In a frigid apocalypse, I went on a shopping spree with the reborn.

Jiang Qingyue briefly explained what happened during her trip. It was just a minor incident, nothing serious. However, Long Jiuxing at home was a little surprised.

"Sister Xiaoyue, when I was using crystal cores to improve my strength, I found that as I used more and more crystal cores, the improvement they provided became weaker and weaker."

"Once my combat power reached 100,000, using crystal cores no longer provided any improvement; it was like drinking a few glasses of water."

Jiang Qingyue frowned after hearing this: "Did you ask the AI ​​assistant?"

"It said it didn't know either, that it needed to apply to the management system, and that it would cost money, so I ignored it."

"That's definitely not worth it," Jiang Qingyue agreed.

Asking your supervisor a question costs 1,000 trading coins each time, which is really unnecessary unless it's something very important.

"It must be a rule restriction," Jiang Qingyue guessed. "That would fit the personality of that dog-like god."

"Otherwise, people like us who kill low-level zombies every day wouldn't lack crystal cores at all, and our strength would increase rapidly."

Despite saying that, she still felt somewhat helpless. Before leaving, she had been fantasizing about boosting Long Jiuxing's combat power to a level that no one could match in a short period of time.

"How many crystal cores are left?"

"One million two hundred thousand."

Jiang Qingyue looked at the crystal cores, picked them up and used them herself.

Just like Long Jiuxing said, at the beginning, you can clearly feel the enhancement. However, as you use it more and more, the enhancement becomes so weak that you can no longer perceive it.

While using it, Jiang Qingyue opened her personal computer and looked at the individual combat power ranking.

As a large number of crystal cores were used, her combat power increased rapidly until it reached 100,000, at which point it stopped.

She used a few more crystal cores and found that there was no slight increase, so they were completely useless.

"So it seems that after reaching 100,000 combat power, the only way to increase strength further, besides relying on special items, is through second-tier crystal cores."

"The stronger you are, the higher the level of crystal core you can use. This forces human powerhouses to fight zombies head-on, soldier by soldier and general by general."

Jiang Qingyue saw that there were still over 200,000 crystal cores left, so she gave them to the two little ones.

He then analyzed with Long Jiuxing, "Longlong, in a situation where everyone has equal combat strength, who do you think has a better chance of winning, a human or a zombie?"

Long Jiuxing hadn't considered this question, but since Sister Xiaoyue asked, she thought about it carefully and answered, "Zombies."

"Why?" Jiang Qingyue's own thoughts were actually the exact opposite of Long Jiuxing's.

"Zombies are dull-witted, not agile enough, and don't understand tactics or tricks. In a situation of equal strength, wouldn't humans have a better chance of winning?"

"No," Long Jiuxing said. "Sister Xiaoyue, it's precisely because people are smart that they think so much."

"Are you overthinking it?"

Long Jiuxing: "Yes, people are afraid of getting hurt. In every battle, they subconsciously think about eliminating their opponent at the lowest cost, so they fight hesitantly."

"High-level zombies are intelligent, but their limited intelligence usually means that when they fight, they only think about finishing off their opponent and eating them, without considering whether it's worth it."

"In addition, zombies use the omnipresent ice and snow power in the air to increase their strength and recover from injuries. As long as they are not killed on the spot and their crystal core is not dug out, they can recover slowly."

"Humans are no good."

"We are the only ones who possess the essence of Plant Doctor. If others are injured, they can only be treated with conventional methods."

"The current medical environment is extremely poor. There is a lack of doctors, equipment, and medicine. Once seriously injured, one can only wait to die."

"A very small number of lucky individuals may obtain special healing items, but such people are extremely rare."

"So no one dared to fight the zombies with their bare hands."

Jiang Qingyue seemed to be deep in thought.

It was rare for Long Jiuxing to say so much at once.

Fearing that her sister Xiaoyue would suffer in battle, Long Jiuxing wanted to say everything she knew and thought was right all at once.

"Also, Sister Xiaoyue, don't forget that not every zombie is as terrified as the one we raised."

"In fact, many zombies are exceptionally talented, equivalent to unparalleled geniuses among humans. They have their own pride. They have never been beaten by humans, and they all think they are the most powerful in the world."

"They have no concept of fear and fight with extreme madness."

"This is just one-on-one combat. More importantly, the zombie has many underlings. These low-level zombies only obey the orders of the Zombie King. Unless the Zombie King gives the order, they will fight to the last one and will not run away or even retreat."

"Humans are different. Everyone has their own ideas. For example, Nangong Zhao's team, if there are too many zombies on the other side..."

"If Nangong Zhao is no match for the Corpse King, her team will definitely run away; there are very few who are willing to fight to the death with her."

