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Slowly waking up, I turned my head to the side and saw a beautiful face beside me. Still feeling tired, I closed my eyes again, ready to fall back asleep—before it suddenly hit me.
There had been no one beside me when I went to sleep.
My eyes snapped open. I jolted upright in bed and quickly looked around the room.
Noticing that Lin Xian wasn't in the room and that Chen Sixuan was still sleeping on the sofa—occupying the entire thing—I immediately understood what had happened. Lin Xian must have placed her in my bed, since it was the only place left with space.
I checked the time and noticed it was almost 15:00, with the sun just about to rise.
Taking advantage of the moment, I opened my panel and examined my new abilities.
---
[Drakkon Uchiha]
[Uchiha Bloodline]: Lv1 — XP: 349/500
[Strength]: Lv2 — XP: 000/500
[Speed]: Lv2 — XP: 200/600
[Defense]: Lv1 — XP: 25/50
[Skills]
[Great Fireball Jutsu]: Lv2 — XP: 398/500
[Multiple Shadow Clones]: Lv1 — XP: 030/900
— Use chakra to create shadow clones. The clones possess only the chakra assigned to them. They cannot generate or recover chakra. After five minutes, the clones begin consuming their own chakra to maintain their existence. The longer they remain active, the more chakra is consumed to sustain them. Clones do not transfer attribute gains through training. However, all accumulated memories are returned to the original upon dispersal without restriction.
[Passives]
[Chakra Control]: Lv2 — XP: 368/700
[Sharingan]: Lv1 — XP: 000/300
— The Sharingan is the bloodline limit of the Uchiha clan. The current level represents the host's mastery over the bloodline. Higher Uchiha bloodline levels make awakening advanced stages easier and reduce the chakra cost. Currently at 1 Tomoe, it can be raised up to 3 Tomoe even without bloodline progression. However, higher stages require surpassing special bloodline levels.
---
I studied the new information carefully.
The Multiple Shadow Clones jutsu wasn't exactly the same as in the anime. Since it clearly stated that I didn't gain attribute improvements from their training, that probably meant there was still a chance that at higher levels they might transmit attributes—maybe not physical ones, but perhaps mental or technical gains.
But at my current level, that clearly wasn't possible.
As for the Sharingan… if I understood correctly, the levels corresponded to the tomoe stages of the Sharingan itself. However, the Uchiha bloodline level didn't represent tomoe—it represented how easy it would be to obtain them. Most likely it would reduce the required XP.
I grabbed my chin and rubbed it thoughtfully.
If that's the case… what happens at bloodline levels 3, 6, and 9?
Would there be a fundamental change? More power? The Mangekyō Sharingan?
Or would it simply unlock the level cap of the Sharingan?
Thinking about it now was pointless. I could keep guessing forever and still be wrong. Most likely, everything would reveal itself naturally as time passed.
Besides that, through yesterday's battle, my abilities had improved far faster than when I trained them or used them against weak zombies.
Maybe it had something to do with the real pressure I faced.
I also couldn't ignore something else I noticed. Even when Lin Xian and I had the same Strength level, I still seemed physically stronger than him.
It made sense.
People's bodies weren't identical. If a skinny person and a muscular one both had Strength Level 1, they wouldn't be completely equal.
That probably meant the higher the level, the more bottlenecks would appear, increasing the XP requirements.
Realizing there was no point thinking further, I quietly got out of bed. Careful not to wake Chen Sixuan, I pulled the blanket back over her before leaving the room.
I walked to the second carriage.
There, I found Lin Xian staring out the window toward the border between the cities—specifically the area between Lu City and Ding Prefecture.
Those regions had vanished the moment the apocalypse began. Now they were permanently shrouded in shifting shades of gray and black, like a land trapped beneath an eternal polar night.
"We were pretty lucky to be in Jiang City instead of Lu, right?" I said from behind him.
He jumped slightly, clearly startled that he hadn't noticed me approaching.
"You waking up early? That must really mean the end of the world." He smirked. "So what woke you up so early? A white ghost?"
"Haha… I almost had a heart attack after waking up with a girl beside me."
"It's not like you didn't enjoy it." He gave me a mischievous, accusing grin. "I even made things easier for your future happy life."
