Shancheng University had been around for a long time, and its dorm buildings were old. That meant the buildings stood close together.
Even through the thick Black Fog, Shen Yi could make out the girls' dorm across from his.
He just couldn't see what was happening inside...
Why had a girl screamed?
Had she run into something mutated, like the boy downstairs?
Shen Yi shut the window tight and immediately searched his group chats for news.
After checking several groups, he found something.
Wang Yuan, Foreign Languages Class 201: "Holy shit! Zhang Yifeng got eaten by his own fucking cactus!!!"
Chen Xiaoxiao from Literature Department Class 203: "Huh? What are you talking about? Those words are so weird I can't even understand them!"
Zhao Tianlin, Sports Class 101: "What happened? Can you explain?"
Wang Yuan, Foreign Languages Class 201: "A monster! That cactus is a monster! It's scarier than anything in the movies! Can somebody come save me?!!"
Wang Yuan from Foreign Languages Class 201 shared a video in the group.
Shen Yi opened it at once.
The footage shook badly, but he could still see what it showed.
On the screen,
vines covered in strange round growths spread from a potted plant, nearly filling the entire dorm room. At their center, the vines dragged a motionless body toward a split-open mouth and swallowed it.
It looked vaguely like a cactus. Shen Yi had no idea why it had grown so huge or changed so drastically. It had even developed something like a mouth—and it was eating!
Bloody. Brutal. Terrifying!
Zhao Tianlin, Sports Class 101: "Holy shit! What the fuck is that monster? Are they filming a movie?!"
The students in the group were stunned. Question marks flooded the chat.
People kept tagging Wang Yuan.
But Wang Yuan never posted again...
Shen Yi's heart sank.
After so long without a reply, something had probably happened to him too.
The Mutant Cactus he had seen was around the third or fourth floor, a fair distance from him. He was safe for now, but he had to prepare. He could either move somewhere else or find a weapon to defend himself.
Just as Shen Yi was about to leave the group chat, another video appeared.
In it, blue lightning crackled in a tall young man's hand. He flicked his arm, and the lightning shot out like a bullet, punching straight through an aluminum can!
Zhao Tao, Sports Class 205: "Brothers, sisters, if you need protection, come find me! I'll carry the whole university! A few mutant plants are nothing!"
Zhao Tianlin, Sports Class 101: "Holy shit! What is that? Special effects? Or a superpower?? You sure this isn't a movie?!"
Zhao Tao, Sports Class 205: "No special effects."
As he replied, Zhao Tao posted another video. Lightning surged across his palm, proving his power was real.
Zhao Tianlin, Sports Class 101: "Damn! That's insane, Tao! You've got a superpower! Are you the chosen one, the main character of a novel?! Take me with you!!"
Chen Xiaoxiao from Literature Department Class 203: "Wow! Tao, you're amazing! Add me as a friend!"
Wang Yu, the self-proclaimed heartthrob of Foreign Languages Class 301: "Take me too +1"
"..."
"A superpower...?" Shen Yi watched the video, astonished and more than a little envious.
What he lacked most was the strength to protect himself. With the system, he didn't have to worry about food or water, but without enough power, stockpiling supplies was pointless.
If everyone else stocks up on guns while I stock up on food, won't I just become their pantry?
Shen Yi wondered how Zhao Tao had obtained his power.
Had he awakened it after the apocalypse, the same way Shen Yi had gotten his system? Was the system his own superpower?
Or was there some other way to gain one...
He read the chat carefully, hoping for a clue.
And so,
another day passed.
Official rescue still hadn't arrived.
The Black Fog downstairs had grown denser. It also seemed to be rising. The change was painfully slow, but he could see it.
"At this rate, it'll reach my floor in ten days at most." Shen Yi ate his self-heating hotpot, took a sip of bottled water, and looked downstairs with a troubled expression.
After lurking in the chats all day, he had learned nothing about superpowers.
Zhao Tao was still the only person showing one off in any of the groups.
It seemed he was the only one who had gained a power.
A few girls had sent Shen Yi friend requests. He accepted them all and asked each to send a photo first.
Unfortunately, none met the system's standards.
With no other option, Shen Yi deleted them.
Then he went back to advertising in the major groups using an alternate account...
This time, nobody kicked him out.
As time passed with no rescue in sight, even the survivors who still had some supplies grew cautious.
Keeping Shen Yi around might prove useful later.
Two more days passed.
It was the fifth day since the Black Fog had descended.
Even though Shen Yi had been rationing his food, the snacks and emergency supplies in his dorm were almost gone.
Everyone else was worse off.
Water was especially scarce. Someone in the group had offered three thousand yuan for a single bottle, and nobody was willing to sell even at that price!
Quite a few students had begun to consider things they never would have before. Their old moral standards were crumbling fast...
In the face of disaster and hunger, morality counted for little.
Plenty of girls had started adding Shen Yi as a friend, including several who had called him a creep before.
"Hey, you over there! Can you hear me?"
Shen Yi was replying to a girl who had just added him when a shout came from outside his window.
The dorm walls offered next to no soundproofing.
Shen Yi went to the balcony. After making sure the cactus downstairs hadn't spread up to his floor, he opened the window and looked toward the girl calling from the next building.
She was tall and pretty, wearing denim shorts that showed off a pair of long, shapely legs.
Shen Yi recognized her. Her name was Xu Wanting. She was in the Foreign Languages Department too, and she was its most admired beauty.
