Category Archives: Devil’s Evolution Catalog

Chapter 668: Searching for Survivors

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Author: The Sole Survivor Original Source: SFACG
Translator: CatatoPatch English Source: Re:Library

“Our current location is the southern district of Southern Plains. If we travel in a straight line, it would take twenty kilometers travelling in a straight line to reach the suburbs of Southern Plains.” Bitong stated, electronic map opened up wide as she pointed at the districts. “If we’re lucky, we might bump into a military or police patrol -rescue might be possible then. However, even if that isn’t the case, these exosuits should theoretically keep us safe from their attacks. I just don’t know if they might evolve like in those zombie games…”

“Evolve?” Jiaojiao jerked her head towards Bitong, attention fully captured now, instead of flailing her arms about. “No way… this isn’t a game.”

“But reality shouldn’t have zombies either… at least there weren’t any in the past…” Lan Yue’er countered in a quivering voice. “I’ve only heard of failed experiments producing mutated animals in the past. Those were all beasts that were put down immediately. This virus has already taken over this entire city…”

“Hmph. With His Highness here, mere zombies are not a threat.” Lixiang confidently stated her faith in me. However, the words of a girl with middle school delusions weren’t exactly inspiring.

Seeing our morale deteriorate all of a sudden, I quickly stepped in to break the mood. “There’s no need to think that far for now. As long as we’re quick enough, we will be safe, whether it’s finding the army, the police, or just leaving ourselves.”

“Don’t forget, Southern Plains is a very famous tourist city. At every one moment, there are at least tens of thousands of tourists from each planet. If we were to all die in Southern Plains, even the Federation will have difficulty explaining this crisis off.”

Lan Zhi was right there. The death of all these aliens was no small matter, it might even lead to inter-planetary war. The Federation would definitely have taken some measures already. Like dispatching a huge army. The other planets would have sent aid as well.

“Well, time won’t wait for anyone, let’s move.” A good suggestion by Yang Fei, though there was still one matter to do before we left -we should search the entire building for survivors.

“Hold on. We should search Game City first. Given its size, there might be survivors scattered around. If there are, we can just bring them along…”

At the same time, we could do some points farming.

“All right. I will go to the other game rooms and unlock the exosuits. You guys can go search for survivors.” Unless it was about setting up a harem, I could always count on Bitong’s unconditional support, and guidance too.

Just like that, we quickly split up into two teams. The Lans were one team, while Jiaojiao, Lixiang and I were another. Bitong was naturally tasked with unlocking the exosuits.

First off, we searched the other game rooms since these were most likely to have occupants inside. As expected, we actually found three survivors in the first game room we searched. After a quick chat, they agreed with our plans and joined the search as well. Over time, the search time expanded to over twenty people, split into seven groups.

After another hour of searching, the total tally nearly came up to a hundred. During the search, we would gather up survivors till the number reached a threshold, at which point we would escort them downstairs.

On Bitong’s part, it didn’t take long before she unlocked the remaining exosuits. With that out of the way, she took up the duty of guarding the survivors we sent down.

Because we were now armed with exosuits, Jiaojiao was a lot more enthusiastic, seeing as there was no danger of attacks. The moment we bumped into a zombie, she would be the first one to charge ahead. In her own words, she was grinding mobs… Now, if only there was an experience bar somewhere where we could gauge our levels…

As if! Lixiang’s delusions are starting to spread now, I see!

By the time we brought down our last group of survivors, every other team had arrived as well. The number of survivors, not counting the initial survivors who joined us in searching, came up to 91. We had crossed the hundred mark, but thankfully, the amount of exosuits in Game City could accommodate everyone with three to spare.

The earlier survivors, whom we sent down, were already snacking on the rations we managed to scavenge in the building.

“Seems like we got quite a harvest.” Bitong cheerfully waved in our direction. Because Lan Zhi was there to take over the guarding, she had the opportunity to dismount from her exosuit and munch on bread.

While everyone else might have confused the word harvest for the number of rescued survivors, only we knew that she meant the points. And she was right. This round of points farming went extremely well. Between the three of us, we managed to kill over three hundred zombies, smoothly and safely, just the way we liked it.

After an additional thirty minutes of resting, Bitong gathered up the hacked exosuits, at which point everyone boarded an exosuit of their own and left Game City.

During these thirty minutes, we also took the opportunity to do a quick census. Over half of the survivors were tourists, the remaining thirty or so were locals.

These thirty locals decided that they would rather search for their kin instead. Naturally, those who did not have any instead wanted to hide out in Game City. In their mind, this building was mostly cleared, and there should be some supplies left anyway. However, after some persuasion about how short sighted this was, they finally gave up on holing up in this building. After all, the exosuits couldn’t even be breached by the zombies in the first place.

As planned, the remaining eighty or so survivors would follow our lead in taking the shortest route out of the city.

I originally wanted to persuade those who wanted to stay behind to search for their kin, but upon seeing the grief on their faces, I couldn’t bring myself to say anything.

Finally, our eighty strong exosuit army marched out of Game City like an unstoppable mechanical horde. Any zombie who stood in our way was dealt swift mechanical justice!



Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

LINK HERE

 

Chapter 667: Testing the Anti-theft System

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Author: The Sole Survivor Original Source: SFACG
Translator: CatatoPatch English Source: Re:Library

Just barely a second after taking a step out the door, a pallid hand reached out and grabbed the outer armor of my exosuit.

This hand that once belonged to a living person scratched furiously at the armor, but no matter how much it tried, the only marks it left behind were the bloodstains from its broken nails.

Then like an elephant crushing an insect, it was over. With barely any effort at all, I stamped down on its head, squashing it like a watermelon. A very gooey watermelon…

The first dry run of the exosuit had been a resounding success. More importantly, I was happy to say that killing with an exosuit still gave me a point!

Seems like I need to have some private fun with this exosuit in the future…

Because these exosuits were meant for entertainment only, their weapon systems were either harmless or sealed up. Even so, a sealed melee weapon was still enough to smash open a zombie’s head. That was why I picked up a hammer on the way out -great for cracking open watermelons.

Bitong’s seemingly reckless driving had rendered most of the zombies outside hapless targets. On the way out, I made sure to give these poor watermelons a quick stomp, especially when they tried to claw at me.

A short while later, coupled with a lot of hammer swinging, the entrance of Game City had been cleared of the zombies blocking the gate. In fact, I was already standing just centimeters away from the outside right this very second. One more step. That was all it took for me to leave the boundaries of Game City.

If the anti-theft system was still active, this single step would trigger its systems and immediately shut down the controls. When that happened, the pilot inside would be prevented from leaving as well, barring those who could hack it, or just smash it apart.

In other words, I would be stuck outside if the anti-theft was still active…

Naturally, I had no doubt that Icy Inferno would be able to slice apart the exosuits… but that wasn’t the point, was it? It was like being nervous before an exam. You might have prepared extensively, but there would always be that heart-pound trepidation leading up to the exam hall…

I breathed in deeply, then took that fateful step ever so slowly but firmly. Then the second… then the third…

Still moving… nothing out of the ordinary…

With that, the anti-theft was proven defeated; these toy exosuits could now be used outside of Game City. As long as we had them protecting us, breaking out of the city was possible!

“Woohoo! It’s done! We can finally leave this forsaken ghost city!” A moment later back in the game room, a veritably excited Jiaojiao was beside herself with excitement as she jumped in celebration. In fact, she jumped so high that she even bumped into Lixiang by accident, causing both machines, one pink and one gold, to topple to the ground.

“So you’re really planning to break out of Southern Plains then?” Amidst our celebrations, Lan Zhi suddenly came in like a splash of cold water with his solemnity. “If you guys merely wanted to hide out in Game City, there would be no need to break the anti-theft.”

“That’s right, we plan to escape from this city by ourselves.” I answered, now fully back in the game room. Honestly, waiting this whole crisis out in safety was a viable option. But there was always a risk when you left your fate to another, even if it was the police or the army. To begin with, this sense of helplessness did not sit well with me, especially now that we actually had the means to accomplish our goals.

