Chapter 54

Tian Qiao frantically dodged the female Superhuman's attack, turning his head to see a large, corroded pit where he had been standing moments before.

Tian Qiao's heart pounded. "Holy shit! Did you have to be so ruthless?"

Seeing her first strike fail, the female Superhuman attacked again. Cheng Zhiyu and the others didn’t want to harm her, so they could only scramble awkwardly out of the way.

Cheng Zhiyu found an opening and used Little Roll to bind the female Superhuman. As she attempted to use her power, he taunted, "Little Roll's spikes can instantly incapacitate a Superhuman. Do you want to test whether your corrosion is faster or its stabbing is faster?"

The female Superhuman’s expression darkened, and she spat, "Do what you want with me! But anyone who sides with Zhao Ming won’t end well either!"

Cheng Zhiyu scratched his nose. "You might not believe it, but we actually have nothing to do with the Zhao Ming you’re talking about."

Of course, the female Superhuman didn’t believe him. If they had nothing to do with Zhao Ming, why would they protect him? Did they take her for a fool?

Cheng Zhiyu didn’t explain further and said to Cheng Mo, "Go wake Zhao Ming up."

Cheng Mo didn’t move, but not far away, Zhao Ming was suddenly drenched with a bucket of water, jolting him awake and coughing. As he came to his senses, his face turned furious.

Being knocked out was one thing, but being splashed with water in the middle of the night? Were these people protecting him or torturing him?

"What exactly are you trying to—" Zhao Ming’s words cut off abruptly as he spotted a familiar figure on the ground. Wasn’t that Sun Yu, the one who’d been hunting him down?

She was tied up and sitting on the ground, looking somewhat disheveled, a far cry from the formidable pursuer she had been.

Zhao Ming was stunned for a moment before bursting into loud laughter. "Hahaha, Sun Yu, weren’t you so smug? Still want to kill me? Let me tell you, I, Zhao Ming, will never be crushed by you!"

"Hahaha, this is hilarious. You probably never thought you’d end up at my mercy again, did you?" Zhao Ming’s laughter grew increasingly exaggerated, as if he were afraid Sun Yu wouldn’t notice his triumph. His face twisted into an expression oozing villainy.

Sun Yu’s face darkened, and she seemed to pale slightly as if recalling something. She glared at Zhao Ming with pure hatred, gritting her teeth as she said, "Zhao Ming, I will kill you sooner or later!"

Zhao Ming was startled for a moment but quickly regained his composure. What was there to fear? Sun Yu was clearly no match for Cheng Zhiyu and the others.

Emboldened, he retorted, "You? Kill me? Keep dreaming. But... tsk tsk, I must say, I’m liking your face more and more. Don’t tell me you’re still craving it? Is that why you’ve been chasing after me? How about I let you experience it again—"

Before he could finish, the vines tying Sun Yu suddenly loosened. In an instant, she lunged forward and seized Zhao Ming by the throat. Almost immediately, his face began to corrode.

Zhao Ming shrieked in pain, his expression filled with terror. "Aah! Save me, quick, save me! Cough, cough..."

Cheng Zhiyu’s face darkened. He had initially wanted to stay out of their conflict, especially since Zhao Ming clearly wasn’t a good person. But the things Zhao Ming said disgusted him deeply.

If it weren’t for the grain storage, he might have been tempted to help Sun Yu strangle Zhao Ming himself.

As Zhao Ming was about to pass out, Cheng Zhiyu finally spoke up calmly, "Spare his life for now."

Sun Yu released her grip on Zhao Ming, watching with disgust as he wheezed and gasped frantically. She turned to Cheng Zhiyu and asked, "What exactly is your intention?"

"We really have nothing to do with him," Zhou Min stepped in to explain. "The only reason we’re keeping him around is that he knows the location of a grain storage."

Sun Yu was taken aback for a moment before it all made sense. No wonder those other Superhumans had risked their lives to protect Zhao Ming. So that was why.

But when she thought of the pain she had endured, how could she simply let Zhao Ming walk away?

"I want to kill him," Sun Yu stated firmly.

