A false alarm

"Zhang Yi, were you a cop before, or were you in the military?" His hand holding the vegetable sprout hung beside him near the ground. He planned to rest a little before continuing.

"I was a cop," Zhang Yi replied, unsurprised that the other man had guessed his former profession. After all, the habits of the job were ingrained in his bones and blood, not something five years in prison could erase. Anyone observant enough could pick up on the signs. Not wanting to continue the subject, he said, "If you're out of strength, use a Corpse Crystal. Just leave a few for the ride and to trade for water."

Corpse Crystals were useless to ordinary people, but they could help ability users and mutants improve their abilities. This was also the main reason Corpse Crystals had become a circulating currency. In this time of extreme food shortages, when strength determined survival, gold was no different from paper money. Both had long since lost the magic that had once driven people to pursue them obsessively and had become worthless. People would rather barter than accept gold, silver, or banknotes anymore.

The first person to discover Corpse Crystals had been a fire ability user. After burning a relative's corpse to ashes with his flames, he had spotted a milky-white crystal left behind that would not melt in the fire. Later, after repeatedly searching various parts of the zombies he killed, he had finally established that Corpse Crystals were found only in zombie brains, in the spot where the pineal gland had originally been. Their actual use, however, had been discovered by a psychic ability user. The exact process was unknown to outsiders.

Something that could both motivate people to hunt down zombies and improve their own abilities was naturally the prime choice for a circulating currency.

Nan Shao had awakened his ability only two days earlier. Since it was a useless ability, he had little desire to improve it, so he had yet to try absorbing a Corpse Crystal. Zhang Yi's words tempted him. He picked up a Corpse Crystal and placed it in his palm, then followed the method everyone knew, focusing his mind between his eyebrows. When he sensed a constantly spinning point of white light the size of a needle tip there, he let his thoughts follow its rotation, gradually forgetting everything around him, including himself.

When he emerged from that state in which neither others nor self existed and opened his eyes, he discovered that daylight had already come. The Corpse Crystal in his hand was nothing but a pile of white powder, and he felt more mentally refreshed than ever before.

Zhang Yi was still sitting where he had been the night before, staring steadily outside as though he had never moved. The rising sunlight shone through the window, clearly outlining his face with its faint traces of fatigue. Only then did Nan Shao realize that this man had a very straight nose and a resolute set to his mouth. He was actually quite good-looking, especially with the bluish stubble that had faintly emerged on his chin and upper lip overnight, adding a distinctly masculine sex appeal.

"Done?" Noticing his gaze, Zhang Yi turned to look at him. His eyes were bloodshot, but there was no displeasure in them. He was as calm as ever.

"Sorry. I didn't think it would take so long." Feeling somewhat apologetic, Nan Shao stood up and noticed the tender green sprout held in the other man's hand. It was the very one he had coaxed into growing the night before.

"It's fine. I couldn't sleep anyway." Zhang Yi shook his head and pushed himself up with a hand on the table. He found a glass bottle in the room and put the sprout inside. Only then, as if remembering something, did he give the bottle a little shake toward Nan Shao and ask, "You don't mind, do you?" The night before, seeing that Nan Shao had remained motionless for a long time, he had worried something was wrong and gone over to check. Only after confirming that Nan Shao was all right, though he did not look likely to wake anytime soon, had he relaxed. On his way back, he had picked up the sprout Nan Shao had set aside. Though its little leaves were small, they gave a sense of vibrant life that reminded him of Yangyang.

"Of course not." Nan Shao smiled. With his mind refreshed, his mood seemed to have improved as well. "You don't actually need to take it. I can grow another one when we get back." He knew Zhang Yi was saving it for little Yangyang.

"It'd be a shame to throw it away." That was Zhang Yi's answer. Rather than continue the subject, he brought up something else. "From now on, it's best if you absorb Corpse Crystals in town, or with me beside you."

Even without being told, Nan Shao had already realized how dangerous it was to shut out everything happening around him while absorbing a Corpse Crystal. Still, hearing the other man volunteer brought a faint warmth to his heart, along with a sense of being moved. Unfortunately, all he offered in reply was a perfectly ordinary, "I know."

Zhang Yi gave a slight nod, went over, and took a packet of biscuits from a bag. He tore it open, and the two of them shared a few before packing up what they had obtained the day before and going downstairs to catch their ride.

The earliest vehicle from town arrived at eight. Since vehicles were limited and there were many ordinary zombie hunters in town, it would head straight back after dropping off its passengers to pick up the next group. That was the ride Zhang Yi and Nan Shao wanted to catch.

Chapter 14: A false alarm

It was common for people like them to return only the next morning after missing their ride or getting trapped in the county town and being unable to get out for a while, so the driver showed no reaction at the sight of them. Besides, someone was already sitting in the vehicle.

It was that woman. A black backpack sat by her feet. It was small, and even filled to the brim, it would not have held much. On the return trip, aside from the ability user guarding the vehicle and the driver, there were only the three of them. When the two men boarded, the woman did not even lift her lowered eyelids, as though they had never met. Neither man took offense. As soon as they arrived, they hurried back to the shack.

The shack looked just as it had before they left, with no sign that anyone had been there, and both men relaxed a little. But when Zhang Yi called several times and received no answer, his heart lurched. He felt as though all the blood had been drained from his body. His mind went numb, his limbs stiffened, and he could not move at all.

Nan Shao, however, quickly set down what he was carrying, then went over and pulled aside the woven sack covering the hole in the ground. He knelt, bent low, and reached inside. A moment later, he lifted out a child whose face was flushed red, whose lips were dry and cracked, and whose clothes were soaked through with sweat.

When Zhang Yi saw that the boy was still there, his sluggish, numb nerves abruptly began to respond again. His legs gave way, and he fell to his knees.

"He probably got overheated in there." Nan Shao felt Yangyang's head and called softly to him a couple of times. Hearing the child murmur, he relaxed a little and said, "Hurry and trade for some water." As he spoke, no longer caring whether anyone would discover Yangyang's existence, he carried the child straight outside the shack.