The old lady’s name is Zhang Dongxuan, and she usually lives alone. Her children visit her every few days, bringing along vegetables, fruits, rice, and other essential items. However, the old lady can’t consume all of it by herself, and despite her requests for them not to send so much, her children insist on doing so, resulting in her accumulating a surplus of supplies.
Her children wish for her to move in with them, but Zhang Dongxuan prefers staying here because of the familiar neighbours, and she can reach her cultivated vegetable plot within a fifteen-minute walk. Her daily life here may be slow-paced, but it’s fulfilling and comfortable.
For drinking water, Zhang Dongxuan boils tap water herself. Her children believe there are too many impurities in the water, so they occasionally order 15-liter buckets of bottled water online, which get delivered to her doorstep. By sheer coincidence, when the apocalypse arrived, Zhang Dongxuan still had four unopened buckets of bottled water at home.
While other neighbours either fled, died, or were overrun by zombies, she somehow managed to survive for over two months in this scorching environment.
However, by the time Fu Erdie reached the 24th floor, Zhang Dongxuan had already finished all her water and had been thirsty and dizzy for three days.
Thinking she was observing and lurking in the darkness, Fu Erdie was surprised to find her just struggling to move, taking slow steps towards the door. With her last ounce of strength, she managed to “call out” a few words to Fu Erdie before collapsing at the door.
That was the scene Fu Erdie encountered upon her return.
Now, sitting in Zhang Dongxuan’s house and listening to her story, Fu Erdie’s guard completely lowered.
“I want to discuss something with you. If you’re willing to take the risk and help me watch the surveillance on the second floor, I can provide you with the food and water you need every day. And I can also help with the cleaning in your house.”
Zhang Dongxuan was stunned for a moment, then looked at Fu Erdie with disbelief and hope.
Getting a nod of confirmation from the other side, Zhang Dongxuan almost burst into tears.
“I’m willing, of course I’m willing… I’ve already felt embarrassed asking you for so much water and fruit. Once I finish what’s here, I won’t be able to survive. What’s wrong with living on the second floor? There’s nothing I can’t do. At this point, having a little water to drink and some fresh fruit to eat, every day lived is a blessing.”
Fu Erdie was afraid that Zhang Dongxuan didn’t fully understand the danger, so she explained the current situation seriously.
“I’ll place surveillance on the first floor, the stairs, and the corridors on the second floor. You’ll need to pick a room on the second floor to live in permanently. During your free time, you’ll need to stay in an area where your phone’s Bluetooth can receive signals to monitor different areas. Your room will have electricity, so you can use a fan, but for safety at night, you can’t use very bright lights, only a small flashlight when needed.”
“The zombies in this building have been cleared, but they could still enter from outside at any time. I’ll leave the dog on the second floor. If something happens, you can make a noise, or you can directly deal with a small number of ordinary zombies. But if there are too many zombies, Auntie, you’ll be in grave danger, and you might even die on the spot.”
Zhang Dongxuan shook her head. “It’s already very good. I’m prepared. Don’t worry, little sister. Even if something happens, don’t feel guilty.”
Fu Erdie looked into her eyes, confirming her determination, then began helping Zhang Dongxuan move her belongings.
Since Zhang Dongxuan’s health wasn’t great, Fu Erdie instructed her to pile up the things she needed to move, then went to the second floor to choose a room. The rest would be handled by her.
Three months ago, she definitely couldn’t have imagined herself going from the 24th floor to the 1st floor, back and forth, carrying things by walking.
But now, she not only achieved it but also did it with ease.
After moving in, Fu Erdie taught the elderly lady how to use the phone to watch the surveillance and how to use the walkie-talkie for remote communication. As long as there’s any abnormality in the surveillance, the elderly lady can immediately contact her using the walkie-talkie.
“This pot of succulent, let’s put it next to the toilet in the bathroom,” Fu Erdie demonstrated to the elderly lady and then placed the succulent in the bathroom.
“It’s a mutant plant. It will slowly grow roots and release a substance that can corrode and dissolve garbage, then absorb the garbage as energy. It can take care of the cleanliness of the toilet. When it grows a bit bigger, it can also help with the cleanliness of the house.”
The succulent nodded slowly.
The thick roots slowly extended from the soil, waving in the air to indicate.
The elderly lady felt a bit scared, her heart pounding.
Honestly, her worldview was somewhat shaken.
After finishing these tasks, Fu Erdie’s life entered a phase of stability.
There’s no need to worry every day about the house taking care of the plants and crops inside.
Outside, Fu Erdie planted mutant plants on several floors, which need to be watered regularly.
The millet in room 16-7 has grown into grains, and Fu Erdie didn’t know what to do with it, so she just took it back and handed it over to the versatile green ivy.
The ivy found it troublesome and passed it on to the younger sibling, the spider plant.
The spider plant is not as big as the green ivy now, but after digesting the garbage from several floors, it’s almost as tall as a bush.
Maybe it’s because they often go out with Fu Erdie, both the spider plant and the gardenia can flexibly extend their roots, curling up in small boxes, doing daily tasks with Fu Erdie.
