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Yeoman glanced around. Without his prompting, a display appeared in front of him.
[Main Mission: Survive for 14 days. 14/14]
[Reward: 4,000 Points]
[Bonus Mission: Kill a scavenger crow. 1/1]
[Reward: 500 Points]
[Bonus Mission: Kill a moonlight wolf. 1/1]
[Reward: 500 Points]
[Bonus Mission: Kill a shadow panther. 1/1]
[Reward: 1,000 Points]
[Bonus Mission: Kill a death vulture. 1/1]
[Reward: 1,000 Points]
[Bonus Mission: Kill a thick-skinned crocodile. 1/1]
[Reward: 2,000 Points]
[Bonus Mission: Kill a fat bear. 1/1]
[Reward: 2,000 Points]
[Murder Ranking: 1st Place]
[Reward: 500 Points]
[Total Reward: 11,500 Points]
[Total Points: 12,300 Points]
Yeoman’s eye twitched. Once again, he was first place in the murder ranking. He had killed people because of Snow, but shouldn’t there have been someone more vicious who was willing to kill people for points? Yeoman shook his head. The forest was too dangerous. People had to worry about saving themselves before thinking of killing others. If he hadn’t met Lucia, Yeoman was sure he wouldn’t have lasted more than three days—unless he zombified himself earlier.
Thinking of his zombification, Yeoman lowered his head, inspecting his naked body. There were green lines all over his skin, which was unusually pale. The green lines throbbed and writhed as if blood was pulsing through them. Yeoman touched one of the lines, and he was surprised to find it was solid like a rock. Hopefully, he could modify his appearance to look less … zombielike. Someone had managed to turn himself into the image of a god, so it shouldn’t cost Yeoman too many points to modify himself back into a human.
Yeoman took note of his total points. He had obtained a sizeable amount this time; adding on his remainder from before, he had twelve thousand three hundred points to use. He wouldn’t make the same mistake as last time. Yeoman looked around before clearing his throat. There was an odd feeling in his mouth. His tongue had been restored. “I’d like to spend my points,” he said. After staying silent for over ten days, his own voice sounded strange, foreign.
[Evolution] [Shop]
Two buttons appeared in front of Yeoman. Without hesitation, he pressed on [Shop]. The choices [Buy Items] and [Sell Items] popped up, and he pressed the former. A list of items appeared in front of him, starting with the most expensive ones. The very first item stunned Yeoman.
[Durandal (Epic): This sword comes with a weapon spirit who’ll teach you how to wield the sword. If you train under him, you’ll become a master in no time—provided you can last under the hellish training.]
[Price: 10,000 Points]
Someone had killed Lucia and claimed Durandal? No. Yeoman shook his head. It was possible they stole Durandal from Lucia, or used some other method to obtain him. Regardless of how they did it, Yeoman was certain about one thing. The shop was interconnected. Everyone on the planet was abducted and separated into groups of one hundred. It seemed like all the groups could buy and sell things to each other. If that weren’t the case, the next item on the list couldn’t exist.
[Gae Bulg (Epic): This spear comes with a weapon spirt who’ll teach you how to wield the spear. If you train under him, you’ll become a master in no time.]
[Price: 10,000 Points]
Yeoman exhaled through his nose. There were some incredible people in the world. Yeoman had killed Lan, but he did it through a trick, and Gae Bulg had killed himself, leaving Yeoman with a regular spear. However, someone had killed Lan and convinced Gae Bulg to accept them as a new master. The difference between the two feats was massive. Yeoman shook his head. As his mother always said, he had to compare himself to his previous self. If he compared himself to others, he’d never be satisfied. Although Yeoman was tempted, he didn’t purchase either of the weapons. If they were that good, the people who obtained them wouldn’t be selling them. It just meant ten thousand points were more valuable. With ten thousand points, who knew what kinds of abilities he’d be able to unlock?
Other than the two weapon spirits, Bouncykins, Snow’s rabbit spirit, was also up for sale at an equivalent price. There were some magic tools, but none of them interested Yeoman. Since magic tools shared a cooldown with one another, more didn’t necessarily mean better. If he used his teleportation ring, he wouldn’t be able to use any other tool for a week. If the stage lasted one week, then he’d only use that one tool, and all the other tools on him would be worthless. They weren’t worth the points. However, passive magic tools like the flasks with water arrays were still useful. There were clothes with heat-generating arrays, and Yeoman considered buying them, but they cost three thousand points.
