On the way back, Little Ka stayed glued to Mo Shao’s side, her curiosity finally boiling over.
“Sister Hui, where did you get all this stuff?” she asked.
The fact that she dared to ask this indicated that she felt their relationship had grown closer.
This was exactly what Mo Shao wanted. The closer they were, the easier it would be to recruit her. She was already considering whether she should get a camel for the two of them to ride together.
“Where did it come from?” Mo Shao scratched her cheek and glanced at Little Ka. After thinking for a moment, she answered, “I raided a village and farmed monsters all night.”
“But to get there, you have to cross a desert and pass through some ruins. There are some pretty powerful things in both areas,” Mo Shao added. “The village also has Iron Golems and Villagers. By now, they should have gained some level of intelligence. They won't be as easy to manipulate anymore.”
She didn't lower her voice, nor did she raise it intentionally, but since the bodies of those who had undergone Dead-binding were enhanced, everyone nearby heard her.
“Intelligence?!”
They quickly caught the most important point.
“Yes, they will become more and more like normal people. That goes for the NPCs and characters from these fantasies, and the same goes for the monsters.”
Mo Shao nodded and added, “These past few days have been like a grace period. In a few more days, the difficulty is going to ramp up significantly.”
She spoke bluntly, feeling no need to hide anything. In the apocalypse, there were plenty of people with clairvoyance or prophetic abilities. Powerful cheats and hidden tricks were everywhere. It was just that there were so few people around here that they hadn't realized it yet. Once they ventured further out, they would understand what it meant for the world's heroes to be as numerous as schools of carp.
“This… it really is getting more and more dangerous.” As Little Ka’s voice trailed off, the group fell into a collective silence.
This grim news clearly suppressed the slight arrogance that had begun to sprout in their hearts after their recent success.
After a long while, Little Ka emerged from her thoughts and offered a heartfelt compliment. “Sister Hui, you really are amazing.”
Wisdom, kindness, strength… Little Ka sensed all of these qualities in Mo Shao.
“I’m just average—maybe third best in the world~” Mo Shao chuckled, waving her hand. “I just have better luck than most.”
“That’s not something that can be brushed off as just luck.” Little Ka shook her head, but she didn't dwell on the matter.
However, it was visible that as she stared off into the distance, the thoughts flashing through her eyes became more frequent.
Mo Shao noticed this. On the surface, she remained calm, but inwardly, her confidence grew.
It seemed that recruiting her wouldn't be a problem after all.
By the time they returned to the school with the equipment, it was only just past noon. There were still five or six hours before it would start getting dark.
“Only that much time has passed?” Xu Huaan looked up in confusion, gazing at the sun hanging high in the sky.
“That’s normal. Usually, you sleep the whole morning away,” Zhang Xiao remarked from beside him, sounding exasperatedly amused.
For the remaining time, Mo Shao chose to conduct a sweep of the school grounds, though she still avoided the cafeteria.
Her reason?
If they went toward the cafeteria, there was a high probability they would run into the people there, leading to competition over monster kills.
Furthermore, Mo Shao needed to explore the environment to see if any other useful things had crossed over into the school.
Unfortunately, the sweep yielded no extra discoveries. However, the process was generally easy.
Monsters didn't cluster together during the day, and with the number of Dead-bound survivors in the team, farming them was very simple.
She had prepared the stone equipment in advance to avoid having to stop and craft mid-way.
As for moving the supplies, they used a flatbed cart pulled by those who hadn't undergone Dead-binding yet.
After all, she had to give them something to do.
This massive sweep allowed their team to grow significantly, leaving very few who had not yet undergone Dead-binding.
Equipping the group had boosted their combat power tremendously. As the number of Dead-bound survivors increased, a positive cycle began. Once the number of bound individuals crossed the 50% threshold, herd mentality took over.
People naturally followed the crowd. Those who were initially hesitant or undecided chose to undergo Dead-binding under the pressure of the trend.
Among the new Dead-bound survivors, the one most worth her attention was a youth named Yu Jie, who had merged with a Gulpuff Echo.
Their compatibility was exceptionally high, though he hadn't achieved transformation—after all, he wasn't the one who had personally killed the Gulpuff.
It was like that classic paradoxical meme: To get something, you must first have the thing that you can only get after you've already gotten it.
Furthermore, no one could help during the process, as it would interfere with the transformation. This was why the number of Acquired Transformers was so low in the future. Seventy percent of the Transformers seen later on would be Innate Transformers.
After Yu Jie completed the Dead-binding with the Gulpuff, his body underwent a significant physical change, making him look like a small, humanoid Gulpuff.
His combat power increase was staggering. In the early stages, he was like a heavy truck barreling through a crowd.
This was almost exactly what Mo Shao had mentioned before—treating the transformed object as a bloodline-type Dead-binding. The benefit was that he was less affected by it than a true Transformer would be.
Even so, it made everyone else envious. He had become much stronger, and he possessed a certain unique coolness.
After scouring most of the school, they only found a few scattered survivors in the dorms and classrooms.
It seemed the rest of the staff and students remaining at the school had already moved to the cafeteria. This was normal; people were driven by herd mentality.
Moreover, any food in the dorms had long since been taken by those who had already left. Anyone hungry would eventually have to head to the cafeteria.
In the end, there were still a few stubborn individuals who refused to Dead-bind. Mo Shao figured they were likely delusional, still dreaming that things would return to normal.
But sooner or later, life would teach them a lesson—this team couldn't maintain them forever, could it?
It was laughable to ignore the chance while benefits were being handed out for free; they would regret it when they had to fend for themselves later. However, she couldn't be bothered to try and persuade them.
Once the last person in the team willing to undergo Dead-binding had finished the process, Mo Shao gave the order to recall the troops.
It was time to go back and take control of the cafeteria!
This established team, with her as the leader, was more than enough to secure an absolute leadership position in the cafeteria.
It wasn't that she particularly enjoyed being a leader—in fact, she preferred the structure of a small, elite team.
This was merely a temporary measure because they lacked combat power in the early stages.
Her primary reason for wanting leadership over the cafeteria staff and students was that their information gap compared to hers was far too vast.
Many things couldn't be explained in just a few words. Many mindsets wouldn't be easy to change. Therefore, to avoid any accidents, it was necessary for Mo Shao to hold the authority and leadership.
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