Ginny Jarvis walked over to Caleb Grant, signaling for him to follow her.
She then called out, “Sean, come upstairs and help me out.”
The three of them headed upstairs.
The others on the ground floor didn’t suspect a thing.
Caroline Corbin and Cecilia Sinclair were cooking, Timmy went to the yard to practice his Ability, Mason Ryder sat on the sofa reading a book, and Lyra Kane sat by the window in complete silence.
Back in her room, Ginny divided the Corpse Crystals on the table between the two men.
“Absorb them.
Give it a try first.
Focus your minds and feel the Energy inside…
Try to guide it.
Take your time and let it slowly fuse with the Crystal Cores in your heads.”
Under Ginny’s guidance, the two gradually eased into the process.
Seeing that they were doing fine, she left them to absorb the crystals on their own.
She, on the other hand, entered her dimension again, appearing in the exact same spot as her very first visit.
“It seems I can’t choose where I want to teleport,” she murmured.
“Oh well.”
After memorizing the location, Ginny walked toward the pool.
As soon as she arrived, she noticed that the water level hadn’t changed at all.
“Thank goodness.
It won’t run out.”
Having confirmed this, she returned to her entry point and exited the dimension.
She took out the remaining Corpse Crystals, placed them in her palm, and focused her mind.
She felt the Energy contained within them, guiding it to flow into the Crystal Core in her head.
She didn’t open her eyes until she had absorbed all the crystals.
Observing the men’s absorption speed, Ginny took out two more pieces for herself.
Out of the thirty-two Corpse Crystals in total, Ginny absorbed sixteen, while the other two absorbed eight each.
Ginny felt she was on the verge of leveling up, but she was also a bit puzzled.
In her previous life, absorbing ten crystals had been enough for an upgrade, yet this time, it was far from sufficient.
She wondered if this was a good or a bad thing.
Still thinking about the supplies at the warehouse, Ginny waited until the two finished their absorption before speaking up.
“Sean, stay home and help Ms.
Corbin with the cooking.
I’ll grab a quick bite and head out for a bit.
We can eat properly when I get back.”
“You’re going to the warehouse?” Caleb asked.
“No way, we’re going together.”
Ginny shook her head.
“You guys need to stay and guard the house.
Although this area is sparsely populated, we can’t be sure no one will come snooping around.”
“How about this: I’ll go with you, and Sean can stay,” Caleb suggested.
“Don’t worry, aren’t there two other awakened Ability users here?
It’ll be fine.”
Sean nodded in agreement.
Seeing their unyielding stance that she had to take one of them along, Ginny finally nodded in consent.
The three of them went downstairs.
Ginny took two slices of cake and some milk from the fridge.
“Here, just have a quick bite.”
Caleb took his share, and the two sat in the living room to eat.
“Miss Kane, when are we going to clear out the zombies?
I feel like I have an endless supply of Energy right now.”
“There’s no rush,” Ginny replied.
“You’ll have plenty of time to suffer later.
Just enjoy these last moments of peace and happiness.”
After finishing their food, the duo drove off in the SUV from yesterday.
Although the villa was quite far from the warehouse, they were both located in the suburbs, so they encountered very few zombies along the way.
They soon arrived at the warehouse.
“Wait for me in the car,” Ginny instructed.
“If you run into zombies and can’t hold them off, just drive away.
Don’t worry about me; I can protect myself.”
“Alright.
You can wait in the warehouse if that happens, and I’ll come back to rescue you,” Caleb said.
Ginny smiled, stepping out of the car and walking toward the building.
Entering the first warehouse, she waved her hand and transferred all the supplies inside into her dimension.
She then went into the cold storage, moved all the meat in as well, entered the dimension herself, walked forward about twenty meters, and came back out.
She found herself already inside the second warehouse.
It took Ginny an entire hour to collect all the supplies from the buildings.
While waiting for her, Caleb hadn’t encountered any zombies, but he did run into three survivors.
As a result, when Ginny came out, she saw an impatient Caleb talking to two men and a woman.
Ginny walked forward, brainstorming a strategy.
A few seconds later, a wicked smile crept onto her lips.
