7: Chapter 7 I should have acted then and there

After returning home and resting for a while, Gu Changming finally made a decision.

Although the fourth attempt had an accident and was somewhat dangerous, he had already completed it four times; there was no reason not to push for the fifth time to achieve "breaker."

Even if he couldn't get an S-rank rating, getting an A-rank was a must.

As for the rating that required being a "Lucky One" last time, he would have to see how the difficulty scaled from here on.

If the difficulty became so great that he might lose his life, then he wouldn't necessarily take the risk. At the very least, his current physical fitness was only that of an ordinary high school student, far inferior to his self before his rebirth.

When the sky outside gradually darkened, Gu Changming stood up again and gently opened his door.

Nothing unusual happened this time; that woman wasn't crouching in front of his door.

Otherwise, Gu Changming would have had quite a headache.

She seemed far too naive for this kind of apocalypse.

But it was normal; this was only the first Assessment, and most people shared her mindset, thinking everything would return to normal after the Assessment was over.

But only Gu Changming knew that the situation would only take a turn for the worse.

He walked downstairs.

Just as he was about to step out of the building's entrance, a man walked in from outside.

This man was slightly plump and dressed somewhat sloppily.

He wondered what the man was doing out at a time like this.

Moreover, Gu Changming felt a subjective sense of discomfort after just one glance at him.

At the same time, he noticed the man was also sizing him up. His gaze wasn't quite right, as if he were calculating something.

Gu Changming paused for a moment, stopping where he was to let the man enter first.

Only after the man entered the hallway did Gu Changming step out of the building.

Gu Changming left the residential area and headed toward the outskirts of the city.

Because he couldn't make any noise, he had to walk. It was a long road, and he walked for over an hour. The sky slowly grew dark as he traveled.

Finally, he found a relatively open patch of flat ground. It was far from any residences, and the surroundings were quiet.

He didn't start immediately; instead, he first searched the vicinity for things like wine bottles or soda cans to create noise.

This time, Gu Changming prepared even more carefully. He arranged these noise-making objects in a circle around him. Each item was placed exactly at the five-meter limit.

He wanted to see if, by placing these sound sources at the maximum effective distance, it would give him a little more reaction time to dodge the attacks when those "things" were lured away.

Gu Changming was in no hurry to start; he waited until night had completely fallen.

...

"Thud!"

[Successfully triggered and completed "Sound Pressure Coverage" 5 times.]

[Congratulations, you have obtained the title: breaker.]

Gu Changming suddenly lunged toward the sandy ground at his side and rolled away quickly.

A massive crater now occupied the spot where he had just been standing, the sand around its edges unnaturally distorted.

If he had been just a moment slower in dodging, he would have lost his life right there.

Gu Changming sat on the sand, his chest heaving slightly. He carefully controlled his breathing, trying not to make too much noise.

It was just as he thought.

The difficulty increased with each attempt.

On this fifth time, the invisible attacks were faster and more ferocious than the fourth. Furthermore, more of those "things" were locking onto him.

They now seemed able to distinguish between the noise he created and his actual body.

Gu Changming felt that at this rate of escalation, he would reach his limit by the seventh attempt at most.

By the eighth time, he would likely be crushed to death by those things.

"Lucky One?" Gu Changming thought to himself. The title was indeed accurate.

Relying solely on himself without luck, he might not be able to achieve that S-rank rating.

After a brief rest, Gu Changming began his attempts again.

Just as he had predicted, the seventh time was his limit.

Just now, he could even feel the "fist wind" as those things' attacks whistled past his body.

However, during these sixth and seventh attempts, he noticed something new: when he created more noise simultaneously, the reaction of those "things" seemed to slow down slightly.

"Forget it, that's enough for today," Gu Changming thought.

For one, the S-rank rating was indeed difficult; having completed the hidden rating rule seven times was already enough for him to gain a significant advantage in the early stages.

Secondly, although he had discovered the pattern that could make those things hesitate, Gu Changming didn't plan to try it now.

There was still a day left; what if something unexpected happened at the end?

By then, he would have reached his limit and wouldn't be able to dodge even if he wanted to.

If he was going to try, it would be in the last half-hour or hour, and he would need to be properly prepared.

Using random items to make noise like this would inevitably be a bit too slow.

Therefore, after completing the seventh time, Gu Changming returned the way he came.

He arrived back near the residential area.

He immediately spotted the convenience store. The glass door had a large hole in it, and the items inside had been mostly looted, leaving a complete mess.

If the owner of this convenience store were still alive, seeing this would surely break their heart.

After a few glances, Gu Changming walked inside anyway.

Not for food, of course, but to find some alarm clocks to use tomorrow.

Previously, his attempts involved shouting and then throwing stones at other objects to make noise. That actually caused a slight delay.

Now, he wanted to see if setting alarm clocks so that they and his own voice went off almost simultaneously would disrupt the attacks of those things.

If it worked, then the S-rank rating might be worth a try.

If not, he would stop trying after the eighth attempt.

In the convenience store, most of the food had been taken, but the alarm clocks were still sitting on the shelves, untouched.

Gu Changming gathered several alarm clocks, put them in his bag, and headed toward his apartment building.

He reached the entrance of the building.

He glanced at the elevator. The buttons were lit up, indicating that power had obviously been restored.

Contrary to what Su Wan had thought, the power had come back on by nightfall.

But Gu Changming only gave it a look before turning toward the stairwell.

Even though there was power, he didn't want any accidents to happen while he was in the elevator; getting trapped inside would be a major problem.

So, taking the stairs was safer.

However...

Just a few seconds after he turned into the stairs...

The elevator door on the first floor opened with a "ding."

Li Jianbin stepped out of the elevator with a frown, his eyes quickly scanning every corner of the first floor.

No one was there, and disappointment flashed in his eyes again.

In this entire residential area, everyone had their doors and windows tightly shut; he didn't even have a chance to act.

If he had known, he shouldn't have been so hesitant when he ran into that high school student upon returning today; he should have just attacked him directly.

If the boy died anyway, it could just be blamed on him making noise himself; no one would be able to trace it back to him.

Great, now the Assessment time is almost up, and I've only completed that "Sound Pressure Coverage" thing three times.