Improving abilities

At those words, Zhang Yi fell silent for a long time.

"Are we going to keep living like this? Bullied by ability users, bullied by people without abilities too, like dogs..." What had happened that day had weighed on Nan Shao's mind, and in the quiet of the night, with nothing else to distract him, it all surfaced again. He had once stood at the top of society, with others scrambling to please him and curry his favor. How could he ever have imagined that one day he would sink this low? Even during that period after the apocalypse, he had never suffered such humiliation. Though he understood the law of the jungle all too well, he still could not immediately accept the gulf between then and now.

"We have to survive first before we can talk about anything else." Zhang Yi smiled and reached down to rub his leg, which had never stopped hurting. His smile held a desolation beyond words. Back in prison, hadn't he lived like a dog just so he could get out alive, with sharp teeth that frightened people, yet also knowing how to fawn and flatter? Even a man who had once served under him, who happened to see him while visiting his prison on business, could not believe this was the upright, unbending man he had once known. Zhang Yi still remembered the disappointment and contempt in his eyes, but he no longer cared. What was too rigid broke easily. Only after lessons paid for in blood and tears could one truly understand those ancient words.

"Can we still survive?" Nan Shao asked.

"Yes." Zhang Yi did not actually know either, but he answered without the slightest hesitation. Until he reached the very end, he would keep giving that answer.

Nan Shao felt a little better. He found that Zhang Yi seemed to have the power to make people feel calm and secure. Rolling over, he propped his head on one hand and asked, "Brother Yi, how old are you?"

"Thirty-four. You?"

"Twenty-nine." Nan Shao finally felt that calling him Brother Yi was justified, although no one had forced him to before. "How did you hurt your leg?" He suddenly felt an urge to learn more about this man.

"Someone broke it in prison." Zhang Yi was not really that reluctant to discuss his past; he simply did not like bringing it up most of the time.

"Huh?" That answer took Nan Shao completely by surprise. Nothing about Zhang Yi struck him as someone who had been in prison.

"I spent five years in prison. I only got out just before the apocalypse..." Zhang Yi smiled as he spoke, but as he went on, he remembered the scene he had witnessed just after leaving prison. A terrible pain struck his heart, and his voice trailed off.

"What were you sent in for?" In the darkness, Nan Shao did not notice anything amiss and continued asking.

"Dereliction of duty," Zhang Yi answered after a moment.

"Did you offend someone?" That was Nan Shao's first reaction.

Zhang Yi chuckled twice before giving a quiet assent. "It's all in the past. There's no point talking about it. Let's sleep. We won't be able to once the sun comes up." With that, he rolled over, and a short while later, soft snores came from him.

Nan Shao lay down too, but his thoughts would not settle for a long time. He did not know that someone else in the bedroom was also lying awake, her emotions just as unsettled. Li Muran had awakened alertly when they began talking. Ever since awakening her ability, her hearing and eyesight had become much keener than an ordinary person's, so even though the two men had kept their voices low, she had heard everything.

She finally realized she was not the worst off after all. Her parents had divorced, and because her father wanted a son, he had dumped her on her mother. Her mother had remarried and given her stepfather three children. Her stepfather had harbored ill intentions toward her, but she had still managed to protect herself and make it to university unscathed. Once she graduated, she would be able to leave that so-called home behind for good. Who could have known the apocalypse would suddenly arrive? Her mother and stepfather had picked up her younger siblings from school and returned to her stepfather's ancestral home in the countryside, leaving only her behind, even though she was in the same city. With nowhere to go, she could only flee with the other survivors...

She raised a hand over her eyes, unwilling to think about what had happened afterward. The sound of little Yangyang breathing in his sleep reached her ears, gradually calming her, and she found herself thinking of what Zhang Yi had said earlier.

Survive first, then talk about anything else. Yes, I had to survive first!

Chapter 22: Improving abilities

The next day, none of them went out hunting. Instead, they gave the house a thorough cleaning. Since all three men would be sleeping in the living room, they moved the sofa, coffee table, and other things aside. At bedtime, they would simply spread cooling mats and bedsheets they had found in the cupboards on the floor. In the hot weather, this was not only cool but also gave them room to stretch out. With Meat Tower Chen's build, a single night on the sofa had left him groaning nonstop. Zhang Yi and Nan Shao were both very tall and naturally did not want to curl up on the little sofa either. As for Yangyang, he could sleep wherever he wanted. As long as he did not wet the bed, no one minded having him.

Zhang Yi and Nan Shao also found several fairly flat stones at the foot of the hill behind the courtyard and built a small wood-burning stove in the yard for cooking. The original owner had used a gas stove, but someone had long since taken the gas cylinder. Of course, Zhang Yi did almost all the work. Nan Shao knew nothing about it and could only lend a hand and provide some muscle. Afterward, they went to the hill behind the house and gathered plenty of dry wood and grass, filling almost half the small courtyard.

Li Muran lit a fire in the newly built stove and cooked a small pot of rice with what they had brought back, enough for each person to have a small bowl. Even so, served with pickled chilies, it was the best meal any of them had eaten in six months. Even the vanguard team could not afford to spend large quantities of water cooking rice for its members. Having a mouthful of thin soup with some oil and salt in it while chewing dry rations was already good enough. Of course, the team leader was bound to fare somewhat better.

The house had pots, bowls, and chopsticks, but washing them took quite a bit of water. Together with the water for cooking, it had cost them a considerable number of Corpse Crystals. If the rent had not been just three hundred Corpse Crystals, leaving around two hundred of those obtained from trading medicine after the thirty-odd crystals used to bribe that fat man in charge, plus the dozen or so they had earned before, they would not have dared be so wasteful.

"Once we bring back some more Corpse Crystals tomorrow, we'll make rice porridge," Li Muran said with a faint smile, glancing at Zhang Ruiyang. His lips were red from the spicy pickled chilies, and he kept gulping water, but he looked very happy with his meal. She had actually hesitated when she first started cooking. Although porridge used less rice, it needed more water. After turning it over in her mind, she had still been unable to bring herself to pour in several more bottles.