Chapter 28: The Uninvited Guest!

Listening to Qiao Jun’s explanation, Chen Chong finally gained a rough understanding of these so-called Awakeners.

Among ordinary people, the rate of Awakener emergence was less than one percent. The entire Dawn Gathering Place had nearly three thousand people, but only around a dozen or two Awakeners. Within the range of 1 to 100 units, the level of Life Field Intensity also divided Awakeners of the same stage into different tiers. An Awakener like him, whose Life Field Intensity had just reached 10 units, was only in the weakest tier.

In Chen Chong’s understanding, Life Field Intensity was like the internal power in martial arts novels, while the Gene Lock was equivalent to one’s cultivation realm. No matter how high one’s internal power, it couldn’t be unleashed without the corresponding cultivation realm. Only when the two worked together could they unleash extraordinary power.

According to Qiao Jun, although no one knew how to unlock the Gene Lock, the main way to increase Life Field Intensity was surprisingly straightforward:

It was eating!

However, this “eating” did not refer to ordinary food, but to certain special fruits in the Wilderness. These fruits contained abundant life energy, and whether consumed by ordinary people or Awakeners, they would strengthen one’s Life Field Intensity. Such fruits were called Spiritual Fruits. If ordinary people consumed them over a long period, there was a slight chance of a later-life awakening. Therefore, their value was very high. In a gathering place where currency had long been reduced to waste paper, they were a hard currency accepted everywhere.

Qiao Jun even generously took out a fruit the size of a longan from his pack and handed it to Chen Chong.

It was a cyan fruit emitting an alluring glow. The moment Chen Chong took it, he could smell a faint, elusive fragrance. Chen Chong examined it carefully and recalled seeing similar fruits during his escape through the Wilderness. However, he had been pressed for time back then and couldn’t determine if they were poisonous, so he had ignored them.

“Is eating, such a backward method, the only way to strengthen oneself?”

Handing the Spiritual Fruit back to Qiao Jun, Chen Chong thought of the Main God in his mind, and then of the three martial arts he was preparing to cultivate: [Ultimate Infinite Qigong], [Vajra Indestructible Divine Art], and [Qi Blast Cannon Fist]. His heart surged with excitement:

Without a doubt, in this bizarre world of collapsed order, he, who possessed the Main God, held an unprecedented, immense advantage!

Seeing Chen Chong fall silent for a moment, Qiao Jun assumed he was still thinking about the Gene Lock and shook his head, saying:

“Friend, there’s no need to reach for what is beyond your grasp. Although we weren’t born Awakeners and awakened too late, with limited potential, we are lucky enough compared to ordinary people. Surviving is the most important thing. You don’t need to think too far ahead.”

“The captain is right, kid. You’re plenty lucky enough.”

At that moment, a short, stocky middle-aged Scavenger, whose ears were nowhere to be seen and whose face was weathered by hardship, stretched out a hand with only three fingers left in the moonlight. He grinned and said:

“This old man is forty this year. Before the Great Cataclysm, I was a handsome young man just like you. It’s a pity that for the eighteen years since the Cataclysm, I never managed to become an Awakener, and now I’ve ended up looking like this ghastly mess. Look at me—don’t you still feel lucky?”

Eighteen years after the Great Cataclysm?

Chen Chong’s heart stirred, but on the surface, he immediately furrowed his brow, pretending to be deep in thought.

“The Cataclysm broke out in the year 2000 AD, the millennium year. You must have been just a little baby back then. An endless sea of beasts, nuclear bombs detonating one after another… those were truly days of despair…”

The Scavenger who had spoken earlier chewed on a dry twig, leaning against the ruins and looking up at the sky. His eyes flickered with anger at times, and melancholy at others:

“Now, the Wilderness zones around the gathering place have long been dug up three feet deep and explored seven or eight times over. If we want any gains, we have to go deeper into the Wilderness, which is also more dangerous. This old man is forty now; my strength is starting to fail me. If it weren’t for the captain, no team would want an old fellow like me. I wonder how much longer I can hold on… If only this old man were an Awakener too…”

Captain Qiao Jun frowned: “Old Li, why bring this up?”

The middle-aged man called Old Li suddenly realized, and then said apologetically, “Sorry, Captain. With age, I’ve become sentimental. I won’t say any more.”

Not just Qiao Jun, but all the Scavengers fell silent, seemingly stirred by Old Li’s words. A deep silence fell over the ruins.

At that moment, Chen Chong lowered his eyes, but his heart was far from calm.

“The year 2000 AD, 18 years after the Great Cataclysm… This is the year 2018, in another parallel space-time Earth…”

In fact, not long after transmigrating and finding himself in prison, Chen Chong had discovered that his current body’s build and appearance were almost identical to his original self, yet had subtle differences, as if he was a version of himself from another space-time. Combined with the prison inmates sharing the same ethnicity and language, he had suspected that he might have arrived in a possible parallel space-time.

And now, he could finally confirm it.

This was a post-apocalyptic nuclear wasteland world after a Great Cataclysm.

Why had he come to this parallel space-time? Was it coincidence, or something else? Why was the Main God inside him broken? If he collected more Main God Fragments, besides restoring more of the Main God’s abilities, would it also turn against him and take over?

A series of questions instantly bubbled up in Chen Chong’s mind.

However, after these thoughts spun in his head for just a moment, Chen Chong cast them aside. Right now, his life was precarious. Ensuring his own survival was the most important thing. These questions were not for his current self to consider.

The sky had completely darkened. Under the faint moonlight, visibility was dim. Apart from the two Scavengers on night watch, everyone leaned against the walls to avoid the cold wind. Chen Chong couldn’t help but shrink his body back.

He was wearing only a prison uniform. Although the Ultra Divine Water had stimulated his potential, it did little to help against the cold.

To distract himself and ease the atmosphere, Chen Chong was the first to break the silence, asking Qiao Jun:

“I heard Captain Qiao mention the Blood General earlier. Is he really a general?”

Qiao Jun, in low spirits, replied somewhat coldly:

“What general? That title is self-proclaimed, just a way to make himself look good. But I’ll give you a piece of advice: if you encounter the Blood General in the Wilderness, it’s best to turn and run immediately. Otherwise, you’ll be on your own. Compared to…”

“Hmm? It seems someone out in this desolate wilderness knows my name. I am truly deeply honored.”

A voice rang out abruptly, making the rest of Qiao Jun’s words stick in his throat. His expression instantly stiffened!

Hearing this voice, not just him, but the other several Scavengers all trembled violently!

Because a blood-red phantom, bathed in moonlight, had suddenly appeared in the ruins, watching them.

This phantom-like figure was tall and slender. By the moonlight’s help, one could vaguely see the newcomer was a pale-faced, sinister-looking middle-aged man. He wore military boots and a crimson military coat, adorned with white bone decorations. His pair of eyes released a faint, eerie red glow in the dimness, watching everyone present in the ruins as if they were a flock of lambs awaiting slaughter.

Qiao Jun’s eye twitched, and he clenched his teeth, spitting out three words:

“Blood, Gen, eral!”

At the same moment Qiao Jun uttered those three words, Chen Chong also sharply turned his head to get a clear look at this sudden uninvited guest. All the hairs on his body instantly stood on end!