Moreover, since the spider plant itself is very slender, it can reach a greater distance when moving, and both the leaves and roots are more flexible. It’s not difficult for it to open the grains, eat the shells, and leave the millet behind.
The dandelions and cabbage on the 24th floor have also ripened. The dandelions have started dispersing seeds outward with the wind, turning into a spectacle on the 24th floor.
Fu Erdie goes up and down the stairs at least once a day, inspecting all the mutant plants, checking on the elderly lady’s condition, and examining the connections of a long string of power strips.
At the same time, she also records the situation of her own mutated house and the surroundings outside her building every day.
There are a total of 12 buildings in the neighbourhood, and Fu Erdie lives in Building 7. There are still many zombies in the surrounding residential buildings.
Ordinary zombies are not a concern for Fu Erdie. What she needs to observe is whether there are any survivors, ability users, or even more powerful mutant zombies in these buildings.
She has basically confirmed that the zombies she encountered on the first day of the apocalypse had speed-related abilities.
Furthermore, she suspects that her house mutated due to trapping and killing a mutant zombie when she cleared the door and closed it. She heard a clicking sound back then, and based on her years of experience reading novels, it might be that the mutant zombie’s crystalline nucleus was smashed out when it was killed, accidentally causing her house to absorb and transform.
The invading ability users that came later should also have something similar to a crystalline nucleus. After being absorbed by the house and the green ivy, both of them underwent significant evolution.
So, the question is, are there any other ability users or mutant zombies left in the city of C or even just in this neighbourhood?
If there are, with Fu Erdie, her house, the green plants, and even her dog continuously becoming stronger, are the enemies also getting stronger?
Should she hope that these ability users and mutant zombies never find her, or should she join the battle and level up herself?
If she chooses the latter, what capital does she have to level up in the fight?
Her house and plants have defensive capabilities but lack offensive capabilities. Moreover, they are independent entities, not something that Fu Erdie can retract at any time. Objective existences are treasures that anyone can covet and snatch away.
Fu Erdie herself is not powerful, and everything would be just fleeting.
At some point, she has already departed from the initial state of waiting passively for death in the apocalypse.
Perhaps if that invading supernatural hadn’t appeared, she wouldn’t have changed. But with that person’s appearance, with fear, she couldn’t remain idle and had to start moving.
Using the telescope she scavenged, she observes and records the surrounding situation every day, recording various data about the zombies.
From settling down in mid-August to the end of August, Fu Erdie confirmed three things.
First, the temperature in August approached nearly 50 degrees Celsius at its peak, and now it has slightly dropped to around 41 degrees. With each decrease in temperature, a few more zombies come out to roam. During the hottest time, only one zombie was wandering outside, but now there are about a dozen zombies outside.
Second, she found a zombie with speed-related abilities. This zombie’s walking flexibility is much higher than other zombies, almost resembling a normal person at first glance. When it hears certain sounds that it mistakes for being made by humans, it will immediately rush over to investigate. Its speed is much faster than the elderly zombie encountered on the first day of the apocalypse.
Third, with the slight decrease in temperature, C City experienced a new wave of fleeing. If the initial fleeing included a lot of panic and desperate choices, the current fleeing seems to be much more prepared.
These cars, more or less, have been equipped with protective nets around them. For those without nets, they have crudely attached wooden bars, leaving only one opening or simply a skylight for people to enter and exit.
Inside these cars, apart from people, every available space is filled with items. Various luggage and supplies are tied to the roof of the cars, taking everything that can be carried.
Fu Erdie believes that the decision for these people to flee now is the right one.
As the temperature rises, it becomes easier for tires to burst.
Although there is still a risk of tire bursts now, it’s a risk worth taking. Otherwise, if they wait a few more days and the temperature drops below 40 degrees, the number of zombies outside will increase. The vehicles won’t last long before being surrounded by zombies.
Fu Erdie sighed when she thought about her grandmother, Zhao Xiaolu, who she doesn’t know where she is heading, as well as her parents who are renting a small villa.
She herself also needs to take advantage of the high temperatures to deal with the speed zombies.
Yes, relying on herself, a person without any special abilities.
Compared to before the apocalypse, she has become much stronger.
The house is promoting the mutation of “environmentally friendly plants” and crops in a positive direction, while also strengthening Fu Erdie and the dog’s bodies.
She ensures that the dog takes a two-hour nap at home every day, both to rest and to undergo optimization by the house.
Now, the dog is as fierce as a wolf, and Fu Erdie’s strength and speed have also increased significantly.
Her muscles are tight and slender, wrapping around her bones, able to unleash immense power when needed.
And this is her confidence in dealing with speed zombies in the neighbourhood.
This time, she needs to evaluate her own strength against the speed zombies and determine if they have a crystal nucleus. In the meantime, she will try to gain abilities again.
If it doesn’t work this time, she will completely give up on gaining abilities and accept that she will forever be an ordinary person, unable to mutate.
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