Acid rain!
Wen Yu felt her chest tighten and turned to look at Pei Ye.
She wasn’t sure whether the acid rain arriving at this time was due to her rebirth causing a butterfly effect, but the thought alone made her uneasy.
Pei Ye, at that moment, was looking outside in response to Lin Yitang’s shout.
Huge raindrops fell onto the concrete, immediately creating small pits. If one listened closely, there was a faint sizzling sound—
The sound of the concrete being corroded by acid rain.
Pei Ye furrowed his brow, and in the heavy silence, uttered three words:
“It’s acid rain.”
Though they now knew the answer, Gu Feng and the others still drew in a sharp breath.
If they hadn’t hidden in the exhibition hall beforehand, relying only on the thin roof of the car, it would have already been corroded through.
Thinking about the unknown future, no one spoke for a while.
Finally, Lin Yitang tried to lighten the mood:
“Our luck’s still good. If this acid rain had come before we installed the solar panels, all our effort would have been for nothing.”
She said it, but no one felt lucky.
Judging by the strength of the rain—one drop leaving a pit—the villa side would likely be a disaster. Not to mention farmland and ecological problems.
From now on, supplies would probably become harder and harder to obtain.
Everyone was worried, except Song Yu, who didn’t want Lin Yitang to feel awkward, so he echoed her words:
“小Tang is right.”
Lin Yitang looked at Song Yu’s silly expression, didn’t want to argue further, and lightly responded to end the conversation.
The exhibition hall fell quiet again.
After a while, Wen Yu sighed and pulled out several boxes of self-heating hotpot from her space, as today’s lunch.
The hall was filthy—high heels scattered, display cabinets toppled, bones gnawed beyond recognition.
Eating in such a place was stomach-turning, so they found a small hall by the wall with a glass door—it was cleaner inside.
Song Yu and the others’ supplies were in the car, which Wen Yu had stored in her space. Not wanting to rummage through their things, she gave Song Yu two boxes.
Fearing men’s appetites, she also provided a bag of steamed buns—six buns, one for each of them.
Wen Yu couldn’t eat buns, so she gave hers to Pei Ye. Lin Yitang followed suit, but seeing Pei Ye already had two, she gave hers to Song Yu instead.
Song Yu was flustered, quickly refusing: “Xiao Tang, you eat—eat enough so you can fight zombies.”
“I can’t eat more; one hotpot is enough.”
Thinking of Lin Yitang’s usual appetite, Song Yu blushed and left the buns for her.
Outside, rain poured; inside, the hotpots bubbled.
Soon, the self-heating hotpots were ready, and everyone sat on the floor to eat lunch.
As they ate, someone suddenly rolled out from the display cabinet behind Wen Yu.
Her breath caught, and she raised the half-eaten hotpot in her hand, quickly jumping up.
Pei Ye reacted immediately, pulling Wen Yu behind him with one hand and drawing his pistol with the other, aiming at the person.
Cen Mo, Gu Feng, and even Song Yu gathered nearby, while Lin Yitang ducked back.
No one knew if it was a person or a zombie. As a healing ability user, she wasn’t meant for frontline combat.
After a moment, the person didn’t move. Pei Ye stepped forward and checked—they had fainted.
He examined them, saw it was human, asked Wen Yu for a bottle of water to give them, and used his ability to heal them. Slowly, they awoke.
Seeing Pei Ye and the others, the man immediately burst into tears:
“Thank you for saving me!”
Through conversation, Wen Yu and the others learned that the man’s name was Ye Xin, a technician at a tech company upstairs.
After the mutation began, he hadn’t dodged in time and was bitten by a zombie in the next cubicle.
Not wanting to be eaten, and terrified of becoming a mindless monster, he tried to find a hiding place.
But after the chaos started, everywhere was filled with people or zombies—he had nowhere to hide.
Seeing that the exhibition cabinets displaying robotic arms were hollow, he crawled in… and lost consciousness.
Days later, he awoke, unharmed by zombification but starved, weak, and with his arm wound inflamed. He drifted in and out of consciousness. Just now, he smelled a strong aroma and summoned his last strength to roll out.
Luck brought him to Wen Yu and the others—otherwise, no one could have helped a starving person without supplies.
Considering Ye Xin’s delicate stomach, Wen Yu gave him a portion of porridge with a pack of pickled vegetables.
The porridge was ordinary from her supplies, but to Ye Xin, it tasted like a feast. Combined with the pickles, it brought him to tears.
Wen Yu stepped back, letting him eat without feeling awkward.
Her half-eaten hotpot had been discarded; she didn’t want to open another, so she pulled out a northeastern-style rice packet from her space.
The taste was industrial and bland, but the quantity was absurdly abundant. Wen Yu herself was astonished.
After finishing the rice packet, she cleaned up the spot where her previous hotpot had spilled—she didn’t know how long the rain would last, and she couldn’t stand trash in the exhibition hall if they had to stay overnight.
After everyone finished eating, Pei Ye asked about the upstairs situation.
Ye Xin told everything, finally revealing his ability. He extended his hand, and faint golden molecules gathered in his palm, forming the shape of a gold bar.
“Yours is… a gold ability?” Wen Yu’s eyes widened. She hadn’t expected someone to conjure a gold bar with bare hands. If this had happened before the apocalypse, it would have been a fortune!
“Should be,” Ye Xin admitted—today was his first time using it.
Pei Ye had a different idea: “Try changing its shape.”
A gold bar couldn’t deal fatal damage to a zombie.
Ye Xin understood. Soon, the gold bar in his palm transformed into a sharp gold spike, about a hand’s length.
Wen Yu found it fascinating, picked it up, and toyed with it.
Seizing the moment when no one was paying attention, she communicated with the furball via her consciousness.
[Furball, can this thing in my hand be used to pay your handling fee?]
[Yes.]
[Wow, this is real gold!]
Though she had guessed, Wen Yu was still amazed, her eyes sparkling.
If she recruited Ye Xin, she wouldn’t even need to trade with Su Qianru anymore—endless gold would cover the furball’s fees.
What a wealthy ability~
Seeing Wen Yu’s greedy expression, Pei Ye smiled wryly, thinking that in the future, while collecting supplies, he could get her some gold jewelry as well. Even if she didn’t wear it, it would count as strategic material—not wasted.
Lin Yitang, however, looked down on Wen Yu.
The rich young lady got so excited over gold, acting as if she’d seen her own father—pathetic!