Chapter 126: The Second Requirement to Become an Enhancer

People had long discovered that there were brain cores inside zombie heads—the brain mutated into a crystal, and the crystal contained an unknown energy.
No one had ever seen this kind of energy before, nor did they know how to use it. Scientists tried to combine the energy of brain cores with modern technology to enhance the power of firearms.
However, research in this area was progressing far too slowly. It would take a national-level laboratory years, even decades, to produce any results.
And humanity didn’t have that kind of time.

Zombies had taken over the world in just a month. The social structure was nearly collapsed, order had crumbled, and it was hard enough just to gather a scientific team to study the energy of brain cores.
At that time, someone discovered another use for the brain cores.

Instead of combining them with weapons, they could be used directly on the human body—absorbed by the body itself.
Although the method was crude and violent, it was effective.
That’s how Enhancers were born.

The appearance of brain cores was like a beam of light piercing through the darkness of the apocalypse, giving humanity hope.
In the Nine Provinces, brain cores had a more elegant name: Spirit Stones.
The Nine Provinces had such abundant spiritual energy that they could produce Spirit Stone mines, whereas in this world, spiritual energy was so scarce that even a single Spirit Stone couldn’t condense. The difference in spiritual energy density between the two worlds was clear.

The energy in brain cores was concentrated spiritual energy, but becoming an Enhancer wasn’t simply about absorbing the spiritual energy from brain cores.
If someone just absorbed spiritual energy without the correct spiritual circulation pathway, they’d be crippled without exception.

According to Jiang Li’s observation, becoming an Enhancer required a second condition—the presence of zombie virus in the human body.
The zombie virus was terrifyingly contagious; as long as it was in the air, it would spread. Every breath humans took actually contained the zombie virus.
This trace amount of virus wasn’t enough to zombify a person, but it served as an essential lubricant, helping the body absorb spiritual energy. There was no need for specific spiritual routes—just pure cellular absorption. Once the cells absorbed enough spiritual energy, one would become an Enhancer.

The Enhancer system required the concentrated spiritual energy from brain cores to activate the physical body. Although there were spiritual gathering formations and other means of accumulating energy, they weren’t something a first-level Qi Refining cultivator could use.

The siblings needed to go out and hunt zombies.
Originally, Luo Ying had planned to tape books to her body for protection, which was effective against zombies at this stage. But now, with the Immovable Vajra Mantra protecting her, she didn’t need that anymore.

…

In the classroom, the twenty-some survivors huddled together, shivering in fear. They had been trapped there for three days, stomachs growling with hunger.
Thankfully, the classroom always had a few barrels of drinking water stored. Though they had to use it sparingly, at least they didn’t have to worry about water for now. Otherwise, they would’ve died of thirst even before being eaten by zombies.

But this wasn’t a long-term solution. Eventually, the water would run out. They were doomed to take a risk, leave the classroom, and seek a way to survive.
And now, they were facing a life-or-death test.

“Did it leave?”
“Luo Ying was right. There really are zombies.”
“Wish I had listened to him earlier.”
“I want my mom.”

The students whispered to each other. Rather than discussing, it was more like venting their fear.
They had grown up in peacetime and had never witnessed scenes like this—blood and flesh flying, the walking dead. Just recalling how a zombie had dragged out five or six meters of intestines made them feel like throwing up.
Unfortunately, they had to suppress that urge. Too much noise would attract the zombies outside.

Some female students bit their sleeves, eyes red and tears falling silently.
They had seen the military clashing with a whale-sized zombie and had hoped the military would win and save them. But the brutal reality showed them the overwhelming power of a Tier 4 zombie, shattering their hope.

“Shhh—”
The female teacher who had once scolded Luo Ying for sleeping in class made a hand gesture, signaling them to stay silent—not even whispers were allowed.
Even though she was scared and worried about her parents, as a teacher, she had to protect her students. She mustered her courage, supported herself against the wall, and carefully walked to the small window on the classroom door, not making a sound the entire way.

On the first day of the zombie crisis, the school became a slaughterhouse. The student density was too high to escape. The number of survivors plummeted, while zombies surged.
Luo Ying’s class was on the top floor. When things started going wrong, they made some preparations, so only half of them died.

The survivors held back their disgust and smeared blood from their friends’ corpses onto the windows. This blocked the view and masked their scent, keeping zombies from noticing them. They had survived for three days thanks to this method.
But it was ultimately just a temporary measure.

A different kind of zombie seemed to have appeared in the building—one with tremendous strength, capable of denting metal stair railings.
Its senses were also extraordinary. Many surviving students and teachers had already fallen prey to it, their screams still echoing in their minds.
And now, this zombie was wandering on the top floor.

The teacher pressed her ear to the door, closed her eyes, and carefully listened. Once she confirmed there was no noise, she wiped away a bit of blood from the window and peered outside with one eye.
She saw the abnormal zombie chewing on a corpse far away. It didn’t seem to have noticed them.

She recognized the zombie—it used to be a sleazy gym teacher who had been reported by multiple female students for misconduct. If the zombie crisis hadn’t happened, he would’ve been fired in a few days.
Should’ve fired that scumbag earlier, the teacher thought bitterly.

She returned to her spot and whispered to the students, “Don’t worry, it didn’t see us.”

“M-Miss Huang…” a female student stammered and raised her hand, pointing at the spot where the teacher had wiped away the blood—an eye had appeared there!

The zombie had found them.
Miss Huang’s heart stopped. Students screamed in panic.

The classroom had two doors. A quick-witted student tried to escape through the other, but when he opened it, he found two zombies crouched there, gnawing on someone’s corpse.

Three zombies staggered into the classroom. The zombified gym teacher lunged at Miss Huang.
Suddenly, a steady hand grabbed the zombie’s ankle. With a twist of the right arm, it flung the zombie away, knocking down the other two.

The owner of that hand was, of course, Luo Ying.

“That was close.”
Luo Ying sighed. In his previous life, he had hidden here with his classmates and encountered this very zombie. In the end, only Luo Ying survived by sheer luck.

This time, he had raced against time and made it before the zombie outbreak hit full force, saving his classmates and teacher.

“Behind you!”
Miss Huang shouted a warning. The three zombies got back up, ready to attack Luo Ying.

A petite figure flashed past, dagger in hand. In one swift motion, she decapitated the three zombies and retrieved a brain core.