015, The Camp Ablaze!

And now, the zombies had yet to evolve!

Before Qi Ran’s skill, Fire Serpent Entanglement, they were simply too fragile!

At least, Qi Ran had already observed that after casting Fire Serpent Entanglement, within about six minutes, a rather weak zombie would collapse outright.

As the zombie fell, the fiery serpent coiling around it would extinguish.

Following that, several other fiery serpents gradually died out.

The rousing electronic voice that introduced Fire Serpent Entanglement had been rather vague—almost like a sales pitch on an online marketplace.

In reality, having possessed the A-rank talent Flame Secret for ten years, and having wielded Fire Serpent Entanglement and Burning Encampment for a decade, Qi Ran was intimately familiar with the damage mechanics of these two skills.

Of course, even if Qi Ran were unfamiliar, simply pressing and holding Fire Serpent Entanglement in her skill panel would reveal a small line of text:

"Fire Serpent Entanglement: Control Skill!

Control:

1. When the target’s agility is 50 or below, the target loses mobility under the skill’s effect.

2. When the target’s agility exceeds 50, their movement speed is reduced by 20% of their agility.

Damage:

The bound enemy takes 10 damage per second."

As for Burning Encampment, it read:

"Burning Encampment: Area-of-Effect Attack Skill!

Damage:

Unleashes high-damage flames lasting five minutes within a 500-meter radius. Enemy targets within the area take 200 damage per second."

In her previous life, Qi Ran had only reached level six before she could muster the stamina to use Burning Encampment once.

Therefore, having just been reborn and reacquired the A-rank Flame Secret talent, she instinctively reserved Burning Encampment for after reaching level six again.

Upon receiving the generous gift of 200 stamina points from the alliance, Qi Ran was fervently slaughtering zombies. Instinctively, she allocated the 200 stamina to her skills Demand and Reward.

However, as the zombies had yet to evolve, and though the commercial street teemed with them, it was highly unlikely that any human would manage to kill 200 zombies within the next three days—before what was traditionally known as the “first” awakening of talent—and thus gain an additional awakening chance.

Because after the third year of the apocalypse, when the level rankings appeared, Qi Ran, despite awakening only an A-rank and a C-rank talent, had consistently held the top spot in the Rongcheng City rankings.

Thus, Qi Ran speculated that neither on the commercial street nor anywhere in Rongcheng would anyone kill 200 zombies within three days to earn an extra awakening chance.

After all, the talent gained from an additional awakening was guaranteed to be at least A-rank.

The faster one killed zombies, the higher one ranked, potentially snagging S- or SS-rank talents.

Knowing the importance of zombie slaughtering, those people would be like driven maniacs, relentlessly improving their talents.

There was no way someone as severely hampered as Qi Ran, burdened by Qi Sheng, would top the Rongcheng leaderboards.

It was possible that some people had moved to other regions during the past three years, but Qi Ran had attended aristocratic schools throughout middle and high school, with many classmates from the capital and Shanghai.

Rongcheng held immense military significance for the Xia nation, serving as its most solid strategic rear.

Some retired senior officers had settled there.

Mu Jingchen had come to Rongcheng with his grandfather in eighth grade.

Chu Yan had arrived to recuperate under her grandmother, a renowned traditional Chinese medicine expert.

The apocalypse had come suddenly.

Even the great families of the capital had been unprepared.

When terrifying creatures—the newborn level-zero zombies—emerged, people like Mu Jingchen and Chu Yan were immediately protected and swiftly evacuated to their family strongholds in the capital.

Ordinary people simply locked their doors and awaited government intervention.

No one had considered proactively slaughtering zombies.

Even if forced to kill zombies for self-preservation, it was impossible to kill 200 within three days.

Hence, even if some later left, it was unlikely any of these people had gained an extra awakening chance.

This meant that, for the next three days, Qi Ran’s Demand and Reward skills would be useless.

Therefore, the extra 200 stamina could be freely invested in Burning Encampment and Fire Serpent Entanglement.

Fire Serpent Entanglement’s damage was low—just 10 damage per second.

Newborn level-zero zombies had slightly more health than humans, about 300 to 500 points more than a human baseline.

Thus, even burning a weak zombie would require at least six minutes or more with Fire Serpent Entanglement.

But Burning Encampment was exhilarating to use!

Just three to five seconds in, she could incinerate a zombie outright.

Although the commercial street wasn’t very spacious, Qi Ran could control the skill’s range.

Without hesitation, she unleashed Burning Encampment.

Instantly, a fiery dragon, 500 meters in radius, roared to life on the commercial street.

Her personal attribute panel’s level indicator rapidly updated:

Level: Newborn Level 3 Tester! (15/1600)

Level: Newborn Level 3 Tester! (52/1600)

...

Level: Newborn Level 3 Tester! (216/1600)

Within less than ten seconds, all zombies wandering within 500 meters were burned to death by Qi Ran’s flames.

While burning the zombies, Qi Ran did not remain stationary.

The commercial street stretched 800 meters.

Her skill only covered 500 meters.

There was still 300 meters left for another Burning Encampment.

However, accustomed to conserving stamina, Qi Ran knew that even if she used Burning Encampment again on the remaining 300 meters, it wouldn’t be enough to quickly kill the 1600 zombies required.

So she quickly recalled the layout of the commercial street and considered where people gathered most.

Soon, she thought of the shopping mall where Qi Sheng was.

The mall had twelve floors, covering 300 square meters, located at the very end of the commercial street.

After slaughtering the zombies outside, Qi Ran planned to head there to reap more.

By now, it was nearly 4 p.m.

Looking up at the sky, Qi Ran noted she had awakened two talents today.

From her previous life’s experience, when night fully fell—around 6 p.m.—she would face a grueling battle.

At that time, she had to find an absolutely safe place.

Outside the commercial street was definitely not secure.

The best place would be the storeroom where Qi Sheng was.