Chapter 17: Candor

Jiang Yi gritted his teeth and hurried forward. “Wait, there’s one more important thing!”

Under Guo Hanxue’s strange gaze, Jiang Yi excitedly picked up the head of the advanced-level zombie. But the moment his eyes landed on the forehead, he froze. The red dot that should have been embedded there had vanished, leaving only a small void!

Not only that, the head in Jiang Yi’s hand seemed to have shriveled up, wrinkled and significantly lighter. Guo Hanxue also noticed that the headless corpse had somehow become shriveled as well.

“Strange, where’s the core?” Jiang Yi anxiously searched the ground beneath them, even splitting open the head to look inside.

No matter how hard he looked, he couldn’t find the coveted zombie core!

Guo Hanxue asked puzzled, “What are you looking for?”

Jiang Yi wiped the sweat from his forehead, desperate. “The zombie core. I’m looking for the zombie core.”

He pointed to the small hole on the zombie’s head. “Remember? There was a red spot here before. It can’t be gone—it should still be there.”

Guo Hanxue thought carefully and suddenly recalled: Indeed, there had been a red spot at the zombie’s brow. She had assumed it was some kind of decoration the person had worn before turning.

Seeing Jiang Yi’s expression, she grew curious about what exactly it was. Jiang Yi didn’t hesitate to explain—it wasn’t a secret. “You should’ve noticed this zombie was tough to deal with because it’s an advanced-level zombie. Its hallmark is that red dot on the forehead. That’s not decoration; it’s the zombie core, which has formed and protrudes through the skin.”

As they searched, Jiang Yi explained the purpose of the zombie core.

Hearing that the core could enhance supernatural abilities, even Guo Hanxue felt a keen urgency to find it.

Unfortunately, their efforts were in vain. Jiang Yi wanted to tear up the ground, but no core-like object appeared.

Exhausted and injured, they had no choice but to give up.

Guo Hanxue noticed many scrapes on Jiang Yi’s body and, seeing him clutch his ribs in pain, understood he was in bad shape. She forced him inside. “You go rest. I’ll keep looking.”

Jiang Yi was helpless; broken ribs made even breathing difficult. While leveling up could restore his condition to some extent, it couldn’t heal his wounds.

With the hospital gone, he had no idea how to treat his ribs.

Worried, Jiang Yi accepted Guo Hanxue’s care and leaned weakly on the bed, opening his status screen casually.

Level: 6 (10/64), Speed: 13, Defense: 7, Strength: 5.5, Spirit: 5.5, Constitution: 4.

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After reaching level 6, Jiang Yi’s stats had finally surpassed his previous peak, especially his speed, which was outstanding.

Satisfied, he was about to flip the page when a sharp movement tugged at his wound. He gasped but ignored the pain to inspect his status.

Why had his experience suddenly jumped by 10 points?

To reach level 6, he had only killed one advanced-level zombie after slaying a regular one. Could it be that killing an advanced-level zombie granted 10 experience points?

If so, the value of these advanced zombies was remarkable!

Jiang Yi felt a thrill. If this was true, defeating advanced-level zombies would yield far more experience than normal ones.

As for their terrifying power, he wasn’t overly concerned. Before a few days ago, not even ten of himself could handle one. But now, with Guo Hanxue, they could kill a complete advanced-level zombie. This meant he had truly grown stronger!

If he kept improving, it wouldn’t be long before he could take down one alone. Then, advanced zombies would be nothing more than walking experience bags.

The thought relieved the pressure Jiang Yi felt about accumulating experience.

Turning the page, he saw their trust level had reached 70%. Pleased, he closed the screen with a light chuckle. Apparently, revealing some secrets helped build trust between teammates.

Despite his excitement, he pressed on his ribs, anxiety creeping in. Such a severe injury would seriously hinder his future actions.

Not exaggerating, Jiang Yi no longer had the strength to even lift his blade.

Enduring the pain, he fished out some painkillers from his bag. As he reached for water, his system backpack appeared before him.

He paused, surprised to see a new red vial occupying the third slot of the backpack, marked with a “1” in the corner.

When had this appeared?

Curious, Jiang Yi took out the small bottle. It was about the size of a small blue bottle cap, a glass vial filled with a blood-red liquid, sealed with a tiny wooden stopper.

He summoned the screen to check it out. The description read: “Small Healing Potion: Extremely effective for treating external injuries! Drinking it quickly heals bodily damage...Note: This potion does not cure negative effects or diseases.”

A healing potion? Jiang Yi shuddered, sitting upright in bed, staring at the vial in shock. What kind of ability had he acquired that produced such game-like items?

But the healing potion was exactly what he needed. Without hesitation, he popped the stopper and downed it in one gulp, careful not to spill a drop.

The red liquid slid smoothly down his throat, surprisingly not bitter or harsh, but warm and sweet—like honey dissolved in warm water.

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Before Jiang Yi could savor it, the potion surged through his body.

He was stunned to feel invisible hands pushing his fractured ribs back into place. The breaks fused quickly.

Within two minutes, the three broken ribs had healed perfectly, and the bruises on his skin faded fast. Then, he watched in amazement as small scrapes on his hands and feet vanished.

Five or six minutes later, except for a few deeper wounds, Jiang Yi looked as if he had never been injured. Even the wounds beneath his clothes had crusted over and caused only faint pain, no longer hindering his movements.

Disbelieving, Jiang Yi jumped up and down with effort. His body truly felt restored.

Holding the vial tightly, he wanted to laugh to the heavens. With such a miraculous potion, he would never worry about injuries again!

“Wait…” Suddenly, the vial’s texture felt oddly familiar. Upon closer inspection, it wasn’t glass but something else—

“Zombie core?”

Besides the color, the vial’s texture was remarkably similar to a zombie core!

Jiang Yi’s face went blank as he recalled the missing core. “Could my ability be behind this?”

The more he thought, the more likely it seemed. Otherwise, how else to explain the appearance of the healing potion?

Exchanging a zombie core for a healing potion didn’t seem like a bad trade. What worried Jiang Yi was that future kills of advanced zombies might all have their cores taken and turned into potions by his ability.

If that happened, how would he collect cores for training?

Sadly, no zombies remained to test his theory.

Just then, Guo Hanxue pushed open the door, breaking his thoughts. Jiang Yi quickly slipped the vial into his pocket. The empty bottle miraculously returned to the system space.

Exhaling, knowing it was impossible to find the core now, Jiang Yi shook his head in resignation. “Forget it. It’s probably gone for good.”

Guo Hanxue, stunned to see Jiang Yi standing as if unharmed when earlier he couldn’t even stand, asked, “How are you standing now?”

Jiang Yi rolled his eyes. “Because I took the potion!”

Guo Hanxue shook her head. “Impossible. What kind of potion works that well?”

Jiang Yi sighed, knowing his transformation was hard to explain logically. She was his teammate, and they would be together a long time. Lying now might cause more trouble when the truth came out.

“This is my ability," he admitted. "After killing a zombie, my power turns the zombie core into healing potions. I just discovered it myself.”

He decided to be honest with those around him.

If he couldn’t trust his teammates, his ability would only make him more cautious and isolated.

Hearing this, Guo Hanxue was truly shocked. After seeing Jiang Yi pull a clean bottle of water out of his thin pocket, she stared in disbelief and finally said, “Jiang Yi, do you have a game system?”