Wen Yu, a weakling without any abilities, was practically useless in front of high-level zombies.
She didn’t join the fight to cause trouble. Instead, she took the opportunity to drag away the man the mall manager had thrown out, preventing Pei Ye from accidentally causing him further harm during combat.
But she wasn’t completely indifferent.
Hearing that the zombie had poor eyesight, her first thought was that it probably had severe myopia in life. Even as a high-level zombie, its weakness could still be identified, which meant its vision must be seriously impaired.
People with severe myopia often only see a blurry outline.
If it was just an outline, whether someone was actually in it wasn’t really up to the zombie—it was up to them.
Wen Yu made a decision immediately.
She pulled out three gas canisters, each over half her height, from her space and rolled them into the battlefield.
Hearing the noise, Pei Ye immediately understood her plan. He directed the remaining two teammates to stand the canisters upright, forming a perimeter around the zombie at a distance.
Wen Yu, not needing money, threw a wave of abilities at the zombie while Pei Ye shouted a retreat.
The three quickly withdrew from the battlefield, running straight downstairs to avoid collateral damage.
Cen Mo grabbed Gu Feng, Pei Ye carried Wen Yu, and halfway down, Pei Ye shouted to the empty-handed Song Yu: “Song Yu, ignite the gas canisters!”
The next moment, soccer-ball-sized fireballs smashed into the canisters. The mall manager, standing at the center, tried to smash the canisters with his bare hands.
Under the dual pressure, the gas canisters exploded instantly.
The manager was blown to pieces, flying in all directions.
Even downstairs, a chunk of flesh landed near Wen Yu, causing her to black out and vomit again.
Though effective, this method was extremely gruesome.
Wen Yu gritted her teeth between heaves, vowing never to do anything like this again.
Pei Ye, watching, smiled faintly.
He assumed her willingness to kill zombies and devise such a strategy meant she had adapted to this harsh new life—though the road ahead would be long.
Ruffling her hair, he subconsciously encouraged her: “Thanks for saving us.”
Pei Ye didn’t ask about the gas canisters, but Wen Yu immediately felt guilty, ignoring her nausea.
She raised her eyes, not noticing Pei Ye’s probing look, and struck a haughty pose, looking down from above in a playful way.
The three gas canisters had tremendous destructive power, collapsing the entire floor.
Pei Ye considered the situation and decided to gather supplies here before leaving.
High-level zombies likely had territorial instincts, so low-level zombies in the mall were few.
After this area, he suspected there wouldn’t be another place with so few zombies.
He first used his abilities to heal Gu Feng, then instructed Song Yu and Cen Mo:
“You two wait on the first floor. I’ll gather some supplies.”
They both nodded in agreement.
Pei Ye got up, and Wen Yu instinctively followed him. Song Yu frowned at their backs, opening his mouth to say something but was stopped by Cen Mo.
Once they were out of earshot, Song Yu complained: “Why did you stop me?”
“I didn’t. What were you going to say?”
“Of course I’d tell Wen Yu not to go cause trouble!”
Cen Mo glanced at him.
As Pei Ye’s friends, they knew Wen Yu well.
She was a true heiress raised in luxury—spoiled, willful, with innate superiority, looking down on everyone, including Pei Ye.
Now in the apocalypse, though not everyone was equal, the strong ruled. Those with abilities naturally weren’t forced to consider Wen Yu inferior.
Pei Ye clearly had no intention of leaving her behind, and the sudden appearance of three gas canisters suggested Wen Yu might have awakened some ability.
At times like this, sticking together was the only way to survive.
Cen Mo explained this to Song Yu. Reluctantly, he accepted it but still grumbled:
“I don’t care if she has abilities or not. I don’t rely on her, and she can’t expect to rely on me.”
Meanwhile, Wen Yu had gone completely overboard looting.
Mattresses? Collected. Bedding? Collected. Blankets? Collected.
Pajamas? Collected. Underwear? Collected. Swimsuits and socks? Collected.
In the ready-to-wear section, she ignored sizes and styles, taking everything—on display or in the stockroom.
Over forty shops later, she had stripped them bare.
At the small appliances section, she looted fans, air conditioners, refrigerators, washing machines, even rice cookers and cookware sets.
Finally, she reached the supermarket.
She ignored the shelves and went straight to the storage room.
Rice, noodles, grains, oils, snacks, drinks, and all sorts of miscellaneous boxes went into her space.
In the cold storage, she took all fruits, vegetables, and fresh meat.
The cold storage still had power, so nothing had spoiled yet. The remaining shelf items could be left for others scavenging supplies.
Pei Ye frowned.
Fifty cubic meters—could all of that really fit?
He didn’t ask.
Once out of the supermarket onto the first floor, Wen Yu couldn’t resist the cosmetics and jewelry counters and looted again.
Jewelry wouldn’t hold value in the apocalypse, but she had her trading group—maybe she could trade it later.
By now, Song Yu and the others realized Wen Yu had awakened some ability.
But a spatial ability that ignored food to hoard jewelry and cosmetics—what was she thinking?
Song Yu rolled his eyes and inwardly grumbled.
Sure enough, a fool didn’t become smarter just because of newfound power.
With or without abilities, Wen Yu was still the same arrogant, clueless heiress she had been before the apocalypse.
Wen Yu, thrilled with her looting, noticed Song Yu’s disapproving gaze and shot him a glare.
Pei Ye noticed the tension and quickly said: “Let’s go. There are no high-level zombies holding this area, and the low-level ones will arrive soon.”
No one objected. They stayed alert and moved toward the exit, finally getting into Pei Ye’s SUV and heading to the suburbs.
Before starting the car, Wen Yu glanced back at the café. It was empty—Lin Yitang and her group must have escaped safely.
Along the way, zombies became more numerous.
Pei Ye drove, avoiding them when possible. When unavoidable, he used his abilities from inside the car.
Not aiming to kill in one strike, but to stun them just long enough to escape.
After fighting and moving this way for two hours, the five finally reached the villa.
Once there, Pei Ye introduced Wen Yu to:
Song Yu, Cen Mo, and Gu Feng.
Though she had never met them, Wen Yu knew from the novel: fire ability, earth ability, wind ability, lightning ability, and one ice ability.
Pei Ye’s five-person ability squad was complete.
Wen Yu was pleased—more people meant more bodyguards for her.
But she wasn’t particularly friendly to strangers. She merely nodded and returned to her room.
Song Yu, already annoyed with Wen Yu, was instantly enraged by her aloof demeanor.
Pei Ye gave a calm glance: “The water supply is cut off. All drinking water looted from the supermarket is in Wen Yu’s space.”
Meaning, meals, water, even washing and bathing—all depended on Wen Yu.
Song Yu shut his mouth silently.