Chapter 28: The Hidden Potential of a Shut-In
Song Chengshu soon fell unconscious from the high fever. Su Ruizhe prepared a cup of vegetable-and-fruit juice and fed it to him, hoping it would help suppress the zombie virus’s assault.
It wasn’t until six hours later that Song Chengshu finally woke up.
“Brother Song! You’re awake?! How do you feel? What’s it like?” Zheng Jiahe asked anxiously, having kept watch at his side the whole time.
Song Chengshu sensed the ability within his body. He raised his hand, and a ball of water appeared in his palm.
“Whoa, it’s a water-type ability!”
“Oh?” Hearing the commotion, Zhan Yun came downstairs. “Not bad. At least we won’t have to worry about drinking water anymore.”
Hearing this, Song Chengshu felt a bit dejected. Why did Zhan Yun get both a gravity ability that excelled at control and a corrosion ability with terrifying offensive power, while he ended up with what felt like a useless water ability?
“Maybe you can try condensing the water into arrows and using them to attack?” Su Ruizhe suggested as he came out of the kitchen carrying lunch. He’d seen water-type ability users do that before.
Song Chengshu’s eyes lit up. He hurriedly tried condensing the water into a small arrow and threw it toward the wall.
However, the moment the water arrow touched the wall, it shattered, leaving only a small wet patch behind…
The effect was no different from throwing water balloons as a kid—no lethality at all.
“Hahaha, don’t be so down. Let’s eat first, I’m starving,” Zhan Yun laughed as he walked toward the table.
“Eat, eat, eat! All you ever think about is eating!” Song Chengshu snapped, forming a small ball of water and flinging it at Zhan Yun.
Since Song Chengshu’s ability had no real killing power, Zhan Yun didn’t dodge, blocking it directly with his body.
“Hiss—” When the water ball burst against him, everyone thought he’d just get splashed. Instead, they heard Zhan Yun suck in a sharp breath.
“What’s wrong?” Su Ruizhe hurried over to check. He pulled open Zhan Yun’s collar and found that his skin was actually a bit red. He then touched the remaining water on his clothes and was surprised to find that it was hot.
“What’s going on?” Song Chengshu himself looked completely baffled.
“Could it be that you can control the temperature of the water?” Zheng Jiahe was the first to get to the point.
Song Chengshu tried again, but the water ball he condensed was still cold.
“Nope, doesn’t work…”
“Then maybe try recalling how you felt just now? You were kind of angry, right?”
With Zheng Jiahe’s reminder, Song Chengshu realized that was indeed the case. He quickly thought of someone he absolutely hated and then condensed another ball of water.
This time, without even touching it, everyone knew the temperature wasn’t low—after all, white steam was already rising from it!
“Hahahaha! Heaven is on my side!!!” Song Chengshu was ecstatic. His ability finally had some use!
“Mm, it’s pretty good. From now on, we won’t even need to boil water—we’ll have it hot right away,” Zhan Yun said, perfectly playing the role of a troll.
“Hey! Keep that up and I’ll turn on you!” Song Chengshu shot him a fierce glare.
“All right, all right, eat up. The food’s going to get cold,” Su Ruizhe said. Today he’d made a big pot of salted pork vegetable rice and braised spare ribs. Now that everyone was an ability user, it made sense to cook filling food.
Su Ruizhe’s cooking might not compare to a restaurant’s, but for home-style dishes it was more than good enough. The four of them ate with their heads down, polishing off the entire pot of rice and a large bowl of braised ribs.
After the meal, Song Chengshu continued experimenting with his ability. Zheng Jiahe, with nothing else to do, stayed by his side offering suggestions.
“If your water gets hotter when you’re angry, then maybe when you’re sad you could lower its temperature. Once the water freezes into ice, its hardness would increase, and its lethality should go up too, right?”
Song Chengshu tried as suggested—and to his surprise, it really worked.
“Jiahe! You’re amazing!” Song Chengshu was so excited he nearly wanted to hug Zheng Jiahe and give him a couple of kisses.
“Too much praise, Brother Song,” Zheng Jiahe said, blushing as he waved his hand. Then he continued, “Actually, I think water-type abilities are pretty strong. I’ve seen sci-fi movies with people who can control water—making water prisons, water shields, water guns, and the like. And Brother Song can even adjust the water’s temperature and change its form. Who knows, you might become even more powerful in the future?”
