After crying enough, Ling Jiujiu wiped away his tears and handed the grilled fish in his hand to Lu Chen.
“You haven’t had dinner yet. This fish is freshly grilled—have a bite.”
During the three days of unconsciousness, although Lu Chen couldn’t move, he wasn’t completely unaware.
He vaguely sensed someone talking to him, wiping his body, and painstakingly feeding him.
For a pampered young master accustomed to being served, taking such care of him was truly rare.
Just as Lu Chen was about to take the fish, he noticed Ling Jiujiu’s noticeably darker hands.
Originally, his hands were as snow-white as a rabbit’s, but now they were almost like charcoal-roasted rabbit paws.
“How did this happen?”
Lu Chen frowned, grabbed his hand, and turned it over to see several large blisters burned into his palm.
Some had even been accidentally burst, looking painful.
Yet Ling Jiujiu felt no pain at all. Seeing Lu Chen frown, he thought he was displeased and shrank his hand back in fear.
“Don’t move.” Lu Chen said sternly, holding his hand firmly.
Ling Jiujiu, “intimidated” by him, didn’t dare to move, only staring pitifully with wide eyes in protest.
Seeing his expression like a bristling, timid kitten, Lu Chen lightly tapped his little head, his tone helpless:
“You really don’t know how to be careful, and you’re not all that clever either.”
Ling Jiujiu covered his head, clearly frightened, and instinctively crouched on the ground, shielding himself.
The head is a zombie’s fatal weakness—had he almost been killed by a headshot just now?!
Seeing this smooth, practiced motion, Lu Chen felt a mix of pity and amusement.
“Get up. I won’t hurt you.”
Lu Chen paused, then added, “And I won’t let anyone else hurt you either.”
Ling Jiujiu blinked his large, grayish eyes. Though he didn’t fully understand Lu Chen’s change, he grasped one thing: Lu Chen wouldn’t blow his head off.
Lu Chen applied ointment to Ling Jiujiu’s burns and gave up the bed for him to sleep in.
For the past three days, Ling Jiujiu hadn’t eaten meat properly, and his fatigue had increased. Lying in bed, he quickly fell asleep.
Lu Chen felt no drowsiness. While Ling Jiujiu slept, it was the perfect time to test his awakened supernatural ability.
After being infected by zombies, some humans awaken supernatural abilities, gaining extraordinary powers.
Currently, there were seven awakened individuals in the Sea Serpent Base where he was, each with different abilities.
Awakened individuals are classified into A, B, C, D, E, and F levels based on the strength of their abilities, with S-level above A-level.
He had witnessed the process of ability awakening. Generally, the stronger the ability, the harder it was to control immediately after awakening.
Lu Chen could feel a very noticeable transformation in his body.
Worried that his ability might go out of control, he deliberately walked farther away before daring to use it.
He went into the woods and found a large tree to use as a practice target.
Lu Chen closed his eyes, focused on the power within his body, slowly guided it to his palm, and then released all the gathered energy toward the tree in front of him.
A few seconds later, Lu Chen opened his eyes. The tree remained unmoved, and nothing had happened.
Lu Chen looked at his hands: “…”
People in the base used to say that if he ever awakened an ability, it would surely be the most powerful kind.
But now, it seemed his awakened ability was no different from having none at all.
Lu Chen couldn’t help feeling somewhat disappointed, though only a little.
Surviving the Infection was already a stroke of luck—perhaps his supernatural ability was that he wouldn’t die even if bitten by a zombie.
In this world overrun by zombies, such a power was something others could only dream of.
Lu Chen was about to turn back when he suddenly heard faint noises coming from nearby.
Following the sound, he spotted a wandering zombie in the woods.
The zombie’s body was severely decayed, dripping wet, as if it had been washed ashore by the current.
The zombie noticed Lu Chen too, let out a howl, and began limping toward him.
Lu Chen drew a short knife from his waist and plunged it into the zombie’s forehead.
The zombie instantly collapsed.
Instead of leaving immediately, Lu Chen continued to pry open the zombie’s skull with his knife, rummaging through its brain.
They had learned from awakened individuals that some zombies and awakened ones had a Crystal Core in their brains.
Crystal Cores varied in size and color, representing the strength and nature of their supernatural abilities.
Zombies could evolve into higher-level zombies by consuming Crystal Cores.
Based on current research, awakened individuals could not evolve by consuming Crystal Cores—only zombies could.
One of the ongoing studies in the laboratory was whether zombies could regain human consciousness if they consumed enough Crystal Cores.
Although he couldn’t use Crystal Cores himself, he could give them to Jiujiu.
Perhaps the little one’s mind would become sharper after eating a Crystal Core.
Before long, Lu Chen fished out a Crystal Core from the red-and-white, sticky brain matter.
It was a faintly glowing yellow Crystal Core, only half a grade above the lowest-level white ones.
Even a small gain was still a gain, so he didn’t hesitate to pick it up.
The moment his hand touched the Crystal Core, it instantly vanished.
At the same time, he clearly felt a faint ripple of power surge within his body.
The Crystal Core had been absorbed by him!
With this new discovery, Lu Chen once again released his supernatural ability.
However, there was still no significant reaction.
Just then, Lu Chen suddenly spotted a familiar figure hiding behind a large tree nearby.
The adorable, peeking posture was unmistakably the little one.
“What are you hiding there for? Come out.”
Hearing Lu Chen’s voice, Ling Jiujiu was nearly scared to tears.
Why?
He had hidden so well—how did Lu Chen find him?
Wah, wah, was he going to have his brain dug out too?!
Ling Jiujiu covered his ears and curled into a ball.
After waiting a moment and seeing no sign of Ling Jiujiu emerging, Lu Chen stood up and walked toward him.
As he approached, he belatedly realized that he was seeing Ling Jiujiu hiding behind the large tree.
His eyes could see through the tree—he possessed Clairvoyance!
Clearly, this ability had awakened only after absorbing the Crystal Core.
So, was his power to absorb Crystal Cores and convert them into his own supernatural abilities?
The situation still needed further observation; it was too early to draw conclusions.
As for now… how long did the little one plan to keep hiding?
Behind the tree, Ling Jiujiu was covering his head, silently chanting, “Can’t see me, can’t see me, can’t see me…”
But when he opened his eyes, he saw Lu Chen with faint golden light shimmering in his eyes. Terrified, his legs went weak, and he collapsed to his knees with a thud.
Catching a glimpse of Lu Chen’s blood-stained hands from the corner of his eye, Ling Jiujiu’s pale face turned almost green with fear.
“I—I’m blind, I didn’t see anything…” Ling Jiujiu stammered, his voice trembling.