Apocalypse: I Can See the HP Bar, Killing Monsters Drops Loot

Wang Tao suddenly thought of the Shang Qin he had seen in the underground garage before.

"I wonder what role he plays in this Dusk Church..."

Shang Qin seemed decent enough to Wang Tao, but he was weak, with only Level Two strength, probably just a deacon.

If he had a chance later, Wang Tao planned to go back to that underground garage.

Apart from herself, Zhu Fen didn't know if there were any other priests. It was highly unlikely within the base, but there should be some outside. As for how many bishops there were, she was also unsure.

The significance of the badges on their chests was just as Wang Tao had guessed: diamond-shaped for deacons, square for priests, and circular for bishops. Among them, black badges indicated junior rank, silver was intermediate, and gold was senior.

Zhu Fen was now a senior priest, and if she were promoted one more level, she would become a bishop. She herself was striving to become a bishop, but under the current circumstances, just surviving was good enough; she dared not think about becoming a bishop anymore.

Wang Tao was curious why she, a prominent committee member and one of the top 23 people in Changhe Base, would become part of the Dusk Church. If the Church had been founded by her, it would make sense; but she hadn't founded it, nor was she a bishop—there were others above her...

Facing this question, Zhu Fen said that joining the Dusk Church could help her live longer, make her reborn, stronger, and even immortal!

This answer made Wang Tao speechless; clearly, Zhu Fen had been brainwashed. The thing that could brainwash even her was that so-called Holy medicine!

Wang Tao learned from Zhu Fen and the others that there were two versions of the Holy medicine. One was ordinary, and the other was advanced.

The Church's leaders consumed the advanced version, while the followers drank the ordinary version.

The difference between the advanced and ordinary versions was that the advanced version contained some extra substances. Zhu Fen didn't know exactly what because she didn't mix these medicines or know the raw materials; she had bought them from a bishop outside.

What surprised Wang Tao was that Zhu Fen didn't know about the toxic nature of the Holy medicine—more precisely, she didn't know that the Holy Medicine could kill people; she only knew it was addictive. In her eyes, Holy medicine was similar to smoking, at most slightly more addictive than cigarettes, far from the extent of drugs.

And the reason she thought this way was not only because she had been brainwashed but more importantly, she had been consuming the advanced version of Holy medicine, which was different from the ordinary one.

Wang Tao saw that when Zhu Fen and her group arrived, they showed no signs of poisoning. But after they also drank a bowl of Holy medicine, they showed signs of poisoning, although much milder compared to others.

[Poisoning: A moderately addictive common toxin, prolonged use can cause an increase in certain desires, detoxification possible after 3 days without use]

The poison in Zhu Fen worked similarly to Xia Zhen's, increasing certain desires. But while Xia Zhen's poison required 30 days of abstaining to detoxify, Zhu Fen needed only 3 days.

This time was reduced by a factor of ten!

For example, Zhu Fen's Level 3 bodyguard was poisoned lethally, yet the detoxification time was much shorter.

[Poisoning: A moderately addictive common toxin, prolonged use can cause death. Detoxification possible after 12 hours without use]

This time was even shorter, just 12 hours. That meant just holding on for half a day was enough to detoxify. Compared to Qiu Rong's seven days, this detoxification period was reduced by more than tenfold.

This must be the effect of that added substance in the advanced version of Holy medicine.

From what he saw with Xia Zhen and Qiu Rong, the "Holy Medicine Addiction" typically began two to three days after consumption. Thus, for a 12-hour detoxification like this, one wouldn't even reach the point of addiction before detoxifying on their own.

Even for someone like Zhu Fen, who needed three days to detoxify, it would pass as long as she endured a little.

Nor did they drink it regularly—the bishop had advised them to consume the advanced version every three to five days and the ordinary version every one or two days, and they had always followed this instruction.

So they did not feel the medicine was toxic; they thought of it as similar to cigarettes.

Of course, they thought its effects were far more potent than cigarettes. Physical pleasure was secondary; mainly, they thought it gave them rebirth.

As for what this so-called rebirth really was, Zhu Fen said she had seen a bishop who had already achieved rebirth—zombies wouldn't attack the bishop!

She had seen with her own eyes how the bishop moved freely among a crowd of zombies. The zombies simply didn't attack him!

In this post-apocalyptic world, one of the greatest threats to humanity was the zombies, which seemed innumerable. They didn't see how humans could possibly win, as the zombies were just too many!

But if the zombies stopped attacking humans and could coexist peacefully, wouldn't that practically be rebirth?

Therefore, they were unwavering in their belief in the effects of the Holy medicine.

Moreover, the bishop had said that not being attacked by zombies was just one aspect of the rebirth through Holy Medicine, there were many other benefits...

Wang Tao could see the fervor in Zhu Fen's eyes; she truly believed in the power of Holy Medicine.