At twelve o'clock in the morning, the half-moon hung in the sky.

Route 65, a motel on the border of Kentucky and Tennessee.

In the restaurant, eight people who survived the catastrophe devoured a table of fast food, especially a young blonde boy who ate the craziest food, taking a bite of a hamburger and swallowing it in his stomach without chewing twice.

Compared to the sloppy and pitiful appearance in the deformed man's cabin, now he has taken a shower, changed into brand new jeans and a black jacket, and has a great figure like a 1.9 meter model, with smooth and shiny blonde hair, and full of male hormones.

Across from him, Scott introduced all his companions with a smile, "We're both West Virginians, and because our best friend Jesse fell out of love, we went on a road trip with her to cross the whole of America from east to west, and accidentally fell into the trap of a freak. What about you, handsome little guy, what's your name? ”

"Kayden—" The boy spoke angrily, grabbing another golden chicken leg and nibbling it.

"Oh my God, how long have you been locked up by those freaks and haven't eaten for a few days?" Jesse motherly wiped the oily stains on the boy's mouth with a napkin, and the other party turned his head and smiled at her.

"I can't remember how many days, but I'm dying of starvation."

"How old are you, Kayden, and where are you from," Frans asked, putting a piece of salad into her mouth, "how did you get caught by the freaks?" Say it and we'll get you home. ”

Faced with this question, the boy paused, smiled sadly, and a trace of gloom flashed in his blue eyes,

"My home is gone, my parents are gone, I wander around and do odd jobs."

Frans covered her mouth and exchanged a look with her companions in surprise, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring up your sadness. ”

"It doesn't matter, there are thousands of homeless people in America, and there are not many more than me. Besides, you saved my life... Otherwise, sooner or later I'll be tortured to death by that bunch of freaks. Kayden said gratefully,

"Torture?" Evan rubbed his chin and glanced his body up and down, "How did the freak torture you, you were covered in blood and seemed to be seriously injured, we were all going to send you to the hospital for rescue, but you were all right after taking a shower and looked healthier than all of us." ”

Cayden's tense lips twitched slightly, and a look of fear flashed in his eyes.

Di An's head moved.

Seeing this, several people only thought that he remembered the painful experience, changed the topic, and stopped disturbing him to eat.

"Okay, what's next?" Jesse asked, "Do you continue the journey, or do you go back the way you came?" ”

"The original plan is not halfway through, and it is unacceptable to give up halfway, not to mention that no one has suffered any substantial harm." Evan put his arm around Frans and said with a determined look in his eyes, "I highly recommend continuing west, taking Highway 66 to Santa Monica, California, to enjoy the sun and sand and ride the Ferris wheel." ”

When Dean heard this, Dean, who had been listening quietly, seemed to flash in front of him Gretchen, Baker, Jenny, Rust, Britney, and other friends who had been on a beach trip to Santa Monica together, and added a rare sentence, "The beach in Santa Monica is good, you must go and experience it once." ”

"But I'm a little scared," Carly looked apologetically at her friends, "in case you encounter this freak again along the way." ”

"Whatever you decide, I'm with you." Scott brushed the bangs on her forehead,

"Come on, both," said Evan optimistically, "God can't put us in danger twice in a row, but if you take a little care of safety, don't get into the unfamiliar dirt road, and keep following the main road, there will be no problems." ”

Frans also nodded, "Aren't you two about to get engaged, this danger may be a test given to you by God, survive it, reach the end of Route 66, witness the sunset of Santa Monica together, and the future will definitely grow old!" ”

Carly's tense cheeks slackened when she heard this, and she glanced at Scott and nodded quietly,

"Bless us and I'll continue to travel!"

Jesse also breathed a sigh of relief.

"Ahem, several, it's a rare fate for everyone to get together and experience a catastrophe, it's a pity to be separated like this." Chris clasped his palms on his chest and looked nervously and expectantly, "I wonder if I have the honor to join you on this trip?" ”

"You stepped up to get the attention of the freaks, and your courage was commendable, and I would love to walk with the Warriors." Scott looked at his business-like attire, "But are you sure you have the time?" ”

"I was going to interview for an important new job and had been preparing for it for three months, but now it's all in vain," Chris shrugged, "I'm going to take a break." ”

As he spoke, he glanced at Jesse, a lovelorn girl, intentionally or unintentionally.

