Chapter 63: Apocalypse Survival 3

The two waited until the moon hung high in the sky, yet they still didn’t see Wang Jing and the others return.

Located in a remote, commercially zoned unfinished building, flickering shadows danced everywhere. Night winds surged in from all directions—east to west, south to north—flowing through unimpeded. From time to time, they carried distant, blood-curdling screams, reminding the humans of their current situation.

In contrast to Lu Zhi’s composed expectation, Yun Ai was so anxious she couldn’t sit still, pacing back and forth on the exposed structure.

“Do you think…” Yun Ai edged closer, her voice very low, as if afraid the zombies in the distance might hear. Her eyes, wide with speculation and panic as she looked at Lu Zhi, said, “Something happened to Sister Jing and the others? There are so many zombies out there, could they all have…”

Lu Zhi was completely absorbed in playing with water. A transparent, clear water ball moved effortlessly within her pale palm like an extension of her arm, changing into various shapes according to its master’s will.

Upon waking, she could only conjure a single drop of water the size of a fingernail. Now, just a few hours later, she could already manipulate water molecules in the air to gather a water ball the size of a grown man’s fist.

And Lu Zhi was still enjoying herself immensely. Even though she had lived through many lives, her memories were blurred, and she was still curious and amazed by these supernatural phenomena.

“I… I want to go look for them,” Yun Ai murmured.

Lu Zhi raised her eyelids, finally fixing her attention on the young girl.

Yun Ai squatted beside her. She was very thin now. The apocalypse had tormented her, stealing her sleep and appetite. Her already petite frame was almost emaciated. Her current pretty face relied entirely on her excellent bone structure and young, tight skin. Consequently, her eyes looked very large, dark and shiny like some kind of innocent animal. As she looked at Lu Zhi, her gaze carried a hesitant desperation she wasn’t even aware of.

Lu Zhi reached out to pick up a nearby mineral water bottle. The spherical mass of water molecules in mid-air converged into a stream, slowly falling into the bottle’s mouth. The empty water bottles she had drunk from were now filled one by one, all neatly arranged beside her.

“You?” Lu Zhi only asked two words, expressing her doubt.

Yun Ai pursed her lips, her delicate face full of conflict and anxiety. After a long moment, she finally gritted her teeth and nodded decisively with a sound of affirmation. Chopping words short, she said, “If they don’t come back by daylight, I’ll go find them!”

Lu Zhi nodded, her expression unchanged, showing neither discouragement nor support.

After a pause, Yun Ai cautiously asked her, “Are you willing to come with me?”

Lu Zhi shook her head very crisply. “Not willing.”

Yun Ai let out a soft sound of disappointment, her face falling. But she didn’t push further or insist Lu Zhi accompany her. She just silently sat back down and fidgeted with her fingers.

“Have you ever considered that maybe Wang Jing deliberately left us behind?” Lu Zhi said, glancing sideways.

Perhaps due to the emergence of her psionic power, her senses now possessed unprecedented sharpness. Even the slight nearsightedness Lu Zhen’s original body had suffered from was completely eradicated, allowing her to clearly see the fine texture of the girl’s skin under the moonlight, even the pale downy fuzz visible.

“After all, this morning, there was a very high chance that I and the two downstairs would turn into zombies. And you don’t have a particularly good relationship with them. If they just left like this…”

“Of course not! Sister Jing is not that kind of person!” Yun Ai reacted strongly, jumping up and interrupting her. She glared at Lu Zhi, arguing with intense emotion. “You arrived late, so you might not know. Sister Jing might seem fierce, but she’s actually very kind. Since the apocalypse began, she has saved many people! My life was saved by her too! You… You can’t wrongly accuse her like that!”

Lu Zhi raised an eyebrow, watching calmly as Yun Ai suddenly stood up, wholeheartedly defending Wang Jing.

Yun Ai bit her lip. “The reason I… I’m not on good terms with them is because…”

The young girl slowly squatted back down, tears already welling in her eyes. Her voice dropped to a low murmur. “It’s because I’m useless, always a burden. Even after the apocalypse has been going on for so long, I still don’t dare to kill zombies. I’m no help at all. I completely waste my psionic power. I’d rather give this power to Brother Zhao, to someone else…”

Her voice trailed off, becoming nearly inaudible. After a long moment, she added, “Anyway, Sister Jing definitely wouldn’t deliberately abandon us.”

Lu Zhi gave a noncommittal sound. In the plot, Wang Jing had indeed made a special trip to rescue Yun Ai from a hotel where she was trapped when the apocalypse hit, having been on a summer vacation trip to the South.

According to Wang Jing’s own account, she did it to repay Yun Ai for saving her life in the previous life. A life for a life. From then on, their debts were settled. It also conveniently eliminated her psychological barrier to snatching Yun Ai’s boyfriend, opportunities, and friends. She completely ignored the fact that Yun Ai actually didn’t need her intervention. She could have escaped from the hotel on her own. Driven by a survival instinct, she might even have become braver and tougher than the person being rescued.

And Yun Ai, unaware of the future, naturally trusted and followed her life-saving benefactor wholeheartedly.

That was, until the inertia of the plot kicked in. Even under the influence of the reborn queen Wang Jing, the male lead Fang Yuchen inevitably found his gaze lingering on the easily tearful Yun Ai, garnering the worst impression. This aroused Wang Jing’s vigilance. After some mental preparation, Wang Jing decided to cut Yun Ai from her team.

