Chapter 4 TSAE Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Terrified Amount of Experience

But this was within Jiang Yi’s expectations. After all, he had only killed one zombie to reach Level 1, and he certainly didn’t believe that killing just one zombie per level would be enough! Summoning the light screen on the wall, he saw that the five attributes hadn’t changed, only his level had become Level 1 (1/2).

“Does one zombie give one experience point? So, if I kill one more zombie, I’ll level up again?” Jiang Yi was somewhat excited. He had to admit, his ability was almost too straightforward: kill zombies to gain experience, level up automatically when enough experience is gained, and significantly improve all aspects of his abilities upon leveling up. Simple and brutal! Yet, it was perfectly suited for this terrifying apocalypse.

Eager to verify his speculation, Jiang Yi used the scabbard to push the half of the zombie’s head stuck in the hole out. The moment the hole was empty, another zombie’s head immediately filled it!

“Farming” monsters for experience like this was simply too satisfying. Jiang Yi swung his blade down! This time, the large head was nearly completely severed with a single strike! Another light orb flashed, and then Jiang Yi took a deep breath, feeling as if his entire being had sublimated in the next moment.

He hurriedly checked his information: 

“Level: 2 (0/4)

Speed: 5 points

Defense: 3 points

Strength: 2.5 points

Spirit: 2.5 points

Constitution: 2 points” 

Sure enough, as Jiang Yi had thought, he had leveled up again. But before he could rejoice, looking at the changed attributes, his heart skipped a beat. Seeing the experience required for the next level, he felt a twinge of dread…

The experience needed to reach Level 1 was 1 point, Level 2 required 2 points, and Level 3 needed 4 points! Wasn’t this growth pattern the (n-1)th power of 2 for the nth term?

The thought sent a chill through Jiang Yi’s heart, and the joy of obtaining a powerful ability vanished without a trace. If this were truly the case, the difficulty of leveling up would skyrocket to the heavens! While it might be very fast initially, the difficulty would double with each level, and he wouldn’t even need to reach Level 10 before the required experience became terrifyingly high.

His heart heavy, Jiang Yi once again exposed the hole and chopped off an entire zombie head with one strike!

Admittedly, this method of “farming” was incredibly safe and convenient. If not for this, the weakened Jiang Yi would have found it difficult to survive a zombie swarm even with his ability.

With a heavy heart, Jiang Yi decapitated three heads in a row. One after another, light orbs shot into his body. He waited for a while, but the last “experience zombie’s” head never appeared. It was only then he realized that the pounding on the damaged wooden door had stopped—the zombies outside had all been killed by him.

Only then did Jiang Yi snap out of it, collapsing to the ground and weakly releasing the Skull-Severing Blade. His arms trembling, he smiled wryly and rubbed them.

After leveling up twice in a row, all his attributes except Spirit had barely recovered to their previous levels. The restoration of his body gave Jiang Yi a sense of security and temporarily eased his anxiety about the experience growth rate.

“GURGLE~” A cramp in his stomach, caused by hunger and acid reflux, left Jiang Yi feeling increasingly weak. Sometime after a large number of ability users appeared in the cafeteria, the food available to ordinary survivors had become increasingly scarce. Even those like Jiang Yi, who participated in supply runs, struggled to eat their fill daily.

Glancing around the room, Jiang Yi was startled, wasn’t this Chen Jiazhi’s dorm? Had he actually managed to run into her dorm while being attacked by zombies? Without overthinking, Jiang Yi began rummaging through the room for anything edible!

Even ability users, without sufficient food, would hunger and weaken just like ordinary people. Jiang Yi rarely visited Chen Jiazhi’s dorm, but he somewhat knew where snacks were hidden.

Chen Jiazhi’s cupboard was out of the question; to maintain her figure, she never ate snacks, at most having some fruit. But after caring for her during her three-day illness, Jiang Yi knew there was basically nothing edible left in her space.

So, Jiang Yi headed straight for another bunk—Chubby Girl’s cupboard! Chubby Girl, Li Yuling, was a cheerful, short, and plump girl! Her biggest hobbies were eating snacks and watching Korean dramas! So, her space was the right place to look for food!

Sure enough, Jiang Yi soon found a bag of bread, two bottles of mineral water, and a bag of potato chips in Li Yuling’s cupboard… There was nothing else, and many of Li Yuling’s belongings were missing, clearly taken away by someone. Whether it was Chubby Girl herself or someone else was unknown.

The food wasn’t much, especially the bread, which had moldered and grown mold, making it inedible. Jiang Yi discarded the bread and treasured the potato chips, devouring the entire bag with the mineral water, not willing to waste even a single crumb!

Until not a single crumb could be shaken out, Jiang Yi drank the last mouthful of water with satisfaction. Who would have thought that potato chips, usually ignored, could bring Jiang Yi such a sense of happiness!

However, this satisfaction was merely psychological. A bottle of water and a bag of potato chips did little to alleviate Jiang Yi’s hunger. He knew that while ability users possessed various strange abilities, their consumption of food or rather, energy was also greater.

