The Apocalypse Took Everything, This Time I Hoard It All First

Chapter 127: Chapter 127: Second Awakening

The next afternoon, after eating and drinking to her heart’s content, Luna Dawson collapsed onto the sofa. She pulled Rollo into her arms and took two deep sniffs. "Mhm! That’s that puppy smell. I’m completely intoxicated by it!"

She only let go after thoroughly petting Rollo all over. His fur was ruffled up like a bird’s nest. He hopped off the sofa, gave his body a hard shake, and shot Luna a resentful glare before trotting outside to play.

Luna patted her backside and stood up, shouting toward the training room, "I’m heading out to register our squad! Who’s coming with me?"

Previously, she had been accepting missions under her personal name. She had just realized that they still hadn’t officially registered a squad.

Miles Dawson immediately popped out. "I’ll go! I’ll go!" he yelled, darting off to round up the others.

Ten minutes later.

Luna Dawson, Kevin Keane, Aaron Palmer, and Miles Dawson drove out in a low-profile Land Cruiser.

Sitting in the backseat, Luna noticed Kevin’s flushed face. She reached over to feel his forehead. "Huh, you have a fever and you still came along? Afraid someone’s going to steal your throne as vice-captain?"

Kevin had been injured the previous day while fighting a Fourth Rank mutated succulent. He had been running a low-grade fever since the latter half of the night, leaving him a bit dizzy. He frowned and muttered, "It’s just a mild fever. It’s nothing."

Luna curled her lip. "Even my sister couldn’t heal you. Could it be a secondary awakening?" She could faintly sense fluctuations of superpower energy radiating from him, pulsing intermittently.

The moment the words left her mouth, Aaron and Miles erupted.

"What? A secondary awakening?!"

"How is that fair?! I got injured too, so why isn’t it me?!"

The two of them kept chattering, practically overflowing with jealousy.

Kevin raised his hand and rapped Aaron, who was driving, on the back of the head. "Focus on driving. The road is full of people. Do you want to flip the car?"

Aaron clutched his head and sat up straight, though his eyes remained as wide as saucers. "Got it, got it! Brother Finn, did you really undergo a secondary awakening? What does it feel like? Tell us, quick!"

Miles leaned in, gripping the back of the driver’s seat. "Sis, Superpower Users can undergo secondary awakenings? How come I didn’t know that!"

Luna nodded. "Ordinary people can awaken, so why shouldn’t Superpower Users be able to?" As she spoke, she pulled out a handful of transparent, attribute-less Crystal Cores and shoved them into Kevin’s hands. "You used to only be able to absorb Thunder System cores. Try these. Your superpower feels weird; I can’t even recognize what attribute it is."

Aaron and Miles instantly slumped, souring with envy.

"God, save me! Why couldn’t it be me?!"

"I’m so sick of saying how jealous I am. I’m begging God to just give me a secondary awakening, too!"

Miles even pulled out a tissue and fake-cried. He shot Kevin a look so full of sorrowful resentment you’d think he was a concubine banished to the cold palace for eight hundred years. The sight of it only made Kevin’s headache worse.

He sighed helplessly. "I’ll try, but it might not necessarily be an awakening."

"Hurry up and absorb them!" Luna was equally curious. "If these don’t work, we’ll just have you try every single type of Crystal Core. We’ll figure it out eventually."

Kevin’s entire body was burning up, and the gaze he fixed on Luna grew a few degrees hotter. Swallowing hard, he quickly shut his eyes and focused his mind, desperate to distract himself. He gathered the faint, almost imperceptible sliver of superpower energy within him and directed it toward the Crystal Cores in his palm.

The others watched as the Crystal Cores in his hand slowly shrank, dissolving into a fine, transparent powder that drifted to the floor. No one dared to make a peep for fear of disturbing him, but their eyes grew brighter and wider with excitement.

They drove all the way to the mission center. Since the base was so massive, the villa district was nearly eighty kilometers away from the District Four mission hall. Along the way, they had to yield to a steady stream of supply trucks, military vehicles, and even incredibly massive mining trucks. It took them a full two hours to finally arrive.

Luna was absolutely captivated by the mining trucks. She couldn’t believe vehicles this humongous actually existed!

While she was distracted, Kevin finished absorbing the Crystal Cores, smoothly breaking through to the First Rank in his new ability.

Luna’s eyes lit up. "How is it? I can already sense two Crystal Cores inside your head. What do you feel?"

Miles eagerly poked his head over from the passenger seat. "Tell us, tell us! What kind of superpower is it?!"

