Su Su remembered very clearly—
In her previous life, she only awakened her speed-type ability in the fourth year of the apocalypse.
At the very least, back then, when she used her ability, there was absolutely no white light appearing before her eyes.
Could it be that after her rebirth, she had awakened a different ability in advance?
This realization made Su Su clench her fists tightly, an indescribable excitement filling her heart.
No matter what ability it was, as long as she awakened early, she could take a completely different path from her previous life!
“What exactly could it be…”
The white light had appeared twice.
The first time, it entered the black snake’s body, instantly reviving the dying creature and making it lively again. The second time, it entered the zombie’s body, causing the zombie’s movements to suddenly freeze.
Two completely opposite results—Su Su racked her brain but couldn’t figure out what kind of ability this was.
Healing-type? Psychic-type?
Neither seemed quite right.
Seeing that she wouldn’t be able to figure it out anytime soon, Su Su shifted her focus to thinking about how to gather more food. After all, she now had hope—even if it was an uncertain hope, her mindset had already become much more positive.
She poured the remaining instant noodles into her mouth and stuffed the last unopened bag into her backpack.
Pushing the zombie corpse with the exploded head into a corner, she looked around and found that this office had a side door. Inside… scattered on the ground were a dozen or so skeletal remains.
It was likely that when the apocalypse broke out, a small group of people had hidden in this office, only to realize too late that their companions had already been infected…
That zombie evolving into a Tier 1 creature was very likely due to devouring these people’s flesh and blood.
Now, it was benefiting her.
Su Su subconsciously touched the first-grade crystal in her pocket, feeling an unusual sense of security. She continued searching and finally found a half-full bag of dried beef, two small packs of nuts, and a few bags of konjac1Konjac is a plant native to East Asia, particularly China, Japan, and Korea. It is well known for its starchy root, which is processed into various food products. The root, also called konjac yam or devil’s tongue, is rich in glucomannan, a type of soluble fiber that can absorb large amounts of water. snacks in the remaining cabinets.
Regardless of whether they were expired or not, she stuffed them all into her backpack.
In the harsh environment of the apocalypse, many ability users had evolved digestive systems—eating expired food wouldn’t kill them.
Carrying her now slightly heavier backpack, Su Su returned to the team.
At this moment, Lin Weiran and the others still hadn’t come out of the convenience store.
“I just took a look at the entrance of the convenience store.”
Not far away, a middle-aged man was wiping a mixed-type crystal he had just dug out from a zombie’s head. His eyes were fixed on the convenience store, and his face was filled with envy.
“The supplies inside haven’t been completely looted. I saw several cans of fruit and even some instant noodles.”
This service area was relatively small, and so was the convenience store—it hardly had much to begin with. Yet, despite being raided over and over by passersby, there were still some supplies left.
“I wonder if this crystal can be exchanged with those ability users for a bucket of instant noodles.”
It couldn’t.
Su Su answered in her heart.
In her previous life, this middle-aged man had only managed to trade for a small bag of konjac snacks. This also proved that six months into the apocalypse, mixed-type crystals had become increasingly useless—even the Tier 1 ability users in the team had started to find them undesirable.
“They’re coming out!”
Su Su, along with the others, looked up.
She saw the ability users emerging from the convenience store, each carrying two or three bulging backpacks, their faces brimming with joy.
“I didn’t expect there to still be this much food left! There are over a dozen buckets of instant noodles—enough to last us a week, right?”
“Not necessarily.” Lin Weiran restrained some of her excitement. “We still need to be frugal. What if the next service area has nothing at all?”
Si Zhe nodded. “Weiran is right.”
“But we should at least celebrate today and have a proper meal, right?”
Lin Weiran let out a breath. “Fine.”
“It’s really good to have a woman in the team.” Zhao Zhenyu grinned. “If it were just us men, we’d probably finish all the food before we even reach the next service area. Si Zhe, you’re really lucky!”
The last sentence instantly made Lin Weiran’s face flush red.
“What nonsense are you talking about? Hurry up and make the food!”
The ability users chatted and laughed as they boiled water and prepared the meal. Soon, the rich aroma of instant noodles spread through the entire team, and the sound of slurping noodles seemed to echo right beside their ears.
As expected, the middle-aged man only managed to trade for a small bag of konjac snacks. His face was dark with silence.
Su Su touched the crystal in her pocket again.
She had to awaken an ability. If she still couldn’t figure out what the “white light” was, then… perhaps she should just swallow this First-Grade Crystal first. Once her strength increased, maybe researching it would become easier.
She pondered the idea for an entire day.
By the time the convoy stopped again, it was already evening.
Zhao Zhenyu, chewing on an expired piece of bread, lazily scanned the ordinary people at the back of the group. His gaze quickly locked onto the dazed-looking Su Su.
“Tch.”
A companion leaned in. “What’s bothering you?”
“What exactly did Wu Zhi see in her?”
Following Zhao Zhenyu’s gaze, the companion immediately understood. “She looks good, obviously. Wu Zhi was a lecher, who would’ve thought he’d die for it?”
