Volume One, Chapter 15: There Will Always Be a Time to Find You

After packing away the cylindrical cargo hold, Zhang Wei continued to open the source crystals. Perhaps due to the early stages of the mechanical arrival, the advanced source crystals revealed little equipment—except for the last two crystals dropped by the mutant creatures, which surprisingly contained only experience points.

“Is my luck really this bad?” Zhang Wei’s mood soured. Even in his previous life, which was miserable, he never had such terrible luck.

“Let’s see if you’ll drop something worthwhile.” Zhang Wei pinned his last hope on the remaining two source crystals.

“Open.”

“Ding, skill acquired: Death Laser.”

Zhang Wei grinned instantly. “Finally, a good drop.”

“Keep going.”

“Ding, obtained exceptional external armor: Reinforced Alloy Armor.”

“So it really has to be from mutants,” Zhang Wei said with satisfaction, pleased with the loot from these two crystals.

“Learning Death Laser.”

“Ding, successfully learned Death Laser.”

Death Laser: An active skill that attacks multiple targets in a straight line.

“This must have come from the mutant mechanical deer. Not bad,” Zhang Wei nodded approvingly. The Death Laser skill could serve as a ranged attack, compensating for his own shortcomings.

Moreover, this Death Laser resembled the electromagnetic beam of the mutant mechanical deer—it could not only destroy targets but also paralyze them.

“Equip Reinforced Alloy Armor.”

Exceptional Reinforced Alloy Armor
Combat Power +30
Durability: 500

“Not bad,” Zhang Wei remarked.

All armor could adapt to the mech’s size. Compared to the Death Laser skill, the armor seemed underwhelming; the combat power increase was average at best for Zhang Wei.

However, armor primarily provided defense, so a modest combat power boost was understandable.

The armor’s defensive capability depended on its quality and materials. Reinforced alloy was considered decent in the early apocalypse, capable of withstanding attacks from ordinary mechanical creatures.

Durability represented the wear on the external armor. If it dropped too low, the armor’s defense would be severely compromised.

“The mech’s level has risen to 19. The upgrade speed is quite fast. At this rate, I might reach level 30 today,” Zhang Wei mused.

Reaching level 30 would allow the mech to undergo its second evolution.

Zhang Wei had imagined smooth sailing, but he never expected it to go this well.

On the first day of the apocalypse, completing the first two mech evolutions was something unimaginable before his rebirth.

With this thought, Zhang Wei quickly stood up.

He had absorbed all the ordinary source crystals, restoring his mech’s power to ninety percent, and the numbness in his arms had vanished.

“No more source crystals left,” he muttered as he ventured deeper into the zoo.

At this moment, Zhang Wei truly had no crystals left—no intermediate or advanced ones, only some ordinary crystals remained.

Collecting source crystals was an urgent priority.

After walking a short distance, Zhang Wei entered the fox enclosure.

But there wasn’t a single fox in sight.

“That’s odd,” Zhang Wei wondered.

As he ventured further into the zoo, his confusion deepened.

The zebra enclosure, giraffe enclosure, hippo enclosure—all were completely empty, not a single mechanical creature in sight.

“Could they have all been wiped out by the mechanical beasts in the predator zone?” Zhang Wei’s mind churned with suspicion. Without lingering in the herbivore zones, he headed straight for the predator area.

Predators were inherently bloodthirsty and ferocious, and after transforming into mechanical creatures, their combat strength far exceeded that of herbivorous mechanical beasts. That was why Zhang Wei had saved them for last.

But when Zhang Wei entered the predator enclosure, his confusion turned into fury.

“Where did all the creatures go?”

To Zhang Wei’s surprise, the predator zone was also deserted—not a single mechanical creature could be found.

Zhang Wei had planned to harvest more source crystals to trigger his mech’s second evolution, but now, this unexpected event had occurred.

No creatures remained.

How could evolution happen now?

In truth, the mechanical creatures were all alive—they had just escaped from the zoo.

While Zhang Wei was slaughtering the monkey group, some mechanical creatures had sensed his presence.

After he wiped out the crocodile group, some of the mechanical creatures chose to flee.

Even those that had not mutated retained a survival instinct to avoid danger.

Moreover, the mutant mechanical creatures possessed near-human intelligence.

They not only understood how to survive in this perilous world but also how to avoid potential threats.

Initially, only about half of the mechanical creatures fled, but after Zhang Wei eliminated the mutant mechanical deer skilled in using abilities, all the creatures banded together and escaped.

Faced with an unbeatable killer, would they just wait to die?

If Zhang Wei hadn’t wasted time opening source crystals after Zhang Tao left, he might have caught some mechanical creatures.

But now, it was too late.

They had all fled.

“Let’s see where you think you can run off to,” Zhang Wei muttered, certain the mechanical creatures were not dead.

There were hardly any mechanical remains in these enclosures, and in his previous life, countless lives had been sacrificed to eradicate these mechanical creatures.

Now, since he hadn’t attacked them, they must still be alive—they had simply left the zoo.

“As long as they don’t escape Chuan City, I’ll run into them eventually.”

With that, Zhang Wei turned and walked away.

What was the point of staying here without any mechanical creatures?

Although Zhang Wei looked down on the weak mechanical creatures roaming the city, cutting them down still yielded some benefits—it was better than doing nothing.

“By the way, should I go check on those two bastards?” Without any monsters to kill, Zhang Wei suddenly thought of Han Xiao and Han Xu.

“I’ll go have a look.”

Zhang Wei decided that if those two were doing well, he would find some fun for them.

If they were living miserably, he would seriously consider adding to their misery.

In any case, with nothing else to do, collecting source crystals by clearing mechanical creatures along the way was a good plan.

Leaving the zoo, Zhang Wei didn’t run but walked at a steady pace down the street.

Though the city was still chaotic, obstacles were few.

Gone were the bustling crowds of the past; only scattered mechanical creatures prowled, hunting humans.

Zhang Wei witnessed some people being chased but showed no intention of intervening. He was no saint—in this apocalypse, everyone’s life and death depended on their own strength; if they died, it wasn’t anyone else’s fault.

Only when mechanical creatures dared to provoke him directly would he unleash his cold, ruthless methods.

Though Zhang Wei attacked infrequently, his sharp and decisive strikes had not gone unnoticed.