Just like today: finding a random excuse to leave her behind while taking the squad out to search for supplies. Then, due to some minor unforeseen event, they would simply never return.

To emphasize that she still retained a shred of kindness, Wang Jing even left Yun Ai two days’ worth of food and water in advance.

After all, they were all strangers. Even if they met again in the future, the current situation was such that anyone would see she had already done more than enough for Yun Ai.

Lu Zhi pulled back her thoughts and looked at the girl beside her, who was growing increasingly upset over her own timidity and had already started shedding tears with audible plopping sounds.

“You…” Lu Zhi paused, then changed the subject. “Can I see your psionic power again?”

Yun Ai looked up, sniffed, and said in a muffled, nasal voice, “S-sure…”

Lu Zhi turned her head, watching as the girl pulled up the sleeve of her athletic jacket, revealing a delicate, pale wrist. On the prominent wrist bone was a thin, green bracelet, a fresh, verdant color. There was no sense of incongruity; it just looked like a beautiful accessory, contrasting very well with her snow-white skin.

“The power I awakened is a Wood-type ability. I need seeds or existing vegetation to activate it,” Yun Ai said, staring at her wrist and exerting a slight effort. Vines slowly grew out of thin air on her wrist. “This is Star Jasmine. I picked it from a roadside greenbelt.”

Lu Zhi chuckled softly at that. Just picked it randomly. This girl, growing wild after the apocalypse, really was casual.

Under the urging of her power, the vine visibly became lush with branches and leaves. The thread-like stems eventually grew to the thickness of a chopstick. The veins on the tender leaves slowly became clear. It grew straight for almost two meters before drooping softly to the ground.

“Without nutrients, this is as long as it can grow. With soil, it could grow a bit more.” Yun Ai shook her wrist. Having awakened her power over a month ago, her ability was still so pitifully weak, which clearly embarrassed her.

“Improving psionic power requires absorbing the psionic cores from zombie brains,” Yun Ai explained in her soft voice. “But I haven’t killed any zombies, so I haven’t had any cores to improve myself. That’s why my ability is so limited.”

Lu Zhi understood. Honestly, after analyzing the plot, she didn’t actually believe that absorbing cores was the best way to improve psionic power. It felt more like the illusory sensation of leveling up by taking drugs.

With a slight movement of her mind, Lu Zhi conjured a thin ring of water around the girl’s slender wrist, nourishing the base of the vine.

Yun Ai’s eyes lit up. She let out a soft gasp. Under her willpower, the white, thread-like roots on the vine quickly absorbed the water. The green stem then shot forward another half a meter before losing momentum. Finally, it detached from her wrist and took root in the reinforced concrete floor.

“Your control over your power is amazing!” Yun Ai looked up, her voice full of admiration.

“Just practice a bit more,” Lu Zhi said.

She spoke casually, but she hadn’t meant to brush Yun Ai off. Although she had appeared composed since waking from her coma, the truth was that in the process of constantly playing with the water, she had been patiently expanding her abilities little by little. In just a few hours, the tearing pain brought by pushing her body to its limits multiple times had become something she was accustomed to.

Lu Zhi then curiously took Yun Ai’s wrist and examined it closely. The same thread-like dark green color remained on it. The soft root tendrils curled obediently beneath the stem. It was probably constantly being nourished by Yun Ai wherever she was, which was why it hadn’t withered and fallen off.

“Any other things?” Lu Zhi looked up.

Yun Ai was very good-natured. Even though she was already a bit tired, under Lu Zhi’s gaze, she took a few small packets of seeds from her backpack.

“Seeds are really hard to find. Brother Fang found these in the home of a family with a child when he was searching for supplies.” As Yun Ai spoke, she picked a sesame seed-sized seed from a plastic bag and placed it on the ground.

Lu Zhi watched as the brown seed slowly sprouted and took root on the bare cement floor. Within half a minute, it actually grew into a two-finger-long head of lettuce.

“It’s most tender now, tastes pretty good.” Yun Ai said, wanting to pick the tender outer leaves with her hands.

“Wash your hands first,” Lu Zhi stopped her, slowly condensing a water ball in mid-air.

Yun Ai let out a sound of amusement, seeming to find it funny. Her dark eyes fixed unblinkingly on the transparent water ball. Only after a long moment did she reach out and place her hands under it.

Lu Zhi manipulated the trickle of water to drip down, very meticulously washing her hands.

“You’re amazing!” Yun Ai exclaimed again, her eyes fixed on Lu Zhi, expression full of awe.

The corner of Lu Zhi’s mouth curved upwards. She washed her own hands as well, and then the two of them began plucking and eating the lettuce leaves. They were tender and watery, the taste exactly the same as normally grown lettuce.

Lettuce was a renewable plant anyway. Both of them managed to half-fill their stomachs eating the leaves. Especially Lu Zhi, perhaps because she had been practicing water control all day, her stomach was completely empty by now. She had eaten quite a bit of Yun Ai’s food during the day, and now she wasn’t picky at all about the lettuce leaves.

In the end, Lu Zhi poured water, and Yun Ai focused her mind. They actually forced the lettuce plant rooted in concrete and rebar to grow half a meter tall, and it even produced several new seeds.

Yun Ai was exhausted, drenched in sweat, her face pale—but her eyes sparkled brightly.