“In that case, can you help us break our anti-thefts as well?” Yang Fei was the one who made this request. “We can escape together -safety in numbers, and all that.”

“Sis.” I looked in Bitong’s direction. Even though I did not say much, given our time together, she definitely understood my meaning.

Now that we had these exosuits, the zombies couldn’t harm us, and that meant we didn’t need extra help either. However, leaving another to die wasn’t a very commendable action. If I had to choose between being selfish and helping others, I would be more inclined towards the latter.

“Alright.” Bitong nodded her head. “I was planning to ask you all anyway.”

“In that case, thank you.”

“Thank you.” Lan Zhi and Yang Fei immediately expressed their gratitude. Lan Yue’er was also smiling as she said, “Thank you, Sister… Brother Mo Ke…”

Seeing her stutter for a second when saying ‘brother, I knew this question of gender was probably going to stick for a while…

Still, now that we had new members, it was time to discuss our plan of escape.

To be honest, there wasn’t much to do except lay out the precautions we had to take, and the potential dangers ahead. Even though this was the second time the Lan family was hearing this, when Bitong told them about the outside world, Lan Yue’er couldn’t help but get a little dejected.

“So there really aren’t any survivors out there? There were some people knocking on the door before, but before we could even open it…”

“Don’t be sad.” Looking at that guilty look on her face, I couldn’t help but sigh as I comforted her. “Everyone has their own fate… and it’s not that there are no survivors anymore, they have just hidden themselves. The streets are empty for the most part…”



Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

LINK HERE

 

Chapter 666: Lixiang…

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Author: The Sole Survivor Original Source: SFACG
Translator: CatatoPatch English Source: Re:Library

Silent up till now, Lan Zhi’s wife, Yang Fei, suddenly asked, “So what are your plans?”

“Nothing complicated, actually. We came here to find some exosuits to use as weapons, with which we will use to escape Southern Plains.” There wasn’t much reason to hide, so I openly stated our plans.

“An exosuit?” Lan Yue’er’s eyes went wide. “I thought you can’t bring them out of Game City?”

Game City’s being locked by an anti-theft system was common sense. But wasn’t common sense made for breaking?

I pursed my lips a little then threw a side glance at Bitong who was still fiddling with the exosuits. “That’s my big sis over there, she can hack the anti-theft system.”

“Really?” Lan Zhi seemed almost doubtful. “It’s no easy feat to crack an anti-theft system of this level.”

“It’s done.” Just as Lan Zhi voiced his doubt, Bitong called out to us, signalling that she was done hacking the first exosuit.

Her face was the picture of confidence, and while her claim hadn’t been verified yet, even Lan Zhi knew that she wouldn’t make a baseless claim like that under such situations… that would be pointless.

Even so, he couldn’t help but feel the timing of her announcement was rather coincidental, and it wasn’t long before the atmosphere turned awkward…

“Ahem. So… Sister Mo Ke…” Most likely in an attempt to break the ice, Lan Yue’er suddenly spoke up, “I saw you kick my dad off his feet just now. Are you a martial artist? Your leg was glowing too – so cool!”

I could clearly hear the excitement in her voice as she bombarded me with questions, but some records had to be set straight, “Before answering your answer, I think I need to clarify something. I’m a guy.”

“Eh?!” Lan Yue’er glanced over me, probably scanning for any semblance of masculinity. “Sister Mo Ke is a guy?”

What do you mean, am I a guy?! How am I not a guy?

Lixiang threw the girl a scornful look. “To think this human wasn’t even able to distinguish Your Highness’s gender, foolish.”

“What did you say? You’re a human yourself!”

“Hah. This one isn’t some lowly human.” Lixiang tilted her head up and arrogantly looked down upon the girl despite being shorter than her exosuit.

“You’re not?” Lan Yue’er asked with mocking incredulity. “What are you then?”

“This one is the spawn of light and darkness, a Primal Angel of the Apocalypse. And also the magical girl, Heavenly Feather of the Broken Sin!” Having said that, Lixiang raised her doll up here. “This is a clone containing this one’s sealed up memories, as long as this one undos the seal…”

Ah… here we go again…

By this point, the Lan family was beginning to give us a pretty strange look. I hurriedly interrupted Lixiang before it was too late. “Lixiang… Lixiang…”

Hearing me call her, she promptly halted her speech, and like a proper attendant, curtsied in my direction. “Your Highness. Lixiang is ready and willing to serve.”

My ears immediately flushed at her gravitas, yet at the same time, I couldn’t help but feel a little happy… Crap. Am I turning into Lixiang 2.0? But this kind of roleplaying is pretty fun in its own way.

“So… what’s a Heavenly Feather of the Broken Sin?”

Calmly, and without any shame whatsoever, Lixiang replied, “That is the magical girl title of this one.”

“Lixiang…”

“That’s right. This one has just regained the memories of her past life.” Lixiang interrupted me in that same solemn voice. Then with adoration in her eyes, she looked at me. “As expected of Your Highness, you’ve already guessed that.”

“…”

Actually, I was trying to tell you not to embarrass us in front of the outsiders…

However, as I watched her mind fill the plot holes in her delusions, I suddenly had this thought: what if she was actually telling the truth? She did seem rather convinced… Fine… As long as you’re happy, Lixiang. As long as you’re happy… But it’s still so embarrassing. Someone get me a bag to cover my head please.

“Your Highness, why are you covering your face?”

“Oh, it’s nothing… I just wanted to rest my eyes all of a sudden.”

“That is true, these foolish humans do not deserve to gaze upon your heavenly visage.”

“No… I did not mean that at all…”

How does she even twist my words like that? Every time. It must be a special ability of some sort…

By now, Bitong had hacked the fourth exosuit.

“Ke, bring Lixiang over here, they’re done.”

As instructed, I herded Lixiang to Bitong. Jiaojiao had already equipped a pink exosuit before us. Even though she was small, these exosuits had the ability to adjust their size to their wearer. At its maximum, an exosuit could accommodate an astonishing 2.5 meters.

“Look, big brother, Jiaojiao can do all these now.” Fully buckled up, Jiaojiao began enacting a series of difficult maneuvers, as if to prove to us that she was an excellent pilot.

“Jiaojiao’s the best!” I praised her in a slightly exaggerated fashion. When she saw the smile on my face, she got even more excited and started a new round of maneuvers, only more difficult this time. They weren’t the most precise of kicks, but they worked…

Honestly speaking, if one were to compare her to a professional pilot, she would, at best, be considered an ordinary pilot. But at her age, she was already a genius. My praise was definitely sincere.

“All right, it’s my turn then.” I stowed Icy Inferno into my inventory, then boarded the purple exosuit that Bitong had picked out for me. I first gave the controls a quick warm-up then started moving towards the door. “I’ll go outside and clean up the remaining zombies. At the same time, I can test if these suits can leave Game City.”

It wasn’t that I did not trust Bitong’s skills, but a little caution went a long way -not like she was against this idea anyway.

Barring the Lan family whose abilities I still wasn’t familiar with, I was the only one present who could survive even without an exosuit.

The girls naturally had no objections to my suggestion. They trusted my abilities, and they knew I was the most suitable candidate here.

“Sister… Brother Mo Ke… are you really planning to go out? But it’s dangerous out there, maybe we should all stay here instead.” Upon hearing that I was about to leave the room to test the exosuit, Lan Yue’er was the first to voice her concern.

“I won’t deny the dangers, but we can’t stay here forever. Besides, sis has already hacked the anti-theft systems, so all that’s left is to test it out. Someone has to do this job.”



Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

LINK HERE

 

Devil Evolution Catalogue Chapters 662 to 665

662 to 665 are out!

NOTE: The previous arc will have certain chapters either omitted or summarised, as voted on by patrons. The slice of life bits will skipped.

Click the Link to Start Reading:
» Chapter 662 «

Click the Link to Start Reading:
» Chapter 663 «

Click the Link to Start Reading:
» Chapter 664 «

Click the Link to Start Reading:
» Chapter 665 «

Chapter 665: Aliens?