It had never occurred to Song Chengshu that a water-type ability could be used in so many powerful ways. A water prison for control, a water shield for defense, a water gun for offense—and if you swapped in ice or boiling water, the effects would be even better!
“Good kid! That brain of yours really works!” Song Chengshu said with a grin, patting his shoulder.
“Hehehe, I don’t really have other hobbies. I just like watching movies and playing games, so I tend to make more connections like that.”
People like this, put another way, were called shut-ins…
Who would’ve thought that shut-ins had their own kind of value too?
“Hey, then tell us—how should A-Zhan use his abilities?” Song Chengshu jerked his chin toward Zhan Yun.
Zheng Jiahe glanced at Zhan Yun nervously. Seeing that Zhan Yun was also looking over with interest, he grew even more tense.
Back in the supermarket warehouse, it had been Zhan Yun who saved him, and afterward Zhan Yun had taken good care of him. Zheng Jiahe was deeply grateful. Yet for some reason, there was an indescribable aura about Zhan Yun that made Zheng Jiahe instinctively want to shrink his neck whenever he saw him.
Still, when it came to gravity, Zheng Jiahe really did know his stuff—he studied aerodynamics at S University.
“I… I think…” After organizing his thoughts, Zheng Jiahe said, “I think gravity abilities have huge development potential. Things like anti-gravity, zero gravity, pressure, repulsion, and attraction—if used well, they’d be extremely practical.”
Zhan Yun narrowed his eyes slightly, beginning to consider the feasibility of what Zheng Jiahe had said.
“Enhancing gravity to form a gravity field that prevents enemies from moving freely. Or anti-gravity—reversing your own weight might let you take off into the air. You could also make objects lose gravity and float. On top of that, you could use repulsion to deflect enemy attacks.” Speaking about his field of expertise, Zheng Jiahe grew more and more animated, rattling off a string of offensive and defensive applications of gravity.
There was no denying it—Zheng Jiahe’s words truly opened up a whole new world for Song Chengshu and Zhan Yun.
“Then what about corrosion abilities?”
“Corrosion abilities probably have a more limited range of attack methods. But Brother Zhan, you have dual abilities. You could completely hide this one from outsiders and use it as a trump card.”
Zhan Yun nodded in strong agreement.
Su Ruizhe listened with great interest as well. Thinking of his own ability, he couldn’t help lightly tugging at the hem of Zhan Yun’s clothes—he also wanted to know what other ways his ability could be used.
Zhan Yun saw through Su Ruizhe’s little thought at a glance and smiled, nodding.
“Then what about my wood-type ability? Are there any stronger techniques it can evolve into?” Su Ruizhe asked eagerly.
“Huh?” This time, Zheng Jiahe was stunned. “You have an ability too?”
“Of course. He was actually the first among us to awaken an ability,” Zhan Yun said with a smile, patting Su Ruizhe on the shoulder. “Little Zhe, show him what you can do.”
Su Ruizhe extended his left hand. A small handful of emerald-green peas lay in his palm. Under Zheng Jiahe’s confused gaze, he clenched his fist. A few seconds later, when he opened his hand again, the once plump green peas had turned into green bullets.
“This is a wood-type ability?” Zheng Jiahe felt this wood-type ability was quite different from what he’d imagined. “Can I take a look at the bullets?”
“Of course.”
Zheng Jiahe took the green pea-bullet from Su Ruizhe’s hand. If one ignored its strange appearance, just from its feel and hardness alone, anyone would think it was a real bullet.
“Can this really be used?”
“Haven’t you already seen the effect?” Zhan Yun took out the gun holstered at the small of his back, removed the magazine, and showed it to Zheng Jiahe. Sure enough, inside were rows of neatly arranged green bullets.
Zheng Jiahe looked at Su Ruizhe with a holy crap expression and suddenly asked, “Little Zhe, have you ever played that game where plants fight zombies…?”
Su Ruizhe’s small face reddened, and he nodded a little embarrassedly. Back when he was still in school, there’d been a very popular little game among students, and Su Ruizhe had played it a few times on his deskmate’s phone. You could probably say it was the only game he’d ever played in two lifetimes.
“Then which of the plants from that game do you have here?”
Su Ruizhe thought for a moment, then took out a few cherries.
