Chapter 158 Small Gains
"Mr. Wright's been gone a while. Think something happened to him?" Donovan, who'd shown up late for backup, whispered to Jack. He'd been waiting forever without a sign of William.
"What could happen to the boss?" Jack replied, carefully polishing his beloved knife, Edge of the Moon.
"Jack, I've always been good to you, right?" Michelle sauntered over, plopped down next to him, and flashed a big smile.
Jack immediately turned, pressing Edge of the Moon under him and covering his head with his hands. He responded, "Michelle, I know what you want. It’s not happening."
Everyone laughed at Jack's reaction. Michelle playfully knocked on his head. She asked, "I've studied knife skills. Have you? Think you can handle it better than me?"
"You taught me," Jack shot back.
"You drive me nuts!" Michelle exclaimed as she lightly kicked him, feeling exasperated.
Michelle had trained under a renowned knife master. When it came to skills, Candice might be her equal, but in knife techniques, Michelle was unmatched. In fact, Candice and Jack had picked up many of their skills from her.
William said, "It's just a knife!"
A voice called from the other side of the wall. Everyone stood up as William emerged from the darkness, followed by someone.
He handed an Edge of the Moon to Michelle, which he’d just made. Her face lit up with joy. This weapon was almost standard for the team, but she hadn’t dared ask William for one before.
"Who's she?" Natalie asked, noticing the strange figure following William.
William didn’t answer. He just looked outside the wall and said, "In a moment, we’ll go down from here. Donovan, you and your team make some noise on both sides and throw down the meat you brought."
Pointing to two spots, William continued, "After attracting the zombies' attention, I'll go down first to clear the area. But this window is short, so move fast."
William added, "No matter how much you collect, when you see me return, follow. Remember, we’re here to gather supplies, not fight!"
Everyone quickly lowered the ropes from the wall. William nodded at Donovan, who ran to a nearby spot and had his team start making noise. They threw down the prepared meat, drawing the zombies away.
William was the first to slide down the rope, while the Iron Corpse simply leaped off the wall.
"What is that thing? Its eyes and hair are red!" Jack asked as he leaned over the wall, noticing the unusual figure.
"Looks like a zombie, but controlled by William," David guessed.
A whistle sounded, and everyone stopped talking, quickly sliding down the ropes. They turned on their shoulder flashlights and began digging out Magic Crystals from the bodies left from the daytime battle.
William, who had gone down first, was clearing the nearby zombies and mutated creatures with the Iron Corpse.
As William took down zombies, he kept an eye on the Iron Corpse. This thing was like a humanoid weapon. It could crush a zombie's head with a casual grab or pierce a skull with a light stab.
Its strength was off the charts. Earlier, it had torn a mutated pig in half and tossed its several hundred-pound body like it was nothing.
The Iron Corpse's skin was tough too. Zombie teeth, claws, even bites and hits from mutated creatures couldn't harm it. Only a level-two beastified zombie managed to leave two shallow holes in its shoulder, and no blood came out.
If it were an Evolving person, even a two-star one, a bite like that would tear off a chunk of flesh. But the Iron Corpse only got a minor injury.
From this, William figured the Iron Corpse's skin defense was on par with a three-star Evolving person, maybe even a bit stronger than himself.
Though it relied solely on physical combat, using brute strength and speed, its combat power was impressive.
It was generally stronger than a one-star Evolving person, and even some two-star Evolving persons without skills or primary professions would struggle against it.
Despite having been reborn, William was still amazed by the power of the Human Puppetry spell. He realized he had missed out on a lot of good stuff in his previous life.
With such a powerful helper, William fought more effortlessly. However, the Iron Corpse, though strong, was too fierce in battle. The clothes William had just found for it were already in tatters, covered in blood and flesh.
"Let's go!" William ordered, sensing the increasing number of zombies around.
The group didn't linger, climbing back up the ropes to the wall. Once William was up, they quickly retracted the ropes.
The Iron Corpse simply used its hands to climb up the rubble-formed wall in a few moves.
William briefly explained the Iron Corpse to everyone. After processing the fact, they were once again amazed by William's mysterious abilities.
With the first experience under their belts, the group became more adept at collecting the Magic Crystals. By dawn, they had almost collected all the Magic Crystals around the wall. Back at the base, they counted their haul and felt they had struck it rich.
They had collected over 1,300 level-one Magic Crystals and more than twenty level-two Magic Crystals!
The Magic Crystals on the table made everyone's eyes light up.
These things were like money; even if you already had some, you couldn't help but want more.
"David, go try your luck and see how many Evolution Elixirs you can get," William said.
David was thrilled. Spinning the wheel was a favorite pastime in the apocalypse, and this future Magic Crystal weapon master was no exception. He happily went to spin the wheel, with Jack, Natalie, and even Lucy joining in the fun.
Half an hour later, they returned, laughing and bringing back twenty bottles of one-star Evolution Elixir and a large box of useful items.
On average, it took about sixty Magic Crystals to get a bottle of Evolution Elixir, which was pretty good luck.
Next, it was time for the twenty-some level-two Magic Crystals to be used. Everyone was eager, as they had never spun the level-two wheel before.