Yeoman sighed and shook his head. The spirit weapons and magic tools took up the top of the list, but as he reached the bottom, he found people selling gene portions. The most expensive gene portion there was a fat bear’s, worth one thousand points. However, Yeoman didn’t think anyone in their right mind would buy it. Thirty were needed, and Yeoman didn’t know how far bears were genetically from humans, but he was sure thirty thousand points could unlock grizzly bears. Surprisingly, there weren’t many scavenger crow gene portions. There were some listed at two hundred points, but there were only a few. The display flickered, and a scavenger crow gene portion appeared for one hundred points, but it was gone in an instant. Someone was buying them up.
Yeoman raised an eyebrow. What did he have that he could sell? He dragged the list down and pressed the [Sell Items] button in the corner. A list of all the items he owned appeared.
[Dread Callers (Rare)]
[Water-array Flask (Uncommon)]
[Death Vulture Gene Portion]
[Ring of Dismantling (Uncommon)]
[Ravenwood Ring (Rare)]
[Gae Bulg’s Broken Spirit Seed (Junk)]
[Spear (Uncommon)]
[Thick-skinned Crocodile Gene Portion]
[Bracelet of Fling (Uncommon)]
[Crocodile Parts (Junk)]
Yeoman frowned. A lot of his items had been lost. He had gained a lot of items on this trip, but Lucia had taken the bag with the equipment the mercenaries had had. Snow had taken the pouch with all the cores. Yeoman didn’t even own any pairs of pants. The crocodile parts might’ve been junk now, but he was sure he could make some clothes and tools out of them; the teeth were practically knives already. Yeoman tapped on the [Death Vulture Gene Portion]. There was no guarantee he’d encounter death vulture’s in the next stage, and he didn’t intend on buying twenty-nine more portions, not when he had already unlocked wings thanks to the scavenger crow gene. However, their value was only around two hundred points. He didn’t really think they were worth selling. “Is there a bank?”
[Item Storage]
Yeoman raised an eyebrow and pressed on it.
[Would you like to spend 1,000 points to unlock ten slots?] [Yes] [No]
Yeoman’s expression darkened. After a moment of hesitation, he pressed the [Yes] button.
[Unlocking ten item storage slots.]
[Remaining Balance: 11,300 Points]
He had obtained a thousand points total on accident thanks to the Proofs of Murder, so he didn’t feel any pressure spending it. A list, with ten blank lines, appeared beside Yeoman’s inventory list. It was similar to two folders appearing on a computer. Yeoman pressed on the [Death Vulture Gene Portion] and dragged it into the bank list. One of the lines lit up, and the gene portion took its space. Yeoman nodded and transferred the crocodile gene portion and broken spirit seed into the bank as well.
Yeoman sighed and took a step back. If he had this function last time, he could’ve stored some clothes into the bank and retrieved them for use now. However, it cost a thousand points to unlock, so he wouldn’t have bought it even if he had seen it. Since there was nothing left to do in the item menu, Yeoman pressed on the [Evolution] button.
The menu disappeared, and once again, the massive phylogenetic tree of life appeared before Yeoman, wrapping around the whole dimension. Other than the lit-up human, gorilla, and chimpanzee, there were two more images that were glowing brightly: a crow and a blob. The two were hovering around the human, causing Yeoman to frown. They had no lines attached to them; evidently, the only way to unlock them was through the genes obtained in the story plots. Yeoman sighed. It looked like he didn’t have a shortcut to the fungus or avian routes.
Yeoman tapped on the blob first, the human zombie fungus. He definitely had to do something about how it looked, and more importantly, he had to curb its hunger. He couldn’t resist eating Lan. If he couldn’t control himself around humans, wouldn’t he be killed off once he returned to the earth? A hologram of Yeoman’s current appearance popped up in front of him. Text bubbles emerged from the green lines on the hologram’s skin. There were over hundreds of them, and Yeoman’s expression darkened. How were there so many options for a fungus? It was straightforward with humans. He pointed at the penis, and the system asked if he wanted to add or remove a penis. However, what was he supposed to point to on this web of green?
“Is there an option where I can toggle the hunger I feel?”
[Increase or decrease hunger levels.]
[Cost: 100 Points]
“How about a way to look less green?”
[Increase or decrease levels of chlorophyll.]
[Cost: 100 Points]
Yeoman’s brow furrowed. “Chlorophyll? Isn’t that used by plants for photosynthesis?” In A Rational Zombie, the infected became sluggish during the day. Even when the smart infected starved them, they were still able to move around. Could it be the infected were getting energy from the sun? Yeoman glanced at his arms. The green lines seemed to be smiling at him. Yeoman exhaled through his nose; he could become less green, but at the same time, he’d lose the ability to photosynthesize.
