The Path to Awakening

Neither of them spoke, just silently gazing at each other for quite a while.

Ning Yu suddenly came to her senses and quickly stood up first:

She blamed herself for being so careless to have been pulled down like that.

It was because she had completely let her guard down around Shen Yiyue - she had become too relaxed.

Ning Yu began to reflect on her actions.

Shen Yiyue also silently got up, her ears and face burning red.

She turned away, not wanting Ning Yu to see her face.

At that moment, a little Shen Yiyue in her heart was wailing loudly: "Ah!!! What a shame!!!!"

?

What am I feeling disappointed about? What's wrong with me?!

Shen Yiyue quickly shook her head, trying to clear her mind.

But for some reason, she felt increasingly dizzy, to an unusual degree.

Ning Yu noticed Shen Yiyue's condition and hurriedly asked:

"What's wrong? Did I hurt you earlier?"

Shen Yiyue shook her head in denial and turned around, about to speak.

Suddenly, everything started spinning before her eyes, and she fainted forward.

Ning Yu quickly caught her, but this time she wouldn't let herself be pulled down too.

Her arms held Shen Yiyue's delicate body, feeling her still-pounding heart, and Ning Yu understood that she had simply passed out.

But why did this happen?

Was the physical activity too intense? Probably not.

Ning Yu guessed: Shen Yiyue's ability to see reversed scenes, similar to future vision, probably couldn't be used continuously.

Her current unconscious state was likely due to mental overexertion.

She blamed herself for being too hasty, focused solely on testing the limits of this ability.

Ning Yu held Shen Yiyue's soft body, adjusting her position to carry her princess-style.

She walked a few steps and gently placed her on the living room sofa.

She lightly touched her forehead to check for fever or other symptoms.

Then she took out some wet wipes to clean the sweat from her body, worried she might catch a cold from the breeze.

The moonlight streaming into the living room barely illuminated her delicate and pretty face. Her rapid breathing gradually steadied, as if she had just fallen asleep.

Ning Yu couldn't help but take another look at the sleeping beauty before her, finding her sleeping face quite cute.

She walked over, picked up the unfinished sparkling water, and sat on the carpet in front of the sofa, her head resting against both the sofa and Shen Yiyue's body.

Opening the bottle, she took a sip of the sweet and sour lemon sparkling water.

She had a feeling she wouldn't be able to sleep tonight.

A question arose in Ning Yu's mind: why did Shen Yiyue suddenly develop this ability?

She hadn't shown any signs of it during training before.

After much thought, she considered a possibility: Shen Yiyue had been bitten by zombies at Tianshen Elementary School and injured by the butcher.

But because of the immune capsule, she hadn't been infected by the T-virus.

Could that be the reason?

If other humans were infected with the T-virus and managed to survive, would they also develop such strange abilities?

If such a possibility existed, perhaps humanity wasn't entirely without hope.

[Ding! Awakened One detected in host's vicinity.]

[System automatic upgrade in progress.....]

[98%...99%...100%]

[Upgrade complete!]

Suddenly, the system's notification sound rang in her mind.

Ning Yu heard a very familiar word - "Awakened One."

The blue-haired mechanical girl had mentioned this before, but she had dismissed it as mere chuunibyou talk.

An Awakened One in her vicinity?

She turned her head to look at the peacefully sleeping Shen Yiyue, falling into deep thought.

Awakened One? And her recent mysterious ability?

So, was she the Awakened One the system mentioned?

[Ding! Epic quest "Path of Awakening" unlocked for host.]

[Quest content: Raise Physical Ability, Mental Power, and Charm to 10 points.]

[Current progress: Physical Ability: 10/10, Mental Power: 5/10, Charm: 10/10]

[Quest reward: Will awaken host's 'Origin']

Origin? What was Origin?

Ning Yu looked at Shen Yiyue, wondering if it was similar to her strange ability?

Looking at the quest requirements, her physical ability and charm were already sufficient; she just needed to find a way to get her mental power up to standard.

Then she would find out what this 'Origin' was all about.

[Ding! Path of Awakening quest activated, special weekly sale refreshed for host!]

After just a moment of contemplation, another notification sounded.

The system was particularly active today.

Since buying the Crimson War Blade, the weekly special sale hadn't shown anything good, just items Ning Yu had no use for.

If the Crimson War Blade hadn't been so effective, she might have suspected the system was trying to scam her.

.....Wait?

She suddenly remembered that the Crimson War Blade was now broken and waiting to drink her blood.

Was she really being scammed?

Ning Yu opened the [Weekly Special Sale] panel, and surprisingly, there were two items.

[Awakening Preparation Potion (1 bottle): Original price points*10000]

[Current price: points*5000, Discount: 50% off]

[Function: Provides +3 attribute points when consumed, cannot be used on attributes exceeding 10 points.]

And:

[Awakening Preparation Potion Deluxe Pack (3 bottles): Original price points*21000]

[Current price: points*10500, Discount: 50% off]

It could add 3 attribute points - good thing she hadn't randomly bought skill gacha or single-soldier rocket launchers, saving up had definitely been worth it.

Even without the awakening quest, this was still a very worthwhile item.

Otherwise, she would have had to complete several quests to gain mental power, which might not even guarantee the desired outcome, wasting too much time.

But the biggest problem now was... Ning Yu didn't have enough points.

Comparing the two options, the deluxe pack was definitely the better choice.

After all, one bottle only provided 3 attribute points, and she needed 5 more points in mental power to meet the quest requirement, meaning she needed at least two bottles.

The potions in the deluxe pack originally cost 7000 points each, and with the discount, it came to 3500 per bottle, much more economical than 5000 per bottle.

But she still couldn't afford the 10500 points... Oh right!

Ning Yu suddenly remembered she had a 50% off shopping voucher, wondering if it could stack with the weekly special discount.

In gacha games, such discounts usually wouldn't stack.

However, Ning Yu found a preferential purchase button beside the purchase options.

Amazingly, the 50% discounts could stack, meaning she only needed 5250 points to buy the [Awakening Preparation Potion Deluxe Pack].

She checked her points: 7530.

More than enough, with over 2000 points to spare.

This deal - the system must be taking a huge loss!

After considering everything, Ning Yu didn't hesitate and used the preferential purchase.

Three [Awakening Preparation Potions] immediately appeared in her inventory.

At the same time, the single bottle of [Awakening Preparation Potion] in the weekly special sale disappeared.

It seemed these two were mutually exclusive - buying one made the other disappear.

She felt even more satisfied with her choice.

With a thought, a test tube-like glass vial appeared in her hand.

The carefully crafted glass vial had a letter "U" printed on it with special material.

Strange, why not a "T"?

Ning Yu remembered that the [Low-level T-virus Immune Capsule] had a "T" printed on it, so what did this "U" represent? A new virus?

She felt that things were becoming increasingly mysterious.

The liquid in the vial emitted multicolored light, either from some fluorescent agent or something else.

Ning Yu thought it had a very Mary Sue feel to it.

Without further hesitation, she opened a bottle of [Awakening Preparation Potion] and gulped it down.