Just after using his supernatural ability once, Xu Jie swayed unsteadily.
He rubbed his head and sat cross-legged on the wall to avoid suddenly fainting and falling off.
The strength of a supernatural ability mainly depends on two aspects.
First is the talent of the ability user—this is innate. Those with stronger talent experience faster growth in their abilities.
Second is psychic energy. The stronger the psychic energy, the more precise and effortless the control over the supernatural ability.
Being able to manipulate lightning to stun a zombie just one day after awakening is already an exceptionally powerful talent and level of psychic energy.
He had seen fire-ability users who could only control fireballs after a month of awakening.
In comparison, Xu Jie could be called a genius.
Lu Chen scanned the area. Among these zombies, not many possessed Crystal Cores—only twelve, in fact.
There were too many zombies below, estimated to be over a hundred, so they couldn’t simply go down and dig out the Crystal Cores.
They couldn’t possibly kill all hundred-plus zombies—that would be a massive undertaking.
Their ammunition was insufficient now, and with Xu Jie’s psychic energy, he could kill at most ten zombies a day.
That efficiency was far too low.
Just as Lu Chen was thinking of ways to improve efficiency, he heard a thud.
Ling Jiujiu jumped down.
He scurried over to the zombie that had been electrocuted into a charred corpse, crouched down, and curiously examined its head.
There seemed to be something inside this zombie’s head—something fragrant, smelling as if it would be delicious.
Lu Chen had a sudden idea and called out to Ling Jiujiu:
“Jiujiu, throw me that zombie’s head.”
Ling Jiujiu silently touched his own head.
Lu Chen thought for a moment and added, “Just drag that zombie over and tie it to the rope.”
Asking the little one, who believed himself to be a zombie, to chop off a head seemed a bit cruel, no matter how he thought about it.
Hearing this, Ling Jiujiu nodded, then dragged the charred corpse by its legs toward the wall.
As he dragged and pulled, Ling Jiujiu suddenly felt his hands lighten.
He looked back and saw only two legs in his hands—half of the charred corpse’s body had fallen off behind him.
Ling Jiujiu froze for a moment, quickly dropped the two legs, and felt like he was about to throw up.
Xu Jie found it amusing: “Little Jiujiu really hits all the right notes for me. I want to adopt him as my little brother.”
Lu Chen: “…”
Ling Jiujiu suppressed his nausea and instead grabbed the charred corpse’s head, preparing to continue dragging it over.
The charred corpse was already severely decayed, and being electrocuted had left it crispy on the outside and tender inside, making it easy to break apart with a little force.
In the end, Ling Jiujiu only brought over the head, tossing it directly to Lu Chen.
Lu Chen dug out the Crystal Core but didn’t absorb it immediately this time, instead storing it in his storage space.
Under Lu Chen’s direction, Xu Jie used electric arcs to stun one zombie after another.
Ling Jiujiu became the head porter, making trip after trip to collect heads and deliver them to Lu Chen.
Later, finding it too troublesome to go back and forth, he simply strung the heads together with a rope before handing them over to Lu Chen.
Lu Chen collected twelve Crystal Cores, one of which was light blue—a water-ability Crystal Core.
Xu Jie’s psychic energy was severely depleted, and he ended up hanging limply on the wall.
Lu Chen pulled Ling Jiujiu back up and returned to the vehicle.
Finding an open area, he began absorbing the Crystal Cores.
He absorbed the light blue Crystal Core, which fused with the two types he had absorbed earlier, causing his own Crystal Core to turn yellowish-green.
However, this didn’t affect his ability to use his supernatural power.
Lu Chen then absorbed five more Crystal Cores to enhance his ability level.
There were still five Crystal Cores left. He looked at Ling Jiujiu, who was staring at him eagerly.
“Want to eat them?”
Ling Jiujiu nodded, practically drooling with anticipation.
Zombies could evolve by absorbing Crystal Cores. Researchers in the laboratory had said that if a zombie absorbed enough Crystal Cores, it might evolve into a high-level zombie with human consciousness.
Ling Jiujiu already possessed human consciousness. Lu Chen gave him the Crystal Cores to prevent his brain from deteriorating.
It would be best if he could restore his brain to a normal human level, but at the very least, he shouldn’t regress.
Ling Jiujiu picked up a Crystal Core and tossed it into his mouth.
“?”
Ling Jiujiu furrowed his brows and smacked his lips.
“What’s wrong?” Lu Chen asked.
Ling Jiujiu said, “I ate it too fast.”
Lu Chen handed him a few more, and Ling Jiujiu ate them one by one.
The Crystal Cores disappeared as soon as they entered his mouth, leaving no taste at all.
They smelled delicious, but he couldn’t savor them. Was this some kind of joke?
“I don’t want to eat anymore,” Ling Jiujiu grumbled, handing the Crystal Cores back to Lu Chen.
Lu Chen held one to his lips. “Have one more. It might help you regain your memories.”
“Really?” Ling Jiujiu was skeptical.
Lu Chen explained, “These are called Crystal Cores. Zombies who eat them can evolve and become stronger.”
Ling Jiujiu wanted to become stronger and also wanted to recover his memories, so he took it and ate it.
At least it had no taste, which was much better than the tree-root-flavored meat.
After eating the Crystal Core, Lu Chen asked him, “How do you feel?”
Ling Jiujiu imitated Xu Jie, rubbing his head.
After a while, he opened his eyes and shook his head. “I still can’t remember anything.”
“It’s okay. Maybe you haven’t eaten enough. We’ll try more later.”
As he spoke, Lu Chen retrieved a box of colored contact lenses from his storage space, intending to disguise Ling Jiujiu.
They might encounter other people along the way, and he couldn’t let Ling Jiujiu become a target.
Once the black contact lenses were in place, Ling Jiujiu blinked and tilted his head, asking:
“Will no one be able to tell I’m a zombie now?”
Lu Chen looked at Ling Jiujiu again.
Without those red eyes, the little guy looked no different from a human.
He was still a fair-skinned, handsome young man with delicate features.
Lu Chen suddenly noticed that Ling Jiujiu’s skin didn’t seem as pale as when he first met him.
Though still fair, it was no longer the lifeless pallor but a healthy, translucent white.
Perhaps, if the little guy ate enough Crystal Cores, he might even turn back into a human.
Passing by an intact pharmacy, Lu Chen got out of the car alone to search for supplies.
Xu Jie had woken up but was still a bit dizzy. Recovering from psychic energy depletion would take time.
Ling Jiujiu was left in the car to look after Xu Jie.
There were only two zombies in the pharmacy—a shop assistant and an elderly person. Lu Chen dispatched them with a single strike each. After confirming there were no more zombies inside, he began searching for useful medicine.
After the apocalypse began, he had taught himself many things.
His previous team had a field medic, and for safety’s sake, he had also learned a lot about emergency medical knowledge.
The pharmacy was well-stocked with a wide variety of medicines, most of which remained untouched.
Lu Chen packed all the useful medicines into his storage space.
After his supernatural ability leveled up, his storage space had expanded to ten cubic meters, which was more than enough to hold these medicines.
At ten o’clock in the evening, Lu Chen, exhausted from driving all day, parked the car in a remote field to rest for a while before continuing.
Ling Jiujiu was assigned the task of keeping watch. He pressed against the car window, gazing outside under the moonlight.
The night sky was faintly lit, and Ling Jiujiu could only see things nearby, unable to make out anything farther away.
The car was too quiet, and Ling Jiujiu felt a bit bored, so she opened the door to get some fresh air.
As soon as she stepped out of the car, she felt the ground beneath her feet trembling slightly.