After finishing the last bowl of meat porridge, Su Su finally felt an unprecedented sense of fullness.
While the fire was still burning, she thought for a moment and had Xiao Hei take out the bucket of eggs, boiling six of them.
If there was no time to start a fire on the journey ahead, eggs would be convenient to eat directly.
As for the smoked chicken, she also stewed a pot, leaving it for Xiao Hei as dinner.
“Xiao Hei, we need to make a trip to X City next.”
Eighty catties of rice were enough for her to eat for a long time, but if something unexpected happened on the road, it would be easy to run out of supplies.
No matter what, she had to take a detour. Su Su planned to circle into X City to search for supplies and have Xiao Hei store everything.
“Hiss~”
The black snake was too lazy to move, and Su Su spent quite some effort before finally moving it to the front passenger seat.
“Actually, I still prefer your previous form.”
When she put it down, Su Su sighed.
“You’re too heavy now. Carrying you on my back is exhausting, and holding you is even worse.”
The black snake closed its eyes and pretended not to understand.
Cold-blooded animals generally had a more indifferent temperament. Even though it often acted distant and ignored her, Su Su still regarded herself as its master, tending to it with dedication and willingness.
Who would bother fussing over their beloved pet?
To this day, Su Su still didn’t fully understand the intelligence level of Xiao Hei. From her perspective, it was just a particularly smart and powerful python.
A bit lazy, a bit petty, a bit fierce… but when it mattered, it would protect her!
Su Su lovingly peeled open an egg.
“Eat this, and we’ll be on our way!”
Swoosh.
The snake’s head darted over and instantly swallowed the egg whole.
“Let’s go.”
The off-road vehicle headed toward X City. The closer they got to the urban area, the more scattered zombies they saw wandering around.
Ordinary low-level zombies couldn’t keep up with the vehicle’s speed. Even if some threw themselves onto the road like flying corpses, they would end up getting mercilessly knocked away.
Su Su’s attention, however, was more focused on the Tier 2 zombies.
She was also at Tier 2… With her current strength, what was the highest-tier zombie she could control? And at most, how many zombies could she control at once?
These were all things she needed to figure out through trial and error.
This journey was the perfect training opportunity. If she could encounter a Tier 3 zombie… Su Su thought optimistically, but after driving for an entire day and night, she hadn’t come across a single Tier 3 zombie.
In remote wilderness areas, even Tier 1 and Tier 2 zombies weren’t that common, leaving her with very few chances to take action.
Su Su was not discouraged.
It wasn’t until they reached the outskirts of X City, where residential complexes became more frequent, that the number of zombies gradually increased.
Perhaps drawn by the roar of the vehicle, a large wave of low-level zombies swarmed over, mixed with a fair number of Tier 1 zombies.
Su Su released her ability, and an invisible white light enveloped a ten-meter radius. The snarling and growling zombies were immediately affected by the light, their sense of direction thrown into disarray. After a brief pause, they staggered and wandered aimlessly in different directions.
Thud, thud.
Seeing this, Su Su’s heart involuntarily sped up.
An ability she had once considered “useless” turned out to be incredibly effective against zombies… If her power continued to grow stronger, wouldn’t that mean she could move freely through the apocalypse without obstacles?
“Xiao Hei, from now on, we…”
Su Su wanted to share her excitement with the black snake, but the moment she turned her head, she saw that it had already slithered out through the open car window!
She slammed on the brakes and cried out in alarm, “Xiao Hei?”
Without even looking back, the black snake “flew” out of the window, slithering dozens of meters in the blink of an eye, completely unaffected by the vehicle’s speed.
It locked onto a Tier 2 zombie, and in an instant, blue flames engulfed its prey, reducing it to ashes.
With a soft plop, a crystal core fell to the ground and was swiftly scooped up by a crimson serpent’s tongue, vanishing into its mouth.
Su Su finally let out a breath of relief.
It seemed she had worried too much. Xiao Hei was a python with abilities, and after consuming crystal cores, perhaps it had started to recognize zombies as viable prey.
Under the bright daylight—
The black snake moved like a walking “incinerator,” burning everything in its path. Su Su watched as it swallowed over a dozen Grade 2 crystal cores. Though she was slightly concerned about excessive energy buildup in its body, she mostly felt reassured and proud.
Since that was the case, there was no need to rush. She decided to find a concealed spot to park the off-road vehicle and began searching for supplies.
This area was still twenty to thirty kilometers from the city center. Before the apocalypse, even taking the subway to the end of Line 1 and then driving another half-hour was necessary to reach here.
The land had been cheap, prompting developers to construct many new housing complexes, though shopping malls and essential facilities had yet to be fully built.
Several storefronts were still vacant, with signs advertising leasing opportunities.
Su Su used her ability to “ward off” zombies while checking each store, hoping to find a supermarket or a retail shop—perhaps she could even scavenge some leftover supplies.
Finally! At the end of the street, she spotted a small supermarket on the second floor of a building!
The entrance to the elevator had long been abandoned, leaving only a dedicated side passage as an alternative.
Staring at the pitch-black corridor, Su Su hesitated for a few seconds before stepping back.
“Xiao Hei!”
The black snake, busy incinerating zombies in the distance, heard her call and turned its head to glance at her.
