Lu Zhi used the diamond to slice open the thick glass wall of the sports apparel store next to the convenience store, though it only resulted in a few cracks.
“Use the roots of your vine tendrils to burrow inside. Hold the glass so it doesn’t come crashing down,” Lu Zhi instructed Yun Ai, who was nervously keeping watch nearby.
Yun Ai quickly turned and let out a soft “Oh.” She extended her wrist, and fine, thread-like vines gracefully grew from her hand. Soon, root tendrils finer than hair pressed against the cracks in the glass wall. The vitality that could pierce through boulders in nature allowed these tiny things, spurred on by her ability, to force their way in. They slowly grew more luxuriant, their branches even widening the narrow cracks further.
Once both sides of the glass were covered in branches and leaves, Lu Zhi struck the glass hard with her elbow.
With a “crack,” the glass split completely along the lines scored by the diamond, held from immediate collapse by the vine’s support.
Lu Zhi quickly caught the glass with her hands and carefully set it on the ground.
“Get inside.” Lu Zhi patted the pale-faced Yun Ai, her gaze rapidly sweeping the desolate street. Fortunately, the crack was extremely brief, and the few zombies wandering in the distance hadn’t noticed anything amiss.
Everything inside the apparel store looked normal. Probably, when the apocalypse hit, everyone’s first targets were supermarkets and food stores; no one bothered to visit here.
Lu Zhi first opened all the fitting rooms and the storage area. Only after checking and finding no living people or zombies did she relax.
When she returned, she saw Yun Ai leaning on the black leather sofa in the waiting area, her face covered in sweat and her eyes red-rimmed. Clearly, the growth of those vines just now had drained a lot of her ability.
The tearing, limb-wracking pain after exhausting her ability was something Lu Zhi was very familiar with. So she didn’t force Yun Ai up. Instead, she casually grabbed a shopping bag from a clothing rack and swept up all the snacks the staff had left behind—beef jerky, crispy rice crackers, crispy instant noodles, spicy sticks, plum candies—from the employee lounge and the cabinet under the cash register.
“Want some?” Lu Zhi strolled over to the sofa, tearing open a braised egg for herself and handing Yun Ai a vacuum-sealed piece of dried meat.
Yun Ai’s eyes lit up, and she quickly struggled to sit up.
“Thank you!”
Lu Zhi hummed nonchalantly in response and sat on the sofa opposite. After a moment, she added, “Eat your fill first. Don’t think about saving rations. We’ll find more after we eat.”
Yun Ai was grinding the dried meat in tiny bites. The long-missed aroma of meat filled her mouth, making her almost cry with longing. Eyes glistening, she looked at Lu Zhi and, a moment later, nodded heavily.
Lu Zhi was also very hungry. Perhaps it was because she was constantly, involuntarily drawing moisture from the air; the consumption of her ability led to a much higher energy expenditure for her body, making her hungrier, faster, and more intensely than normal.
The two of them unceremoniously ate the entire large bag of snacks, even the last box of plum candies, dividing them one for you, one for me.
The brand of the apparel store they were in used to be very well-known, so the space was large. According to the store directory, the first floor was women’s wear, the second men’s. After they finished eating, Lu Zhi swept through the racks on the first floor, gathering a complete set: sports underwear, a sweatshirt, a windbreaker, and sweatpants.
Seeing this, Yun Ai also quickly rummaged through the dazzling array of clothes on the racks to find her own size.
In the fitting room, Lu Zhi changed out of the dirty outfit she’d worn for who knows how many days and looked at the unfamiliar version of herself in the mirror.
She still had a slightly tall and slender build. The days spent fleeing for her life in the apocalypse had added a hint of gloom to this young person’s temperament. Yet even so, it couldn’t hide the originally delicate and appealing features: smooth-contoured almond eyes, a noble, high-bridged nose, and clearly defined lip lines. Now, in a sharp sportswear set, her thick, natural black eyebrows made her heroic spirit very apparent. A somewhat soft-featured face was now also sharpened by the coldness in her eyes.
“Lu Zhen.”
Lu Zhi called softly to the mirror. After a long moment, she averted her gaze, the emotion in her eyes falling away completely. She turned, pushed open the door, and walked out.
Since it was a sports brand store, socks and shoes were naturally picked over and new ones put on.
This was likely the mentality after the apocalypse: one could rightfully take ownership of things that previously belonged to others but were now unclaimable. As with objects, so with people.
Lu Zhi also took a backpack from the wall, packed an extra set of clothes, several pairs of socks, and two pairs of gloves from the protective gear section.
After tidying up, Lu Zhi said to Yun Ai, who had followed her example and refreshed herself as well, “Let’s go to the second floor.”
Yun Ai was now wearing a mustard-yellow windbreaker, gray sweatpants, and black sneakers. Her black hair, which had been a mess—either naturally curly or permed in the past—was neatly tied up in a little bun at the back of her head. A black sports headband lay across her forehead, fully revealing a delicate little face. She looked both clean and pretty.
She had absolutely no objections to Lu Zhi’s arrangements. Her clear, bright eyes were full of trust as she followed closely behind Lu Zhi like a little tail.
The second floor was the men’s section. From the glass door on this floor, they could access the interior of the main shopping mall.
