It was July when the apocalypse arrived, and it was already September. In the south, this season used to be a scorching summer, but now the temperature hovered around ten degrees. Especially at night, with the chilling, mournful wind, it felt colder than December in previous years.
After a restless night, both of them woke with pale, greenish complexions and dark circles under their eyes. When they opened their mouths to speak, their breath misted into white puffs.
The morning air was heavy with moisture. Lu Zhi focused her mind slightly and gathered two large water balls in the air, the progress bar of her Water Ability was astonishingly long.
Even though the water was ice-cold, Yun Ai still very conscientiously washed her face. Since the apocalypse, city infrastructure like water and electricity had completely shut down. Daily drinking water was incredibly difficult to come by, let alone for washing up.
“Thank you.” Yun Ai’s thanks were utterly sincere, her smile revealing a neat row of fine teeth. Her eyebrows and lashes were pure black, which made her look particularly young.
Lu Zhi smiled a little.
Breakfast was the bread Wang Jing had left behind. The two cardboard boxes contained eight small packets in total. Lu Zhi had eaten four by herself yesterday, Yun Ai had eaten one in the evening, so now only three remained.
Fortunately, Yun Ai could grow lettuce. Although the stuff didn’t quell hunger, she couldn’t withstand Lu Zhi staring at her, urging her with her eyes to frantically use her ability. In the end, they prevailed through sheer quantity and still managed to fill their stomachs.
“You’ve had your ability for so long, you must know that practicing more can also expand your body’s psionic reserves. Although it can’t compare to the boost from a Psionic Core, the accumulation over days and months is still not to be underestimated.” Lu Zhi’s expression was gentle, her gaze encouraging.
Yun Ai pursed her lips and hummed in agreement. Her eyes stared fixedly at the two heads of lettuce before her, not stopping until they were so lush they couldn’t grow any further. Then, her face completely drained of color, she leaned against a pillar, gasping for breath, looking like her body had been hollowed out.
Lu Zhi plucked the tender leaves produced during the plants’ growth, layering them together and handing them over. They were green-veined, not even needing a water rinse.
“Next time, you could find some cucumber or tomato seeds to carry with you,” Lu Zhi suggested.
Yun Ai nodded, taking the lettuce leaves with trembling fingers. The surge of her ability left her heart faintly aching, but even so, she wasn’t angry. On the contrary, she felt quite happy. After all, in Wang Jing’s group, she had always been regarded as useless, never needed by anyone.
Eating the lettuce, Lu Zhi sighed softly: “Actually, your ability is very powerful. It’s not just about simply accelerating seed germination to guarantee a vegetable supply; its destructive power can also be formidable.”
Yun Ai looked up, staring intently at Lu Zhi.
“The power of growth is the most pervasive thing in this world. The roots of a plant can destroy a reinforced concrete building, let alone the fragile bones of a human being.” Lu Zhi’s voice was calm. “In the biological world, vines have always been called strangler plants. Even a century-old towering tree is helpless before them.”
“I don’t know why you’ve managed to stay in the apocalypse this long without daring to kill a zombie, but in this era, the cowardly are doomed not to survive.”
Biting her lip, Yun Ai quietly listened to Lu Zhi’s well-meaning advice, a lost look in her eyes. After a long while, she could only manage two words: “Thank you.”
Lu Zhi didn’t say anything more. Of Yun Ai’s three remaining bread rolls, she gave one to her. The two of them ate it slowly, sandwiched with lettuce leaves.
After another moment, Yun Ai emerged from her own thoughts and looked up to ask, “I need to find Sister Jing and the others soon. What about you? What are your plans?”
“I’m going to the Capital.”
Lu Zhi didn’t hesitate. Lu Zhen herself had already lost all her family and friends. Her only thought before dying was to survive, nothing more. And according to the plot she had received, after the apocalypse, due to varying local armed defenses, many southern cities had fallen immediately in the first wave of natural and man-made disasters—either to loss of life or loss of humanity. Only the Capital, as the heart of the nation and the balancing point where all power converged, was still trying to restore the semblances of the peaceful era.
Lu Zhi had no desire to live in a place without law and order, even though she was fully capable of living well anywhere.
Because in a place like that, whatever her eyes fell upon would be too disgusting to behold.
“We’re going to the Capital too!” Joy rose in Yun Ai’s heart, her eyes burning brightly as she looked at her. “My family home is in the Capital. Sister Jing, Brother Fang, they’re all going to the Capital too. Otherwise… otherwise, come with me to find Sister Jing! There’s strength in numbers, and many of them are Espers. They can definitely protect everyone!”
“I can go on my own too,” Lu Zhi said.
Yun Ai was stunned, letting out an “Ah?” a half-beat too slow. Her expression turned slightly puzzled. “But… by yourself, there are so many zombies on the road, it’s so dangerous…”
Lu Zhi ate the last bite of her lettuce, gently patted her hands clean, and didn’t reply, a silent refusal.
Faced with her cool expression, Yun Ai had no choice but to swallow the rest of her words.
After they finished eating, they packed up a little. In truth, there wasn’t much to pack. Lu Zhi had been running for her life since she opened her eyes; right now, besides the clothes on her back, she didn’t have a single grain of rice.
Yun Ai’s luggage was pitifully sparse too. The already scarce food was nearly depleted after Lu Zhi’s consumption. Her clothes were all lightweight, space-saving underwear. Her toiletries consisted of a toothbrush and toothpaste, not even a towel. Even with everything packed, she couldn’t fill her small backpack.
“If I pack too much, I won’t be able to run,” Yun Ai explained quietly.