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Author: The Sole Survivor Original Source: SFACG
Translator: CatatoPatch English Source: Re:Library

So aliens do look like us – two eyes and a nose.
—Mo Ke

“That was our bad, I apologise.” Another exosuit activated its visor, revealing a red, long-haired girl underneath, her age seemingly the same as the blue-haired youth, and just as good looking.

“Yeah… I knew zombies couldn’t open that door.” The third exosuit turned on her visor as well. The pilot was a young girl closer to our age, blue head of hair that was neat and short, and vaguely resembling that handsome youth.

“Live people! Finally more survivors!” Jiaojiao was beside herself with excitement as she yelled.

Ever since we left the shelter, we hadn’t encountered any other survivors. Honestly, with Southern Plains in the state it was in, nowhere was safe, and calling the situation complicated was an understatement.

However, the streets were undoubtedly the areas with the highest death rates. The virus outbreak happened in the day, a time when the streets would be the most packed. That was why most of the zombies were concentrated there.

Zombies had no intelligence to speak of, thus they wouldn’t normally enter buildings. As long as one was bold enough to clean the zombies already in the building, they would have a relatively safe hiding spot.

Assuming, of course, the people doing the cleaning hadn’t drunk the serum themselves.

I stealthily winked at Bitong, then asked, “Is there anyone else inside?”

Just based on their appearance, the three of them did not seem like bad people. Yet one could never be too careful – maintaining some distance would be the wiser choice.

“Just the three of us.” The blue-haired youth was the one to answer. “You guys have any idea what’s going on outside? Why did the world turn into a zombie survival game all of a sudden?”

“We aren’t too sure ourselves. By the way, have you guys drunk that Gene Enhancement Serum?”

Just as a precaution, I chose not to reveal that the serum was the cause of this outbreak. After all, if they knew that was the cause, their answers couldn’t be trusted.

“Gene Enhancement Serum?” The blue-haired youth paused for a second. “You mean that suspicious sounding serum that claims to be able to extend one’s life, and has been selling like hotcakes?”

“That’s right, the very same.” I looked him right in the eyes. “Have you guys drank it?”

“Nope.” He answered sincerely. “Our family is from Planet Bodono. We’ve long heard that Southern Plains of Planet Gaia is a tourist heaven, a place where you can really steep in the ancient history of the planet…”

The youth proceeded to explain his situation briefly before we exchanged names.

The youth’s name was Lan Zhi. The older, red-haired girl was his wife, Yang Fei. The other short-haired girl was their daughter, Lan Yue’er.

As the youth said, they were bonafide aliens on a holiday trip to Gaia, this city was their first stop. That’s when the outbreak happened and stranded them…

Thankfully, they did not believe in the advertising of the serum, thus they did not even buy it. If it wasn’t for that serendipitous stroke of mistrust, we would have three exosuit-clad zombies right now.

Naturally, I wouldn’t be so crass as to laugh at someone’s misfortunes… but for their first stop on this planet to be the epicenter of a virus outbreak… that was some next level misfortune right there!

I wonder though… How many of those damned serums were sold to the other planets as well? Bah. That can wait till after this whole situation blows over.

Now that we had basically confirmed that the Lan family was safe, our interactions were a lot less tense. The Lan family did not hinder us from entering the game room either. Once the girls were in as well, Lan Zhi closed the door and patched up the hole I cut.

It was then that I received a system message.

“Ding! Mission: Search for Weapons, complete. Please accept your rewards.”

The reward was a spell to create spheres of fire, Fireball. Upon accepting the reward, the knowledge started flooding into my head as before.

Every exosuit game room was equipped with ten exosuits in total. Jiaojiao in tow, Bitong started her work of adapting the exosuits. Lixiang, on the other hand, said that it would be unbecoming for me to be without an attendant in front of the aliens, so she stayed behind with me…

Huh…

Also, I know the Lans are from another planet, but aren’t they just immigrants from Gaia to begin with? How is that considered an alien?

Jibes aside, these aliens were worth having a serious talk with. They were all armed in exosuits, and based on our short exchange so far, I could tell that their judgement of the situation was adequate. They were potential allies in our quest for survival.

As we continued chatting, Lan Zhi went on with patching up the door, all the while in his exosuit. A natural reaction, seeing as our trust was only at the initial stages in a lawless zombie apocalypse. If he still had his wits about him, he wouldn’t disarm himself so quickly and gamble on a stranger’s kindness.

While we talked, his family would maintain a cautious distance from us. The fact that their weapons weren’t drawn was already a massive sign of trust.

“Oh right, so what are you guys doing here? Looking for someone?” Seeing Bitong work on the systems of an exosuit, Lan Zhi’s curiosity was naturally piqued. “Are you guys locals as well? Also, you mentioned the serum specifically just now. Is there some problem with it?”

“To be honest, we’re tourists as well. We were staying in a hot spring inn when the server jumped us…” I briefly recounted our experiences, finally ending as such, “We just escaped from one of the underground shelters. I have to say, your choice to hide here was a smart one. But it’s not a long term solution either. At the very least, a Game City would not have large stocks of food. And we still can’t be sure if the serum is the only source of the zombie virus…”

Now that I had confirmed that the serum was indeed the source of the virus, the Lans were astonished. Had the advertisement not been so ostentatious, they themselves might have bought it too. After all, in this day and age, products put on sale had to go through some level of checks…



Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

LINK HERE

 

Chapter 664: Violent Opening

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Author: The Sole Survivor Original Source: SFACG
Translator: CatatoPatch English Source: Re:Library

I followed Lixiang’s gaze and found two bifurcated zombies doing their best to crawl towards us. Naturally, I ignored them.

“Start the car.”

“Alright. Everyone sit tight, and make sure to put on your seat belts!” Seeing as I had obediently chosen to sit in the front seat rather than beside Jiaojiao, Bitong was practically beaming as she yanked the steering wheel to the left and slammed on the accelerator.

Under her forceful driving, the hover car jolted to life, then a second later, shot forward like an arrow in the specified direction.

“Woohooo!! Now we’re talking!! Slam ‘em!” Steeped in the exhilaration of the sudden burst of speed, Jiaojiao pumped her fist her in the air and yelled excitedly.

As if by her direction, Bitong actually drove the car into a path filled with zombies. That scene was… disgusting. The sudden bump and splat on the windows… maybe I was just being overly sensitive here… sensitive to zombie parts splattering onto my windows…

“Yahooo!!!”

Amidst Jiaojiao’s excited screaming, our hover car ended up running over a dozen zombies before smashing through the fancy glass gates of Joyworks Game City… And like an excited wolf in a sheep pack, we had no intention of slowing down at all as we raced straight for the exosuits. It wasn’t like there were any survivors wandering around now, so Bitong was more than happy to slam the accelerator like a mad bull…

I mean… the car was like a mad bull… not Bitong… why would I call her mad…

Each time we ran over a zombie, the car would give an obligatory jump, then a bloody mess of parts would come spraying over the sides, like we were a harvester plowing through a wheat field.

Honestly, all that blood and gore wasn’t even the most disconcerting thing right now, it was the sinister smile on Bitong’s face that only grew wider as she slammed into another zombie.

Not to say that I wasn’t happy she was killing zombies, but I wouldn’t want her to turn into Black Bitong because of that…

A while later, Bitong had basically cleared the first floor of Game City, finally stopping outside the room where the exosuits were housed.

“We’re here.”

Upon coming to a stop, Bitong motioned for me to get off first.

“I’ll check the area, you guys watch out in the car.” I said without hesitation, before circling around the car to confirm our safety.

Bitong’s forceful driving was definitely effective, but a hover car was no zombie killer, so the actual number of permanently dead zombies weren’t many; a normal hit that would have killed or maimed a person did not apply to these zombies, as their heads were their only weak point. This stubborn, no, annoyingly stubborn aspect of their undead nature meant that even as a head, they could still bite a person, they just couldn’t move.