The two peered out through the glass door. The mall interior was dark, with lights off, save for a glass ceiling in the very center. However, the light still wasn’t enough to illuminate the entire mall, leaving the space very dim.
Although Lu Zhi had found a flashlight in the hardware store toolkit, switching it on in an unfamiliar environment was obviously not a wise choice. So they could only try their best to scan with the naked eye. Fortunately, within their line of sight, the shops and corridors visible on this section of the second floor looked very calm.
“Usually, the large supermarkets attached to malls are underground or on the ground floor. So most people coming to sweep for supplies only touch the bottom levels. Restaurants on higher floors are likely overlooked,” Lu Zhi analyzed quietly to Yun Ai. “When we go out, we’ll head straight upstairs. The fourth or fifth floor will do. The two of us can’t carry much anyway; it’ll be more than enough.”
Yun Ai hummed in agreement, then volunteered: “Let me cut the glass this time.”
“Alright,” Lu Zhi handed her the steel bar with the diamond ring attached. “Push down vertically with force, don’t tap.”
Yun Ai obediently acknowledged and sat cross-legged on the floor. With a serious face, she mimicked Lu Zhi’s earlier motion, pressing the ring down and scraping it along.
The floor, un-mopped for two months, was coated in a layer of dust, but neither of them cared. Lu Zhi also casually sat on the floor. While staying alert to her surroundings, her fingers continuously played with water droplets she formed.
The space instantly fell silent. For a time, the only sound was the piercing noise of the diamond rubbing against the glass. It wasn’t loud, but with the echo in the enclosed, dim environment, it felt incredibly eerie.
“Screech—screech—”
As Yun Ai scraped, goosebumps suddenly rose all over her body. Midway, she couldn’t help but put her hand down and glance suspiciously around at the empty space behind her.
“What is it?” Lu Zhi asked.
Yun Ai swallowed nervously and said timidly, “S-S-Scared…”
“Scared of what?”
“Scared of ghosts…”
Lu Zhi looked at her cowering appearance and couldn’t help but chuckle. “Scared of zombies and scared of ghosts—you’re way too timid.”
Yun Ai didn’t argue, just mumbled under her breath, “I am timid…”
Then her hand lifted and lowered again. Her face was full of conflict, and for a good while, she didn’t dare to start again.
“Sister.”
She suddenly called out to Lu Zhi.
The desolate flow of time and space rapidly stretched and extended within those two words. In that extreme silence, such a simple form of address seemed to pierce some barrier of estrangement, drifting over in waves, leaving Lu Zhi momentarily lost in thought.
Lu Zhi looked up, her brow already furrowed. “What did you call me?”
Yun Ai was taken aback by her rather serious questioning. After a moment, her expression turned slightly helpless. “You… you don’t like being called ‘Sister’?”
Lu Zhi’s brow didn’t relax. Her gaze swept inch by inch over Yun Ai’s uneasy face. She paused for a beat before retracting her gaze. Her voice was very faint: “Just call me by my name.”
Yun Ai said “Oh,” but didn’t show any particular reaction. She obediently called her name: “Lu Zhen.”
Then she immediately resumed her task of scratching the glass. It was a while before she spoke again, seemingly to break the awkward atmosphere. “Lu Zhen, why don’t you want to go to the Capital with us?”
“Us?” Lu Zhi countered. “Who is ‘us’?”
Yun Ai turned back, a little unsure of what Lu Zhi meant by the question. After a moment, she turned back around and obediently listed the names: “Me, Wang Jing, Fang Yuchen, Yang…”
“And what about you?” Lu Zhi didn’t let her finish, cutting her off directly. “Why do you absolutely have to go with Wang Jing and the others?”
“I…” Yun Ai’s hand dropped. Perhaps because Lu Zhi’s tone had suddenly turned rough, she was silent for a moment before speaking. But her reply was surprisingly candid: “Because I want to go home. I miss my mom and dad, I miss my brother and my sister too…”
Yun Ai raised her hand again, her slender fingers pressing firmly on the glass. Though tears already glistened in her eyes, her voice was very determined: “They’re all very capable people. I didn’t turn into a zombie; they must still be alive too.”
“I… I’m not sure if I can make it home relying only on myself. But Wang Jing, her Fire-type Ability is very powerful. As long as I follow her, just follow her, I can definitely make it back alive.”
“Wang Jing has recruited a lot of people with abilities. That Fang Yuchen, he’s a Thunder-type, also very powerful. And there are many other people around her…” Yun Ai used her sleeve to wipe away the tears streaming down her face, momentarily choking up so much she couldn’t speak for a long while.
Lu Zhi raised an eyebrow slightly. This was a side of Yun Ai completely unanalyzed in the plot she knew. But she wasn’t very surprised. After all, those so-called plots forcibly shoved into her mind were always one-dimensional and superficial; she was long used to it.
But after a moment, Lu Zhi still very calmly exposed a cruel but obvious truth: “They are all very powerful, but you are very weak.”
“You haven’t thought about strengthening yourself, instead focusing all your efforts on clinging to others.” Lu Zhi paused, then said, “You’ve got it backwards.”
Yun Ai bit her lip, her shoulders slumping.
“Because… because I’m afraid of blood, afraid of zombies, afraid of pain, afraid of death…”