Lu Zhi’s gaze swept over her thin and frail frame. She could sense that ability awakening actually strengthened various physical indicators for humans—like the five senses, strength, and speed. But looking at Yun Ai, she saw absolutely no sign of an Esper’s robust physique. Instead, she looked like a disaster victim suffering from long-term hunger and physical decline.
But thinking about it, how could a girl like Yun Ai, just starting her freshman year, who had spent her entire previous life in an ivory tower, possibly outmaneuver Wang Jing, a twenty-four-year-old woman hardened by years of brutal apocalypse survival?
Just as Yun Ai would never maliciously speculate that her life-saving benefactor would deliberately abandon her, this young girl never imagined that the reason she, as an absolutely rare Esper in the early apocalypse, was neglected and suppressed to this extent within the team was not merely because of her own weak abilities. It stemmed more from the displeasure of those in power. As the team’s top combatant, even if Wang Jing appeared to treat everyone equally, people struggling to survive the apocalypse were keenly sensitive to her preferences, and they followed suit in their treatment of Yun Ai.
The two went downstairs. On the lower floor, the two people who had been unconscious with Lu Zhi had already turned into zombies yesterday and been dealt with by Lu Zhi using a steel bar. The two women, freezing in the night, had even pulled the jackets off their corpses.
Yun Ai placed the jackets back over their faces, her small face solemn as she muttered a few words before heading down.
Outside the isolated, unfinished building, it was relatively calm. Leaving the iron-sheet fence, Lu Zhi picked a direction at random and walked forward. After two steps, she stopped and turned around, grabbing Yun Ai, who was still standing there hesitating. “You come with me first. I’ll get you some food to replenish your energy, then you can go find them.”
Yun Ai quickly responded with two “Oh ohs” and a string of thank-yous.
As a stranger, Lu Zhi naturally wouldn’t be foolishly soft-hearted like Yun Ai, saving just anyone. But since she woke up, she had received much help from Yun Ai—not just that life-saving pull during the escape, but also a whole day and night of care, along with having eaten her food and lettuce. No matter what, she had to repay her a little.
The apocalypse had struck in the early morning hours. Most victims perished in residential areas. The commercial district hadn’t suffered too badly at the time; most of the damage was man-made later, caused by people escaping to find supplies.
Lu Zhi left the alley lane. On the desolate city street beyond, there were no living people. Within sight, there were some zombie corpses that had been slain, purple-black marks left everywhere by car tires rolling over them. In the distance, a few scattered zombies wandered, creeping along in a sluggish, slow manner.
But now everyone knew this was just an illusion. When these things attacked, their speed and strength multiplied exponentially, turning them as fast and vicious as wild beasts. They would open their mouths wide with slavering fangs, letting out roars of hunger and excitement, and charge at unarmed humans with a running speed that looked like their legs would fly off. Their senses registered only fresh human flesh; they knew no fatigue, no fear.
Yun Ai cautiously followed behind Lu Zhi, a meter-long steel bar clutched in her hands, hiding furtively behind parked cars and buildings.
“There are burn marks, don’t know if it’s…”
Yun Ai’s words, spoken in a breathy whisper, suddenly stopped. Because she saw Lu Zhi squat down. Her slender fingers, covered by a layer of water ripple, grasped the hand of a female corpse on the ground—a corpse with only half a body, intestines spilled everywhere, and a head rotted to mush. Lu Zhi pulled a diamond ring off its ring finger.
The corpse’s hand had long since swollen, the ring deeply embedded in the flesh. When Lu Zhi pulled the ring off, it brought some putrid flesh with it. Fortunately, the water ability covering her fingers quickly rinsed it away.
Lu Zhi held the ring between two fingers, examined it against the sunlight for a few moments, then turned back and asked, “Do you think this diamond is real?”
Yun Ai’s emotions were momentarily so complex they were beyond words. It took her a long moment to glance at the corpse, its clothing utterly ruined by blood and internal organs. After thinking it over, she still didn’t directly condemn this extremely tasteless behavior and only stammered, “M-Maybe…”
Lu Zhi remained noncommittal. Her gaze swept the surroundings, and with a silent, incredibly fast speed, she slipped into a nearby convenience store whose glass door was broken and interior completely ransacked.
The convenience store was very small, everything visible at a glance. Ignoring the empty shelves, Lu Zhi went straight behind the counter and pulled out a portable hardware toolkit.
In the blink of an eye, Yun Ai found herself alone. It scared her so much her face instantly went pale. Hiding behind a car parked nearby, she hesitated for a long time before finally mustering her courage, standing up nervously, and dashing into the convenience store in one breath.
Once inside, she saw Lu Zhi fiddling with the diamond ring using a pair of vise grips.
“W-What are you doing?”
Lu Zhi didn’t answer the question. She just beckoned to Yun Ai, who was frozen at the doorway, to come behind the counter, then meticulously focused on removing the ring’s setting.
The fine-tipped pliers were very convenient. Lu Zhi quickly pried off the teardrop-shaped diamond. Then she flipped the diamond, its point facing upwards, and clamped it back into the setting with the pliers.
Baffled, Yun Ai watched as Lu Zhi fixed the modified ring onto the steel bar she always carried. She then picked up a piece of broken glass from the floor. Pressing the diamond tip vertically down with force, an extremely grating, sharp screeching sound instantly rang out, though not very loud. Before Yun Ai could even cover her ears, she saw that after a few firm scratches, the thick glass split and quickly broke into two pieces.
Lu Zhi carefully examined the clean cut on the glass and spoke softly, “It really is a real diamond.”
