Chapter 1: The Beginning

  In the open space outside a civilian house, Liang Jing was constantly exploring his way forward, continuing to perform several relatively effective exercises that he had summarized before. At this time, it had been some time since Liang Jing and Zhang Huo and others killed the Black Snake's younger brother. During breakfast, looking at the crowd who were exhausted all night, they didn't eat much because of killing someone, Liang Jing felt very amused. However, not everyone was as calm as himself, and Liang Jing could understand this. It was just that Wang Meng's performance was quite good, and after killing someone, he didn't have too much reaction, eating breakfast as usual, forming a sharp contrast with Zhang Huo and others' performance...

  Today, Liang Jing didn't plan on taking action or rushing anywhere. Firstly, he had to wait for Old Jia (Jia Yu Jin, Golden Grandfather) to wake up. Secondly, after a night of running tens of miles and escaping from the mouse tide yesterday, everyone's physical and mental strength had reached its limit, and they needed a good rest. Moreover, the bodies of Lao Shu Tie Zhu and others also needed time to recover, after all, who could withstand several days of continuous pursuit and suffering such severe injuries? Now, except for himself, everyone else was sleeping and resting in their rooms.

  After these two days of thrilling experiences, Liang Jing himself needs to think carefully about what to do next. The mutated creatures are too powerful, crazy and boundless, destroying everything in their path like a mouse tide. The terrifying giant beast 'Jiaolong' with invincible power brings endless pressure to Liang Jing, making him feel his own weakness. He needs to find a safe place to gather information about the current human situation: how many survivors, how many awakened ones, and whether there are any new discoveries in research institutions. His internal energy is too low, so he wants to know how to enhance and upgrade it. More importantly, he needs a secure base where he can go out to kill monsters and increase his power without worrying about being attacked by mutated creatures when he's tired and resting. The world has become more mysterious, frightening, and dangerous, and even Liang Jing's strength doesn't give him much sense of security. He also wants to see more people like himself.

  Half a day had passed, and seeing that everyone was still sleeping soundly, Liang Jing did not wake them up. It seemed that they were really exhausted, after all, not everyone was like him, rarely feeling tired. At noon, he just ate some dry rations and didn't expect Old Jia's awakening to take so long. He remembered that it only took himself two or three hours at most. Liang Jing was worried that something unexpected might happen, and couldn't help but look on with a tense expression.

  Actually, Liang Jing didn't know that his awakening had already begun, constantly absorbing the life source of monsters until he absorbed a lot of energy and finally started to complete the last step, which took only two or three hours. It can be said that his awakening is very different from others.

  "Oh no! Hmph—"

  Jia Yu's mouth was subconsciously shouting, his eyebrows were slightly furrowed, his whole body was trembling, and his fists were clenched with white knuckles. His legs kept straightening and bending, as if he couldn't bear the pain and itching. On his skin, there was a faint layer of pale golden mist, from which some dark gray stains were constantly being expelled from the surface of his skin, giving off a foul odor that assaulted the nostrils.

  It's almost done!

  "Good——"

  Liang Jing, who was already familiar with this situation, couldn't help but exclaim "good" as he knew that within ten minutes, Jia Yugui would successfully awaken and become an Awakened One, a strong being.

  "Brother Liang!"

  "Brother Liang! How's Old Jin doing?"

  “……”

  It's already around 4 or 5 pm, the sun is about to set. Everyone has woken up from their sleep and was attracted by Liang Jing's cheers. They asked with concern, looking at Jia Yujin who was still unconscious, the few mice didn't know what was going on and were worried in their hearts.

  "It's all right, he'll be able to wake up soon." Liang Jing.

  "And he will evolve into an Awakener, just like me and Hei She, a strong one." Liang Jing said excitedly, as two brothers in the same life, he naturally also hoped that his brother could become stronger, so that he could do whatever he wanted without any obstacles.

