Chapter 27
Not long after collapsing, Zhan Yun began to run a high fever. Su Ruizhe placed a cooling patch on his forehead and kept wiping the sweat seeping from his body with a damp towel.
In the meantime, Su Ruizhe went into the kitchen, made a glass of cucumber–snow pear juice, and fed it to Zhan Yun.
Miraculously, after a single glass of juice, Zhan Yun’s complexion improved noticeably, and his body stopped trembling.
Song Chengshu’s eyes lit up at once. He quietly pulled Su Ruizhe aside and asked whether there was some secret behind the juice.
“What secret could there be? It’s just ordinary fruit juice,” Su Ruizhe said with a light laugh, shaking his head.
In his previous life, he had been confined in a research institute for a long time. He remembered hearing researchers mention that the chlorophyll in vegetables and certain vitamins had a suppressive effect on the zombie virus. During ability awakening and leveling up, eating some fruits and vegetables could be of great help.
Unfortunately, by then fruits and vegetables had already become extremely scarce due to the two extreme climates—scorching heat and bitter cold. Produce had turned into luxury items, and by the time this discovery was made, several years had already passed since the apocalypse began. Those researchers had even sighed that if this had been discovered earlier, perhaps many more ability users could have been cultivated.
After hearing Su Ruizhe’s explanation, Song Chengshu couldn’t help but marvel at Zhan Yun’s good luck—running into such a priceless treasure. He must have accumulated virtue for eight lifetimes.
Worried about Zhan Yun’s condition, Su Ruizhe had little appetite for cooking that evening and simply made a pot of vegetable soup noodles, which the three of them shared.
However, even after eating two full bowls of noodles, Zheng Jiahe still felt hungry. Too embarrassed to ask for more, he could only endure it and return to his room.
Song Chengshu, however, was attentive enough to notice that something was off with Zheng Jiahe and mentioned it to Su Ruizhe. Only then did Su Ruizhe slap his forehead—he had almost forgotten that once someone gained an ability, their appetite also increased. At noon they’d only had mung bean soup, and for dinner it was noodles that weren’t very filling. No wonder Zheng Jiahe hadn’t eaten his fill.
Su Ruizhe hurried into the kitchen, reheated several large steamed buns, stuffed them with some sausage, and asked Song Chengshu to deliver them to Zheng Jiahe.
Zheng Jiahe was deeply moved. After repeatedly thanking them, he solemnly promised that he would fight zombies diligently and work hard to gather supplies, never letting them support him for nothing. He looked as though he was ready to offer his heart and soul on the spot.
Zhan Yun didn’t wake up until after ten o’clock that night. The moment he did, he shouted that he was hungry. Su Ruizhe immediately brought out braised beef and steamed buns for him and quickly cooked a bowl of seaweed and egg drop soup. Only after Zhan Yun had eaten and drunk his fill did the three of them ask what his ability actually was.
Zhan Yun smiled mysteriously and looked in Song Chengshu’s direction.
Song Chengshu had been sitting comfortably in his chair, but the moment he met Zhan Yun’s gaze, he suddenly felt his body sink, as if he had been filled with mercury, instantly weighing several hundred jin more. After a crisp creak from the chair beneath him, it shattered into pieces. Song Chengshu sprawled on the floor without any dignity, unable to move even a finger.
Yet in the very next moment, the crushing pressure that had nearly squeezed his organs out vanished abruptly.
Song Chengshu stood up shakily, lingering fear still in his heart, and asked from far away, “What kind of ability is that?”
“Gravity manipulation?!” Zheng Jiahe’s eyes sparkled as he looked at Zhan Yun. This kind of ability was insanely awesome!
Zhan Yun still wore that mysterious smile. He casually picked up a fragment of the broken chair and pressed his fingertip against its surface. A large hole melted straight through it.
“Corrosion ability,” Su Ruizhe said at once, recognizing it. In his previous life, this was precisely the unusual ability Zhan Yun had possessed.
“Brother Zhan is amazing!” Zheng Jiahe said with an expression of pure admiration—dual abilities!