Yeoman shook his head. “Alright, what about a way to make people smell less appetizing?”
[Remove a nose.]
[Cost: 1,000 Points]
Yeoman’s expression darkened. The aliens still thought they were hilarious. “What about contagion? I don’t want to go around infecting everyone around me.” It might be useful to have an army of infected, but that was only if he never wanted to return to a normal life ever again. There was a time in his life where a global pandemic had spread, and he was quarantined for a few weeks. It was only for a tiny period, but his mental health had suffered a toll. If he couldn’t control how infectious he was, he’d have to isolate himself for forever.
[Increase or decrease infectiousness.]
[Cost: 100 Points]
Yeoman stroked his chin. It’d only cost two hundred points for him to live normally in society. Was there something he was missing? As long as he wasn’t infectious and didn’t eat people, he could live normally, right? Yeoman couldn’t think of anything else, so he went through with the changes.
[Decreased hunger levels complete.]
[Remaining Balance: 11,200 Points]
[Decreased infectiousness complete.]
[Remaining Balance: 11,100 Points]
If there was anything else, he could fix it the next time he came in. Yeoman glanced at the image of the crow, and another hologram appeared beside the current one. It was a replica of a scavenger crow. “Wings,” Yeoman muttered to himself and tapped on the crow’s wings. “I definitely want wings.” How many times had he been stuck searching for water? If he could fly, he could easily map out the terrain and know where to go.
[Add or remove a pair of scavenger crow wings.]
[Cost: 1,000 Points]
Yeoman observed the hologram on the right. A pair of wings had sprouted out of its back, starting from its shoulders, all the way down to its lower back above its buttocks. The wingspan was massive, with each wing being twice the length of his arms. Yeoman touched the wings, but his hand passed through them. He frowned. “Is there a way to hide these wings when I’m not using them?”
The wings on the hologram folded in, settling against the hologram’s shoulder blades and sides. The tips of the wings reached just above his knees. Yeoman had a feeling tailors were going to experience a boom in business. Once everyone got wings, which Yeoman was sure they were going to do, specialized clothes would be needed. “If I shrink these wings even further, what happens?”
The hologram of Yeoman with the wings zoomed out. A cliff appeared underneath the hologram’s feet. The wings shrunk, and the hologram jumped off the cliff. The wings flapped as hard as they could, but all it did was slow the hologram’s descent. Yeoman nodded. “And if the wings are too big, I assume my balance while walking will be affected. Maybe the calories I need will be increased.” Yeoman exhaled. He was lucky the aliens optimized body parts before adding them. If he had to calculate how large or small everything should be, he might as well just die. There was too much physics involved, and though he was required to take some classes to get his degree, there was still too much he didn’t know.
Yeoman nodded. “Add the wings.”
[Adding scavenger crow wings complete.]
[Remaining Balance: 10,100 Points]
A cold sensation ran down Yeoman’s back, and two wings sprouted out of his body. They were pitch-black, sleek, and glossy. However, within seconds, a web of green lines grew over them. Yeoman’s eye twitched. This shouldn’t affect his ability to fly, right? He spread his wings, surprised at how naturally it came to him. It was like moving his arms, a second pair of arms, but still arms. He flapped them as a test, and his feet were lifted an inch off the ground. A warm feeling bubbled in Yeoman’s stomach, and he let out a laugh as he jumped and flapped his wings, soaring towards the top of the black dimension. However, it didn’t feel like he was moving at all. The displays were moving upwards at the same speed, making it seem like he was stuck in the same place. Yeoman frowned and stopped flapping. A second later, he landed on solid ground. It seemed like he’d have to return to earth before really experiencing what it felt like to fly.
Yeoman stared at the hologram of the crow. Was there anything else he needed from it? Eyesight and hearing? If he was going to fly, the sight and hearing of a bird would be extremely more useful compared to his human senses. He could add eyes and ears for a total of two thousand points, or he could give himself a whole crow’s head for just a thousand…. However, how awkward would it be to have a second head? It’d be awkward if he replaced his head too. Yeoman gritted his teeth. Survival was based on looks too. If he looked like a hideous monster, his chances of survival would decrease. It was completely justified for him to spend an extra thousand points to not be deformed.
“Can I choose the location to add on scavenger crow eyes and ears?”
The hologram of Yeoman pointed at its face. Another pair of eyes appeared, one on each side of his head, near his temples. A slit appeared in front of each of Yeoman’s ears, looking similar to a gill. With some hair growth, it wouldn’t even be noticeable. As for the eyes, they looked like black marbles embedded in his head. Seeing as crows had eyes on the sides of their faces, it made sense that that’s where they’d appear on Yeoman. It wasn’t an unacceptable spot for them to be. “Add them.”
