Chapter 61: Chapter 54 Harvest
At the beginning, when Tao Yu first attempted a stealth attack on Joseph in the Inner City, she was a bit panicked, worried that some method might trace back to her.
But this time, her mindset was much steadier.
After finishing off her foe, Tao Yu remembered how Joseph had self-destructed previously, so she waited in place for a moment before going over with gloved hands to search the body.
“Highly toxic, with a chance of penetrating the skin.”
Tao Yu’s Deification auxiliary ability came in handy once again—who would have thought that the body of the dead Lizardman would turn into a deadly poison?
Was it due to ruptured poison glands seeping into the body?
No wonder her style differed from Wino’s straightforward approach; she likely followed the dexterous route, utilizing toxins for a lethal strike.
Such a tough opponent!
And Tao Yu hadn’t forgotten that time when Wino, surrounded by Aliens, used some potion to increase her strength at the cost of her sanity, and even after being parasitized by an Alien and ripped open, she still managed to survive.
Tao Yu continually probed with various kinds of stimulating information, and confirmed her suspicions based on her Spirit Perception overlaid with the Crane Stance Skill and the Warlord’s Sidearm, choosing to launch a stealth attack when she detected the greatest emotional fluctuation in her target.
“Good thing I played it cool, otherwise, not knowing about this toxin could have been real trouble.”
Tao Yu was quite satisfied with her own caution. What if the creature could spit out a toxic fog or something like that with a wide area of effect?
No matter what tricks she had up her sleeve, it was safest to keep her suppressed and tucked away in her pocket.
Source: NovelFull.com, updated on Ɲονց0.сο
If information about the ‘Child of Destiny’ couldn’t distract the target, Tao Yu was even prepared to start talking dirty.
And if she never found the right moment, she might even have to sacrifice herself to seize an opportunity.
Thinking of that sharp-toothed mouth, Tao Yu couldn’t help shuddering with relief that there were no such ifs…
Having searched the body with gloves on, Tao Yu indeed found several useful items.
Last time, that bastard Joseph self-destructed without leaving anything behind, but this time, there were several items that were of use to Tao Yu!
One was a dagger shaped like a beast’s fang, with lines wrapped around the handle. Although Tao Yu didn’t detect any poison, she still washed it with water from several dead people.
“Colossal Lizard’s Fang”: A dagger made from the tooth of a colossal lizard, possessing the traits of “Bleeding,” “Armor-Piercing,” and “Paralysis,” capable of absorbing nine hundred Yuan Force.
A close-fitting Inner Scale Armor that only covered the chest and abdomen, adorned with fine scales.
“Inner Scale Armor”: Provides strong defense and puncture resistance, distributing damage evenly, weaker against blunt force, capable of absorbing four hundred Yuan Force.
Although this Inner Scale Armor looked cheaper than the dagger, its actual value could be even higher!
It was lightweight, and this type of defense was highly resistant to bullets—Tao Yu truly loved it and didn’t mind at all that it was second-hand.
Even if it was obviously designed for a woman, Tao Yu didn’t care—as long as it was practical and could be worn beneath clothing.
After rinsing it with water, she immediately started changing into it, which made Jack, who was nearby, gape with eyes wide and mouth forming an O.
What kind of fetish is this?
So, the weirdo is really you, right?
“What are you looking at? How superficial!”
Tao Yu’s Sensitive Spirit Perception was slightly irritated by Jack’s stare and she glared back fiercely.
Mired in conventional societal standards, they had no idea what practicality trumped all meant.
Muttering to herself, Tao Yu hastened her pace, eager to cover up the Inner Scale Armor.
Besides that, she found a pair of knee and wrist guards, similar to those elastic leather sports guards with average protection, capable of absorbing one to two hundred Yuan Force, but they could somewhat increase explosive power and Endurance and reduce the risk of muscle strains.
Good quality for a low price, high cost-performance ratio.
“This is a path similar to mine, each item suits me very well.”
The individual items contained not too much Yuan Force, just like the Blood Orchid could only absorb less than a hundred, but functionality was undeniable—Tao Yu was thoroughly revitalized.
“Even though they are items from a dead body, they are small and can be hidden, so it’s worth the risk for the gain.”
Tao Yu didn’t let some worries stop her from eating.
The company had its rules, and the Abyss had its own law; even if someone found out about the gear she scavenged in the Abyss, it would be difficult for them to use it as an excuse to rightfully do anything to her.
At least that was the case on the surface.
Aside from the equipment useful to her, Tao Yu also found seven potions and stored them in the backpack around her waist.
