The old woman’s name was Zhang Dongxuan, and she lived alone.
Her children would visit her every few days, each time bringing essential supplies, vegetables, fruit, rice, flour, cooking oil, and the like.
But since she lived alone, she couldn’t eat that much. She told them not to bring so much, yet they insisted, and over time, her stockpile grew larger and larger.
In fact, her children wanted her to live with them, but Zhang Dongxuan had familiar neighbors here, and within a fifteen-minute walk, she could reach the small vegetable plot she had cultivated herself. Her daily life was slow, yet fulfilling and comfortable.
She usually drank boiled tap water. Her children, concerned about impurities in the water, would occasionally order 15-liter bottles of purified water online to be delivered to her home.
By a twist of fate, when the apocalypse struck, Zhang Dongxuan happened to have four unopened bottles of water in her apartment.
Her neighbors, some fled, some died, some had their homes breached by zombies. Yet she, somehow, had endured over two grueling months in this scorching heat.
But by the time Fu Erdie searched the 24th floor, she had already run out of water and had spent three days parched and dizzy, struggling to stay conscious.
When Fu Erdie heard movement from her apartment, she assumed it was someone watching her, lying in wait. In reality, Zhang Dongxuan had been painstakingly shuffling toward the door, taking a step and resting, step after step.
With the last of her strength, she managed to call out to Fu Erdie and open the door before collapsing by the entrance.
That was the scene Fu Erdie had witnessed when she returned.
Now, sitting in Zhang Dongxuan’s home, listening to her story, Fu Erdie finally let go of her lingering wariness.
“I want to discuss something with you. If you’re willing to take the risk and help me monitor the cameras on the second floor, I can provide you with enough food and water every day. I can also take care of cleaning your place.”
Zhang Dongxuan was stunned. It took her a moment to process the words. She looked at Fu Erdie with disbelief, yet couldn’t help the flicker of hope in her eyes.
When she received a firm nod in response, she nearly burst into tears.
“Of course I’m willing… I already felt bad taking so much water and fruit from you. After this runs out, I wouldn’t survive anyway. Moving down to the second floor? There’s no reason I can’t do that. At this point, if I can have a bit of water and some fresh fruit, every extra day I live is a blessing.”
Fu Erdie wanted to make sure Zhang Dongxuan understood the danger, so she carefully explained the situation.
“I’ll set up surveillance cameras in the stairwells and hallways of the first and second floors. You’ll need to pick a room on the second floor to stay in long-term. When you’re free, you’ll need to monitor the cameras within Bluetooth range. Your room will have electricity, so you can use a fan. But at night, for safety, you can’t use bright lights unless absolutely necessary, only a small flashlight.”
“All the zombies in this building have been cleared out, but there’s always a chance more could wander in from outside. I’ll leave the dog on the second floor with you. If something happens, he can make noise, and he can handle small numbers of ordinary zombies. But if too many show up, Grandma… you’ll be in great danger. You could even die on the spot.”
Zhang Dongxuan shook her head. “This is already more than I could have hoped for. I’m prepared for the worst, so don’t worry, little sister. And if something happens, don’t feel guilty.”
Seeing the resolve in her eyes, Fu Erdie began helping her move.
Zhang Dongxuan wasn’t in good health, so Fu Erdie had her gather everything she wanted to bring and then go pick a room on the second floor. She would handle the rest.
Three months ago, Fu Erdie would never have imagined that she could haul things floor by floor, from the 24th to the 1st, on foot.
But now, not only had she done it, she handled it with ease.
After the move, Fu Erdie taught Zhang Dongxuan how to use her phone to view the surveillance footage and how to communicate via walkie-talkie. If anything unusual appeared on the monitors, Zhang Dongxuan could contact her immediately.
“This succulent can go next to the toilet in the bathroom,” Fu Erdie said, showing her before placing it there.
“It’s a mutated plant. It will slowly take root and release substances that break down waste, absorbing it as energy. It’ll handle the bathroom cleaning. Once it grows a bit larger, it can take care of the whole apartment’s cleaning too.”
The succulent nodded slowly.
Its thick roots gradually extended from the soil, waving in the air.
Zhang Dongxuan’s heart pounded, she was a little frightened. Her worldview was, understandably, a bit shaken.
After finishing all this, Fu Erdie’s life settled into a new routine.
At home, she had nothing to worry about, the apartment would take care of the plants and crops inside.
Outside, she still had to water the mutated plants she had planted across several floors on time.
The millet in Unit 16-7 had already grown into full ears. Unsure how to process it, Fu Erdie simply took it back home and handed it over to the ever-capable pothos.
The pothos, finding it troublesome, passed it down to its underling, the spider plant.
Although the spider plant wasn’t as large as the pothos, after consuming several floors’ worth of waste, it had grown to the size of a bush.
Perhaps because it often accompanied Fu Erdie outside, both it and the gardenia had learned to flexibly retract their massive root systems, coiling them into small boxes to join her on daily tasks.
