Chapter 27: The Plan (4/5)

After stepping out of the portal of light, Zhu Liang was still smoking. Yang Fan didn’t waste time with unnecessary words. He simply sat down at the table, pulled out a sheet of paper, and began to scrawl strange markings across it. Zhu Liang glanced over, seeing only a mess of lines and scratches, unable to decipher their meaning.

In truth, no one would have understood them—Yang Fan’s scribbling was a way of thinking, a method to process the imminent events.

Nine days from now, the Mutant Beasts would appear, compounding humanity’s crisis. Nineteen days later, the Insect Swarm would descend and conquer the world. Without a powerful enough team, survival would be impossible. So first, he had to form a strong team; only then could he decide what to do next.

Yang Fan carefully took inventory of his equipment and attributes. With his current gear, he could just barely manage a fight against a Mutant Beast. If he encountered a slightly stronger one—a Silver-class Mutant Beast—he calculated that he could barely solo it. But if it were a Gold-class, he stood no chance unless he activated his skills.

There was no need to mention Dark Gold or Purple Gold-class Mutant Beasts, not to mention the Insect Swarm. Standing still was never an option—he had to push forward relentlessly.

Yang Fan wrestled with these thoughts through the night. By morning, he was just about to eat and drink when the Lady’s Painting informed him that all food had been requisitioned as training resources and was currently unavailable.

The implication was clear: his hard-earned food had been forcibly seized. Yang Fan was momentarily stunned. He hadn’t expected the Lady’s Painting to be so shameless. Still, there was no point quarreling with someone smiling at you—especially not when it was technically his own possession. Yang Fan could only sigh, hoping that the Lady’s Painting would at least produce a group of women with strong combat instincts.

Apologetically, Yang Fan took out a piece of quality bread for Zhu Liang, but with no water, they were thrown back to revolutionary times—hard bread and nothing to wash it down.

One loaf was enough for a meal. Yang Fan and Zhu Liang each ate one; Yang Fan gained a three-point attribute boost, while Zhu Liang wasn’t so lucky.

“Did you change classes?” Yang Fan asked. He’d already handed Zhu Liang a class transfer contract earlier, so he inquired while thinking of other matters.

“Warrior,” Zhu Liang replied flatly.

Nothing remarkable—just a standard class. Yang Fan nodded, handed him a set of basic attribute potions (each increasing stats by about five to eight points), which was decent enough.

“Let’s go.” Suddenly, Yang Fan got up and called to Zhu Liang, who was caught off guard. “Where are we going?” Zhu Liang asked.

“To the Bai Lian Supermarket. We’re out of water, and the bread is too heavy on the stomach, hard to manage without something to drink.”

Zhu Liang trailed behind, puzzled; he didn’t realize the Lady’s Painting had locked away their food supplies. “Don’t we have food?” he asked as they exited.

Just then, hurried footsteps and ragged breathing echoed through the corridor.

“Be careful.” Even though Yang Fan could now dispatch Mother Zombies in an instant, he still preferred caution. The Thunderblade appeared in his hand as a sharp-faced man burst through the iron door—black-haired, bespectacled, flecked with blood, his entire demeanor screaming exhaustion and panic.

Yang Fan recognized him instantly—Chen Ming.

“Damn, you’re Chen Ming—damn!”

Yang Fan stared in shock at the pale and frantic man.

Chen Ming, panicked and clumsy, crawled toward them. Seeing the locked iron gate, he wailed, “Help me! Please help me, I’ll get on my knees if you want, just save my life, I beg you!”

He didn’t even hear Yang Fan’s words, too caught up in his own terror. He’d had enough—he was terrified. In the past couple of days, he’d watched all his friends get torn apart by zombies, even seen a few girls in utter despair throw themselves from the upper floors, their bodies splattering grotesquely on the ground.

After all the bloodshed, Chen Ming was nearly broken.

Yang Fan understood perfectly. In his previous life, he’d been just as traumatized. People like Liu Qiaoqiao and Zhu Liang avoided such madness only because they’d stuck with him and hadn’t been so badly frightened. Chen Ming’s reaction was much more typical.

“Don’t panic. Don’t panic,” Yang Fan reassured him, realizing he’d lost his composure. He swung the Thunderblade, cleaving through the iron gate. Immediately, several Mother Zombies appeared—two or three at least. Who knew what Chen Ming had done to attract so many?

But these creatures were nothing now. The Thunderblade flashed like lightning, cutting down the first. Yang Fan vaulted the half-meter barrier, kicking one Mother Zombie into the air, then pressed the blade to another’s head and sliced through it as though it were tofu.

A head thudded to the ground.

More Mother Zombies rushed in. Yang Fan moved like a thunderbolt, his blade drawing a straight line as two more heads fell.

Finally, he charged, his fist glowing with red energy. With a burst of force, he turned the last zombie’s head to powder.

Four zombies, eliminated in an instant.

“Amazing… truly amazing…” Chen Ming stood dumbfounded.

Yang Fan grinned at him. Perhaps no one else knew who this man was, but Yang Fan certainly did.

The Apocalypse System: on the tenth day, Mutant Beasts appear; on the twentieth day, the Insect Swarm arrives. When the Insect Swarm appears, a forum system will activate—connecting survivors across the city.

Back then, someone posted a thread called “The Final Summoner.”

The protagonist was none other than this very Chen Ming. The video showed a team nearly wiped out by a second-tier Gold-class Insect. It was a tragic scene. In the end, the summoner, desperate, called out a summons—a golden-haired monkey that obliterated the Gold-class Insect with a single blow.

That video racked up tens of millions of views. The contrast was too striking: a bizarrely summoned Mutant Beast single-handedly smashing a second-tier Gold-class Insect. For reference, a tier-two Mutant Beast or Insect had at least forty times the ability of a normal person. The Insect Swarm could reach fifty or sixty times, Black Iron eighty, Bronze a hundred, Silver a hundred and fifty, and Gold three hundred times.

Some speculated that monkey was a third-tier Gold-class Mutant Beast.

Yet Chen Ming was only a first-tier Summoner.

That’s why he became known as the most unexpected Summoner of all.