75: Chapter 75 Zhao Xiu

(I've been locked in the black room, not sure if I can get out, currently revising the text!)

In the main hall.

Li Hao strolled leisurely, a middle-aged man following beside him, whom he slowly led into this main hall.

"Dad, I've brought the person for you." Li Hao quickly pointed to the middle-aged man beside him, speaking slowly to Li Chongan who was seated next to Ye Fan.

"Hmm!" Li Chongan nodded quickly.

The middle-aged man following Li Hao, upon seeing Ye Fan and Li Chongan in an instant, hurriedly spoke respectfully: "Zhao Xiu, greets the two of you."

"You're the one they said has already awakened a Supernatural Ability, right?" Ye Fan's gaze quickly sized up the middle-aged man named Zhao Xiu, asking calmly.

"Yes, may I ask what Patriarch Li needs from me?" Zhao Xiu nodded quickly, replying with a respectful expression.

He didn't know exactly who Ye Fan was to the Li Family, but from Ye Fan's actions that day, he had some speculation: Could this person before him be the current patriarch of the Li Family?

Because before the apocalypse descended, he was just a very ordinary commoner and didn't know Ye Fan at all.

At the same time, he also had no understanding of who the actual leaders of the major families in Jiangcheng City were.

So he hadn't known Li Chongan before either.

Initially, before Ye Fan appeared, he had always thought Li Chongan was the patriarch of the Li Family of Jiangcheng.

But then one day, Ye Fan suddenly appeared, and the middle-aged man he had assumed was the Li Family patriarch was actually extremely deferential to him.

This made him very suspicious.

This young man should be the true leader of the Li Family, right?

Zhao Xiu gave Ye Fan a rather good impression.

From his words and actions, Ye Fan could discern this person's character.

He should be worthy of significant trust.

"Hmm! There is indeed something I'd like to discuss with you!" Ye Fan nodded, a smile slowly appearing on his face, "However, the title 'Patriarch Li' doesn't suit me. He is the one."

Zhao Xiu was momentarily stunned.

Feeling somewhat awkward for a moment, he quickly scratched his head, a bitter smile appearing on his face, "I'm truly very sorry, I..."

Seeing his discomfort, Ye Fan quickly glanced at Li Chongan beside him, giving him a look.

Li Chongan instantly understood Ye Fan's meaning, hurriedly putting on a broad smile to help him out: "It's fine! It's no problem, it's no big deal..."

"Pa... Patriarch Li! Then... then how should I address this one?" Zhao Xiu slightly raised his hand, gently pointing towards Ye Fan, asking quietly.

"Uh, this..." Li Chongan was immediately somewhat at a loss, because he truly didn't know how these people should address Ye Fan.

"Hey, the title doesn't matter. If you're willing, you can just call me 'boss' from now on." Ye Fan gave a light laugh, speaking calmly.

"Yes, boss!" Zhao Xiu quickly made a light cupped-fist salute towards Ye Fan.

Ye Fan immediately laughed out loud.

"Good, good! By the way, the reason we called you here this time is just to ask if you're willing to join the organization we're establishing! As for the benefits of joining, I mentioned part of them that day, you should be clear about that." Ye Fan stared at the person before him, his originally smiling face instantly turning serious.

"I would be most grateful, this lowly one is willing to go through fire and water for the boss, without hesitation!" Seeing this, Zhao Xiu instantly dropped to one knee on the ground, speaking reverently.

Seeing this, Ye Fan was momentarily taken aback. He quickly stood up and helped the kneeling Zhao Xiu to his feet, "Hey, what are you doing! No need, no need! Get up quickly, you..."

"Thank you, boss!" Zhao Xiu quickly stood up, saying.

"By the way, what rank has your Supernatural Ability reached now, and what attribute is it?" Ye Fan had him sit down, then slowly asked.

"The Supernatural Ability I awakened is related to Speed, but it's still stuck at the first rank, without much improvement!" Zhao Xiu's face showed a hint of embarrassment, his tone lacking confidence as he spoke quietly.

"Speed type? This... this is a bit hard to find!" Ye Fan muttered softly after hearing this. Having killed so many zombies, it seemed he hadn't come across zombie crystal cores of this type yet.

It seemed this type of Supernatural Ability was very rare, but advancement would also be more difficult.

Although this person had very good luck, unexpectedly awakening this type of ability.

But because the zombie crystal cores possessed by this type of ability were too scarce, the Speed at which he could evolve would be very difficult.

Given Zhao Xiu's current situation, even if his blood qi had reached the first rank's peak, if he couldn't obtain a second-rank Speed-type zombie crystal core...

Then,

his Supernatural Ability would most likely remain stuck at the first rank, unable to advance!

Even Ye Fan at this moment, possessing numerous zombie crystal cores, had no way to help him advance beyond the second rank.

The only thing possible was to let his blood qi reach the peak of the first rank.

Ye Fan sighed softly, saying somewhat regretfully: "Ah! What a pity. If you had awakened a different Supernatural Ability, then I might have been able to help you continue improving, but now I'm somewhat powerless too."

"Ah, it doesn't matter." Zhao Xiu also sighed deeply, his face full of helplessness.

"But you don't need to lose heart. As long as you work diligently for me, I'll think of a way. I will definitely help you improve your strength when the time comes." Ye Fan said seriously, gently reaching out to pat Zhao Xiu's shoulder, speaking solemnly.

As he spoke, Ye Fan focused his mind.

Two ordinary first-rank zombie crystal cores instantly appeared in his hand, which Ye Fan then offered to him, "First, quickly absorb these to improve your strength a bit. Later, come out with me for a trip."

The moment Zhao Xiu saw the two zombie crystal cores appear in Ye Fan's hand, his face instantly showed utter disbelief.

Thinking to himself,

these... these are for me?

Seeing his current look of disbelief, Ye Fan extended the hand holding the two zombie crystal cores towards him again.

"Hmm... take them! Why are you still standing there stunned?"

"Ah... yes, yes, thank you, boss!" Zhao Xiu was momentarily stunned, hurriedly taking the two zombie crystal cores from Ye Fan's hand and quickly expressing his thanks.

"You can absorb them here first! No one will disturb you here. These two zombie crystal cores are enough to raise the blood qi in your body to the peak of the first rank." Ye Fan quickly stood up, looking at the still bewildered Zhao Xiu, speaking calmly.

Afterwards,

Ye Fan focused his mind, and in his hand, five special zombie crystal cores appeared once more.

These five zombie crystal cores were obtained by him from the system rewards.

Like ordinary zombie crystal cores, they had no special attributes!

But they had one very significant difference from ordinary zombie crystal cores.

After using this first-rank special zombie crystal core, there is an eighty percent chance of awakening a special ability.

...