The survivors who decided not to follow Tang Shaoyang watched Tang Shaoyang and Lu An figure was getting far away from the motel. The survivors had various kinds of expression as they watched their benefactor go away.
Some of them had a complex look while the others had uncertainty filled their eyes. However, Wei Peng believed that he made the right decision. He witnessed how scary Tang Shaoyang was, he killed Lu Gang's group without battling eyes.
Even after killing Lu Gang's group, he found Tang Shaoyang did not feel remorse let alone guilty. What did it mean? It meant this was not the first time Tang Shaoyang killed people.
Rather than following Tang Shaoyang, he chose to stay. Moreover, the zombies around the motel had been killed. He was safe here and they also had secured the supply.
"Alright guys, stop daydreaming here. We have more important matters in our hands, we have to secure more food from yesterday's place!" Wei Peng clapped his hand to attract the others' attention.
*** ***
Meanwhile, Tang Shaoyang and Lu An were heading toward Central Park. It would take them one to two hours to reach Central Park. Moreover, the path to Central Park had not been cleared.
After walking for a certain distance from the motel, Tang Shaoyang tossed his butcher knife on his waist to Lu An.
Lu An was stunned with the sudden toss of the butcher knife. He did not manage to catch the knife and he immediately moved away from Tang Shaoyang.
"BB-Boss T-Tang… W-What ar-re you doing?" Lu An stuttered as his imagination ran wild.
'Does Boss Tang want to kill me?' 'Or is it a test? A test to be Boss Tang's follower?' Various kinds of thoughts crossed his mind, but he was unsure of Tang Shaoyang's intention. Lu An also did not dare to pick the butcher knife.
"Take that knife and kill the zombies, I don't need a useless man to follow me." Tang Shaoyang spoke in an indifferent tone. He did not want to bring a burden with him even though it was easy to protect Lu An from the slow zombies.
"I am not going to protect you, you have to protect yourself, understand?" He added in a stern tone.
Gulp!
Lu An did not immediately pick the butcher knife as he swallowed a mouthful of saliva nervously. He looked at Tang Shaoyang's stern face and then, he looked back to the butcher knife on the ground.
After confirming Tang Shaoyang was really serious with his words, Lu An approached the butcher knife. Before he picked the knife, he glanced at Tang Shaoyang for the last time and picked the knife.
Lu An's hand trembled slightly as he held the sharp butcher knife. His heart was thumping madly as he was still uncertain.
"What about your level?" Tang Shaoyang asked again. Even though he said that he did not need a useless man and would not protect Lu An, he would not let Lu An be killed before his eyes.
During his journey to RSH Pudong, he planned to let Lu An face a few zombies based on his capability. He also assumed that it was not only him with the power of leveling up. He assumed everyone also had the power to level up as long as they killed the zombies.
However, Lu An's answer was out of his expectation. "Level? What level?" Lu An answered with a confused look on his face.
"Don't tell me you haven't killed even a single zombie yet?" Tang Shaoyang was appalled with Lu An's answer.
He had "I came for treasure and I found garbage!" that kind of expression as he looked toward Lu An.
Meanwhile, Lu An scratched his head in confusion as he tried to recall the past event. He had fought against the zombies under Lu Gang's order, but he was indeed never killed even a zombie yet.
Each time he fought a zombie, the zombie was killed by Lu Gang's underlings each time it almost died. Now he heard about the level from Boss Tang and found Lu Gang's underlings did something fishy.
Why did they not let him and the others kill the zombies? He recalled that all zombies he and his group fought with were killed by Lu Gang and his men.
"Indeed, I haven't killed a single zombie yet, but I have fought against them under Lu Gang's order. But.."
"But?"
"But Lu Gang and his people killed the zombies. They always took the last hit..." Lu An replied truthfully without hiding a single thing from Tang Shaoyang. He told everything that happened during Lu Gang's control.
"Then what about the police? Before Lu Gang took over the police was the one who protected you guys, right? Didn't they tell you something about the level?" At this question, a frown appeared on Tang Shaoyang's forehead.
Lu An shook his head as he did not understand what Tang Shaoyang talked about. But he caught a glimpse of understanding that he would gain level by killing zombies.
Tang Shaoyang's assumption about the level was not wrong. Everyone was given an equal start and they could level up by killing the zombies. Lu Gang and his men were playing safe, they abused the survivors to gain more levels.
But what about the police? Why didn't the police tell the survivors about the fact that these people could get stronger by killing the zombies?
Tang Shaoyang immediately shook his head, there was no need for him to think hard about the dead people's thoughts. Now he had to train his new follower to fight.
Fortunately, Lu An was not a coward who was afraid of the zombies. Based on his story, he had fought zombies a few times. Now he armed Lu An with a butcher knife, it would be easier for the youth to kill the zombies and gain a few levels.
"Follow me, we will kill zombies along the way," Tang Shaoyang stopped his inquiry as he already got a certain understanding of his new follower. With Destroyer laid down on his shoulder, steel pipes on his waist, and a bulging backpack on his back, Tang Shaoyang continued his journey.
Lu An followed closely behind Tang Shaoyang. His hand was still shaky as he turned quite nervous. Soon, they entered the street filled with zombies. Lu An's heart was beating furiously as he stuck closely toward Tang Shaoyang.
