Fu Erdie’s ability entered Sang Wenhao’s body without encountering any resistance. The chaotic storm of flying metal shards didn’t harm her.
But unlike the push-and-pull energy exchange with the little ones, which felt like a vacation, doing the same with Sang Wenhao felt like undergoing a tribulation.
Physically, she wasn’t hurt, but mentally, she kept feeling as though the flying metal shards would strike her at any moment.
As she continued channelling her ability into Sang Wenhao’s body, she suddenly noticed something—the swirling metal storm within him had significantly calmed down.
Sang Wenhao clearly felt it too, turning to her in astonishment.
They locked eyes before closing them again to focus.
The more energy Fu Erdie infused, the more subdued the turbulence of Sang Wenhao’s metallic element became. By the time she reached her own limit and stopped, all that remained were tiny fragments of floating metal dust—no longer the large, aggressive shards that had been constantly injuring his energy field.
Fu Erdie let out a relieved sigh and slowly began reversing the energy flow, drawing her power back. But the moment she did, the metal storm inside him threatened to surge back.
Huh?
She hesitated briefly but didn’t abandon her plan, continuing to retract her energy.
Once she fully withdrew, Sang Wenhao’s body reverted to its previous state of violent disorder.
However, when she absorbed his energy into herself, the chaotic storm within him lessened once again.
At the moment of absorption, Fu Erdie felt an immediate surge of strength, as if her entire body had been supercharged. Her muscles felt more solid and powerful, and for a fleeting moment, she genuinely believed she could crush a zombie’s skull with a single punch.
Testing her theory, she clenched her free hand and gestured for the Green Ivy to bring her a brick.
She squeezed it with all her might.
“…”
Her hand *hurt*.
Placing the perfectly intact brick down, she asked for a wooden plank instead.
This time, when she exerted force, the plank snapped relatively easily.
Fu Erdie resumed the push-and-pull energy exchange with Sang Wenhao.
In the end, she arrived at a conclusion—different individuals and species provided different types of benefits. Similarly, what she gave to them varied as well.
The plants granted her mental relaxation and, during energy exchanges, could also heal her injuries.
In return, she imparted a form of healing ability to the plants, allowing them to acquire basic wound-closing and bleeding-stopping abilities. However, this was far from the house’s level of healing—it left scars and wasn’t as complete. Still, it was an impressive power.
Meanwhile, her energy exchange with Sang Wenhao didn’t seem to offer any healing properties.
Whether she absorbed his energy or infused her own into him, she could temporarily stabilize the chaotic storm of his ability, but she couldn’t cure it or prevent new injuries from forming.
On the other hand, Sang Wenhao’s energy gave her a short-term boost in strength and physical resilience during the exchange.
At first glance, this exchange didn’t seem to have any lasting or significant effects. However, Fu Erdie believed it required long-term observation—what if the changes were subtle and cumulative? Over time, her overall physical fitness might improve, and Sang Wenhao’s ability might stabilize.
After finishing their experiments, Sang Wenhao bid her goodnight.
Just before stepping out, he hesitated. “Are you planning to stay in 16-1?”
“Hm?” Fu Erdie was still preoccupied with thoughts about her ability and didn’t immediately react.
Sang Wenhao gestured toward his own residence, 16-2. “Most of the rooms on this floor are actually larger than 16-1. You’re the master of this place, yet you’re staying in a small room while Granny Zhang and I live in bigger ones. It doesn’t feel right. If you want to move to 16-8, I can help you.”
On every floor of Building 7, the 8th unit was always the most spacious and well-lit.
But Fu Erdie shook her head. “No need. I’m used to living here.”
The room fell silent once more. She sat on the balcony with her dog in her arms, systematically reviewing everything she had learned about her ability before refocusing on her primary goal—finding her parents.
To search for them, she would need transportation. Both vehicles and an assault boat had to be prepared.
She was genuinely grateful that Sang Wenhao was willing to help her, so she had to ensure he remained in optimal health.
But she could only stabilize his ability turbulence, and the plants could only heal external wounds.
Only the house could guarantee Sang Wenhao’s overall well-being, and obviously, the house couldn’t be taken with them.
She had previously assumed that her blood could mutate vehicles, but that had proven false.
However, what if Sang Wenhao carried a vehicle up to the 16th floor? Could the house trigger its mutation?
Fu Erdie found it unlikely.
If mutating vehicles were as easy as mutating plants, then with all the random non-living objects inside 16-1, something would have mutated already.
The house was special.
It might even be ‘one of a kind’ in the world.