Upon hearing this, Zhao Ming crawled behind Cheng Zhiyu and the others like a dog, pleading incessantly, "The grain storage... I’ll give you the grain storage... You promised to protect me..."

His corroded face, already horrifying to look at, became even more grotesque when paired with his current expression.

Sun Yu declared, "If you insist on protecting him, then I’ll go through you if I have to to achieve my goal."

Cheng Zhiyu found himself at a loss. Truth be told, he also wanted Zhao Ming dead, but the grain storage...

The situation had reached a stalemate.

Just then, Zhou Min cleared his throat lightly. "Well, actually, there might be a way to make everyone happy."

Everyone turned to look at him as he continued, "Our goal is the grain storage. Once we find it, you can do whatever you want with him—kill him, torture him, it’s up to you."

Sun Yu frowned, about to say something, but Zhou Min cut her off. "Hear me out. Think about it—wouldn’t killing him outright be giving him an easy way out? Wouldn’t it be better to torture him slowly?"

He leaned in closer to Sun Yu to say something, but she immediately took a step back, eyeing him warily.

Zhou Min rubbed his nose and didn’t try to approach further, instead spelling out his plan.

After hearing it, Zhao Ming’s eyes widened in horror. "No, no... If you do that, I’d rather die than tell you where the grain storage is!"

Cheng Mo sneered, "Don’t worry. As long as he’s alive, I have plenty of ways to make him talk."

Zhao Ming felt hopeless. He never expected these people not only to refuse to help him but even to assist Sun Yu in plotting against him!

He gritted his teeth in fury. "You... why are you helping this woman? We’re both men—shouldn’t we be helping each other?"

Cheng Zhiyu looked disgusted. "Don’t say such disgusting things."

"Both men"? He didn’t even want to be the same species as Zhao Ming.

Cheng Mo gave Zhao Ming a kick. "Shut your filthy mouth. You’re disgusting my Zhi Yu."

Cheng Zhiyu: "..." Since when did I become yours?

Cheng Mo grinned, trying to butter him up.

After hearing Zhou Min’s idea, Sun Yu felt a thrill. Yes, she had suffered so much. Letting Zhao Ming die easily would be letting him off too easy.

Why not cut off his dick and let him taste what it feels like to wish for death?

In the past, when Zhao Ming had done those things to her, she had been powerless and could only seek legal help. But her parents had accepted money from the Zhao family to sweep it under the rug. How could Sun Yu ever accept that?

She had spent every moment thinking of how to take revenge. When the apocalypse arrived and she discovered she had awakened her powers, her first thought was to find Zhao Ming.

Throughout her pursuit, she had dreamed of nothing but killing him. But now, she realized that rather than letting Zhao Ming die, she wanted him to live through hell.

Zhou Min added, "I have Healing Power. If cutting him once isn’t enough, you can do it multiple times. Even every day, if you want."

Sun Yu’s mouth twisted wryly.

Cheng Zhiyu pulled out a small knife and handed it to Sun Yu. "This knife isn’t very sharp, but it should work."

Sun Yu: "..."

She took the knife and walked toward Zhao Ming.

Watching him cower in terror, desperately trying to retreat while pleading for his life, Sun Yu slowly curled her lips into a smile. "When I begged you, did you ever think of letting me go?"

Zhao Ming let out a sharp "Ah!" and fainted.

When he woke up, he found nothing down there and sobbed uncontrollably, unable to accept it.

"Ugh, why all the crying? You're a grown man," Tian Qiao said irritably, covering his ears.

Zhou Min offered kindly, "Come on, it's alright. I'll make it grow back for you."

Before Zhao Ming could even rejoice about becoming a man again, Zhou Min turned to Sun Yu and asked, "Feel like doing it again?"

Sun Yu pulled out a knife, smiling. "Haha, here I come. I'll use anesthetic today so he can watch himself get cut off."

Zhao Ming's screams of despair of "Ahhhh!" once again echoed across the sky.

Zhao Ming was tortured continuously, pleading for death daily, but unfortunately, he couldn't die. In his desperation to end his suffering quickly, he became very cooperative when showing the way to the grain storage.

