Fu Erdie called the dog back and told it to stop fighting the zombies, just wait until they reached the 16th floor.
As for the mutated plants in other rooms of Building 7, Fu Erdie figured they had grown for so long and had been watered with water from Unit 16-1 for months; surely a few zombies shuffling around wouldn’t trample them to death.
Zombies didn’t eat plants anyway, so why worry?
Zhang Dongxuan, however, couldn’t bear to leave them and wanted to bring them back.
But just as Fu Erdie had said, these mutated plants had grown large, very large. The water from Unit 16-1 seemed to have a magical effect, fattening them all up like fertilizer.
No matter how much better Zhang Dongxuan’s physical strength and energy had become, she simply couldn’t move plants that were as big and heavy as rockeries.
So, reluctantly, she had to let go of the idea.
The balcony at home was still full of fruit, more than enough to sustain both of them and the dog.
And just like that, for no particular reason, everyone started giving up.
The small apartment had two bedrooms and a living room. Fu Erdie slept in the master bedroom, Zhang Dongxuan in the second bedroom.
Every day, Zhang Dongxuan would use their stored supplies to cook millet porridge for Fu Erdie, saying that taking care of her meals was her “rent” for staying there.
Fu Erdie didn’t really care. She told her not to overwork herself if she was tired, eating fruit was fine. But having porridge was nice too.
Days passed, so peaceful and stable it felt unreal.
Fu Erdie had expected the zombies to reach the 16th floor around September 20th, knocking on their door and triggering another violent confrontation from her.
But she waited and waited, and by the end of September, nothing had happened.
Fu Erdie: …
Something felt off.
Lacking much motivation, she picked up her hammer and slowly made her way downstairs.
15th floor, empty.
14th floor, empty.
13th floor…
She made it all the way down to the third floor without seeing a single zombie.
Fu Erdie: ?
It wasn’t until she reached the second floor that she finally understood what was going on.
The succulent she had left in the room Zhang Dongxuan had originally chosen on the second floor had somehow moved to the neighboring unit, a room with no door.
Now, the once squat, chubby plant sat at the center of the room like a lotus throne. Its thick roots writhed around it like massive pythons, coiling around zombies, twisting and thrashing until they accidentally tore off a head or smashed it outright. Then, the plant would wrap the zombie in its “agate”-like cocoon and slowly enjoy its meal.
Fu Erdie: …
Was this Plants vs. Zombies playing out in her building? A real-life version!
Back when she was anxious in the past, Fu Erdie loved playing Plants vs. Zombies. Whether she beat the zombies or got her brains eaten, it was always stress-relieving.
Now, after nearly a month of lethargy and numbness, her heart began to stir again.
Watching from the second floor, she suddenly noticed not only the succulent’s roots but also many others, varying in length, thickness, and color, all stretching down from different floors.
Fu Erdie tilted her head.
If she remembered correctly, even the pothos had struggled to reach other rooms on the same floor before, and it couldn’t sustain the effort for long without wilting. What was happening now?
She walked up to a green vine and gave it a gentle poke. “Gardenia?”
Recognizing that she had been identified, the gardenia happily bloomed a small flower and then pointed upward.
Fu Erdie followed the direction and found an inconspicuous gardenia leaf tucked in a corner on the third floor.
The leaf pointed up again.
She continued following the trail until she reached Unit 8-8 on the eighth floor.
It was a spacious three-bedroom apartment with good sunlight, the whole unit bathed in light.
And in this sunlit room, over a dozen mutated plants had gathered, or rather, parts of them. They seemed to be using this place as a “rest stop,” a launching point to reach even farther.
Among them were some familiar faces: the cucumber and the tomato.
These two were utterly shameless. Taking advantage of their vine-like nature, they climbed onto the branches of other plants that had painstakingly grown out, all while desperately inching closer to each other to continue fighting.
Fu Erdie called the dog and Zhang Dongxuan, and together they made a full sweep from the 24th floor down to the 2nd. Finally, she understood how these mutated plants had made their way down to the first floor.
Their branches and leaves couldn’t extend very far, but their roots could keep growing.
It wasn’t like their stems and leaves, which stretched out with a specific purpose, rather, the roots, under the plants’ own control, spread like vines in a single direction, growing slowly.
Fu Erdie didn’t know if they had taken inspiration from the cucumber and tomato, but somehow, their roots had taken on the quality of vines, concentrating their energy to burrow in one direction.
Over the past few months, they had figured out that the first floor was where food was most likely to appear. So even the cucumber and tomato, constantly fighting as they were, didn’t let their brawling get in the way. They still made their way downward.
Unit 8-8, with its favorable layout and perhaps a leak from the floor above, had ceilings softened by moisture, making it easier for roots to push through. As a result, these mutated plants, like a group of kindergarteners, had all gathered there without prior arrangement.
Fu Erdie was amazed. She realized she had been too narrow-minded and should learn from the plants.
