After the Fireball experiment concluded, Chen Bugu spent another half an hour researching his ability: Cracking.
Based on the current situation, Cracking can open all encrypted items.
Things like the locks on treasure chests and the usage restrictions on skill orbs are, in fact, forms of encryption in different senses.
However, depending on the difficulty of the Decipher, the energy required to Decipher different forms of encryption also varies.
For instance, Deciphering the lock on a Black Iron Treasure Chest or a Fireball skill orb only requires 10 points of mental power.
Chen Bugu speculated that the above belong to relatively basic or simple forms of encryption, so they don't require much mental power.
So what constitutes a more advanced encryption method?
At least Chen Bugu had already encountered one.
Consciousness Space!
It's important to note that all 230 points of Chen Bugu's mental power were absorbed, yet he couldn't Decipher any information.
As for what else could be Deciphered, he would only know when he encountered it.
One thing he was very curious about was that his 'whim' vaguely reacted to his own body.
Aside from the Lianxin Crossbow and Crossbow, he only had a few pieces of chocolate left on him.
Most likely, it was those two pieces of equipment.
Feeling a pang of regret, Chen Bugu only discovered during recovery that four of the Crossbows had been damaged due to the enchantment effect.
If all the Crossbows were used up and couldn't be replenished, the Lianxin Crossbow would also be useless.
This was the drawback of low-level bow and Crossbow equipment.
If not used with arrows, it was merely a decoration.
Most top-tier bow and Crossbow weapons come with an "auto-fill" characteristic, primarily using energy arrows, eliminating their weakness.
Unfortunately, in his previous life, Chen Bugu's best weapon was only a blue-grade bow, so he never experienced the joy of "auto-fill."
If he could use Decipher to unlock the Lianxin Crossbow and enable its "auto-fill" characteristic, he would be ecstatic.
Of course, that possibility wasn't very high.
However, that would have to wait until his mental power recovered to a certain extent before he could experiment. The immediate priority was to leave the Great Disaster and complete his ranking.
Then, he needed to quickly level up and strengthen this frail body.
Lin Xiaoxiao and Lin Lin both changed into sportswear that allowed for easy movement.
Chen Bugu admitted that, given the figures of these two sisters, denim shorts and dresses were more aesthetically pleasing, but they tended to hinder movement and were not suitable for combat.
Coincidentally, Lin Lin had come home from school today and packed a pile of clothes in a suitcase in the car, which now came in handy.
"Liu Shifu, what are you looking for?"
Lin Ye walked over to Old Liu.
In fact, since before the battle began, Old Liu seemed to have been searching for something.
Old Liu picked up a piece of clothing from the ground that was burned to only half its original length.
Lin Ye looked closely and recognized it as Old Liu's work uniform.
It was the one he had frantically thrown away earlier after it was Ignited by the Fireball spit out by the Scarlet Hound.
"Found it, found it."
Old Liu pulled out a red whistle from the pocket of his half-burnt work uniform; it was the one he had blown earlier.
"What treasure is it?"
Lin Ye leaned closer, very curious.
"Alas, it's a good luck charm my wife prepared for me. She said it was blessed at a temple and could keep me safe."
"I've carried it with me for ten years. If I lost it, I don't know how much nagging I'd get when I went back."
Old Liu lifted the corner of his clothing and repeatedly wiped his precious whistle.
"Teacher Lin, I'm just a common man, with no noble integrity. I'm sorry for abandoning you and running away, but if it happened again, I would still do it, because my wife and children are still waiting for me to come home."
Old Liu looked at Lin Ye with a bitter smile, apologizing for his earlier act of fleeing alone.
"It's alright, at this age, I can understand. Let's go, your family is still waiting for you to return."
Lin Ye patted Old Liu's shoulder and turned to leave.
Ten minutes later, as Wang Bin was the last one to step out of the tunnel exit, everyone felt a tremor throughout their bodies.
Immediately after, a mechanical female voice resounded in everyone's mind.
"Number of survivors: 8 people."
"Ranking begins!"
Chen Bugu knew this meant their journey into the apocalypse had officially begun.
"Ranking Score: S"
"Reward Free Attribute Points: 10"
"Please complete allocation..."
The voice continued to ring in Chen Bugu's mind.
A full 10 points! While it wouldn't count for much in the later stages, it was quite good right now.
It's worth noting that in his previous life, with an E-grade score, he received no rewards at all.
But this time, the situation was different. Not only did he use Decipher to snatch the equipment from the Black Iron Treasure Chest, but he also received an S-grade score and 10 free attribute points as a reward.
Chen Bugu silently allocated the newly added attribute points evenly to Speed and Vitality.
"Allocation complete."
"Assessment: Black Iron Two Star."
At this moment, Chen Bugu closed his eyes, and the attribute panel that appeared in his mind had changed.
Chen Bugu:
"Black Iron Two Star"
"Virus Type Ability: Cracking"
"Strength: 18"
"Vitality: 21"
"Speed: 23"
"Spirit: 90 / 240"
Strength, Speed, and Vitality—these three values were collectively referred to as the Three Regions by people in later generations.
In fact, they are the attack, speed, and defense often mentioned in games, representing the body's functional qualities.
The star rating division for the Black Iron stage is simple and crude, with each star level divided by ten attribute points.
For example, once any of the Three Regions reaches 20 or more, one can be considered a Black Iron Two Star Awakened.
Like Chen Bugu, both his Vitality and Speed had already exceeded 20, so he was assessed as Black Iron Two Star.
There are also strengths and weaknesses within the same star level.
Those Awakeneds whose Three Regions are all above 20 and approaching 30 are considered Black Iron Two Star peak.
There are primarily three ways to improve the Three Regions.
One is through the improvements brought by Breaking through and leveling up, the second is the effect of certain items, and the third is the initial ranking score reward.
Leveling up and Breaking through are the most conventional methods, and Breaking through and leveling up require "plundering" energy from other species.
When there's enough energy, one will naturally level up, and leveling up will bring an increase in various attributes.
As for mental power, this is something that cannot be clearly explained, so people have separately listed it as a field for research.
After ordinary people Awaken abilities, their Three Regions values are generally around 10.
Due to individual qualities and differences in Awakened abilities, different people show variations in their Three Regions after Awakening.
For example, Bai Ting's Speed, Yan Kuan's Vitality, etc., were all higher than average when they Awakened, which Chen Bugu had already confirmed with them.
As for mental power, it is almost entirely without pattern.
Awakeneds of the same star level but different types of abilities can have vastly different mental power.
And the biggest difference in mental power with each level-up and breakthrough is also mental power.
Some people may gain dozens or even hundreds of mental power points when they break through a level, while others will always only gain 10 mental power points.
Don't ask Chen Bugu how he knows; in his previous life, he was the one who always only gained 10 mental power points when he broke through.
This might be related to his Revival ability in his previous life.
After all, mental power is the most common 'mana' in games; using abilities almost always requires 'mana expenditure.'
So, for an ability that can't be used, why would it need 'mana'?
It has long been speculated that the increase in mental power during breakthroughs must be related to the type of ability.
"Enhancement-type" Awakeneds, especially those with body enhancement and transformation enhancement abilities, often have the smallest increase in mental power after Breaking through and leveling up.
After all, once their ability is activated, their body is their most powerful weapon; a berserker doesn't need mana.
After the voice in his mind disappeared, the physical abnormality also gradually vanished.
Chen Bugu understood that the ranking was complete.
Everyone who survived the Great Disaster and entered this apocalyptic world began with this ranking.
Just as he was about to ask about the others' situations, a sudden anomaly occurred!
Chen Bugu's vision went black.