[Adding scavenger crow eyes.]
[Remaining Balance: 9,100 Points]
[Adding scavenger crow ears.]
[Remaining Balance: 8,100 Points]
Heat flooded Yeoman’s temples, and something squirmed on his head. Moments later, his vision widened, and the colors became more vivid—granted, there weren’t that many colors in the first place. Yeoman’s head throbbed. He was thankful he couldn’t feel pain as a zombie. If he were still a human, he bet he would have a migraine right about now. There wasn’t any noise, so he didn’t get to experience how a scavenger crow heard things, but he didn’t mind. It’d take him a while to get used to his vision.
Yeoman stared at his remaining balance. There was still a sizeable amount of points, double what he had obtained in the first stage. With these points, he had to make up for all the shortcomings he had discovered while struggling to survive. First of all, he was weak, incredibly so. He couldn’t contest with a shadow panther when it came to strength. How would he ever contend against someone like Lucia? Judging by the missions the aliens had assigned, they encouraged their abductees to walk the route of an apex predator. The aliens gave more points for killing.
Yeoman focused on the phylogenetic tree once more. Regardless of how he’d evolve next, he had to leave the taxonomic order Primates first.
[Unlock genus Pongo?]
[Cost: 100 Points]
[Yes] [No]
Yeoman pressed on the [Yes] button.
[Unlocked genus Pongo.]
[Remaining Balance: 8,000 Points]
[Completely unlocked family Hominidae. Unlock traits in all genera belonging to family Hominidae to receive a reward.]
Yeoman raised an eyebrow. There was a reward for unlocking more of the tree? “What kind of reward is it?”
[Unlock traits in all genera belonging to family Hominidae to receive a reward.]
As usual, the aliens didn’t help. It didn’t take long for Yeoman to come to a decision. Orangutans were strong, and what he needed was more strength. “Add genus Pongo muscles.”
[Adding genus Pongo muscles complete.]
[Remaining Balance: 7,000 Points]
“How much can I lift now?” Adding chimpanzee muscles had doubled his strength. Adding gorilla muscles had tripled it. With the addition of orangutan muscles, he likely quadrupled his strength and was capable of lifting one thousand eight hundred pounds. The hologram proved him wrong. It easily lifted a twenty-four-hundred-pound bar. Yeoman was baffled. “Why is it so high?”
A line of text appeared in front of him.
[Used Human Zombie Fungus Gene (Epic)]
That explained it. The fungus reinforced his muscles. There was still something bugging Yeoman though. “What about my reward?”
[Completely unlocked family Hominidae and unlocked traits in all its genera.]
[Obtained: Hominidae Language]
[Hominidae Language: You can speak with members of family Hominidae fluidly.]
Yeoman stared at the lines of text. This type of reward was not the one he was expecting. He was thinking more along the lines of a ring that increased his strength. Maybe he could’ve gotten a tattoo that permanently increased his strength. However, speaking the language of chimpanzees, orangutans, and gorillas…? When would that ever be useful? Yeoman shook his head. It was a bonus, so he’d accept it. The muscles were a necessity anyway.
Yeoman frowned and browsed the phylogenetic tree of life. The next few animals he could unlock were gibbons, old world monkeys, or new world monkeys. He had no idea what the difference between old and new monkeys were, but regardless, they were tiny, and he didn’t think they had any traits worth spending points on. What was he going to buy? A tail? Yeoman shook his head. Before this, he had done some research. Gorillas happened to be an animal with one of the strongest bite forces, greater than lions and tigers, but noticeably weaker than crocodiles.
Yeoman frowned. Was it possible to evolve into a dinosaur? They had strong bite forces too. Yeoman couldn’t take traits from the common ancestor between humans and chimpanzees, so he wasn’t quite sure. There was an easy way to find out. He browsed through the tree of life and found birds; they were supposed to be dinosaurs. After a few minutes of searching, he couldn’t find an image of a T. rex anywhere. “Why can’t I evolve into a tyrannosaurus?”
[Unlock genus Gallus?]
[Unlock genus Crocodylus?]
[Add genus Crocodylus teeth.]
[Increase genus Crocodylus tooth length.]
.
.
.
[Increase genus Gallus hindleg size.]
[Enlarge genus Gallus.]
[Remove genus Gallus wings.]
