The blade's cold gleam flashed! A zombie's head rolled off, sending greasy black blood splattering everywhere! Stephen, wielding his gleaming blade, had cut down all the armored zombies at the entrance.
Sang-hwa let out a sigh of relief, then patted Stephen's shoulder with a powerful arm, giving him a thumbs-up. "Amazing!"
Stephen nodded slightly. He ducked inside the glass door with Sang-hwa, leaning against the wall and gasping for air. That had truly been thrilling! While the blade was sharp, continuous combat had led to immense physical exhaustion. His Reincarnator level was too low; he needed to level up!
Seok-woo stammered, "More zombies are coming, and this glass door definitely won't hold. We need to leave here immediately and get back on the train!"
"No, if we leave now, the zombie horde will freely assault the train!" Sang-hwa clenched his fists tightly, the muscles in his arms bulging. "My wife is still on the train. I can't let her be caught by the zombies! I need to buy time for her and my unborn daughter! You guys go! I'll hold them off alone!"
Seok-woo gritted his teeth. "I… I'll stay too! I also need to buy time for my daughter!"
The baseball student, Min Yong-guk, took a deep breath and said with determination, "I'm not leaving either!" Though he didn't state his reason, it was clear he was buying time for his girlfriend, Kim Jin-hee.
Stephen said in a deep voice, "Don't panic. From now on, as long as you all listen to me, I can get all of you to Busan Station alive!" Having all been saved by Stephen, and witnessing his calm demeanor in the face of danger, their trust in him solidified.
"Alright!" "We'll all listen to you!" "Just tell us what to do now!"
Stephen immediately commanded, "Sang-hwa, Yong-guk, you two are responsible for blocking the door. I'll stand at the door crack and look for opportunities to cut the zombies' heads! Seok-woo, you strip off the zombies' armor and take it! Move quickly!"
"Alright! No problem, this door is on me!" Sang-hwa stretched, his arms bulging like logs.
The four men, with clear roles, immediately sprang into action. At this moment, the main force of the second wave of zombies had already surged to the glass door. Hundreds, even thousands, of frantically roaring zombies swarmed outside the small glass barrier! Sang-hwa and Yong-guk exerted all their strength, pushing against the glass door with their bodies. Stephen, meanwhile, took advantage of the cracks that appeared as the glass door was forced open, wildly slashing and chopping with his sword!
Immediately, the glass door was covered in splattered black blood. The air was thick with a nauseating, putrid stench! The glass door creaked ominously, on the verge of giving way.
"Hurry!" Stephen roared. "Strip them quickly!" While this armor seemed meaningless for the current task, it would be crucial for the upcoming second task! Although the system's second task hadn't been released yet, Stephen could already anticipate what it would be!
Seok-woo suppressed his nausea, fumbling to strip off five sets of armor.
At this time, the TDX Train began to whistle, slowly starting to move.
"The armor is secured!" Seok-woo urgently shouted.
Stephen said in a deep voice, "Good. Seok-woo, Yong-guk, you two take the equipment and run first. Sang-hwa and I will cover the rear."
"Yes!"
Seok-woo and the other two immediately picked up the armor and sprinted towards the TDX Train. Sang-hwa gritted his teeth, continuing to block the glass door with his burly physique.
After half a minute of struggling, the glass door began to shatter! Stephen immediately said, "Run!"
Sang-hwa turned and ran.
Crash!
The glass door shattered, and countless zombies surged out like a broken dam. Stephen and Sang-hwa ran for their lives, Stephen's lungs feeling like they were about to burst! The TDX Train was accelerating faster and faster! The zombies behind them were also gaining ground rapidly! The two were about to miss the train!
Just then! Seok-woo, covered in blood, leaned halfway out of the train. "Quick! Grab my hand!" Behind him, Yong-guk was holding onto him tightly.
Stephen raised his saber and roared at Seok-woo, "Get out of the way!"
Seok-woo was startled and instinctively dodged backward. A zombie, charging in the opposite direction, roared and lunged, missing its target! Stephen's hand rose and fell, directly severing the head of the reverse-charging zombie!
Seok-woo's heart pounded with fright! If Stephen hadn't predicted that earlier, he would have been dead!
