Fortunately, she had retained her past-life memories, allowing her to avoid the danger in advance.
Hiss!
A black snake’s head suddenly approached, spitting out a vacuum-sealed smoked chicken.
Su Su’s train of thought was instantly interrupted.
“Xiao Hei, what is it?”
Seeing that she didn’t get the hint, the black snake took the smoked chicken with its tail and pushed it toward her.
For a second, Su Su was touched. “Are you giving this to me?”
Pa!
The snake’s tail smacked her leg hard as it bared its fangs at her in a menacing grin.
Hiss!
Clueless human! This was its food!
If the smoked chicken didn’t have that strange, stinky “outer skin,” it would have swallowed it whole already. Since it couldn’t eat it as it was, wasn’t it only natural to have its slave handle it?
Its behavior was so human-like that Su Su finally understood.
“Oh, so you want to eat it.”
She then realized that the sun was already at its peak—it was indeed time to stop for a meal.
Since there weren’t any zombies around, Su Su pulled over and found a spot to start a fire.
Of course, before doing that, she first tore open the vacuum-sealed packaging of the smoked chicken.
“Xiao Hei, do you want it raw or cooked?”
The black snake slithered slowly to the fire. In its limited memory, before its mind had fully developed and was still in a muddled state, it had feared this scorching heat.
Now, however, it found the fire’s threat to be laughable—it wasn’t even as hot as the blue flames it could spit out at will.
Hiss!
Cooked!
This human ate cooked food, so it would eat cooked food too!
Su Su inexplicably understood its meaning and skillfully placed the smoked chicken into the portable stew pot she carried with her.
In another small pot, she was cooking a pot of white porridge, adding dried vegetables and half a shredded piece of smoked chicken. Before long, the pot was filled with a fragrant, appetizing vegetable chicken porridge.
Only when the rice grains had boiled down to a thick, creamy consistency did Su Su finally serve herself a bowl.
The moment it entered her mouth, the light fragrance of the soft porridge, the rich umami of the smoked chicken, and the sweetness of the vegetables blended together in perfect harmony, overwhelming her taste buds.
Su Su’s eyes reddened at the corners as she ate.
It had been far, far too long since she had eaten a proper meal. In the past month of fleeing, she had shoved anything and everything into her mouth, completely disregarding health or taste.
Such reckless eating had long taken its toll. By half a month ago, her stomach had already started deteriorating, often wracked with sharp pains.
Now, this single bowl of meat porridge filled her with an instinctive gratitude toward food itself.
Beside her, the black snake coldly watched this human who was on the verge of tears again.
It couldn’t care less about her. It simply opened its mouth and swallowed its entire stewed chicken whole.
Slurp.
The stewed chicken slid down its throat, forming a large bulge along its snake body.
For some reason, despite lacking taste buds, the black snake knew that the food this human cooked was far better than the raw meat it usually swallowed whole.
Satisfied and full, the snake slowly slithered over to Su Su’s side, lazily curling around her waist. Its tail tapped against her thigh in a prompting manner.
Su Su had just finished a bowl of meat porridge, her eyes still slightly red at the edges.
For some reason, she could easily understand this snake’s every need.
“You want to cleanse impurities?”
Hiss~
The black snake nodded in satisfaction.
A soft white light seeped into its body, gradually dissolving any lingering impurities.
Comfortable—utterly comfortable.
The snake coiled itself fully around the human’s waist, resting its head on her soft, plush thigh, eyes half-closed in enjoyment.
In this moment, it no longer resembled a cold-blooded creature but more like a domesticated Samoyed from a past life.
Su Su instinctively reached out and scratched the snake’s “chin.”
“Feels good, doesn’t it?”
“I’m being so nice to you—you better not be mean to me anymore, got it?”
Just as her voice fell, the black snake rebelliously opened its mouth wide and suddenly bit down on her wrist…
However, its sharp fangs had already retracted, hiding any trace of venom. It didn’t even break the skin, merely rubbing against it in a mock threat.
It was intelligent enough to distinguish whether this human feared or trusted it.
But a little intimidation was still necessary—it wasn’t going to be tamed so easily.
“Aiya! So painful!”
