Chapter 90

Vice Mayor Sun sat in the corridor, his back against the wall.

One of his arms had been chewed to a bloody mess. The zombie that had bitten him was drawn away by someone else and left him alone.

Several zombies ran past him without paying any attention, not even glancing at him.

Vice Mayor Sun understood now. Once the virus entered a person’s body, the rate of infection varied from person to person. But as soon as the virus had assimilated someone, the zombies already regarded that “person” as one of their own and stopped attacking—even if the person had not yet mutated.

He watched the people running and screaming through the broad corridor, the people fighting desperately, the people sobbing in despair.

Then he stood up.

The wall had built-in display cabinets. Their glass had shattered and lay scattered across the floor.

Vice Mayor Sun bent down and picked up a fallen trophy. It was made of artificial crystal—heavy and hard. Shaped like a torch, thick at the top and narrow at the bottom, it was perfect for gripping.

Vice Mayor Sun turned around with the trophy in hand and smashed the head of a first-generation zombie.

Then he killed a second-generation zombie that had pinned one of his colleagues to the ground and was tearing into him.

The zombie collapsed to one side. Half of the colleague’s face had been bitten away. His whole body trembled as he rasped, “Help... help...”

Vice Mayor Sun looked at his wounds and said nothing. He raised the trophy high.

Then he crushed the man’s head as well.

That way, he couldn’t turn into a zombie.

One less was still one less.

Taking advantage of the fact that he had already been infected, Vice Mayor Sun did everything he could to kill as many zombies as possible.

But his strength was pitifully weak.

The entire government building had become a living hell.

When he saw Vice Mayor Zheng mutate into a first-generation zombie and stagger past him in pursuit of a clerk, the trophy slipped from his hand.

Despairing tears streamed down his face.

Mayor... Mayor, we’re finished...

The government was finished.

S City was finished.

The country was finished.

Humanity—and this world—was finished.

Youth Apartments, courtyard.

Night had fallen, and the streetlamps had come on.

The lights inside the complex were meant to create an atmosphere rather than illuminate the area. They were not very bright, casting everything in a hazy glow.

If one ignored the bluish face and the blood-soaked human head dangling from the girl’s hand, she might even have looked beautiful standing among the shrubs.

“He Tian...”

Su Yu’s voice trembled faintly.

She took a step forward. Jiang Cheng released her arm.

“He Tian, it’s me.” Su Yu slowly walked toward her. “It’s me. I’m Su Yu...”

No one stopped her.

He Tian had attacked Nie Kuizhang because he had harassed her in the past. Even after becoming a zombie, she still remembered her grudge. That meant she retained a certain degree of memory and intelligence.

She was the third-generation zombie everyone had just named.

She had broken free from the instinct to do nothing but crave fresh flesh. She seemed to be a new kind of zombie—one that had developed intelligence.

Everyone wanted to know just how much intelligence this new third-generation zombie possessed. Could she still behave as she had when she was alive? Could she communicate?

Someone had voluntarily taken the first step forward, which suited everyone’s intentions perfectly.

Only Li Jiangbing reached out to stop her, but Song Jingshuo held him back.

“Let her try,” Song Jingshuo said quietly. “Someone has to try eventually. The sooner, the better.”

Li Jiangbing understood that this was in everyone’s interests. Sooner or later, someone would have to test her.

All he could do was watch anxiously, his weapon clutched tightly in his hand.

Everyone watched as Su Yu drew closer, step by step.

Her voice was gentle as well. “It’s me. Do you remember me?”

“What about Fu Duoduo? Did you leave it at home?”

“How do you feel right now? Does it hurt?”

“He Tian, put Nie Kuizhang down.” Su Yu continued forward. “I know you hate him. He’s already dead. Let him go...”

Some people around them looked uncomfortable.

It was no secret that Nie Kuizhang had harassed He Tian. Many people knew about it.

But it was difficult for men to empathize with a girl over something like that. Most of them thought the punishment Nie Kuizhang had received was appropriate—more than enough.

Some would even say, “He didn’t really do anything. He only touched her once.”

They could never imagine how deeply girls might loathe such a thing—so deeply that even after turning into a zombie, He Tian still had to twist Nie Kuizhang’s head off.

Oh dear. Oh dear.

He Tian suddenly released her grip, and the head dropped onto the lawn.

Su Yu’s eyes lit up.

If third-generation zombies could communicate, then...

A glimmer of hope flared in many people’s hearts.

Of course, some also felt afraid. If a monster had gained intelligence, wouldn’t that make it even more terrifying?

Su Yu’s courage grew. She continued walking toward He Tian.

“He—”

Li Jiangbing’s greatest fear still came true!

In an instant, He Tian sprang forward and pounced on Su Yu. She wrapped her arms around Su Yu and opened her mouth to bite her in the face!

Zombies were mutated humans. When attacking people their own size, they naturally targeted the face, neck, and shoulders—the areas most vulnerable to being bitten and torn apart during a fight.

The armor protected the shoulders. A shell-shaped collar rose at the back, covering the back of the head, neck, and ears.

But the face was left unprotected.

Cries of alarm erupted all around them.

For that brief moment, everyone thought Su Yu was finished.

Su Yu herself thought so too. When the stench washed over her and both her arms were pinned, she truly believed she was going to die.

But Su Yu did not want to die!

She had put on the armor and picked up a weapon because she wanted to become stronger.

She wanted to protect herself, not hide behind others and be protected.

She wanted to control her own fate. She even dreamed of becoming strong enough to protect other people!

How could she die just like this?

Her desperate will to survive exploded inside her mind.

Ever since she had awakened, there had been a spot in her head that kept throbbing with a sharp, needle-like pain.

