Song Siyu and the others were going all out slaughtering zombies, using their abilities without holding back as they rapidly harvested zombie heads.
Behind them, Ah Bao was hopping around happily digging crystal cores out of the zombies’ brains. When his hands could no longer hold any more, he passed them to Sheng Ge. Sheng Ge walked calmly behind everyone and unceremoniously stuffed every single one into her storage ring.
The feeling of picking up money from the back was simply too good.
Ever since waking up bankrupt, this was the first time Grandma Grandmaster had felt that life finally had hope again.
The two of them were having the time of their lives collecting crystal cores in the back, while the few people fighting desperately in front could only smile bitterly and helplessly. Still, none of them dared say anything, because the reason they could charge head-on into so many zombies was entirely thanks to Sheng Ge’s defensive talismans.
That’s right. Just earlier, after seeing a sword fly out on its own and while they were still in shock and uncertainty, Sheng Ge suddenly told them she could help rescue the people safely—but the crystal cores would belong to her.
The group had already been worrying over how to save the trapped people. If Sheng Ge had said this earlier, they definitely would not have believed her. They would have thought she was joking around and trying to show off. But after witnessing what happened just now, they had no choice but to reevaluate her.
“The situation’s urgent anyway. We don’t have any better options. Captain, why don’t we give it a try?” Yun Yanwu had ultimately been the one to suggest it.
So the group agreed. They thought Ah Bao’s swordsmanship was pretty good, and now it looked like this girl knew swordsmanship too. Although she wasn’t an ability user, having two extra people helping kill zombies would make breaking through easier.
Then, each of them received a talisman paper.
Yellow ones.
Exactly the same kind the village shamans used when they were kids.
The group: “……”
What the hell was this?
At the time, they had immediately started doubting life itself. And even now, they were still doubting life—except before, they wondered whether Sheng Ge was messing with them, while now they suspected that something about this situation was very wrong.
Wasn’t she supposed to be helping them save people?
Why did it suddenly feel like they were the ones working for her?
Because they had the protection of the defensive talismans, the group fought without restraint. The people on the rooftop also joined the battle the moment they realized the others had returned. With attacks from both the front and back, the thousands of zombies surrounding the temporary stronghold were quickly reduced to almost nothing.
“Sister Siyu, why did you guys take so long to come back? We almost got fed to the zombies!” Once the danger passed, Feng Shuang’er was the first to run to Song Siyu and complain tearfully.
Song Siyu merely glanced at Feng Shuang’er indifferently without speaking, then turned to Yu Sheng.
“You okay?”
“No need to worry. You came back just in time.” Yu Sheng smiled lightly, obvious gentleness visible in his eyes as he looked at Song Siyu.
Song Siyu nodded and didn’t say anything more.
She turned and instructed Yun Yanwu to quickly clean up the zombie corpses in the yard.
Although staying here any longer posed risks, it was already getting late. Traveling at night would be even more dangerous, so they would still have to stay one more night.
Fortunately, Yun Yanwu was a metal-type ability user, and the team also had an earth-type ability user. Both specialized in defense. As long as they stayed cautious tonight, there should not be any major problems.
And besides…
Song Siyu turned to look at the large and small pair still happily digging out crystal cores, complexity and scrutiny flashing through her eyes.
“Who are those two?” Yu Sheng was also sizing up the newly arrived Sheng Ge and Ah Bao.
“I’ll explain later.” Song Siyu did not elaborate. She turned and went to handle other matters first. Seeing this, Yu Sheng didn’t continue asking and followed along to help.
Feng Shuang’er, who had been completely ignored by the two of them, stomped her foot angrily.
Meanwhile, after helping Gu Xiaoxue and the other person down, Zhuo Dahong looked up curiously at the sword embedded in the wall. The sword had already stopped glowing and now looked rather ordinary. At that moment, a tiny little radish-head came pattering over and pulled the sword down.
“Grandma Grandmaster, here!” Ah Bao panted lightly as he handed the sword to Sheng Ge.
Aiyaa, he had been so busy all day. After helping Grandma Grandmaster pick up crystal cores, he now had to pick up swords too. If Grandma Grandmaster lost him, what would she ever do~?
“You were the one who saved us?” Zhuo Dahong asked Sheng Ge as he looked at the sword in her hand. Though it was phrased as a question, he had already confirmed it in his heart.
Rarely, Grandma Grandmaster nodded with a rather pleasant expression.
That pile of zombies just now had contributed over three hundred crystal cores to her collection. More than twenty of them were high-energy crystal cores equivalent to mid-grade spirit stones. Right now, her entire body was overflowing with the happiness of suddenly becoming rich.
Later, after entering the base and discovering that even one crystal core could not be exchanged for a single steamed bun, Grandma Grandmaster would finally realize just how naïve her current happiness was.
Seeing Sheng Ge nod, the smile on Zhuo Dahong’s face widened further. He walked over and slapped a hand heavily onto Sheng Ge’s shoulder.
“Little sis, thanks! From now on, you’re my real little sister!”
