Chapter 13: Crystal Cores
Starting from the sixth floor, the two moved methodically from body to body, using their daggers to pry open the skulls of the fallen zombies.
“Ugh, the smell is unbelievable…” The moment Chu Yang split open the first skull, the sickening stench of decayed brain matter and congealed blood rushed straight into his sinuses, making his eyes water instantly.
He whipped his head to the side and dry-heaved twice, his stomach churning violently.
“This is awful… It’s ten times worse than garbage left rotting in the summer heat!”
Yet, remembering how novels always claimed that energy cores could strengthen superpowers, he gritted his teeth and forced down the bile rising in his throat.
Forget it. If I want to get stronger, I just have to deal with it! No matter how bad it stinks, I’m digging!
Taking a shallow breath—which still filled his lungs with that repulsive odor—he resignedly reached toward the next skull.
“Nothing here… empty again…” he muttered as he searched, his heart sinking with each failure. “Damn it, don’t tell me I’m doing all this for nothing. Isn’t this how it always works in the stories?”
When he reached the third zombie, his fingers finally brushed against a small, hard object.
Chu Yang’s eyes went wide. He quickly pried it free. “Brother Jiang! Look! There really is something!” His voice jumped an octave in pure excitement as he wiped the blood-smeared object against the zombie’s sleeve.
In the dim light filtering through the hallway window, a fingernail-sized crystal glowed with a faint, milky-white luster.
“See? I told you so! Do you believe me now?”
Jiang Jue leaned closer to inspect it, a flicker of genuine surprise crossing his face. He hadn’t held out much hope, so he hadn’t expected Chu Yang’s bizarre theory to actually pan out.
The discovery gave them both a renewed burst of motivation. Even the foul air around them seemed slightly more bearable.
Working with greater speed, Chu Yang combed through the remaining heads one by one. In the end, out of more than a dozen zombies, they managed to recover a total of three milky-white crystal cores.
Pocketing their prize, they felt their steps grow considerably lighter as they made their way downstairs.
Just as they stepped onto the third-floor landing, however, a low, wet growl drifted up from the second floor, accompanied by the chilling sound of bones being crushed and chewed.
Chu Yang, who had been eager to return to his warm room to rest, thought of the potential cores waiting below. A flash of resolve crossed his eyes, and he gritted his teeth. “Brother Jiang, sounds like there are stragglers downstairs.”
Jiang Jue didn’t hesitate. He gave a simple, decisive reply: “Let’s go.”
The two crept silently down to the second floor, only to find the door to the demanding old woman’s apartment wide open.
In the middle of the living room, two zombies were crouched on the floor, tearing hungrily into two fresh corpses.
Chu Yang took a closer look and realized with a jolt that the mangled, unrecognizable remains belonged to the old woman’s son and daughter-in-law!
Exchanging a quick glance, Chu Yang and Jiang Jue struck in unison. Coming up quietly from behind, they cleanly dispatched the two feeding monsters before they could even react.
Chu Yang immediately crouched down, fighting off a fresh wave of nausea as he repeated the process. Within moments, he pried out another glowing core and waved it triumphantly at Jiang Jue. “Found another one!”
Just then, the inner bedroom door creaked open a crack. The old woman peeked out, clutching her young grandson tightly to her chest.
Seeing the monsters dead, she let out a shaky breath of relief. But the moment her gaze fell upon the torn bodies of her son and daughter-in-law sprawled across the bloody floor, her mind completely shattered. She threw herself forward with a bloodcurdling wail, collapsing beside the corpses and beating the floorboards with her fists. “My son! How could you leave me like this?! You goddamn monsters!”
Her grieving didn’t last long before she snapped her head up, her bloodshot, tear-filled eyes locking onto Chu Yang with venomous hatred. “It’s all your fault! Why didn’t you get here sooner?! If you had come down just a minute earlier, my son wouldn’t have died! You killed him! You heartless beasts, standing by and watching people die! Give me back my son!”
Screaming hysterically, she lunged with jagged, filthy fingernails aimed straight at Chu Yang’s face.
A sharp spike of irritation flared in Chu Yang’s chest. The woman was completely unhinged.
Suppressing the urge to strike her down on the spot, he deftly sidestepped her frantic charge. At the same time, he swung his leg out, catching her on the outer thigh with a firm kick that sent her stumbling to the floor with a heavy thud.
“Shut your mouth if you want to stay alive!” Chu Yang warned coldly, his voice like frost.
Beside him, Jiang Jue stepped forward. The straight blade in his hand, still slick with dark blood, hung loosely by his side.
He didn’t even raise the weapon, simply looking down at the wailing woman with dark, icy eyes devoid of any warmth.
Yet the chilling, blood-soaked aura he had built from slaying dozens of monsters instantly choked the screams in the woman’s throat. Her lips trembled violently as terror washed over her. Cowering on the floor, she shrank back, terrified to make another sound.
Without sparing her another glance, the two checked the ground floor to confirm it was clear, locked the heavy building entrance from the inside, and headed back up to the third floor.
In the living room, Wang Rui, Li Wen, and Zhao Dayong were waiting anxiously. The moment they heard footsteps, they gathered around.
Li Wen asked in a hushed, nervous tone, “Brother Jiang, Chu Yang, are you guys okay? How are things out there?”
Jiang Jue shook his head slightly, signaling they were uninjured.
Zhao Dayong, far more concerned about immediate danger, pressed quickly, “And… what about those things? Are they all dead?”
Chu Yang answered, his voice tired but steady. “Brother Jiang and I cleared out the ones upstairs and downstairs. Still…” He paused, his expression turning serious. “Everyone needs to stay sharp tonight. Nobody can say for sure if stragglers from other buildings will wander over, or if more will break in.”
