5 – Awakening of Thunder Elemental Powers
Early the next morning, Ye Jin rented a truck and went to the village with the driver. After the driver loaded the livestock, she had him transport them directly to the warehouse.
She then drove to the end of the village herself. She remembered what the auntie had said yesterday—there was an orchard here.
While seeds for common vegetables were easy to buy, she needed saplings to grow fruit trees in her Dimension. Yu Zichen was a premature baby with inherently poor health. During the apocalypse years, nutritional imbalances worsened his condition, leaving him frighteningly thin and frequently ill with minor ailments.
Sure enough, not far ahead, she spotted an apple orchard with orange trees nearby, alongside greenhouse-cultivated watermelon and strawberry fields. However, it wasn’t the right season yet, so none of the plants were bearing fruit.
Ye Jin got out and looked around but didn’t see any caretaker. Typically, such orchards had dedicated watchmen. There was a small courtyard at the entrance with a stack of firewood, likely tended by an elderly villager.
She retrieved two bags of rice from her Dimension, placed a thousand yuan beneath them, and left them at the courtyard entrance. Then she entered the orchard, dug up over a dozen fruit saplings, and planted them in her Dimension.
She cleared several plots of land in the Dimension for raising poultry and scattered a large area with the seeds she had bought earlier.
Just as Ye Jin emerged from the Dimension, a dark shadow suddenly flashed before her eyes, lunging at her! Reacting instinctively, she kicked out, only managing to push the attacker about a meter away.
A Mutant dog?
When she clearly saw what it was, Ye Jin’s pupils contracted sharply, her mind reeling with shock—a Mutant dog had appeared even before the apocalypse began!
She remembered from her previous life that her first encounter with a mutated animal didn’t occur until a year into the apocalypse.
Mutant animals were different from ordinary ones. This mutt was just a common village dog, but its eyes were bloodshot, its limbs robust, and its fur bristled during combat.
Enraged by the kick, the Mutant dog grew even more ferocious, barking wildly: “Woof! Woof! Woof!” It lunged again, snapping viciously at Ye Jin’s right leg.
Ye Jin stepped back and punched the Mutant dog in the head with her right fist. Having survived five years in the apocalypse, her combat instincts never wavered, and her Marrow cleansing had made her body stronger and more powerful than in her previous life.
If this punch had landed on an ordinary animal, it would have been half-crippled, but the Mutant dog’s skin and flesh were unusually tough. The blow only caused minor pain, provoking the dog to snarl even more savagely and attack with greater intensity.
Ye Jin wrestled with the Mutant dog for a quarter of an hour. This was definitely not a newly mutated animal—its endurance was so formidable that it was likely on the verge of breaking through to level one.
Without a suitable weapon at hand, prolonging the fight would only drain her strength.
Catching her breath for just half a second, Ye Jin saw the Mutant dog seize the opening, charging at her throat with its jaws wide open.
When the dog’s fangs were mere centimeters from her neck, she suddenly felt a surge of power throughout her body. A brilliant white light erupted as lightning enveloped her entire form. The Mutant dog was electrocuted the moment it touched the lightning surrounding her.
Overjoyed, Ye Jin realized her Thunder ability had awakened ahead of schedule!
Her aura shifted, eyes blazing with killing intent as she swiftly summoned lightning and hurled it at the Mutant dog. The bolt struck directly, tearing open its flesh and leaving deep wounds. The air filled with the pungent smells of blood and scorched meat.
Instinctively sensing danger, the Mutant dog turned and fled rapidly into the orchard. Ye Jin didn’t pursue it to finish it off.
Mutant dogs were different from Zombie dogs. Being bitten by a Zombie dog could transmit the virus, whereas mutated animals, like humans, simply underwent special physical mutations.Judging by how familiar this dog was with the orchard, it must be the guard dog here.
She hadn’t intentionally trespassed—it was just that there was no one around, so she had taken the liberty of exchanging some rice and money for a few saplings. She never expected the dog to be so fierce, lunging to bite without warning.
If animals were already undergoing purification ahead of time, could it be that some humans had also awakened their Special Abilities early?
Ye Jin had thought she held the advantage by knowing the future, but she never expected even animals to evolve ahead of schedule. Had the government anticipated this situation? Perhaps they were already taking precautions!
She remembered from her previous life that, early in the apocalypse, the country had already relocated many important officials and scientists in advance.
Yu Leyang must have caught wind of it back then—he had stockpiled massive amounts of supplies in S Province ahead of time, laying an unshakable foundation for his later status in the Base.
Logically, if an ordinary businessman like Yu Leyang could get some insider information, the Ye family—a centuries-old influential clan in the capital—should have heard something too, even if their numbers had dwindled over the years.
