“Fuck! Who the hell is so immoral, sweeping clean everything in the service area?!”
Zhao Zhenyu viciously kicked a roadside barrier, his face so dark it seemed as if water could drip from it.
This was the second one—the second service area they had rushed to at top speed—yet even after turning it upside down, they hadn’t found a single grain of rice.
It was as if a swarm of locusts had passed through, emptying out the entire service area!
Lin Weiran’s expression wasn’t looking too good either. “I’ll check how much food we have left.”
She walked around to the trunk and casually glanced inside.
A half-bag of rice, a few packets of instant noodles, some scattered spicy snacks… that was all.
“How is it?” Si Zhe also walked over. One glance was enough for him to estimate, “Eating normally, we can last a day. If we ration it, two days.”
Lin Weiran took a deep breath and shook her head. “We can’t ration. If we do, we won’t have the strength to kill zombies.”
She tapped her palm, a hint of anxiety surfacing between her striking brows.
Si Zhe gently grasped her hand, prying open her tightly clenched fingers one by one. “If it really comes to it, we’ll just leave the highway first, gather supplies from the surrounding area, and then come back.”
Lin Weiran took another deep breath and murmured, “I was too impatient. This highway leads directly to the Southern Base. Even before the apocalypse, no matter how bad the traffic was, it would only take a day to reach. But now, we’ve been delayed for a week and have only traveled 200 kilometers… It’s fine. I’ve adjusted. Even if it takes another month, we will reach our destination in the end.”
“As long as you understand.” Si Zhe smiled lightly, admiration and affection filling his gaze as he looked at the woman he cherished. “We still have plenty of time.”
The man’s eyes were deeply tender, as if Lin Weiran could drown in them.
For a moment, the two gazed at each other in silence, words unnecessary.
—
After awakening her ability, Su Su’s hearing had sharpened significantly, allowing her to pick up bits and pieces of their distant conversation.
She silently swallowed the last bite of her instant noodles.
There was indeed plenty of time. In her previous life, this journey south had lasted an entire year.
Fleeting fragments of unpleasant memories flashed through her mind, but Su Su quickly detached herself from them. She reached into her pocket… The first-grade crystal core inside had yet to be consumed.
Now that she had been reborn, some things were bound to be different.
That night, while everyone was fast asleep, Su Su swallowed her second first-grade crystal core.
—
Inside the van, the black snake had been asleep for most of the day. The wild rabbit it had swallowed earlier had long since been digested. Waking up from hunger, it slithered up, ready to hunt for food—until it suddenly sensed a familiar “white glow.”
Instantly, it forgot its hunger and, in the blink of an eye, darted toward the familiar human.
“Hiss~ Hiss~”
In the stillness of the deep night, the sound of the snake’s hissing caught the attention of the ability user keeping watch. He turned his head to glance back, saw that the noise came from the group of ordinary people, and immediately lost interest, withdrawing his gaze.
The familiar human was lying on the grass.
Drawn to the “warmth,” the black snake slithered onto the human’s chest—this perfect spot allowed it to absorb more of the white glow. As the energy seeped into its body, the unbearable pain and swelling at its seven-inch mark eased significantly.
Ever since it had mistakenly swallowed those crystal stones, it had been suffering day and night. Only the occasional bursts of “warmth” from this human could bring it a little relief.
Coiled upon the human’s chest, the black snake displayed an extremely rare docility, something almost unheard of in cold-blooded creatures.
Naturally, this entire “illusion” lasted only until the moment the “white light spots” disappeared.
When Su Su opened her eyes, the black snake, which had reverted to its cold-blooded and merciless nature, suddenly shot its head forward. Its scarlet forked tongue heavily licked the delicate, fair neck before it. The blue veins hidden beneath the moonlit skin made its venomous fangs itch instinctively.
It coldly stared at this human.
Not only had she kicked it before, but when she exuded the “white light spots,” she hadn’t even called for it. If it hadn’t woken up by chance, it would have missed this rare “warmth.”
The black snake held grudges. It fixated on that slender neck, eager to pierce two holes into it.