With a few well-placed slashes of Icy Inferno, I finished off the two crawling zombies, then sweeped the surrounding areas. At which point, I tapped on the previously bloody, but now cleaned from the force of my swings, windows.

“It’s safe now. Come on out.”

The girls quickly disembarked and took up positions behind me automatically.

I took aim at the door of the exosuits game room, and prepared for the worst. From the flashing light above, this room should still be in use. However, there was no way of telling if it was a zombie or a human inside there right now. Based on the rest of the city however, caution was definitely needed.

Realising my intent as well, Bitong nodded her approval. In an exceptional situation like this, there weren’t many restrictions left, other than murdering, of course.

Sharp as a reaper’s scythe, Icy Inferno cut through the door like it sliced through flesh.

In no time at all, I carved out a large rectangular shaped hole that could easily fit me as long as I kept my head down a little.

“Thump!”

Clearly not used to slicing apart a door, the sliced-off portion summarily slumped to the floor with a hefty thump. I whipped my head around to quickly scan the area, fearful that the sound might have attracted more zombies.

Yet a second later, I remembered that Bitong had taken the liberty prior of knocking over every zombie we came across on this floor. They might not be dead, given a hover car wasn’t the best head smasher around, but they were probably unable to move.

In other words, there was no need to worry at all… or so I thought…

The moment the game room was exposed, a three meter tall, blue exosuit-clad figure stormed out of the room and charged right at us.

I immediately focused my SP into my feet and aimed a kick at its solar plexus.

Like kicking an iron wall, the resulting force sent me stumbling back, though I managed to steady myself with a quick tumble. As for that exosuit, it staggered and fell to the ground… then got up unharmed a second later.

There were still two more exosuits behind it, both in different colors. However, when the first exosuit fell down, the other two seemed to have been affected as well, coming to a stop immediately.

“Humans?” The blue exosuit promptly switched on his helmet visor, projecting the image of a twenty odd, blue-haired handsome man inside.

“So you guys aren’t zombies…” Even though I could clearly tell that the pilots of these exosuits were human, I did not lower my guard either. Instead, I quickly stepped in front of the girls and asked in a stern voice. “Why did you attack us?”

“Sorry about that. I thought you were a zombie.” The blue-haired youth laughed sheepishly. “Are you okay?”

“Do I look not okay to you?” I snapped back, still affected by the potentially fatal attack he nearly inflicted on us. “Have you not considered that a zombie can’t even cut a hole in the door to begin with?”

Despite my harsh tone, the blue-haired youth did not seem angry. He apologised once more. “That was my bad, I was too nervous. Sorry…”

Honestly, I understood his concerns, but that charge was truly a close call. Had I been a normal person, I would be dead by now. After all, these exosuits, entertainment or not, could hit a person with the force of a hover car.



Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

LINK HERE

 

Chapter 663: Finding a Car

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Author: The Sole Survivor Original Source: SFACG
Translator: CatatoPatch English Source: Re:Library

A zombie outbreak. Communications and traffic being shut down at the same time. Those were definite signs of a bigger conspiracy at work.

Because of the abruptness of this disaster, the majority of the hover cars stopped functioning by the side of the streets, and were filled by zombies. Naturally, I had no love for riding next to a zombie…

“We will ride a hover car in.” Bitong reiterated, then proceeded to explain her plan. “Those hover cars have stopped working because the traffic system of this city has collapsed. The person responsible for the virus is most likely responsible for this as well. What motives they have for causing such a disaster are unknown… but I do know that I can get those cars moving again!”

Voice dripping with sincerity, Lixiang asked, “Oh? How dost thou intend to restore these cars?”

Bitong gave Lixiang a strange look, probably trying to figure out if she was actually asking or just messing with her.

“The reason why these cars have all stopped moving is because their systems are all linked to the traffic bureau, which has collapsed. The hover cars rely on the Transport Bureau like how our game accounts rely on Game City servers to function.” Having stated all that in one breath, she paused for a second, then upon seeing that we were confused, tried to simplify it for us. “Simply put, we are hacking the cars by removing them from their servers onto a private server.”

Huh…

“And thou hast such a server?”

Bitong raised her left hand, revealing her electronic implant, decorated as a pink rose, for us to see. “We will use this.”

“But even if you can open the car doors, won’t the driving systems still be offline, since the Transport Bureau handles the auto-driving function as well.” I did not know much about cars, but I knew that much at least.

“Don’t worry.” Bitong looked me confidently in the eyes. “Your big sis over here will drive!”

The plan was basically set in stone at this point, at least till Jiaojiao suddenly interrupted us with her objection. A very reasonable objection too, I might add.

“But Jiaojiao does not want to sit in a car where a zombie once sat…”

Hmm… Honestly, I don’t want to touch something a corpse touches. I mean, who even wants to use something a dead person used before? Not like they are antiques…

“It’s fine. We will just search around the vicinity for an empty car.” Bitong tilted her chin. “Over there. That’s a car park, there should be some empty cars there.”

Quiet as a mouse, we proceeded onwards, doing our best to avoid any actions that could potentially attract any zombies.

The car park wasn’t too far from us, so we made it there without incident. However, the area was like a giant car accident. In all likelihood, when their systems went offline, there wasn’t much room for the cars to maneuver before slamming into another.

However, thanks to the sturdy make of most hover cars, even a severe crash would only cause a dent on the car chassis. Normally, the passengers would be safe. In fact, we could see a number of zombies clawing away at their windows, leaving behind an awful streak of claw marks.

Underneath some of these cars were severed limbs along with multiple incomplete zombies crawling on the floor with whatever limbs they had left. For the most part however, the zombies in the car park were still whole and complete.

Sensing the presence of live prey, the zombies immediately jerked around to face us, limbed or not!

“Flame Arrow!”
“Flame Arrow!”
“Flame Arrow!”

The girls took the initiative by blowing up three unfortunate zombie heads. Then without waiting for these zombies to collapse to the floor, I charged into the zombie horde, Icy Inferno tight in hand.

Like a grim reaper, Icy Inferno swiftly brought final death to a zombie. With my other hand, I erected a Fire Wall to block off the seven or so zombies charging at us.

Thanks to my previous two attempts at casting, I now knew to use only half of my SP, leaving me able to fight.

The zombies on the left charged fearlessly into the wall of flames, their bodies bursting into flames right away, then turning to ash an instant later, all as I had expected…

Mhm. That was good front-lining right there.

Sharp as the reaper’s scythe, every swing of Icy Inferno felled a zombie. Adding on the girls peppering the area with Flame Arrows, we easily wiped out thirty zombies in a minute.

And this was a head-on battle. No tricks this time!

“Jiaojiao’s the best!” Out of danger, the little girl did a celebratory leap before exclaiming, “Just like a VR game. How fun!”

Seeing that, I couldn’t help but wonder to myself, so who was it that was shivering in fright just now? Certainly not the person jumping, right? And game… who would ever want to play a horror game like this?

“Enough horsing around, let’s go find that car.” I gently flicked her on her forehead, then went off in search of an empty car, completely ignoring the pout she gave me.

The car park ended up producing several empty cars, as we had hoped. Whether or not these cars still had owners was unknown… but the probability wasn’t high.

“There’s one.” Bitong stated before applying her AI assistant to the lock. “This should only take a couple of minutes. Everyone, get ready.”

“Got it, sis. No matter how many zombies show their ugly heads, we will guard your back while you’re working, so don’t worry.”

The girls and I took up positions around Bitong. Even though I sounded supremely confident just now, I would much rather no zombie find us.

To be honest, there were car parks nearer to Game City, like the underground ones, but those tended to be more packed. The chances of a giant car pile up were even higher there. That was why we chose this open-air makeshift car park.

Finding an empty car here was a gamble, but it thankfully paid off.

“Done.”

Two minutes later, Bitong popped open the car door with a smug smile on her face, then hopped into the car.

“Wooo! We have a car now!” Jiaojiao dove in next, and waved at me to sit beside her. “Hurry up, big brother, Jiaojiao wants a hug from big brother!”

