“My mom is an amazing cook. I learned all this from her,” Yun Ai said, pulling out two pairs of disposable chopsticks. Canned drinks left by the restaurant were also on the table. She looked eagerly at the person across from her. “Try it and see if it’s good.”
Lu Zhi accepted the chopsticks and murmured a soft thanks.
Because an Esper’s appetite increases significantly after awakening, Yun Ai hadn’t hesitated to steam all the remaining rice in the storage bin. Besides the portions they were letting cool to shape into rice balls with plastic wrap later, there were now four large bowls of steaming, heaped white rice on the table, emitting the sweet fragrance unique to cooked grain.
The single stir-fried dish was also a feast for the senses, perfectly executed. The garlic sprouts were tender and green, the ham a vibrant red, paired with a few dried chili peppers. The smoky, wok-fired aroma, mixed with the spicy scent of meat, instantly filled the small kitchen.
During those days of fleeing, people could barely ever cook. In the early apocalypse, they were used to filling their bellies with fast foods like bread, instant noodles, biscuits, and chocolate—convenient, quick, and safe.
But even though Lu Zhi wasn’t one to be particular about food or drink, Lu Zhen’s body, after not having a hot meal for so long, involuntarily salivated.
“How is it? Is it good?” Yun Ai leaned forward slightly, her delicate little face full of anticipation.
Lu Zhi swallowed her food and smiled, praising, “It’s very good. Your cooking skills are excellent.”
The smile on Yun Ai’s face instantly bloomed, her expression tinged with pride. Only then did she contentedly grab her chopsticks and, head down, dig in.
The two of them polished off all four bowls of white rice and the entire large plate of garlic sprout stir-fried meat, each also drinking two bottles of the sweet beverage.
After eating, Yun Ai hugged her slightly swollen belly, leaning back in her chair comfortably, narrowing her eyes to rest.
Lu Zhi also leaned back casually, meanwhile using her fingers to direct the water from the drink bottle to float gracefully in mid-air.
She had been trying to find creative ways to use her Psionic Power lately. Although it was still very weak and currently could only gather water flow from places with high water content and low molecular cohesion—seeming like a purely auxiliary skill with little destructive potential—she figured that once her ability became more refined and powerful, she could completely extract water directly from a person’s bloodstream.
Perhaps a single thought could turn someone into a dried corpse. It wasn’t impossible.
Yun Ai, on the other hand, was full of admiration for Lu Zhi’s constant, anytime-anywhere practice of her Psionic Power. Comparing herself, she now clearly realized just how indolent she had been.
She stared blankly for a moment, then couldn’t help but ask quietly, “Aren’t you afraid of the pain?”
Lu Zhi looked up. “It’s okay. At this level, it’s not very painful.”
Yun Ai responded with a slow “Oh.” She had used more Psionic Power today than she usually did in several days. Although she was now full, the stabbing pains after Psionic exhaustion were ever-present. She naturally knew that Lu Zhi’s claim of it not being painful was quite an understatement.
She looked down at her wrists. Wrapped around her left wrist was a thin-strapped watch and two root tendrils from the potato and sweet potato plants. On her right was a deep green star jasmine vine.
Lu Zhi controlled the water flow to gently pass through the drink can’s small opening and fall back inside, then picked it up and took a shallow sip. When she looked up, she found Yun Ai intently focusing, urging her vine to grow. But this time, she wasn’t letting it grow wildly like before; instead, she was carefully controlling its strength, making the thin tendrils creep up the back of her slender hand, eventually twining around her finger and blooming into a delicate, soft white flower.
Not only did Lu Zhi raise an eyebrow, but Yun Ai herself let out an “Ah!” her face full of delighted surprise as she looked at her finger.
“It’s even a little fragrant. Smell it,” Yun Ai said, extending her hand towards Lu Zhi after sniffing the tiny flower herself, like a child presenting a treasure.
Lu Zhi smiled slightly. “Star jasmine is also called Windmill Jasmine. Naturally, it’s fragrant.”
“Windmill Jasmine?” Yun Ai repeated. This was the first time she’d learned the vine’s other name. She pulled her hand back and carefully examined the little flower.
This was the first time she had tried to make the vine bloom. Enthralled, she ignored the pain in her body, focused her mind, and did her utmost to push her Psionic Power, causing the tender branches on her finger to pop, pop, pop open with three more tiny buds.
Lu Zhi watched her calmly, her face pale while she eagerly explored her own power. Finally, after a long moment, she spoke, “If you do that, will you still be able to walk later?”
Yun Ai seemed to realize this upon hearing it. She quickly lowered her hand, pursing her lips which were now so pale they were almost bloodless. She looked timidly at the expressionless Lu Zhi.
Lu Zhi’s expression didn’t change. She just finished the last sip of her drink and changed the subject. “There’s a home furnishing store on the third floor. I didn’t sleep well last night. I plan to go there to rest for the night and leave tomorrow. What about you?”
“I…” Yun Ai hesitated. After a pause, she whispered, “Then I’ll leave tomorrow too, if that’s okay?”
“As you wish.”
Yun Ai secretly sighed in relief, feeling more at ease.
The two sat for a while longer. Yun Ai shaped the remaining rice into balls, also grabbing an unopened jar of chili sauce from the kitchen. They tidied up properly before leaving the restaurant.
Outside, the megaphone was still blaring loud and strong. It was likely that every zombie in the mall had been drawn to that area. From this distance, their movements back and forth didn’t attract any attention at all.
