An apple

"Wait. Give me your iron rod," Nan Shao said, stepping out of the cubicle and crouching in front of the two corpses.

Zhang Yi handed over the length of rebar without hesitation, then went outside to check their surroundings. Nan Shao took the rebar, drove its sharp end into a zombie's shattered skull, and stirred it around before finally digging out a milky-white crystal.

"Here." Picking up a white towel from the floor, he wiped his hands and the Corpse Crystals clean of grayish-brown brain matter, then held the two crystals out to Zhang Yi.

Zhang Yi glanced at him and accepted them, still without a word.

He wrapped the food they had found in clothing, taking care to pad the spaces between the glass and bottles with several layers of newspaper so they would not clink together. Then he put a plastic bag around the bundle and carried it in his hand, looking as though he were carrying a whole bag of clothes. After all, unless they saw it with their own eyes, no one would believe that two ordinary people could still find apples that had not gone bad at a time like this.

The two of them had already lost quite a bit of time on the road. By the time they skirted the zombies and zombie hunters and reached the pickup point, it was already two or three in the afternoon. To avoid attracting zombies, the vehicles were parked in an abandoned factory three kilometers outside the county town. The sixties and seventies

were the decades

when its tall red-brick perimeter walls had been built. All around them lay zombie corpses chopped into mush. Baking under the blazing sun, their rotten stench could be smelled from far away, successfully masking the scent of humans. With ability users taking turns on guard as well, very few zombies could get close.

Several people were already sitting on the bus, which had been modified to resemble an armored vehicle. When they saw Zhang Yi limp aboard, their eyes flicked over the bulging plastic bag in his hand before returning to indifference, showing neither curiosity nor contempt. Half a year of the apocalypse had worn ordinary people out completely. They begrudged even a second glance at anyone who had nothing to do with them, let alone any unnecessary expression.

When Zhang Yi handed two Corpse Crystals to the driver, his face betrayed nothing, but his heart ached, just as it did every time he had no choice but to take the bus. The fare for him alone cost two crystals a day. Now that Nan Shao was with him, that amount would double-enough to exchange for two bottles of water. Just thinking about it hurt. Only then did he remember that he had left both their fares out of his initial calculations. Fortunately, Nan Shao had produced that bag of crystals; otherwise, they certainly would not have earned enough today to pay for Nan Shao to enter the town. If only they could get some gasoline.

Of course, gasoline was something he could only dream about. Even if they did manage to get some, with their current strength, they probably would not even be able to stay alive.

Still, he had to admit that although it was expensive, their safety was guaranteed. That was something even more crystals could not buy, and it was why ordinary people would rather eat less than go without the bus.

Chapter 6: An apple

Nan Shao was about to take a nearby seat when Zhang Yi gave him a tug. Zhang Yi headed toward the back. Nan Shao paused, then followed him. He noticed that everyone who boarded afterward also headed toward the back, leaving three rows of seats empty at the front. Only when he saw the dozen or so burly men who returned last did he finally understand why. Every social stratum had its strong and its weak. Clearly, even without abilities, this group counted among the strong within the ranks of ordinary people, so everyone made way for them.

Like everyone else on the bus, these men wore tattered clothes covered in blood and mud, and their faces were weary. They were just in slightly better spirits, looking less hopeless and listless. They each found a seat without looking around. Only one fat man with shifty eyes swept his darting gaze around the bus. The moment he spotted Zhang Yi, a fawning smile appeared on his face, and he walked over.

It had to be said that anyone still carrying that much fat at a time like this was bound to draw attention. But only Zhang Yi knew that the man had slimmed down a full two sizes compared with five years ago.

"Oh, Captain Zhang, you're here too." The fat man came up beside Zhang Yi's seat, rubbing his plump hands together, looking as cringing as a mouse facing a cat.

Zhang Yi nodded. He had already told him not to call him Captain Zhang anymore, but the man could never break the habit, so he could not be bothered to say it again.

The fat man chatted for a little longer before returning to his seat. His companion turned to give Zhang Yi a contemptuous glance and said scornfully, "He's just a useless piece of trash. You think he's still the captain of the criminal investigation unit he used to be? Have some self-respect. Stop sucking up to someone who keeps giving you the cold shoulder."

He made no effort to lower his voice, and everyone on the bus could hear him. But Zhang Yi showed no reaction. The last of his spirit had vanished the moment he saw his mother's rotting corpse. Now, apart from Yangyang, he cared about nothing.

The fat man scratched his short stubble of hair and chuckled without arguing, but everyone knew that he would do the same thing the next time they met.

The fat man's surname was Chen, and people called him Meat Tower Chen. At his fattest, he could not see his toes when he looked down. As for his real name, no one remembered it anymore. Before Zhang Yi went to prison, he had been Zhang Yi's informant, as well as a local kingpin in Chang City's Qingshan District. They had worked together for six or seven years and had been on fairly good terms.

Meat Tower Chen was a speed mutant, but because he was too fat, he would be gasping for breath after just a few laps. Other mutants and ability users looked down on him for it, and in the end, he could only team up with ordinary people.

Of course, however inadequate he might be, a mutant was still welcome among ordinary people. That was how he had secured a place in this strongest team among the ordinary people, though he was not respected the way other ability users and mutants were.

Seeing that Zhang Yi ignored him, the man lost interest. Besides, a whole day of fighting zombies had drained him both mentally and physically, leaving him truly exhausted, so he shut up.

There were men and women, young and old, on the bus, though most were young and middle-aged men. If you wanted to survive, and live with dignity, you had to put your life on the line, whoever you were. Apart from teammates, everyone was cold and wary toward one another. There were no ability users. Ability users could get vehicles and gasoline, and most formed their own teams and drove out to hunt zombies and search for supplies.

Once another vehicle arrived and several ability users guarding the buses came aboard, the bus finally set off. Along the way, they wiped out two small groups of zombies drawn by the noise, along with countless scattered zombies, and reached the small town before sunset.

Nan Shao's wounds had already healed completely when he survived the viral infection, so after paying three Corpse Crystals and undergoing a full-body inspection, he followed Zhang Yi into town without any trouble.