Kevin frowned and stretched his limbs. "I can’t really describe it. My whole body just feels airy, like I’m experiencing a sense of weightlessness."

Luna rubbed her chin in thought. "Airy, weightless... Could it be a gravity superpower? What kind of mutated succulent was that? That sounds more like a Devil Fruit! Are you about to turn into Fujitora?!"

Aaron looked completely lost. "What the heck is that?"

He had just parked the car and quickly turned around to check on Kevin’s status.

Kevin didn’t bother explaining. He pushed the car door open, stepped outside, and gave a light leap.

WHOOSH!

He bounded straight onto the second-floor terrace of a nearby shop bordering the parking lot!

Miles’s voice trembled with shock. "Holy crap! What kind of vertical is that?! Did you just turn on a cheat code?!"

Luna understood immediately. "It’s a flight superpower! His rank is too low for actual flight right now, but once he hits the Third Rank, he’ll be able to soar through the air!"

In her previous life, she had always been incredibly envious of flight-type Superpower Users. Once they reached the Third Rank, some could even manifest wings. It was absolutely badass!

Aaron and Miles were dumbfounded, literally stamping their feet with sheer envy. "Damn! A flight superpower?! For Brother Finn, that’s like adding wings to a tiger! That’s just too sick!"

As they spoke, Kevin leaped down from the seven or eight-meter-high terrace. He landed without making a single sound, as if he were stepping on cotton.

Aaron rushed forward, poking and prodding him all over. "Brother Finn, you’re a massive guy! How on earth are you as light as a feather? This is ridiculous!"

Luna waved them off. "Alright, break it up. What isn’t ridiculous in the apocalypse? Just get used to it. Let’s go register the squad so we don’t waste any more time."

The group muttered amongst themselves, discussing potential squad names as they walked into the mission hall. Along the way, they also figured out the base’s operating rules.

"So the base operates on a point system now? You can exchange Crystal Cores and supplies for points?"

"We should hoard more Crystal Cores, then. We can trade them in for the good stuff!"

"Whoa, they actually have power!" Miles stared at the brightly lit hall, his voice brimming with shock.

Kevin, who was walking beside them, took a base manual from a staff member at the door and started leafing through it. Luna leaned in to get a look as well.

After a moment, Kevin slowly explained, "The District One Military Headquarters and the District Four Resource Trading Zone are the base’s top priority zones. They were the first to get electricity and heating restored. It’s the only way to ensure the base’s core operations keep running smoothly."

Aaron popped his head over and asked, "Then who’s doing all the manual labor around the base?"

"Superpower Users and military personnel are mainly responsible for venturing outside to scavenge for supplies and rescue survivors," Kevin paused for a moment before adding. "As for the grunt work—reinforcing the walls, hauling away zombie corpses, and clearing out dead mutated plants—most of that is handled by ordinary survivors."

Luna nodded in agreement. "To put it plainly, higher risks equal higher rewards. Safe, base-internal jobs like moving cargo or cleaning up garbage offer significantly fewer points."

"Then aren’t ordinary survivors getting the short end of the stick?" Miles scratched his head.

"They’re lucky enough to be among the first batch allowed into the base. They get first dibs on housing, food, and other resources," Kevin replied mildly. "Besides, the base is still under construction, so they are desperate for manpower. Any able-bodied adult can find work here. It certainly beats being chased and slaughtered by zombies on the outside."

Aaron clicked his tongue in amazement. "So you’re saying there’s like five or six hundred thousand people building this base together? How many people is it supposed to hold eventually?"

Kevin scanned the area. "At least ten million."

"This base is massive." Luna glanced around the hall, pointing at a large screen. "By the way, the base also permits private squads to head out and scavenge on their own. We don’t have to be micromanaged by the mission hall; we can set our own schedules."

"However," Kevin added, "any experienced squad knows to accept a mission from the hall before heading out. That way, you can scavenge for your own supplies while simultaneously racking up mission points. In this world, you can never have too many lifelines."

The group continued walking, taking in their surroundings. The more they looked, the more they realized this mission center was truly something else.

It wasn’t some makeshift shack at all, but a modern, ten-story building teeming with high-tech equipment. Long, energy-saving LED strips were embedded in the vaulted ceiling of the first-floor lobby. The bright light cascaded downward, thoroughly banishing the oppressive gloom of the apocalypse.

Aaron sighed in awe. "If it weren’t for the fact that everyone around us is dressed in rags and looks either exhausted or on edge, I’d almost forget we were in the middle of an apocalypse!"

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