Chapter 34: Apocalyptic Changes
The unlucky muscle-bound man and his group were brutally beaten. Zheng—the human bulldozer—Jiahe then tossed them out of the villa complex like garbage and even left them with a harsh warning: if they ever dared to show their faces again, they’d be taught a real lesson.
Badly injured, the group clutched their wounds, supporting one another as they fled as fast as they could.
As for how Zhan Yun handled it, Su Ruizhe didn’t truly agree deep down. He had actually lived through the apocalypse before and knew all too well how treacherous people could be. For unstable factors like these, the best solution was to cut the weeds out by the root. But the apocalypse had only begun a few days ago. Zhan Yun and the others didn’t share his experiences, and asking them to break their moral bottom line and kill casually wasn’t easy.
Besides, Su Ruizhe had already begun to grasp how to use his ability. If those people failed to learn their lesson and came looking for trouble again, he’d simply send them on their way with a bomb.
Unlocking the villa door with the key, the group went inside.
There weren’t many rooms in the villa, and with three more people added, some rearranging was inevitable.
Dongdong was still young and couldn’t sleep alone, so everyone let him choose which big brother he wanted to sleep with.
Yu Dongdong naturally chose Su Ruizhe. This big brother was closest to him in age among everyone there, and he even gave him tasty food. Of course Dongdong liked him the most.
In the end, Zheng Jiahe and Song Chengshu shared a room. Wu Jing and Zhang Shuoliang took Zheng Jiahe’s original room. Yu Dongdong, Xiao Hei, and Su Ruizhe slept together, while Zhan Yun still had a room to himself.
Rather than feeling happy about his “special treatment,” Zhan Yun looked regretfully at Su Ruizhe carrying Dongdong into the room. If only Dongdong had chosen someone else—then maybe he could’ve slept with Su Ruizhe…
After a long day and night, everyone was a bit of a mess, so they each took turns washing up. Since the weather was hot, everyone took cold showers and changed into the clean, soft clothes Su Ruizhe provided.
Su Ruizhe went to the kitchen to prepare dinner. Wu Jing had wanted to help, but her hand was injured—she couldn’t wash vegetables, cut them, or even hold a spatula properly—so she didn’t go and make things harder for him. Zheng Jiahe, though a homebody, had a couple of signature dishes, so he went to help and made sausage-and-egg fried rice and a tomato-and-egg drop soup.
Su Ruizhe prepared braised yellow croaker, shredded pork with green peppers, and potato curry chicken. All the ingredients came from his space—fresh and delicious. Considering the increased number of people, he made very generous portions.
Wu Jing and Zhang Shuoliang never imagined that in such a terrifying apocalypse, they could still eat food this good. As they ate, they struggled to hold back the tears welling up in their eyes. Everyone else pretended not to notice their loss of composure—they understood how they felt.
Yu Dongdong, who didn’t really understand all this, ate happily. Big Brother was amazing—he could even cook such delicious food.
Su Ruizhe also prepared milk and mashed fish for the kitten. Xiao Hei ate without even lifting its head.
By the end of the meal, seven people and one cat were all extremely satisfied.
After eating and drinking their fill, Zhang Shuoliang volunteered to wash the dishes, and everyone else returned to their rooms to rest.
—
Day by day, time passed, and the world began to change quietly.
First, problems appeared with the water supply. Some areas had their water cut off entirely. In others, where water still flowed, it came out of the tap murky and reeking of a sharp, fishy stench. No one dared risk infection by drinking it.
You could endure hunger, but without water, in such high temperatures, the human body would dehydrate and die in no time. People had no choice but to overcome their fear and try stepping outside.
However, despair followed—because the zombies had changed too. Their rigor mortis seemed to have finally passed. Their joints became more flexible; they could climb stairs and had even learned how to run. Those who ventured out at night hoping to try their luck met with terrible ends.
In the pitch-black nights, screams rang out without end.
This series of changes made life even harder for people who were already struggling to survive. Even residents living in high-rise buildings were no longer safe.
Yet when God closes a door, He often opens a window.
Ability users began to appear in people’s sight. Only then did people realize that being scratched or bitten by zombies didn’t necessarily mean certain death—there was also a chance of awakening an ability.
Still, few people had the courage to face zombies and ensure they survived. After several days, there were pitifully few ability users in S City.
Those who survived the virus’s assault and successfully awakened abilities became humanity’s “hope.” Relied upon, admired, and flattered, some of them developed a sense of superiority. Some believed they were chosen by fate, heroes destined to achieve greatness in the apocalypse. Others embraced a savior’s mindset, taking it upon themselves to save the world. All kinds of people, in every imaginable state.
Meanwhile, small-scale safe zones sprang up like bamboo shoots after the rain.
Because communications were cut off, Zhan Yun and Su Ruizhe knew nothing about these ability users or safe zones. They continued going out every night to gather supplies, fight zombies to hone their skills and abilities, and try to collect crystal cores. Crystal cores could stimulate abilities and replenish depleted power—they were extremely important.
Although the team now included a child like Yu Dongdong, no one intended to leave him at home for protection. This wasn’t a time of peace—staying at home wasn’t necessarily safer than following them. And even children had to face the cruelty of the apocalypse; zombies wouldn’t spare you just because you were young.
At this stage, zombie levels were still low, and very few had crystal cores in their brains. After a week of hard work, they had only collected seven or eight. One was used to help Zhang Shuoliang awaken his ability. With the help of Su Ruizhe’s exclusive vegetable juice, he successfully endured the awakening period and became an earth-type ability user.
Zhang Shuoliang already gave off a quiet, steady presence, and an earth-type ability suited him perfectly.
With Zheng Jiahe’s imaginative, nerd-style brainstorming, Zhang Shuoliang quickly developed a series of abilities—earth walls, earth shields, earth collapse, earth spikes, and more. Relying on his abilities, they thoroughly reinforced their villa, building a perimeter wall two meters high and fifty centimeters thick around it. They even buried several “potato” landmines outside the gate. This way, no one could come prying at their door while they were out.
However, Su Ruizhe had no intention of letting Yu Dongdong use a crystal core. Dongdong was simply too young, and it was unclear whether his body could withstand the zombie virus. In his previous life, many children had been among the first victims of the virus. Dongdong surviving the early days only meant his body was somewhat stronger than other children’s—it didn’t mean he could truly resist the virus. Unless absolutely necessary, Su Ruizhe didn’t want him to take such a risk.
All the nearby shops had already been looted, with little left to collect. So that day, they decided to go farther out. But just as they turned a corner, they saw a car speeding straight toward them.
Zhan Yun dability userately spun the steering wheel while slamming on the brakes. The tires screeched against the road, and the SUV drifted, barely missing the other car in an extremely dangerous maneuver.
Yet the car that nearly hit them didn’t even slow down. It floored the accelerator and shot straight ahead.
“Brother Zhan! Drive, hurry!” Zhan Yun was just turning the car around to chase them and argue things out when Zheng Jiahe, sitting in the back, shouted anxiously.
Zhan Yun glanced in the rearview mirror and realized that a large group of zombies was shambling after them—at least several dozen.
“Damn it!!!!” Zhan Yun cursed loudly and immediately started the engine, chasing after the car ahead.
He had no interest in being someone else’s scapegoat. Whoever caused the trouble could deal with it themselves.
The car ahead was a common Volkswagen box van, no match for their luxury SUV in speed. They quickly caught up.
That car wasn’t driving blindly—it twisted and turned into a remote side road, where several roadblocks had been set up. Judging by how crude and rough they were, it was obvious they weren’t official installations.
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