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"Mm." Zhang Yi pushed another half of the rice in his bowl into Zhang Ruiyang's and stroked his son's head as he answered.

"Daddy, I'm full." Zhang Ruiyang looked at the extra white rice in his bowl, then stole a glance at Zhang Yi's empty one and pouted.

"Save it for when you're hungry," Zhang Yi said. Then he stopped the others from setting aside rice for Yangyang too. "Don't spoil him."

"I still have biscuits." Zhang Ruiyang shook his head and lifted his little bowl, about to tip it into Zhang Yi's.

Zhang Yi hurriedly caught it. Thinking that with several of them working together now, they should still be able to cook something to eat, he stopped insisting.

"Not just Corpse Crystals. We also need rice, flour, pickled vegetables, dried vegetables, and canned food," Nan Shao said. When they had attacked Small Shop Street the day before yesterday, they had not wanted to compete with anyone else, so they had brought back nothing good apart from rice, flour, and packets of pickled chilies scattered on the ground.

"Then we'll need to plan this carefully," Zhang Yi said, handing Meat Tower Chen a bran cake. He knew that little bowl of rice was only a treat and certainly would not be enough for Meat Tower Chen.

Meat Tower Chen felt rather embarrassed. He was just a freeloader now. How could he have the nerve to eat more than the people working and risking their lives?

"Take it. Eat your fill, get better soon, and come kill zombies with me." Zhang Yi put the bran cake straight into his bowl and spoke evenly.

After hearing that, there was no point in Meat Tower Chen refusing again, so he held the bran cake and quietly gnawed on it, quite unlike his noisy self yesterday. With his head lowered, no one saw that his eyes had reddened.

Nan Shao and Li Muran naturally had no objections. They also knew that once Meat Tower Chen recovered, he would be a great help to them. They were not hard up at the moment, so they had traded for quite a few bran cakes. Whatever they could not finish could be stored without fear of spoiling, leaving them prepared just in case.

A small bowl of white rice was of course not enough to satisfy their appetites, so they each took a bran cake too. Some gnawed on theirs dry with sips of water; others broke theirs into small pieces in their bowls, softened them with water, and slowly ate them. Whatever the case, only by eating their fill could their bodies grow strong, and only with strong bodies could they resist illness and have the strength to kill more zombies and obtain more supplies. Everyone understood that.

"On the outskirts of the county town, it's easier to escape, but most people gather there. There aren't any supplies to get, and there are only so many zombies to kill," Zhang Yi said between sips of water. He knew the county town best, so naturally he was the most qualified to speak.

"Places like the shopping streets and farmers' markets have plenty of supplies, but plenty of zombies too. We could get trapped as soon as we go in. Ability users like going there because the haul is bigger. There aren't many of us, and we don't have abilities..." He paused briefly and glanced at Nan Shao, evidently remembering his rather useless ability. "We can only carry on the wisdom of our predecessors and wage guerrilla warfare against the zombies. So the place we choose doesn't have to offer rich pickings, but it has to let us move in and retreat freely." The strong had their way of living, and the weak had their way of surviving.

Neither of the other two aimed beyond their reach, so they thoroughly agreed with Zhang Yi's thinking. Next, Zhang Yi sketched out a rough map of the county town, and after discussing it, they settled on where to go tomorrow.

There was a residential area where the new and old parts of town met. Built relatively early, it was unlike later residential complexes, which were enclosed by walls and had guards at the gates. The buildings were not tall either. Since it bordered the old town, only a narrow alley separated the apartment buildings from the old single-story houses behind them. If necessary, they could jump straight from the buildings onto the roofs in the old town, then choose a route to escape. Zhang Yi was not sure whether anyone had already been there, but he thought it was worth a trip.

"Nan Shao has awakened a plant ability, and Little Chen has a speed mutation. I'd like to set aside some of the Corpse Crystals we hunt for them to improve their abilities," Zhang Yi proposed at last, addressing Li Muran, of course. Only by strengthening the team's overall capabilities would they have a better chance of surviving and living better.

Nan Shao's ears grew slightly hot over his ability, which was of little use, but he could not bring himself to refuse. He still could not resign himself to it. After all, he had finally awakened an ability, and he wanted to see whether improving it might produce some unexpected use. As he hesitated, Li Muran spoke.

"I... I have an ability too." Li Muran raised a hand and rubbed her face, finding it somewhat difficult to say.

At those words, the others all froze. Strangely, the first words that surfaced in all their minds were "useless ability." Otherwise, why had they never seen her use it?

After glancing at their expressions, Li Muran looked slightly embarrassed. "I don't know what kind of ability it counts as either... They pushed me into a horde of zombies, and I thought I was going to die for sure, but somehow I suddenly appeared here. I was in Qi City, Yunzhou, at the time."

Nan Shao stopped drinking. Zhang Yi had been turning his head to dodge Zhang Ruiyang's enthusiastic kisses, but froze at her words, letting his son plant a smacking kiss on his mouth. Meat Tower Chen's bran cake dropped into his bowl.

Yunzhou was over a thousand kilometers from Zhongzhou. Even a plane would take an hour or two. How could she have crossed that distance in a flash?

"My god..." Meat Tower Chen murmured, gazing at Li Muran with admiration. "Doesn't that mean you can go wherever you want?"

Li Muran smiled bitterly. "I don't know how to use it. I don't even dare try again, in case I'm unlucky and land in a pile of zombies, or end up in another unfamiliar place." So having the ability was as good as not having it.

A trace of sympathy surfaced in Nan Shao's eyes. He thought to himself that at least he could control his own ability, while hers was purely a matter of luck. Zhang Yi gave a dry cough, then said, "Then you should cultivate with them too. If you can get a good grasp of this ability, it'll be very useful."

Li Muran nodded silently, not really daring to hold out much hope.

By the time they finished discussing things, they were nearly done eating too. Everyone rinsed their own bowls and chopsticks with water, then put them away to use again next time. Li Muran put Meat Tower Chen's away for him while she was at it. Their resources were simply too limited to use large amounts of water washing dishes after every meal. Zhang Ruiyang refused Zhang Yi's help and wandered around the kitchen for ages holding his little bowl and chopsticks, finally hiding them somewhere he considered very secret.