Under the pitch-black sky, the light from the residential complex was like a giant lighthouse in the desolate city. The eyes of every human and zombie in the city focused on this once-unremarkable complex from before the apocalypse.
Within the lush green complex, various beeping and ticking sounds rang out one after another as equipment such as elevators powered back on. Corners inside buildings that had not seen light for a long time in the apocalypse were illuminated once more.
The plants curiously poked their heads out from the corners of the walls to inspect the changes in the buildings.
Some glowing chandeliers were gently nudged by leaves. Light and shadow left swaying, playful arcs across the windows.
People looked at the lit-up residences, unable to speak for a long time. Only after quite a while did they burst into huge cheers!
They had succeeded! They had really built a power station that could be activated using abilities!
This power station could be driven by wind, fire, lightning, and water abilities. Different abilities corresponded to different receiving channels.
Among them, the water-type ability channel was also connected to the nearby reservoir. After the water produced thrust for power generation, it could flow into the pool and be used as daily water, so it would not be wasted.
Built at the same time as the small power station on the roof of Building Six were the reservoirs on the roofs of every building, as well as the modified water supply system.
The water supply system was relatively simple. It was repaired within the original water supply and drainage system, then connected to the rooftop reservoirs.
As early as mid-June, the water supply systems of several buildings had already been rebuilt.
As for drainage, used wastewater could be poured directly onto the plants inside the buildings, or flow out through the drainage pipes into the densely rooted green belts of the complex, allowing the plants to absorb and process it. This effectively satisfied and processed the daily water use of each building.
Now, with electricity added today, every building except Building Seven could officially be lived in!
Once the ordinary staff and hired personnel of Senyu Residential Complex moved out, Building Seven would finally be able to practise walking without restraint, instead of only being able to stretch its limbs in the evenings after the technical department had finished work but before people had gone to sleep, which was why it could still only shuffle in place with tiny steps.
The lively movement in the complex attracted many people. Ability users living more than ten, twenty, or even thirty kilometres away saw the lights flashing and went to rooftops one after another, using binoculars to observe.
After looking, their hearts stirred with an itch they could not suppress.
That clean, bright complex, as if it were still before the apocalypse, was far too enviable…
Although they knew Butterfly Garden had no intention of recruiting newcomers, and that it was very strong on its own and did not need outsiders to join, what if?
Even if they could not join, it would be good if they could charge devices at the outermost edge!
Their radios and walkie-talkies had run out of power and been left idle for a long time. They did not even know whether they were still working. They urgently needed charging!
Could they discuss with Butterfly Principal and do something for her in exchange for charging?
Of course, charging was secondary. If they could really meet Butterfly Principal, release goodwill, and build a relationship, perhaps things would be more convenient in the future.
With such thoughts, many people came to visit Senyu Residential Complex the next day.
To show their openness and avoid suspicion — of course, more importantly, to avoid being accidentally injured by the dandelions drifting everywhere five kilometres out — they spread their hands far away from the complex, facing all directions. They showed they had no hostility, carried no tools, and had no intention of using abilities. Seeing that the dandelions reacted calmly, they continued forward.
The dandelions five kilometres away were wild dandelions, not linked together with the dandelions inside the complex. So for information transmission, some fluff had to drift over to Fu Erdie, then point at pinyin before Fu Erdie could know what had happened.
The ability users walked very cautiously and slowly. By the time the dandelions finished reporting the news, they had walked less than five hundred metres.
Fu Erdie saw the scattered ability users around through binoculars from the rooftop and took out a loudspeaker, preparing to speak.
Aunt Cao Rui stopped her. “You’re already a fairly famous boss in this area. Don’t personally come forward for everything. I’ll help you pass on whatever you want to say.”
After Auntie learned how to use the telegraph, she had always been responsible for receiving and delivering messages. Now, communicating with ability users also fell within her scope of work.
Fu Erdie said helplessly, “Then please tell those approaching ability users that if they have anything to say, they should say it to the dandelions where they are. I’ll reply.”
The complex’s electric loudspeaker was not a handheld loudspeaker, but something modified to resemble a rural broadcast system.
Aunt Cao Rui broadcast from the message room. The broadcast could convert and amplify voice signals, spreading them very far. With an ability user’s hearing, they could faintly distinguish the broadcast content from five kilometres away.
One minute later, the ability users who heard the broadcast: “…”
They looked in the direction of Senyu Residential Complex, then at the dandelions beside them that looked beautiful but could at any time drill into their mouths and noses and make them explode. Trembling with fear, they crouched down respectfully.
“Hello? We want to ask Butterfly Principal whether we can go to the complex to charge our devices. We can help the principal with whatever we are capable of.”
As he spoke, the ability user opened his backpack and showed the various devices and power banks inside.
“We only want to charge these. It’s not much…” The ability user paused. “No, it is a bit much. We don’t know what we can do for the principal in exchange for the opportunity to charge.”
Fu Erdie was somewhat surprised.
When Building Seven had electricity before, these people had not come. Now that the entire complex had electricity, they came. Did they really only want to charge? Or were they using this as an excuse for something else?
Most of these ability users were first-rank. A few were second-rank. There were no third-ranks. She did not know whether they were deliberately showing weakness by sending weaker people, or whether they truly had not obtained enough crystal cores to level up. At least the twenty or so people coming from several directions currently were completely harmless sheep entering a plant herd, posing no threat at all.
Letting them in was possible. She just needed to think about how to handle it properly.
Charging was a trivial matter, but she did not want outsiders casually entering and touring her complex.