“Ke, over here!” Bitong immediately snapped back, then glared at Jiaojiao while holding onto the steering wheel. Finally, she turned around and smiled. “Ke, come to your big sis.”

“Sister Bitong is being mean!” Jiaojiao pouted while making a face at Bitong. Unfortunately, that wasn’t going to change her mind any time soon.

Lixiang had boarded the car at this point. She glanced behind us then said, “Your Highness, more zombies are coming.”



Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

LINK HERE

 

Chapter 662: I’ll Drive

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Author: The Sole Survivor Original Source: SFACG
Translator: CatatoPatch English Source: Re:Library

Don’t worry, my driving skills are top of the class!

-Duanmu Bitong

“But this one isn’t delusional… this one really did awaken memories of her past life…”

Sometimes, the creature known as a middle schooler could only be described as inscrutable. To be able to lie to oneself so convincingly… was really a talent in itself.

“Just like a VR game then…” Not even bothering to pay attention to Lixiang’s delusions anymore, Bitong continued focusing on the arrow-shaped flame floating on her palms. “But I guess that’s not true either, since this is all happening in real life.”

I wasn’t entirely sure why she said that, but judging by her maintaining a floating arrow of flame on her palms, she seemed to have just discovered something about her powers.

Regardless… “We should leave soon.”

Even though the girls were all registered with the system now, before accumulating a vast amount of points, they were still relatively vulnerable. I did not want to see them hurt in any way, so procuring some entertainment exosuits was still our first order of business.

“Mhm.”

“Kay.”

“This one will always be at Your Highness’s side, ready to serve and protect.”

The heat from the flame spell had already dissipated significantly. At the very least, walking was possible as long as one did not linger too long at a single spot.

I swiftly led the girls out of the shelter, following the guidance of our electronic map towards Joyworks Game City.

The roads were littered with zombies, as one would expect, but they were scattered about. Adding on the fact that the girls just learnt some spells, our trip was a smooth one. Furthermore, we already had experience working together in VR games, so unless we were completely surrounded, these zombies did not stand a chance.

Their newly learnt spell, Flame Arrow, was a powerful fire attack that had a 100% accuracy rate on whatever targets they locked on. As a spell, it could be fired off instantly, required little energy, and was quite destructive for its level. Its only weakness was that there wasn’t much room for scaling -suitable for weaklings, but a lot less effective against zombie equivalents of BOSS monsters.

As a side note, we did not encounter many survivors en route to Joyworks Game City. We did not even encounter any policeman or soldier. Yet this sense of abject desolation did not end there. Because of the in-built system within each hover car, every hover car we encountered ceased to function completely. The collapse of the city’s traffic system meant that every car was in effective lockdown. Some were parked along the sides of the road, with a zombie locked inside and banging away at the windows. Others had smashed into a nearby lamp or object.

Because car doors required an electronic implant to open, and these zombies did not possess the intelligence required to operate their own electronic implants, these locked-up zombies were basically harmless.

We first hid in the vicinity of Joywork Game City’s entrance, observing the thoroughfare from a safe distance away. Honestly, there wasn’t much to see. Just a bunch of zombies blocking the entrance… a definite obstacle to entry… but also a massive hassle to clear. Mostly because there was a risk of attracting more zombies.

The fact that we hadn’t encountered any survivors yet was probably due to them congregating in shelters or buildings. By my estimates, that shelter we fled from had at least three to four thousand people. Judging by how much of a mess that was, there shouldn’t be many who got out of that gauntlet. Perhaps a few hundred lucky ones.

Those were the stakes we were working with now. A low survival rate with no restart button here to save us from death. One false move was all it took and game over.

“Look at all the monsters…” Jiaojiao gasped as she snuck a peak from behind me.

“Game City has always been a popular spot to congregate. I’m sure the virus struck when the crowds were high as well… But for it to be this bad…”

“They are numerous. But if we gather them up, and His Highness throws out his wall of flames…” Lixiang was completely vested in the whole magical world set up at this point. Magical girl was basically her identity at this point. Primal Angel of the Apocalypse was probably her ethnicity…

As a bonus, she seemed to object a lot less to Bitong now.

“That could work, but how do we attract their attention to one spot?” I gazed at the mass of zombies before us. There was a good hundred meters of empty space between us. Taking into account what would be required to enact Lixiang’s plan, I soon discovered that the plan wasn’t going to work at all.

The zombies moved too slowly, and the area was too spacious to erect a flame wall that could catch them in their mindless meandering.

It was at that point that Jiaojiao made her opinion heard as well. Fists tightened, she said, “Jiaojiao thinks we can just charge right in, then make a beeline for the room where the exosuits are stored.”

“That’s just too haphazard…” I was left a little speechless by the sheer absurdity of her brute force approach. Yes. We might have had the power to break through that blockade, but there was no telling what kind of dangers awaited us inside. If we were to rush through and then find ourselves facing another horde, we would be completely surrounded at that point.

And it would be of our own doing!

“Her plan is a little rough, but there’s some wisdom to it.” Surprisingly, Bitong agreed with Jiaojiao’s suggestion. “With some adjustments, of course.”

“Sis, what’s your plan?”

Everyone turned to look at Bitong in unison, eagerly anticipating her opinions.

She pointed at a nearby hover car, lips curled into a devious smile. “We can drive that hover car into the horde.”

“Huh?”

Drive it? Aren’t they all locked down now?



Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

LINK HERE

 

Devil Evolution Catalogue Chapters 658 to 661

658 to 661 are out!

NOTE: The previous arc will have certain chapters either omitted or summarised, as voted on by patrons. The slice of life bits will skipped.

Click the Link to Start Reading:
» Chapter 658 «

Click the Link to Start Reading:
» Chapter 659 «

Click the Link to Start Reading:
» Chapter 660 «

Click the Link to Start Reading:
» Chapter 661 «

Chapter 661: Burdened with Responsibilities

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Author: The Sole Survivor Original Source: SFACG
Translator: CatatoPatch English Source: Re:Library

Now… Lixiang might have had a point about the size of a man’s harem… but having Jiaojiao enter the harem… ahem… signing the Book of Oaths was… Wait. I think she just signed it…

Because of Lixiang and Bitong’s amusing exchange, by the time I realised what was going on, Jiaojiao had already inked her name onto the book. In fact, she was even firing off a flame arrow right now!

But that wasn’t the problem – who was it that said I only had two name slots? Was that all a lie?!

Yet just when I was about to ring System Lady and have a serious talk with her, she was already a step ahead of me…

“Ding! The system has detected an error in the Book of Oath’s usage limit… proceeding with punitive measures… a total of 2000 points will be deducted…”

I…

That’s just not fair! Isn’t the third name slot just 1000? Couldn’t you just make me pay that instead, what’s with the extra 1000 on top of it?!

“In that case, would our valued host please return the 1000 points within the next minute, the system will cancel the fine accordingly.”

Fudge…

A day might have been possible, but one minute? There’s no way I can accumulate that much, even if I can kill zombies for points!

“Rest assured, this fine will not have a permanent effect on our valued host.”

What do you mean permanent?

“Permanent means death, naturally.”

I…

Is it necessary to go that far?! Do you want to switch hosts that badly?!

“This system does not actually want to change hosts, but our valued host is quite stupid…”

I…

“Anyway, for the time being while the 2000 points are being repaid, every two points our valued host brings in will have one deducted automatically from it. Thank you for your patronage.”

Thank you for your patronage… so I was scammed then! You didn’t even tell me that such a punishment existed beforehand. That’s not right. You can’t just levy a fine all willy nilly.

“So our valued host does not mind when someone takes their possessions without asking?”

But isn’t the Book of Oaths mine in the first place? Everything inside should be mine as well!

“Ah, that was my mistake, the system has forgotten to inform our valued host about the change in his rights. Since activating the Magical Girl Harem Grooming System, whether it’s our valued host’s body or heart, they all belong to the system.”

So I’m your slave?

“If our valued host insists on tearing away the last shred of dignity the system has so generously afforded him…”

I…

“In that case, the system wishes our valued host a happy time clearing this Raid-sized Instance. Farewell.”

