Chapter 27

“Comet has been recovering well these days, with no side effects. His fire-based abilities are getting stronger, and he doesn’t seem to be experiencing any discomfort.”

“My abilities have also become more refined lately, and I want to try them on you.”

Guan Yuanfeng interrupted him before he could continue with his explanation: “No need to say so much. I’m willing.”

He looked at Zhou Yun. “Even if you didn’t bring it up, I was going to ask you for this.”

“Since Comet recovered, I’ve been thinking about how to approach you.” Guan Yuanfeng was well aware that no doctor would want to take such a big risk with an unknown experiment.

Especially in recent days, he knew Zhou Yun’s cautious personality and his kind-hearted nature.

He also understood that after taking care of Comet, Zhou Yun had spent more than half a month hesitating, clearly unsure, and had been risking his life in battles with zombies to continuously improve his abilities.

Guan Yuanfeng’s sharp features remained calm and determined as he looked at Zhou Yun. “Whether it’s a success or failure, I’m grateful that you’re willing to give it a try. Whatever the result, I can accept it. Life or death is my own responsibility. You don’t need to carry any psychological burden.”

Zhou Yun looked at him, wanting to reassure him that there would be no risk. He had the experience from his previous life, and now that his wood-based ability had reached the third stage of completion, it was very close to the fourth stage. He should be able to perform grafting with ease.

The only difficulty was the dual attribute crystal core grafting, which he wasn’t entirely confident about.

Guan Yuanfeng was attuned to wind and thunder attributes. He could have tried grafting a single crystal core, but he had a bit of stubbornness and persistence in him. The wind-type crystal core had been sent to him by the heavens, and he felt that it was fate.

He couldn’t waste it.

However, Zhou Yun couldn’t tell Guan Yuanfeng these reasons.

Yet, Guan Yuanfeng still agreed without hesitation, as expected.

Zhou Yun knew that he would agree. After all, in the previous life, he had signed the volunteer agreement directly. He actually hoped that the person in front of him wouldn’t so easily entrust himself. He had placed his own needs too lightly, casually entrusting them to someone else, and yet regarded the meaning of life as too heavy.

Zhou Yun looked at Guan Yuanfeng, and in the end, he kept all his words to himself, solemnly saying, “Brother Guan, I will make sure you are safe.”

====

The operation was on the third day. Zhou Yun adjusted his physical condition to the best state, and used a mutated cactus wood-type crystal core to bring his ability to its peak.

Outside, the rain was still pouring endlessly, as if the water from the recent heatwave had turned into rain clouds, returning to the earth.

In the heavy rain, Zhou Yun held an umbrella and went up to the rooftop, standing by the electric eel pool, staring at the electric eel.

Since the mutation, this emerald knife eel had been fed mutated plant feed and attributeless crystal cores by Zhou Yun every day. Its size had grown significantly, from its original one meter to one and a half meters. Its round, thick body was still growing, and its blue-green markings emitted a faint glow in the darkness.

It seemed to sense danger and hid motionless under a rockery.

For mutated animals, Zhou Yun, a nearly fourth-stage ability user, was an overwhelming threat. It instinctively knew not to provoke him but was still a bit tempted. After all, Zhou Yun, as an ability user, was also a valuable energy food source for them.

It was hesitant but still motionless under the rockery.

Zhou Yun extended his finger and dropped a crystal core into the water.

The electric eel immediately swam over, sniffed it, hesitated, but didn’t eat it.

Zhou Yun knew this was because the attributeless crystal core was no longer useful to it and could no longer absorb its energy.

The crystal core inside it was at least second stage.

A non-mutated electric eel could already electrocute a cow, and now a second-stage mutated electric eel was a powerful creature in nature. Zhou Yun didn’t take this lightly.

He extended his hand over the water, and the eel, returning, was frozen solid in a block of ice.

It still struggled slightly, and there were faint shadows of its struggles inside the ice, but Zhou Yun quickly froze it again, making it hard and solid.

Many fish could survive for a long time in low temperatures, and Zhou Yun certainly didn’t dare to take any risks.

He pressed one hand on a small bonsai fig tree by the rockery, and the roots of the tree seemed to come to life, directly penetrating the ice and skewering the eel’s body, pinning it to the ice.

Guan Yuanfeng cleaned himself up, put on the disinfected patient gown Zhou Yun had prepared for him, and came out of the bathroom. The room was filled with the scent of disinfectant alcohol, and the entire room had been thoroughly cleaned and disinfected by Zhou Yun, spotless.

Zhou Yun was dressed in full surgical attire, wearing a surgical cap and mask, with only his calm and rational eyes exposed. He held a glass measuring cup in his gloved hands.