Sheng Ge glanced at the thick arm on her shoulder, then at the tall, sturdy-looking young man with an honest face.
She sincerely replied, “This Venerable One thinks it would be better for me to be your great-grandmother.”
“Hahahahaha! I could already tell from your outfit that you were unique, little sis. Didn’t expect you’d really be this interesting! You’re so humorous! Also, what kind of title is ‘This Venerable One’? Why does it sound so chuuni…”
“Oh right, my name’s Zhuo Dahong. Little sis, you can call me Brother Dahong from now on. This is my other little sister, Gu Xiaoxue. Xiaoxue, come thank—eh? Little sis, what’s your name again?”
Sheng Ge, whose eyes were about to be blinded by the repeated “little sis”: “……Sheng Ge.”
“Hahaha, so you’re Little Ge Sis!” Zhuo Dahong said with sudden realization.
Gu Xiaoxue stepped forward. “Thank you, Miss Sheng, for saving our lives.”
Sheng Ge nodded.
Very quickly, all the zombie corpses within a hundred-meter radius of the courtyard were cleaned up. The earth-type ability user also rebuilt a simple wall around the area.
Yun Yanwu, as a metal-type ability user, reinforced and repaired the house’s doors and windows with his powers as well.
After all the cleanup work was done, it was already completely dark. After leaving some people on watch duty, everyone else returned indoors. They tidied themselves up a little and began eating simple food to recover their strength.
Even though they had just fought against zombies together, the atmosphere was still clearly divided into two groups. One side was Song Siyu’s team of ability users, while the other side was Zhuo Dahong and the other survivors.
As for Sheng Ge and Ah Bao, the overly familiar Zhuo Dahong had dragged them over to his side.
“Little sis, eat some flatbread. This was made by our Xiao—… it’s really delicious. Try it.”
Sheng Ge took the flatbread and bit into it. The taste was indeed very good.
The apocalypse had only begun a little over a year ago. Some people who had stockpiled food in advance, or who still had the ability to gather supplies outside, still possessed food reserves. The ability-user team knew this, so they were not particularly surprised to see this group still able to bring out food.
However, supplies were becoming increasingly difficult to find now. In the future, if humanity wanted a stable source of crops, they would have to rely on plant-type ability users.
Because in this world, where mutated viruses filled every corner, naturally grown edible plants were extremely rare. Only plant-type ability users could grow absolutely safe food, and they could even accelerate the growth of crops. Their importance went without saying.
But plant-type ability users were extremely rare. It was said that even the official bases only had a few.
Their own base only had one, and that person’s ability level wasn’t high, so the amount of food they could produce was limited.
Fortunately, their base had seized a frozen storage building earlier on. Otherwise, they would have fallen into a food crisis long ago. Even now, they were only barely managing to survive.
“Hey! We saved you people, so why didn’t you share your food with us?” Feng Shuang’er glared at the flatbread in Sheng Ge’s hand and shouted angrily.
Hearing this, Zhuo Dahong and the others froze for a moment before a wave of anger suddenly rose in their hearts.
Thinking about how this woman had spent the last two days shamelessly eating and drinking their food as if it were only natural, consuming over half their supplies, and even slaughtering their last remaining chicken—which led to the chain of events afterward—their anger nearly became impossible to suppress.
Especially Aunt Lin. The hatred in her eyes as she looked at Feng Shuang’er was overwhelming.
“You… what are you staring at? You’re not trying to blame that old man’s death on me again, are you? I already said he chose to block the door himself. What does that have to do with me…?”
“That’s enough!” Song Siyu sharply interrupted her.
Feng Shuang’er still looked unwilling to back down and wanted to continue arguing, but when she saw the icy expression on Song Siyu’s face, she was immediately intimidated into silence.
Only after Feng Shuang’er finally quieted down did Song Siyu turn toward Zhuo Dahong’s group and say:
“I’ve already heard what happened. Whether the zombies really came because of Feng Shuang’er or not, I’ll apologize to all of you on her behalf.
“But what’s done is done. Pursuing responsibility now won’t change anything. Besides, everyone will still be living together in the base in the future. In the apocalypse, staying alive is the most important thing.”
Those words were both soft and hard at the same time.
On one hand, she pointed out that they had no evidence proving Feng Shuang’er caused the zombies to come.
On the other hand, she reminded them that they would still need this group to reach the base and seek protection.
And perhaps there was an even deeper meaning beneath her words.
For example—in the apocalypse, human lives were as worthless as grass. What did it matter if one or two people died?
Some of the older people who understood the implication had already clenched their fists tightly, but none of them spoke.
Because they all knew their home was gone. They truly did need these people.
After witnessing everything, Grandma Grandmaster only had one thought:
These little brats sure had a lot of schemes in their heads.
Oh, except for that Feng Shuang’er.
She was genuinely stupid. Weak, yet loved causing trouble.
In the dead of night, when all was silent, no one noticed a tiny, tiny vine quietly burrow into Feng Shuang’er’s calf.
In the darkness, Sheng Ge’s eyes moved slightly before she continued meditating.