Wow...

Seeing this, the two couples screamed meaningfully.

"Mr. Chris, are you still single?"

"Well, I've been single for a few years."

Frances smiled whimsily, and her gaze swept over Jesse, whose cheeks were slightly red, "Then I will punish you for being our driver for the rest of the journey, and compensate for the loss of our things that were broken!" ”

"Don't worry, I promise I won't crash in a frizzy car this time..."Chris took a deep breath, his face full of irrepressible joy, and quietly exchanged eyebrows with the cold beauty Jesse.

Seeing this, Dean sighed that this guy was a blessing in disguise, and there was a high probability that he would be able to hold the beauty.

"Wait, Dean, are you free?" Evan suddenly looked at the lifesaver next to him, "Do you want to come and travel together, we will bear the cost!" ”

But as soon as he said this, he regretted it, and the scene of Dean asking everyone to cut the freak came to mind, while several of his companions held their breath.

Such powerful and majestic people can be friends, but traveling together can be stressful and unenjoyable.

"I'm sorry, but I have a job to do, and I'm not on the way with you." Dean could see the worry in their eyes at a glance, and shook his head with a smile, "I'll leave tomorrow morning, I wish you all a smooth journey, and besides, remember not to reveal today's events." ”

"Leave a call?" Frans asked,

"Forget it, I'll see you later."

"Wait, man, please take this money, it's a thank you guys." Jesse gritted his teeth and took out a large check for 10,000 dollars from his arms and handed it to Dean.

Dean decisively accepted it, waved to a few more people, and turned to leave the restaurant.

Noticing that he was far away, the boy who hung his head and frantically swallowed his food let out a long sigh of relief.

"I'm so stupid," Evan slapped his cheek twice with a look of distress, "He's my savior, but I'm so rude to him, and I use money to send him away!" ”

Several people bowed their heads weakly and did not speak.

"That's not a bad thing." Chris stared at his back and said in a deep voice, "He didn't want to use his driver's license to book a room just now, obviously he wanted to hide his identity, and it was impossible to travel with us." ”

Scott screamed, "Could it be that he is an agent from the ancient East who has mastered kung fu?" ”

"Perhaps, we'd better stay away from him." Chris turned to the boy, "Kayden... What are your plans? ”

"Thank you for your hospitality and saving your life, I won't delay your time, and I will leave early tomorrow morning." The boy dropped the last of the chicken bones and touched his bulging belly comfortably.

"Where are you going to be so penniless?" Jesse shook his head, took out a few more American knives from his wallet and handed them over, "Take it, use this money to find a place to settle down and find a stable job." ”

Cayden's eyes lit up, he took the money and stuffed it into his pocket, a grateful smile on his handsome face, and bowed to her with his chest in his hands.

"Ma'am, you shine brighter than the Virgin Mary, and I will remember your help for the rest of my life."

……

Hotel rooms.

Dean withdrew his divine perspective of surveillance, took out his divination suit such as the board, and sat cross-legged on the bed.

As soon as his mind moved, a cold wind blew out of the board, turning into a translucent shadow and falling in front of him, the old Long Zhong's hair was thin, and he was the father of a deformed family.

"Name."

Zizi...

The ghost pushes the board to piece together a line of words on the motherboard,

"Sheru Nuniz..."

"How long has your family been living on Bear Mountain Road?"

"Three years."

"Before that, where did you come from?"

"Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Eastern Tennessee."

Dean was silent, the words of a truck driver on the highway flashed through his mind, Oak Ridge was indeed more than just researching the atomic bomb.

Next, as Dean asked questions one by one, a thread was clearly presented-

This family of deformed people has been the subject of chaotic multiplication and chemical agents in the forests near the Oak Ridge Experiment, and has been through generations.

There are huge mental and physical defects, but the physical fitness is amazing, the temperament is brutal, and the bloodthirsty is considered a failed experiment.

Three years ago, when a helicopter moved them out of the Oak Ridge lab, the family eliminated the pilot and security guards and fled into hiding on Bear Mountain Road.

