The next day, Wu Shuang regretted getting out of bed the moment he woke up. His muscles ached terribly. He hadn't felt much yesterday, but after working out last night, he felt pretty much like he had been soundly beaten up.
He adjusted for a while before getting up. Checking the time, it was already past 10:00 AM, and daylight had broken; after all, he hadn't fallen asleep until 3:00 AM last night.
"Holy crap... I still can't rush things... Huh?"
Wu Shuang suddenly paused and sat upright to check the information in his handbook. His Humanity had mysteriously returned to white without him even knowing when it had happened.
It might have been yesterday during the day, or perhaps while he was sleeping. More likely, however, it had shifted back unconsciously while he was pondering how to survive last night and couldn't help getting up to exercise, though he hadn't paid attention to check.
Furthermore, white wasn't a complete blank slate either. It actually had an effect, though it would only display once Humanity reached over 120.
(White Humanity: Represents normal state and the desire to survive. It is the most basic Humanity, capable of being dyed any color to gain corresponding effects.
Above 100 points, every 20 points of ordinary Humanity increases your experience growth by 10%.)
...
"It can increase experience growth... Then White Humanity isn't weak either.
"It just takes time. Only by living long enough can its strength be shown; otherwise, there's simply no way it can compare to other types of Humanity..."
Wu Shuang judged that this was likely the real reason why White Humanity was considered weak. This world was sorely lacking in time; with no idea when the next Royal City Defense War would begin, one might die before having the chance to grow.
He checked his strength attribute—his experience had already surpassed 40. No wonder his whole body was aching today; he had truly overdone it last night, especially since he hadn't exercised much in the past.
"Right, I can apply Holy Blessed Grease. It might actually work."
He began smearing the pungent, foul-smelling grease on his body, planning to head out once he felt better after lunch.
Noon soon arrived. Sure enough, the grease worked, and the soreness subsided. Wu Shuang grabbed his empty backpack, stuffed a jar of water inside, equipped his weapons, and prepared to set out.
His equipment was much better this time—he now had an iron-skinned wooden shield and a short hammer, in addition to the hand axe, short sword, and his bottom-drawer trump card, the Argus. Dressed in this gear, he truly didn't fear any living corpse.
Of course, that was only in a one-on-one fight, provided the enemy didn't mutate too absurdly.
Stepping outdoors, Wu Shuang was once again bathed in cold sunlight. The weather was even better this time; although there was fog, the heavy cloud cover in the sky was gone, allowing Wu Shuang to officially see the blue sun. It was extremely glaring.
It wasn't a big deal at first, and Wu Shuang was already preparing to climb down from the eaves. But whether due to a sudden brain cramp or some other impulse, he had a sudden whim, looked up at the sun again, and cast an Appraisal Spell on it. To his surprise, it actually yielded a result.
【??】
【Description: A cold sun emitting blue cold light, bringing light to the kingdom.】
...
The description was extremely brief, but Wu Shuang felt thoroughly unsettled. The Appraisal Spell could actually appraise the sun? Could that thing truly be physically reached?
Furthermore, blue represented fear. This was definitely not information that could be casually overlooked, because colors in this world could very likely be linked to Humanity.
A sun that felt fear and terror?
What was it afraid of?
The darkness? ...No, was it afraid of the Black Beast?
Wu Shuang's eyes widened. He looked back at the sun—it was indeed blindingly glare-filled, so he quickly averted his gaze. Yet he couldn't help but feel that his guess made a fair amount of sense.
Could the sudden darkness occur because the sun hid itself or voluntarily extinguished its light to flee from the Black Beast's pursuit?
"This world really is getting weirder and weirder," Wu Shuang complained inwardly as he climbed down using the folding ladder. Seeing no sign of living corpses around after checking his surroundings, he quickened his pace forward and began scouring for supplies.
First, he needed to retrieve the essential shovel and pickaxe. They might even need repairs before they could be used, so he also needed to bring back some hammers and nails.
...
Time reached 5:00 PM.
Wu Shuang ran back in high spirits with a bulging bag slung over his back. The backpack had even developed a sizeable tear, with more than half of a dried salted fish sticking out of it; fortunately, it had gotten stuck and didn't fall out.
He would have to find time to patch it up later, as he had also found needle and thread. The tear from earlier had gotten worse after hauling a massive amount of supplies today.
He had made seven trips back and forth without encountering a single living corpse. By his third trip, he had even switched to a light loadout, bringing only his shield, hand axe, and his bottom-drawer gun, leaving all other weapons behind.
The northern street was composed entirely of empty buildings, completely devoid of living corpses. Wu Shuang had guessed the reason: it was very likely that the goblin corpses had drawn these living corpses out, and when they later invaded the estate, the old knight wiped them all out in one fell swoop.
The corpse of that mutated female living corpse from before was over to the south—he had seen it himself. He just hadn't expected the area to be cleared so thoroughly, allowing him to loot to his heart's content all day long, as long as he stayed quiet and watched out for goblins.
He had searched a total of eight residential houses, all old one- or two-story buildings. Only three rooms showed obvious signs of having been searched, and on the floor of one room was a stuffed bag, likely left behind by the Hero he had killed earlier.
Although he didn't know where that Hero's hideout was yet, Wu Shuang gladly accepted this bit of loot for now. It was a pity the backpack wasn't as large as his own; otherwise, he would have swapped them.
Returning to the attic, Wu Shuang set down his bag. Since it was already past 5:00 PM, he had no intention of going out again.
At this rate, in another day or two, he would have the northern street mostly cleared. Any heavy items or non-essentials could be retrieved when needed or used directly over there—such as the heavy anvil, piled coal, and blacksmith furnace at Paul's residence, all of which had been marked on his map.
Of course, the location with the biggest harvest this time was the hunter's house. He had indeed lived nearby, which made sense since he had been killed nearby.
Inside, Wu Shuang found a large stash of dried salted fish—the same kind he had eaten before—along with a fishing rod, a tattered fishing net, and even... ammunition and a special key.
The bullets were for an old-fashioned double-barreled shotgun, though he didn't find the gun itself. There was a box and a half, totaling 30 cartridges, made with stiff wax-paper shells and brass. They didn't match Wu Shuang's trigger-lock gun, but they could be disassembled to extract the gunpowder and lead shot to make new ones.
Now he wouldn't need to buy outrageously expensive black powder, and the money in his account had reached 4,327. A massive harvest—all thanks to the old knight's selfless assistance!
As for the key, Wu Shuang had appraised it too. The hunter didn't just possess hunting gear; he also owned a fishing boat, and the key was used to operate that vessel.
Rate on N.U.