Cheng Zhiyu and the others finally arrived at the location of the grain storage.

Tian Qiao stepped out of the vehicle and looked around. "This isn’t far from our village."

Cheng Zhiyu nodded. It was about a hundred kilometers away from their village. The warehouse was in a relatively remote location, with farmland not far away—likely for convenience in buying rice directly after harvest.

The warehouse looked like a shipping container. Cheng Zhiyu glanced at it and estimated it was just a small storage unit, probably holding only around two hundred thousand jin of rice.

Given the current appetites of superhumans, this amount would likely feed over fifty people for a year.

Though the quantity wasn’t huge, it was food nonetheless.

Cheng Zhiyu was a bit worried. His inventory space could only hold half of the grain at most. The other half of his space was already filled with other items.

Sighing, he prodded his system, but the system played dead.

Tian Qiao suggested, "How about we return to the village first? This place is hard to find, and I doubt anyone will stumble upon it anytime soon. We can come back later with a truck to transport it."

Zhou Min walked around the warehouse, examining it. "This warehouse is built quite sturdy."

Tian Qiao replied, "No matter how sturdy it is, a powerful superhuman could break in. But like I said, if no one’s found it all this time, it’s unlikely we’ll be unlucky enough for someone to discover it while we’re gone."

Cheng Mo stood beside Cheng Zhiyu and said, "Zhi Yu, why not put some grain in your space first?"

Cheng Zhiyu nodded. He had the same thought. Since they were already here, it was better to take half now rather than worry about something happening to the warehouse while they were away.

Seeing Cheng Zhiyu agree, Cheng Mo yanked Zhao Ming out like a dead dog, jerked his chin. "Open the warehouse."

Zhao Ming glowered and spat out, "Dream on. I’d rather die than help you open it."

After days of humiliation, all he wanted now was to die. He was no longer afraid of death—he was only afraid that these people would get their hands on the grain even after he was gone.

"Tsk," Cheng Mo glanced at Cheng Zhiyu, asking what he thought.

Cheng Zhiyu smiled. "I’ll leave it to you."

Cheng Mo led Zhao Ming away. Moments later, Zhao Ming came back terrified, no longer daring to refuse to open the warehouse. Shaking, he gave up the password.

Cheng Zhiyu didn’t ask what Cheng Mo had done, saying calmly, "It’s best if he cooperates. Otherwise, if we have to force our way in, it wouldn't be safe to leave the remaining grain here."

Zhao Ming shivered off to the side, consumed by regret. He didn’t think he was wrong, but the consequences were more than he could bear.

The warehouse opened to reveal it was packed with grain, a sight that was quite impressive.

Cheng Zhiyu reached out, and half of the grain in the warehouse disappeared in an instant.

After locking the warehouse again, Cheng Zhiyu turned to Sun Yu. "What do you plan to do with him?"

Sun Yu, her expression lighter, stroked her chin. "It’s been a hassle hauling him around all this way."

Zhou Min said, "He’s been begging for death, right? Give him a quick death."

Sun Yu nodded. She had no intention of letting Zhao Ming live. Someone like him would never repent—he’d only keep harming others.

Better to…

Cheng Zhiyu asked Sun Yu, "We’re planning to return to the village. What are your plans after this?"

Sun Yu seemed at a loss. After the apocalypse, her only focus had been revenge, and she had spent over half a year chasing Zhao Ming. Now, without that hatred, she felt aimless and unsure what to do.

Tian Qiao suggested, "You could go to a large base. The Chaoyang Base we visited before is pretty good. With your abilities, you should do well there."

Sun Yu came back to herself and asked how far Chaoyang Base was.

Tian Qiao scratched his nose. "It’s quite far—would take a month or two to get there. But it’s the only base we’ve been to, so we don’t know much about others."

Cheng Zhiyu said, "We’re heading back to the village. There aren’t any bases nearby. Why not come with us first and later decide which base to go to?"