On the first day of her rebirth, Ye Jin had made countless calls to her Maternal Uncle and Cousin, but not a single one went through. In her previous life, the apocalypse had struck too suddenly, leaving no time to make contact. Trying to find family in the post-apocalyptic world was nearly impossible, and by the time she received any news, the Ye family had been wiped out—no one survived.
Ye Jin refused to believe it. Her cousin Ye Xu had been a troublemaker since childhood, always climbing roofs and tearing down tiles—he was tough and resilient. If she and Xiao Chen could awaken Special Abilities, he definitely could too.
But before she could investigate further in her past life, Yu Ruanruan had killed her first.
Ye Jin was deeply anxious now. With no way to get in touch and unable to go directly to the capital—where competition among the major families was fierce—the Ye family, with its few descendants and no collateral branches, relied solely on her Maternal Uncle and elder brother to hold things together.
With the current situation unclear, rushing to the capital recklessly could leave her isolated and vulnerable if something went wrong. For now, all she could do was wait and see.
After returning to the city, she went straight to the warehouse and stored all the poultry in her Dimension. She changed into a black tracksuit inside the Dimension, put on a baseball cap and a face mask, and after making sure she wouldn’t be recognized, she set off by car.
…
The black market!
A dilapidated old neighborhood with aging residential buildings—one of the few lawless zones left. No matter how well-policed a city was, there were always blind spots where, as long as you had money, there was a market.
Anything you couldn’t find outside, anything you wanted—if you had the money, it was here.
“Do you have everything I asked for ready?”
“Don’t worry! When Bie San handles things, doesn’t he arrange them perfectly?”
The flamboyantly dressed young man with dyed yellow hair in front of Ye Jin might not look reliable, but anyone who could operate in this area was no simple character.
At the very least, he was the only one daring enough to sell what she wanted.
Ye Jin said, “Then let’s inspect the goods directly.”
Bie San brought out several large dolls from the back, sliced them open with a knife, and revealed various models of handguns, three AKs, and several exceptionally sharp Miao blades along with a few broadswords.
Ye Jin frowned, somewhat dissatisfied. “Is this all?”
“Hey, miss! Do you know how much effort and connections it took to get even this much in such a short time? Just possessing these is enough to land me in prison for decades!”
These weapons might be somewhat useful in the early stages of the apocalypse, but as the Zombies evolved, ordinary firearms and bullets would become practically useless.”Grandma, for a girl like you, these weapons are more than enough for self-defense. We’re not forming an army here – in these peaceful times, being able to get this much is already quite something.”
Bie San noticed Ye Jin remained silent and realized she probably wasn’t satisfied.
But currently, the country strictly prohibited even controlled knives, and obtaining firearms was extremely difficult. If not for the substantial payment, he wouldn’t have dared to handle this business either.
He continued: “Beautiful, this is the absolute limit of what I can acquire. I guarantee you – if even I can’t get something in our area, nobody else can either.”
Seeing that these weapons represented his maximum capability, Ye Jin nodded: “Fine then.”
Bie San relaxed internally at her attitude and asked: “What about the final payment?”
For this batch of firearms, only the deposit had been paid initially, with the balance still pending.
Ye Jin directly pulled out from her coat pocket the jewelry, bracelets, necklaces that her Maternal Uncle and cousin had given her for birthdays in previous years, along with some expensive accessories she had purchased herself. The collection was diverse, all luxury items.
Bie San was taken aback: “Our original deal specified cash payment.”
“I don’t have that much cash on hand right now. These jewelry pieces are worth far more than the price we agreed upon.”
Ye Jin picked up the diamond necklace that Yu’s Father had acquired for her tenth birthday: “This necklace alone is worth millions! The diamond is a full six carats. If I weren’t short on cash right now, I’d never make such a loss-making deal with you!”
Bie San was no country bumpkin – as someone specializing in resale business, he could tell at a glance these were all genuine pieces. If he were to sell them properly, he could definitely get a good price.
“Alright then, leave the jewelry here and we’ll consider this deal done. But if anything happens with these firearms, it’s none of my business.”
He only handled reselling, not taking responsibility for consequences. Who knew what these weapons would be used for?
Ye Jin chuckled lightly: “You can rest completely assured about that. I only require that you don’t resell these jewelry pieces within S Province.”
With the apocalypse approaching soon, laws would become completely irrelevant. Besides, she wasn’t planning to use these guns immediately anyway.
What a pity about these jewelry pieces though. She couldn’t let Yu Leyang know about her private activities right now. Even though these items could fetch higher prices through formal auctions, for caution’s sake – fearing Yu Leyang might notice something – she had no choice but to handle them this way for now.