New Training Plan

After she finished packing up the shop and stepped outside, the zombie was still biting at empty air inside the helmet.

She wandered around outside for a while, but found nothing of much value, so she went home.

This time, she revised her training plan.

Previously, she had progressed gradually because she was worried that overtraining would damage her muscles or injure her joints and ligaments.

The body was one's greatest asset. Damaging it through excessive training would be no different from pulling up seedlings to help them grow—more harm than good.

But now, Jiang You wanted to push herself. She wanted to know what kind of shape she could train herself into with the help of this abnormal recovery ability.

Abilities users needed to practice their abilities, but they also needed to strengthen their bodies.

No matter how powerful an abilities user was, if they had poor physical fitness, they could still easily meet a bitter end.

The next day.

She gritted her teeth and persevered. After counting to one thousand, Jiang You relaxed, collapsing facedown on the floor. She felt as though her entire body had gone limp, unable to move even a single hair.

She lay on the floor, gasping for breath.

Although her body was exhausted to the limit, her spirit was deeply satisfied.

Her clothes were soaked through, and sweat dripped steadily from her head.

The calico cat thought this human had something wrong with her brain. Why did she have to torture herself to death?

But seeing how pitiful she looked, it still strutted over her body with an arrogant air, stepping back and forth.

Da Zhuang had been a mutant cat from the beginning. When Jiang You had first seen him, he had still been chained to the terrace with a thick iron chain.

At the time, Jiang You had noticed that he was larger than an ordinary cat and figured he was a mutant animal.

On top of that, he had spent this period catching rats everywhere, gnawing on zombie brains, and eating all kinds of dried-fish snacks from Jiang You.

Once the quality of his meals improved, his body size shot up rapidly. Jiang You could feel the weight of his paw pads pressing against her back.

She estimated that he weighed at least forty pounds.

The thick, soft paw pads on his paws pressed down on her back, sometimes deep, sometimes shallow, stepping back and forth like a massage.

Jiang You relaxed completely from the comfort.

"Da Zhuang, a little higher. Yes, right there. Step there a few more times."

"And the left side. Yes, yes, right there on my shoulder. Give it a few more steps."

"...Harder, harder... I'll give you extra dried fish tonight."

"..."

Hearing Jiang You's comfortable sighs,

he became even prouder.

Sure enough, this household can't do without me!

After the mass evacuation, fewer than one in ten survivors remained in the entire city.

Whenever Jiang You went downstairs, she never saw any other survivors in this building.

Those who could leave had probably all gone.

The residential compound's gate had already been destroyed. With nothing blocking them, the zombies had wandered back into the compound.

Jiang You could not be bothered to deal with them.

Why clear out these zombies?

They were natural soldiers. It was impossible for every survivor to have left. There had to be people who had been forced to stay behind or who had failed to evacuate for other reasons, remaining in the city.

The more zombies wandered around the compound, the less likely it was that other survivors would come in.

In the past, she often encountered survivors searching for supplies whenever she went out. But now,

there were nothing but zombies.

Resources in the city were scarce, and the few remaining survivors were desperately fleeing.

There were fewer and fewer living people in this place.

But because of this, Jiang You felt extremely at ease.

Da Zhuang's body continued to grow rapidly, and he soon broke through the fifty-pound mark.

More than a month later, Jiang You's entire bearing had become completely different from when the apocalypse had just begun.

Because of the perfect stem cells, she had no fear of overtraining. Even if she suffered minor injuries, she could heal quickly.

A month of devilish training had transformed her completely.

Her figure, once excessively frail due to years of poor nutrition, had become well-proportioned and full of strength. She was extremely agile. There were no obvious muscle groups on her body, but every movement brimmed with explosive power.

Her lower abdomen was firm and flat, and her legs were long and powerful.

Jiang You had never been short, standing around one hundred sixty-eight centimeters tall. She had previously been so thin that she looked like a stick.

But now, her entire body radiated strength, and a sharp aura emanated from her from within and without.

Her hair had grown long again, so she cut it back to ear length.

The jet-black, smooth strands made her already snow-white face seem even colder.

Training had never been something that could be accomplished overnight. Achieving such results in just over a month had already far exceeded expectations.

Without the perfect stem cells' restorative ability, she could never have trained her body into shape so quickly.

After completing her morning training, Jiang You entered the space. All the various saplings inside had now grown into trees at least two meters tall, laden with fruit, and the livestock had long since been released.

To keep the small animals from running into the courtyard, Jiang You had surrounded it with a fence.

As soon as she entered the space, she saw a large stretch of peach trees outside the courtyard in full bloom, their fragrance filling the air.

Beneath the peach trees, a large speckled hen led a flock of chicks. Farther away, the bright-red apples weighed down the branches of the apple trees until they drooped. Apples had fallen to the ground, and several pigs and sheep were lowering their heads to eat them.

Even more animals lived in the small forest before her. Jiang You did not feed any of the livestock; she left them all to forage freely and grow naturally.

The space was filled with woods, and the fruit alone was enough to feed them.

The pigs eating apples were also rooting through the soft soil beneath the trees with their snouts, as if searching for something.

Suddenly, they seemed to sense someone watching them. They paused, then turned and ran into the woods.

There were also more than a dozen ducks swimming in the fish pond, and she occasionally saw fish leap from the water.

Jiang You even saw an unknown bird fly overhead. Clutched in its talons was a small yellow chick.

In the courtyard, she picked a basket of strawberries and cherry tomatoes, then caught a large hen.

She put the strawberries and cherry tomatoes on the table as snacks for Da Zhuang.

As for the hen... it was Jiang You's training equipment.

Why call it training equipment?

Because this heartless woman had come up with a perverse method to train her speed. She wrung the hen's neck and strapped it to her back.

She used the smell of blood to attract zombies, making those zombies chase her frantically.

That was her daily speed training.

Only when people encountered danger could their bodies' potential be developed to the fullest.

Like the mother who could lift a heavy truck with both hands when caught in a car accident.

Or ordinary people who could never run fast under normal circumstances but could sprint at world-champion speeds once a dog was chasing them.

But... being chased by a dog was nowhere near as thrilling as being chased by zombies.

When she reached the First Floor, Jiang You stood inside the locked unit entrance, used a kitchen knife to chop off the chicken's neck, then hung the chicken upside down on her back. She opened the metal door and charged outside.

The few zombies lazily wandering outside were instantly roused by the thick smell of blood. They sprinted after the source of the scent.

"Roar, roar, roar!!!!!"

With the hen strapped to her back, Jiang You took off running while more than a dozen zombies chased her feverishly.

The momentum was far more heated than a celebrity chase.

After she ran beyond the neighborhood, the commotion and smell of blood continued attracting more zombies to join the pursuit.

After more than half an hour, the zombies behind Jiang You had grown from a dozen or so into a crowd. At a glance, there were at least several hundred.

The chicken's blood had all run out. Jiang You stored the hen in the space, saving it to make chicken soup that night.

Other people walked dogs. Jiang You walked zombies—and not just one, but an entire horde.