Moreover, with its slender, elongated shape, the spider plant could reach farther when working. Its leaves and roots were also more flexible. Stripping the husks from the millet to leave the grains was no difficult task for it.
The dandelions and cabbage on the 24th floor had also matured. The dandelions had already begun dispersing their seeds with the wind, creating quite a sight on that floor.
Fu Erdie made at least one trip up and down the building every day. She checked on all the mutated plants, looked in on Zhang Dongxuan, and inspected the long string of connected power strips.
At the same time, she kept a daily record of her mutated apartment and the situation outside her building.
The residential complex had twelve buildings in total, with Fu Erdie’s being Building 7. The surrounding residential buildings still contained large numbers of zombies.
Ordinary zombies posed little threat to her. What Fu Erdie was really watching for were survivors, ability users, or even more powerful mutated zombies hiding within these buildings.
She had already determined that the zombie she encountered on the first day of the apocalypse had possessed speed-based abilities.
Later, when her apartment mutated, Fu Erdie suspected it had something to do with that same zombie being crushed in the door. When she had cleared the entrance and shut the door, she recalled hearing a cracking sound. Based on years of reading novels, she guessed that the mutated zombie might have had a crystal core in its head. When it was killed, the core might have been crushed and absorbed by her apartment, triggering the mutation.
The ability user who had later broken in likely had something similar, a core. After being absorbed by the apartment and the pothos, both had undergone significant evolution.
That raised a question: in City C, or not even that far, just within this complex, were there other ability users or mutated zombies?
If there were, given that Fu Erdie’s apartment, the pothos, her dog, and even she herself were constantly growing stronger, were their enemies also becoming stronger?
Should she just hope that these mutated zombies and ability users never found her, or should she join the fray and level up herself?
If she chose the latter, what was her capital for growth?
The apartment and the greenery had defensive capabilities but no offensive power. They were also independent entities, not something Fu Erdie could simply stow away at will. An objectively existing treasure was something anyone could covet and try to take.
Unless Fu Erdie herself grew stronger, everything else was fleeting.
At some point, she had already moved past the early days of the apocalypse when she was just waiting to die.
Perhaps if that ability user had never invaded, she wouldn’t have changed. But with that person came fear, and with fear, she could no longer afford to be idle. She had to act.
Using a telescope she had scavenged, she observed and recorded the situation around her every day, documenting the movements and behavior of the zombies.
From mid-August, when she first settled into her new routine, to the end of the month, Fu Erdie confirmed three things.
First, the highest temperature in August had approached 50 degrees. Now, it had dropped slightly, hovering around 41 degrees.
And with each slight drop in temperature, a few more zombies emerged to roam outside. During the hottest period, only one zombie could be seen wandering around; now, there were consistently over a dozen.
Second, she had identified a speed-type mutated zombie. Its movements were far more agile than other zombies, at a glance, it almost looked like a normal person. Whenever it heard a sound that seemed human-made, it would immediately dart toward the source. Its speed was far greater than that of the elderly speed zombie she had encountered on the first day of the apocalypse.
Third, with the temperature dropping even slightly, City C saw a new wave of escapes.
If the initial flight from the city had been driven by sheer panic and desperation, this new wave appeared much more organized. Vehicles were now fitted with protective netting, and those without had been crudely reinforced with wooden planks, leaving only a single opening, or sometimes just a sunroof, for entry and exit. Every inch of space inside was packed with supplies, and luggage was strapped to the rooftops. People were taking everything they could carry.
Fu Erdie thought these people were making the right call by fleeing now.
If it got any hotter, driving would risk frequent tire blowouts.
Even now, blowouts were still a risk, but it was one worth taking. If they waited any longer, the temperature would drop below 40 degrees, and more and more zombies would appear. Before long, any vehicle on the road would be swarmed.
Thinking of her grandmother and Zhao Xiaolu, whose whereabouts she still didn’t know, as well as her parents renting a small villa somewhere, Fu Erdie sighed.
She needed to act while temperatures were still high and take care of the speed-type zombie herself.
Yes, she, a person without abilities.
Compared to before the apocalypse, she had grown much stronger.
Her apartment had not only nurtured the eco-friendly greenery and crops toward positive mutations but had also strengthened her and her dog’s physical condition.
Every day, she made sure the dog went home to rest for at least two hours, both to recharge and to benefit from the apartment’s enhancement.
Now, the dog was as fierce as a wolf, and Fu Erdie’s own strength and speed had increased significantly.
Her muscles were lean and compact, wrapping around her frame and capable of unleashing immense power when needed.
That was her foundation for dealing with the speed-type zombie in the neighborhood.
This time, she aimed to assess her own combat capabilities against a mutated zombie, determine whether such zombies had crystal cores, and, once again, attempt to gain abilities.
If it failed this time, she would abandon the pursuit entirely and accept that she would always remain an ordinary person, incapable of mutating.