When Su Su returned to the urban village, a drizzle had just begun to fall from the sky.
In an old residential building, the ground floor had been converted into a large shared sleeping area. Seven or eight burly men were gathered around playing poker. The troublesome weather made it unsuitable for working or hunting zombies, so playing cards became the best pastime.
The narrow alleyway was also deserted.
Su Su had no umbrella. She pulled open the outer layer of her tactical jacket and tucked the black snake coiled around her body into her embrace.
A glimpse of her fair skin and graceful figure elicited a few teasing whistles.
The keen Xiao Hei immediately emerged from the half-open collar of her jacket. A small cluster of blue flames darted into the shared sleeping area, instantly burning all their bedding—along with the scattered poker cards on the ground.
The thick smoke from the burning flammable materials quickly spread to the second floor. By the time Su Su’s figure disappeared at the alley’s end, the landlord, who had been hiding upstairs, finally opened a window and roared furiously at the people below:
“Are you trying to get yourselves killed?! How dare you provoke an ability user! You burned my things—you’re all paying me full price for the damages! You hear me?!”
Even after leaving the alley, Su Su could still hear the landlord cursing furiously in a dialect she barely understood, scolding the men who had caused trouble.
Not even a single breath was left between his string of profanities.
Su Su lowered her head and pressed Xiao Hei back into her arms. “Don’t get wet.”
Yet she herself was clearly getting soaked.
The black snake’s body quietly warmed up, continuously providing heat for the female it clung to.
Finally, the two returned to Granny Niu’s forge.
Granny Niu was sitting inside the shop, fully focused on forging a weapon with her ability.
“You’re back.” She lifted her head and casually glanced at Su Su, then gestured toward the counter with her left hand. “Your weapon and soft armor are ready.”
“So fast?”
Su Su walked to the counter and saw a curved short blade, about fifty to sixty centimeters long, placed on top.
She drew the blade from its scabbard—the blade’s surface was plain and unadorned, yet it faintly exuded an aura of sharpness.
With a light swipe, the mere touch of the blade against a chair caused its backrest to split in two with a crack, tumbling to the floor.
Su Su: “……”
If she used this to hack at zombies, wouldn’t it be like slicing watermelons?
She put down the blade and shifted her gaze. On the other side of the counter, she noticed a small, close-fitting piece of armor made of an unknown material.
It was crafted in the style of a vest, appearing small and lightweight yet highly elastic—perfect for wearing as an inner layer to protect the vital organs.
Besides these, there was also a small metal wrist-mounted device, its design extremely compact and minimalist.
“What’s this?”
“A wrist crossbow. Pull the trigger, and it shoots a ten-centimeter-long steel spike. If used in an ambush and aimed at the neck, it can kill with a single shot.”
Su Su’s interest was immediately piqued. “Let me try it!”
She first strapped on the wrist crossbow, then hung the soft armor on a nearby shelf, took aim, and fired—
A sharp collision rang out. The moment the steel spike struck the soft armor, the nail head and the armor surface generated intense friction. The steel spike, which had been fully powered, was obstructed for a few seconds, completely losing its forward momentum and succumbing to gravity.
Ding.
The steel spike clattered to the ground.
At some point, Granny Niu had already walked up beside Su Su. “The snake scales you provided are harder than any material I’ve ever worked with.”
Su Su took down the soft armor vest and carefully rubbed the spot where it had been hit, but she couldn’t feel any imperfections.
“As expected, it’s tough.”
Her smile lasted only two seconds before it abruptly vanished.
“What’s wrong?”
Su Su remained silent for two seconds, then slowly shook her head. “It’s nothing.”
Since she didn’t want to talk about it, Granny Niu didn’t press her about that fleeting moment of distraction. “That Grade-3 crystal you gave me—was it worth it?”
“It was worth it. I didn’t even expect you to make something this good,” Su Su said firmly, tilting her head. “Did you absorb that Grade-3 crystal?”
Having worked as Granny Niu’s assistant for two years, she was well aware of the old woman’s abilities.
The quality of these three pieces of equipment far exceeded what a Tier-2 forging ability user should be capable of. Take the soft armor, for example—even for Granny Niu, crafting something that possessed both elasticity and the hardness of solid rock should have been nearly impossible.
Granny Niu didn’t deny it.
She simply returned to her workbench, fully focused on forging a new weapon.
Su Su watched from the side for a while and soon realized that it was the early form of a crossbow.
In her previous life, she had seen this bow as well. It had appeared in the third year of the apocalypse, only after Granny Niu had advanced to a Tier-3 ability user.
But now, it had appeared ahead of schedule.
Su Su was finally certain—though Granny Niu had moved to the urban village, she had never given up on revenge. The crossbow she had forged in Su Su’s past life had never been an order from an ability user—it was a weapon meant to take Wan Pengfei’s life.
“Granny, I have something to tell you.”
Granny Niu didn’t lift her head. “What is it?”
“It’s something I can’t explain right now. You need to come with me for a trip.”
