“Su Han is incredibly powerful. He awakened his psychic ability before the Mist even descended.”
“He may seem cold on the outside, but he’s actually warm—hearted. Don’t let that permanent scowl fool you—it always looks like someone owes him money.”
“Working in our line of business, if you aren’t intimidating enough, how are you supposed to keep terrorists in check?”
“Brother, are you and Captain Su very close?”
“We are. Back then, terrorists clashed with our border forces, and a gunfight broke out.”
“They used children as suicide bombers.”
“Su Han was the one who saved my life.”
Wen Lan nodded.
So her brother and Su Han were comrades who had survived life and death together.
“Brother… does Su Han still have family? Does he have a girlfriend?”
Wen Che turned to look at his sister suspiciously.
“Lan… don’t tell me you’ve fallen for Su Han?”
“Pfft!”
“As if.”
“I’m just a little curious about him.”
“That’s good.”
“I haven’t seen Su Han get close to any woman these past few years.”
“But I think there is a girl he secretly likes.”
On the eve of Valentine’s Day, February 14, Su Han had asked Wen Che to accompany him to the mall to pick out a necklace.
“Oh…”
Wen Lan wasn’t narcissistic enough to think that Su Han liked her.
The only thing she knew was that he kept secretly scanning her with his psychic ability.
Thanks to her heightened perception, she could always sense it.
She had no idea what his motives were.
For now, it was best to stay on guard around him.
Traveling alone with her brother was much more convenient.
She could take things out of her space whenever she wanted.
The journey back was considerably easier.
Most of the zombies along the road had already been cleared away.
But now that there were more people traveling together…
There were naturally more problems.
Among the five staff members from the Agricultural Research Institute were two women.
One of them happened to get her period.
She first tried borrowing sanitary pads from Wang Hui, only to discover Wang Hui had gotten her period as well.
So Wang Zhenzhen came looking for Wen Lan.
“Do you have any sanitary pads? Can I borrow some? I’ll pay you back once I find some.”
“…”
“I honestly don’t.”
“I don’t need them.”
Wen Lan answered truthfully.
She was pregnant.
She wouldn’t need sanitary pads for the next year, so she had never bothered storing any in her space.
Most of what she carried consisted of food…
Along with baby supplies.
Wang Zhenzhen clearly didn’t believe her.
Looking at Wen Lan’s bulging backpack, she found it hard to accept.
“All right…”
Wen Che frowned slightly.
Thinking back, Wen Lan really hadn’t searched for those kinds of supplies.
But…
She didn’t need them?
He silently decided to gather more feminine hygiene products for his sister in the future.
After all, they were necessities inside the safe zone.
On the return trip, they once again traveled along the provincial highway.
If the expressway became completely blocked, turning back would be nearly impossible.
Besides, after the apocalypse began and the Mist spread, most people had fled via the highways.
Countless traffic accidents had occurred as a result.
Only recently had the Mist finally begun to clear.
“The bridge ahead has collapsed.”
“We’ll have to take a detour.”
When they had passed this way before, the bridge had still been intact.
“A detour will delay us.”
Zhou Wen glanced at the map.
Going around would add at least another dozen kilometers.
“The priority is getting this equipment back safely.”
“We’ll take the detour.”
“Yes, Captain.”
As long as they followed the captain’s orders.
They left the main road and took a narrow back route instead.
The road was rough, but any zombies they encountered were simply crushed beneath the trucks.
By five o’clock that evening…
They had been traveling for eight or nine hours.
Everyone was exhausted.
“There’s a building up ahead.”
“We’ll spend the night there.”
It happened to be a shopping mall.
Su Han also wanted everyone to bring back as many supplies as possible before returning to the safe zone.
“There are zombies inside.”
“Zhang Ye, Ji Cang, come with me and clear them out.”
“Wang Hui, Wen Che—you two stay here.”
“Yes!”
Weapon in hand, Wang Hui climbed out first.
“Little Sis, stay inside the truck.”
After saying that, Wen Che grabbed his weapon and got out as well.
A few scattered zombies staggered toward them from the surrounding streets.
These zombies moved noticeably faster than the ones they had encountered before.
Slash—
Wen Che’s movements were clean and precise.
Every strike landed directly on a zombie’s joints.
One by one, their limbs were severed until they collapsed onto the ground…
Still wriggling.
The Agricultural Research Institute staff watching from inside the truck all turned pale.
About an hour later…
Darkness had nearly fallen.
“You can come in now!”
“The zombies inside the building have all been cleared!”
Zhang Ye called from the entrance.
The mall had only two floors.
Once inside, everything was pitch black.
For Wen Lan, however…
Her enhanced perception allowed her to sense everything around her even in complete darkness.
Zhang Ye arranged for the research staff to stay in a room on the second floor.
“No one is to leave tonight.”
“Then… what about going to the bathroom?”
Wang Zhenzhen frowned.
“That’ll be rather inconvenient.”
“You’ll have to figure that out yourselves.”
“It’s not like I can go to the bathroom for you.”
With a cigarette dangling from his lips, Zhang Ye grinned.
“You…”
Wang Zhenzhen’s face darkened.
“We should reach the safe zone tomorrow morning.”
With that, Zhang Ye left.
Wen Che took Wen Lan downstairs to retrieve energy pearls from the zombie corpses.
By now, everyone had settled into clear roles.
The others killed zombies.
Wen Lan located the energy pearls.
Together with Wen Che and Wang Hui, she dug them out.
The mall was dark, and everyone relied on flashlights.
Wen Che suddenly pulled out a black energy pearl.
“A black one!”
“So there are energy pearls of this color too?”
