Chapter 30: Healing-Type Superpower
Just as they were talking, a sharp series of knocks—rap, rap, rap—sounded at the door.
“Who is it?” Chu Yang called out as he walked over to unlock it.
Standing in the hallway were Su Mubai and Lin Xiao, with Lin Xiao holding up a bulging backpack.
“Well, look at that! Speak of the devil!” Chu Yang laughed. “I was just wondering what to do about dinner, and here you two show up!”
Hearing this, both of them visibly relaxed.
Lin Xiao hoisted the pack in his hand and grinned. “Well, it’s dinner time, isn’t it? We’re starving. We brought some food over, thinking we could all share a meal together. It saves everyone the hassle of cooking separately.”
“That sounds great!” Chu Yang stepped aside to let them in. “I was just planning to throw something together, but my cooking is honestly a disaster, so I was dreading it. Which of you actually knows how to cook?”
Lin Xiao immediately pointed at Su Mubai. “Little Bai’s cooking is top-tier! We’ve been relying on him these past few days; otherwise, we would have starved to death long ago.”
“Awesome! Then Little Bai is our head chef tonight!” Chu Yang clapped Su Mubai on the shoulder with a grin. Feeling how thin his friend’s shoulders and back were, he gently softened his grip, then turned toward Jiang Jue by the bedside. “Brother Jiang, Little Bai and Lin Xiao brought some food. Let’s all eat together tonight.”
Jiang Jue had his head lowered, methodically wiping down his long blade. The polished steel caught the dim light, throwing off a cold, sharp gleam.
At Chu Yang’s voice, he slowly lifted his eyes. His gaze swept over Su Mubai and Lin Xiao with complete, unruffled calm. Giving a faint nod, his thin lips parted to utter two simple words: “Come in.”
His deep voice served as a quiet greeting.
Su Mubai was slightly caught off guard by that intense gaze. Jiang Jue’s presence was simply too overwhelming—cold, sharp, and distant—making him feel instinctively cautious. He offered a shy smile and followed Chu Yang deeper into the room.
Setting the backpack on the table, Su Mubai unzipped it and began unloading their provisions: a few packs of compressed biscuits, two cans of luncheon meat, several relatively fresh potatoes, a small vacuum-sealed packet of vermicelli, and a modest bottle of cooking oil.
Chu Yang clicked his tongue in wonder at the growing pile on the table. He picked up a potato and weighed it in his palm. “Not bad at all, Little Bai! You guys have quite a decent stash! Just a minute ago, Lin Xiao was crying at the door about starving to death. Turns out you were just playing the victim—you hid this stuff pretty well!”
Lin Xiao threw his hands up in mock protest. “I swear I wasn’t lying! We just got lucky and stumbled across these in an overlooked corner of a storage room. Before that, it was pure misery—we were literally drinking tap water to trick our stomachs…”
Once everything was unpacked, Su Mubai looked at the bare tabletop, then at the small alcohol burner sitting nearby—which Chu Yang had previously taken out—and a troubled look crossed his face. “The only issue is… we don’t have a pot or proper cookware, so preparing these ingredients is going to be tricky. The potatoes and vermicelli need to be boiled. The canned meat can be eaten straight, but a hot meal is always better. How about… I just boil some water and we all make instant noodles? I have a few packs left in here.”
As he spoke, he reached back into his backpack.
“Hey, don’t sweat it!” Chu Yang waved a dismissive hand, a mischievous spark in his eyes.
The next second, under the stunned gazes of both Su Mubai and Lin Xiao, a metal soup pot, several bottles of purified water, and a set of bowls and chopsticks materialized onto the table with a clean whoosh!
“I… Holy crap!” Lin Xiao’s eyes went wide as saucers. He pointed a trembling finger at the sudden pile of kitchenware, completely tongue-tied. “Old Third! You… you awakened an ability?! Is this… a spatial power?!”
Chu Yang immediately puffed out his chest, lifting his chin with pure smugness. “Heh, you bet! It’s a spatial ability! Pretty awesome, right? My storage isn’t massive yet, but it’s more than enough for everyday gear. Scavenging supplies is going to be a breeze from now on!”
“For real?!” Lin Xiao and Su Mubai gasped in unison, shock and disbelief written all over their faces.
In the apocalypse, a spatial ability was a rare and coveted prize—essentially a walking cheat code. Who wouldn’t want a mobile warehouse on their side?
Lin Xiao was the first to recover, slapping Chu Yang on the back with a mix of envy and excitement. “A spatial power! Man, having a portable supply depot right beside us is absurdly practical! The only downside is… well, it might put a bit of pressure on the rest of the team, since it doesn’t have any combat power. But don’t worry, your big brother here will protect you from now on!”
Chu Yang swatted his hand away with a scoff, stepping back. “Save it! Who needs you to protect me? I’ve got Brother Jiang covering my back—he’s a hundred times more reliable than you!”
He paused, tilting his chin up with an intentional smirk. “Besides, who told you a spatial ability has no combat power?”
He gestured out the window toward the battlefield from earlier that afternoon. “Did you see how those zombies dropped? Do you really think I took them all down just with blade work? My Spatial Blades are nothing to mess with!”
Lin Xiao suddenly remembered Chu Yang’s vicious strikes during the skirmish, especially the moments where the infected were decapitated without any blade making physical contact. He had found it strange at the time, but now it all clicked. “Right! You were fighting like a beast earlier—fast and deadly! But…” A look of confusion crossed Lin Xiao’s face. “I ran into another spatial user before, and all they could do was store and pull out items. They couldn’t attack at all.”