Sun Yu thought it over. She disliked men and was repulsed by them, but she had come to understand Cheng Zhiyu and the others over the past few days. They knew she disliked men and made a point to keep their distance. Though she felt viscerally uncomfortable around them, she knew in her heart they were good people.

She finally nodded. "Thank you, then."

Zhou Min smiled. "No need for thanks."

Cheng Zhiyu said, "I’ll drive."

They were almost home, and he couldn’t help but feel excited. His hands trembled slightly on the steering wheel. He wondered how his parents and Cheng Zhiyan were doing.

——

In Xiaohe Village, Cheng Zhiyan was patrolling with the village’s organized superhuman team.

After the apocalypse, most of the villagers had turned into zombies. Cheng Zhiyan and her parents, warned by her brother, had hidden indoors and avoided going out, narrowly escaping the disaster.

Their home had stored grain, and they grew vegetables in the yard, so they hadn’t needed to leave for months.

Then one day, Cheng Zhiyan accidentally unleashed a burst of fire. She was startled, thinking something was wrong with her body. She worried for a long time, too afraid to tell her parents.

Later, there was movement outside—someone had come out and killed the zombies.

Cheng Zhiyan and her parents gathered their courage and stepped outside. They had no choice; their stored water had long run out. Even with grain, they couldn’t survive without water.

Xiaohe Village had a river, and they planned to fetch water from there.

Once outside, a small team called them to gather. The leader was a man wearing glasses whom Cheng Zhiyan recognized—he was from Xiaohe Village’s second team, named Lin Kang. She heard he had returned to the village to prepare for civil service exams, so he was also in the village when the apocalypse hit.

Lin Kang had decent organizational skills. He had gathered people to clear out the zombies in the village, earning him some respect among those who had dealt with the undead.

Lin Kang called out everyone who had been hiding indoors, and the villagers gathered to discuss their next steps.

Hiding indefinitely wasn’t an option. Even if supplies lasted, if zombies gathered into hordes or powerful zombies appeared, they’d all be doomed. They couldn’t just wait for disaster.

When Lin Kang explained about superhuman abilities, Cheng Zhiyan realized she had awakened Fire Power. She felt relieved—at least she could protect her parents, Uncle Tian, and Aunt Tian now.

Uncle Tian and Aunt Tian, who had only one son, Tian Qiao, and no daughter, treated Cheng Zhiyan as if she were their own, loving her dearly.

Their two homes were separated only by a low courtyard wall. In the past, Cheng Zhiyan and Cheng Zhiyu loved perching on the wall to chat with the Tian family next door.

After the apocalypse, even though they were hiding indoors, they could still reach their neighbors over the wall.

Coming back to the present, Lin Kang explained his plan: they needed to gather people to build a wall around the village to prevent zombies from getting into the village.

Additionally, they would need to round up some Superhumans to go out and search for supplies, though that could wait for later.

Since they were in a village where every household had the habit of hoarding food, though they lacked fresh produce and meat, they at least had grain and wouldn’t starve.

So the most urgent task was building the wall.

But the village’s population had shrunk dramatically. Originally a large village of over a thousand people, half had died in two months.

Some were killed by zombies, while others—mostly the elderly—starved while hiding in their homes.

Of the remaining six hundred or so people, only about three hundred were able to work on building the wall. Even with the help of earth-type Superhumans, it was impossible to fully wall off the entire village.

In the end, they had no choice but to abandon half the village and only build a wall around the other half.

Cheng Zhiyan’s home was inside the walled area, so they didn’t need to move or find another place to live.

They worked day and night building the wall while also evading zombie raids, and finally managed to complete it.

Although zombies sometimes breached the wall, at least they were prepared. After dealing with the zombies, they would just patch it up.

There were about a hundred Superhumans in the village. Besides daily patrols, they also needed to go out to scavenge for supplies. After all, even with stockpiled food, they couldn’t just eat through their reserves.

Cheng Zhiyan herself was quite anxious. After becoming a Superhuman, her appetite had shot up dramatically, and the few hundred pounds of grain her family had stored probably wouldn’t last long.

So these Superhumans would also join scavenging parties. At first, supplies were easy to find nearby, but after the nearby areas had been picked clean, it became harder to find anything.