She might as well use a few extension boards and long cables to extend the sockets and charging stations dozens of metres outward, allowing them to finish charging outside the complex and leave without entering.
As for trade, she lacked nothing right now and did not need to fuss over the already limited supplies outside.
And so, the ability users obtained the opportunity and cautiously approached the complex, charging their devices through the extension boards stretching out from the complex.
The complex’s walls were already densely covered in climbing vines. From outside, it was impossible to see the situation inside.
The ability users sat in rows, squatting outside and waiting for their devices to charge one by one, then looked longingly at the complex gate and the high buildings inside.
Forget seeing Butterfly Principal. They had not even seen a single human figure.
If not for the sounds of people working inside, they might have suspected that this plant-filled complex was simply a place occupied by mutated plants.
Yin Xuan was someone who had come from the university town to charge.
After the largest ability-user team in the university town had been wiped out by Senyu Residential Complex last year, weaker ability users like her and her teammates had gradually emerged and struggled to survive in the university town.
They were the very typical type of people who hid in concealed places and did not dare come out, then only moved around at night when zombies’ vision was poor.
One day, the university town waited until Fu Erdie and Sang Wenhao came sweeping through the zombies. The ability users who had only been able to hide finally managed to come out and move around the university town.
Others’ thoughts were hard to say, but Yin Xuan was very grateful to Fu Erdie. Because someone this powerful existed, they could live a little better.
Today, she had come to charge, also thinking it would be wonderful if she could meet Fu Erdie and thank her in person. But it seemed there was no chance.
She carried a large pile of fully charged devices, put down the electric bicycle that could be used again after charging, and planned to stop by a more remote place on her way back to look for mutated animals, to see if she could add a dish for her teammates.
The electric bicycle was one that could be pedalled like a normal bicycle. On some steeper slopes, using electricity would save effort.
She had a good sense of direction. As long as the general direction was correct, she could loop back to the university town from all kinds of places. Once she returned to the university town, she could find her team’s base again. Usually, if the team needed to take unfamiliar roads, they would ask Yin Xuan to come along.
This time, Yin Xuan also felt there would be no problem.
But after pedalling for two hours and using her earth ability to trap a mutated chicken, the electric bike suddenly began smoking.
Yin Xuan frowned. At first, she thought some circuit component inside the electric bike had broken and that it would not affect its use as a regular bicycle. But after the smoke stopped and she sat back down to pedal, she found she could not move it.
Yin Xuan did not know what the problem was. She guessed that perhaps the voltage from the charging pile connected from the complex did not match the electric bike, burning out the motor and chain together.
But this could not be blamed on Butterfly Garden. She herself did not understand much and had charged it carelessly, breaking the electric bike. Now she could only walk home.
Over thirty kilometres. Walking back to the university town would probably exhaust her for a long time before she recovered.
Yin Xuan carried a backpack full of things, held the twenty-jin mutated chicken, and planned to abandon the bike and go home.
But before she had walked for long, the sound of bicycles being pedalled came from a mountain road about one kilometre away. Behind it, there seemed to be pursuing footsteps.
She instinctively climbed up a tree in a few movements and hid in the dense crown, observing the source of the sound.
Five minutes later, two bicycles making the noise came around a bend in the mountain road and appeared in Yin Xuan’s field of vision.
They were two dusty, travel-worn women, with heavy luggage tied to the rear seats.
Of course, that was not the main point. The main point was that these two were ordinary people. Yin Xuan sensed no ability fluctuations from them.
Ordinary people, carrying supplies, struggling to ride bicycles on a mountain road?
Strange. Look again.
As the two drew closer, the pursuing footsteps behind them also came nearer.
It was actually several hundred zombies densely blocking the mountain road.
The zombies now were no longer like they had been a year ago, moving slowly and limping. They had their own walking rhythm, roughly the same speed as humans walking quickly.
On this uphill section, they were even faster than the two women riding bicycles loaded with heavy cargo.
Just as the zombies were about to catch up, the bicycles finally reached the top of the long slope and began going downhill.
They released the brakes and rushed downward. Their speed grew faster and faster, quickly opening distance from the zombies again.
Yin Xuan observed, feeling that their luck was not bad. If they could reach Butterfly Garden’s dandelion-covered domain before the zombies caught up, all the zombies behind them could be successfully dealt with, and the crisis would be resolved.
Just as she thought this, Yin Xuan saw the two women panic at a fork in the road and choose the direction opposite Butterfly Garden.
Yin Xuan: “…”
After thinking for a moment, these two ordinary people had no conflict with her and posed no threat. Luring a few hundred zombies to Butterfly Garden would only be like giving those plants snacks. Maybe she, as the guide, would even be remembered by Butterfly Principal because of it.
After a brief thought, Yin Xuan shouted, “You two, turn around! Come this way!”
However, the two bicycles were going very fast downhill. Even after hearing the voice, they could not brake in time and still rushed down in the other downhill direction.
Yin Xuan frowned, her gaze shifting to the zombie horde following behind.
Forget it. Her goal was to lure the zombies to Butterfly Garden anyway. It was not absolutely necessary for those two ordinary people to go to Butterfly Garden. It did not matter if they went in another direction.
Yin Xuan jumped down from the tree crown, waved and shouted at the zombie horde from afar, attracting the zombies’ attention.
The zombie horde followed the direction of Yin Xuan’s voice and ran toward her, quickly taking the fork road where she was. “They should be safe for now?” Yin Xuan glanced in the direction where the bicycles had disappeared, then led the zombies toward Butterfly Garden.
Leave a Reply