Fudge! Don’t use that customer service tone on me! I will sue you for copyright infringement!

I swear! Everytime I talk to the system, I just end up getting mad!

As I angrily cut off communications with the system, a soft bundle of joy dove right into my arms…

“Big brother, look, Jiaojiao can do magic now! Look, look!” She gleefully stated while pointing at a hole in the wall. “That’s the hole Jiaojiao made!”

Yes… that’s a hole… a hole that costs me 2000 points… I need to kill two thousand zombies just to pay for that shortfall… What am I to even do with her? Adorable as she may be.

Forgive her, of course!

“Wonderful! Our Jiaojiao is just the best!” I had no defenses against a soft, adorable little girl like her. And certainly no mind to scold her.

I reached out and patted her on her head. She closed her eyes like a purring kitten and leaned in closer. It was only when I felt two distinctively murderous glares on me that I came back to my senses. Now was clearly not the best time to foster a closer relationship to Jiaojiao.

I quickly pushed her away, then cleared my throat. “Ahem. I’ll start by explaining the Magical Girl System. Operating the system is quite simple. You merely will it, and the system will react to it. Initially, the system won’t have too many features as it’s newly activated. Mostly, the Marketplace and the status menu. Perhaps there might be more features in the future. The status menu is self-explanatory, but the Marketplace’s user interface is more special. You need to be near me to open it up. From now on, every zombie we kill will give at least one point. These points can be spent on actual goods that often cannot be found in the real world. Like MP potions, Skill Cards, and even magical gear…”

I briefly ran them through the system without pause; questions would have to wait till later.

Even though I had made sure to stab most of the corpses around us, the stairway up to the pavilion was a long one; there was no way to cover all of the corpses, and these corpses were beginning to rise…

“Flame Arrow!” Lixiang was the first person to notice a zombie climbing up from below. She raised her hand and fired a flame arrow right into its brain.

A split second later, the arrow penetrated its skull and exploded in a blinding red flash of light! Brain matter and flesh abound, the now headless zombie tumbled harmlessly down the stairways.

“This one’s done it! This one is the best magical girl in the world!” Lixiang exclaimed fearlessly. In fact, she seemed almost excited as she waved the doll version of herself.

“Big sister Lixiang is the best!” Jiaojiao clapped her hands.

I could even see the anticipation in her eyes at this point, something which I found incredulous. “Aren’t you guys afraid?”

While Lixiang might have been as outwardly terrified as Jiaojiao, she definitely wasn’t brave either. Who would have thought that simply gaining power would bring about such a change.

“Afraid? This one is an all-powerful magical girl!” She thrust her doll high up into the air, then did a victory pose. “Before this one’s awakened powers, all monsters are nothing! Let all who hear me tremble before the might of my powers!!”

“Okay, okay. Just cut back on the daydreaming, alright?” Even if there was no one else nearby, this was still a little embarrassing…



Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

LINK HERE

 

Chapter 660: Sign the Contract, Magical Girls!

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Author: The Sole Survivor Original Source: SFACG
Translator: CatatoPatch English Source: Re:Library

The size of a man’s harem directly correlates to his power

— You Qin Lixiang

“…”

Crap. I forgot to cover it up…

Had the floor been a little cleaner, I would have already feigned unconsciousness…

“Hmph, no one is forcing you to sign the pact.” Lixiang harrumphed dismissively. Even as Bitong was still doubting my innocence, she was already drawing blood with her finger and signing the pact.

With that done, her name on the Book of Oaths started to glow in pink. Finally, the light coalesced into a beam that fired into the area between her eyebrows.

Once that strange phenomenon subsided, I found, to my surprise, that there was no visible change on her forehead; I had honestly thought that some kind of mark would have been left behind at least…

“Why the heck did you sign it?! Do you even know what it is? Do you not understand the meaning of that pact?”

Bitong bombarded her with three questions at once, but Lixiang seemed unfazed. In fact, she seemed to be sniggling.

Lixiang did not immediately answer her question. Instead, she shoved her pearly white finger right in front of Bitong. Understandably, Bitong did not understand what she was trying to prove by doing that, but a second later, her eyes went wide.

That finger she was showing us… that was the same one she bit to draw blood. It was now pearly white, and clearly devoid of any injury.

In fact, even a baby might not have a smoother finger than her.

“Self-healing?” Bitong exclaimed.

There was no doubt at all. After signing the pact, her wound had healed itself, and in an instant, no less.

“Flame Arrow!”

As if to strike while the iron was hot, Lixiang fired off a wedge-shaped bolt of flame down the passageway without even giving Bitong any time to react.

“Magic?!”

“Wait. So big sister Lixiang isn’t delusional?”

“After signing the pact, this one has begun to regain some of her lost memories…” Lixiang claimed to the shock of both Jiaojiao and Bitong. “As more time passes, this one will only regain more of her memories, returning to her former glory as a magical girl that once stood toe to toe with the gods themselves… That’s right, this one isn’t a Primal Angel of the Apocalypse at all…”

Looking at that smug look on her face, I almost wanted to smack her right in the head there and then.

What the heck was all that nonsense about being a magical girl? I get it now… Because a Primal Angel used light and dark magic, while she clearly was using fire magic back then, her brain automatically filled in the gaps by creating all that nonsense about being a magical girl…

Should I even be surprised at this point?

The human mind is a fearsome thing…

Yet even in spite of her shock, Bitong was still the same collected Bitong she always was. “But signing it…” She asked the same question as before.

“This one understands ;there’s no need for a reminder. Southern Plains has already fallen, and regardless of whether or not the government can reclaim the city in the short term, the fact is that we are now in a situation where self-protection is a necessity…”

Bitong fell silent at that point.

Lixiang was right. Southern Plains was basically a real-life zombie simulator. It was a race against time to clean up the city, and even if this clean up happened fast, there was no harm in being able to protect oneself.

Even normal human beings were a threat now, let alone the wandering zombies. Like those hoodlums we had locked up in the elevator, they were the perfect example…

“I understand. And you’re right, now’s not the time to be fussy about such minor details.” Bitong bit down on her finger, then decisively signed her name on the Book of Oaths. “But no matter what, I’m not letting anyone else have Ke!”

Just like that, Lixiang actually succeeded in persuading Bitong! Shocking, I know!

Like Lixiang before her, Bitong’s name began to glow a bright pink. The glow coalesced into a beam of light that embedded itself between her brows…

“Flame Arrow!”

Bitong raised her hand and fired off an arrow of fire at the wall, blasting a sizable chunk of it…

Having done that, she looked Lixiang squarely in the eye… was this some kind of silent throwdown?

Speaking of which, did signing the pact come with a complementary Flame Arrow spell?

“Uwah! Jiaojiao wants to do that too! Big brother, let Jiaojiao into your harem as well!”

“…” I could immediately feel myself being stabbed by a pair of piercing eyes.

Don’t look at me like that… I’m not planning to do anything to her… I know she’s still a kid… Besides, I don’t have fetish for little girls, she just so happens to be young, that’s all!

Unlike Bitong’s killing stare, Lixiang was a lot more nonchalant. In fact, she seemed even pensive. “Your Highness should indeed widen his harem. After all, the size of a harem is an indicator of Your Highness’s strength.”

“In what world?!” Bitong immediately glared daggers at Lixiang.

“All of them.”

In other words, Gaia and whatever fantasy world Lixiang was living in.

Honestly, she wasn’t wrong in some sense. The ancient emperors of the past always had a huge harem. It was one of the ways to measure a man’s power in the past.

As the saying went, a poor man might be able to marry the girl of his dreams, but could a poor man marry all the girls of his dreams?

Clearly not, because he was poor.

To do what others could not -that was the path to true strength!



Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

LINK HERE

 

Chapter 659: This is a Proper Contract

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Author: The Sole Survivor Original Source: SFACG
Translator: CatatoPatch English Source: Re:Library

Even though my fire wall had completely burned away the zombies on the surface, we did not immediately leave the passageway, because the ground was still scorching hot from the flames. At the very least, we had to wait till the ground was suitable for walking before leaving.