A hunting life began, and hundreds of innocent people became a meal for the family.

Unfortunately, they had been isolated in the exclusive area of the laboratory before they arrived on Bear Mountain Road, and they knew nothing about the rest of the research projects in the laboratory, and Dean couldn't ask for more information.

"Maybe Oak Ridge is also part of the Stargate Jedi Project." Dean first wrote down the address in a small notebook, "I'll have a chance to find out later." ”

He then asked about Kayden's identity, and the family only gave him a one-word evaluation: "I can't finish eating."

"Can't finish Cayden?"

Dean was thoughtful, and continued to poke the board in his hand.

One by one, the six deformed ghosts turned into ashes and shattered into the void.

Mastery +6, Combat lv4 (6/500).

After putting away the divination suit, Dean looked at the other attributes:

Shot Lv4 (346/500)

Shadow of the Past lv2 (96→111/300)

Red Dragon Meditation Lv3 (24→39/400)

Mimic LV2(18→25/300)

Abyss Lv0 (37→52/100)

"Shooting lv4 gave birth to precision, fighting lv4 gave birth to life energy, and so on, skills such as red dragon meditation and mimicry are likely to evolve by leaps and bounds in lv4."

Dean realizes that it doesn't matter if the skill slots are limited, as long as you keep raising the skill level, you will produce traits that are not inferior to the new superpowers.

"Now, let's try the specific effects of life energy... Let's start with defense, healing, and lethality. ”

As soon as his mind moved, a crispy tingling sensation surged around his body, and the life energy slowly penetrated out of every cell, forming a white-gold film on the outside of his skin.

He immediately named it Life Shield in his heart.

How's the defense?

Shadow floated behind him, rolled up a silver glittering crossbow from dead skin on the ground, and stabbed at the smooth arm with three times the strength of a normal person.

Burst.

As soon as the tip of the dart touched the white-gold film, it was bounced off, and not even a single hair of Dean could be injured.

This "demon-breaking" weapon can easily penetrate Dean's ghost armor, but it can't penetrate the life shield!

Dean then used his telekinesis to aim at the life shield and ignite a circle of flames, but after half a minute, the flames went out automatically... Dean didn't feel any burning.

This was followed by telekinesis freezing, electric shocks... All of them were blocked by the life shield and did not have any negative effects.

Next, he used his telekinesis to create an elliptical barrier, enveloping himself without leaving any gaps, isolating the sound from inside and outside.

Pull out the M1900, equip the .45ACP round, activate the spirit bullet mode, aim at your arm, and shoot at close range.

Bang! The bullet roared, and the bullet that hit the arm sank into a thin layer of life shield and froze for a second before running out of kinetic energy and falling to the ground.

And Dean looked at it, and the skin at the bullet site didn't even leave a mark, and a trace of joy flashed in his eyes,

"The Life Shield weakens attacks such as fire, freeze, and electric shock, is immune to demon-breaking effects, and is extremely resistant to physical attacks, and with it, I can ignore regular bullets and various forms of energy with just my physical body. Double protection, defense and anti-strike ability will be greatly improved. ”

……

Finish measuring your defense.

Next, Dean tested the "healing" effect of life energy again.

He used the blade of his axe to cut a gap the length of his index finger in the back of his hand, first stopping the effect of the "abnormal self-healing" of the iron man's specialty, and then allowing the life energy to slowly seep out of the cells and gather near the wound.

A chill immediately welled up from the wound, as if it had been wrapped in a layer of ice, relieving the slight stinging pain and stimulating the vitality of the wound, allowing it to stop bleeding quickly.

Dean observed and analyzed, and the healing speed of "life energy" was about half that of "abnormal self-healing".

"So what if the two are combined?"

Try it when you think of it.

At the heart of the "abnormal self-healing" is the crystallized energy storage organ in Dean's chest, which stores the energy absorbed through eating.

Now Dean is trying to fill the crystal with white-gold life energy instead of ordinary ATP.

Perhaps these two abilities are extremely compatible, and the experiment went more smoothly than expected, and after the crystals were filled with life energy, Dean's eyes flashed with excitement.

