Chapter 192 - 191: Sharpening the Axe Does Not Delay the Woodcutting

Chapter 192: Chapter 191: Sharpening the Axe Does Not Delay the Woodcutting

Xu Qian came scrambling and tumbling back in from outside, spear in hand, his face a mask of panic as he asked:

"Wh... What happened?"

"What in the world was he doing...?

Did he just chop a gas canister?!"

Chu Zhaozhao stared dumbfounded at the scene before her. She shook the dust from her hair and looked up blankly at Su Qing.

Su Qing was also at a loss. Being taller than Chu Zhaozhao, she had a clearer view through the thick dust...

The master bedroom... was gone.

The building’s outer wall had been violently smashed open, leaving a gaping hole. Su Qing knew for a fact there was no window in that direction, but now, the blue of the sky was visible through it.

The house had been blasted straight through by the earlier commotion.

Amidst the dust, Lin Fan emerged from the still "smoking" hole, covering his mouth and coughing nonstop.

The clothes on both his arms had been shredded into tattered strips that hung below his elbows. Even his forearms and wrists were trembling unnaturally.

He looked at the stunned Su Qing and Chu Zhaozhao, then at Xu Qian who was standing guard in a daze, and gave an awkward cough.

"...Heh, well, I might have overdone it a little."

Looking at the sorry state of the three before him and then back at the massive crack and the sky beyond the opening, he finally understood why you shouldn’t fire an RPG indoors.

RUMBLE—CRASH!

WHOOSH—

The corner of the master bedroom where Lin Fan had severed a load-bearing wall finally gave way under the weight of the roof. A large section collapsed, kicking up another thick cloud of dust behind him.

The master bedroom of Room 602, perfectly fine when they arrived, had now become a convertible...

A gust of wind from the rooftop blew away the dust, revealing the ruins behind Lin Fan.

"I..."

Chu Zhaozhao stared at the rubble and blue sky beyond the doorway, momentarily at a loss for words.

"We can’t get the crystal back..."

She murmured.

"Oh, come on, it’s just one crystal... It’s a worldly possession. What’s most important is increasing our strength."

Lin Fan pretended nothing had happened. He reached out, helping the two dust-covered girls to their feet, and shot Su Qing an awkward smile.

"Let’s go. We’ll continue clearing the building!"

BZZT... "Brother Lin, I heard the building you’re in collapsed! Are you guys okay?"

Liu Bin’s voice crackled from the walkie-talkie on Lin Fan’s hip.

"Was that sound the building collapsing?!... Brother Lin, are you all okay?"

Chu Zhaotian’s voice also came through the walkie-talkie.

"Heh heh..."

Lin Fan gave everyone a sheepish smile, then picked up the walkie-talkie to reply.

"We’re fine, we’re fine. A wall collapsed for some reason, but everything’s okay now..."

"You should join a demolition crew, Boss. You’d make a fortune,"

Chu Zhaozhao stood up and brushed the dirt from her hair. She gave Lin Fan a helpless, perfunctory smile, then said with some dejection,

"I’m so hungry now... Tired and hungry."

"Hey... are you okay?"

Although Su Qing’s face was also covered in dirt, she had noticed the shredded strips of cloth on Lin Fan’s arms. She took one of his arms and asked,

"That just now... you did that with the sword?"

"Heh, I’m fine."

Lin Fan gave a wry laugh and reached out to lead Su Qing and Chu Zhaozhao out the door.

’I didn’t expect this spur-of-the-moment combo to be so powerful. Thank god this is the top floor. If this were the first floor, I would’ve buried myself alive,’

"You could say that..."

But he wasn’t actually fine.

After the Armor Crystal had consumed over ten points of energy, the immense force still passed through the energy shield and into Lin Fan’s hands.

Even though he was pretending to be fine, the last strike had actually cost him 27 Energy Value and 29 Life Value.

His wrists and arm bones had suffered varying degrees of damage. Although these injuries could be healed in twenty minutes by equipping the Activation Crystal, the experience still left him with some lingering fear.

’I got ahead of myself. I really got ahead of myself.’

Last night’s raid on the Corrupted Giant Tree, where he’d wiped out dozens of Mutated Zombies in one fell swoop, had nearly doubled his Life Value.

The sudden wealth had made even Lin Fan a bit cocky.

He silently equipped the Activation Crystal and, while his body recovered, he reviewed everything that had just happened.

The burst of energy from the Impact Crystal had given the greatsword terrifying acceleration, and the immense kinetic energy had nearly sent Lin Fan himself flying.

’If I hadn’t retracted the greatsword into my storage space at the last second, I’d probably have to go pick it up from outside the residential complex...’

But losing the sword wasn’t the scary part. What truly terrified Lin Fan in retrospect was the thought that if the sword had gone out of control and hit Su Qing and the others, they wouldn’t have just gotten a few bruises.

It made him realize that power and control were two different things. A rapid increase in power might not be an absolute good, and that applied to Su Qing and the others as well.

They were now fully capable of teaming up to face Mutated Zombies with one or even two thousand health. Their combat power was "sufficient" for now; after all, it’s not like he was asking them to face a Corrupted Giant Tree or a horde of frenzied Mutated Zombies.

Looking at his team members’ Life Values, Lin Fan decided it was best to take a break first.

As the saying goes, sharpening the axe doesn’t delay the woodcutting.

Lin Fan looked at Su Qing’s Life Value; it had increased by a hundred and eighty-something points. He didn’t know the principle behind it, but he recalled being exhausted and starving when he returned last night, and he’d suspected then that it was related to the growth of his health bar.

Chu Zhaozhao’s extreme fatigue now was further proof.

Normally, she would have been clamoring for "Boss" to perform his building-splitting trick again.

But she had been constantly consuming her Energy Value to control her Flying Sword, and the mental strain was likely even greater. Right now, she looked far more exhausted than Su Qing, who had only been using her physical strength.

Although Lin Fan hadn’t carefully counted how much Energy Value Chu Zhaozhao recovered per minute, she only had a little over a hundred right now, which was clearly not her peak recovery rate.

’It seems that both Energy Value and Life Value aren’t just pure data, but indicators closely linked to one’s physical condition...’

"You must be hungry too,"

Lin Fan asked Su Qing, who was supporting Chu Zhaozhao.

"Let’s not continue for now. We’ll go back and eat."

"Food!"

Hearing that they didn’t have to keep clearing the building, Chu Zhaozhao immediately perked up a little. She lifted her head from Su Qing’s shoulder, her big, watery eyes fixed on Lin Fan.

"I want meat..."

"Alright, alright, meat it is. There’s still meat at home..."

’We’re leaving soon anyway, and the RV’s fridge can’t hold much. We still have a lot of meat in the two refrigerators at home.’

’We’ve been too busy to cook at home these past two days, just eating instant food and mooching off Liu Bin’s group meals.’

"Really? Quitting time!"

The moment Chu Zhaozhao heard there was meat, she completely revived. She grabbed Su Qing and ran clattering down the stairs.

This left Lin Fan and Xu Qian, who was holding two spears, staring at each other in bewilderment.

"I bet she could have gone on for another two hours..."

Lin Fan pursed his lips and commented towards the stairwell, then clapped the young man before him on the shoulder.

"Not bad. Keep it up and you’ll surpass Wang Yuanhua..."

"Heh, thanks, Brother Lin..."

"Don’t thank me. Let’s go. Quitting time..."