Long Jiuxing concluded: "Therefore, I believe that when the number of people and combat strength of both sides are roughly equal, the zombies have a greater chance of winning."

Jiang Qingyue remained silent for a long time.

The more she analyzed it, the more she felt that Long Jiuxing was right.

The larger the team battle, the greater the chance of the zombies winning.

Because people have too many thoughts, in a zombie horde, the zombie king is the boss, and his underlings have no disloyalty. Even if the zombie king orders them to die, they will obediently slit their own throats.

Human bases are different. For example, Li Tiege, the captain of the Overlord Base, was killed by his subordinates before the zombies even appeared.

This is just the norm. Once a large-scale battle with zombies occurs, it's hard to guarantee that some underlings won't take the opportunity to betray the boss, thinking of killing him and taking over for themselves.

For example, those deputy captains who already wield considerable power, given the opportunity to become the boss, who would want to sit at the bottom?

If the Overlord Base were currently facing a zombie siege, Jiang Qingyue felt that Liu Yuyao, as the team leader, might not dare to go all out.

The reason is simple: the Corpse King has a natural ability to suppress his subordinates. That suppression is more like an unreasonable command, like a pre-programmed sequence of events.

Even if the zombie king is crippled and on the verge of death, its underlings will not betray it.

But if Liu Yuyao is crippled by the Corpse King and returns to the base, his subordinates will definitely take the opportunity to kill her.

Therefore, even if their strengths are equal, the Corpse King dares to attack without holding back, but Liu Yuyao cannot.

In this way, there is absolutely no advantage.

Seeing this, Long Jiuxing reached out and smoothed out her furrowed brows: "Sister Xiaoyue, don't worry, none of the four of us in the family would betray you."

"I know," Jiang Qingyue said. "I'm just worried that it will become very difficult to improve my strength in the future."

"Second-tier crystal cores are rare, and third- and fourth-tier ones are even rarer. Apart from special items, we can only use crystal cores to improve our strength at present. Low-tier crystal cores are useless, and with not enough high-tier crystal cores, our growth is actually slower than that of zombies."

"In the future, we may need to fight zombies of the same level, and at that time, we will not have the advantage."

This completely disrupted her plans.

She had always thought that second-order crystal cores were more effective than first-order ones, but she never considered that first-order ones would actually fail.

Originally, she planned to build up her strength by harvesting low-level crystal cores from the entire zombie breeding base.

Obviously, the dog god wouldn't allow that.

When it came to matters of strength, Long Jiuxing was very serious. He thought for a long time, but couldn't come up with any good ideas.

Jiang Qingyue pondered for a long time: "The first-tier ones are useless to us now. The zombie king is creating zombies at an even faster rate. It won't be a problem to use it to increase the combat power of the two little ones to 100,000."

"What we lack now are second-order crystal cores; it would be even better if we could get third- or fourth-order ones."

But that's simply not realistic.

Geniuses among zombies are extremely rare; the majority are just ordinary zombies.

Some of these ordinary zombies are deformed and will only ever stay at the first level.

Those who are slightly better can reach level two, but their aptitude is limited. Even if they absorb more ice power, they still cannot become a level three corpse king after reaching level two.

"What a hassle," Jiang Qingyue said, touching her slightly prickly hair.

"If only we could have more Tier 3 Corpse Kings, and more nests. Since we don't need to feed them, and there are enough of them, some geniuses will eventually emerge."

Seeing that she was deep in thought, Long Jiuxing didn't disturb her. After realizing that she couldn't help, she went to fetch a basin of warm water, helped Jiang Qingyue take off her shoes, and soaked her feet in the water.

Then I cooked a lot of dishes and packed them in boxes.

After Jiang Qingyue finished soaking her feet, she was allowed to put the food into her space so that she could take it out and eat it anytime in the future.

Even after lying in bed, Jiang Qingyue was still thinking.

Although they are now ahead in strength, she, who is used to planning ahead, cannot sleep at all until she has solved the way to improve her strength in the future.

I tossed and turned for a while until late at night when I finally managed to get some sleep after I had a plan in mind.

The next morning, as soon as Long Jiuxing got up, she woke up too.

"Longlong, now we must find a way to capture more zombie kings and set up more zombie breeding bases. As long as there are enough of them, we will naturally have enough second-tier crystal cores."

"Also, I plan to cooperate with Spring City and several neighboring cities, and have them send me a message when the city is besieged by zombies, so we can rush over and specifically target the high-level zombies."

Jiang Qingyue thought about it all night and finally figured it out: they absolutely couldn't wait.

Only by taking the lead can you stay ahead.

