With a thought, Vikram immediately activated the braceletâs punishment function.
After only half a minute, his wrist vibrated with a friendâs message.
[Abhishek: Vikram Boss, stop... stop shocking me. Just tell me what you need.]
It was clear the bracelet was still effective; the other partyâs typing was even a bit clumsy.
Actually, Vikram just wanted to see if the other party had broken free from the bracelet.
Seeing the bracelet work, he had originally intended to stop, but upon seeing Abhishekâs sincerity, he became a bit more interested.
He immediately replied.
[Vikram: Have you had any special news or discoveries recently?]
[Vikram: Get straight to the point, especially regarding resources. Tell me about any discoveries.]
He happened to have plans to go out and search for resources recently, but thinking that new resources wouldnât be so easy to find, Vikram just mentioned it casually.
He didnât expect the other partyâs message to bring him a surprise.
[Abhishek: Boss, there really is something, but...]
[Vikram: Werenât the previous shocks enough? Still daring to play guessing games with me?]
He thought Abhishek was trying to haggle again, seeking benefits from him.
Seeing this, he was about to activate the braceletâs ability again, but the other party interrupted him first.
[Abhishek: Yes, there is, but everyone in our Brown Wood Shelter knows about this resource point.]
[Abhishek: Iâm not entirely sure what kind of resource it is, but itâs said that the resources inside can make our shelter rich in one go.]
[Abhishek: These past few days, all members of our shelter have been preparing for this, and it looks like weâre determined to get it.]
Vikram didnât doubt Abhishekâs words.
After all, the bracelet was still there; if he tried to lie, he would immediately receive the punishment mechanism.
In that case, this news was very important.
If even a shelter the size of Brown Wood Shelter could get rich in one go, he wondered how many benefits he could gain from it.
"Ruins?"
"Or a new resource point?"
Vikramâs mind still leaned towards the former.
According to Abhishekâs words, this resource must be extremely abundant; ordinary resource points, like the previous villa, certainly wouldnât fit the description.
[Vikram: Approximately when will you start exploring that resource point?]
After a moment of thought, Vikram decided to first clarify the situation before making a decision.
No matter what, Brown Wood Shelterâs scale was considerable.
Moreover, Brown Wood Shelter was not like Savage Wolf Shelter, which was generally disorganized, relying solely on indiscriminately recruiting useless members to expand its influence.
According to Abhishek, their shelter was relatively united internally, at least capable of acting in concert against external threats.
He estimated it would be unlikely to deal with Brown Wood Shelter as easily as he had with Savage Wolf Shelter.
[Abhishek: The high-ranking officials in the shelter said that the exploration would begin after the next natural disaster, depending on the situation.]
"Deciding after the natural disaster changes?" Saying this, Vikram glanced at the date.
Four days had passed since the black fog began, meaning they would start acting in about three or four days.
"Vikram: Alright, I understand. Notify me in advance if anything happens."
Leaving this message, Vikram closed the chat.
In three or four days, he decided he will try to see it.
Before that, he could do other things.
Going on a long trip to collect supplies was out, but building some defensive structures for the territory was certainly possible.
Thinking this, Vikram pushed the door open and stepped outside of Territory 2 to see the changes, since in his Territory, he couldnât clarify anything.
Outside, the black fog still covered everything, mixed with a hint of the extreme cold left behind, making it appear even more lifeless.
And indeed, for dozens of kilometers outside the territory, besides Survivors, the only things moving were countless zombies.
Looking at the hordes of zombies on the detector, Vikram stroked his chin, then remembered the crystals; he hadnât fully understood them yet, it seemed.
While building defensive structures now, he could also take this opportunity to learn more.
Stepping onto the small slope outside the territory that led to the main road, Vikram fell into thought.
Because it was backed by mountains, this front area was basically the only way zombies could approach the territory.
Even Survivors were no exception.
Originally, his idea was to make the territory as concealed as possible, so that no Survivors could find it.
But after visiting Cameron Town, he decided to do the opposite.
In that case, it would be more effective to simply set up facilities that could block zombies or Survivors.
And because of this, he had created this big wall. Although it had zero defense compared to the gate of Territory 1, where he had arranged human defenders.
Thinking about the crystal cores inside the zombies, he decided to go out and kill a few to check them himself.
He remembered that he had cleared the zombies near the territory just a couple of days ago. Since then, Archy and Ranzy had taken over the defense, so he didnât need to worry about them.
To find zombies, he needed to walk nearly 200-300 meters away from his territory.
He shouted for the Phantom Druid, and soon Phanty arrived.
Ever since he had obtained the Phantom Druid, it had become one of his most important Druids. Unlike the others, it could become invisible, and its presence always remained in incognito mode. Until their death, most people didnât even realize someone was beside them.
The two of them walked out of the territory. Vikram searched for zombies using his Bio Detector.
And soon, he found where they were.
Looking again now, he found that zombies had once again appeared in piles.
However, this time he no longer showed any disdain.
Last time, it was because he had no idea there were crystals inside the zombies. Now, it seemed the zombies he had previously found disgusting actually had some use.
"Hoo~"
Before he could even truly see the zombiesâ actual appearance, their distinctive guttural sounds echoed through the black mist.
Accompanied by the rustling sound of snow being crunched underfoot, Phanty had already charged into the zombie horde.
