Page 5

"If you want to go somewhere else, I can only take you as far as Ziyun County. You can find something to get around in there." As he continued speaking, he had already walked into the courtyard and was heading toward the battered Xiali. The car looked as though it could no longer run, but he had only found it after a great deal of effort. Otherwise, how could he have brought Nan Shao here from the county seat? It had been half a year since the apocalypse, and nearly all the usable cars had already been rounded up. Even the gasoline in the remaining, largely useless vehicles had been siphoned dry. He had no Corpse Crystals to spare for gasoline, so having enough left in this car to reach the county seat was already fortunate. He would still have to spend one Corpse Crystal to share a ride back with others.

"I think I can sense..." Nan Shao did not say where he wanted to go. Instead, he hesitated, then walked toward the room on the right.

Zhang Yi stood beside the car door he had already opened and did not follow. He did not think the other man had picked up the smell of food. After all, he himself had searched this building from top to bottom three or four times, without even overlooking the toilet.

A moment later, Nan Shao returned and held his palm out in front of Zhang Yi. There, on his palm, where black blood still crusted the skin, lay several flat radish seeds.

Zhang Yi's gaze flickered. He found this outcome unexpected and somehow rather comical. Before he could think of what to say, Nan Shao picked up a radish seed between his fingers. A trace of uncertainty appeared on his face, but he still took a deep breath and focused his attention on it. A moment later, a hint of tender green gradually emerged from the tip of the seed, as though a shoot was about to sprout.

Zhang Yi could not help holding his breath as he waited. It had truly been over half a year since he had seen the green of living things. How could he not miss it? Unfortunately, even after a long while, that speck of green grew no larger. Nan Shao, meanwhile, had already dropped his hand in exhaustion and leaned against the car, his face looking terrible. The radish seed fell to the ground.

Zhang Yi froze for a moment, then bent down and picked up the seeds one by one. Faced with Nan Shao's embarrassed, disappointed expression, he inexplicably offered a word of comfort. "Maybe you're just too hungry." As soon as he said it, he felt awkward himself and thought he would have been better off saying nothing.

Nan Shao did not pay it much mind. He shook his head and said dejectedly, "A wood-type ability only works on living plants. Now that all the plants have withered away and the land can't be cultivated, this ability is completely useless." Especially a wood-type ability as weak as his. Even if he were given seeds, he had no way to use it to attack zombies.

Zhang Yi felt that his own circumstances left him in no position to pity anyone, but he still could not help feeling sympathy for Nan Shao. Wood-type abilities had, after all, already been classified as useless abilities in Wangyang Town. Those who possessed them received the same treatment as ordinary people.

"Let's go." He truly had nothing left to say, so he turned to open the courtyard gate, then returned and climbed into the car.

Nan Shao paused before following him into the car. The cramped space forced his long legs into an uncomfortable bend. The battered Xiali roared for quite some time before it finally started, slowly backed out of the courtyard, then followed the narrow concrete lane onto the uneven road. Just before they reached the county road, Zhang Yi glanced at the man, who had kept his eyes lowered ever since getting into the car, thinking about who knew what, and asked, "Have you decided? What are your plans?"

"I've already died once." Nan Shao raised his head to look at Zhang Yi and blurted out something that had nothing to do with the question.

Zhang Yi was puzzled.

"As far as they're concerned, I'm already dead," Nan Shao added. As he said this, the boy's complicated gaze, with its barely concealed relief, surfaced in his mind. The younger brother he had treasured and protected for over ten years had actually wanted him dead. How tragic and laughable that truth was.

This time, Zhang Yi more or less understood. "They" might refer to Nan Shao's former family or friends, or even companions who had temporarily banded together, and their relationships were very complicated. Of course, that had little to do with him.

"My son turns five in two months. I don't have an ability, and there's something wrong with my right leg." Sensing the other man's hesitation and uncertainty, he briefly introduced his own circumstances, then asked, "If you don't mind..."

"I don't mind." Before Zhang Yi could finish, Nan Shao quickly answered.

Zhang Yi smiled and said nothing more. Even if the other man's ability was useless, he was still a tall, able-bodied adult man. Zhang Yi could only stand to benefit, so naturally he would not refuse. Even if the man really was someone whose legs went weak at the sight of zombies, he could at least help look after Yangyang. That would give Zhang Yi much more peace of mind when he went out.

The car turned onto the county road and headed toward the Ziyun County seat.

"Have you fought zombies before?" Zhang Yi asked. Today, they would need at least six Corpse Crystals just to scrape by until tomorrow: three for Nan Shao's entrance fee into town, two to exchange for water, and one for food.

Nan Shao gave a quiet acknowledgment, not angered by the other man's low opinion of him. The apocalypse had come too suddenly. Even though he had some wealth, by now it was of little use. Things had been all right at the beginning of the apocalypse. With the various firearms and weapons he had collected as a hobby, his bodyguards, and several friends who had joined them, they had over twenty able-bodied young adults. Although they also had several elderly people, women, and children with them, their lives, while no match for life before the apocalypse, had been fairly good compared with those of other survivors. Then humans began developing abilities, their ammunition ran out, and finding food outside became increasingly difficult. They could no longer hold their place among the strong and were reduced to joining the masses struggling to survive.

As the bodyguards developed abilities one after another, while only three people among their employers did, the tensions that had lurked within the group since the apocalypse began gradually intensified, eventually causing a split. When the bodyguards left the group under the leadership of a metal-type ability user, life grew even harder. Although everyone still regarded him as their leader, they began to resent his indulgence and protection of Xiao Wei. This resentment became increasingly apparent as food grew scarcer, until he was bitten by a zombie while trying to get a shriveled apple for Xiao Wei. Yet he never could have imagined that, in his deepest despair, the person willing to lend him a hand would be neither Xiao Wei, whom he had done everything in his power to cherish and spoil, nor the friends who had supported one another through their journey, but a stranger he did not remember at all. Even if all that stranger did was find him a quiet place, free of zombies and human disturbance, where he could spend the final stretch of his life.