"Anyway," I said quickly, changing the subject, "what's the plan? Are we going to get an electric locomotive from some warehouse or something?"
"Yes." He nodded. "We'll go after an electric locomotive. We'll follow the Jiangyu line—it merges with these tracks."
I nodded even though I had no idea where that was. I had never memorized any maps.
At that moment, I felt the train begin to move.
It was clear Lin Xian wanted to leave immediately. We only had about three hours of sunlight per day now, and tomorrow there would be even less.
"So… could you make me another reinforced machete and a few kunai?" I asked casually. "I… used quite a lot yesterday."
Without hesitation, he pointed to a corner.
There, I saw twenty-nine kunai and two reinforced machetes neatly stacked.
"I figured you'd ask," he said. "So I made them while standing guard last night. I even made an extra one as backup… since someone likes to spend them like consumables."
I quickly stored most of them in my inventory space, leaving only one machete strapped to my waist.
As the train rolled along the rails, I looked outside. Buildings surrounded us—we were already on the outskirts of the city. Ahead lay the main exit route.
At that moment, Mrs. Chen entered with an embarrassed expression.
"Sorry, Lin Xian," she said. "I ended up sleeping the whole night instead of taking turns with you. I'll do more today, I promise. Just… don't send me outside."
Her cheeks were slightly red.
"Don't worry," Lin Xian replied calmly. "I had things to do anyway. Yesterday was hard for everyone. Besides, I'll need your help soon."
He pointed toward the front.
"When we reach the station, I'll need you to help me connect the new locomotive. It'll be difficult to do it alone."
She nodded seriously and began carefully memorizing every instruction he gave—how to help with the coupling, what to do, and the order everything would happen.
As we finally exited the city and passed beside the main highway, we saw the true hell outside.
A sea of cars stretched endlessly, packed so tightly there wasn't a single gap between them.
Blood stains covered the road.
In many places, bodies were visible. Nearly every car was smeared with dried blood.
Seeing the scene, it was easy to understand what had happened.
Everyone had tried to flee at the same time.
What should have been an escape route had turned into a slaughterhouse.
"Those who already left… were the ones who managed to escape," Lin Xian said as he stepped beside me, also staring outside. "No one can leave the city anymore—unless they have transportation and know a hidden route."
Soon Chen Sixuan joined us, staring at the horrifying landscape with clear pity in her eyes.
"This place turned into a massacre," she whispered. "Look at the condition of those cars… it was clearly some kind of anomaly."
I nodded while scanning the distant hills, where several zombies wandered aimlessly.
"Look! A train!"
"Hey! Wait for me! Please!"
"Let me get on! I have supplies!"
"Close the window! The zombies will notice us!"
As we passed the outskirts, people started noticing the moving train.
They screamed desperately from their houses, waving their arms and begging for a chance to escape.
Some even threw stones, trying to get our attention.
Watching the frantic survivors shouting and waving hysterically, Chen Sixuan asked nervously:
"Do you think they'll try to rob us?"
"There are good reasons they want to stop us," Lin Xian replied with absolute certainty.
"Yeah… they're desperate," I said while watching the chaos outside. "People will do anything to survive. Sometimes humans are worse than monsters."
"At least monsters are predictable."
He nodded.
Zombies were predictable.
Anomalies attacked when they sensed you.
But survivors could lie, manipulate, deceive.
They were knives hidden in the dark.
Just like the Third Rule of the Apocalypse said:
Resources are scarce. It's not uncommon for people to fight to the death over supplies.
"Lin…" Chen Sixuan's soft voice suddenly called.
Her gaze remained fixed outside—specifically upward.
That drew our attention.
Snowflakes had begun to fall.
"Is it already winter?" she asked in confusion. "That doesn't make sense…"
We all knew winter was still months away.
"Damn it…" Lin Xian muttered under his breath.
He immediately understood what this meant.
It was the beginning of natural disasters caused by climate alteration—especially the cold.
In the modern world, it might not seem like a big problem.
But in the apocalypse…
Cold meant scarcity.
People burned more energy to stay warm, which meant they needed to eat more.
The train would consume more energy.
If temperatures dropped too low, we'd need a heating system—and even an ice breaker installed at the front of the train if snow began accumulating on the tracks.