But Song Chengshu couldn’t sit still anymore. The room was full of ability users, each more powerful than the last, and he was the only ordinary person left. He strongly demanded that they go out and get another crystal core—he wanted an ability too!
After a brief moment of thought, Zhan Yun agreed. Helping Song Chengshu obtain a crystal core to awaken an ability was one reason; another was that this would be a good chance to train his own abilities. He needed combat to better understand how to control and use them. Besides, no one ever complained about having too many supplies, right?
They drove out in the same Buick minivan they’d picked up earlier. Its original owner had turned into a zombie, the keys still in the ignition. After Zhan Yun blew its head off, the vehicle became theirs.
Once on the road, they saw many vehicles speeding toward the outskirts of the city. It seemed these people were hoping to try their luck in other provinces.
Zhan Yun actually thought such people were rather foolish. The apocalypse was a global disaster; going anywhere was essentially the same. With the apocalypse having just begun, the government and military hadn’t had time to respond yet. Waiting until survivor bases were established before moving would be the smarter choice.
They then saw people smashing the windows of street-side shops, grabbing what they could, and leaving quickly. Quite a few residents were leaning over their balconies, watching the scene below. Fortune favors the bold; those too timid would starve. In the future, more and more people would come out to gather supplies.
Zhan Yun drove around for a bit and stopped in front of a 24-hour convenience store. The place looked bright and clean, with shelves neatly stocked and apparently untouched. The reason was simple: two ferocious-looking zombies in clerk uniforms—and a corpse near the entrance that had been gnawed down to bare bones.
The scene was extremely bloody and horrifying, but Zhan Yun and the others felt little in response. After getting out of the car, they went straight into the store.
Zhan Yun’s gravity ability was truly easy to use. Though it was only a newly awakened, low-level ability with a limited range, its precision was remarkable. Before the two zombies could even stand up, he slammed them to the ground with gravity control. Zheng Jiahe, standing nearby, then smashed their heads to pieces with a stick.
Suppressing his nausea, Song Chengshu used a knife to stir around inside the zombies’ heads for a long while, trying to find a crystal core. Unfortunately, there was nothing in either skull.
Soon, scattered zombies outside caught the scent and began to gather. Zhan Yun and Zheng Jiahe guarded the outside, holding them back, while Song Chengshu stayed inside to help Su Ruizhe collect supplies.
After dealing with six zombies in a row, they finally obtained a semi-transparent crystal core. Zhan Yun wrapped it in a tissue and slipped it into his trouser pocket.
Su Ruizhe and Song Chengshu came out soon after, each carrying a large hiking backpack stuffed to the brim—used as a cover. It wasn’t to guard against Zheng Jiahe, but because this was a residential area. Who knew how many people were watching from their homes? Exposing the existence of the storage space would be troublesome.
They had just driven a short distance when, in the rearview mirror, they saw someone jogging out from a nearby apartment building and rushing eagerly into the convenience store they had just looted.
Unfortunately for them, the shelves were left with only puffed snacks that couldn’t fill an empty stomach, along with a few items Su Ruizhe had deliberately left behind. Everything else had been thoroughly swept clean.
Back at the small villa, Song Chengshu impatiently asked Zhan Yun for the crystal core to awaken his ability, but Zhan Yun shooed him off to take a shower first.
Only after Song Chengshu finished bathing did Zhan Yun place the now-cleaned crystal core in front of him.
Holding the crystal core, about the size of a quail egg, Song Chengshu examined it for a long time before saying worriedly, “It’s so big—can I really swallow this? Maybe I should get a glass of water…”
“Stop the nonsense!” Zhan Yun rolled his eyes and stuffed the crystal core straight into his mouth.
What was astonishing was that, although the crystal core was quite hard, the moment it touched saliva in his mouth, it immediately melted into liquid. Before he even had a chance to swallow, it flowed straight into his body. In the next instant, he felt as if a fire had ignited in his abdomen, rapidly sweeping through his entire body.
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