  Everyone in the room, including Ling Qinghe and Wang Meng who followed behind, were shocked. Especially Wang Meng and several others, they all looked at Jia Yugui with envy, who was struggling unconsciously on the bed. After adapting for so long, they all yearned to gain power in their hearts, like Liang Jing who didn't dare to ask for it, but also as powerful as Hei She...

  Actually, the black snake is very formidable, but no matter how many times it mutates, it's always been suppressed by Liang Jing. Otherwise, its abilities would be incredibly sinister and toxic, even the awakened mercenaries who were top-notch martial artists before the world mutated would lose their lives if they weren't careful. These people had undergone decades of rigorous training before the world mutated, and their skills had reached the pinnacle. However, at that time, humanity's physical strength was limited, which restricted them. But now, after the world has mutated, it's different. Especially after becoming an awakened one, their abilities have been infinitely amplified. These are not something ordinary people who become awakened ones can compare to. This is also why Liang Jing almost lost his way when facing the black-clad assassin Dai Wu earlier. However, if they were to fight head-on now, Liang Jing wouldn't even need to rest. It's just like how a wild punch can kill a master, but when facing high-level assassination techniques, he still has some weaknesses. If only there was a network or a mini-map that could display the terrain, friendly and enemy positions, making everything visible... then, haha...

  The ability of the black snake is very mysterious and useful, Liang Jing himself is also envious, but can only sigh in his heart, this is impossible. Liang Jing had thought about using the 'copy' talent to copy others' talents before, but now even scanning is difficult, and it's hard to enter someone else's cognitive sea. To know that living beings are incredibly complex, and the human body is even more complex, while the brain, the most mysterious part of the human body, has a geometric increase in complexity, making it fundamentally impossible to use 'copy' successfully.

  Today, Liang Jing tried using the zombie 'Black Snake', but the required energy was too enormous. Although Liang Jing's own energy could be increased by slowly absorbing the life source of some monsters, it was still far from enough to consume, and even the energy needed to enter the opponent was not sufficient. It seemed that there was a kind of energy inside that prevented him from entering, so Liang Jing could only shake his head and give up.

  This is actually very normal, although Liang Jing's 'copy' talent is very against the sky, it also needs energy to drive; think about it, energy is still divided into gaseous, liquid and solid states. The energy that Liang Jing's body has just produced is only the most basic, unrefined chaotic energy at the beginning, while the energy needed to form the talent symbol is a higher-level existence than ordinary solid energy. The Awakeners on Earth are only awakened when they travel through another universe, and are influenced by the rules of two universes, forming a kind of energy that triggers them. This energy will quickly fade away and disappear, and it will be very difficult for Awakeners to appear again in the future. After all, the meridians of the Awakeners have already been opened, and they don't need to waste time slowly opening one by one, and they also possess various special abilities. This is probably similar to the first batch of pre-heavenly great gods formed by Pangu's creation of heaven, which has various strong abilities, only the effect is actually weakened by N times...

  Rumble!

  At this moment, Jia Yujin suddenly sat up from the bed, one hand grasping the steel bar at the bedside, and with a burst of strength, it actually melted and then transformed into various shapes in Jia Yujin's hand; sometimes turning into a machete, sometimes turning into a long spear, sometimes turning into a shield, and sometimes turning into a helmet...

  Everyone in the house stared with their eyes bulging out, this ability is too against the sky, if there's enough iron, it can be made into whatever shape you want? If wearing a suit of steel armor, facing guns would make them directly immune...

  Of course, this is just a thought, if you really wear it to form a thick steel armor, how heavy would it be? Can you still move around? It's not free to be a target, and there are always powerful firearms.

  "Old Jia! Stop messing around..." Looking at Jia Yujin who was getting more and more excited, Liang Jing couldn't help it. It had been many years since he had a good chat with this good brother of his.

  "Liáng Jìng! Is that really you? I knew it was you, I had a feeling this morning......" Jiǎ Yùjīn seemed to have also reacted, realizing there were many people in the house, seeing Liáng Jìng's words becoming more and more incoherent, continuously bombarding him with questions...