Yeoman’s eye twitched. As usual, the aliens didn’t answer him; however, they did give him a method to turn into a T. rex. The number of points was mindboggling with hundreds of modifications to chickens and crocodiles costing upwards of a thousand points each. It seemed like extinct animals could be recreated with extant animals, but the costs were astronomical compared to simply unlocking an extant one. Yeoman shook his head, forgetting about dinosaurs for the moment. He selected the gorilla image. “Is it possible to get the bite force of a gorilla?”
[Add genus Gorilla bite force.]
[Cost: 1,000 Points]
Yeoman hated to admit it, but his bite did turn out pretty useful. He tore apart the bear’s stomach lining by biting, and he killed Lan via biting. As a zombie, wasn’t biting one of his main methods of attacking? He had to capitalize on his strengths. Yeoman hesitated, the required amount of points branding itself in his mind. He had never been a stingy person, but he was somewhat frugal. A sigh escaped from Yeoman’s mouth. “Add genus Gorilla bite force.” It was for the sake of getting more points. He’d think of it as an investment.
[Adding genus Gorilla bite force complete.]
[Remaining Balance: 6,000 Points]
Yeoman nodded, satisfied with his choice. After monkeys, there were tarsiers, lemurs, flying lemurs, and treeshrews. Then the tree branched off into rodents and rabbits. Yeoman was curious. He selected a rabbit with ears resembling Snow’s. “How many points would it take to unlock this and obtain its ears?”
[Unlock genus Brachylagus?]
[Cost: 2,700 Points]
[Add genus Brachylagus ears.]
[Cost: 1,000 Points]
Yeoman frowned. He wasn’t going to spend three thousand seven hundred points on vanity. Even if it were free, he didn’t want bunny ears in the first place. However, with that question, he found out how much more expensive things were to unlock the further away they were. Yeoman frowned. “Are there any descriptions of these animals? Or perhaps you can let me connect to the internet to see what kind of abilities they have?” It would take hours to research every individual animal to see if they had any traits worth taking. Then, he’d have to remember the animal. If what he found on the internet didn’t match the aliens’ phylogenetic tree, his work would be wasted too.
After a moment of silence, Yeoman sighed. It seemed like the aliens weren’t going to be that kind to him. Yeoman selected an image of a polar bear. It was the top land predator he knew.
[Unlock genus Ursus?]
[Cost: 3,500 Points]
[Yes] [No]
Yeoman frowned. He’d be left with twenty-five hundred points if he unlocked bears. However, what trait would he take from them? Their claws? He really appreciated his thumbs. Their weight and blubber? Wouldn’t that render his wings useless? The gorilla had a greater bite force than the polar bear. However, it would probably work additively like muscles. Speaking of muscles, he could add bear muscles to his body too. Yeoman shook his head. It wasn’t worth it. Since that was the case, should he unlock the pangolin for some scales as defense? Yeoman sighed again. He was a zombie. He didn’t have to concern himself with defense. As long as his head was fine, everything else could be reattached. Also, armor was a thing. He could make some defensive gear out of the crocodile skin. Claws from a tiger weren’t a necessity either. He could use weapons as a replacement to them.
Yeoman scratched his head. Perhaps he was thinking about it all wrong. He didn’t have to evolve an offense and defense since there were things like weapons and armor. His evolution should target supplements, things to boost his abilities that primitive manmade tools couldn’t provide. Wings were one such example. Echolocation would be another. Yeoman’s expression darkened. He shouldn’t have gotten crow ears. If he was going to unlock echolocation, he needed bat ears to hear the high-pitched frequencies. Yeoman exhaled through his nose and shook his head. Instead of training at the warehouse all the time, he was going to research the optimal evolution path to save as many points as possible. He couldn’t stumble around blindly like this. However, it really would feel like a waste if he didn’t spend his six thousand points. He still had no idea what happened to the people who couldn’t reach one thousand points in the first stage. Maybe they were killed off. Yeoman had to use everything he could to increase his chances of passing the next stage.
Yeoman gritted his teeth. He was about to do something stupid. He knew it was stupid, but sometimes, stupid worked best. “Unlock genus Ursus. Add genus Ursus muscles and bite force.”
[Unlocked genus Ursus.]
[Remaining Balance: 2,500 Points]
[Adding genus Ursus muscles complete.]
[Remaining Balance: 1,500 Points]
[Adding genus Ursus bite force complete.]
[Remaining Balance: 500 Points]
Yeoman’s body rippled, and a hot sensation washed over him. He felt like he was sunbathing on a beach; it was a comfortable feeling, and he couldn’t help but close his eyes. Moments later, he shuddered and clenched his hands. His eyes shot open. He felt full of strength, but there was nothing in the dimension he could test it on. It was unsatisfying. “That’s all. Take me out of here.”