World-saving Plan: The Only Savior

Zhang Xiaoman looked around and confirmed that there were no cameras in this area before he breathed a sigh of relief.

Brother Hero stood by the car, patted the door, and said to him, "Xiao Man, how did you get here? Let me take you home."

Zhang Xiaoman shook his head.

"No need, I have another way to get back. You have work tomorrow, go home and rest early."

Brother Hero didn't ask further, he started the car, then leaned out of the window and said seriously:

"Xiao Man, I really appreciate it today. If it weren't for you, I might have been left lying here with my over 200 pounds..."

Zhang Xiaoman didn't let him finish, interrupting, "Alright, alright, who are we to each other? You're getting sentimental. Get moving, your wife and kids are waiting at home."

Brother Hero pursed his lips, nodded, and left.

All was said without words.

Seeing him drive away, Zhang Xiaoman didn't stay there much longer; he immediately found an electric scooter and sat in the back seat, reaching into his pocket to play with the hearthstone.

At home, in the bedroom.

Zhang Xiaoman's figure suddenly appeared on the bed sitting down. Seeing the familiar surroundings, he sighed deeply.

Looking at the time, it was almost eleven o'clock. His mom was probably already asleep, and he himself was extremely tired.

Everything that happened tonight was extraordinarily thrilling, whether it was facing two Corpse Demons in combat or the decision to coax Brother Hero into joining. For him, it was a bold attempt.

He had initially gone in with the mindset to do his best to save people, but he hadn't expected to not only successfully defeat the monster but also spontaneously make the decision to recruit Brother Hero, and even some of his future plans had gained some direction.

Zhang Xiaoman didn't know whether his spur-of-the-moment decision was good or bad, but since the world was changing, he felt he also needed to do something—not for so-called righteousness, but just to protect those around him.

He pulled out the Water Gun from his pocket and checked the magazine.

That evening, he had used a total of eight Holy Water Bullets and given two to Brother Hero, which meant he had only ten left in total.

Zhang Xiaoman thought about it and decided to load all the bullets into one gun. After tonight's real combat, he found using two guns simultaneously wasn't handy for him; he generally used one-handed targeted shots.

If he was going to use just one gun in the future, then his free hand could do many other things, such as providing lighting in the dark or using the hearthstone during emergencies.

These were all shortcomings identified through real combat.

After the night's efforts, Zhang Xiaoman had gained a total of 3 points.

This gave him a new understanding of the points earning situation. The large haul the day before at the lake's central island was mainly due to a lot of luck.

"I now have 20 points left, should I use them to buy Holy Water?"

Zhang Xiaoman looked at the System page, pondering.

"The rate of earning points is much slower than I initially thought. To buy one bottle of Holy Water, I need to go through ten draws which would take ten days..."

"But randomly upgrading items seems like a loss. I still have too few types of items I possess. Moreover, I still have a used bottle of Divine Grace, and if the System selects it during an upgrade, then I would really be at a loss..."

He silently carried out his analysis.

In the end, he still stretched his hand toward the Holy Water icon in the store and spent 10 points to buy a bottle.

Regardless, he needed to keep a spare magazine on himself to enhance his personal safety and reduce the chances of unexpected events.

As for the remaining 10 points, he decided to save them for future use.

After sorting out today's gains, Zhang Xiaoman just felt a wave of sleepiness hit him, possibly because he had expended a lot of energy fighting the monsters.

He quickly washed up, not caring that he could start the new day's draws right then, and immediately fell asleep as soon as he hit the bed.

...

The next day.

Zhang Xiaoman once again proved just how lazy humans can be.

From the previous night at eleven until the next day at noon, his sleep time almost matched that of Zhang Jinbao and Xiao Hua.

He got up, went to the living room, where his mom had already prepared the meal, and was now sitting on the sofa stroking the cat.

"Mom? Isn't it Wednesday today? Aren't you going to work? Did you quit your job too?" Zhang Xiaoman asked in surprise.

His mom pushed Xiao Hua to the side and stood up from the couch with a resigned look in her eyes, "It's the 15th already, our school is on summer vacation."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Xiaoman stood frozen in place, envy shining in his eyes.

"Ah, why didn't I choose to major in education back then?"

He deeply regretted it.

His mom still didn't know about the events of last night, and Zhang Xiaoman had no intention of telling her. After all, it was all over, and he hadn't been seriously harmed. Bringing it up would only cause unnecessary worry.

In fact, once Zhang Xiaoman learned that absorbing the bodies of monsters could yield points, his fleeting idea of setting up a small stall had almost entirely vanished, replaced by dreams of battling monsters and upgrading.

But he still stuck to the old saying — since he had come this far, he might as well follow through. He'd already got the raw materials and the cart ready.

Since he couldn't find any other job for the time being, he might as well go out and sell sushi for a while. It'd help him earn some pocket money and fulfill his persistent dream of "starting a business."

However, before setting out his stall, he had another very important thing to do.

He opened the System page and clicked on the lottery!

"Congratulations, you have obtained the white skill — Soul Absorption Technique."

A white Skill Ball fell in front of Zhang Xiaoman, emitting a warm glow.

"Is this... a Skill Ball? Did I actually draw a skill?"

Zhang Xiaoman stared at the Light Ball on the ground, amazed. It was the first time he had drawn a skill-based reward from the System.

"I thought this System could only draw objects, I didn't expect it could draw skills too."

He poked the Light Ball with his finger, but it didn't respond.

"How do I use this thing?"

Zhang Xiaoman promptly picked up the ball from the ground and scrutinized it closely.

[Soul Absorption Technique]

— Can extract energy from the environment.

That was the attribute panel of the Light Ball, its description was still in the typical cryptic style of the System, baffling as ever.

Zhang Xiaoman squeezed it gently. There was not much of a tactile feeling, but the little light ball seemed to have a physical form. It had a bit of elasticity just like a spherical sponge.

"Hmm, how do I absorb it? Do I need to eat it?"

Zhang Xiaoman was thoroughly perplexed.

Even though he was saying this, Zhang Xiaoman was still cautious about these mystical things and certainly wasn't about to just swallow it down.

Half an hour later...

After trying numerous other methods, Zhang Xiaoman looked at the small object in his hand with immense frustration, grinding his teeth.

"Why is this not making any progress?"

Looking at the roundness of the small Light Ball, it almost seemed like there was a smirking face on it, mocking him for being unable to do anything with it.

"Don't push me, keep looking, keep looking, and see if I don't eat you up!"