This time, just like before, Huai Si didn’t rush to make a move. The zombies acted as though they had received guidance, turning their backs to ignore the other espers and shambling at varying speeds directly toward Huai Si. Before they even had the chance to prostrate themselves on the ground and show their absolute submission to him, Huai Si picked them off one by one.
The zombies collapsed slowly to the ground, arms splayed with palms facing upward in the direction of Huai Si. Their skulls split open, leaking deep yellow crystal cores and a foul-smelling pool of rotting fluid that pooled into small puddles on the floor.
[How… why…]
Qi Hongyu strode briskly toward him, her short, jet-black hair swinging with an air of effortless cool. Stopping right beside Huai Si, she asked with a trace of puzzlement, “Huh, was that some kind of sound?” She glanced down at the zombies scattered on the ground that had already been confirmed dead.
“Probably just a zombie’s roar,” Huai Si replied, pulling his gaze away from the zombies with a complicated expression.
“Oh, that’s possible too.” Qi Hongyu didn’t dwell on it for long. With her bold and breezy personality, she never hesitated to shower others with praise. “Huai Si, you’re really amazing! Every time the rest of us are still locked in a hard fight, you’ve already taken out several zombies. Your ability is seriously powerful.”
She then edged closer to Huai Si, glancing at the other two squad members before adopting a consultative tone. “Though some people don’t like showing off the exact details of their abilities for a sense of security, we’ve been on quite a few missions together now. Could you throw me a hint? What kind of ability is yours?”
She had stepped in a bit too close. Although she meant nothing by it, Huai Si instinctively took a step back. Having become a zombie, he always maintained a subconscious distance from ordinary people.
“Um… excuse me,” Huai Si declined tactfully.
Qi Hongyu had only asked out of passing curiosity and didn’t really expect Huai Si to reveal his abilities. Knowing would be great, but it didn’t matter if she stayed in the dark.
“Hey, no worries. A lot of people prefer to keep the specifics of their abilities under wraps; I was like that at first too,” Qi Hongyu said, waving a hand dismissively. “Still, it’s weird how the zombies have started multiplying lately.”
The other two espers in the squad shared the sentiment. “Yeah, it feels like our workload has gone up recently. It’s just strange how these zombies always make a beeline straight for Brother Huai talk about having a death wish.”
“That just shows how brainless zombies are, charging right at the strongest guy and asking to die. Works out for us, though, saves us the trouble of cleaning them up when Brother Huai takes care of them in one go.” Ever since Huai Si joined the squad and displayed his overwhelming strength, the two espers had grown to openly idolize him. They frequently showered him with praise, and despite being older than Huai Si, they stubbornly insisted on calling him “Brother Huai,” leaving Huai Si utterly speechless every time.
It just didn’t sound right to him though when they had first tried calling him “Brother Si,” Huai Si had rejected it even more strongly.
“Brother Si” sounded way too much like a mob boss.
Seeing how quickly the mission had wrapped up, Qi Hongyu resumed her casual chatter. “Based on your performance in recent missions, you’re going to bring in the most crystal cores again. If your contribution points keep climbing at this rate, you’ll probably get promoted to lead another squad in no time. Come to think of it, I was a bit surprised when you first joined my group; I didn’t even request a recruit.”
Back when Huai Si agreed to join the esper organization under the South China Branch Base, the fourth squad which happened to be Qi Hongyu’s group was missing a member, so Huai Si was slotted in, with Qi Hongyu tasked to show the newcomer the ropes.
“Speaking of which, I heard there’s also an extremely powerful esper over at the Southwest Branch Base. Are people who awaken abilities just getting stronger and stronger these days? I almost wish I’d awakened mine later so I could have been this op.” Qi Hongyu still felt a bit unsatisfied with her own combat strength.
“How strong are we talking, Leader Hongyu?”
“Word is that the esper isn’t very old and sort of appeared out of nowhere. They single-handedly wiped out an entire zombie stronghold, and the haul of crystal cores they brought back left everyone at the branch base staring in shock. In no time at all, they climbed up to become the president of the Southwest Branch Base’s esper organization.”