Perhaps it was because, on the first day of the apocalypse, by sheer coincidence, it had absorbed the crystal core of a speed zombie.
Perhaps it was because, on that same day, in her desperate wish to become an ability user, she had opened the windows, allowing the house to soak in the first rain of the apocalypse.
Maybe it was because an invading ability user had died on her balcony, offering another crystal core.
Or maybe it was because, when she was near death, her blood—infused with an unknown amount of energy—had seeped into every corner of the house…
So many “maybes” and coincidences had intertwined, creating the powerful, mutated house she now lived in. It was rare, and more importantly, it was irreplaceable.
That meant that on her journey to find her parents, she had only two options—either she found a healing ability user by sheer luck, or she had to bring the house with her.
But when she asked Sang Wenhao about it that evening, he told her he had only ever heard of one healing ability user.
That person belonged to the largest ability user group in University Town and only treated the group’s leader. Even then, their healing ability was about on par with the Green Ivy plant—barely enough to sustain the leader and a few core members.
Fu Erdie knew she had no way of catching the attention of such a powerful ability user group, so she gave up on that idea.
That left only one option—bringing the house along.
Fu Erdie: “…”
She glanced at the wall, and the wall drew a 【ovo】 face looking back at her.
“Can you grow bigger, shrink, or become more beautiful?” she asked playfully.
The room was already spotless. Hugging her dog, she flopped onto the balcony floor. The Green Ivy plant expertly draped its large leaf over her like a blanket.
She was just joking, curious to see if the wall would draw a new expression.
After a moment, the wall remained unresponsive.
It seemed it had run out of expressions.
It was already midnight, yet she didn’t feel sleepy at all.
Perhaps the energy exchanges with the plants had refreshed her mind too well.
Sitting up, she grabbed some paper and a pen and began drawing simple emoticons and stick-figure expressions.
Without needing an explanation, the house immediately understood what she meant.
“Oh, right,” she said. “If you agree with something or if you can do it, draw a check mark (√). If you disagree or can’t do it, draw a cross (×). Got it?”
The house hesitated before gathering its white light and forming a check mark on the wall.
Fu Erdie gave it a thumbs-up. “Nice! Learning and applying knowledge!”
She went to wash up and prepare for bed.
However, when she came out of the bathroom, she noticed that the check mark was still there.
Fu Erdie touched the wall. “It’s okay, you can erase the mark when we’re not communicating.”
The wall didn’t erase it. Instead, as soon as she spoke, the check mark glowed even brighter.
Seeing her puzzled expression, the wall guided her attention to the cup on the table.
Fu Erdie picked up the cup—an old anime-themed mug from her middle school days. “Do you need this?”
The wall: 【√】
Fu Erdie hesitated, then pressed the cup against the wall.
Tiny light particles surged into the cup. Soon, the cup wobbled in the air, floated a short distance, and gently landed back on the dining table.
Fu Erdie’s pupils contracted. A bold guess surged into her mind.
“You’re saying… you can shrink?”
The wall: 【√√】
Fu Erdie’s mind raced, quickly adjusting her theory. “No, it’s not about growing or shrinking. It’s… you’re not bound to the house? You can transfer yourself to other objects? But only specific ones?”
The wall: 【√√√】
Fu Erdie took a deep breath and asked what requirements an object needed to meet.
But for the house, this was an advanced question—it had no way of explaining.
Fu Erdie: “…”
Forget sleep! She was going to tutor the house all night! Full-scale literacy education!
Not just for the house—the kindergarten kids too! Everyone was getting an early education in pinyin!
She pulled out the dictionary pages she had torn out and was about to start an all-nighter of cramming lessons.
But this time, the plants weren’t cooperative. They pushed her toward the bedroom, urging her to sleep.
Fu Erdie: “…”
She wasn’t sure whether they genuinely wanted her to rest or just didn’t want to be forced into a late-night study session.
She still felt full of energy, but as soon as she lay down with her dog, she fell into a deep sleep almost instantly.
—
The next morning, she woke up at 10 a.m.
She was surprised. Even though the plants had replenished her energy the day before, it seemed she still needed to catch up on real sleep after pulling an all-nighter.
Stepping out of her room, she saw Sang Wenhao practicing his ability in the hallway and called him over to help her record a video.
Sang Wenhao, confused, held up the tablet and began filming.
On screen, Fu Erdie held up a dictionary page with a pinyin chart, pointing at each syllable and reading it aloud. After going through all the pinyin, she spoke a few sentences and demonstrated how to find each syllable in the chart.
She recorded five videos in total, using five different tablets. Then, with her wired printer, she printed out “pinyin textbooks,” making sure everyone had a copy.