Su Su waved at it. “Come here, I found supplies.”
Faced with the dilemma between crystal cores and a human’s summons, the black snake pondered for a moment before leisurely making its way over.
Su Su opened her backpack toward it.
“There might still be survivors in the supermarket. Hide inside first.”
The black snake reluctantly slithered into the backpack.
Previously, it had obediently stayed inside because the heavy presence of humans in the surroundings triggered its instincts. As an animal that had spent years deep in the mountains, it naturally sensed danger.
But as its intelligence grew and its abilities strengthened, it disliked staying in the backpack more and more.
“Hiss!”
On the way upstairs, the black snake restlessly poked its head out, silently perching on Su Su’s shoulder and neck, its eyes wary as it observed the path ahead.
Su Su allowed it, saying, “If you see people later, hide in the backpack immediately, got it?”
“Hiss~”
The black snake responded with a perfunctory hiss.
Worried that there might be zombies or survivors inside the supermarket, Su Su stepped lightly, her vigilance at its peak.
The moment she reached the top of the stairs, the sound of crashing and fighting filled the air.
People! And judging by the noise, there were several of them!
Su Su tensed, glanced around quickly, and instinctively ducked behind the counter near the supermarket entrance.
“Boss! We can’t hold on much longer!”
“This Tier 3 zombie is too strong! If this keeps up, we’re all going to die here!”
Two seconds passed before someone finally responded.
“Hold on for another minute! Cancan, grab as many supplies as you can!”
“Got it!”
A familiar name, a familiar voice—it immediately reminded Su Su of the four people she had encountered in the wilderness two days ago.
So it was them. What a coincidence to run into them again.
After a moment of contemplation, she decided to stay hidden.
One minute passed quickly, and the situation outside grew more and more lopsided.
No matter how unwilling the leader was, he had to make the call to retreat.
“Time’s up! Fall back!”
The three men fought as they retreated toward the exit. The relentless zombie, sensing that its fresh prey was slipping away, suddenly unleashed an even fiercer assault.
Even the leader, who had the strongest ability, was starting to struggle.
If this continued, they might not make it out alive.
Realizing this, the leader’s eyes flickered for a few seconds.
His peripheral vision caught sight of Pang Cancan rushing over, her arms full of food after sweeping the shelves, her movements noticeably slower from the burden.
“Boss, we can’t keep going like this,” the snide man who had previously mocked Pang Cancan said in a low voice. “This zombie is too aggressive. If we don’t leave someone behind to cover us, none of us are getting out.”
As they spoke, the zombie swiped a claw toward the leader’s face.
He narrowly dodged but found himself unable to counterattack—his ability was nearly depleted.
In that split second, he made his decision.
He abruptly grabbed Pang Cancan, who had just caught up. The young girl wasn’t heavy, and he easily dragged her in front of him.
Caught off guard, Pang Cancan was yanked backward, the supplies in her arms scattering across the floor.
“Boss?”
“Cancan, don’t blame me for being ruthless. Someone has to cover the retreat, and your ability is too weak—you’re the best choice.”
With that, the leader mercilessly threw her toward the incoming Tier 3 zombie.
“Bastard! You son of a bitch!”
Her furious curses echoed through the supermarket, but they failed to stir any guilt or regret in her teammates. Seeing the zombie momentarily slowed by its fresh prey, they wasted no time sprinting up the stairs, “flying” out of the danger zone.
Faintly, a voice cursed in frustration, “Damn it, we didn’t get the supplies!”
At this point, no one mourned Pang Cancan’s sacrifice. Instead, they regretted losing the supplies she had been carrying.
The curses quickly turned into screams.
“Get away! Ahhhhhhh!”
The zombie’s claws tore through Pang Cancan’s sleeve, sending her into a panic. She immediately released a swarm of venomous insects.
The insects swarmed toward the zombie’s face, crawling into its eye sockets, ear canals, and mouth—any crevice they could find.
“ROAR!!!!”
The zombie, enraged, flailed violently. Its rotten, shriveled body showed no fear of their venom. As long as they avoided its brain, it could easily crush them with a single swipe.
In those few precious seconds, Pang Cancan tried to escape. But the zombie blocked the exit, forcing her to retreat into a narrow storage room as her only option.
Just as she slammed the door shut, the zombie, having crushed a dozen of her insects, crashed into the entrance, pounding against it with furious roars.
At this rate, that flimsy door wouldn’t last long.
“You bastards! You goddamn dogs!”
“Zhao Qiankun! Lin Wenzong! Zhang Qiang! You’d better pray I die here today! If I make it out alive, I swear I’ll kill every single one of you!”
Her furious, desperate threats rang loud and clear in Su Su’s ears.
Before coming upstairs, she hadn’t expected to witness such a blatant act of betrayal.
But… things like this were far too common in the apocalypse. During desperate escapes, 90% of teams were only temporary alliances—trust was almost nonexistent.
“Hiss~”
Before she realized it, the backpack had become noticeably lighter.
Su Su turned her head and saw that half of Xiao Hei’s body had already slithered onto the floor.
“Xiao Hei, wait.” She swiftly grabbed hold of its body. “Let me test my ability first?”
During the brief standoff, Xiao Hei graciously decided to show some mercy to the human, barely agreeing to wait.