In the meantime, I bought another Small SP Recovery Potion and gulped it down. I could feel my empty SP pool rapidly fill up again. Now, it was time to consider a very serious question: my harem…

Only because that’s how the system refers to it! This is a very important distinction, I am not calling it a harem for any other reason…

Honestly, this question wasn’t even a question for me at all. I simply opened up the Marketplace and purchased a name slot from it. Because this was my first time purchasing it, the name slot was only 100 points. Adding on the Small SP Recovery Potion, I was now down to a measly 7 points…

As I stared at my depleted account, my heart sank like that elevator descending into the shelter. For some reason, it felt like I had never once won ever since getting this system. Each time I spent my points, it felt more like a scam than anything else.

Regardless, I now had two name slots, one given and one bought. The next one would cost me 1000 points, or perhaps another mission, whenever that appeared… most likely never.

Since this crisis started, I had been observing Jiaojiao, and found that she was still immature. Her will wasn’t strong enough, so my decision was to exclude her for the time being. The best choice would be to give Lixiang and Bitong the name slots for the Book of Oaths… or rather the Magical Girl System.

Ahem, I mean the Mahou Shoujo System!

Since my fire wall had taken care of the zombies outside, there wasn’t much to worry about on that front. I turned around and began stabbing the corpses near us, lest they suddenly got up to jump us. As I did that, I began telling them about the Book of Oaths.

Naturally, that also included the harem system and what not… I definitely did not avert my eyes when I thought about that… it was all the system’s fault to begin with… I would never think about setting up such a shameless thing… not at all!

All that denying does make me seem suspicious though…

“Bitong, Lixiang, there’s something we need to discuss.”

“Hmm?”

“Your Highness?”

“Hmph… nothing for Jiaojiao then…”

“So… I need you guys to sign something…” I took out the Book of Oaths from my inventory, carefully blocking out the words harem on its cover.

Under their watchful eyes, a decidedly fantasy-esque leather scroll suddenly appeared in my hands.

“Book of Oaths?” Bitong read out the title, minus the word harem which I blocked out.

“Your Highness wishes to enter into a pact with this one?” Lixiang asked with sparkling eyes.

“Big brother, there’s some words behind your hands.” Suddenly, I felt Jiaojiao’s little fingers prying away as she cheekily said, “Let us see what’s underneath.”

“Hey. Now’s not the time to be naughty.” I quickly shut her down. “The book loses its effect if my hand leaves it.”

“What. Don’t be so stingy! Jiaojiao was just a little curious, that’s all. I hate you, big brother!”

Eh? Did I go too far there… Even so, I’m not letting go even if it kills me. If that word were to ever see the light of day… everything will be ruined…

“Your Highness, this one is a little curious as well.”

“Ke, your big sis wants to see it too.”

A cold sweat immediately ran down my back. I tried to play it cool with a dry smile. “Oh, that? That’s nothing important at all… just subtext.”

“What is it, then?” Jiaojiao wrapped herself around my arm, then deliberately tried to pull it away again. Unfortunately, she failed once more. “Come on, let Jiaojiao have a look.”

“There’s really nothing to look at.” I tried to shoo away the girl, but my strange behavior did not escape Bitong’s eyes.

“Ke, your big sis wants to have a look.” She said with furrowed brows.

“This one is very curious as well. It’s not some slave pact, is it?”

“No… no way… you guys are overthinking this…” I smiled as brightly as I could. “The pact is known as the Magical Girl Pact. I only have two slots presently. As long as you put your name on it, you will be registered with the Magical Girl System… I’m just blocking the magical girl part.” I rattled off as much as I could, hopefully that would work…

“So it’s really just the words magical girl?” Lixiang swept her eyes over me like a scanner. Then from her adorable lips, I heard the most devastating words ever. “But the area you’re covering could also contain the words slave, soul, gender-swap, bleep, and bleep…”

What do you mean bleep, bleep?! I might not be the smartest cookie, but those words shouldn’t even fit under my fingers!

And a girl shouldn’t be using such language! What kind of books are you even reading?!

“Ke, care to explain what bleep and bleep means?” Bitong’s face immediately blackened. Her lips curved into a sinister smile. “Well, Ke?”

Oh crap… it’s Black Bitong… at this rate, we’re all going to be sliced up like those zombies…

With no time to lose, I took my hands off the title. “Look. It just says Book of Oaths. There’s no way it has anything to do with the nonsense Lixiang mentioned…”

“Hahaha, I’m sure it’s a very proper book.” With nothing else to block off the subtext, she saw the full front page for the first time, and her black mist immediately thickened. “Harem, huh…”



Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

LINK HERE

 

Chapter 658: To Game City

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Author: The Sole Survivor Original Source: SFACG
Translator: CatatoPatch English Source: Re:Library

Hearing the plan in full, delusional-but-not-yet-stupid Lixiang calmed down right away and began to consider the possibilities. “But those game exosuits all have an anti-theft system installed. The system within will automatically cease all motor functions outside of Game City, hast thou considered this?”

Lixiang was right, of course. Game Cities wouldn’t be able to stay financially afloat if they allowed all their customers to just ride away in an exosuit. Strictly speaking, even those entertainment exosuits were capable of killing a person…

“Ah… but I’m a hacker.” Said Bitong, chin slightly raised high. “I can break the defenses of that system easily. All I need is ten seconds.”

She basically had me at that point with her suggestion, but the moment I thought of Jiaojiao, I got a little concerned again. “But can Jiaojiao even ride an exosuit? She’s still young…”

“Jiaojiao will be fine!” Jiaojiao thumped her chest. “I’m a genius!”

“Ke, did you forget? Jiaojiao is an ace at piloting exosuits.” Bitong rubbed the girl’s head at that point. “If she wasn’t so young, she might even be a better pilot than me.”

Whether she was actually a genius pilot remained to be seen, but the exosuit should at least provide some protection if she could pilot it. She might not even be afraid of zombies at that point, since those zombies couldn’t break through the defenses of the exosuit. Furthermore, these exosuits were designed to absorb the SP in the air, and could theoretically function on its own perpetually.

These exosuits might be labelled as ‘entertainment only’, but their defenses were comparable to those used in the army. After all, players engaged in real combat with these exosuits, so a little caution went a long way.

The real way in which these exosuits were tailored for leisure purposes were their functions. Other than defenses, parameters like speed were lowered by design so that a normal player could still react to the machine.

Next, its offensive capabilities were completely stripped. Any melee weapons were set to ‘sealed’ mode. This way, there was no physical way an entertainment exosuit could ever break apart another. Its ranged weapons received the same treatment as well. Bullets were swapped out for rubber ones, and any lasers were more flashy than actually harmful.

Finally, every such exosuit had its own anti-theft system that prevented its user from leaving Game City in it, barring hacked ones. However, there weren’t many hackers who were bored enough to actually try and steal such a stripped down exosuit.

“It’s settled then.” Seeing as the girls were basically on board with the plan at this point, I clearly wasn’t going to say no either.

Naturally, grabbings some military-grade ones would have been better, but society hadn’t crumbled to the point where I would consider that yet. Besides, these were just zombies… the entertainment ones could handle the job.

“Map.” Bitong pulled out a map of the city with her AI assistant. She then pointed towards a building in the distance. “Northwest, one kilometer. That’s the closest Game City. Walking should take us ten minutes.”

“But we will have to pass by an underground shelter on the way…” Jiaojiao leaned in to have a look at the map as well. Upon noticing the shelter, her brows immediately furrowed in worry. “Maybe we should take a detour instead…”

“But this is the shortest route. Taking a detour would waste another ten more minutes.” Griped Lixiang.

“Let’s not. We will take the direct route to Game City. Each additional minute we spend outside right now is one extra minute we spend in danger.”

“Ding! Mission received: Looking for Weapons.”

Mission: Looking for Weapons.
Requirements: Enter Joyworks Game City.
Reward: Fireball, a skill that expends at least 1 SP. (Scales with SP used.)
Comments: How much fire could a firechuck chuck if a fire could chuck fire?