The moment Su Su opened her eyes, she was met with this terrifying sight. Fear and the urge to scream were both stifled behind her tightly covered mouth. Her chest heaved violently in shock, causing the black snake coiled atop her to rise and fall with her breathing. Only its head remained motionless, its gaze locked onto her from start to finish.
“Y-You… get down…”
She didn’t dare to move, nor did she dare to push it off with her hands. She could only hope that this cold-blooded venomous snake would crawl off on its own.
No one isn’t afraid of snakes—especially Su Su, who had lived in the city since childhood. If she hadn’t encountered far more terrifying people and creatures in her past life, she would have screamed out loud by now.
The black snake was devoid of humanity, but that didn’t mean it lacked intelligence.
The more fear it sensed from the human before it, the more it pushed its advantage. Its grotesque head had already stretched toward Su Su’s chin, its icy breath brushing against her moonlit skin, sending waves of goosebumps across her body.
Su Su’s eyes reddened from fear. After all, anyone who woke up in the middle of the night only to find a venomous snake coiled on them would surely be scared out of their wits.
“G-Get down, okay?”
She raised her hand several times, but in the end, she didn’t dare to touch the wriggling snake’s body.
Seeing that the black snake was about to crawl onto her face, Su Su finally remembered her ability…
A burst of white light appeared again—denser and purer than ever before.
The black snake, which had just been scaring the human, was instantly bribed.
It slithered back onto Su Su’s chest, closing its eyes in satisfaction as it indulged in this strange yet effective comfort.
Su Su finally let out a breath of relief. The tears that had welled up for so long trickled down into her hair.
“…Everyone bullies me.”
Three words, spoken so softly, yet carrying an overwhelming sense of grievance.
The black snake didn’t understand the sorrow and bitterness of humans. However, when it noticed the white light slowing down, it even lifted its tail and gave a light slap—its urging intent crystal clear.
“Hiss!”
Su Su pursed her lips and continued to release her ability.
That deep feeling of sadness lasted only a few seconds before she realized something unusual…
Unlike before, when she could only maintain her ability for a short time, she had now been releasing it for a long while, yet her body still had plenty of energy remaining.
This meant… she was already close to becoming a Tier 1 ability user!
She only needed to swallow one more first-grade crystal stone to fully break through!
Su Su couldn’t contain her excitement. The joy in her heart had no one to share it with—only a lazy black snake that had just slithered off her chest.
Staring at the scummy snake that wanted to leave after “eating its fill,” she quietly muttered—
“I’ll have an ability from now on too.”
The black snake was indifferent. Perhaps it was in a hurry to hunt for food, as it slithered into the night through the grass in the blink of an eye.
Su Su wasn’t discouraged. She gazed at the stars above her, listening to the intermittent snores around her, and faintly began to understand the nature of her ability.
It could suppress the movements of zombies. It could soothe a wild, untamed black snake…
Perhaps it was some kind of psychic ability that only worked on non-human entities?
In her past life, she had heard of countless psychic abilities. For instance, one of the administrators at the Southern Base was a psychic ability user who could manipulate people’s minds. His ability was completely useless against zombies but was highly effective for governing the base—he could even control some ability users to act as his “human shields”…
Compared to that ability, hers—one that could only soothe and suppress non-human creatures—seemed rather useless.
No, she couldn’t think that way!
Perhaps it had other applications she had yet to discover!
Su Su lay awake, pondering for a long time—so long that the sky began to lighten, and the sound of rustling stirred once more.
Turning her head, she saw that the black snake had returned from hunting. There was a bulge in the middle of its body, shaped like a bird’s egg.
The black snake had just raided a bird’s nest and was lazily slithering back. The egg in its stomach had yet to be digested, but since the convoy would be setting off at dawn, it had obediently returned in time.
Su Su stared at it for a while. She was still afraid, yet an absurd idea arose in her mind.
Seeing that the others were about to wake up, she reached out with trembling hands and unzipped her backpack.
The familiar “warmth” lured the satiated black snake over.
Holding her breath, Su Su set her backpack down, leaving the opening facing the black snake.
“Do you… want to come in?”
The black snake was coiled on the grass not far away, its vertical pupils cold and alert as it scrutinized her, as if trying to discern her intentions.
Su Su had no idea whether she was making the right choice. Her heart pounded wildly, but in the end, she still nudged the backpack a little closer.
