards.
Li Yanhong didn’t hold back; she had already made up her mind. "Food, as usual."
Wu Heng nodded, and had the skeletons bring out a bag of rice, a case of beer, and several bags of pickles and canned fish.
He placed them on the tricycle.
Li Yanhong's eyes widened at the sight of the food.
After swallowing, she quickly said, "Thank you."
In reality, she hadn’t contributed much this time.
She had mostly acted as a guide and then followed the skeletons as they chased the zombies for a while.
Apart from being scared out of her wits, there wasn’t much else.
Now, getting so much food felt like a huge win.
Wu Heng glanced at Li Yanhong, who was beaming with joy, and continued, "You can keep the radio equipment. Use it to communicate with the outside and gather information on nearby mutated zombies."
Li Yanhong thought for a moment, realizing it didn’t harm her, and nodded in agreement. "Alright, do you need all types of mutated zombie information?"
"It’s best if you can identify the types, but vague information is fine too."
"Okay, I understand."
She was no longer surprised by Wu Heng’s interest in finding mutated zombies.
After all, this was the man who chased down mutated zombies and hordes of the undead.
He wasn’t someone who could be compared to ordinary survivors.
In his eyes, mutated zombies were prey.
As Li Yanhong nodded, she glanced at the nurse in the distance and asked, "What about her?"
"Take her with you and see what work she can do," Wu Heng replied, casting a glance at the rescued nurse.
She seemed young and petite.
Probably not suited for heavy labor.
But being a nurse was actually quite valuable; at least she had some basic first aid knowledge.
If someone got injured, had a fever, or a cold, she could be useful.
Wu Heng didn’t need her, as the potions in Blackstone Town were much more effective—just one bottle could cure almost anything.
But Li Yanhong’s group could use her.
"Okay, I’ll head back now," Li Yanhong said.
"Go ahead."
Li Yanhong gave a slight bow, called the nurse, and pushed the tricycle away.
.........
After they left.
Wu Heng checked his status panel.
【Name: Wu Heng】
【Class: Necromancer】
【Level: 5 (26/14000)】
【Attributes: Strength 12, Agility 19, Constitution 20, Intelligence 18, Perception 10, Charisma 13.】
【Specialties: Short Spear Proficiency (Beginner), Arcane Training.】
【Skills: Raise Skeleton, Acid Splash, Grease Spell, Dancing Lights, Weakening Ray, Corpse Preservation, Conversation with the Dead.】
【Arcane Training】 enhances the caster's skills and reduces mental energy consumption when casting spells.
Upon reaching Level 5, Wu Heng unlocked a specialty called 【Arcane Training】.
It seemed different from the specialties he had unlocked before.
According to the description, it increased the power of his skills and reduced the energy cost of his spells.
This was a very useful specialty for him.
After reviewing his status panel, Wu Heng had the skeletons drag the two mutated hunting dogs' corpses from the pile.
The mutated dogs were bitten and torn, looking quite gruesome.
He cast 【Raise Skeleton】.
The flesh fell away, and two skeletal dogs slowly stood up.
【Skeletal Hound (Level 5)】
They shook off the remaining bits of rotten flesh, then wagged their heads and ran off to the side.
They searched through the pile.
It didn’t take long for them to find two Level 1 Corpse Cores.
Wu Heng washed them with alcohol, then wrapped them in plastic bags.
He planned to take them back to Blackstone Town to continue making potions to enhance his physical attributes.
Xiaoxiao took the skeletal dogs away to play.
Wu Heng, meanwhile, took out the "Book of the Dead" and continued reading.
He wanted to find information on corpse transformation within the book.
Transforming corpses one by one would take a lifetime, given the population on this planet.
He needed to see if there was a faster and more efficient method.
.........
Xiao Dong Auto Repair.
Li Yanhong returned to the auto repair shop, pushing the tricycle.
The others stared wide-eyed, shocked at the sight of the rice, beer, various canned goods, and pickles on the tricycle.
They had probably forgotten what canned meat tasted like.
Upon seeing it, they couldn’t help but swallow.
Then, the youngest man exclaimed, "Sister Hong, where did all this food come from? You didn’t… sacrifice yourself to get it, did you?"
Li Yanhong glared at him and slapped the back of his neck. "What nonsense! I traded information for this."
Then she stepped aside and continued, "This is Wang Ke. She’ll be staying with us from now on. She’s a nurse from the Second Hospital, so we’ll rely on her if we get sick or injured. Make sure to take good care of her."
"No problem," the others nodded immediately.
They continued to ask questions as they walked inside.
.........
Blackstone Town.
After checking on the progress of his potion commission at the Adventurer's Guild and confirming that there was no result yet.
Wu Heng also placed a new commission for a potion made from Level 1 Corpse Cores.
Potions made from Level 1 Corpse Cores should be quicker to produce, likely taking only a day or two.
After placing the commission, Wu Heng left the town and headed to the black market.
Cloaked in black, he crouched at a familiar stall.
Wu Heng asked directly, "I want to buy the 'Graveyard Battlefield' skill book."
While reading the "Book of the Dead," Wu Heng had found the information he needed.
Besides individually casting 【Raise Skeleton】, there were two other methods for transforming corpses.
One was a skill called 【Graveyard Battlefield】.
When cast, it could transform all corpses within a certain range into Skeleton Soldiers.
It was a group transformation skill.
This skill was developed because in large-scale battles, it was inefficient to transform corpses one by one.
On the battlefield between two armies, there was no shortage of corpses, and individual corpse transformations were useless.
You couldn’t convert them faster than they were being killed.
So, necromancers developed this skill, which could be learned at Level 5.
And coincidentally, Wu Heng had reached Level 5 today.
The other method involved a special necromantic structure called 【Burial Ground】.
Once corpses were thrown in, they would be automatically converted into skeletons.
However, creating a 【Burial Ground】 required a lot of materials and the inscription of specific runes.
Comparing the two, buying and learning the skill book was much faster.
After all, just flipping to the last page would unlock the skill, which was much quicker than constructing a conversion structure.
The hooded stall owner didn’t even look up, his raspy voice saying, "I don’t have that."
"Don’t mess around, I’m serious about buying it."
