Chapter 15: Let the Apocalypse Come More Fiercely! (3)
Having already experienced it once, Lu Weiyi nonchalantly withdrew his gaze, took a few stacks of cash, and went to the residential area’s supermarket.
He had slept a bit too long. The instant and convenient foods in the supermarket had already been cleared out. Several large barrels of water had their prices increased five or six times. A lot of flour, rice, and grains remained, and their prices had also subtly increased. On the other hand, the prices of seasonings and daily necessities hadn’t changed much.
Since there was no ready-to-eat food, he wouldn’t have made the trip for nothing. Lu Weiyi didn’t pick and choose; he simply bought everything edible.
The cashier was an older woman. Seeing that he had impractical items like oil and seasonings in his several carts, she advised, “Young man, these things you’re taking aren’t very useful. There’s no electricity or water now, so you can’t cook. You’d better use the money you have to buy some instant food elsewhere and wait for the national rescue.”
There would be no national rescue!
Lu Weiyi thought silently, smiled, and threw down a stack of cash without replying to her.
Several carts of things were difficult to carry without an elevator. Lu Weiyi turned into a deserted corner, put everything into his space, and returned home.
Lu Weiyi planned to directly strengthen his ability at home and then go out to hunt zombies with Zhuang Mingxu after he arrived.
According to scientists’ research, the appearing zombies were divided into two types, with the global snowstorm as the dividing line. The ones that appeared before were directly mutated by the zombie energy. They contained a marble-sized white spherical crystal core in their brains, named a “bead core.” Its energy was violent, and absorbing it would directly turn one into a zombie.
After the snowstorm, all living beings would develop a prism-shaped crystal core in their brains, called a “crystal core.” It was neutralized by the anti-zombie energy, and its color would change according to the five elements abilities, becoming colorful. Its violence was also reduced. Absorbing it could help abilities advance, but this absorption was extremely particular.
Ability users could only absorb zombie crystal cores lower than their own level, otherwise, they would explode and die. However, low-level crystal cores also contained zombie energy. Overuse would cause the residual zombie energy to accumulate, and after a certain point, it would still lead to the ability going out of control and exploding the body.
Various novels were rampant, and people had a great acceptance of the crystal cores in zombie brains. At the same time, some chuunibyou teenagers really thought they could directly improve their abilities like in the novels. In the early stages of the crystal cores’ appearance, many people became zombies due to direct absorption. The five-element crystal cores that appeared later, initially without anyone knowing the method of absorption, still made people avoid them like the plague. This led to crystal cores being completely ignored for a period of time.
It wasn’t until after multiple experiments that people figured out the method, and then they became invaluable treasures. However, white bead cores were still rejected. Little did they know that white bead cores contained huge zombie energy. As long as they were neutralized with a sufficient amount of anti-zombie energy, they could mutate into directly absorbable mutated energy without any side effects.
And there were only two things that contained this unknown energy: the global snowstorm and the crystal cores of mutated plants.
Mutated plants had different levels, and the effect of their crystal cores naturally improved with higher levels. Raising the level took time, which led to many experts initially dying from excessive absorption of zombie crystal cores, exploding and dying.
Even if he was ignorant of worldly affairs, Lu Weiyi clearly understood the importance of these two life-saving things. And his goal was the snowstorm – he wanted to collect as much as possible when the snow fell. This would require using his ability. In any area covered by his mental power, he could directly put anything into his space. But now his ability could only cover a small area around him, not even enough to cover himself with a layer of shielding energy.
The evolution of abilities required a constant process of consumption and recovery. After an ability user drained all their ability, their body would feel unwell. The most direct manifestation was a splitting headache. It was a painful and monotonous process.
Fortunately, in the years after the apocalypse, although Zhuang Mingxu had carefully protected Lu Weiyi, he had never been ambiguous about the evolution of his ability. Lu Weiyi had long been accustomed to such pain.
Lu Weiyi advanced his ability day and night alone at home, while the outside world was already becoming faintly chaotic.
In the early days after the earthquake, the government, in conjunction with the police, controlled the situation at the first time, proclaiming to wait for national rescue. However, several days passed without any news, and there was no sign of the information network recovering. The number of people suddenly falling ill increased instead. Hospitals were overcrowded, with no extra space to accommodate patients. The crowded conditions led to the entire hospital becoming a zombie gathering place within a few hours of the first zombie’s appearance.
The collapse of the information system delayed the government’s high-level knowledge of the situation, the situation went out of control, and social order began to collapse.
