Chapter 94: Chapter 94: The Death Rate of Survivors Without Talents Indeed Remains High
A day passed in a flash. Qi Suian had successfully extracted a good deal of information from the Cao Clan woman named Cao Luan.
She had been tight-lipped at first, but with the combined efforts of the AI and Qi Suian, she ended up spilling everything he asked for.
Cao Luan’s status was rather unique. She was an illegitimate daughter of the Cao Clan. Her mother was a streetwalker who had gotten pregnant after one of her father’s dalliances.
Because she had Cao Clan blood in her veins, she was taken back to be raised by the clan.
However, no one in the Cao Clan treated her well. After all, her mother’s profession was too disgraceful to mention.
So, Cao Luan secretly left the main group of the Cao Clan and settled down here.
Life was decent enough. At least she wasn’t going to die.
And then she met Qi Suian.
Afterward, Qi Suian learned about Cao Rou’s situation from Cao Luan.
As for the others, there was nothing of value.
Cao Luan knew nothing about the Soul-Devouring Fist or the Soul-Devouring Palm. She was just a fringe member. Only those in the direct line of succession of the Cao Clan would know, which meant only three to five people in total.
Therefore, the information about Cao Rou was the most important.
’She has a mysterious fiancé from a marriage arranged before they were born. The reason for this marriage is that the mysterious fiancé’s master saved Cao Li’s life back in the day.’
’He also gave Cao Li a Great Rejuvenation Pill, which is what allowed Cao Li to smoothly break through to the Peak of Transformation Great Perfection.’
’Unfortunately, his own potential was limited. He failed to take that final step to become a Danjin Grandmaster, from middle age all the way to his old age. It wasn’t until he entered the apocalypse game and I pushed him to his limit that he managed a breakthrough just before death.’
Qi Suian was rather speechless about this.
In the Power Realms of Ancient Martial Arts, there are five levels: Early, Mid, Late, Perfection, and Peak.
To Qi Suian, such a detailed breakdown was simply a process of accumulating power.
Then there were Ancient Martial Artists like Cao Li, who were stuck before the Danjin realm and couldn’t take the final step, forced to continuously polish their Huajin. For them, there was another level: Peak of Great Perfection.
It was meant to represent being invincible within the same realm. So, the level didn’t really exist; it was just a label tacked on for show.
In Qi Suian’s opinion, there was no need to distinguish between early and mid-stages at all.
Still, Qi Suian was curious. If two "invincible" Peak of Huajin Great Perfection Ancient Martial Artists fought to the death, would they both perish?
’After all, they’re both supposedly invincible at their level. It would be such a waste if they didn’t die together.’
Besides that, Qi Suian also learned a bit about the situation in the Ancient Martial World.
Although Cao Luan wasn’t well-liked, she still cultivated the Yan Yi Fist and had a decent understanding of the Ancient Martial Circle.
Her life in the Cao Clan was undoubtedly difficult, but if an outsider tried to bully Cao Luan, the Cao Clan wouldn’t just stand by. They would step in to defend her.
No matter how little they thought of her, she was still a woman of the Cao Clan. As an Ancient Martial Family, they had to maintain the bonds of kinship.
They could bully their own, but outsiders were not allowed to.
’There are nine Danjin Grandmasters, who are publicly known as the strongest Ancient Martial Artists.’
’Seven of them are the leaders of Ancient Martial Families, while the other two are experts cultivated by the state.’
’But even a Danjin Grandmaster would die a bitter death in the face of a hail of bullets.’
’So, the mainstream of their world is still technology.’
’According to rumors, if one could break through to the Gang Jin realm, they could resist firearms with Ancient Martial Techniques alone.’
’But that’s most likely just a rumor.’
’The Jie Jin realm can indeed withstand firearms, but a large-caliber sniper rifle would still shatter your skull.’
It wasn’t as if Qi Suian didn’t have the data.
The upper limit of Ancient Martial Techniques was indeed slightly higher than the Power of the Limit, but it was still child’s play in the face of modern weaponry.
In the early and even mid-stages, there was no need to worry about firearms becoming obsolete.
On the other hand, the two existing Extraordinary systems both required vast amounts of time, resources, and sufficient aptitude.
They lacked any semblance of universal applicability.
’But speaking of which, this new batch of survivors actually doesn’t have Talents.’ Qi Suian was completely baffled by this.
They all had an initial basic skill instead.
Some had Basic Fist Technique, others had Basic Movement Technique, or a more comprehensive Basic Close Combat.
This basic skill could be upgraded, and it was even self-selected.
Most members of the Cao Clan chose Basic Fist Technique. After all, their Yan Yi Fist had "Fist" in its name. Even if their legacy contained more than just fist techniques, it was still their primary focus.
Basic Fist Technique could increase the power of fist techniques by 10%.
And their Ancient Martial Technique, Yan Yi Fist, was also listed among their skills.
According to Cao Luan, Cao Li, as the leader of the Cao Clan, had raised his Basic Fist Technique to LV10 and was seeking to break through to a higher mastery level.
The max level for a basic skill was ten, but that wasn’t the end. It was another beginning. As long as one could break the level cap, the quality of the basic skill could be improved.
"A pity. I can’t acquire any more Talents," Qi Suian sighed.
He was certainly disappointed. Without high-quality Talents, Qi Suian had no reference points for modifying himself.