Nice, a mission as well. Looks like this trip will be a fruitful one. But what the heck is up with those comments?

Seeing as the system seemed to agree with this plan as well, there was even less of a reason for me to object. Off to Game City!

“I’ll take point. Lixiang and Jiaojiao will be in the center while Bitong covers our rear. If there’s any problem, yell.”

“Got it.”

Just like that, we set off towards the exit. After killing a few more zombies in the passageway, we safely made it out to the pavilion structure above ground.

I carefully stuck my head out first, and found the exterior stacked full of corpses, of which some were wearing police uniforms. Other than the corpses, there looked to be about a couple dozen zombies wandering around.

Perhaps it was because this was an innate feature of their undead nature, but the moment we popped out, they immediately sensed us and began moaning in their characteristic gratingly hollow voice.

However, I was already prepared for just such a danger.

At the same time as I had the girls back away a little, I erected a fire wall across the entry points. Any zombies who dared cross the line were instantly set aflame…

Because I only spent 50 SP on this wall, they weren’t immediately burnt to ashes, but the effect wasn’t that far off either. At times, there was that odd straggler who managed to make it through the wall, only to collapse soon after in a pile of ashes…

The wall lasted for half a minute. Its scorching heat was so strong, we could even feel it through the environmental conditioning in our shirts.

Still, the flame wall had done its job and it fizzled out without trouble. The zombies who tried to swarm us were all burnt, and the ground was painted black once more…

During the time the wall burned, I occasionally stared at my status menu, and to my delight, my points were jumping up! A whole 31 points!

At this point, I had crossed the 100 mark into 117.



Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

LINK HERE

 

Devil Evolution Catalogue Chapters 649 to 657

649 to 657 are out!

NOTE: The previous arc will have certain chapters either omitted or summarised, as voted on by patrons. The slice of life bits will skipped.

Click the Link to Start Reading:
» Chapter 649 «

Click the Link to Start Reading:
» Chapter 650 «

Click the Link to Start Reading:
» Chapter 651 «

Click the Link to Start Reading:
» Chapter 652 «

Click the Link to Start Reading:
» Chapter 653 «

Click the Link to Start Reading:
» Chapter 654 «

Click the Link to Start Reading:
» Chapter 655 «

Click the Link to Start Reading:
» Chapter 656 «

Click the Link to Start Reading:
» Chapter 657 «

Chapter 657: Game City

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Author: The Sole Survivor Original Source: SFACG
Translator: CatatoPatch English Source: Re:Library

“Don’t even try to get me to turn around like that. All I want to do right now is enjoy every inch of your lovely face. I wouldn’t even blink if I had the choice.” The hoodlum leader flashed me a leering smile before ending off as such. “A beauty like you will be more than enough fun to last me a lifetime!”

“…” How I desperately wanted to cut those eyes out right now. At the same time, I felt strangely exhausted by his idiocy as well. His two lackeys were still clutching their throats behind him in an awfully rigid manner. There was no doubt that zombification was upon them, and soon these newly minted zombies would leap upon the closest target to them: that hoodlum leader.

All I could hope for was that this idiot wouldn’t shoot me by mistake in a fit of panic…

“Woo… they are going to awaken soon…” Jiaojiao sneaked a peek from behind Bitong’s back. “They are going to turn into zombies…”

“Step back.” I herded the girls back a few steps.

Seeing that, the hoodlum leader mistook that as a sign that we were afraid. Jiaojiao’s whimpering had clearly fallen on deaf ears as he proudly waved his gun about, lips curled into a disgusting smirk.

Yet just as he was about to open his rotten mouth, he felt something grab his shoulders. Unlike the other time however, both his shoulders were grabbed…

“Hey! What are you two trying to do? Scare me or something? Don’t push your luck or I might shoot you two as well!”

It was only when his shoulders were grabbed that Jiaojiao’s words came back to him. However, he merely shrugged it off as his two lackeys pulling a prank on him.

They were definitely the culprits here… but they were also zombies now, and they had just taken a chomp out of him…

“Move!”

There was no way in heck I was wasting another second on a scumbag who had a gun trained on me just seconds ago. While those two zombified lackeys were keeping him busy, I grabbed the girls and ran. Even if the outside of the elevator was still unbearably hot, now wasn’t time for hesitation anymore.

“****… get back here this instant and save me…”

As I zipped past the hoodlum leader, I had, for the briefest of moments, considered slicing off that gun-wielding hand of his. While I might have had no problem killing a zombie, doing the same to a human being just felt wrong. Even if he was ultimately going to become a zombie, he wasn’t one yet, which was why I merely thought about slicing off his hand.

“Damn it… my gun…”

By now, the hoodlum leader was so preoccupied with the pain that he dropped his gun out accidentally… Well. That saved me some time.

As for the gun he dropped, I had never once considered picking up something so dirty…

Now that we were safely out of the elevator, Bitong did not waste any time at all in shutting the door behind us remotely. She then sprinted for a good distance without turning back, until she finally began panting a little.

Normally, a ten meter sprint like that would have been manageable even for an unathletic girl like herself, but with Jiaojiao on her back, the task was a lot harder, despite Jiaojiao not being that heavy.

“Big sis… Jiaojiao is fine to walk on her own now…” Realising as well how tired Bitong was, she offered to get off like the good child that she was.

“But…” Bitong hesitated a little. She was worried Jiaojiao would get frightened again, and that would make things even worse than if she had just stayed on her back.

“Let her walk by herself. With the situation being what it is, it’s good that she learns to toughen up too.”

As I said that, I reached into my inventory, took out a small, blue bottle, then gulped it all down.

This bottle was the same bottle of mana recovery potion that I received from the Newcomer’s Gift Box. Since the system updated, the name of this potion had changed to Small SP Recovery Potion.

Barely five seconds later, I could feel my SP(spiritual energy) rapidly recovering by 50. Because my maximum SP was just 60, a potion like that was able to recover a fair amount for just 10 points, the price of the potion on the Marketplace -not a bad deal, at all.

The weakness I felt from depleting my SP so rapidly had disappeared as well. Considering the price of this potion was just killing ten normal zombies, it was a really economic consumable.

For the most part, we encountered scattered zombies after leaving the elevator, because the larger packs had already been gathered up and burnt to a crisp before.

At long last, our weary party had some time for rest.

“Your Highness, what’s our plan next?” Lixiang asked right after we stopped. Bitong and Jiaojiao both looked expectantly at me, having clearly handed over the decision making.

Blessed with such trust, I couldn’t help but feel a little happy, but also pressured by the responsibility at the same time. Just as a precaution however, I decided to seek a second opinion first.

“Sis, any ideas?”

“I still think we should focus on arming ourselves.” Bitong answered without even considering. “Times are dangerous now, it would be best if we had some means of protection.”

She was right on that front. The underground shelter wasn’t safe anymore, or perhaps there was nowhere that was safe.

Even without the sudden threat of someone next to you turning into a zombie, normal humans might turn traitor at the drop of a hat. Those three hoodlums were the best examples of this.

“It’s just too bad about that gun just now…” Hearing that, I immediately realised how foolish I was to abandon a weapon just because of some misplaced sense of hygiene…

“Other than Ke, all of us are ordinary folk, we need some way to defend ourselves.”

Lixiang, however, seemed to take umbrage with that categorization. “This one is a Primal Angel of the Apocalypse, not some puny mortal!”

“…” Bitong threw a red-eared Lixiang an exasperated look before ignoring her to continue on. “That’s why our next stop should be Game City!”

“Game City?!”
“Game City?!”
“Game City?!”

“Has the mortal girl gone daft?” Lixiang looked questioningly at Bitong. “Does the mortal girl really think now is the time for playing games?!”

As always, Bitong calmly ignored the girl. “There should be some exosuits there. They might be for entertainment purposes, but they can at least serve as some protection.”

Hearing that, my eyes immediately lit up.

Those zombies might be very aggressive, but their actual attacks weren’t even that strong… This suggestion was very plausible.