“Damn, that’s hardcore!” the teammate exclaimed, before a sudden thought struck him. “How do you know all this, Leader Hongyu?”
Qi Hongyu put her hands on her hips with a grin, a flash of sly amusement in her eyes. “Because he’s getting transferred to our South China Branch Base’s esper organization soon! Remember how our branch base’s Vice President Liu got bitten? Vice President Liu’s actual combat strength was never that great, but he stayed on because of his seniority. Once he got bitten, the position opened up. Hearing that this powerhouse wanted to come to South China since we’re the premier branch base, after all they had him transferred over. He’s going to be our superior soon, so of course I had to ask around.”
“Does his surname happen to be Xie?”
Huai Si froze at the question. The surrounding teammates noticed the sudden shift in his demeanor; usually, when they gossiped about things, Huai Si would remain silently on the sidelines listening quietly without interrupting, but never showing much reaction either. His current reaction, however, was quite intriguing.
“Seemingly so. Why do you ask?” Qi Hongyu inquired.
“Nothing. I just vaguely heard about it and thought it was impressive that someone could climb to vice president so fast,” Huai Si smoothed over his unnaturalness, speaking as calmly as possible.
Qi Hongyu looked at him with mild surprise, while the other two assumed Huai Si was merely harboring ambitions of his own and continued flattering him. “With Brother Huai’s combat skills, getting promoted is only a matter of time.”
Seeing the yellow crystal cores on the ground, one of them remarked, “You can tell just by the color of these cores that their energy level is extremely high must be worth at least 200 contribution points! Wonder if these zombies just have a thing for handsome guys, always rushing to throw themselves at Brother Huai.”
Huai Si suddenly found them grating, but they kept chattering away. “Your contribution points must be through the roof by now, Brother Huai. What are you planning to spend them on?”
Huai Si pressed his lips together and offered no reply.
“All right, are you two ever going to quit flapping your gums? Go on and finish collecting the cores so we can head back,” Qi Hongyu said, her expression darkening as she finally exerted her authority as squad leader to shut down the small talk. She glanced at Huai Si and instructed, “You two go over there, I’ll take this side, and Huai Si, you handle that area. You keep count of your numbers, right?”
She was referring to the number of crystal cores from the zombies he had killed.
Huai Si nodded.
The group set to work on their routine post-mission cleanup.
Huai Si picked up the dropped crystal cores one by one. Looking at their pale, varied hues, he thought to himself that it was still far from enough.
These weren’t enough; he needed a lot more contribution points.
When Hu Biwei had taken him into his office the other day to invite him into the esper organization, he had flatly refused to take in the people from the shelter.
“To be frank, the people you brought along clearly don’t meet the standards for entering our branch base, nor can they pass the screening. Our branch base cannot afford to house such individuals here. Every single ounce of resources in the apocalypse must be reserved for those who need them most to maximize efficiency.”
Huai Si had almost sneered in response. Were these people in the base any different? It was all self-serving rhetoric disguised as a value judgment, reducing human lives into rigid tiers.
Perhaps because Huai Si had made his intention to keep these people safe unmistakably clear, after a few rounds of discussion, the man had finally relented, leaving a sliver of wiggle room by offering Huai Si an alternative arrangement.
That is, if Huai Si joined the esper organization under the South China Branch Base, he could accumulate contribution points during missions based on his performance—such as the crystal cores he contributed. These contribution points could then be exchanged to secure residency for the shelter refugees within the base.
The branch base’s espers were divided into eight squads of four to five members each, led by a squad leader. Qi Hongyu’s fourth squad happened to have an opening due to a recent death, so Huai Si was plugged right in.
He calculated the number of shelter residents who had followed him to the base and roughly estimated the required contribution points, realizing that reaching that target was still quite a distance away. Until he earned enough points, every single day those people spent living in the base was being tallied up as contribution points debited directly to his account.
Fortunately, whenever he went out on missions, the zombie population surged and invariably swarmed toward him, making the accumulation of contribution points relatively smooth.