Granny Niu furrowed her brows, staring at Su Su for a long time as if trying to read her intentions.
“You don’t trust me?”
Su Su herself hadn’t realized that every time she used the word “you (您)” (a respectful form of “you”), there was a subtle hint of coquettishness in her tone.
Granny Niu remained silent for several seconds before finally nodding. “Let me get ready.”
Her so-called preparation was simply taking two umbrellas from the shop.
Outside, the drizzle continued, neither stopping nor intensifying. The two of them, along with a snake, stepped into the misty rain.
Neither spoke a word as they walked, one leading and one following, enveloped in an atmosphere of profound silence.
They bypassed the muddy cement road and crossed a ditch filled with stagnant, murky water before finally stopping in front of the abandoned security booth at the back entrance of the urban village.
There were people inside—several of them.
Granny Niu’s steps faltered for only two seconds before she silently followed along.
“You’re finally here!”
Brother Wang, who had been squatting under the eaves of the security booth, stood up, his gaze passing over Su Su and landing on Granny Niu, whose hair was as white as snow.
It was clearly the moment to speak, yet he found himself momentarily speechless. “……”
“This is Granny Niu, the one I told you about,” Su Su took on the role of introducing them. “Granny, this is Brother Wang. He—”
But before she could finish, Granny Niu’s voice turned hoarse upon seeing someone she never expected to be here. “I know him.”
“You know me?” Brother Wang was shocked. “How do you know me?”
Granny Niu refused to answer.
Su Su exchanged a glance with Brother Wang.
Understanding the signal, he immediately opened the door of the abandoned security booth and dragged out a man who had been tightly bound.
“Granny, do you recognize this person?”
“Mm! Mm!!”
The moment she saw the man’s face, an inextinguishable hatred flashed deep in Granny Niu’s eyes.
How could she not recognize him? She would recognize this man even if he turned to ashes!
As Wan Pengfei was thrown onto the ground, Granny Niu instantly understood the situation.
The first thing she did was look up at Su Su. “You were the one who found him for me?”
Yes, and no.
Su Su didn’t explain further and simply nodded. “I was out at the eastern hunting grounds killing zombies today and happened to run into him.”
Granny Niu’s lips trembled slightly, but the words “thank you” never made it out.
“Granny Niu,” Brother Wang cut in, anxious to uncover the truth. “When I first met this kid, Wan Pengfei, he was just a Tier-1 ability user. He had some solid blade skills for killing zombies, so I teamed up with him a few times.”
“Later on, he somehow ended up dating my daughter. I was against it, but there was nothing I could do, so I had to grit my teeth and accept him as my future son-in-law.”
“In order to help him survive longer, I even helped him upgrade his ability to Tier-2.”
“This winter, when the Eternal Squad had just arrived at the base, this bastard latched onto them. As soon as his ability reached Tier-3, he turned around and dumped my daughter.”
“Even now, she hasn’t recovered. She stays home, crying every now and then.”
Brother Wang was furious—furious at his daughter for being so weak, for being so naive even in the apocalypse. But he was even more enraged at Wan Pengfei for abandoning her after using her. Every time he saw the man or his backers in the Eternal Squad, he wanted nothing more than to take up a blade and hack them to pieces.
Hearing this, Granny Niu’s voice turned hoarse. “At least your daughter is still alive.”
Brother Wang was stunned into silence.
Yes, his daughter was still alive. Unlike Granny Niu, whose daughter had already been killed by Wan Pengfei.
“I know you because in the month after she died, I often waited outside the mission hall,” Granny Niu continued.
She had wanted to kill them all. But her enemies were all combat-type ability users, and as a support-type ability user, she had no chance of winning.
That was why she had moved back to the urban village.
Someday, someday… And now, at last, she had waited long enough to see Wan Pengfei bound and helpless before her.
The ungrateful man’s eyes widened in terror. His ability had already been crippled, and his mouth was stuffed with a filthy wad of cloth. All he could do was squirm pathetically on the ground, begging for his life.
“Granny, I’ll leave him to you,” Su Su said.
Granny Niu looked at her, then turned to Brother Wang.
The latter nodded. “I’ve already disabled this bastard’s ability. As for his life… that’s up to you, Granny.”
Su Su didn’t stay to watch what happened next.
She returned home early. The black snake slithered behind her into the room, its raised tail carefully balancing the soft armor vest on its tip.
Su Su looked at it, puzzled.
Xiao Hei nudged her knee with its head, urging her. “Hiss!”
“You want me to put it on?”
“Hiss!”
Su Su actually caught a strong sense of anticipation in Xiao Hei’s eyes. Was it because this soft armor was made from its own scales?
“Alright, I’ll put it on now.”
She tossed the soft armor onto the side and bent down to pick up Xiao Hei—
Then promptly locked it outside the room.
“I’ll let you in later.”
The black snake sulked outside the door, its vertical pupils narrowing in displeasure.
Why wasn’t it allowed to watch? It had already seen everything before!
Its tail lashed the floor irritably, producing a steady thud, thud, thud.
