After putting away her bicycle, Song Chuxia struggled to climb over the wall as carefully as she could. Suddenly, she heard a puzzled voice.
“Student, why have you come back?”
Song Chuxia was startled. She quickly steadied herself to keep from falling.
Looking down, she saw several male and female students on the other side of the wall. The person who had just spoken was a boy wearing a white T-shirt.
“I… I came back to look for someone,” Song Chuxia replied irritably.
“Are there many zombies outside?” a girl with a ponytail asked cautiously. She looked up at Song Chuxia with an expectant expression.
“There are about as many as there are inside the university… If you go out, be extra careful.”
Song Chuxia jumped down from the wall and sighed.
Hearing her words, the others grew even more anxious.
Song Chuxia ignored them and walked straight away, but she could still hear them discussing what to do.
“What should we do? Are we still going out?” one of the boys asked.
“Of course we’re going! If we don’t leave, are we supposed to sit here and wait to die?”
“But it’s almost dark. Won’t it be even more dangerous at night?” the girl in the pink dress asked worriedly.
“If you’re scared, then don’t come with us,” the girl in the white dress said contemptuously.
“That’s not what I mean. I just think it’s unsafe at night,” the girl in the pink dress explained.
Song Chuxia heard their voices growing louder and louder. She turned around and walked over to them.
“Hey! You’re making so much noise. Are you trying to attract the zombies?”
The group fell silent immediately.
Avoiding the nearby zombies, Song Chuxia carefully made her way to the nearest dormitory building. She entered a relatively clean dorm room and, following the same method she had used before, moved a bed against the door to block it. Then she used a quilt to cover the balcony door.
She switched on the bedside lamp, went into the bathroom to wash up, and then came out with her hair hanging loose over her shoulders. It was time to eat.
She opened two cups of Eight-Treasure Congee and ate some snacks as well. Before long, she was full.
Song Chuxia began organizing the supplies she had collected that day.
She arranged all the shelves by category, placing similar items together.
First, she sorted out more than 200 packs of daytime sanitary pads, over 300 packs of nighttime sanitary pads, and more than 200 packs of period underwear.
Next came the toilet paper. It took two large shelving units just to hold it all. There was enough to last her at least twenty years. After thinking it over, Song Chuxia left a small portion on the shelves and piled the rest in a corner.
She had deliberately left this space beside the shelves in case she ran out of room.
There were roughly 100 boxes of toothpaste from various brands and more than 100 toothbrushes.
There were also around 50 bars of laundry soap and handmade soap combined.
She had approximately 50 bottles of liquid laundry detergent and 20 bags of powdered detergent. Including what she had collected from the dorm rooms earlier, the supplies should last her for several decades. She put them in a corner of her space.
There were more than 100 bottles of shampoo from different brands, along with over 100 bottles and tubs of conditioner and hair masks. She placed them in several storage boxes and labeled them. A small portion went on the shelves, while the rest was stacked in a corner.
There were more than 50 umbrellas and several dozen raincoats. She put them in cardboard boxes and labeled them. Again, she placed some on the shelves and stacked the rest in a corner.
She had more than 50 towels, over 40 bath towels, and numerous bath sponges, exfoliating towels, and facial cleansing towels. She sorted them into storage bins, labeled them, and placed them on the shelves.
She also put all the makeup and skincare products into cardboard boxes and labeled them.
Looking at the shelves filled with all the things she had collected from the cosmetics store, Song Chuxia felt a small sense of security welling up inside her.
She then looked toward the other side. Those were the items she had collected from the accessories shop. Mirrors, combs, tissues, hair accessories, and other things had all been sorted by category, placed in boxes, and labeled. Some were arranged on the shelves, while the rest were stacked in a corner.
Everything in her space was organized by category, with similar items stored together. Song Chuxia had also put away all the snacks, while the fruit was arranged together on the other side of the shelves.
The several generators were packed into boxes and placed on the bottom shelf.
Next, she began sorting the clothes and shoes.
She folded all the clothes, put them into boxes, and labeled them. She did the same with the shoes, stacking them all on the bed. There was no other choice. She had run out of shelf space.
There were approximately 200 outfits, more than 100 pairs of shoes, and over 100 pairs of socks.
As for the underwear, she had more than 100 sets in her own size. The ones that were not her size were packed into several boxes and placed in a corner.
Next, she began organizing the medicine.
She did not touch any of the medicine already arranged on the pharmacy shelves. Instead, she moved those supplies directly to the northeast corner. The boxes of medicine from the storeroom were placed there as well.
Song Chuxia remembered that the book had never mentioned when the apocalypse would end. She thought she would have to find somewhere to collect some winter clothes too.
She went over to the snack section, took out a bottle of milk, and drank it.
There were so many different kinds of snacks in that section that she could probably spend several years eating her way through them.
Just as she was feeling pleased with herself, she caught sight of the box containing the crystals.
She picked one up and carefully tried to recall how people in the book absorbed crystals. Unfortunately, she had only skimmed over that part while reading and could not remember how it was done.
She held the crystal in her palm, sat cross-legged, closed her eyes, and concentrated on sensing its energy.
After a long while, she still could not feel anything. She realized that this method was not going to work.
Song Chuxia wondered inwardly, Could it be that I have to eat the crystal?
As soon as the thought crossed her mind, she quickly shook her head. Remembering how the crystals had looked when she picked them up earlier, she really could not bring herself to put one in her mouth.
She would wait for now. There might be another way.
With that thought, she released her little tree branch to see whether it had grown.
Alas, there was no change.
Just as she was about to retract it, the little branch touched the crystal. Before long, it wrapped itself around the crystal, completely enclosing it.
Song Chuxia was astonished. Her eyes widened as she tried to pull the branch back.
Unexpectedly, the little branch suddenly began to change. It grew considerably larger, and Song Chuxia also felt a stream of energy entering her body.
Looking at the now-empty palm of her hand, she guessed that the crystal had already been absorbed.
She picked up the other crystal and repeated what she had just done. She wrapped the branch around it, closed her eyes, held her breath, and concentrated on sensing its energy.
Before long, that crystal disappeared too.
Song Chuxia tried to control the little branch with her mind. It slowly transformed into a three-meter-long vine.
First, she tried commanding the vine to pick up her cup. It immediately lifted the cup and brought it right in front of her.
Then she tried wrapping it around the bed and pulling. The vine quickly followed her thoughts and dragged the bed a considerable distance.
Song Chuxia thought to herself, Wasn’t it supposed to take three crystals to raise an ability user to Level One? This vine seems pretty impressive already.
According to the descriptions in the book, three Level One crystals could allow an ordinary ability user to advance to a Level One ability user.
Three Level Two crystals could allow a Level One ability user to advance to Level Two.
Three Level Three crystals could allow a Level Two ability user to advance to Level Three.
The ability levels continued in the same way.