Awakening

The claws flew towards Anthony, accompanied by a strong putrid smell. Anthony narrowed his eyes and as the claws approached his chest, he swiftly moved to the side, successfully avoiding the attack of the female teacher zombie. "Stronger than ordinary zombies, agile limbs, but not as powerful as a first-order mutant." After a series of attacks, Anthony quickly analyzed the characteristics of the female teacher zombie.

Failing to hit its target, the female zombie roared angrily, and a large number of smaller zombies swarmed out of the classroom. Zombies from other classrooms and mutated zombies also emerged.

Seeing the gathering of its companions, the female teacher zombie once again pounced towards Anthony. However, this time Anthony did not dodge. He smirked and threw his knife. The head of the female zombie flew into the air, leaving behind a headless body that staggered and fell.

Wiping the dark red blood off his machete, Anthony watched as several mutated zombies swiftly approached him. Without any fancy moves, each strike resulted in a splatter of dark red blood or a severed arm or a flying head. The elementary school section had over a thousand zombies, with about 20 or so being mutants like the female teacher, over 200 were agile movers, and the rest were ordinary zombies.

With his agility attribute at 3.5, hardly any zombies could touch his body. Occasionally, they managed to grab onto his thick down jacket. Four hours passed. Anthony's shoulders heaved as he gasped for air, his cotton clothes soaked with sweat. But looking at the thousands of heads on the ground, he felt a sense of satisfaction. The harvest from this trip was enough to fully upgrade his base.

Thinking about it, Anthony reached into his backpack and took out a bottle of mineral water, drinking it in large gulps. The spiritual water in the bottle slid down his throat and into his stomach, instantly restoring most of the strength he had expended in killing zombies. He called for Cheryl, who, upon seeing over a thousand headless zombie bodies on the ground, was unfazed. The two of them quickly removed all the zombie crystals and retraced their steps. However, what they didn't notice was that just as they left the elementary school section, a small figure climbed out of a classroom window and picked up a severed zombie arm from the ground, biting into it hungrily.

Back at the base, the two of them counted their achievements for the day. They had collected three types of crystals in total: the first was ordinary crystals, completely gray in color, totaling 1,426 pieces; the second was light gray crystals, extracted from student zombies, totaling 205 pieces; and finally, there were even lighter gray crystals, extracted from teacher zombies, totaling 23 pieces.

"You go and have your meal first, I'll take care of this." Anthony took the sorted zombie crystals into the conversion room. He first converted the ordinary crystals, obtaining 1,568 units of energy. Then, the light gray crystals were converted, yielding 451 units of energy. Finally, the lighter gray crystals were converted, resulting in 101.2 units of energy. Remaining energy: 2,840.2.

Done! These two words instantly popped into Anthony's mind, and he couldn't wait to say, "System, upgrade my base!"

"Ding, upgrading Dawn Base requires 12 hours. During the upgrade process, all systems of Dawn Base will operate normally. Please be patient, host." As soon as the voice of the system fell, it disappeared.

"That's it?" Anthony was still a bit puzzled, but looking at the remaining 1,840.2 units of energy, he knew that the base upgrade had already begun.

"Let's wait and see!" Anthony muttered to himself, closed the door of the conversion room, and headed towards the first-floor cafeteria. After fighting for half a day, he was also hungry.

It was past three in the afternoon. Shaqiao Community. Inside an apartment building. "I...I..." Daisy lay on the bed, her face pale, her chest heaving violently, looking like she was on the verge of collapse. Daisy's mother stood beside her, crying in desperation, pulling Daisy's father and saying, "What should we do? Think of something, quickly!"

"What can I do?" Daisy's father's face turned grim, grinding his teeth. If it weren't for that bastard Anthony, how could his daughter end up like this? Now, seeing his daughter in agony, his heart ached. If things continued like this, Daisy would die from infection due to the untreated wound. It might be better to...

With this thought, Daisy's father made up his mind, "You go outside first."

"What do you want to do?" Daisy's mother asked, puzzled. "Just go out when I tell you to," Daisy's father raised his voice again. After being married for nearly thirty years, Daisy's mother knew exactly what Daisy's father meant. Her eyes turned red, and tears streamed down her face. But as she looked at her daughter writhing in pain on the bed, she silently turned around and walked out the door, closing it behind her.