Yun Ai also saw several fresh zombie bodies lying on the first floor. They were likely among those lured by the megaphone earlier who had jumped straight from the upper floors. Although none were dead, after their high falls, several lay paralyzed, clawing and moving on the ground, leaving wet trails of purplish-black marks behind them.
Lu Zhi, using her old trick, cut through the glass wall with her diamond to enter the home furnishing store on the third floor.
A branded home furnishing store in a large mall clearly wasn’t on people’s list of places to loot during the early apocalypse. So, while the interior was dim, the shelves were neatly arranged, orderly and exactly as they had been in peacetime.
After carefully checking it, Lu Zhi first took a dozen bottles of liquid fragrance diffuser from the shelf and poured them inside and outside the glass wall, using the scent to mask the human body odor that zombies were so sensitive to. Then, together with Yun Ai, she pushed a heavy sofa—meant for customers to rest on—in front of the entry point.
“So fragrant, I’m about to pass out from the smell,” Yun Ai said, finding a pink pig-patterned face mask to wear and handing another to Lu Zhi.
Lu Zhi took it and put it on.
Further inside the store was a bedding section. Against the wall was a one-meter-eight-by-two-meter large bed, with all the bedding neatly arranged. It looked incredibly soft and comfortable for sleeping.
Lu Zhi asked, “What time is it?”
Yun Ai raised her wristwatch. The delicate little dial glowed fluorescent, still working diligently. “4:30 PM.”
Although it wasn’t anywhere near bedtime, Lu Zhi still said, “Then you keep watch first. Wake me at midnight. I’ll take the second half of the night, alright?”
Naturally, the second half of the night was the more grueling watch. Yun Ai pressed her lips together, looked up at Lu Zhi, who really seemed utterly exhausted, and didn’t argue. She nodded firmly.
Lu Zhi took off her jacket and lay down directly on the bed. Her body, which had been overdrawing energy since her Psionic awakening, soon unconsciously let out a few sighs of comfort. Her consciousness barely hesitated, instantly plunging into deep sleep.
Yun Ai grabbed a few cushions from the shelf and sat beside the foot of the bed, leaning her back against the bed leg and staring blankly into the dim space. The air was profoundly still, so quiet she could hear the soft breaths of the person on the bed.
Thank goodness for those breathing sounds. Otherwise, she truly couldn’t have stood it for even a second.
After sitting a while and feeling extremely bored, she got up and browsed the home furnishing store. After two laps, she grabbed a small desk lamp and propped up two umbrellas. Underneath them, she turned on the lamp and went to check the glass door area carefully, adjusting repeatedly until absolutely no light leaked out. Only then did she huddle under the umbrellas with a thick stack of brand advertising catalogs taken from the counter.
Although the content of the catalogs was quite vacuous, at least it passed the time.
Yun Ai read the catalogs, stood up and walked around, did several dozen crunches, practiced growing vines, and also tried nurturing the root tendrils. She intermittently drained every bit of Psionic Power her body recovered. By the time she had used up the two bottles of water Lu Zhi left her, she had finally managed to grow a sweet potato the size of an egg.
Even though it was tiny, she was still very happy. She looked down at her watch. It was almost midnight.
Yun Ai wasn’t particularly scared. She just wanted to wake Lu Zhi right on time to show her the results of her effort.
It was quite strange, actually. She hadn’t been that familiar with Lu Zhen before. Back in the team, most of the time, Wang Jing didn’t always head straight north to the Capital. Instead, she would rescue ordinary people along the way. But in the apocalypse, zombies were like shadows. After several pursuits and blockades, even if they rescued people, the survival rate ultimately wasn’t high, leaving behind only Espers, one after another. Therefore, the faces in the team changed very frequently. Yun Ai had only known Lu Zhen’s name before; their daily interactions were limited to a few words.
But having spent just two days with Lu Zhi, she had inexplicably developed a lot of trust and dependence, as if they had known each other for a very long time.
Yun Ai clenched her fingers, checking her watch constantly. When the thin hands ticked past twelve, she immediately knelt up and looked at Lu Zhi on the bed.
In the dim light, she could barely make out Lu Zhi’s features, but the steady, sleeping breaths floated gently in the air.
Yun Ai pursed her lips. Suddenly, she didn’t want to wake her up anymore.
But soon, Lu Zhi’s subconscious slowly awakened her. She stirred slightly and sat up.
“You’re awake?” Yun Ai marveled at her precise internal clock.
Lu Zhi sat up, her voice still carrying a bit of the damp, reluctant huskiness of someone just awake. “What time is it now?”
“It’s only five past midnight. I hadn’t even gotten around to waking you!”
Lu Zhi gave a faint, nasal “Mm,” and got out of bed. “Come sleep now.”
“Oh,” Yun Ai obediently stood up. Only then, lifting her hand, did she remember the sweet potato. She quickly presented it to Lu Zhi. “Look, I grew this.”
Lu Zhi took a moment to make it out clearly—a tiny sweet potato. She couldn’t help but smile. “Amazing.”
Yun Ai’s mouth curved up rapidly. Even the pain wracking her body suddenly felt significantly lighter.
“Here, for you to eat. You can eat this raw,” Yun Ai said, generously placing the sweet potato in Lu Zhi’s hand. “When I can grow bigger ones in the future, we’ll roast them.”
“Sounds good,” Lu Zhi said, not refusing.
Yun Ai giggled, then comfortably slipped into the bedcovers.
The spot she lay in wasn’t the exact place Lu Zhi had been sleeping, but a faint residual warmth still transferred over, inexplicably carrying a calming, reassuring power.
