Chapter 18: The Power of Law — Corpse Evolution

In the living room, Zhai Yan and Xiao Xi lay sprawled on the sofa, especially Xiao Xi, who seemed to have lost all her bones.

At first, Xiao Xi relied on her dominance over Zhai Yan and slacked off while moving supplies.

She’d only carry a few pots and pans as a token gesture, leaving the heavy lifting entirely to Zhai Yan.

But Fang Shi completely ignored her antics; upon catching her slacking, he immediately warned her with the cleaver in his hand.

Terrified, Xiao Xi dared not slack off again; though her efficiency remained low, she worked diligently enough to collapse from exhaustion.

“Xiao Xi, I’ll take you to kill a corpse soon, unlock your attribute panel, and fill in your stats—then you won’t have to suffer so much.”

Even though Zhai Yan bore most of the labor, he was panting from fatigue—but his constitution was higher than Xiao Xi’s, and he recovered faster.

After this period of rest, he already had enough strength for another round of moving.

This time, Xiao Xi offered no resistance; strands of hair stuck to her forehead, her face greasy and filthy.

“Are you stupid? Just ask that guy for a corpse and say your moving efficiency won’t improve without unlocking your attribute panel.”

Zhai Yan pondered a moment, thinking Xiao Xi had a point—but then he added, “How about after you finish filling your stats, we sneak out onto the balcony and hide in a room?”

A flicker of fear appeared in Xiao Xi’s eyes: “No way—what if there’s a corpse inside the room?”

The rooms they’d moved supplies from had all been deliberately cleared by Zhai Yan using traps—but the balcony was different.

First, we lose the advantage of terrain; with our strength, we might not even win.

Second, smashing the door and using traps to clear it is no different from shouting, “I hid the silver here!”

Xiao Xi only wanted to survive safely and refused to take risks.

“After that guy leaves, you lure the corpses into a group downstairs, and I’ll clear them out.”

Xiao Xi told Zhai Yan; after being crushed by Fang Shi, she deeply understood the importance of personal power in the apocalypse and intended to take full responsibility.

A flicker of resentment surfaced in Zhai Yan’s eyes, but seeing Xiao Xi’s state, a hint of fascination arose—he slowly nodded in agreement.

…

On the rooftop, Fang Shi, who had intended to leave, suddenly noticed something strange below.

Below, due to Fang Shi’s aerial debris throws, the ground was piled high with clutter and corpse corpses, forming a small mound.

The remaining living corpses, desperate to reach Fang Shi, mostly stood atop the pile, clawing and thrashing to climb upward.

Among them, a young-looking corpse, squeezed into the pile, should have been utterly unremarkable.

Yet this very corpse began emitting a metallic sheen, standing out starkly against the dull, decaying horde.

“This is evolution?” Fang Shi gasped.

Corpses differ from the later-arriving extraterrestrial beings.

They are humans transformed by failed law conversions, their bodies still retaining traces of law power.

Though lacking the order of law power found in living humans, it grants corpses immense evolutionary potential.

Especially under certain conditions, their latent potential activates more easily.

“Could it be that my corpse-clearing caused a pile of unclaimed death energy below, triggering this one corpse’s evolution?”

Fang Shi felt no fear at the corpse’s evolution—only a faint thrill.

After three years of apocalypse, corpse evolution had been thoroughly studied.

Starting from the most basic corpse, then Iron, Copper, Silver, and Gold tiers.

Beyond that lie the legendary Luocha, Yecha, and Hanba tiers.

Each tier upgrade is a major evolution, increasing the corpse’s power by one level.

Gold Corpses are fourth-tier beings, equivalent to legendary human experts.

Of course, the corpse below won’t be so extreme as to leap straight to Iron Corpses.

After all, Fang Shi gained 485 experience points, meaning 97 corpses died below.

That much death energy absolutely cannot sustain a monster at Iron Corpses level.

Generally, it would be around a level-3 elite corpse.

A level-3 elite corpse has 14 Strength, 12 Agility, 2 natural armor, and 39 HP.

Its attacks also inflict 1d4 paralysis toxin.

To inflict effective damage against a level-3 elite corpse’s defense, you need at least 10 Strength and a weapon.

Given the average level of current survivors, killing one requires a team to surround it—and they’ll suffer casualties.

This is only if they outnumber it; if other corpses surround the level-3 elite, it becomes nearly impossible.

A whole team might be wiped out without killing a level-3 elite corpse.

But that doesn’t include Fang Shi—his level has long surpassed everyone else’s.

With his current attributes and combat skills, he can easily defeat a level-3 corpse in a 1v1.