Once Daisy's mother left, Daisy's father looked at Daisy on the bed, hesitatingly brushed aside the sweaty bangs on her forehead, and said in a warm voice, "Daisy, Dad knows you're in pain, and we can't get a doctor here. Dad doesn't want you to die in such pain."

As he finished speaking, Daisy suddenly opened her eyes and stared directly at her father. She wanted to say something, but she saw her father take out a gray crystal from his pocket and stuff it into Daisy's mouth, then firmly covered it with his palm. "Don't blame Dad. Dad can't bear to kill you. The only way to alleviate your pain now is to turn into a zombie."

Feeling Daisy struggling violently, Daisy's father forcefully pressed her mouth shut to prevent her from spitting out the crystal. Soon, Daisy made a swallowing motion. Daisy's father immediately released his grip and picked up a stool by the bedside, ready to defend himself in case his daughter turned into a zombie.

"Dad...why... are you doing this to me?" Daisy stared wide-eyed at her father in disbelief. She never expected her father, whom she had admired for over twenty years, would do this to her. For a moment, she stopped screaming and began laughing madly while lying on the bed.

"Hahaha, hahaha! Liars, you're all liars!" Daisy felt her beliefs shatter completely, and the image of her parents no longer seemed towering.

She didn't know if it was a last burst of clarity, but she suddenly remembered many things—the first time she went to elementary school, the first time she performed on stage, the first time she entered the university campus after passing the entrance exam, her first love, and finally, she thought of Anthony. Unconsciously, memories of her time with Anthony replayed in her mind. That man used to love her so much, washing her clothes, clumsily taking out a gift he bought with his month's worth of writing fees, and more.

"Am I wrong?" Daisy thought to herself, feeling the empty space where her arm used to be, her face filled with resentment. She wasn't wrong, she was just pursuing the life she wanted. So what if she spent over a hundred thousand on him? He was just a man, why should she be like those oppressed feudal women, focusing on household chores and raising children? She wanted to be a queen! She wanted every man to submit to her, like a dog at her feet.

With these thoughts, she suddenly felt a powerful force surge within her. This force burst from her stomach, traveled through her limbs, and even enveloped the area where her severed arm used to be. The intense pain gradually subsided, and her distorted features due to the excruciating pain gradually relaxed.

"Am I turning into a zombie?" Daisy's transformation was observed by her father, who felt that his daughter seemed to be less in pain than before. This could be a sign of infection. Regardless, he wouldn't act rashly until she actually turned into a zombie. Half an hour quickly passed.

Daisy slowly opened her eyes and crawled out of bed. Her complexion was rosy, and the regenerated flesh wrapped around the site of her severed arm, making her muscles more firm. Her body seemed to possess an inexhaustible power that intoxicated her. "Daisy, how are you feeling?" Daisy's father's voice sounded timely. He was unsure of her current state, as she looked similar to a normal person despite possibly being a zombie. So he cautiously asked.

Regaining her senses, Daisy stared directly at her father with a wicked smile and said, "Very good, better than ever before."

"Are you Daisy?" Although the person in front of him was still Daisy, Daisy's father had a feeling as if she wasn't his daughter. Whether it was her temperament or the tone of her speech, it was like two different people.

"Of course," Daisy looked at her father in front of her with disgust. This damned middle-aged man had just tried to kill her, and now he was pretending to be concerned. How disgusting!

"If there's nothing else, you can leave now." Daisy spoke again, driving him away. She was afraid she couldn't resist the urge to kill this old man.

"Well... I'll leave now then." Daisy's father gritted his teeth and responded, turned around, and walked out of the door, closing it behind him. Once Daisy's father left, Daisy suddenly felt a surge of heat coursing through her body. She couldn't help but spread out her arms, and the heat gathered in the palm of her hand. A flame shot up from her palm.

"What is this?" Daisy didn't feel herself being burned by the flames. On the contrary, her palm felt warm. In other words, it seemed she could summon flames? Puzzled, she tried to control the flames to disappear. With a thought, the flame in her palm immediately extinguished.

Instantly, Daisy's face brightened with joy. She focused her thoughts again, and the fireball formed in the palm of her hand once more. Daisy was like a child who had just received a beloved toy, repeatedly manipulating the flames to appear and disappear. Finally, she clenched her fist and shattered the flame in her hand, laughing madly towards the sky.

"Hahaha! Anthony, you didn't expect it, did you? I've gained abilities from this disaster." As the laughter subsided, Daisy gazed into the distance outside the window and muttered to herself, "Anthony, it's best for you not to let me find you!"