The black snake slithered to the opening, lifting its head to glance at the human within reach.
Su Su forced out a smile, but the fear in her expression was still unmistakable.
This contradictory reaction pleased the black snake.
Its head slipped inside the backpack first, followed by the rest of its body inching in bit by bit. Only after its tail had completely disappeared did Su Su, with a pounding heart, carefully zip up the backpack—leaving only a small opening for the snake to poke its head out and breathe.
As the others gradually woke up, Su Su, who had stayed up all night, clutched her wildly beating chest and carried her backpack to wash up. Afterward, she climbed into the van.
Her movements were entirely instinctive.
It wasn’t until she had been sitting in the back seat for a while, and the convoy had already driven over a dozen kilometers, that she finally calmed down.
Worried about accidentally crushing the venomous snake inside, Su Su held the backpack close to her chest.
The true reason this black snake had attached itself to her was still unclear. It had unpredictable moments of aggression, yet in both her past life and this one, it had saved her life.
Since her ability could pacify and suppress it, was it possible for her to control it—just as that psychic ability user in the Southern Base controlled people?
If he could command ability users, then perhaps she could raise a “black snake”…
She would just think of it as keeping an extremely dangerous reptile as a pet.
“More zombies ahead!”
The voice of the woman driving snapped Su Su out of her thoughts. She temporarily set aside the black snake in her bag, focusing her attention on the zombie horde up ahead.
These small clusters of zombies were scattered along the highway, appearing every so often. Aside from the abandoned vehicles blocking the road, they were one of the main obstacles that had to be cleared.
Su Su glanced at the scene.
They were all low-level zombies, and it was possible to simply run them over with the vehicles. However, the more collisions they made, the faster the cars would break down. If their means of transportation gave out midway, finding another intact vehicle would be nearly impossible.
The ability users had already gotten out of the vehicles to deal with the zombies, and a few regular people from the convoy, who often worked together to fight zombies, had also joined in.
However, there were noticeably fewer people than before. With food becoming scarce and the rewards that crystal stones could be exchanged for dwindling, the more one expended, the greater the loss. Naturally, some people were unwilling to get out of the car anymore, preferring instead to follow behind the ability user squad and take advantage of the situation.
Su Su didn’t get out of the car either, but she had made up her mind to develop her ability, and this was the perfect opportunity.
A few regular people surrounded three zombies, hacking at them. No one could see the invisible white light that seeped into one of the zombies from afar. In an instant, the zombie’s movements stalled, giving someone the chance to decapitate it.
Su Su’s eyes lit up, and she expanded the range of her white light, enveloping the remaining two zombies.
Sure enough, both zombies froze simultaneously.
She didn’t stop there and continued trying to direct the white light further away—toward a group of over a dozen zombies rushing toward them. The invisible light split into three strands, successfully halting three of the low-level zombies in their tracks.
No one noticed the subtle disturbance among the horde.
Su Su’s ability lasted only three minutes before the five immobilized zombies regained movement.
“Whew—”
She discreetly wiped away the thin layer of sweat on her forehead.
She had roughly figured out the limits of her ability—it could suppress the actions of up to five low-level zombies at once, but only for a limited duration.
This was incredibly exciting information.
If she wanted to join a high-offense team, she could use her ability to assist them, making it effortless for her teammates to slice through zombies like cutting melons.
For instance, Lin Weiran’s team.
If she revealed her ability, their attitudes toward her would undoubtedly change, and Zhao Zhenyu wouldn’t target her anymore. She would be accepted into the ability user squad, fighting alongside them, enjoying the supplies from convenience stores together, and reaching the Southern Base as part of the group…
No one would ever say to her again—
Wu Zhi likes you, consider yourself lucky. Don’t be ungrateful.
Su Su clutched her backpack tightly.
The black snake inside, still digesting its bird egg, squirmed in discomfort.
Suffocating! Damn human!
Su Su hastily loosened her grip, channeling the last bit of energy in her body into white light, sending it into the backpack to soothe the petty, cold-blooded creature.
The bag finally stopped moving.
A long breath escaped from Su Su’s lips.
No.
She would never join that team.
And they… never truly needed her.