They started hunting. With luck, they could find livestock that had gotten loose from other farms.

However, hunting soon became difficult too. Some animals had gained abilities, and some were even harder to deal with than zombies.

As a result, going out to hunt became dangerous. People often got injured, either bitten by zombies or attacked by mutated animals.

Over time, some Superhumans began slacking, unwilling to go out for supplies. They preferred to work within the village.

Seeing that this wasn’t sustainable, Lin Kang eventually had to mandate that every Superhuman take regular shifts outside on supply runs.

Some Superhumans grew increasingly resentful, feeling that they were risking their lives to find supplies while the ordinary people who weren’t Superhumans were happily being protected in the village.

At first, Lin Kang could keep them in check, but eventually, as supplies grew scarcer, the rations for regular folks got smaller.

Cheng Zhiyan felt this was unfair. The ordinary people might not be doing dangerous work, but they were contributing—taking care of sanitation, cooking, and doing the Superhumans' laundry.

But her voice alone was too small. Most Superhumans were unwilling to provide for the ordinary people, only caring for their own families.

With supplies running low, even the Superhumans weren’t getting enough to eat. Cheng Zhiyan felt helpless about the situation.

Her own family was better off than most. Because they had been cautious, from the beginning of the apocalypse, they didn’t overindulge just because they had stored food. They had always been frugal.

They ate the food that would spoil first and slowly consumed the stable staples.

Later, when it became possible to go out for supplies, and since it wasn’t too dangerous at first—the zombies were ordinary ones that even regular people could handle—Cheng’s father and Tian’s father joined the scavenging trips.

In the early days, supplies were easy to find, so they barely dipped into their grain stores and mostly ate what they found.

After Power Zombies emerged, ordinary people were helpless, so Cheng Zhiyan stopped them from going out. She went out herself instead. At that time, hunting was still possible, and she once got lucky and caught a live sheep.

She originally wanted to keep it alive, but with no grass to feed it, she had to butcher it.

In short, during the easier times, they avoided consuming their stored supplies as much as possible. So now, even though they went hungry sometimes, at least they weren’t starving.

Moreover, Cheng Zhiyan was a Superhuman. Families in the village with no Superhumans were struggling much more.

Sometimes, seeing people she once knew now looking hollow-eyed, pale and gaunt made her heart ache.

She was just a young adult and tended to be soft-hearted, but she knew she couldn’t help these people.

Day after day passed like this. Today, as usual, Cheng Zhiyan finished her patrol and waited for the night shift to take over.

Afterward, she picked up her daily share and prepared to head home.

"Tsk, the rations are getting smaller and smaller," someone grumbled nearby.

Cheng Zhiyan glanced at her portion—a piece of pork about the size of a palm, dried out and tough, clearly stored for a long time.

She didn’t join in the complaints. Having meat at all was already good—ordinary people worked their tails off for just a handful of rice.

"I say, we should change leaders. Look at what kind of life Lin Kang has led us into," someone muttered.

"Exactly. I think Yang Kai would be more suitable." Yang Kai, with dual Water and lightning abilities, was the village’s most powerful Superhuman. Lin Kang only had the advantage of being the first to organize everyone. At first, people trusted him because they needed a leader, but over time, the Superhumans grew more and more dissatisfied with him.

Yang Kai, aware of his own strength, had always been defiant of Lin Kang and sometimes challenged him to show off.

Cheng Zhiyan frowned at the talk. She didn’t want the village to change leaders. Lin Kang was undoubtedly better than Yang Kai.

Lin Kang treated ordinary people relatively well, which was exactly why many Superhumans were dissatisfied. The candidate they supported, Yang Kai, didn’t treat ordinary people as human beings. If he became leader, life for ordinary people would likely become even harder.

Moreover, Yang Kai always inexplicably liked to hound her. If he really became the leader, Cheng Zhiyan probably wouldn’t stay in the village.

Although it was dangerous outside, she would rather take both families to find her brother and Tian.

Thinking of this, Cheng Zhiyan felt a pang of sadness. She wondered how her two brothers were doing.