Xu Wanting's father was a diplomat. Her family was wealthy and well-connected, and with her looks, she was usually so arrogant she barely glanced at the boys in their class. That included Shen Yi.
Ding!
A goddess meeting the system's standards has been detected. Scanning detailed information. Name: Xu Wanting Age: 20 Appearance: 89 points Figure: 95 points Purity: 100 points (a blank slate) Overall score: 95 points Assessment: Taking her in will unlock one random resource.
95 points?
Shen Yi was pleasantly surprised. He could finally unlock a new resource!
More than fifty girls had added him over the past few days, but not one had met the system's standards!
Xu Wanting recognized Shen Yi too. "Hey, Shen Yi! Do you have any water over there?"
They were classmates, though they rarely spoke. After all, she was a young lady everyone fawned over, while he was an ordinary nobody.
Still, they knew each other.
"I do. Bottled water." Shen Yi pulled a bottle from behind him and gave it a shake.
"Shen Yi, I haven't had anything to drink in hours. Can you throw me that bottle? I'll pay you. How does a thousand yuan sound?"
Xu Wanting licked her dry lips, her eyes lighting up at the sight of it.
She had seen Shen Yi's messages about taking girls in. She'd looked down on him for it, assuming he was just trying to lure girls into bed.
She hadn't expected him to actually have water.
And the bottle was unopened. It clearly hadn't been contaminated by the Black Fog.
Her dorm had a thermos and a few bottles of other drinks, but the thermos apparently hadn't been sealed well enough. The water inside had begun to turn black. One look told her it was contaminated and undrinkable.
She had finished the other drinks over the past few days.
She still had plenty of snacks. They were sealed, so they hadn't spoiled. But without water, eating dry snacks only made her thirst worse.
"No. I don't want money." Shen Yi shook his head and casually set the bottle on the desk behind him.
"Then what do you want? A thousand yuan is already a lot! Even if water is precious right now, you can't charge whatever you like. Otherwise, you won't earn a cent! Think about it—a thousand yuan is nearly half a month's pay from your part-time job, isn't it?"
Xu Wanting was growing angry, and a trace of disgust showed in her eyes.
Typical broke loser!
If she hadn't been desperately thirsty, she never would have offered a thousand yuan for a bottle of water.
As far as she was concerned, Shen Yi was blatantly extorting her!
She was certain the authorities would organize a rescue. Paying a thousand yuan for water was already a terrible deal, yet Shen Yi had the nerve to demand more.
"Enough. If you want water, come to the boys' dorm. I'll give you some as long as you come over. No charge," Shen Yi said flatly.
It was the apocalypse. What the hell was money worth now?
It was too stiff even to wipe his ass with.
"What?! In your dreams! You think one bottle of water is enough to make me sleep with you?! What do you take me for?!"
Xu Wanting was so furious she gritted her teeth.
She knew exactly what Shen Yi meant. There was no need for him to spell out what he wanted a girl to come to the boys' dorm for!
Was she supposed to believe he wanted to play a board game?
"Heh. I'm not lying. Come over, and you can have all the water you want."
As Shen Yi spoke, he pretended to bend down for more water. In fact, he took another three bottles from System Space. Once Xu Wanting saw them, he unscrewed one and drank a long gulp.
Then
he poured the rest of the bottle straight out the window.
Water splashed over the balcony and streamed downward...
Xu Wanting's eyes widened.
"You! How can you waste water like that?!"
"I don't care how many bottles you have—you can't waste it now!!"
"And you'd rather pour it out than let me drink it?! What is wrong with you?!"
Xu Wanting was genuinely furious.
For the past two days, she had been stretching every mouthful of water as far as she could. Shen Yi had just poured away most of a bottle!
Was he even a man? He didn't have a gentlemanly bone in his body!
"Remember, I'm in Room 606. If you want water, come get it yourself. Otherwise, forget it." Shen Yi had no interest in arguing. He closed the window as soon as he finished speaking.
He wanted to unlock a new resource, but he wasn't going to risk going to the girls' dorm. Who knew whether the Black Fog downstairs hid more monsters like the Mutant Cactus? He had heard plenty of screams over the past two days.
If something happened to him on the way down, all the resources in the world would do him no good.
Having Xu Wanting come to him was the safest option.
And if something happened to Xu Wanting, Shen Yi didn't care!
She could either die of thirst or take a chance. At least taking a chance gave her hope. Otherwise, she could wait to die.
"Bastard!!!" Xu Wanting stamped her foot in anger.
An ill-mannered, broke loser. Just as I thought!
If she hadn't been unbearably thirsty, she never would have spoken to someone like him.
Without this disaster, she would never have had anything to do with Shen Yi at all!
Talking to someone from such an ordinary background was a waste of time.
But right now, Shen Yi was the only person she could reach who had water.
Most of the other people in her dorm were gone, and she couldn't find anyone else to help.
Xu Wanting had tried to contact her family, but both her parents were overseas, and for some reason, she couldn't reach either of them.
Every call to the police met a busy line.
She had only shouted when she spotted someone in the boys' dorm across the way because she had run out of options.
And the person she'd found was a creep!
She kept cursing Shen Yi, and several more hours went by...
Evening approached.
Xu Wanting was so thirsty her mouth barely produced any saliva. If this went on, she would die of thirst before rescuers arrived.
She looked toward the boys' dorm across from hers.
Through the window, she could just make out Shen Yi drinking water.
As she watched, she tried to swallow.
But there was no saliva left...
It's all that bastard's fault!!!
Before you continue