“Remember, remember! Memorize everything! From now on, if you want to say something, just point at the pinyin!”
After finishing this, Fu Erdie immediately went back to cramming lessons for the house.
If it couldn’t remember everything right away? No problem. Just organize its thoughts before trying to communicate.
She wrote Roman numerals on a sheet of paper to teach the house how to recognize sequences.
“Alright, this is the first character. Do you have its pronunciation in mind? I’ll start reading from the first syllable on the pinyin chart, and when I say the correct sound, mark it with a check.”
A check mark flashed on the wall before quickly disappearing, indicating that the house understood.
“Ah… Ai… Ao…” Fu Erdie read aloud with concentration.
Sang Wenhao and Zhang Granny, who had been silently observing: “…”
They quietly placed Fu Erdie’s breakfast and lunch on the table, hoping she wouldn’t forget to eat.
By the time noon rolled around, Fu Erdie had finally deciphered the house’s message.
【I can enter objects closely connected to you.】
Fu Erdie took a sip of water to soothe her throat.
She speculated that “closely connected” could mean objects she frequently carried, items with special sentimental value, or things filled with past memories.
The example the house had given—the anime-themed cup—was something she had bought during middle school when she was a fan of a certain show. Though she had long since forgotten most of the story, the cup had stayed with her simply because it was cute, and she had never thrown it away.
It met all three criteria she had guessed.
Now the question was: Could she find another object that met these conditions?
If she could, then the problem that had been troubling her for so long would finally be solved—she could truly take the house with her!
“Right now, aside from the cup, are there any other objects in this room you can enter?”
The wall: 【×】
Fu Erdie frowned, deep in thought.
This home had been a second-hand apartment her family bought for her when she graduated from university two years ago. She had only lived here for two years.
Some of the things inside had been brought over from her dorm, while others came from her parents’ or grandmother’s house. However, most were newly purchased, without deep sentimental connections.
Thinking along these lines, a memory surfaced—a toy at her grandmother’s house.
When she was little, her parents often travelled for work, so she had been raised by her grandmother.
Her grandmother’s house had always had a room just for her, filled with memories of her childhood. One of her favorite things was a large decorative gift box where she kept plush toys and fresh flowers.
The plush toys changed often, and the flowers withered quickly.
But the pink gift box, carved with adorable rabbits, had always remained on her desk, acting as both a display case and decoration.
Thinking about it, Fu Erdie’s lips curled into a smile.
Those were good times. Her bedroom had been small, but her heart had been full. She had spent her days doing what she loved, feeling pure joy over something as simple as receiving a new flower.
Just then, a breeze swept through the corridor. A dandelion seed drifted in from outside, winding its way into Room 16-1, where the doors had been left open to make the plants’ pinyin lessons easier.
It landed on the pinyin chart.
Fu Erdie barely paid attention at first, glancing down absentmindedly.
The tiny, feathery seed had settled precisely on 【wei】.
Another gust of wind blew.
The next landing spot—
【xian】.
【wei】…【xian】…
Danger?!
The relaxed expression vanished from her face in an instant.
The plants of Building 7—including the Green Ivy tree growing in the courtyard downstairs—had not issued any alarms.
This dandelion seed wasn’t from Building 7. It was from somewhere else.
“Zhang Granny, hide now!” Fu Erdie called out. “Someone has entered our complex! They haven’t reached Building 7 yet, but they’re close. The dandelions are warning us.”
Hearing the urgency in her voice, Sang Wenhao immediately responded, “I’ll check from the rooftop.”
To avoid exposing himself, he didn’t fly outside but instead grabbed his rifle and radio, swiftly climbing the stairs to the 24th floor. From there, he crouched low and moved onto the rooftop.
A sniper rifle’s high-powered scope was far more effective than binoculars. Staying behind a low perimeter wall, he positioned himself under a half-withered fruit tree, peeking out just enough to scan the area with his keen, dark eyes.
Spotting movement in the distance, he raised his rifle and zoomed in with the scope.
His pupils contracted sharply.
It’s them?!
Why are they here?!
No wonder the dandelions had struggled so hard to send an alert.
This group… he could take down any one of them individually.
But twenty of them at once…
He pulled out his radio, voice low but strained.
“It’s the largest ability user gang from University Town. A group of twenty-three—all of them ability users.”
He exhaled, his tone grim.
“They steal supplies. They steal crystal cores. They take whatever they want… and they use stolen crystal cores to grow stronger.”
A beat of silence.
Then, Sang Wenhao admitted with difficulty—
“I… can’t win against them.”
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