The amount of food that could fill two ordinary survivors in the cafeteria would only make an ability user feel less hungry.

After having a simple bite, Jiang Yi went to Chen Jiazhi’s desk and started searching: “Strange? Jiazhi clearly said it was in the drawer? Why isn’t it here?” Jiang Yi searched everywhere he could but couldn’t find the jade pendant necklace she said her grandmother had left her.

Jiang Yi was certain that during the three days he cared for her, he had never seen any jade pendant! In fact, in the three years he’d been with Chen Jiazhi, he had never seen it! Even though Jiazhi always said she wore it close to her body.

Yes, it was somewhat laughable. Jiang Yi and Chen Jiazhi had been in the same class since their second year of high school and had gotten together, but even now, in their second year of university, beyond holding hands, they had never progressed to more intimate actions!

It wasn’t that Jiang Yi was incapable, but in high school, it was for the college entrance exams, and in university, various reasons always prevented them from taking that final step!

He wanted to but reality never allowed it, so Jiang Yi truly had never seen the jade pendant heirloom from Jiazhi’s grandmother!

But since it was important to her, Jiang Yi didn’t dwell on it too much. Coincidentally, a team was coming to the girls’ dormitory for supplies today. Moved by Jiazhi’s tearful plea, Jiang Yi, who wasn’t originally scheduled to go, soft-heartedly volunteered to join!

Such a request naturally wouldn’t be refused. Although Jiang Yi was an ordinary survivor, he had killed zombies and had strong mental fortitude. Many ability users were willing to bring along such individuals since ability users weren’t invincible! Facing large numbers of zombies required capable helpers…

Unable to find the jade pendant, Jiang Yi sat dejectedly on the chair! He didn’t know how to break the news to Jiazhi. The thought of her weeping over losing an important heirloom made him feel indescribably awful.

But he couldn’t stay here forever. It would be dark soon, and Jiang Yi didn’t want to remain outside the cafeteria alone. Picking up the backpack he had left here days ago from the desk, Jiang Yi intended to pack some of his girlfriend’s things to bring back to her.

There wasn’t really anything important. Jiazi came from an average family and didn’t like shopping sprees, so Jiang Yi just stuffed her diary, some jewelry, and cosmetics into the bag!

The ordinary black backpack was quite large, containing only a set of his own clothes. But when Jiang Yi reached into it, he suddenly felt dazed and stared strangely at his hand inside the backpack. As his hand entered the backpack, a light screen appeared on it.

“This couldn’t be a system inventory, could it?” The realized Jiang Yi excitedly looked at the small grid on the light screen! The grid was mostly empty, with only the first two slots containing items!

The first was actually a water bottle, with the number 4 displayed in the bottom right corner! The second was a piece of meat with distinct red and white coloring!

“How do I take it out?” As Jiang Yi thought this, his hand suddenly felt heavy. He quickly pulled it out and saw a transparent glass water bottle in his hand? But his backpack definitely didn’t have this! And as his hand emerged, the light screen on the backpack disappeared!

Instead, a small light screen appeared on the water bottle: “Heavenly Spring Water: Spring water refined from the energy essence within monsters. 500ml can quench thirst for one day. Long-term consumption can slightly increase spirit and recovery speed.”

Jiang Yi was stunned. He quickly put it down and reached into the backpack again. Sure enough, the light screen reappeared, but this time, the number in the bottom right corner of the water bottle had decreased by one! The meat behind it still showed 2. Following his thoughts, he pulled out a crystal-clear piece of meat roll. Jiang Yi was truly on the verge of breaking down).

He thought his ability was already impressive, but he had still underestimated it. He had killed 6 zombies, and there were 4 waters and 2 meats in the inventory. Didn’t it seem obvious? The light orbs that rose from the zombie bodies after he killed them were the rewards!

But, was this stuff really edible? The thought that this water and meat came from zombies made Jiang Yi hesitant.

Gritting his teeth, he opened the water bottle and took a cautious sniff. His eyes lit up, there was no expected foul smell, but rather a natural, refreshing coolness. Trying a sip, his mouth watered, and the dryness from the potato chips vanished completely! Remembering the description on the light screen, Jiang Yi immediately gulped down half the bottle of Heavenly Spring Water!

A cool sensation flowed from his head to his feet, and his entire body seemed to jolt with energy: “Refreshing!” He had never drunk such sweet and clear water, making Jiang Yi somewhat excited.

Looking at the meat roll, which seemed rolled into a cylinder, the light screen displayed its function: “Jade Fat Meat: Food refined from the energy essence within monsters. 250g can satisfy one meal. Long-term consumption can slightly increase constitution and speed up injury recovery.”

Edible, and it could increase constitution and recovery? Jiang Yi took a bite. Meat juices exploded in his mouth. Although the meat was cold, it wasn’t greasy; instead, it tasted like carefully prepared red wine beef. The entire meat roll seemed coated in a meat jelly, springy and rich in protein!

With one bite of meat and one sip of water, by the time Jiang Yi realized it, he had devoured the entire 250g meat roll. Letting out a satisfied burp, this was arguably the fullest he had been in two years!