“Looks like we’ve found some practice targets for everyone!” she murmured to herself.
At first glance, it was obvious these people were out to scavenge for supplies amidst the chaos.
Clearly, seeing Caleb armed with a gun and driving an SUV, they wanted to latch onto him for protection.
“Let’s go, Caleb,” she called out.
“These doors won’t open at all.
Never mind them.
Who are these people?”
One of the men, wearing a hoodie, smiled and said, “Hello there.
We came here to visit a farmhouse resort, but we ran into zombies.
Can we tag along with you?
Don’t worry, we’ll leave as soon as we can contact our families.”
Ginny couldn’t help but scoff.
She thought, “Contact your families?
Buddy, you really haven’t grasped the situation yet!”
“We’re heading to the gas station,” Ginny said flatly.
“You have your own car, so you can follow us, but we are not responsible for your safety.”
Without sparing them another glance, she turned to Caleb and motioned for him to get in the car.
Understanding her intent—and never having planned to travel with them anyway—Caleb turned around and got straight into the vehicle.
The curly-haired woman among the trio had looked displeased the moment she saw Ginny, her eyes brimming with jealousy and resentment.
However, since everyone else’s attention was on Ginny, no one else noticed the woman’s expression.
Once inside the car, Ginny ignored the group completely.
She rolled up the windows, started the SUV, and drove off without hesitation.
The three of them were left standing, choking on a mouthful of exhaust fumes.
“Harrison, just look at her!
Hmph…” the curly-haired woman whined, clinging to the arm of the man with medium-length hair.
We’ll follow them,” Harrison smirked.
“That guy has a gun and can protect us.
Once I get my hands on his weapon, heh…”
“Haha, perfect!
Leave that woman to me,” she said, puffing out her chest and leaning into him.
Harrison flashed a wicked smile, pulling the curly-haired woman into his arms.
“Alright, whatever my baby wants.
Glasses, you drive.
Let’s trail them.”
The bespectacled man smiled and took the car keys.
“You got it, Mr.
Warren.”
Ginny drove the SUV toward the nearest gas station.
Along the way, the streets were littered with crashed vehicles and wandering zombies.
As they neared the gas station, Ginny saw a blood-drenched woman sprinting out of it.
She was clutching a large bag to her chest, with four or five zombies hot on her heels.
“Help me!” the woman screamed at the top of her lungs when she spotted their approaching car.
However, there were too many abandoned cars blocking the SUV’s path.
Realizing that Ginny and Caleb would have to come to her on foot, the woman hastily placed the black bag on the roof of the nearest sedan.
She cast a look of utter despair at the bag before turning around and charging back toward the zombies.
In an instant, Ginny guessed what the woman was trying to do.
She slammed on the brakes, threw her door open, and shouted, “No!
Don’t do it!”
Before Ginny could even draw her gun, the woman had already thrown herself into the horde, using her own body to hold back the five zombies.
Ginny and Caleb sprinted toward her.
They ran with their guns raised, trying to take aim on the move.
But the zombies were completely swarming the woman, tearing into her flesh.
It was impossible to get a clear shot.
Forced to engage in close combat, the two quickly closed the distance and drew their daggers.
“Take…
care of…” Before the woman could finish her sentence, her body began to convulse violently.
Ginny knew she was about to mutate.
With bloodshot eyes, Ginny slashed fiercely, taking down a zombie with every strike.
Working in perfect sync with Caleb, she swiftly dispatched the five undead surrounding the woman.
Looking down at the convulsing victim, she promised, “I’ll take good care of things.
Don’t worry.”
As soon as she spoke, the woman closed her eyes.
When they snapped open again, her pupils had turned a dead, murky gray.
Without hesitation, Ginny fired a single shot, killing the mutated woman.
Turning around, she noticed that the trio from earlier had arrived and were running toward them.
Ginny walked briskly over to the black bag left on the car roof.
She unzipped it, revealing a baby quietly drinking from a bottle of milk.
When the infant saw Ginny, it broke into a wide, toothless grin.
Ginny couldn’t describe what she felt in that moment.
Her throat tightened as if a heavy lump had formed, making it hard to even breathe.