Telepathy, as a special ability, was already incredibly powerful. Imagine standing opposite someone, and without them speaking a word, you could clearly understand their every thought.
In such a situation, one could quickly discern friend from foe, preventing ambushes from those with malicious intent hidden behind a friendly facade, and reducing the chances of falling into traps.
His immediate priority was no longer collecting supplies. Lacking any area-of-effect skills, he could only rely on basic hacking and slashing to kill zombies, which was inefficient for collecting large numbers of crystals.
Only by obtaining a substantial amount of crystals could he level up as quickly as possible.
Although these low-level crystals had little effect on advancing his rank after becoming a third-tier ability user, absorbing them in the initial stages could replenish the energy consumed by using his abilities.
Ability users did not have unlimited use of their powers. Once their abilities were depleted, they could only resort to close-quarters combat to kill zombies.
This was unless they were power-type ability users, who could sustain themselves for a short period even after their energy was exhausted.
However, ordinary ability users lacked both physical strength and close-combat prowess.
Therefore, an ability user whose energy was depleted would ultimately perish quickly when faced with a large horde of zombies, perhaps even transforming into an ability-user zombie.
Yes, zombies, like humans, were ordinary zombies in the initial days of the apocalypse.
But as crystals began to appear within them, they gradually evolved, much like humans.
The zombie ranks also saw the emergence of various ability-user zombies.
And after several years in the apocalypse, zombie hordes began to include Corpse Kings, formed through the cannibalism of their own kind.
Within the zombie ranks, a phenomenon of mutual consumption occurred. One zombie would devour another, and those zombies that consumed others had the potential to become Corpse Kings.
However, Corpse Kings did not gain the abilities of other ability users as he had with his contracted spirit animals.
A Corpse King's ability would merely double in strength, but it would only be a single type of ability.
After pondering for a while, Lu Heng re-planned his next course of action.
He had been soaking for some time, and the water temperature had dropped from its initial warmth.
With a splash, Lu Heng rose from the bathtub, his long legs stepping out. He picked up the nearby bath towel and tied it around his waist.
The temperature in the mountains in April was still quite low. Lu Heng dried himself with the towel and put on a pair of blue pajamas.
Looking at the various skincare products on the bathroom counter, Lu Heng chose a seaweed mask and applied it to his face.
He took a cup of ancient well water from his spatial storage and walked out of the bathroom, drinking as he went.
Lu Heng did not go to find the director. Ever since he learned that the director had not turned into a zombie cat, he had stopped confining it, allowing it to roam freely between the rooms.
Fortunately, since its evolution, the director's intelligence seemed to have improved significantly, and it never relieved itself anywhere other than in the litter box.
After finishing the cup of water, Lu Heng returned to the bedroom.
Lying on the bed, he pulled out his phone, found some music, and put on his headphones.
Within minutes, he sensed the director entering the room. Without opening his eyes, he felt a weight settle on the edge of the bed.
The director, treading lightly, walked across Lu Heng's body to his chest. Then, its front paws began to knead rhythmically, accompanied by a purring sound.
"Hmm, Technician Number Five has good technique. I'll give you an extra meal tomorrow."
After two songs, Lu Heng removed the mask from his face and opened his eyes, looking at the director still diligently kneading.
"Alright, I don't need a massage anymore." He gently held the director's body with both hands and placed it to the side of the bed.
Lu Heng did not choose to rest in his spatial storage, as the flow of time within the space was different from that of reality.
If he were to take a nap in the space now, he would likely wake up to find it still dark outside, forcing him to wait through the night for dawn.
He turned off the bedroom light, then got up to close and lock the door before finally embracing the director and falling into a deep sleep.
In the morning, Lu Heng was awakened by a wet, slippery sensation.
As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw the little cat lying on his pillow. One of its fluffy paws was extended towards his face, and it was lazily licking its paw. Occasionally, its rough tongue, with a bit of drool, would sweep across his chin.
Lu Heng thought, "...Director, you need to learn to brush your teeth."
It seemed he should get himself vaccinated against rabies when he had the chance, just in case.
Getting up, Lu Heng habitually brushed his teeth in the bathroom, with the director forced to watch him.
Lu Heng had just threatened it, saying that if it didn't brush its teeth from now on, it wouldn't be allowed to sleep on the bed anymore.
Hmph, as if it cared! It had its own soft cat bed.
The director flicked its tail, jumped off the bed, and swayed out of the bedroom.
Although he had absorbed a lot of crystals yesterday, he was still dozens short of reaching the second tier.
The further one advanced in ability tiers, the exponentially greater the number of crystals required. Lu Heng had to kill a large number of zombies to surpass other ability users.
Lu Heng pulled out the city map and began searching for densely populated areas.
The zombie outbreak typically occurred in the morning. At this time, most shopping malls or supermarkets were not yet open, and people were just waking up.
If he wanted to find places with many zombies, he would have to look for densely populated residential areas.
Lu Heng circled several residential complexes on the map that were close to the villa district, planning to check them out later.
Changing into clothes suitable for going out, Lu Heng drove away from the villa.
After driving a short distance along the winding mountain road, a black shadow flashed before Lu Heng's eyes.
Reacting instinctively, Lu Heng slammed on the brakes and cast a fearful glance at the hillside beside the road.
If he had swerved just now, he probably would have gone down the slope.
But what was that black shadow? It was moving so fast!
It shouldn't be a zombie; zombies hadn't evolved this kind of speed yet.
Sitting in the car, Lu Heng carefully observed his surroundings.
He did not turn off the engine. If it was a living creature, or perhaps a zombie animal, the sound of the engine would surely attract it again.
The space inside the car was a bit cramped, so Lu Heng only took out an automatic pistol.
In his previous life, he had also killed zombies with a pistol, and his marksmanship was still quite accurate.
As expected, the black shadow reappeared.
However, this time, the black shadow quickly zipped past the side of the car without stopping.
Lu Heng got out of the car and then quickly slipped into his spatial storage from beside the car door.
Within his space, he could clearly see the surrounding situation and hear all the sounds.
The most important quality of a good hunter was patience.
Standing in his space, Lu Heng held his pistol and waited.
As expected, he was not disappointed. Perhaps because the car's headlights were still on, an eagle flew directly towards them.
The eagle stopped about two meters from the front of the car and then circled the vehicle.
Presumably sensing no living beings around, it did not linger and quickly flew off in another direction.