Zhang Chen had a multitude of questions for this batch of survivors who had appeared out of nowhere.
Higman, even when he had the advantage just moments ago, had foolishly answered his questions.
Now that he was alone, communication would be even simpler.
"Don't... don't kill me... Big Brother, I... I'm valuable to you!"
"Although I don't know anything about a lighthouse key, I can provide you with clues!"
"I'll tell you everything I know!"
Higman quickly pledged his loyalty.
Having been accustomed to servitude, he instinctively resumed a slave-like posture when facing a stronger individual.
"Let's keep him under guard for now!"
Zhang Chen said.
Immediately, four clones stepped forward and escorted Higman to an open space beside the plaza.
The four of them stood guard around Higman, one at each corner.
With Zhang Chen in charge and the overwhelming military advantage of ninety-nine clones, Higman had no chance of escape unless he wanted to be severely beaten.
Zhang Chen didn't rush the interrogation. He left Higman to rest for a while, giving him time to consider what high-value intelligence could earn him more time to live.
He then went to the controlled infected and killed them one by one!
Survivors who were converted into infected had a slight reduction in the number of crystal cores within their bodies, but they did not directly become like the infected.
This was why, when he killed zombies earlier, some ordinary zombies would drop several crystal cores.
It was because they were survivors who had been infected and transformed.
Zhang Chen still gained a significant amount of crystal cores from killing the infected, but the total amount was discounted, resulting in a slight loss.
Ding! Auto-collection successful, a total of [Energy Gathering Crystal Cores] *415,000 + 95,000 (Light Blessing bonus), [Energy Crystal Cores] *7,830,000, [Dark Red Rings] *73, [Unidentifiable Skills] *24...
What remained were the food, water, and various daily necessities that these survivors had just collected.
These survivors were indeed very different from Zhang Chen and his group.
This was the first time he had collected so many [Dark Red Rings]!
[Unidentifiable Skills]: These skills were obscure, and the system could not read them at all.
It seemed that these non-combat skills, like the dark red rings, were unique to Higman's group, and he could not use them at all.
However, the [Energy Crystal Cores] and [Energy Gathering Crystal Cores] that dropped from them were indeed substantial.
Over five hundred thousand [Energy Gathering Crystal Cores] and nearly eight million [Energy Crystal Cores]!
This was a solid haul!
This was Zhang Chen's most bountiful harvest to date!
Looking at it this way, it seemed that the upgrade for a Transformed individual was very simple.
In reality, Zhang Chen had just slaughtered over seventy survivors whose combat power was comparable to his own.
The six-fold upgrade attribute bonus, coupled with the power of three divine-tier talents and ninety-nine clones, Little White, and Fatty Two, made it possible.
If Zhang Chen were alone, he could definitely win, but annihilating them completely would be impossible.
Looking at the entire world, no survivor would dare claim they had the strength to slaughter a camp of seventy Transformed individuals.
Transformed individuals were different from Awakened individuals.
Awakened individuals, due to their singular skills, had a clear advantage in strength for every level higher.
But Transformed individuals were different; many Transformed individuals possessed control-type skills.
A few survivors with control skills could unleash a barrage of control effects, and then their teammates could attack targets that were under control and completely unable to resist.
Such coordinated attacks were something even a powerful individual could not withstand.
Therefore, Zhang Chen, as a mid-level Transformed individual, killing an entire camp of survivors whose strength ranged from early to mid-level Transformed individuals was definitely a feat that could be recorded in history.
And most importantly... although some of these seventy-plus individuals were killed by Fatty Two, some by Little White, and quite a few by the clones, they did not need to absorb crystal cores to grow.
This completely allowed Zhang Chen to feast on everything.
It was as if the entire camp had pooled their crystal cores to allow Zhang Chen to upgrade alone.
How could his upgrades not be fast?
Ding! Current level: Divine.
Ding! A new divine-tier derivative talent has appeared!
As Zhang Chen obtained new talent points,
The Light and Dark talents, which had already been maxed out, simultaneously extended a line of golden and black energy.
They then intertwined in the gray area.
Following this, the second divine-tier derivative talent gradually revealed itself:
[Ice Crystal Annihilation] 0/1: Any survivor whose level is lower than the skill user, and any mutated creature or infected that can be instantly killed by the skill user, will instantly turn into a mass of ice crystals and shatter to death upon activation of the skill.
Hiss...
Looking at this skill, Zhang Chen couldn't help but marvel.
The divine-tier skills in the gray talent tree were all extremely overpowered abilities.
The first derivative talent was [Soul Grasp]. Zhang Chen relied on lucky cards combined with this skill to easily kill enemies he couldn't defeat.
This new skill was equally outrageously powerful!
As long as he kept upgrading frantically and maintained the highest level in the world,
Then all survivors in the world would be a mere snap of his fingers away from death.
No matter how many enemies there were, or what strange abilities they possessed, as long as their level was not higher than Zhang Chen's, they would die directly without any explanation, without the slightest hint of suspense!
Overpowered, too overpowered!
Upgrade talent [Ice Crystal Annihilation]!
Ding! Derivative talent has been lit, unlocking the mid-level Transformed individual talent tree! Current remaining talent points: 4, can upgrade one talent.
Light Talent:
[Divine Radiance] 0/3: A powerful divine energy envelops the target (the higher the level, the larger the body size of the creatures that can be enveloped), continuously dealing 100%/200%/300% burning damage for 30 seconds. During this period, if the target comes into contact with any hostile target, the burning effect will be transmitted. Each transmission will cause damage to decay by 10%/5%/1%!
[Holy Light Bodyguard]: 0/1: Consume crystal cores within the body to gain the duration of the Holy Light Bodyguard. During the duration, the user is immune to all damage. The longer the duration, the more crystal cores consumed.
At the current stage, activating the Holy Light Bodyguard requires consuming 10,000 [Energy Gathering Crystal Cores] for 1.5 seconds of invincibility.
For every additional 0.1 seconds of duration, 5,000 [Energy Gathering Crystal Cores] are consumed. After the invincibility exceeds 3 seconds, the consumption increases significantly over time.
Cooldown: 1 hour.
Dark Talent:
[Void Walk] 0/1: The user can enter darkness or shadows to enter observer mode. During this period, combat cannot be initiated, but the user can enter any dark or shadowed area. Combat state cannot activate the Void Walk skill.
[Bloodlust Slaughter]: 0/3, for every 3/2/1 high-level infected/high-level mutated creatures of the current stage killed, all attributes are permanently increased by 0.1%, with no upper limit to growth.
The requirement for high-level infected/mutated creatures at the current stage is Level V or above.