These roots were still fragile, just barely reaching the second floor, where they could sprout a few leaves and branches to ambush zombies. The main force on the second floor remained the succulent, whose main body was still there.
Fu Erdie went home in a daze, took a shower, and lay in bed.
Then she sat up abruptly.
When God closes a door, He opens a window, was this what it meant?!
She had been lying around, resigned to death, because she wasn’t an ability user and lacked combat strength. But now, the mutated plants had filled that gap in offensive power!
A sliver of light broke through her gloom, then widened, shattering the darkness.
She couldn’t sit still. She paced excitedly around her bedroom.
No, the bedroom was too small. She moved to the living room.
The living room was also too small.
Unable to contain herself, she stepped out into the hallway and started running.
The hot wind whipped past her face, but Fu Erdie felt lighter and lighter, the pent-up frustration finally releasing.
She didn’t have abilities.
But she was truly someone who was loved by so many, and blessed by the heavens!
She was overjoyed. The pressure that had weighed on her for so long finally released.
She sprinted from the 16th floor to the 24th, pushed open the door to the rooftop, and stood under the 35-degree breeze, her mouth open in a silent scream.
She was truly loved by this world!
She had food, water, and no fear of outsiders. What else did she have to worry about?
Mutated zombies? She’d kill them one by one!
Evil ability users? All of them, headshot!
The dandelion fluff from the 24th floor drifted slowly in the warm wind, scattering from beneath Fu Erdie’s feet and floating away into the unknown distance.
She was brimming with energy, vitality, and motivation.
She pulled out her little notebook again and started recording everything, the weather, the zombies, the apartment, the mutated plants, every single change.
She was no longer tense, no longer pushing herself to patrol and train every day, afraid of falling behind, forcing herself to the brink of exhaustion.
Now, she would go up and down the building to water the plants, staying active until she felt comfortable. When she didn’t want to move anymore, she’d go home, take a shower, and read the comics and novels she had bought before the apocalypse.
On days when the sunlight was just right, she’d take the spider plant and the potato plant, the only two that could still retract their roots and fit into pots to move with her, and go up to the rooftop to bask in the sun.
Beside her sat a plate of chilled cherries, plump and glistening, their juicy redness tempting under the sunlight.
Life suddenly felt vivid and lively again.
Fu Erdie was happy every day. She’d chat with the mutated plants, and she’d even take out paper and pen to sketch their daily changes. In this context, even the half-digested zombie remains in the corners of her drawings seemed oddly cute and amusing.
This relaxed mood lasted until the end of September, when Fu Erdie felt her “little ones” needed more food. She turned her attention to the zombies in the neighboring buildings.
From her daily observations, she had confirmed that the buildings within sight didn’t have any mutated zombies.
With temperatures now in the range where zombies were active, if she went over now, it would be easy to lure a group of them to deliver themselves as takeout.
Fu Erdie acted on her plan. Dressed in her beggar outfit, she walked straight to Building 6, lingered near the entrance on the first floor without making a sound, and didn’t cause any major disturbance.
But at least twenty zombies either saw her or caught her scent.
Fu Erdie smiled, then quickly turned and ran back toward Building 7.
The ordinary zombies couldn’t catch her, but they all followed behind, surging in her direction.
Two minutes later, thirty zombies entered Building 7.
The mutated plants, practically drooling with anticipation, sharpened their blades for the feast and began slurping up their meal.
That day, the plants had a hearty feast, each one thoroughly satisfied.
After eating their fill, they grew, their main bodies expanding, and the crop yields increased as well.
Zhang Dongxuan looked at the ever-growing pile of food and felt a few more strands of hair turn white with worry.
Fu Erdie reassured her, “If we can’t finish it, we’ll just feed it to the little plants. No problem.”
Zhang Dongxuan: “But they’re already full from eating zombies!”
Fu Erdie: “…It’s fine, not a big deal.”
Having too much food was better than not having enough.
So Fu Erdie continued her routine: every other day, she’d go out, lure a bunch of zombies, bring them back as food, wait for the plants to digest them, and then do it again the next day.
Just the zombies from Building 6 next door were enough to keep the “little ones” fed for a whole month. Fu Erdie felt reassured.
The plants grew larger and larger, their roots digging deeper into the building’s structure. One day, Fu Erdie suddenly noticed that the temperature inside Building 7 was already two degrees lower than outside.
In mid-October, when the temperature outside was 30 degrees, Building 7 was at 28. There was no need for air conditioning or even fans, and the foul smell in the air was gradually fading.
Fu Erdie realized that what had once happened to Unit 16-1 was now happening to the entire building.
It was impossible not to be excited.
She kept telling herself to stay calm, think long-term, analyze any potential flaws. Only by barely holding onto her composure did she stop herself from running to the rooftop and screaming, My home, my building, they’re turning into spirits!