Su Su let out a couple of exaggerated cries, earning a suspicious glance from the black snake.
Hiss?
Su Su pitifully begged for mercy, “I was wrong, Xiao Hei! Please let me go!”
Only then did the terrifying Black Snake Lord loosen its grip, lazily slumping back down.
Seeing this, a trace of amusement flickered in Su Su’s eyes.
After everything that had happened, she was no longer afraid of this massive black python. In fact, she was almost certain now—it wouldn’t harm her so easily.
Maybe this was what it meant to have a companion?
For the first time, she felt like she had someone reliable by her side, just like how Lin Weiran had her teammates.
Realizing this, Su Su’s appetite suddenly grew.
Just as she was about to scoop herself another bowl of meat porridge, the roar of an approaching vehicle echoed from the distant highway.
Her body tensed as she turned her head cautiously.
It was another off-road vehicle, but she couldn’t see how many people were inside.
“Xiao Hei, hide quickly!”
The black snake was reluctant. It feared no human.
But the fragile human before it was insistent, shoving and pushing until she forced it into the tall grass.
Its nearly two-meter-long body coiled up begrudgingly, and those dark green vertical pupils coldly observed the scene outside. It was only waiting for some foolish human to provoke it—then, it could burn them all to ash with a single breath of blue flames.
As the car engine drew closer, Su Su’s nerves grew tighter.
She had no idea what kind of people were in that vehicle, or whether they would pay her any special attention.
But she couldn’t show fear. She had to maintain her composure.
So, when the car finally approached, the four people inside were greeted by a strikingly beautiful woman sitting calmly by a campfire, stirring the pot of meat porridge with her right hand, as if she couldn’t care less about their arrival.
Clearly, she was alone on this desolate roadside, with only one vehicle and an exposed pot of food—an easy target for robbery. Yet, the ability users in the car exchanged glances, and not a single one dared to make a move.
They were all experienced ability users. They knew better than to judge by appearances.
A woman who could travel alone was often a more dangerous opponent than a man.
For a moment, silence hung in the air.
Then, the mouthwatering aroma of food drifted through the car window.
The girl with braided pigtails twitched her nose. “That smells so good… I think she put smoked meat in her porridge.”
Almost instinctively, the others discreetly swallowed their saliva.
Unable to resist, the braided girl rolled down the window and boldly called out, “Pretty big sister, are you selling your meat porridge? I can trade other supplies for it!”
There was a woman in the car—one who looked around eighteen, younger than Su Su by two or three years, with clear and untainted eyes.
Su Su’s guard relaxed slightly, but she remained expressionless as she asked, “What supplies do you have?”
“I have a bottle of Lao Gan Ma…”1Lao Gan Ma (老干妈) is a famous Chinese brand of chili sauce, known for its rich, spicy, and umami flavor. The brand was founded by Tao Huabi (陶华碧) in 1997, and it has since become one of the most popular chili condiments in China and internationally. The braided girl hesitated, then, enticed by the aroma of the meat porridge, she weakly added, “And a pack of spicy strips.”
But neither of these were staple foods—not even proper snacks to fill a stomach.
Su Su, however, was intrigued.
She didn’t care for spicy strips, but Lao Gan Ma was somewhat useful. It could serve as a seasoning for stir-frying or even be eaten directly with rice.
Of course, that wasn’t the only thing she had her eye on.
“I also need a large-capacity backpack. Forget the spicy strips—just leave your backpack.”
“Huh?”
The braided girl hadn’t expected such a simple request. Backpacks were everywhere in shopping malls—if she hadn’t been struggling to find food, she wouldn’t have bothered picking one up.
But soon, her surprise turned to joy.
“Alright! No problem!”
Just as the braided girl was about to get out of the car, Su Su stopped her.
“I’ll scoop a bowl of porridge and place it between us. You take the porridge, and leave the Lao Gan Ma and backpack where they are.”
After living in the apocalypse for a total of three years—including her previous life—Su Su had encountered too many strange and unpredictable abilities. Even the most unremarkable companions could conceal a deadly trick, turning on their allies at a critical moment without hesitation.
