Xu Duoduo was engrossed in browsing the internet. Ever since the apocalypse began, the network had been down, and it had been a long time since she had played with electronic devices like this. She scrolled through the forum posts one by one.

It wasn’t until she noticed that it was almost dark outside that she realized she had been crouching on the ground, swiping her tablet for a long time. Since she was a zombie, she didn’t get leg cramps, but if she were a regular human, her legs would have long gone numb. She stretched and stood up.

Looking down at herself, she saw that she was covered in dried blood, making her pajamas stiff and uncomfortable. Without hesitation, she turned and ran into the bathroom.

She carefully adjusted the water heater temperature to avoid accidentally cooking herself.

Thanks to the mutated core of the old monkey king, she had regained control over her body. Otherwise, she would only be able to move flexibly at night, which would have been too miserable.

Xu Duoduo carefully washed herself clean, took out her toiletries from her multi-dimensional cube space, and transformed herself into a fragrant little zombie.

Next, she pulled out a fresh set of clothes and changed into another comfortable pair of pajamas.

As for the dirty pajamas, she soaked them in a washbasin, attempting to clean them. Sometimes, her brain short-circuited and failed to think things through.

If this were her old self, she would have thrown the pajamas into the trash without hesitation. However, zombie Xu Duoduo’s frugality instinct overpowered her rationality, so she absentmindedly left them soaking in water.

When Qin Luo and Chen Xiaofei knocked on her door, Xu Duoduo was still scrubbing the clothes. So, with her hands full of bubbles, she ran to open the door.

“Class monitor, look what we brought you! Well, actually, we exchanged some stuff for…”

“Huh?? What are you doing?”

Chen Xiaofei was stunned when he saw her hands covered in soap bubbles.

Qin Luo frowned, glanced into the bathroom, then grabbed Xu Duoduo’s arm and pulled her over to wash her hands. “Why are you washing those clothes? That thing is full of contaminated liquid. You should put it in a sealed garbage bag and throw it in the hazardous waste bin downstairs.”

Xu Duoduo hadn’t realized it was such a big deal, but it made sense. The survivor base wasn’t just for ability users—there were plenty of regular humans living there too. If someone came into contact with the infected blood from the mutated monkeys, it could be deadly.

Frightened by the thought, she immediately reached to grab the clothes, but Qin Luo stopped her. He pulled a sealed garbage bag from a box near the sink. “I’ll do it. You wash your hands, then come eat.”

Xu Duoduo was still processing the idea of eating when she finished washing her hands. Then she heard Chen Xiaofei calling from the living room, “Class monitor, come quick!”

These two were really making themselves at home!

This was her house!

Could they at least show some respect for the dead?!

Fuming, Xu Duoduo stomped into the living room and saw a transparent box on the table, containing three mutated cores—one green and two orange-red.

“Look! To welcome you into our 3A Special Operations Team, our Qin Ge spent a fortune to get these three cores for you!”

“You’re one lucky little zombie! Just in time for the base’s rule changes—you don’t have to turn in mutated cores anymore! Now, you can even buy them with points!”

Though they were expensive.

Chen Xiaofei looked excited, urging her to try one. “And seriously, class monitor, you’re amazing! Regular humans and ability users drop dead if they eat these cores directly, but you chew them like candy. Can you eat one for me to see?”

Qin Luo had already sealed up the contaminated clothes and washed his hands. Hearing this, he clicked his tongue. “Are you treating her like a circus act?”

Xu Duoduo’s eyes were already sparkling as she approached the coffee table, staring at the three cores. The transparent box was probably made of special material—she had to get close to catch the scent of the mutated cores.

The green core had a fresh grassy smell, while the orange-red ones smelled like cumin-grilled skewers.

So fragrant.

But she wasn’t hungry yet. She rubbed her stomach and focused on how full she felt—about sixty to seventy percent.

“Ding-dong, ding-dong.”

The doorbell rang again.

Xu Duoduo turned to look, but Qin Luo had already gone to open the door. Bai Shu and Wang Weihu had arrived.

Bai Shu had changed into a white shirt and black dress pants, wearing rimless glasses that made him look like the person Xu Duoduo remembered. He had worn glasses since middle school.

Wang Weihu was dressed in casual clothing, holding several unopened sets of combat uniforms in his left hand. “Just got these approved—size 165 should fit the class monitor. Her ID number also came through… It’s really unlucky, though: 13444.”

Bai Shu also looked irritated. “The headquarters people said, ‘She’s already a zombie virus mutant, what’s there to worry about? Superstition doesn’t apply here.’ Damn it, do mutated people not have rights? Getting stuck with this number is just bad luck.”

Chen Xiaofei slammed the table, outraged. “Are you serious? That’s messed up!”

Even Qin Luo frowned. “Did you ask headquarters about it? She’s a girl. Can’t they give her a better number?”

Bai Shu sighed. “They brushed it off, saying it’s the apocalypse, not peacetime. Who has time to care about trivial things like this? They told us to deal with it. Meanwhile, some connected guy next door is still picking his number. Total double standard.”

…

Honestly.

If it weren’t for the massive walls outside and the fact that she still had no heartbeat…

Watching the four of them chat casually, Xu Duoduo felt as if the apocalypse was just a dream. But unfortunately, the apocalypse was real. And she really was just a conscious corpse.

She took out her tablet and tapped a message before handing it to them: [It’s fine. I don’t mind.]

It was just a number.

The four of them read it and fell silent. Then Qin Luo turned to make a call. “No way, I’m asking about this. At least get her a luckier number. Why can others get special treatment just because they have connections, while we fight on the front lines and get nothing? That’s not fair!”

Chen Xiaofei also grumbled, “Exactly! The apocalypse is still playing favorites?”

Then he turned back to Xu Duoduo, urging her, “Forget about that nonsense—just eat! Qin Ge went through a lot to get these cores for you!”

Bai Shu also stared at the cores, impressed. “Old Qin actually managed to get these?”

Wang Weihu glanced at them too, sighing as he recalled the difficulty of dealing with mutated creatures. “These things are even worse than zombies. If there are stronger mutant creatures in the future, life’s gonna be hell.”

That made things a little too grim.

So they all immediately shut up.

Bai Shu placed some nutrient solution and a bag of steamed buns on the table. “Let’s eat first. It’s only been ten days, and the cafeteria’s food supply has already dropped by eighty percent. Guess how many points this bag of buns costs?”

Chen Xiaofei skillfully unscrewed the cap of the nutrient solution. “How much?”

Wang Weihu sighed. “Eight buns, 200 points.”

Chen Xiaofei gasped. “What??! 25 points for a plain bun?!”

He looked devastated.

Xu Duoduo remembered that Professor Ji had initially said three points were enough for a full meal. But at this rate, ‘eating full’ didn’t mean ‘eating well.’

She, too, fell silent.

Wang Weihu, munching on a bun, added, “Too many survivors are being rescued, and the base’s food supply is tight. They have to prioritize regular people. We can survive on nutrient solutions, so we just have to deal with it for now.”