But she was unwilling to accept it, truly unwilling!
Her house, her green vines, her dog—these were all her treasures!
She cherished these precious belongings dearly but lacked the ability to protect them. Every day was filled with fear and anxiety, mechanically training without ever breaking through her limits.
If she couldn’t become an ability, she would forever remain weak.
In the upcoming battle with the Speed Zombies, she would likely get injured.
However, she wouldn’t return to her room again. She would wait at the door, holding out until the very last moment, only returning when she truly couldn’t bear it any longer.
She was determined to try!
Just this one last attempt!
With her decision made, she didn’t immediately act against the Speed Zombies. She needed to find a way to separate them from the regular zombies.
She couldn’t afford to lose her mind and charge into the horde, trying to take out the enemy commander in the midst of a countless army.
The safest place was still in Building 7 where she resided.
Building 7 now housed several mutated plants—whether it was the useless dandelions meant only for decoration or the vital crops like cabbage and wheat, they couldn’t afford any damage. If they were destroyed, the last half-month of her efforts would be wasted.
She must seal off the room with the mutated plants.
Fu Erdie spoke and acted decisively, and the elderly woman also pitched in to help.
“Before, this area was all countryside, and my husband and I were farmers. We did everything ourselves, even building our house with friends instead of hiring outside craftsmen. Fixing a door was no big deal.”
With her familiarity with the tasks at hand, the elderly woman relaxed and chatted on: “You gave me millet, potatoes, and peaches, kumquats—all delicious and energizing. My back doesn’t ache as much now, even at my age. I can still manage quite well.”
Fu Erdie’s eyes flickered slightly.
It turned out that not only did the house have repair functions, but these mutated crops could also help in human recovery.
This is indeed a pleasant surprise.
After sealing off the room with mutated plants, they would proceed to seal off Zhang Dongxuan’s house.
Zhang Dongxuan chose a room on the second floor, equipped with a sturdy anti-theft door and each person had a spare key.
Just in case, they put a seal on the door to prevent zombies from entering.
During this time, Zhang Dongxuan would move into 16-1.
She was somewhat nervous.
She knew that Fu Erdie lived so comfortably in this post-apocalyptic world, there must be something special about her. But as an outsider, it was a basic rule of survival not to pry into others’ secrets. She never asked, only faithfully watched the surveillance, taking care of the dog that often guarded the second floor and occasionally fought off zombies that wandered in.
Now that she was accepted, should she move to Fu Erdie’s place?
Or was it because her she would be fighting zombies soon, with no place to keep her safe, so she had to go?
Zhang Dongxuan asked herself inwardly, she and this girl hadn’t bonded to that extent.
Though deep down, she did want to move.
Living on the second floor, she could have good food, be healthy and energetic compared to before, and in the girls’ home, she could certainly be more comfortable.
But … but…
People should learn to be satisfied.
The girl fights zombies for herself, and also to protect her.
“Can she not even do such a small thing as staying away from the girl’s secrets to let her feel safe?”
The two of them, along with the dog, slowly made their way up to the 16th floor. Fu Erdie led them toward apartment 16-1, but the elderly lady stopped.
She shook her head slowly, “This old woman will return to the 24th floor. My door has a good security lock. It held up for two months before, and it can last two more days now.”
Fu Erdie was taken aback: “But if the zombies attack and you fail, you’ll be trapped in your apartment. If you come to my place, even if something happens to me, there’s food and water—you can hold out for a long time.”
Zhang Dongxuan looked at Fu Erdie’s still youthful face, unable to resist reaching out to pat her on the head: “I’ll be on the 24th floor, waiting for you to come find me again.”
Fu Erdie watched her slowly climb the stairs.
Fu Erdie felt a pang of guilt. Because after hearing the old lady’s words, she felt a sense of relief deep down.
This was an instinctive self-preservation that wasn’t controlled by her sense of morality. She didn’t stop the old lady.
The power strips from the 16th floor to the 1st floor had been carefully collected, leaving the entire building clean and empty, with no clutter remaining.
It was time to act.
Fu Erdie used binoculars to observe the Speed zombie she had targeted. When it wobbled close to Building 7, Fu Erdie threw an old, torn shoe in the direction of the main entrance.
As expected, the Speed zombie was attracted and quickly rushed toward the source of the sound.
The other six or seven wandering zombies also heard the noise and started to stagger in that direction.
The Speed zombie reached the entrance on the first floor but found no trace of any humans.
However, there was a faint human scent emanating from the first floor, which lured it to step inside.
There were intermittent bloodstains on the wall, faint but obviously fresh human blood.
The fast zombie grew excited! It quickly followed the trail.
On the 16th floor, Fu Erdie deliberately rubbed her fingers until they bled.
Based on her observation for half a month, the speed zombie could sprint at full speed and reach the 16th floor in two minutes. The other zombies would sluggishly identify the scent, then sluggishly climb up, taking at least an hour.
If she could eliminate the speed zombie within an hour and transform into an ability user, that would be the best-case scenario. If not… she hoped the speed zombie would at least be severely injured, giving her dog and Zhang Dongxuan a chance to escape.
Fu Erdie had set up many hammers, shovels, knives, and daggers on the sixteenth floor.