Hearing that the threat was dealt with, the three visibly relaxed, though they still nodded in nervous agreement.
Chu Yang and Jiang Jue walked past them and slipped into their bedroom.
Outside in the hall, Zhao Dayong rubbed his red, freezing hands. Looking toward the closed bedroom door, he dropped his voice to a whisper and nudged Wang Rui. “Brother Rui… when they opened the door earlier, I think I saw a heater running in Brother Jiang’s room. It looked really warm in there.”
He gave an exaggerated shiver, an unmistakable flicker of greed crossing his face.
Wang Rui looked toward the door, longing evident in his eyes as well. In this brutal freeze, a working heater was practically the difference between life and death.
Yet, remembering Jiang Jue’s lethal swordsmanship and Chu Yang’s terrifying spatial blasts, Wang Rui quickly shoved the dangerous thought away. Tucking his neck into his collar, he muttered, “Don’t get any stupid ideas. Just stay where you are.”
Inside the bedroom, the moment the tension drained away, the stench of blood and rot clinging to their clothes became overwhelmingly noticeable.
Chu Yang wrinkled his nose, looking down at his blood-spattered jacket before glancing at the dark stains on Jiang Jue’s cuffs. “Brother Jiang, we smell awful and everything feels sticky. How about we wash up a bit?”
Jiang Jue glanced at the grime smudged across Chu Yang’s face, then looked down at his own dirty hands. He nodded. “Mm.”
Given the green light, Chu Yang immediately got to work.
He ducked into the bathroom, retrieved a large plastic bucket from his storage space, and set it on the floor.
“Man, it really hurts my soul to use our drinking water for bathing,” he grumbled softly as he filled the container, “but nobody can sleep with this smell! Even if it’s painful, we have to do it!”
He stripped off his dirty outerwear, rolled up his sleeves, and dipped a towel into the cold water. The freezing shock made him gasp. “Damn! That’s ice cold!”
Once he adjusted to the temperature, however, wiping the cloth across his skin washed away the sticky grime and deep fatigue, leaving him feeling pleasantly refreshed.
He cleaned himself thoroughly—from his hair and neck down to his arms and feet.
After emptying the dirty water, Chu Yang inspected their single basin and murmured, “Well, conditions are tight. I’ll just have to ask the boss to share a bucket with me.”
He filled the bucket with fresh water once more, adding a little extra this time, figuring that Jiang Jue’s larger frame would naturally require more.
Once he had dried off with a fresh towel, Chu Yang pulled out a clean pair of pajamas from his space and slipped into them.
After a moment’s thought, he rummaged around again, retrieved a larger matching set that looked right for Jiang Jue, and hung it neatly over the towel bar by the sink.
“Brother Jiang, I’m all set. I put fresh water in the bucket for you, and there are clean pajamas on the rack.” Chu Yang stepped out of the bathroom, his damp hair soft against his forehead, carrying a faint, clean scent of fresh water.
Jiang Jue looked at him, gave a quiet nod, took the clean clothes from the rack, and walked inside.
When Jiang Jue returned wearing the fresh pajamas, the lingering metallic smell of blood had completely vanished from the room.
Chu Yang eagerly patted the edge of the mattress, motioning for him to sit. Opening his palm, he presented the four clean crystal cores like a proud treasure hunter. “Brother Jiang, check it out! I told you I wasn’t making it up! There really is energy inside these things—I felt it! They can definitely boost our powers!”
Without a second thought, he picked up two of the crystals and pressed them directly into Jiang Jue’s hand, entirely natural and without the slightest hint of hesitation.
Feeling the cool, smooth stones against his skin, Jiang Jue looked up in surprise. “For me?”
He was acutely aware that he hadn’t unlocked an ability yet.
“Of course!” Chu Yang nodded as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, his eyes bright and sincere. “Just because you haven’t awakened yet doesn’t mean you won’t later! Hold onto them. That way, the moment your power activates, you can use them right away! Mark my words, these things are going to become the ultimate currency in the future—worth way more than gold!”
Jiang Jue closed his fingers around the cool stones. A subtle, complicated emotion flickered in his dark eyes before he murmured, “…Alright.”
Chu Yang didn’t waste any more time. Holding his remaining two cores, he recalled the vague meditation descriptions from web novels he had read back in his old life. Sitting cross-legged on the mattress, he rested a crystal in each palm, placing them flat against his knees.
Closing his eyes, he took a deep, steadying breath, cleared his mind, and focused inward, attempting to guide and absorb the energy stored within the stones.
At first, he felt only a gentle, cool sensation. But as his breathing slowed and his thoughts settled, a faint, pure current of warmth began to seep out from the cores, flowing smoothly through his pathways. Wherever the warmth traveled, the soreness in his muscles and the dull mental fatigue slowly dissolved, steadily replenishing his depleted energy pool.
Roughly ten minutes later, the milky-white glow of the core in his left palm faded completely. With a faint crack, tiny hairline fractures spiderwebbed across the surface, turning it into a dull, brittle gray pebble.
A moment later, the core in his right hand followed suit as its energy was drained dry.
Chu Yang slowly opened his eyes and let out a long, heavy breath, releasing the built-up tension from his body. His mind felt noticeably sharper, and his spirits had rebounded entirely.
“How is it?” Jiang Jue, who had been sitting quietly beside him on watch, asked in a low voice.
“It works surprisingly well!” Chu Yang said, carefully assessing the state of his energy. “My power feels noticeably stronger, but the quantity was pretty small—not quite enough for a full breakthrough to the next stage.”
He looked up at Jiang Jue, his eyes gleaming with eager anticipation. “Brother Jiang, over the next few days, we’re definitely going to need to ‘harvest’ a whole lot more of these!”