Before the crystal cores of each level lose their effectiveness, the strength of all four of them must be raised to the peak of their current stage.

Long Jiuxing nodded obediently: "I'll listen to Sister Xiaoyue."

"Then let's do it simultaneously. Our solar energy delivery service can deliver goods now, which is quite convenient. I'll ask around to see if anyone sells zombies."

"We want all zombies of level three or above, or those with the potential to become zombie kings."

"Even if the price is a little higher, even if it requires fresh vegetables or plant extracts, I have to buy them. Nothing is more valuable than having the confidence to rely on my own strength."

Moreover, vegetables and the essence of plant doctors are both renewable resources for them.

Long Jiuxing went to wake the two little ones up for breakfast.

Today's goal is to chop firewood. With their increased strength, they no longer need to light a fire for warmth. However, out of habit, the two little ones still sleep in the small room that Jiang Qingyue dug for them.

Every time I cook or boil water, both small rooms become warm and cozy.

Despite not being afraid of the cold, the demand for firewood did not decrease. Jiang Qingyue expanded the planting area and plans to continue expanding it.

Both power generation and heating supply require more firewood.

Therefore, their daily routine now consists of expanding the shelter space and chopping wood.

The laborer who was of little use to Wang Dawei was almost never idle in Jiang Qingyue's hands.

Every day, they were either carrying ice, firewood, or soil.

If a wooden figure could talk, it would have quit long ago.

Jiang Qingyue opened her personal terminal and sent messages to Liu Yuyao and Nangong Zhao respectively.

"Please let me know if there are any signs of a zombie apocalypse."

Nangong Zhao replied, "I cannot afford it."

Liu Yuyao replied: "How much does it cost?"

?

Jiang Qingyue was stunned for a full three seconds after seeing their replies.

What does that mean?

So, if she went there when the city was besieged by zombies, she could charge these two people?

"That's right." Jiang Qingyue slapped her forehead. Why can't she charge for it?

"I went to help them because they were surrounded by zombies, not to steal their lives. What's wrong with charging a small fee?"

Jiang Qingyue, who hadn't originally planned to do this, immediately changed her mind.

He replied to Nangong Zhao, "I can offer you a discount."

He then replied to Liu Yuyao: "Considering we both come from Xingfu Community, I'll give you a friendly price. I'll do one transaction with Long Jiuxing, and each of us will get 20,000 transaction coins."

Upon seeing this fee, Liu Yuyao from the Overlord Base remarked, "She's gotten stronger, and her skin has gotten thicker too."

"What's wrong? What's wrong?" Chen Sanyang leaned forward to look at the chat history on the personal terminal.

He was furious: "Damn it, does Jiang Qingyue have no shame? She came here to kill zombies, so the crystal cores are definitely hers. We might even have to treat her to a meal."

"And she still wants 40,000 transaction coins? Why doesn't she just rob us?"

Just as they were cursing, Liu Yuyao sent two words: "Deal."

Chen Sanyang was dumbfounded: "No, boss, she's obviously asking for an exorbitant amount. Why did you agree to her request? It's obvious, isn't it? She needs crystal cores herself. If we don't give her the trading coins, does she think she won't kill zombies?"

Liu Yuyao rolled her eyes at him: "Little Sanzi, has your brain been smeared with zombie brain matter lately?"

"What do you mean?"

Liu Yuyao rolled her eyes: "Jiang Qingyue is pretty shameless, but let's be fair, there are zombies everywhere in the world. It doesn't matter where he kills zombies, why does he have to come to our Overlord Base, especially when there's a zombie siege?"

Chen Sanyang remained silent.

Liu Yuyao added, "From another perspective, if our Overlord Base can't hold out against the zombie horde, what price would we have to pay to get the top two experts on the leaderboard to come and help?"

"Can you bring in 40,000 trading coins?"

Chen Sanyang fell completely silent.

Let alone top players like Jiang Qingyue and Long Jiuxing, even Chen Sanyang, as the vice captain of the Overlord Base, wouldn't go for 40,000 trading coins if anyone asked him to come and help in a time of crisis.

"So, does that mean we actually made a profit?"

Liu Yuyao patted his shoulder: "Don't think so much. Even if I disagreed, and they insisted on coming, do you have the power to drive them away?"

Chen Sanyang: "..."

On the other hand, Nangong Zhao was much more straightforward.

Reply: "50,000 trading coins in exchange for you and Long Jiuxing making a move once."

Jiang Qingyue replied instantly: "Deal."

On the other side, Nangong Zhao, who was prepared to be asked for an exorbitant sum, was silenced.

For the first time, I asked my underling with some unease, "Did I give him too much?"