Chapter Seventy: Proclaimed to the World, the Liu Family's Hunt!

Gu Lang glanced over the panel, his heart pounding with excitement. So many attribute points—such a thing was unimaginable before. With this, he could practically conjure a gold-ranked warrior out of thin air!

“All thanks to Luo Xue,” he thought. “Half these points come from slaying that gold-tier opponent. Who would have thought that killing a single gold-ranked enemy could net over a hundred attribute points?”

“What a shame, though. The idea of slaughtering gold-ranks for rapid leveling is just wishful thinking. Even if you had the power, there aren’t enough gold-ranked foes to go around.”

Wasting no time, Gu Lang began distributing his points, spreading them out evenly but giving extra priority to strength and speed.

[Name: Gu Lang]
[Rank: Gold (Rising Star)]
[Charisma: 500]
[Speed: 700]
[Strength: 1000]
[Intelligence: 280]
[Skills: Imperial Bearing, Savage Charge, Ice Spike, Blade and Shadow, Group Buff, Firearms Mastery, Horrific Regeneration, Distant Voice, Corpse Mutation, Blizzard, Gale]
[Points Remaining: 0]

Gu Lang clenched his fist lightly, and the air itself seemed to crack and explode at the motion. Right now, he truly felt he could punch straight through a building. And yet, this was only the mid-tier of gold rank.

“At last, an attribute has broken a thousand,” he murmured to himself, calculating his next steps. “I can’t see platinum stats, but I’ve glimpsed the numbers for top-tier golds. That Li Changhe had nearly all his attributes above a thousand—some even pushing two thousand.”

“So, breaking into platinum must require attributes around three thousand. As for me, I’m in the middle of the gold rank, and still on the weaker side.”

“Unless most of my stats break a thousand, I won’t be a true mid-tier. Still, I have an advantage: my multitude of skills.”

Gu Lang recalled the blizzard he’d unleashed that day. Neither ability was particularly strong on its own—in fact, both were rather unimpressive when used separately. Yet, when combined, they could freeze an entire mountain in an instant.

And that was just the synergy between two skills. What if he combined a dozen, or even dozens, all at once?

“I have no shortage of skills. In the future, as I gain more wives and share more abilities, the combinations will only grow. Who knows? I might unlock terrifying new powers—just like the zombie guards, fighting above my rank could become possible.”

“With this, even if I meet a peak gold, I should be able to put up a fight.”

He turned to glance at Luo Xue. She lay on the edge of the bed, dressed in ancient garb, her eyes still wary—a noble maiden forced to share a room with a notorious thief. That innocent expression, paired with her beauty, made Gu Lang’s heart itch. Were she not a platinum-rank, he might have been tempted to play the part of the scoundrel himself.

“Gu Lang, where are we headed next? Withered Yellow City?” Luo Xue’s voice was cool, though a rare gentleness tinged her words.

“That’s right. I’ve checked the map. Withered Yellow City is on our way. From there, it’s just over two thousand kilometers to the SPC headquarters,” Gu Lang replied, letting his gaze wander over her figure. She was striking, her curves pronounced—a beauty who, in ancient times, would have been remembered for centuries. Judging by her age, she must have died young; a faint, maidenly fragrance still clung to her.

“Very well. We’ll set out at dawn,” Luo Xue said, turning away and closing her eyes.

Gu Lang looked at her, secretly delighted. Luo Xue was not too difficult to deceive. He was confident he could keep her fooled for two months. Once the time was up, he’d have a princess as his wife.

...

Sun Family City, Combined Park.

The former refuge, once teeming with survivors, had become a field of ruins. Corpses of zombies and survivors alike lay strewn in heaps. A handful of silver-ranked fighters prowled the battleground, occasionally dispatching zombies and plundering the belongings of the dead. Chaos reigned.

In one corner of the field stood an area that no one dared approach. Over a hundred men guarded it—members of the Liu family, the last surviving clan.

At their head stood Liu Hongyun, glaring furiously into the distance.

“Damn it! My Liu family, so powerful, and our strongest gold-tier fighter, Liu Wenhao, died—tricked into it by Gu Lang! If it weren’t for Gu Lang’s stubborn insistence on barging into the instance, the princess never would’ve appeared!”

“And now, it’s a mass grave here, picked over by every survivor in sight. If I didn’t have peak silver strength, the whole Liu family would be wiped out...”

“Meanwhile, Gu Lang survives, sheer dumb luck! He managed to escape!”

He drew a desperate breath. He was only a squad leader in the Liu family—a low-ranking subordinate but with close blood ties to Liu Wenhao. With the strongest gold now dead, he had become the Liu family’s best.

But how could a peak silver hope to contend with a gold?

Just as despair engulfed him, a cold voice sounded.

“You said his name is Gu Lang? Gold rank, is it?”

Who could be so oblivious? Liu Hongyun turned viciously, ready to curse, but froze in shock.

“You...”

Behind him stood a middle-aged man, unremarkable in appearance but dressed in an immaculate suit, spotless and out of place amid the apocalypse. The man’s cold gaze swept over the crowd.

“Platinum? No—wait... that aura, diamond rank?”

Liu Hongyun drew a sharp breath, his body trembling uncontrollably—the man’s gaze felt like knives flaying his bones. Beside him, the other Liu family members had already fainted from sheer terror.

“Heh, not bad. You recognized my rank, and you didn’t die from my gaze. Your will is strong enough.”

The man glanced at the Liu family corpses scattered nearby. “How about it? Come with me. Help me find Gu Lang, and I’ll take you as my disciple. I’ll see to it you reach platinum.”

“Platinum! Really?” Liu Hongyun was overjoyed and immediately knelt before the man.

“My lord, rest assured—I’ve met Gu Lang. If I see him again, I’ll recognize him at once! Even if he turned to ash, I could point him out!”

The man chuckled. “Good. Call me Old Yu from now on. Is Gu Lang heading to Black Iron City?”

Liu Hongyun considered, then shook his head. “My lord, rumor has it he’s been traveling all over. I did some digging—someone leaked information about Withered Yellow City. I suspect he’s gone there.”

“Withered Yellow City? Interesting. That’s a rare high-risk zone, even platinum peak zombies are said to roam there. Come with me—I’ll show you the world. As for crushing Gu Lang? He’s nothing but an ant to me. Killing him will be effortless.”

...

On the country road outside the gates of Withered Yellow City.

Gu Lang sat in the passenger seat of an off-road vehicle, frowning as he gazed outside. The driver was Sun Tian.

“Master Gu Lang, this SUV is a rare find from Black Iron City—there’s not another so intact in the entire apocalypse, and it still has fuel!”

Gu Lang didn’t reply. Suddenly, his pupils contracted in shock as he stared out the window.

“What the hell? That’s a gold-ranked zombie!”