Chu Yang raised his chin proudly, looking ready to strut. “How could you compare me to them? Look at who awakened it! Natural talent, got it? My ability is built different; I can store goods and condense invisible spatial blades to slice right through targets. It’s lethal!”
Mid-sentence, a thought struck him, and he turned to Su Mubai. “By the way, Little Bai, what about you? Did you awaken an ability too?”
Su Mubai nodded, a faint glimmer of happiness in his eyes. “Yeah, I did.”
“Really? What kind?” Chu Yang asked eagerly, his curiosity piqued.
Su Mubai extended his right hand. A soft, gentle white light glowing with pure vitality gradually blossomed across his palm. “It’s… a healing ability.”
“Healing?!” Chu Yang’s eyes practically shone!
He lunged forward, grabbing Su Mubai’s arm and shaking it in excitement. “Little Bai! No, Brother Bai! My dear brother! Your ability arrived at the perfect time! Quick, try it on Brother Jiang! His arm was injured earlier—it scabbed over, but it’s not fully healed yet!”
Without waiting, Chu Yang darted over to the bed and gently rolled up Jiang Jue’s sleeve, exposing the nasty laceration. The thick scab was dark brown, and the surrounding skin remained slightly red and tender.
Su Mubai looked at Jiang Jue with a hint of hesitation. The frosty aura radiating from the taller man was intimidating, making him nervous about stepping too close; after all, healing required direct contact, and he didn’t want to overstep.
Jiang Jue looked down at Chu Yang’s earnest, worried face. After a brief silence, he relaxed his posture. Following Chu Yang’s lead, he extended his arm slightly toward Su Mubai, his tone even. “It’s fine. Go ahead.”
Su Mubai let out a quiet breath of relief. Steeling his nerves, he gently rested his glowing palm over Jiang Jue’s wound.
The soothing white light enveloped the laceration for over ten minutes. Under everyone’s watchful eyes, the dark scab softened and shrank at a visible pace, until only a faint, healthy pink line of fresh skin remained!
“Holy crap! That’s unbelievable! Little Bai, your power is practically divine!” Chu Yang cradled Jiang Jue’s forearm, inspecting it from every angle in sheer amazement. “It’s completely healed! There’s barely even a scar left! Brother Jiang, how does it feel? Does it still ache?”
Jiang Jue flexed his fingers and rotated his wrist. The lingering soreness was completely gone, replaced only by a mild itch characteristic of newly formed skin.
He looked at Su Mubai and, in a rare gesture, offered two quiet words: “Thank you.”
Su Mubai pulled his hand back. His complexion was noticeably paler, a sheen of fine sweat coated his forehead, and his breathing was slightly shallow.
He managed a weak smile, waving a hand dismissively. “Don’t mention it, it’s really nothing impressive. My power level is still very low right now; I can only manage this level of healing once or twice a day. And if it’s something severe, like a severed limb or a fatal injury, I wouldn’t be able to fix it.”
“That’s still incredible!” Chu Yang praised him without holding back. “Our squad officially has its own dedicated healer now! Our survival odds just shot through the roof! No more toughing out injuries in silence!”
Seeing Chu Yang showering Su Mubai with compliments, Lin Xiao couldn’t resist chiming in to grab some attention. “Hey, hey, Old Third, do you only have eyes for Little Bai? What about my power? Didn’t you see how hard I was carrying the fight this afternoon?”
Chu Yang rolled his eyes and playfully shot him down. “Yeah, yeah, I saw. It’s just a metal manipulation ability—no need to brag like it’s a state secret. When you swung that rebar, it was whistling like a hurricane; only a blind man wouldn’t notice!”
Lin Xiao blinked in surprise. “Wait, how did you figure out it was metal control?”
“I’m not blind!” Chu Yang pointed at the heavy steel rod leaned against the wall. “That thing moved in your hands like it was an extension of your own body; the balance and density were completely unnatural. If that’s not metal manipulation, what else could it be?”
“Hah! Guess you’re sharper than you look!” Lin Xiao grinned, feeling thoroughly pleased with himself.
Chu Yang didn’t bother bantering further. Turning around, he pushed the burner and cookware toward Su Mubai and laid out the ingredients with an eager look. “Head Chef, the stage is all yours! Rice, luncheon meat, potatoes, vermicelli, cooking oil—the whole setup is ready!”
Looking at the rare, fresh provisions, Su Mubai gave an appreciative nod, rolled up his sleeves, and got straight to work.
His hands were remarkably nimble. Washing the produce, slicing the potatoes, and dicing the luncheon meat—despite the crude conditions, it was obvious he was used to cooking.
Meanwhile, off to the side, Jiang Jue quietly rolled his sleeve back down, covering his freshly healed arm.
His dark gaze drifted toward the three young men by the table. Chu Yang was hovering around Su Mubai, chattering away incessantly, asking if he needed a hand one moment, then begging to have the potatoes stewed until they melted in his mouth the next;
Lin Xiao was leaning against the counter cracking jokes, recounting funny mishaps from their afternoon scavenges; and Su Mubai smiled softly, chiming in with quiet remarks while stirring the pot.
The three of them leaned in close, lost in their own shared world. That effortless familiarity, combined with the unrestrained warmth of their laughter, was something Jiang Jue had never seen from Chu Yang.
While Chu Yang was always cheerful around him, his demeanor inevitably carried a subtle edge of cautious flattery and careful reliance. In front of these two, however, the boy was completely relaxed, vibrant, and unguarded.
An unfamiliar tightness pressed quietly against Jiang Jue’s chest, subtle and heavy, like something lodged deep within his throat.
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