Facing the Abyss as a Demon Cultivator

A cook profession with a food perception talent—she can handle everything from searching for ingredients to cooking meals by herself.

Chu Xiu felt that this girl was really unlucky. Despite having a decent energy level, her talent and profession were both of the support type.

Without help from others, it would be challenging for her to survive in this dangerous post-apocalyptic world.

Yun Lu clearly understood this too. After sharing her information, she looked at Chu Xiu expectantly.

Seeing that Chu Xiu remained silent, she lowered her head and spoke softly, "If you take me with you, I can help you find food. It's hard to find food in this world."

"And this food perception has a wide range. I can detect the scent of humans and those monsters very distinctly. I can help you avoid them."

She racked her brain for reasons, seemingly afraid that Chu Xiu would reject her.

However, Chu Xiu thought that Yun Lu's talent was particularly useful in the apocalypse, not to mention that she had risked her life to warn him earlier.

Thinking this, he nodded lightly. "Got it. But you need to follow my commands."

Hearing this, Yun Lu let out a sigh of relief and nodded vigorously like a pecking chicken.

She then asked curiously, "I still don't know your name. What's your talent and profession?"

"My name is Chu Xiu."

Chu Xiu responded, then ignored Yun Lu's further questions, saying instead, "You lead the way. Let's explore this floor first."

Seeing that Chu Xiu didn't reveal his talent and profession, and even asked her to take the lead, Yun Lu pursed her lips slightly, worry flashing in her eyes. She seemed to suspect that Chu Xiu might also have a weak talent.

But in the end, she said nothing. She raised the iron pot to her chest, carefully opened the door, and walked out.

As soon as the door opened, Chu Xiu saw chaotic giant footprints on the floor, resembling extended human footprints, but at least size 60.

Yun Lu, walking in front, was clearly nervous, constantly twitching her small nose to sniff around.

Chu Xiu also remained highly vigilant, not letting Yun Lu's talent make him complacent.

The two moved quickly, soon searching all the open rooms on the floor.

They found only four dried corpses. Chu Xiu didn't hide this from Yun Lu, absorbing them in front of her. This miraculous scene reassured the young girl a lot.

Besides that, they each found barely wearable shoes and a dozen gray, wrinkled mushrooms.

Yun Lu's talent told her that these mushrooms were edible, which pleasantly surprised Chu Xiu.

Mushrooms couldn't provide much energy, but they were crucial for hydration.

He had noticed that water resources were extremely scarce in this world. To safely survive seven days, they needed to find enough water.

One could survive seven days of hunger but not seven days without water.

Chu Xiu pondered this while looking around.

There were still many locked rooms. Although they had learned basic lock-picking techniques at school, they didn't have suitable tools. Even if they did, their skills wouldn't suffice to open rusted locks without making a lot of noise.

"We need to explore other floors." Chu Xiu rubbed his chin.

"With Yun Lu here, avoiding monsters will be much easier. This risk is worth taking!"

They couldn't keep hiding forever. Even without considering the need to strengthen the bone spear, they needed to search for food.

Chu Xiu shared his thoughts with Yun Lu. The girl was decisive and, after nodding, led the way fearfully.

Their current floor was the twenty-first. Upon reaching the stairwell, they could clearly see the footprints of the monster that had descended earlier. A strong smell of blood filled the air, seemingly not far away.

Chu Xiu thought of something and whispered, "If possible, let's check out the source of the blood scent."

Yun Lu shuddered, and Chu Xiu could even hear her teeth chattering.

But despite her fear, Yun Lu obeyed Chu Xiu's order.

Relying on her perception ability, the two of them quickly found a corpse that had been gnawed beyond recognition on the inner corridor of the eighteenth floor.

There was hardly any intact flesh on the body, with exposed tendons and bones everywhere. The stomach was torn open, and the internal organs were eaten.

The surrounding area was free of monsters, only chaotic footprints and blood that hadn't fully dried.

It seemed to be Yun Lu's first time seeing such a gruesome scene. She was on the verge of tears with fear.

Chu Xiu, however, remained calm, only wrinkling his nose slightly at the stench.

He squatted down, narrowed his eyes, and carefully inspected the area.

"The scattered monster footprints are similar but not identical. At least three monsters have been here, giving an estimate of the monster density in the building."

"The forearm bones have deep scratch marks, suggesting the monsters have sharp claws."

"The throat bone is broken... if this injury was inflicted before death, it indicates the monsters have high precision in their attacks, able to hit vital spots accurately."

"The lumbar vertebrae are also broken. Was it broken during a struggle by a powerful blow from the monster?"

The more Chu Xiu observed, the more alarmed he became.

He didn't know if his starting point was particularly bad or if the difficulty of this instance was inherently high. With monsters of such strength, an ordinary person would surely die upon encountering them.

"I must be absolutely sure before facing these creatures again. It's best to find a few more trial participants to act as cannon fodder."

Chu Xiu thought to himself.

Shaking his head, he stopped thinking and squatted down to activate Bone Refinement.

Although most of the flesh had been eaten, the bones were still largely intact, and the deceased's soul hadn't completely dissipated, improving the material's quality.

As Chu Xiu's skill activated, the surrounding bones were gathered and refined by an invisible force, eventually merging into a silvery liquid that flowed into the bone spear.

Instantly, the bone spear seemed to be nourished, making crackling sounds as it strengthened. Chu Xiu could clearly feel the spear becoming sturdier!

A stream of information flowed into his mind.

[Unremarkable Bone Spear +4]

[Enhancement Progress: 0/10]

[Rank: F]

[Quality: Ordinary]

[Attributes: Sturdiness (1.3), Sharpness (1.5), Weight 2.4kg]

[Evaluation: After absorbing fresh flesh, it has finally gained extraordinary power.]

[Well done, partner, you finally crossed this threshold, becoming a qualified demonic cultivator—was this fresh corpse your doing?]

[Anyway, you can now choose one of three basic enchantments to bestow upon it as its extraordinary trait.]

[The enchantment will strengthen along with further enhancements and will unlock the second layer at +7 and the third layer at +10.]

[Now, make your choice!]

As a flash of light appeared, three complex symbols materialized before Chu Xiu.

[Precision: Your bone spear will create a wind pressure when thrusting, drawing the enemy towards the spear tip (Strength: 0.4)]

[Optimization: Re-optimize the material structure of the bone spear, making it lighter and stronger (Sturdiness +0.3, Sharpness +0.4, Weight -30%)]

[Bleeding: Wounds caused by your bone spear will be extremely difficult to heal. Even a small scratch could cause severe bleeding if not treated promptly (Bleeding +0.6)]