Seeing Su Ruizhe pull out fresh red cherries out of thin air shocked Zheng Jiahe all over again. Don’t tell him it was really what he was thinking…
“Hehe, Little Zhe actually has dual abilities too—wood-type and space-type. Everything we collect is stored in his space,” Song Chengshu said proudly.
“My god!” If he weren’t worried about getting beaten to death by Zhan Yun, Zheng Jiahe would’ve loved to rush over and grab Su Ruizhe’s leg. With someone like this around, he’d never have to worry about going hungry again!
Zheng Jiahe felt like he’d stepped in dog shit levels of luck. First, he’d been saved by Zhan Yun when he was on the brink of death, and even gained an ability by accident. When he’d asked to join their team, besides recognizing their character, he’d also wanted to repay them. Now he was infinitely glad he’d made that decision—these three were basically running cheats!!!
Zhan Yun patted Zheng Jiahe on the shoulder. “Don’t get too excited. Tell us—how should Little Zhe’s ability be used?”
In his previous life, before Su Ruizhe’s abilities leveled up, his wood-type ability could only be used for farming, and his space ability was nothing more than a porter and a temporary warehouse. Neither had any offensive power.
Later, when his abilities finally leveled up and he’d just discovered the ability to turn peas into bullets, he’d been betrayed by Chen Huizhen and sold to the researchers. The research institute had focused mainly on the plantable space Su Ruizhe possessed, and hadn’t paid much attention to his ability to weaponize plants with his wood-type power.
After being reborn, Su Ruizhe also wanted to try weaponizing more plants, but for some reason, the only thing he could turn into bullets seemed to be peas.
If Zheng Jiahe hadn’t brought it up, he really wouldn’t have thought of linking it to a game like this…
“Little Zhe, try turning the cherries into weapons.”
Su Ruizhe grabbed the cherries with his left hand, wanting to turn them into bombs like in the game, but the cherries showed no reaction at all.
Feeling a bit defeated, he set the cherries down and began to doubt his own ability.
It was Zhan Yun who thought of something. He ran back to his room and came down with a book—a weapons reference book filled with pictures. Zhan Yun flipped to a page showing a certain type of bomb and placed it in front of Su Ruizhe.
“Try again.”
This time, Su Ruizhe succeeded! The cherry that had been only about the size of an egg transformed in his hand into a red bomb the size of a bowling ball.
“It worked!!! Hahahaha!! Little Zhe, you’re amazing!” Song Chengshu rushed over and flipped the book to the page with grenades. “Quick, quick, try it with chili peppers!”
Su Ruizhe took out some chili peppers from his space and successfully turned them into a big red grenade as well.
Holy crap—Su Ruizhe’s space wasn’t a warehouse at all! It was basically an armory!
Not to mention how strictly weapons were regulated domestically—even overseas, it wasn’t easy to get explosives like bombs or grenades. Zheng Jiahe already had the urge to kneel down and sing Conquer in submission…
Yet the next moment, Su Ruizhe did something that shocked him even more. He grasped the bomb with his right hand and turned it back into a bright red cherry.
“I think bombs are kind of dangerous. If they accidentally explode, that’d be bad. If we need them, I can just transform them on the spot,” he said, and then popped the cherry into his mouth.
He. Ate. It.
That cherry had been a bomb just moments ago!
Zhan Yun helplessly rubbed his forehead. This kid really had a big heart. Still, he agreed with Su Ruizhe—bombs really weren’t very safe and were better kept put away.
With Zheng Jiahe’s help, Zhan Yun, Su Ruizhe, and Song Chengshu all gained a general direction for developing their abilities.
“Then your ability…” Song Chengshu hesitated as he looked at Zheng Jiahe. Judging by things so far, Zheng Jiahe’s strength-type ability seemed the most ordinary.
“Haha, strength abilities are great!” Zheng Jiahe laughed heartily. “Have you seen that movie called The Hulk? It’s insanely awesome! Once my ability gets stronger, I’ll have boundless strength—why would I be afraid of these little zombies? And when we’re out collecting supplies, if there’s a door we can’t open, no need to worry! Besides, in those apocalypse movies and novels, people’s hearts are especially hard to read. With my build, no one would guess I’m actually a strength-type ability user!”