Wen Lan’s eyes lit up.
She could sense that the energy inside the black pearl was identical to the energy emanating from the He Shou Wu.
“Brother~”
The moment she spoke in that tone, Wen Che understood.
Without hesitation, he let her keep the black energy pearl.
Wen Lan slipped it into her pocket instead of placing it in her space.
She was afraid the babies might absorb it automatically.
After all the crystal beads had been collected, everyone divided them equally.
Wen Lan also received a transparent energy pearl.
Holding the black pearl, she wondered how to feed it to the He Shou Wu.
Fertilizer usually went into the soil…
So…
She buried the quail egg—sized black energy pearl directly inside the cup containing the plant.
Using her perception, she carefully observed it.
Just as she’d expected…
The He Shou Wu slowly began absorbing the black pearl’s energy.
On the surface, however, it still looked as wilted as before.
Wen Lan immediately memorized the black pearl’s effect.
As the He Shou Wu grew stronger, the nourishing energy it emitted affected the babies in her womb.
The babies, in turn…
Continued strengthening her through their feedback.
The effect had only a limited range.
She had to keep the plant close to her body.
As a result, Wen Lan practically hugged the He Shou Wu everywhere she went.
Meanwhile, Wen Che couldn’t shake the feeling that his sister had become increasingly strange.
That night, they stayed on the second floor.
Fortunately, the zombies couldn’t climb stairs.
“There are plenty of supplies in this mall.”
“Finally, we can change into clean clothes.”
“Too bad there’s barely any food left.”
“Most of it’s moldy.”
Fresh food had long since rotted away.
“We’ll arrive at the safe zone tomorrow.”
“If you see any supplies you need, take them.”
“You won’t have to turn them in.”
“Yes, Captain!”
For the past several days, they had been constantly on the move.
Whenever they searched for supplies, food had always been their top priority.
Zhang Ye’s pants even had a huge tear in them.
Everyone eagerly scattered through the mall looking for useful supplies.
This was only a small county shopping mall.
The clothes weren’t exactly high quality…
But they were durable enough.
Wen Che specifically went looking for sanitary pads for his sister.
Wen Lan, meanwhile, noticed an electronics counter on the first floor.
Headphones.
Children’s story players.
She also collected plenty of batteries into her space.
Some of the phones still had power.
There was even a shared power bank station near the entrance.
She smashed it open and stored all the power banks in her space.
Naturally, she also carried a backpack to avoid drawing suspicion.
She even packed several sets of clothes and shoes for her brother.
Her space was now about two—thirds full.
As Wen Che searched for useful supplies…
He passed the mother—and—baby section once again.
Suddenly, he stopped.
The first time he’d walked by, most of the merchandise had still been there.
Now…
Half of it had disappeared.
He frowned.
Questions quietly began forming in his mind.
When Wen Lan returned, her brother was nowhere to be seen.
Instead, Zhang Ye was happily roasting sweet potatoes with his fire ability.
“Come on, Sister Wen Lan! Have a sweet potato!”
he greeted enthusiastically.
Wang Hui frowned slightly and let out a cold snort.
“Thank you.”
Wen Lan accepted the roasted sweet potato.
Then…
She felt it again.
That guy was secretly scanning her.
What was wrong with him?
He’d scanned her several times already today.
This time, Wen Lan deliberately activated her own ability.
Sure enough…
She could only detect psychic fluctuations surrounding herself.
Which meant…
Su Han had only scanned her.
Had he discovered something?
Since no one was disrupting the peaceful atmosphere…
She decided to pretend she knew nothing.
“We’ll finally reach the safe zone tomorrow.”
“At last, we can get a proper night’s sleep.”
Zhang Ye said with a smile.
Out in the wilderness…
Every night was filled with tension.
Ji Cang was still training his body.
Zhou Wen, meanwhile, carefully tended to his little flower, occasionally feeding it a bit of his ability.
But he didn’t dare give it too much.
Even plants could become overfed.
Out of curiosity, Zhou Wen sensed the He Shou Wu in Wen Lan’s hands.
His eyes immediately lit up.
Adjusting his glasses to hide his nervousness, he walked over to her.
“Miss Wen… may I ask you something?”
“?”
“Sure.”
Wen Lan followed Zhou Wen to the abandoned escalator inside the mall.
“I know this is rather abrupt…”
“But I really want to ask.”
Then just ask already.
Besides, the moment Zhou Wen had called her over, she had already sensed Su Han’s psychic power resting on her.
She checked carefully.
There was psychic energy surrounding Zhou Wen as well.
Her brother had once told her…
That anything said within Su Han’s psychic range could be heard by him.
“How did your vine become so much stronger?”
“Hm?”
“You can sense that?”
Right.
Zhou Wen possessed a wood—element ability.
Wen Lan told him about feeding the plant with the black energy pearl.
“Thank you!”
“But… I don’t think my plant is suited for black energy pearls.”
Wen Lan sensed that the little flower in Zhou Wen’s hands emitted a yellow glow.
“Try looking for a yellow energy pearl.”
“See if that works.”
“All right!”
“Thank you!”
Although Zhou Wen could sense the life force within plants…
To him, every plant simply appeared green.
He was becoming increasingly convinced…
That Wen Lan’s perception was far more profound than his own.
This time, his gratitude toward her was completely sincere.
Early the next morning, everyone set out once again.
The cargo trucks were loaded with bags upon bags of supplies.
Every one of them was precious.
Wen Lan rode with Wen Che as usual.
“Lan…”
“Why did you collect so many baby supplies?”
“And… I’ve noticed you’ve put on a little weight recently.”