At that instant, the point of pain erupted—and activated.

Li Jiangbing shouted and charged forward to save Su Yu, but Su Yu and He Tian had already fallen to the ground together.

Everyone imagined that the two of them would roll around in a tangled struggle on the ground. Even if everyone rushed over and killed the zombie, Su Yu would be finished as well—most likely left with a face covered in blood.

But things did not happen as they expected.

At the instant Su Yu and He Tian hit the ground, the two of them suddenly began to shine.

As the light flared, He Tian was blasted away!

Everyone surged forward. Li Jiangbing rushed up and brought his spiked club down on her head, killing He Tian.

Li Jiangbing took two deep breaths. He glanced at He Tian’s lifeless body, his heart filled with regret.

He had known He Tian too.

To avoid Nie Kuizhang, He Tian had often stayed with Su Yu. Since Su Yu lived in Building Two, she naturally stayed with Li Jiangbing as well.

That was how they had gradually become familiar with one another.

In Li Jiangbing’s heart, Su Yu and He Tian had both been wonderful girls.

They were brave and hardworking, never hiding behind others. They actively participated in every group operation.

During that little more than a month, Li Jiangbing—known as “Li,” the man who could practically swagger through the entire complex—had enjoyed a few small privileges.

It was not as though no girls had tried to curry favor with him in hopes of gaining some convenience.

But although Li Jiangbing had less education than most of them, he had far more experience in the rough world than the majority of his peers in the complex. Every time, he had fended them off with a false smile.

Whenever he had a few resources to spare, he preferred to give them to girls like Su Yu and He Tian—girls who were always in front of him and actively took part in all kinds of volunteer work.

A flicker of emotion passed through Li Jiangbing’s heart, and he immediately turned to look at Su Yu.

Jiang Cheng and Song Jingshuo also stepped forward. Everyone gathered around Su Yu, staring at her in amazement.

Su Yu sat on the ground, just as bewildered as everyone else—

A small dome of pale, shimmering light had appeared around her.

A few seconds later, the dome dimmed and vanished.

But it had truly existed, and everyone had seen it. It was that dome of light that had flared up and knocked He Tian away the instant she hugged Su Yu.

Li Jiangbing crouched down beside her. “Look up!”

Su Yu did as he said, exposing her neck while Li Jiangbing examined both sides. She also held out her hands for him to inspect.

Li Jiangbing let out a huge sigh of relief. He reached out and pulled Su Yu to her feet, announcing, “No injuries! Not even a scratch!”

The crowd immediately began firing questions at her.

“What just happened?”

“What the heck was that?”

“You all saw it too, right? I’m not imagining things?”

“We saw it.”

Zhao Yi and Gao Yuxuan exchanged a glance. Neither could quite suppress the smiles tugging at their lips, and their eyes shone with excited anticipation.

Li Jiangbing gave a chuckle and said to Su Yu, “Good thing you have a superpower too.”

Su Yu still had no idea what was going on. After the white dome disappeared, her head began to ache. Enduring the pain, she asked, “What are you talking about?”

Li Jiangbing said, “Wasn’t that your superpower just now?”

Li Jiangbing and Jiang Cheng had not yet had a chance to discuss the matter of superpowers in detail. But now that Su Yu’s ability had been revealed in front of everyone, it first proved that they were not the only ones with superpowers. Second, there was no longer any point in keeping the matter secret.

Li Jiangbing called out loudly, “Who woke up and discovered they had a superpower? Stop hiding it and tell everyone.”

Zhao Yi and Gao Yuxuan exchanged another glance, then raised their hands together.

“Oh?” Li Jiangbing was delighted. “You two?”

They were both people he knew. Excellent.

But many in the crowd had no idea what they were talking about. Someone asked, “What are you talking about?”

Apparently, not everyone had a superpower.

Gao Yuxuan said, “This.”

He raised one finger, focused, and exerted himself. A tiny current of electricity formed at his fingertip.

The light was faint, but in the darkness of night, it was especially clear.

Various sounds rose from the crowd—gasps of surprise, confused questions, and exclamations of admiration.

Li Jiangbing asked Zhao Yi, “What about you?”

Zhao Yi glanced around, then walked onto the grass. He did not need to touch anything with his hands; his feet were already planted on the ground, and he was close enough.

He concentrated and gathered his strength. With a whoosh, the soil in front of him surged upward, forming a small mound about knee-high.

Sweat appeared on Zhao Yi’s forehead from the effort.

Li Jiangbing asked, “Anyone else? Don’t hide it. Sooner or later, everyone’s going to find out.”

A few more people gradually raised their hands.

Among the people he knew, Wu Jiancheng could control fire. But he needed a source of flame. He first used a lighter to ignite a small flame, then, just as Li Jiangbing controlled water, manipulated it into a tiny fireball that rolled across his palm.

Cui Haiyang raised the steel pipe in his hand. In full view of the crowd, the perfectly straight pipe bent. However, restoring the L-shaped pipe to its original form left Cui Haiyang utterly exhausted.

Li Jiangbing asked Su Yu, “What would you call yours?”

Su Yu had no idea either and could not answer.

Zhao Yi cut in, “A protective barrier! It’s insanely awesome!”

When Gao Yuxuan woke up, he touched one of the electrical appliances in his home and immediately realized he had a special ability. Zhao Yi had flowers growing at home; he had gone over to the window to check what was happening downstairs, touched a flowerpot, and discovered his own ability.

When two guys obsessed with anime and manga run into something like this, what’s their first reaction?

Of course, they called each other!

“I’ve got superpowers!”

“Holy crap, me too!!”