"Stay close to me, I will leave one or two zombies behind for you to kill," Tang Shaoyang lowered his battle-ax as he was ready for a battle.
Lu An nodded his head furiously, even without Tang Shaoyang's words, he was no fool to stay away from Tang Shaoyang. As the two spoke, the zombies walked toward them. There were dozens of zombies on the street ahead of them.
As the zombies swarmed toward him, Tang Shaoyang frowned as he found something different from the normal zombie he encountered before. There were a few zombies walking faster than the others.
"One… two… three… fifteen…" Tang Shaoyang counted fifteen zombies walked faster than the other zombies. Even though it walked faster, it was at the same speed at an adult's pace.
It was still slow in Tang Shaoyang's eyes, but this change was bad news for him. It meant the zombies also grew strong as the time went on, not only him or other people could get stronger, the zombies also evolved.
This sight reminded him, Swiffer, the thing he killed in a mansion before. These zombies might evolve to Swiffer or thing that scarier than Swiffer.
Lu An was oblivious to Tang Shaoyang's thoughts as fear engulfed him. The zombies advanced, but Boss Tang did not kill the zombies yet. It worried him.
'Does he want me to face these many zombies at once?' Lu An's body shuddered at this thought. It was natural for him to have this thought as he had witnessed Tang Shaoyang faced more zombies than this group of zombies.
He thought Tang Shaoyang wanted him to do the same thing. Lu An did not dare to take initiative and he also did not try to escape. Instead, he stayed closer to Tang Shaoyang.
20 meters… The fifteen zombies that were faster than the other zombies came closer. Lu An's gripped the butcher knife tighter as cold sweat soaked his back.
Tang Shaoyang was oblivious to his follower's worries as he used his only skill, Basic Detection at the fifteen zombies.
----------------------------------------
[Stage 1 Zombie]
Level: 19
Strength: 17
Agility: 6
Vitality: 15
Magic Power: 0
Skill: None
----------------------------------------
A screen appeared in his eyes and he found what the difference was. Level, the beforehand zombies he encountered was low-level one. The highest level of the normal zombie he encountered was level 9 and level 9 only had 3 Agility.
This meant the zombie also had a way to increase their levels, but how?
'Did they kill each other?' Tang Shaoyang shook his head. There was no way he could know about that and so what if the zombies could also level up? He would kill them to level, he only needed to be stronger than the zombies.
With those thoughts crossed his mind, the zombies had already reached 10 meters away from him. Tang Shaoyang made his move, he rushed forward and swung the battle-ax toward the zombies.
The fifteen high-level zombies were killed in an instant. He killed the zombies with ease and Lu An relieved inwardly. At this time, Lu An followed Tang Shaoyang closely intending to guard his Boss's back which was unnecessary.
The slaughter continued until ten zombies left. Tang Shaoyang spared ten zombies, he warded off nine zombies away and let one zombie approached Lu An.
"It's your turn!" said Tang Shaoyang as he kicked away a zombie that was close to him. He left the weakest which meant the lowest-level zombie to train his new follower.
"A tip from me, aim the head to…" Tang Shaoyang's words trailed off as he found his tip was unnecessary as Lu An rushed toward the zombie' back and hacked the knife toward Zombie's head.
He used the zombie's weakness, the slow movement. However, Lu An seemed to be lacking in strength as the butcher knife only cut the head a slightly deeper on the head, but failed to kill the zombie in one strike with the sharp knife.
The zombie swayed and Lu An also realized he was lacking in strength. So he made a swift response by launching another hack on the same spot. Lu An needed four strikes to finish a zombie with a butcher knife.
Tang Shaoyang was satisfied with the result even though Lu An was weak. At least, there was no hesitation and fear as he killed the zombie. After that, Tang Shaoyang released another zombie and Lu An swiftly finished off the zombie.
It took them some time, but Tang Shaoyang did not mind it. Lu An grew stronger was also for his interest, so he was not impatient as he waited for Lu An to finish the tenth zombie.
"Hah… Hah… Hah…" Lu An gasped for breath. He killed the tenth zombie and his hand no longer shaky. Then, he heard a robotic voice rang in his head.
[You have leveled up!]
[You gained two attribute points!]
[You can allocate the attribute point by opening the status screen!]
Lu An's eyes were opened wide as the fatigue vanished. He was no longer out of breath, but the robotic voice stunned him. Then, he directed his shocked gaze toward Tang Shaoyang and found Tang Shaoyang was smiling at him.
Tang Shaoyang raised his thumbs and said, "Good job, it's a good start!"
He was not stingy with the praise and Lu An deserved praise.
Lu An had taken the first step to be a strong follower.
After that, the duo continued the trip. During the journey to Central Park, Lu An took the initiative to attack the zombies. There was no need for Tang Shaoyang to babysit Lu An.
Three hours, it took the duo three hours to reach Central Park. With a deep frown on his forehead, Tang Shaoyang stopped his steps right before Central Park's entrance.
The supposed to be a beautiful park now turned into a dangerous park. At least, it was the vibe given off by Central Park, a dangerous vibe.
A thick fog blocked his eyes to pry deeper into Central Park and a cold breeze from the park hit his face. The beautiful park turned into an eerie park.
"Should we take a detour, Boss?" Lu An suggested nervously.
However, Tang Shaoyang shook his head, "No, let's continue!" With that said, Tang Shaoyang and Lu An entered Central Park.