Let alone a stranger she had just met—there was no such thing as being too cautious.
The moment she said this, the braided girl readily agreed, unfazed. However, the other ability users in the car exchanged glances, a fleeting look of regret flashing across their faces.
Su Su began ladling out the porridge.
Having not cooked in a long time, she had miscalculated the portions—there was still enough left in the pot for three more bowls.
Not one to be stingy, she filled the bowl generously.
Noticing the braided girl’s gaunt cheeks, she even scooped in a few extra pieces of chicken.
“Wow!!!”
The braided girl set the Lao Gan Ma and the empty backpack on the ground. When she picked up the bowl of meat porridge, she gasped in delight.
“Big Sis, you’re so generous! You gave me so much!”
Su Su smiled but kept her words to a minimum, careful not to accidentally reveal anything that might give the experienced ability users in the car an edge.
Happily, the braided girl returned to the vehicle and waved from the window.
“See you again if fate allows, Pretty Sis!”
The unfamiliar off-road vehicle rumbled to life and soon disappeared beyond the horizon.
Only then did Su Su stand up. “Xiao Hei, come out.”
The black snake slithered leisurely out of the grass.
Before Su Su could even pick up the backpack, it had already slithered inside first.
“How do you know this is for you?”
With a brand-new large backpack, Su Su was in a great mood.
For now, she still wasn’t ready to let Xiao Hei be seen by others. The backpack was the perfect hiding spot—just like those space capsules people used to carry their cats outside.
The thought amused her, and she chuckled to herself.
The black snake, however, didn’t notice her laughter. It slithered in a slow circle inside the backpack, its pupils narrowing slightly with suspicion.
There was a strange scent.
Like the smell of venomous insects from deep mountains and forests.
—
Inside the other off-road vehicle.
Pang Cancan was carefully sipping her bowl of meat porridge, and the moment she bit into the rich, salty chicken, her eyes welled up with tears of emotion.
“So good! It’s too good!”
The other people in the car were stealing glances at the porridge in her hands, a subtle yet undeniable tension slowly creeping through the air.
Pang Cancan didn’t notice a thing.
She had only joined this ability-user team as a temporary ally. Everyone’s supplies were individually managed, so it never occurred to her to share her food with them.
After all, when they ate, had they ever thought about her?
Completely oblivious to the atmosphere, Pang Cancan continued eating with great relish—until someone finally lost patience.
“Why didn’t you make a move just now?”
She blinked in confusion. “Make a move? What do you mean?”
“You should’ve put one of your venomous insects in her backpack and let it bite that pretty chick to death. Then we could’ve gone back and looted all her supplies.”
The man sneered. “After all, that’s about the only useful thing your ability can do, right?”
A wave of irritation surged in Pang Cancan’s chest, making even the delicious porridge in her mouth lose its appeal.
“I don’t even have a grudge against her. Why would I do something so despicable? If you’re so capable, why didn’t you just rush out and rob her yourself?”
The sour chicken guy was instantly enraged by the comeback. “You—!”
“Enough! Shut up, all of you!”
“We need to keep moving. Don’t start unnecessary fights over a bit of supplies.”
The team leader spoke up, and Pang Cancan smirked in satisfaction before resuming her porridge, savoring each bite.
As for sour chicken guy, he was too furious to speak, only glaring daggers at her.
Sensing hostility, a fingernail-sized venomous insect crawled out from Pang Cancan’s sleeve, silently creeping onto her fingertip.
With a sudden flick of her hand, she waved the insect in front of sour chicken guy’s face.
“AAAAAHHHH!!!!”
He let out a bloodcurdling scream of terror.
He had seen these venomous insects in action before—just a dozen of them had been enough to devour a zombie’s brain in an instant.
If he got bitten even once… Sour Chicken Guy’s face turned ashen. He didn’t dare say another word.
“Good baby, so well-behaved!”
Pang Cancan kissed the tiny insect before letting it crawl back into her sleeve.
The car fell into dead silence.
Everyone had caught a glimpse of what just happened from the corners of their eyes.
And when it came to that venomous insect, without exception—disgust flickered in their eyes, followed by a fear they wouldn’t even admit to themselves.