Vikram noticed that the group of zombies that appeared before his eyes was somewhat unexpected.
Among the seven or eight zombies that came into view, one was particularly conspicuous.
The first time he saw it, Vikram couldnât take his eyes off it.
This was because this zombieâs physique was completely unlike the zombies beside it. They didnât seem to belong to the same species.
Normal zombies mostly appeared shriveled and rotten, but this zombie was covered in what looked like layers of fat.
No.
Rather than fat, it was covered in pus-filled tumors, especially the one on its belly, which was even larger than a pregnant woman at full term.
Looking at the yellowish-green glowing tumors all over the zombieâs body, Vikram couldnât help but frown, his expression twisted.
"Hiss, I thought zombies were disgusting enough, but there are even more disgusting ones."
He summoned the system to scan it.
[Pus Sac Zombie: Blue-Purple. A type of Mutated Zombie. Its main attack methods are spraying abdominal pus and biting. Note: Areas sprayed by this pus will gradually corrode until the pus is completely consumed.]
"It doesnât look like anything good, and sure enough, itâs full of bad stuff." Looking at the feedback from the system, Vikram showed an unsurprised expression.
He had been standing there for a long time, and the seven or eight zombies opposite him naturally noticed him, immediately rushing toward him.
Seeing several zombies attracted, Vikram was not annoyed. Instead, it suited his intentions perfectly.
Because for him, they were just walking crystals.
When the first zombie reached near him, before it could touch Vikram, its head was already separated from its body.
Phanty dealt with the remaining ordinary zombies in the same manner, severing their heads before they could even get close to Vikram.
When it came to the Mutated Zombie, Vikram watched as it opened its large mouth, then closed it tightly.
Immediately after, its face bulged, as if something was accumulating inside, ready to burst forth from its mouth.
"Bang!"
A violent gunshot echoed across the wasteland, accompanied by a faint smell of gunpowder smoke.
It wasnât pus gushing out from the zombie â it was Vikramâs Desert Eagle that had pulled the trigger first.
"If I donât let you charge, you wonât explode?" Vikram curled his lip disdainfully as he glanced at the Pus Sac Zombie lying on the ground. "Casual."
Back on Earth, Vikram had played plenty of zombie games. For an attack that clearly had a wind-up, if he had a gun, why wouldnât he shoot?
Vikram didnât forget to shoot the Pus Sac Zombie in the belly as well.
Whether it was due to his obsessive-compulsive desire to pop a pimple when he saw one, or for safety reasons, blasting open this belly full of bad stuff was definitely a good thing.
"Puff!"
The hit abdomen deflated like a balloon, constantly shriveling as the pus inside overflowed. The scattered pus that landed on the ground made a "sizzle" sound of corrosion the moment it touched the snow.
Watching the ground beneath the corpse corrode nearly half a meter deep before stopping, Vikram clicked his tongue.
At the same time, a thought crossed his mind. "If this pus were applied to arrows or bullets, the effect... hiss."
Shaking his head, he didnât have time to dwell on such things now. He collected the zombie corpses and turned back toward the front yard of the territory.
He had also decided that whenever he encountered new types of zombies, he would build more watchtowers, arrow towers, or cannon turrets. Dealing with the zombies outside would be much safer than relying solely on a single wall.
After returning inside his territory, Vikram turned his attention to his backpack.
Inside were the several zombies that Phanty had just hunted.
Among them was also a Pus Sac Zombie whose grade was almost at the Epic level.
He brought them all out of the backpack space and casually threw them on the ground.
At the same time, he took out an alloy long saber from his bag again.
The zombies on the ground reeked to high heaven, but his expression remained unchanged. He merely glanced at them before raising his long saber and slashing at one of the zombies.
Shredded flesh and bones splattered everywhere as he cut open the body. Vikram focused on searching for crystals in the head, chest, and abdomen.
The result was as he expected. He quickly found the first crystal in the zombieâs chest.
He had seen zombie crystals before, and this time, holding one again, its shape was no different from the last one.
It had the same translucent color, with a faint white light emanating from its core.
[Zombie Crystal: (Blue) Ordinary Zombie Crystal. Usage grants +1 to each of the four-dimensional physical attributes. A maximum of ten crystals can be used.]
He had a question when he first saw the crystalâs description: would this thing conflict with the fruits that increase physical attributes?
After all, the physical attribute fruits also had a maximum increase limit of 10 fruits, and his body had already reached that usage limit.
If they conflicted, these crystals would be useless to him.
Staring at the crystal in his hand, which emitted a slight warmth, Vikram tried to crush it.
"Pfft!" A crisp sound echoed in his ears.
The crystal, which he had just acquired, was effortlessly crushed by him.
Strangely, after the crystal was crushed, it didnât scatter into fragments but dissipated directly in his hand, and then the light points within the crystal overflowed from it.
Finally, they flowed from his palm into Vikramâs body.
Feeling the light points flow into his body, bringing a warmth to his limbs and bones.
Without needing the system to scan and analyze, Vikram knew that the physical attributes increased by the physical attribute fruits and the zombie crystals did not interfere with each other.
His physical attributes, which had not changed for a long time, also loosened at this moment.
[Host: Vikram Strength: 46+1 Speed: 50+1 Stamina: 48+1 Reaction: 51+1]