During the fight, she needed to ensure that even if she dropped a tool, she could react quickly and pick up the next one to continue the attack.
Gripping the hammer tightly, she waited for the zombies to charge up the corridor at any moment.
As the fifteenth drop of sweat slid off her chin, a black shadow flashed by. In the blink of an eye, the zombie rushed in front of Fu Erdie and bit directly towards her neck.
Instinctively, Fu Erdie lowered her head and dodged to the side, but the zombie quickly grabbed her exposed neck.
Fu Erdie swung the hammer backhandedly, but unable to use force, the zombie grabbed the hammerhead and she instantly let go. Rolling forward, she avoided the bite and grabbed the nearest knife, stabbing back at the zombie’s head.
The zombie was much faster than Fu Erdie. Losing balance as she rolled, it locked onto Fu Erdie’s neck again, lunging forward, but without much force, it ran into Fu Erdie’s knife.
The knife pierced its eye socket, exploding one eye with blood and flesh flying. The sharp sound of the knife entering the flesh was teeth-clenching.
However, she couldn’t blow its head off, nor could she crush its nucleus. It only obstructed its vision, diverting its bite from Fu Erdie’s neck to her left shoulder.
The zombie feels no pain; the dagger piercing its eye socket into its brain doesn’t stop it from tearing a chunk of flesh from Fu Erdie’s body.
Fu Erdie cries out in pain. She twists the dagger, aiming to crack open its head.
However, the dagger is too dull and gets stuck directly in the zombie’s eye socket.
Fu Erdie can only push the zombie’s head away. She instantly gives up the dagger, grabs the nearby hammer that fell, swings her right arm, and smashes it towards the zombie’s head.
She moves fast, with great strength, swinging the hammer in the air, even causing a sound of breaking wind.
But the zombie is faster. It senses the danger, leaps away in an instant to avoid the hammer blow, and lunges back at Fu Erdie.
The hammer’s handle is too long, and Fu Erdie can’t turn it around quickly enough. She loses her tool and is unable to defend herself in time, watching as it bites again at the already torn left shoulder.
Intense pain strikes again. The gnawing and pulling make Fu Erdie break into a cold sweat, urgently using her left hand to pry open the zombie’s mouth.
The zombie is fast, slightly weaker than Fu Erdie in strength, but wins in not fearing pain during the struggle.
After pushing it back a bit, Fu Erdie presses her fingers hard, forcefully thrusting them into the zombie’s cheekbone, pressing down on its jawbone, and sharply twisting to the side.
With a snap, the zombie’s lower jaw is dislocated.
Its biting actions become clumsy, resorting to using its hands to grab and claw.
With long nails, the zombie’s attack power far exceeded Fu Erdie’s fingers, but it lacked strategy. Relying solely on its speed advantage, it would retreat upon sensing threat, then charge back to claw and bite.
Thus, they battled evenly for an hour.
Not far away, the dog had caught up and was now tearing into the scent of the zombie. Finally, Fu Erdie found her chance. As the speed zombie lunged forward again to attack, she smashed it squarely in the head with the hammer, ending it with a precise blow.
At last, the world fell silent.
The speed zombie collapsed to the ground like a pile of rotting flesh, its head blown open, and a bright blue crystal nucleus gleaming inside.
Fu Erdie’s eyes lit up.
A nucleus!
She hurried forward, pulling apart the shattered skull and flesh, and retrieved the nucleus.
Initially intending to keep it, deal with the ordinary zombies with the dog first, and then study it, she was shocked when, just as she clasped it without applying any force, the blue crystal nucleus shattered into several pieces!
Fu Erdie watched in disbelief as the once brilliant crystal nucleus quickly dimmed. Without wasting a moment, she hastily swallowed the remaining fragments. However, in the blink of an eye, the nucleus had lost all its energy and turned into mere grains of sand.
Her palm was left empty, the blood on her shoulder feeling unusually hot.
With her last determination, she had risked her life against the mutant zombie, only to gain this handful of sand?
Fu Erdie felt a numb anger wash over her entire being.
Why did the crystal core shatter? Was it because I smashed the zombie’s head too hard? Or is it that this damn crystal core can’t be separated from the zombie’s body?
Angry and powerless, after struggling so desperately, her efforts were in vain. Dizzy from the injury and excessive blood loss, she was bewildered by the unknown.
All these circumstances caused her to kneel on the ground, momentarily lost in thought.
From 16-1, several large leaves of green vines stretched out, emitting faint white light. They gathered the scattered blue crystal core energy from the air, wrapped it within the leaves, and placed it in front of Fu Erdie, nudging her hand.
Fu Erdie looked stiffly at the layers of things that looked like wrapped dumplings, blinking.
Could it be? The energy of the crystal core has been gathered back?
Her left hand dragged on the ground, the injured area still bleeding profusely. But her mind had only one thought: can the green vines be used like this?
Her eyes flickered as hope rose again in her heart.
But how should she handle this? Eat the leaves and the air together?
Her mouth wasn’t big enough to swallow two fist-sized bundles of vine leaves and air in one go, even if it tore her mouth apart.
The situation remained deadlocked.
At the stairway, the dog had already successfully torn the necks of six zombie bodies.
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