He could clearly feel the wound on his arm fading and disappearing.

"Life Energy" and "Abnormal Self-Healing" have doubled the self-healing speed of his injuries, and his recovery power in battle has increased by leaps and bounds!

In addition, Dean clearly remembers the description of the trait, life energy can not only be used on himself, but also can be used to heal others, and can renew the life of his companions and friends at critical moments!

……

The defense and healing ability are extremely good.

Finally, it's the lethality test.

He stood up straight in the room, his right hand clenching the hand axe from the dead skin, and a dogleg knife in his right hand.

With a thought, a white-gold light spread rapidly upward along the fingers of his right hand, enveloping the sharp blade of the axe, as if it had been coated with a layer of white gold.

He clenched his hand axe and aimed it at the dogleg knife and slashed!

Click!

With a flash of silver light, a sharp blade slashed through the air and nailed to the wooden wall of the hotel, and only half of the dogleg knife in Dean's left hand remained, and the section was smooth and flat.

"Strengthened by life energy, my weapons have reached the point of sharpening iron like clay. Whoever dares to fight with me in close combat with weapons in the future, I will be able to abolish his weapon as soon as possible. ”

"If this axe were to slash at a supernatural creature, it would be able to remove one of its arms at once."

"Life energy is a huge boost to melee weapons, but what about ranged weapons?" Dean tried the crossbow again.

Unfortunately, the life energy attached to the crossbow disappeared into thin air not far from Dean's body.

Therefore, the life energy cannot be disconnected from the ontology, otherwise it will quickly disappear into the invisible. This is very different from the telekinesis that can be away from the body for a long time. ”

……

Of course, the most perfect weapon is always your own body, Dean tried to activate the life energy to wrap his body, and immediately felt that he became more flexible, more powerful, and more destructive with his fists and feet, but the specific degree of improvement can only be reflected in the actual combat with an evenly matched opponent.

At the same time, his sense of hearing, smell, and vision have been enhanced to a certain extent, and a switch in his brain seems to be turned on, as if he is awake as if he has taken a stimulant.

Dean's instincts predicted that the normal burst of vital energy should last for about 40 minutes.

But as strength, physique, and agility increase, the total amount of life energy will also increase, and the duration will increase.

"Life energy is simply a panacea."

He couldn't help but push open the door, circled around the hotel room, and quietly used his mental power to lift a gap in the curtains inside the room, and observed more than two dozen residents.

Then he was surprised to find that when the life energy wrapped his eyes, he clearly saw that a faint white light appeared on the surface of every human being, every cat and dog, and these lights were strong and weak, but they were far inferior to himself.

His vision has undergone some kind of mutation.

"What does this light represent?" Dean generally found that men had more white light intensity than women.

In addition, when he looked at Scott and Carly in the room, he found that after Scott climbed to the top, an extremely fine trace of the white light on the surface of his body was transferred to Carly.

Di'an head rises intuition,

"So after awakening the life energy, I can see with the naked eye the comprehensive indicators of lifespan, health and physical strength, that is, life intensity."

"For suspicious people, I can use their health strength to determine if they are supernatural creatures."

"This kind of visual ability is not weaker than spiritual vision, and it is called life perspective."

……

Dean further reined in his breathing and heartbeat, wrapped his body in ghost armor, masking all body odors, and silently lurked outside the room of the high school student who had escaped from the deformed man's house, called Cayden.

He stole a peek inside.

Kaiden was lying on the bed with his hands on the back of his head, and the white light on his body was as thick as countless flickering candles, weaker than himself, but five or six times that of ordinary people.

"The strength of life is far beyond that of a normal person, no wonder it can trigger my inspiration, Kayden, what kind of creature are you?"

……

Cayden's heart throbbed for no apparent reason, as if a pair of eyes were watching him in the dark, making him fidget.

He got up and walked to the window and peered out into the darkness of the night, his nose stirring to sniff the air.

But he didn't catch a trace of the unusual scent, and he couldn't find the man who made him feel intensely uneasy.

"Can't wait any longer." He sighed helplessly, "Go ahead of time, lest that guy find out that something is abnormal." ”

(End of chapter)