However, hunting ordinary zombies this way ultimately took time. It had been quite a while since he last fed, and a creeping sense of hunger was beginning to envelop him. This growing hunger also stirred a restless irritability within him. He needed to earn those contribution points as fast as possible; otherwise, as time dragged on, he could hardly guarantee that his condition wouldn’t be exposed under the weight of this starvation.
Perhaps it was time to consider hunting high-level mutant zombies. The crystal cores from those creatures packed vastly more energy than ordinary ones.
Right then, as he was impatiently picking up a core the core hadn’t even fully dropped out of the zombie’s head yet, and as he reached in to scoop it out with his fingers feeling the sticky, slimy texture of the cerebral matter the creature suddenly twitched. With half its skull dragging along the ground and leaving a dark smear of viscous fluid in the dirt, the zombie dragged itself right up to Huai Si’s feet.
Huai Si hadn’t expected the zombie to be clinging to life, yet it crawled right up to his boots, extending what remained of a tattered, rotting tongue to lap at his shoes. Resting the side of its mutilated head against the instep of his foot, it poured its entire being into expressing absolute submission, soaking the leather surface with moisture.
[I can dedicate everything I am. Please let me merge into one with you.]
Huai Si’s sharp pupils constricted. The hand clutching the crystal core tightened fiercely as a surge of warmth flowed from his palm into his body. Like a delicate stream trickling through every corner of his frame, the sensation slightly dulled his ravenous irritability only slightly, mind you, as he still craved flesh and blood, but the edge of his agitation had receded.
At that moment, the crystal core in his grasp had lost its luster, shrinking down to a microscopic speck so effortlessly crushed in his hand that it felt like an ordinary piece of white, unpatterned plastic toy bead.
This is..
Had he just absorbed the energy from this crystal core? Why would something like that happen?
“Huai Si, aren’t you done collecting yet?” Qi Hongyu’s voice rang out, accompanied by the sound of her footsteps closing in behind him.
“I’m done,” Huai Si said, tying off his bag and standing up to face Qi Hongyu. Qi Hongyu instinctively took a half-step back; every time she met Huai Si’s eyes, an inexplicable dread washed over her, and catching that gaze head-on startled her all over again.
“As long as you’re done, let’s go. It’s getting late.” Qi Hongyu masked her discomfort, her eyes sweeping briefly over Huai Si’s hands.
Huai Si walked off first, bypassing Qi Hongyu to catch up with the other two teammates in front. Qi Hongyu cast one last look at the zombie sprawled motionlessly on the ground before trailing after them and climbing into the vehicle.
Upon returning to the branch base, as per usual, they had to drop off their mission yield turning in the crystal cores to calculate their initial contribution points followed by filing a brief mission log and inventory sheet.
Unsurprisingly, Huai Si’s haul of crystal cores and contribution points ranked the highest once again.
Once the handover was complete, they were free to visit the infirmary for checkups, spend contribution points on physical therapy, or head over to the recreation zone.
Huai Si, however, never went to any of those places; the moment his duties were finished, he returned straight to his quarters.
Qi Hongyu couldn’t help remarking, “Aren’t you bored living like this? At least go get checked out at the infirmary! You’ve got the highest contribution points right now anyway, might as well spend some.”
Huai Si shook his head, offering a brief, “No need, I’m not injured.” Pausing for a moment, he added, “If there are any other special assignments coming up, feel free to call on me. I need more contribution points.”
Qi Hongyu didn’t probe further, perhaps having already guessed the reason, and simply nodded. “All right, but you should take care of your body too. Even someone as tough as you isn’t made of iron.”
Not made of iron, true, Huai Si thought, but I’m a corpse, so burnout probably isn’t in my vocabulary.
True to form, no sooner had the thought crossed her mind than Qi Hongyu received a temporary assignment: a detail to dispatch someone immediately to reinforce another squad whose regular operations had encountered an unexpected emergency. That squad was relatively weak, and their assigned mission wasn’t meant to be difficult, but a sudden crisis had broken out nearby. Coincidentally, the fourth squad was operating in the vicinity, and since their squad leader was the only one equipped with a long-range communicator, headquarters had routed the emergency dispatch straight to them.