After enduring for a dozen seconds, Xiao Hei suddenly flattened itself against the ground, attempting to peek through the door crack…
But the moment it realized how foolish that action was, it sprang back up, feeling even more infuriated!
Finally, just as its anger was reaching a boiling point, the door opened.
Su Su stood inside the room, adjusting the vest in front of a mirror.
The stark contrast of black and white, the overly full and mature femininity emanating from her figure—
The enraged black snake suddenly fell silent.
It had caught a scent—
The mingling of its scent with the female’s—indistinguishable from each other—was both a sign and a message.
“Hiss!!!”
In an instant, the giant python lunged, knocking the unsuspecting Su Su onto the sofa.
“Xiao Hei?”
Its crimson tongue flicked down from the peak of her collarbone, even attempting to curl around the small, snug-fitting soft armor.
“Xiao Hei!” Su Su angrily pressed it down. “If you keep acting weird, you’re sleeping alone tonight!”
Threatened in such a manner, the restless black snake finally suppressed its bodily urges.
It reluctantly retracted its tongue, though its vertical pupils remained locked onto a certain spot, refusing to look away.
Su Su held her breath as she peeled it off her body, swiftly putting her outerwear back on and securing the soft armor—now carrying Xiao Hei’s scent and… saliva—beneath her clothes.
“Do you know what you did wrong?”
The black snake was forced to slither to the wall to reflect on its actions.
But true reflection was impossible.
It fixated on the female reflected in the mirror, a deepening glow of obsession flickering in its eyes—stronger than the day before, stronger than ever.
Yet, it concealed it perfectly.
Su Su left the room to wash the soft armor thoroughly. She also boiled a few eggs. When she returned, she found Xiao Hei still coiled in the corner.
If it was supposed to be facing the wall in contemplation, it was certainly taking it very seriously.
Her heart softened instantly.
“Xiao Hei, come here.”
The black snake slithered over reluctantly, moving with exaggerated hesitation, clearly still holding a grudge for being scolded earlier.
Su Su chuckled as she peeled an egg. “Open your mouth.”
Gulp.
The black snake swallowed it whole without hesitation.
Su Su picked it up and sat cross-legged on the sofa, absentmindedly feeding it while her thoughts drifted far away.
Scenes from the day played out in her mind once more.
Although she had been shocked, she hadn’t refused the City Lord’s so-called “kind gesture.”
When Brother Wang took Wan Pengfei away, He Heng had still been enthusiastically trying to persuade her—
“Are you really not going to move out of the urban village? I can arrange the most luxurious villa for you and your relatives!”
Su Su was firm. “No need.”
He Heng sighed dramatically. “Miss Su, if you keep living in a place like that, what if you become tainted by the filth and stench of the lower class? My heart would break.”
Su Su didn’t bother humoring him and bluntly replied, “The smell in your private zoo is just as bad.”
He Heng’s smile vanished. He stared at her, expressionless.
Her memories froze on He Heng’s face.
The City Lord was unfathomable—this was an undeniable fact.
From the very start, he had been observing her, and within a single day, he had already investigated her entire network of relationships in the Southern Base.
Would he have paid such attention to her if she were just an ordinary Tier-4 ability user?
No.
He had only one goal—to obtain Xiao Hei, a creature with a Tier-5 ability.
Wan Pengfei had merely been a disposable pawn.
Inviting her to visit his private zoo had simply been a test—to probe her stance.
Su Su suddenly tightened her embrace around the black snake. “Xiao Hei, do you think the City Lord wants to steal you? Or does he have an even deeper agenda?”
She hadn’t thought too deeply about it before. But the moment she saw Xiao Hei’s scales forged into soft armor, she realized—
A battle pet with abilities could be exploited regardless of whether it was alive or dead. Its very existence, even its body, could be squeezed dry for use.
“Hiss!”
He can’t take me.
Xiao Hei didn’t take that baby-faced man seriously. If it came down to abilities, it could burn him to ashes with ease.
Su Su let out a sigh.
For now, He Heng couldn’t seize him by force, so he was resorting to pacification and deception.
But the moment he got his hands on a Grade-5 crystal, things would become truly dangerous.
Should she leave the Southern Base now, taking Xiao Hei away from the crowd and vanishing into anonymity?
Or should she continue to observe and counter his moves as they came?
Or perhaps… find an opportunity to quietly eliminate He Heng in the dark?
Before Su Su could reach a conclusion, a piercing enemy alert suddenly rang out across the entire base.
The sharp, rapid alarm repeated in cycles, jolting the urban village’s residents awake.
Almost everyone opened their windows at the same time. The drizzle that had lasted for most of the day hadn’t stopped. Countless heads popped out from the densely packed buildings, exchanging nervous, panicked glances.
Su Su didn’t need to open her window. She didn’t need to crane her neck to ask anyone.
Her wealth of experience from her past life allowed her to recognize it within two seconds—
It was the enemy alarm.
Which meant—
A massive zombie tide was launching a night assault on the base!