Stephen leaped, grabbed Seok-woo's outstretched arm, and boarded the TDX Train! Sang-hwa followed closely, pulled into the carriage by Seok-woo.
The four grown men collapsed in the middle of the carriage, speechless, just grinning foolishly and gasping for breath! They had survived a close call! Stephen's hands were trembling uncontrollably! The hilt of the saber was covered in greasy black blood, almost impossible to grip!
The TDX Train fully accelerated, leaving Daejeon Station, filled with zombies, far behind.
Ding.
A familiar system prompt sounded in Stephen's mind:
"Congratulations, Reincarnator Stephen."
"You have completed the first task."
"Based on your performance in this task, you have been awarded 300 reincarnation points." "System Tip: Reincarnation points can be used in the Main God Space to purchase equipment, skills, resources, etc., corresponding to your Reincarnator level. They cannot be used in dungeons."
"Your Reincarnator level has now been raised to 3." "Your three-dimensional attributes—Strength, Agility, and Constitution—have each increased by 3 attribute points."
"Additionally, due to your excellent performance in this task, the system has granted you an extra 3 attribute points that you can allocate yourself."
"What the heck?" An extra reward from the system!? "This should be unique to me, right?" Indeed, he was right; Seok-woo and Sang-hwa were the core characters of the plot. It's awesome to be the only one who knows the plot!
Stephen quickly checked his status internally. His Strength attribute became 10 points, Agility 12 points, and Constitution 8 points! His comprehensive combat power also increased to 30 (+20) points! And he still had 3 allocable attribute points! It seemed this mission was completed very well, and the system's rating shouldn't be low! Unfortunately, the rating was comprehensive; even excellent performance now wasn't a certainty; only after completing the entire dungeon plot could the final evaluation be made.
Stephen began to seriously consider how to allocate his points. Strength was clearly directly proportional to damage. Agility concerned speed and movement. Constitution was about health and stamina limits. All three attributes were extremely important. The safest approach would naturally be to add one point to each attribute. However, that would be too mediocre and uninspired. He needed one attribute that would leave others in the dust!
Then… Agility it is! In all martial arts, speed triumphs! No matter how powerful your ultimate move, I shall dodge it with a flash. Alright! All extra attribute points go into Agility!
With a thought, Stephen allocated all 3 system-awarded attribute points to Agility. As a result, Stephen's three-dimensional attributes became: Strength 10, Agility 15, Constitution 8! His comprehensive combat power also increased to 33 (+20) points!
Stephen took a deep breath, feeling his body indeed much lighter. His previously exhausted stamina had also recovered somewhat.
[System Announcement: Reincarnator GS923427 has been eliminated by zombies.] [System Announcement: Reincarnator UB348512 has been eliminated by zombies.] [System Announcement: Reincarnator KD862374 failed to complete the mission and was erased by the system.]
Lines of bright red announcements floated and dissipated before Stephen's eyes. Stephen silently counted. Including him, only 7 Reincarnators had boarded the TDX Train. The remaining 23 Reincarnators were all dead. It was indeed a cruel elimination round.
At this moment, Seok-woo tremblingly pulled out his phone and dialed his daughter Su-an's number. "Hello? Su-an? Where are you?"
"Daddy!" The little girl Su-an's crying voice came from the other end of the phone: "We're trapped in the train bathroom! There are monsters outside! I'm so scared!"
Seok-woo stammered, "Su-an! Su-an, don't be scared! Daddy will… Daddy will come save you right away! Tell Daddy, which carriage are you in? Who's with you?"
Su-an sobbed, "There's… there's a pregnant lady, and an old grandma. We're… we're near Carriage 13!"
Seok-woo quickly said, "Okay! Hold on! Daddy will come save you right away!"
Ding.
No sooner had Seok-woo finished speaking than the system prompt sounded in Stephen's ear:
[System Task Two has been activated.]
[Rescue the lucky survivors in Carriage 13.]
[Accept and complete the task to earn reincarnation points.]
[Failure to complete the task will result in direct erasure by the system.]
[You have ten seconds to make a decision.]
Indeed! It was this task!
Accept!