“Earlier today just a bit before your time a few new espers arrived at our branch base’s organization from some shelter or another. They’re mostly candidates still in their probationary period since their abilities aren’t combat-oriented. They’re currently out under the eighth squad’s supervision, and word is they’ve run into an emergency over there. Huai Si, go give them a hand.” Qi Hongyu assigned the temporary mission to Huai Si with full confidence.
“Got it.” Huai Si didn’t waste words; when a job came up, he went.
The designated location was an abandoned shopping mall. By the time he arrived, the interior was already in complete disarray. Two individuals who were clearly espers had been bitten, losing their minds as they progressively transformed into zombies. Right in the center of the mall floor stood a mutant zombie boasting extraordinary leaping agility; with a single spring, it bounded onto a pillar before instantly closing the distance to another esper. The esper’s counterattacks posed virtually zero threat to it. With a savage snap, it tore clean through the victim’s arm. Amidst the esper’s agonizing shrieks, the mutant zombie devoured the arm in a few hasty bites before tearing apart and consuming the fleeing, crippled esper on the spot.
A few other espers remained not far away. Initially intent on fighting to the death, their faces had now drained of all color.
“Zhigang!!” Lu Zhiyuan reacted with lightning speed, clamping a hand tightly over Chen Yao’s mouth to choke off her screams before she could draw the mutant zombie’s attention. But watching their former comrade butchered so horribly between the jaws of a monster turned his own face a pale, sickly green.
More than anything, it felt like a preview of his and Chen Yao’s own impending end.
They had thought that following the inspection team would secure them a smooth entry into the esper organization, only to discover that the inspection team hadn’t made any provisions for their placement. Upon entering the South China Branch Base, they had expected to rely on their abilities to join, only to be cherry-picked and evaluated; because their abilities weren’t combat-focused and lacked fighting prowess, they had barely scraped by as probationary candidates for the esper organization subject to some so-called assessment period!
They had thought this mission would be a simple exercise to pass their assessment and secure formal entry into the organization, never dreaming they would run into a ferocious mutant zombie. Watching their companion meet a tragic end while they could only cower to the side, completely helpless to lend a hand.
Every ounce of self-esteem and pride they held as espers had been shattered, piece by piece.
If only we could be stronger just a little stronger!
Wasn’t being torn apart and eaten alive just a matter of time? And if they were bitten, wouldn’t they just turn into zombies too?
Watching the mutant zombie crunching loudly on Chen Zhigang’s remains leaving scattered scraps of flesh and viscera trailing across the floor the creature turned around, its jaws stained with fresh crimson blood as it began sauntering toward them, looking as though it were leisurely savoring a post-meal stroll.
“Yao… if I…” Lu Zhiyuan’s voice trembled uncontrollably. He wanted to say that if he got bitten and hadn’t died yet, she absolutely had to kill him he had no desire to turn into that kind of monster. Yet the words refused to leave his throat. Chen Yao wept silently in his arms, her beautiful eyes overflowing with absolute despair.
The instinctive, desperate yearning to live.
Only now did they truly understand just how shocking Huai Si’s choice to sever his own throat after being bitten had truly been.
How on earth could someone slice his own windpipe with such unwavering, absolute resolve? Shouldn’t the instinct to survive be universal for any living human?
The mutant zombie’s movements suddenly shifted. With a violent shove of its legs, it lunged through the air, springing right in front of them with its jaws agape death closing in like an avalanche!
They could only stare with wide, unblinking eyes as they witnessed their own demise approaching.
Suddenly, a virtually invisible thread of blood sliced across the mutant zombie’s neck. The head detached instantly, the body crashed heavily to the ground, and a spray of black, viscous, foul-smelling zombie blood splattered all over them. Their eyes stung with a burning pain, but through the haze, they caught sight of the figure of a man standing revealed behind the fallen mutant zombie.
The familiar, handsome face half-hidden beneath the deep hood, fixed with sharp pupils looking down upon them from on high surrounding them with an aura of matchless, insurmountable strength.
Huai Si blinked in stunned disbelief: How is it them?