Shawn's lips curled up as he watched Daryl's somewhat cold back.
Shawn found a blind spot that wouldn't be noticed immediately and lay down.
He removed the splint from his right hand; the splint's effect had long since worn off, and Shawn's right hand had already recovered.
He gripped his fingers a few times, feeling no stiffness or pain, completely identical to how it was before the injury.
"As expected, System products are high-quality goods."
Shawn praised in his heart.
Even the simplest 'splint' could restore Shawn's arm in a short amount of time; such an effect was truly terrifying.
And as the injury completely healed, and time passed.
The last buff in the bottom left corner of Shawn's screen—Weakness—also disappeared at the right time.
His stamina bar was back to full, and at this moment, Shawn just wanted to throw his head back and shout.
"Damn it, I'm going to fight 100!"
However, glancing at the two brothers who were already sound asleep, Shawn still suppressed the urge.
He opened the skill panel and navigated back to the "Strength" attribute.
He clicked on the Basic Strength attribute, and a long list of 'Points Allocated' from top to bottom was truly pleasing to the eye.
What's more, Shawn was about to allocate the last 2 levels to his core attribute, and he felt a faint excitement.
"Just by allocating points up to Strength attribute level 8, my strength has increased by at least five times."
"What astonishing effects will these last two levels have?"
Shawn rubbed his hands, then directly allocated all the remaining two levels in one go.
The remaining 6 skill points were instantly cleared.
And at the same time.
Shawn only felt a magma-like hot current surging and churning within his body.
If the two brothers were still awake now, they would easily notice that heat was steaming from Shawn's entire body!
This state was quite similar to the second Blood Moon not long ago.
Shawn panted deeply, his body trembling violently as immense power poured into him.
In places invisible to the human eye, muscle fibers were intertwining and reshaping, bulging like vines.
Shawn's originally merely well-proportioned muscle lines were instantly reshaped into rigid contours resembling rolling mountains.
The 'Athlete's Light Armor' he wore was also instantly stretched by his muscles.
After a long while.
Shawn slowly lifted his lowered head, and a few soft, crisp sounds like metal colliding erupted from his body.
Thankfully, Shawn tried his best to control it, otherwise, he would have woken up Daryl and his brother.
The system's prompt sound came to Shawn's ears at the right time.
[(Beast Mode) Level 9/10, Strength and Headshot greatly increased]
[Body, Strength, Muscles… Your body is perfect!]
Attribute: Strength 9/10
[(Champion) Level 10/10 (Max Level), Strength and Headshot greatly increased]
[If what arrived was not an apocalypse, but a cyclical dynasty, you could, with strength, carve out your own territory.]
[And now, you can easily crush Walkers with your strength!]
Attribute: Strength 10/10 (Max Level)
Strength gained an overall boost!
Shawn felt as if he had been reborn, and a hint of 'transcendence' began to emerge in his consciousness as his strength surged.
"Paired with the cigar, my strength has almost increased by several times again."
"The strength increase from the first 8 levels combined is not as intense as the increase from the last two levels!"
"Even without using weapons, I feel like I can smash the head of any Walker with a single punch using my strength!"
"If I were to go back to that Blood Moon night now, I would never be so pathetic again; no… I could crush them all to death with just my hands!"
A light flashed in Shawn's eyes; immense power gave him absolute confidence!
Just as the system evaluation said, a basic attribute at level 10 is enough to carve out a territory and become a king or lord.
In this apocalypse, it can even easily handle Walkers.
Coupled with the box and a half of Antibiotics remaining in Shawn's System backpack.
Shawn was absolutely confident about this trip to reclaim the Prison.
Thinking about moving into the Prison at this time tomorrow, Shawn felt a strong sense of security.
"Hmm—good, time to sleep!"
Dispelling all distracting thoughts, Shawn lay down soundly on the floor and gradually fell asleep.
This sleep.
It wasn't the most comfortable, but it was the most peaceful night he had slept since arriving in this apocalypse.
…
In the morning, Shawn was woken up by Merle.
Daryl had hunted two squirrels, and after a quick meal, the three set off back to the highway.
Following the tire tracks left on the highway, they continued forward.
When the RV broke down in the rain, it was actually only about a hundred kilometers from the Prison.
Now, with only Shawn and the two brothers left, they rode motorcycles and didn't need to accommodate the convoy's speed at all.
Traveling at 80 miles per hour, stopping and going, they still arrived at the jungle on the map before dark.
Their speed slowly decreased, and the two brothers both looked at Shawn.
There were no longer any traces of vehicles passing on the ground.
And Shawn had said earlier that once they reached this point, it wouldn't be difficult to find the Prison's location.
So, upon entering the jungle-side road, both of them immediately turned their gaze to Shawn.
And following the brothers' gaze… Shawn felt a bit numb, and he scratched his cheek.
A jungle spanning 80 kilometers, while not extremely large, was by no means small.
Most importantly, this was his first time here, and he wasn't sure exactly where the Prison was located.
After thinking for a moment, Shawn opened the "map" which he hadn't used for a long time.
The "map" unfolded in front of Shawn out of thin air.
What came into view was a green area, representing the vast forest before them.
Within the forest was a winding, deep gray path, which was the road Shawn and the others had taken to get here.
Other than that, most of the area was covered in a light gray hue.
That represented unexplored territory.
As Shawn advanced and explored, these fogs would be gradually unveiled.
And Shawn's purpose in opening the "map" was naturally not to observe the trajectory of the path he had taken.
The "map" in "seven days to die" was, to be precise, a more feature-rich 'topographical map'.
In other words, Shawn could observe the elevation of nearby explored areas from an overhead perspective, whether the area was on a mountain, and what the specific terrain nearby was like…
Currently, the Prison was in an open area within this jungle, and with the "map," finding it before dark shouldn't be difficult.
"Follow me."
Dropping a single sentence, Shawn revved the engine and proceeded directly along the forest road.
"There will be a well-equipped town not far from the Prison."
"Besides that, following the main road won't be wrong either."
"The Prison's vehicles would come and go, so it must be a road branching off this main road."
Shawn pondered, observing the "map" as he advanced.
Whenever Shawn arrived at a foggy location, the fog displayed in square blocks would clear all at once, which also helped Shawn save exploration time.
Daryl and Merle followed closely behind him, and the three explored their way from the very bottom of the jungle upwards.