About 50 kilometers west of 203 Base, a team of around 100,000 people, stretching as far as the eye could see, was slowly advancing. Those with cars rode in them, with large and small bags piled on the car roofs. Others used pushcarts, and those who had nothing carried their large and small bags on their backs.
On both sides of the convoy, soldiers maintaining order sparsely followed, holding firearms and vigilant of their surroundings.
Qin Chao, having been temporarily assigned here after the recent battle, was moving forward alongside the team under his management.
However, compared to the other soldiers who were on edge, Qin Chao was clearly distracted while holding his gun.
At this moment, Qin Chao was studying the panel he had recently acquired.
I'm familiar with Acupoints! After studying for so many years, I can't say I know the pathways of the meridians by heart, but I certainly have them memorized.
I wouldn't dare to open the Governing and Conception Vessels first; I'll start with the Hand Taiyin Lung Meridian!
Let me think about how it goes? It starts from the chest and abdomen, but I can't start directly from the chest. If I were to open a hole, I'm afraid the people next to me wouldn't be able to save me in time.
I'll start with Shaoshang Point!
After Qin Chao finished thinking, he focused his attention on the tip of his thumb. At this moment, the System prompted:
"A suitable Acupoint has been found. Do you wish to consume 20 Curse Spirit Value to activate this Acupoint?"
Qin Chao breathed a sigh of relief; thankfully, he hadn't guessed wrong.
No need to activate it yet; I'll try other Acupoints first.
"The prerequisite Acupoint has not been activated, cannot activate."
As expected, well, one cannot get fat with one bite.
"Activate Shaoshang Point."
Instantly, he felt a warm current appear out of nowhere at the tip of his thumb, accompanied by a somewhat swollen sensation.
Qin Chao felt an anomaly in his finger, raised his thumb, and observed it carefully. The sensation at the fingertip gradually intensified, feeling like it was about to burst.
"It feels like constipation at the tip of my finger; how strange."
This feeling grew stronger and stronger, and Qin Chao quickly pointed his right thumb towards the ground.
A "puff" sound, audible only to Qin Chao.
"Wow, it finally came out! I feel so much lighter."
"Whoosh" a stream of Qi burst from his fingertip, and instantly, a small hole about the size of a thumb appeared on the ground, estimated to be about ten centimeters deep.
Qin Chao excitedly looked at the small hole on the ground, a tremor running through him.
"I finally have power! It really is a Golden Finger. Although the color isn't gold, the key is that it's useful!"
The System prompt sounded again in his ear:
"Activated the first Acupoint of the Hand Taiyin Lung Meridian, Shaoshang Point."
"Hand Taiyin Lung Meridian exclusive ability: When breathing, you can absorb the surrounding Heaven and Earth Essence Qi to strengthen yourself. The more Acupoints activated in this meridian, the faster the strengthening speed. Please explore the specific details on your own, Host."
Qin Chao took a deep breath.
He did feel a difference; it seemed as if there was some substance in the air that he could absorb, but it wasn't obvious. He decided to wait until he had activated a few more Acupoints before saying anything more.
Qin Chao looked back and forth; the winding procession was still moving forward. Although there were many people, he wondered how many would safely reach 106 Base!
Qin Chao looked around and then changed his mind.
"I can't even guarantee my own safety, so I shouldn't worry about others."
"Let's see what other new functions there are."
After some experimentation, he found that he could emit Qi waves by concentrating and exerting force through his thumb, but on the ground, it could only create a depth of about 10 centimeters. This was less powerful than the burst when activating the Acupoint.
"This power is a bit small; it can't even compare to a rifle bullet."
"No, I need to see if I can activate the next Acupoint."
He then focused his attention on the Yuji Point.
"Do you want to consume 50 Curse Spirit to activate Yuji Point?"
Qin Chao looked at the Curse Spirit Value on his panel, which was still 86, and confirmed directly.
Well, this time, it wasn't just swelling, but also a bit of soreness.
Why does it feel somewhat comfortable? Do I have a masochistic Physique?
Qin Chao didn't have time to think much; a feeling of release went from the Yuji Point on the lateral side of the first metacarpal bone all the way to his fingertip.
This time, it wasn't a stream of Qi; it should be described as a Qi Sword shooting directly into the ground, instantly creating a deep hole about five centimeters wide, which looked to be more than half a meter deep.
Qin Chao was also startled by the power of his own hand.
"Well, as expected, extending the barrel makes a difference in power."
Qin Chao tried several times and found that he could control the amount of force exerted.
If he used his full strength, each shot could go half a meter deep, but it couldn't exceed 10 meters around him; once it exceeded that, the Qi dissipated and had no power.
After 5 tries, Qin Chao was also a bit tired. It seemed this thing consumed a lot of physical strength.
Qin Chao looked at the next Acupoint, Taiyuan Point.
"Your Curse Spirit is less than 100; this Acupoint cannot be activated."
"The price increases quickly. No rush for now.
I'm still not entirely clear on the source of Curse Spirit. It seems likely that I absorbed something from inside the Demonic Beast, most probably the crystal core, but I need to investigate further.
I need to plan for the long term."
"Forget it, forget it. Let's check the panel first."
Qin Chao looked at his panel again.