In the crowd, that little beauty was indeed the most eye-catching presence. Even though she was wrapped in tattered rags of unknown material, with messy hair tied up carelessly, her features remained strikingly attractive.
“Good-looking? I don’t see it.” Zhao Zhenyu sneered. “She’s not even prettier than Weiran.”
Lin Weiran stood at 1.68 meters, her black tactical outfit outlining her well-proportioned figure. Her bright and sharp features had pierced many men’s hearts.
The companion, however, didn’t quite agree. Lin Weiran was just an ordinarily beautiful woman, but her cousin Su Su… even in her current sorry state, her beauty couldn’t be concealed.
Still, he couldn’t say that out loud. Instead, he muttered, “Well, think about it… would Wu Zhi have dared to set his sights on Weiran? Si Zhe is always watching over her.”
Zhao Zhenyu remained irritated. Along the way, Wu Zhi had helped him kill quite a few zombies. He had never liked Wu Zhi as a person, but he had acknowledged his strength.
Who would’ve thought he’d die so ridiculously, so absurdly? If that woman had just screamed at the time, maybe Wu Zhi could have been saved.
“I need to find a way to make her suffer a little.”
“Be careful. She’s Weiran’s cousin, after all.”
“Cousin?” Zhao Zhenyu let out a mocking snort. “Do you think Weiran actually cares about her? Forget it, don’t interfere. I know what I’m doing.”
Even though the highway was safer than the fallen cities, there were still plenty of lingering zombies. Someday, he’d just have to lure a few over… Tragedies happened every day—one more wouldn’t make a difference.
—
Su Su had no idea that someone was scheming against her.
She took advantage of the moment when everyone else got out of the vehicle for dinner, staying hidden inside while clutching the First-Grade Crystal, staring at it for a long time…
What if she was wrong?
What if that “white light” was just an illusion and not an ability at all? In that case, swallowing this crystal would be enough to make her body explode.
Forget it!
She had already died once anyway!
Su Su closed her eyes and swallowed the crystal.
The next second, she felt an overbearing energy rampaging violently through her body.
Sweat beaded on her forehead, and her fists clenched involuntarily.
An ability… The ability she had dreamed of for two lifetimes—could it really become reality?
—
During dinner, no one paid attention to the van. Everyone was busy eating whatever food they had scavenged or hidden.
One of the women picked up her backpack and sniffed it suspiciously.
“Why does my bag smell weird?”
“What kind of smell?”
“I can’t really say… A bit damp, and kind of… fishy.”
“Could some kind of bug have crawled inside?”
The woman immediately dumped out the contents of her backpack, scattering a pile of personal belongings onto the ground. But aside from that, there was no sign of any “small creatures.”
“Whew—”
“Guess I was just overthinking it.”
—
Inside the van.
A familiar black snake slithered out from beneath the seat frame.
It locked onto the human sitting in the backseat, moving toward her silently.
In the beginning, it had been nothing more than an ordinary black snake.
When the apocalypse broke out, it had slithered from the mountains onto the highway, where it happened to swallow a few crystals.
By sheer luck, it hadn’t died from the energy overload. But it had suffered greatly—its seven-inch mark had been torn open by the rampaging energy inside, leaving a gaping wound. If not for that, Wu Zhi wouldn’t have been able to capture it so easily.
The black snake’s brain was no bigger than a sunflower seed kernel.
But it remembered—
Yesterday, this human had released that strange “warmth”—a warmth that instantly calmed the violent energy surging within its body and filled it with renewed strength.
The black snake slithered onto the backseat of the van.
Its head stretched out, resting on Su Su’s thigh.
Unfortunately, the latter had her eyes tightly shut and noticed nothing.
Bite her?
The black snake slowly flicked out its scarlet tongue, its cold and eerie breath spreading across the rough fabric of her clothes.
It wanted that warmth again.
But with a brain as small as a sunflower seed kernel, it didn’t understand how to obtain it.
Right now, it only had the instincts of a cold-blooded predator—to swallow prey, digest it, and make it part of itself.
Its sharp, venomous fangs were just about to sink into her skin when—
Su Su’s body trembled violently.
The First-Grade Crystal had been fully absorbed.
Surging energy overflowed from her pores, dispersing into the air in the form of tiny, shimmering white light particles.
No one else could see them. The black snake couldn’t either.
But it felt it.
That warmth had returned.
“Hiss~ Hiss~”
The black snake abandoned its hunt.
Instead, it coiled itself atop the human’s thigh, its tail twitching slightly.
Its pair of cold-blooded vertical pupils narrowed—a rare expression for a snake.
The restless energy surging within its body, caused by those few crystals, had once again dissipated somewhat.
—
Su Su opened her eyes, a flash of excitement streaking through them.
She had successfully absorbed a First-Grade Crystal!
She really had an ability now!
“Hiss~ Hiss~”
The familiar hissing sound made her joy pause for a few seconds.
Then, she quickly felt something crawling on her thigh.
That writhing sensation—
A kind of instinctive fear deeply etched into human genes.
She reflexively lowered her head—
And saw a ferocious black snake head, its scarlet tongue flicking toward her!
“It’s you again!”