At last, the final zombie fell beneath her blade, bringing the bloody battle to an end.
Not a single one of the hundreds of zombies survived her saber. Silence blanketed the surroundings, leaving behind only a horrifying scene of carnage.
Under the moonlight, the ground was covered with mangled zombie corpses. Some had been decapitated, their severed heads lying nearby with the ferocity of their final expressions still frozen on their lifeless faces. Others had been cut cleanly in half at the waist, their entrails spilling across the ground and filling the air with a nauseating stench. Twisted limbs lay piled together in grotesque heaps.
Black blood flowed across the ground like small streams, soaking every inch of earth and reflecting an eerie dark sheen beneath the moonlight. The heavy scent of blood mixed with the foul odor of decaying flesh, making it difficult to breathe.
Shredded clothing, broken bones, and severed limbs were scattered everywhere, forming a terrifying picture straight out of hell itself. A cold breeze swept through the battlefield, bringing a chilling chill that failed to disperse the suffocating aura of death.
“Let’s go back and get some sleep.”
Mu Qingruan turned and walked back into the supermarket. The instant she turned around, a purple barrier enveloped the entire building. Moments later, most of the zombie corpses turned to ashes, leaving behind only a small number of relatively intact bodies.
“Good morning, everyone!”
Mu Qingruan greeted the group but noticed Jun Ruoli and the others sitting together with unusually serious expressions.
“What’s wrong? Did something happen?”
She walked over and sat beside Jun Ruoli.
“For some reason, we all slept incredibly deeply last night,” Jun Ruoli said thoughtfully. “But when we woke up, none of us felt unwell.”
“Could it be because you were awakening your abilities?” Mu Qingruan asked curiously.
“Awakening abilities?”
Everyone froze.
“Yes. Close your eyes and see if you can sense a power inside your body. Maybe one, maybe two, maybe even three.”
She nodded.
The previous day, while helping Jun Ruoli cook, she had secretly added Spirit Spring Water to their soup. It should have been enough to trigger their awakenings.
The group exchanged glances before following her instructions.
Jun Ruoli was the first to open his eyes. He raised his right hand, and flames immediately appeared in his palm. Within the fire, faint currents of wind also swirled.
Next was Chu Mochen. His ability was wind.
Long Potian awakened lightning.
Xiao Yunzhou awakened wood.
Ye Yifan awakened ice.
“Holy crap! We actually awakened abilities!” Long Potian stared at the lightning dancing across his palm in disbelief.
“Is awakening abilities really this easy?” Chu Mochen muttered, equally shocked.
Jun Ruoli glanced thoughtfully at Mu Qingruan but remained silent.
“I suddenly want to find some zombies outside and test these abilities,” Xiao Yunzhou said with a faint smile.
“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go!”
Everyone packed up their belongings and headed outside.
“Holy crap! What happened here? When did a zombie war break out?”
The moment they stepped outside, they froze in place like wooden statues with their mouths hanging open.
Just imagine seeing hundreds of mangled zombie corpses lying everywhere.
Anyone would be left dumbfounded.
Even now that they possessed abilities, they doubted they could kill hundreds of zombies on their own. They would have had to fight desperately and might not even have succeeded. Injuries would have been inevitable, and some of them might even have died.
Which incredible powerhouse had silently wiped out every single zombie without them noticing anything?
“Why don’t you dig through their heads and see if they have crystal cores?” Mu Qingruan suggested.
She had deliberately left these zombie corpses behind. Although they only contained low-level crystal cores, they would be more than enough to help everyone gradually grow stronger.
“Crystal cores? What’s that?” Jun Ruoli asked.
“I know! I know!” Long Potian eagerly answered first.
“I’ve read plenty of apocalypse novels. They all say zombies develop crystal cores inside their heads. Once ability users kill them and dig out the crystal cores, they can absorb them to increase the strength of their abilities.”
“So if that’s true, then the crystal cores inside their heads can raise our ability levels?” Ye Yifan asked.
“That’s right.”
Mu Qingruan nodded.
“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s get started!”
Long Potian immediately pulled out his dagger and rushed toward the nearest zombie.
At that moment, the zombies that had once disgusted and repulsed him no longer looked ugly at all.
Instead, they seemed more valuable than gold itself.
Nearly two hours later, everyone looked up at the mountain of remaining zombie corpses surrounding them.
Dark lines appeared across all five of their foreheads.
There were simply too many zombies.
How long would it take to dig out every single crystal core?
Still, there was no point complaining.
These crystal cores were free for the taking.
Not digging them out would practically be an insult to the zombies’ sacrifice.
The five men lowered their heads once more and happily resumed the exhausting task of harvesting crystal cores.
By the time they had finally finished searching every corpse, they were so exhausted they could barely straighten their backs. Their arms ached terribly.
Each of them carried an armful of crystal cores into the parked RV and placed them on the table.
Looking at the huge pile of crystal cores, Long Potian and the others felt completely satisfied.
With so many crystal cores, they would probably have enough to absorb for a very long time.
“Go take a shower! Don’t get the RV dirty!”
Mu Qingruan was leisurely reading a manga that Chu Mochen had picked up for her at a bookstore a few days earlier.
The moment she saw the five men covered from head to toe in black zombie blood and brain matter, she immediately chased them off to wash.
Hearing her words, the five men nearly coughed up blood from frustration.
They had actually been rejected.
Carrying their resentment with them, the five pitiful grown men obediently picked up the bathwater Mu Qingruan had prepared and found a spacious place to wash away the filth covering their bodies.
“I wonder which powerhouse killed all those zombies and just left without taking the crystal cores,” Long Potian said curiously.
“Maybe they never read apocalypse novels and had no idea crystal cores even existed.”
“That’s possible,” Ye Yifan replied. “But what puzzles me is something else. There was such a strong smell of blood, yet it didn’t attract any more zombie hordes.”
“Could it be that zombie blood doesn’t attract other zombies?” Long Potian guessed. “Or maybe the blood of their own kind actually warns other zombie hordes away because they sense danger.”
“That’s possible too. None of us has ever experienced an apocalypse before. Anything is possible.”
Jun Ruoli looked at everyone seriously.
“No matter what, don’t let your guard down. Stay alert at all times.”
“Got it!”
Everyone nodded in agreement.