A level-3 elite corpse grants 60 experience points, plus a 20% bonus for over-level killing.

Fang Shi gains 72 experience points for each one—equivalent to killing twelve ordinary corpses.

Most importantly, he strongly suspects that the first over-level kill carries a substantial bonus.

That’s the real reason for his excitement.

After all, the effort to gain 72 experience points is less than killing more ordinary corpses.

“I wonder if anyone’s ever received the over-level first-kill bonus?”

“Probably not—corpses above level 2 have gained some intelligence; they gather and avoid danger.”

“They no longer charge blindly. Without knowing about the bonus, no one would risk a heavy cost to kill such organized, led corpse groups.”

So Fang Shi watched the corpse evolve below, making no move to interfere.

Even though he knew the evolved corpse would command the horde, making experience farming harder.

But for the over-level first-kill bonus, the cost was worth it.

If the reward was rich enough, it might even exceed the power boost from leveling up.

That would be crucial for surviving tonight’s first surge.

After ten full minutes, the corpse below finally completed its evolution.

The evolved corpse’s decayed appearance lessened, becoming more like a mummy—its features sunken, its skin tinged with a faint metallic sheen.

If the entire corpse glowed iron-metallic, it would prove it had evolved into a first-tier Iron Corpse.

This corpse had metallic sheen only on its limbs; judging by Fang Shi’s experience, it was a level-3 elite corpse.

He felt relieved—if it had only evolved to level-2 elite, he’d have lost out.

A level-4 elite corpse was killable, but too dangerous.

This level-3 elite corpse, right in the middle, was perfect.

The evolved level-3 corpse opened its gray-brown eyes and scanned Fang Shi on the rooftop.

Perhaps the barrage of debris earlier had left it traumatized.

It let out a roar, and the surrounding corpses scattered, no longer clustered tightly.

This move disrupted Fang Shi’s experience-farming plan.

But then it didn’t know what to do next—level-3 corpses had limited intelligence, not enough for strategy.

It was utterly helpless against Fang Shi hiding on the rooftop.

Yet its hatred for the living kept it from leaving.

After a while, it tried climbing the wall edge—and its immense strength drove its claws deep into the concrete.

Then, alternating hands, it scaled the wall in moments.

This discovery made the level-3 elite corpse roar with excitement.

Ignoring the horde, it climbed straight toward Fang Shi on the rooftop.

“This corpse is smart—has some potential,” Fang Shi muttered to himself.

The level-3 corpse’s behavior was exactly his planned strategy.

Unlike frail human flesh, level-3 corpses have 2 natural armor.

A normal human trying to embed hands like this would only injure themselves.

Fang Shi intended to exploit this trait: lure and provoke the level-3 elite corpse into leaving the horde, forcing it to climb alone to the rooftop.

He hadn’t even begun his plan when this corpse discovered the technique on its own.

The level-3 corpse roared as it advanced, its perception sensing the hated living presence growing closer—and its excitement mounting.

After evolution, it had gained some intelligence; it felt a flicker of rage toward Fang Shi’s slaughter.

Why should these weak living beings still survive, while it endured the agony of death?

Soon, it would extinguish this flame. It didn’t believe its evolved strength couldn’t crush this frail living thing.

Even if its life flame burned brighter than the two inside the building, it was still just a slightly stronger ant.

As the level-3 corpse neared the rooftop,

it was met by a chipped cleaver.

“Crash!”

The level-3 elite corpse had 12 Agility—far exceeding normal humans.

But to Fang Shi, that Agility was nothing. His strength, his speed, were faster, stronger.

Combined with the advantage of attacking from above, the level-3 elite corpse had no chance to dodge.

It took a solid blow to the skull.

Unfortunately, the chipped cleaver was no longer sharp—the corpse’s skull cracked only slightly.

It failed to cleave the head open.

But under Fang Shi’s immense force, the Level 3 Elite Corpse’s hands tore free from the wall, its entire body tumbling backward and crashing toward the ground.

From a height of twenty meters, its head plummeted vertically, and with the crack already present, even the Level 3 Elite Corpse’s defense could not withstand it.

Its brain and guts splattered, spilling a pool of black, unidentifiable fluid.

“Blunt strike activated.”

“You dealt 2.5 damage to the target.”

“Target fell from height, received 40 points of fatal damage.”

“Target is dead.”

“Extracting target’s soul energy, you gain 72 (60 * 120%) experience points, 7.2 survival points.”

“Hah!” Fang Shi smiled triumphantly inside.

Only a fool would wait for the Level 3 Elite Corpse to climb up and fight it head-on.

What matters most to humans is wisdom—any method is valid as long as the target is killed.

Now came the thrilling reward moment.