Host: Qin Chao
Stamina: 19 +
Strength: 15 +
Speed: 16 +
Spirit: 23
Activated Acupoints: 2 (Shaoshang Point, Yuji Point)
Cleared Meridians: 0
Wei Qi Ying Blood System: Not activated
Five Zhi System: Not activated
Curse Spirit Storage: 36
At this moment, Qin Chao noticed that a plus sign appeared after the values for his Stamina, Strength, and Speed.
"Is this because I activated an Acupoint?"
"Let's test it."
Qin Chao mentally clicked the '+' sign next to Stamina.
The prompt sounded:
"Do you want to consume 10 Curse Spirit to increase one point of Stamina?"
"Yes"
The Curse Spirit Storage value instantly changed from 36 to 26.
At the same time, a warm current surged through Qin Chao's body, sweeping through him.
His Stamina value also instantly became 20.
The fatigue from the previous experiments was also swept away, and he felt like he could do a few more shots.
Hang in there, hang in there. Conserve your stamina to deal with danger.
In this vast wilderness, although there were many people, the team was too long, and it was hard to guarantee that no short-sighted Demonic Beasts would attack.
At this moment, about ten meters ahead of the team he was overseeing, a commotion broke out.
He rushed over to see, and lo and behold, he ran into an old acquaintance.
Bai Mao was pulling a shabbily dressed woman, who clearly did not want to leave the team.
However, the surrounding crowd, seeing the Evolver insignia on Bai Mao's military uniform, although he was only a first-level Evolver, dared not speak out in anger and could only whisper among themselves.
Bai Mao said arrogantly, with his nostrils flared: "You little slut, don't be ungrateful. It's an honor for me to seek you out."
After speaking, he scanned the surrounding onlookers. When the people around saw Bai Mao looking their way, they all shifted their gaze away in avoidance.
The woman pleaded: "Sir, please let me go! I'm really not feeling well right now. Please..."
Qin Chao saw this and was furious:
That bastard Bai Mao, he was cursing and swearing before the battle, but when I passed out, he was nowhere to be found helping.
In the end, he was nowhere to be seen on the entire battlefield.
After Qin Chao returned to the station and didn't see him return, he packed up the supplies onto the main army's vehicle and left directly.
Qin Chao also expected that his 16th squad was likely doomed.
But he didn't expect that Bai Mao, who was nowhere to be seen on the battlefield, would now pop out of nowhere and start harassing women.
Qin Chao was just about to go up and use his new ability to give Bai Mao a few hits from behind.
At this moment, a soldier on alert on the left side of the team shouted:
"A group of rats is rushing over!"
"Quick, quick, help!"
At this, the crowd around Bai Mao suddenly ran from the left side of the team to the right, exposing Bai Mao, who was still tugging at the woman.
Several soldiers who were rushing from the front and back of the team also saw Bai Mao.
Seeing this, Bai Mao cursed:
"Damn rats, they've come at a really opportune time!"
With that, he violently flung the woman's hand away.
"Wait for me. These little things are beneath me."
The woman, with tearful eyes, quickly retracted her arm and fearfully hid in the crowd.
Bai Mao turned around and discovered Qin Chao standing a few meters behind him.
"Oh! Isn't this little Qin? You're quite tenacious; you actually managed to escape back."
Without waiting for Qin Chao to reply, he directly ordered:
"Follow me. I'll show you the power of a speed Evolver."
With that, Bai Mao rushed towards the place where the shouts were coming from.
Qin Chao didn't say much at this.
"Later, I'll sneak attack you, you bastard, and show you not to be so arrogant."
At a distance of 500 meters to the left of the team, a group of about thirty or forty rats was rushing towards the moving convoy.
Seven soldiers had gathered here, and Bai Mao, the only Evolver among them, began to command.
"Once they reach 200 meters, start firing freely. If any get too close, I'll deal with them. You all pay attention to clearing the rats to my left and right, and keep your eyes open, keep your gun lines away from me."
As he finished speaking, the rat pack was already approaching the 200-meter firing line.
"Fire!"
Several guns spewed yellow flames, and bullets shot towards the rat pack as if they were free.
However, the rats were extremely fast, and even under such heavy gunfire, over twenty of them broke through to within 50 meters of the defensive line.
At this point, Bai Mao put down his gun, pulled out the dagger from his waist, and swiftly rushed out of the team, charging towards the rats.
"My dagger can't kill a cow, but it can certainly kill you lot!"
As his voice fell, Bai Mao engaged with the rat pack.
As soon as Bai Mao went in, he was surrounded by several rats. After a few rounds, he couldn't hold on anymore and began to fight and retreat.
"Damn rats, they even cooperate! No, I need to go back. I can't hold them off alone."
With that, he sidestepped to avoid a rat's pounce, and while doing so, he fiercely inflicted a wound with his dagger, then pulled back and retreated.
The injured rat shrieked, its ferocity unleashed, and it ignored the incoming bullets, chasing only after Bai Mao.
Seeing this, the few people providing fire support from behind quickly used their firepower to block the rats chasing Bai Mao.
However, the injured rat was chasing too closely, making it impossible to hit.
Qin Chao watched Bai Mao running towards him, his right hand, which was about to pull the trigger, relaxed, and he aimed his thumb at Bai Mao's knee.