He figured the apocalypse game had probably changed the original Talent awakening to basic skills specifically to thwart him.
Of course, this wasn’t to say that basic skills were inferior to Talents. Rather, the basic skills not only blocked Qi Suian but were also a better fit for the Ancient Martial Artists in this batch of survivors.
Ancient Martial Artists were skilled in Ancient Martial Techniques. Combined with basic skills, it was a truly powerful boost.
"But doing this has made things miserable for the ordinary people," Qi Suian said, looking at the number of survivors.
Ninety-five percent of this batch of survivors had already died, an incredibly fast rate.
Although the overall apocalyptic difficulty of the Polar Day World was much higher than that of the Profound World, under normal circumstances, they shouldn’t have died this quickly.
The previous batch of survivors in the Profound World had much lower overall stats than this one, yet they still managed to survive until the Blood Moon’s Earth-Moon Impact.
That was because Talents were far more helpful to survivors than basic skills.
Basic skills were only useful to Ancient Martial Artists. For ordinary survivors, even if they obtained a basic skill, they couldn’t use it without any foundation in Ancient Martial Techniques.
It was like starting the game with nothing. Coupled with the higher difficulty of the Polar Day World, it was hard *not* to die.
The apocalypse game had essentially abandoned the ordinary survivors, choosing the Ancient Martial Artists instead.
However, compared to the general population, Ancient Martial Artists were just a drop in the ocean.
If nothing unexpected happened, the number of survivors would continue to decline.
Unless someone stepped up to turn the tide...
At this thought, Qi Suian froze. ’Wait, there might actually be someone who can do it.’
’The Ancient Martial Protagonist. Since he has a female lead, he probably won’t be a lone wolf like me. There’s a good chance he’ll gather a following.’
’The simplest reason is that the female lead can’t just be wandering around outside, right? She has to be by his side.’
Unfortunately, Qi Suian had no relevant clues.
Cao Luan was just a fringe member of the Cao Clan. How could she possibly know anything about Cao Rou’s mysterious fiancé?
However, quite a few people were dissatisfied with this betrothal.
After all, Cao Rou was the eldest granddaughter of the direct line. How could she be married off? If they were to be wed, he would have to marry into her family.
Even if she were to marry out, it should be to a second son of the direct line or the eldest son of a concubine from an Ancient Martial Family backed by a Danjin Grandmaster.
Therefore, many within the Cao Clan wanted to annul this absurd engagement so the Cao Clan could latch onto a higher-level Ancient Martial Family.
If the apocalypse game hadn’t arrived, they might have already started putting their plans into motion.
When Qi Suian heard this piece of information, he almost burst out laughing.
’These people are truly courting death. Daring to push away the protagonist’s woman, not to mention they’re not even in the right.’
’A bunch of uncles wanting to trade their niece’s future for their own wealth and glory.’
’Why not sacrifice themselves? Why must they sacrifice someone else for their own benefit?’
So, while they paid lip service to doing it for the Cao Clan, it was really all for themselves.
With that, the conflict was clear, and Qi Suian could already guess how things would unfold.
It was just a shame such a good show was interrupted by the apocalypse game.
’So, the next step is to focus on finding out where the large survivor settlements are.’
’Actually, there’s another method. I could capture another one of the protagonist’s fiancées to use as bait.’
’But the problem is, without killing her, how would I know if she’s the female lead...?’
He would only know after killing her, but once she was dead, Qi Suian would have no way of contacting the protagonist through a corpse.
So, that plan had to be shelved.
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Qin Sheng’s Longquan Sword effortlessly slew a Desolate Beast.
The Eternal Undying God-Demon Scripture recorded powerful sword techniques, so naturally, he used a sword.
Combined with his Huajin-level strength, ordinary Desolate Beasts were no match for him.
"Thank you, young mas... wait, are you Qin Sheng?" A strange and complex look appeared in the eyes of a cold, beautiful woman.
"You know me?" Qin Sheng stylishly sheathed his Longquan Sword. This sword was an S-rank piece of equipment, a gift from his seven mysterious masters.
"I’m Xue Pingjun. I met you when I was five," the woman said hurriedly.
Hearing this, Qin Sheng’s expression became a little awkward.
Of course, he knew Xue Pingjun. She was one of his fiancées.
Each of his seven mysterious masters had arranged a fiancée for him, and all seven fiancées had extraordinary backgrounds.
Take Xue Pingjun, for instance. She was the sole daughter of the chairman of a hundred-trillion-dollar corporation, and she later inherited the entire company.
If not for the apocalypse game, her net worth might have ranked in the top ten of the entire country.
Cao Rou’s family background was indeed inferior to Xue Pingjun’s, but the Cao Family possessed the Soul-Devouring Fist and the Soul-Devouring Palm. That was the real reason she became one of Qin Sheng’s fiancées.
"I... I remember. You were short and chubby back then, not as beautiful as you are now." Qin Sheng truly hadn’t expected one of his fiancées to be so beautiful.
"Such a sweet talker!" Xue Pingjun’s face immediately turned red, and she pouted coquettishly.
But she noticed that Qin Sheng’s eyes held none of the lustful gazes she received from other lechers, only pure appreciation.
Qin Sheng truly hadn’t seen many women. Before this, he had been living on a mountain, rarely interacting with outsiders besides his seven masters.
So his admiration was genuine; he had no other intentions.