Six of them seemed to be tailored for her implanted mutated body, highly toxic to ordinary people.
Tao Yu absorbed all the Yuan Force from these six potions, an approximate total of two thousand.
While absorbing these potions, Tao Yu also noticed that the absorption of Yuan Force was slower with high-quality items.
“If we encounter some divine artifacts or something like that in the future, it may even backfire during absorption.”
After draining the potions that were useless to him, Tao Yu pondered a bit.
Then he looked at the only potion left, which was similar to Qi Replenishing Pill but was likely more effective: a stamina potion.
**Stamina Recovery Potion**: Slightly toxic, prone to bleeding, greatly restores physical strength, stimulates nerves, and restores spiritual power to some extent.
There were only three vials of this milky-white stamina recovery potion. Tao Yu kept them on his person and discarded the remnants of the drained potions.
“Come, give me a hand, let’s burn them.”
Although it was getting dark, Tao Yu had no intention of leaving just yet. Instead, he went back to the pickup truck, got a small barrel of gasoline, combined it with the tires of an abandoned vehicle, and piled up several bodies before sprinkling gasoline and igniting it.
Jack had somewhat recovered from the shock of Tao Yu changing the woman’s inner armor.
“Will this cause trouble?”
As a former member of the CIA task force, although Jack was willing to help ordinary people and had rather upright principles, he wasn’t averse to modern practices like destroying evidence with practiced ease.
“If they find out it was me, there will definitely be trouble. The power and influence of the Inner City people are still quite substantial.”
“It’s us.”
Jack corrected Tao Yu with a smile and responsibly lit the fire.
“I can’t imagine being pinned down by that toothy hag.”
Jack shuddered, and the scar on his large nose quivered.
Tao Yu fell silent for a moment but did not correct him.
It seemed like the female Lizardman hadn’t taken a liking to him…
Maybe he was too ugly…
…
“It’s still all about windfall wealth…”
Tao Yu, feeling the nearly seven thousand points of Yuan Force reserve and the completely upgraded set of equipment, was moved with emotion.
Even if he hadn’t come to the impoverished Zombie World, always adventuring in the grasslands and rainforests hunting…
Putting aside the risk of encirclement by Aliens which could lead to gains not worth the losses, even if the hunting went smoothly, continuously without rest, it wouldn’t have been this fast.
This was still taking into account that the skills from the New Development Zone could be sold at high prices, and the need to traverse back and forth between the Abyss and the Current World to turn in tasks.
It turned out that looting gold coins from a Lizardman was a bloody profit. Including the value of Cao Shaolin’s **Warlord’s Sidearm** made it even greater.
Currently, the **Warlord’s Sidearm** was still the most valuable piece of equipment on Tao Yu.
**Armor-Piercing** and **Precision**, these two features were actually quite common, but the additive effect of Spirit Perception seemed very effective even against stronger opponents.
It was like the Deification of the Crane stance, which Tao Yu felt was the most practical and had the most potential of the five stances.
“We’re almost there, let’s stop here, and for now, take a makeshift rest in the car to conserve energy.”
Driving with the headlights against the night, Jack brought the car to a stop.
Ahead were some barricades and, alongside them, barbed wire.
The place looked very dilapidated.
With his Sight Power, Tao Yu could see several spots where the barbed wire had been deliberately cut and destroyed.
“Good, have the perimeter zombies been cleared?”
“People in front wanted to take the peripheral equipment and military vehicles, which attracted the zombies. Now most of the zombies in this base are concentrated at the center; the density is even higher than the school we visited earlier. It’s a challenge.”
Jack had been mixing in this area for so long, so he was familiar with the local situation. Although the last time he escorted supplies here was before the outbreak of the biohazard, he still learned a lot through communication with other survivors.
“The best way to deal with this kind of place is indeed to arrange for people to draw the zombies away.
“But with zombies, if you drive too fast, they stop chasing. You must maintain a certain speed and keep making noise. Once you’re surrounded, you’re as good as dead. So far, anyone who’s tried it has died, and after a while, no one else came.”
The armory had exploded as well, and if someone risked their life to create an opening, there was no guarantee of success, nor any certainty of reward. Naturally, the attempts died down over time.
Given the current numbers of survivors and the ratio of supplies, there was no need to take such risks.
“Then let’s rest for the night, have some food, and I’ll explain Stance Skills to you in the meantime.”
Jack, due to absorbing Yuan Force, had a pretty good physical foundation, similar to what Tao Yu had when he first started learning. With Jack’s own solid combat skills as a base, he naturally picked up the skills quickly…