All three of them couldn’t help but laugh. The more time they spent with Zheng Jiahe, the more comfortable he felt to be around. His straightforward personality was especially likable, and, more importantly, he was pretty sharp.
During the day, the sun outside was scorching—even the zombies knew better than to wander the streets, hiding instead in shady corners.
They cranked the air-conditioning to the max and simply went to sleep, planning to get some rest and head out again at night.
It wasn’t that they couldn’t just hide out safely in the villa. With the supplies in Su Ruizhe’s space, they could eat and drink well for quite a long time.
But this was the apocalypse. Both zombies and humans would only grow stronger with time. If they didn’t go out to fight and collect crystal cores, their strength would soon fall behind. And when that happened, there was no telling what might occur.
“Born in hardship, die in comfort”—the saying wasn’t without reason.
However, they didn’t manage to sleep all the way until evening. Instead, they were awakened by the heat.
When they went downstairs to check the air conditioner and other electrical equipment, they discovered the power had gone out.
In such extreme heat, electricity consumption was bound to surge. In the current situation, it was impossible for power company workers to still be on the job as usual. Without maintenance crews, difficulties in supplying electricity to the city were only a matter of time.
Before long, even the water supply would likely stop. When that happened, life for humans would become even harder.
Fortunately, they had Song Chengshu, a water-type ability user who could produce ice, so they weren’t tortured by the heat for too long.
Song Chengshu exhausted his abilities to make four large basins of ice, placing one in each room to bring the temperature down. He himself was so drained he was practically collapsing; the moment he lay back on the bed, he fell fast asleep.
By the time they woke up again, it was already nine o’clock at night. The entire city lay shrouded in darkness, and only by moonlight could they barely make out the zombies shambling stiffly along the streets outside.
“Be careful when we go out later,” Zhan Yun said as he handed a flashlight to each of them, adding a word of caution.
After the blackout, survivors would soon start worrying about when the water might be cut off, and about the lack of food. Faced with a survival crisis, they’d be forced to confront those man-eating zombies.
There would definitely be more people coming out to scavenge for supplies tonight. And where there were more people, all sorts of problems were bound to arise.
More zombies would be drawn in by the scent of living flesh, and conflicts between people were likely to occur as well…
In short, tonight was bound to be anything but quiet.
They still took the BMW out, planning to check out a nearby commercial street. On the way, they’d pass a general store, and intended to gather condiments like oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar there, as well as see if they could find candles and batteries.
Although they’d stocked up on many things earlier, most of it had been food and clothing. They really hadn’t paid much attention to miscellaneous items like these. They’d grabbed some at the supermarket the day before, but the quantity wasn’t much and wouldn’t last long. They needed to collect more.
Sure enough, not long after they set out, they noticed quite a few more people on the streets, all moving in groups and carrying all kinds of weapons.
When Zhan Yun and the others arrived at the general store, they found that someone else had already set their sights on it. It was a family of three: a middle-aged man was prying at the door, while a middle-aged woman stood guard nearby, a kitchen knife in her left hand and a child held by the right.
As soon as Zhan Yun’s car stopped, the woman noticed them.
“We got here first!” she shouted viciously, waving a wooden stick at them.
Zhan Yun waved back at her, then stepped on the gas and drove away.
In the apocalypse, it wasn’t easy to have a child in tow. Zhan Yun could see the dability useration in the woman’s eyes and the fear on the child’s face, so he left without hesitation. There were plenty of shops—they didn’t have to insist on this one.
“Ah, that internet café…” As the car passed an intersection, Zheng Jiahe suddenly pointed at an internet café by the roadside.
“What about that internet café?” Song Chengshu asked, puzzled.
“I’ve played there before. Behind it there’s a small residential supermarket, and it has quite a lot of stuff—definitely things like oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar… Why don’t we check it out?”
“But the internet café…” There were usually plenty of people gaming at night. Who knew how many people had been inside when the apocalypse broke out? What if they went over and a whole café full of zombies poured out?
“Don’t worry. We can go around to the back. The café’s back door is always locked. Even if there are zombies inside, they won’t be able to get out for a while.”
“A’Zhan, what do you think?”
“Let’s go take a look,” Zhan Yun said decisively.
Thank you for reading 🙂 I hope you all liked my translations. If you enjoyed my work, please consider buying me a Ko-Fi 😉