He was intently focusing on the two crystal cores soaking in alcohol inside the cup. These two crystal cores were clearly much larger and more crystalline than the small ones they usually extracted from zombie brains.

Guan Yuanfeng asked him, “What type of crystal cores are these?”

Zhou Yun replied, “One is wind-type, the other is thunder-type. Both are of good quality. I plan to try them both on you.”

He couldn’t explain to Guan Yuanfeng the concept of elemental affinity, so he vaguely replied and handed the measuring cup to him.

Guan Yuanfeng picked it up and saw that one of the cores was wind-type, with silver crystal filaments, from the mutated eagle they encountered that day. The other had blue-purple crystal filaments. Both cores were like high-quality hair crystals, shining brightly, transparent, and mysterious.

He asked curiously, “This thunder-type crystal core…?”

Zhou Yun answered, “It’s from the electric eel.”

Guan Yuanfeng: “…”

He had indeed seen the electric eel hunt passing birds, but he hadn’t realized it was a mutated electric eel.

When he thought about how Zhou Yun fed it carefully every day with the best, fattest seafood, he had thought Zhou Yun genuinely liked this pet. It seemed quite at odds with Zhou Yun’s scholarly and refined personality.

He was using this pet’s crystal core on himself? What if it failed? Wouldn’t he regret it?

A question flickered through Guan Yuanfeng’s mind, but Zhou Yun already directed him, “Lie down. The crystal cores will lose some energy if left too long. It’s better to use them as soon as possible.”

The bed was already covered with disinfected white sheets. Guan Yuanfeng had not put on his prosthetic limbs, and it was not easy for him to lie down, but Zhou Yun bent down and gently lifted him, placing him on the bed.

He casually untied Guan Yuanfeng’s patient gown and turned him onto his side, pulling two straps from the bedside to secure his chest and waist to the bed. He attached a simple blood oxygen monitor to his finger, connected an oxygen tube, and turned on the oxygen machine. “I’ll give you an injection of anesthetic in your spine. It’ll be quick.”

This was the first time Guan Yuanfeng faced Zhou Yun in such a vulnerable state while fully awake. He was lying there without clothes, his amputated limbs and all his privacy exposed under the bright lights of the surgical lamp. Although Zhou Yun was indeed a doctor, Guan Yuanfeng wondered whether doctors would really have such surgical lamps in their homes.

He felt a bit embarrassed, but because Zhou Yun’s expression remained calm and he was dressed in full surgical attire, operating with professional confidence, it gave off a distant and detached feeling.

He lay fixed on the medical bed, breathing in fresh oxygen. Gradually, the discomfort of exposing his most embarrassing parts in front of someone familiar began to fade.

Zhou Yun walked behind him, comforting him: “You might have a bit of a tolerance to anesthetics, so I’ll also use acupuncture for needle anesthesia. After you sleep for a while, you’ll feel fine.”

In fact, if this were before the apocalypse, performing general anesthesia in such conditions without proper equipment would be very dangerous, but his wood-based ability had reached the third level, so he was confident about it.

Guan Yuanfeng said, “Thank you.”

Zhou Yun’s fingers moved across Guan Yuanfeng’s broad back, finding the spot along his spine for the injection, inserting the needle, and injecting the anesthetic.

He then picked up the pre-disinfected silver needles and inserted them one by one into the acupuncture points on Guan Yuanfeng’s ears.

After a while, he saw Guan Yuanfeng close his eyes and fall into a deep sleep. His pulse and blood oxygen levels were normal, and everything seemed fine. Zhou Yun then took a scalpel and made a decisive incision at the Dan Tian point on his abdomen, blood immediately gushed out.

He quickly applied the rejuvenation technique on the wound with his left hand, the emerald green light gently emanating, and the bleeding stopped instantly.

Zhou Yun swiftly used tweezers to take out two crystals and placed them into Guan Yuanfeng’s Dan Tian while activating his wood-based abilities to perform the “grafting” technique.

The green light surrounded Guan Yuanfeng’s entire body, his meridians pulsing along with his heartbeat. Every meridian emitted green light, visible through the skin, vivid and intense.

The two crystals emitted light, enveloped by the green glow, pulsing together and merging into a single light core, forming a circulating energy loop with the light of the meridians.

Zhou Yun applied a wound adhesive to the wound to close the skin, then continued using the rejuvenation technique to heal the deeper layers of skin.

The third-level rejuvenation technique quickly healed the wound, leaving only a shallow pink scar that would eventually fade over time.

He then inserted silver needles into other acupoints on Guan Yuanfeng’s body, especially on his amputated limbs. He placed both hands over the stumps and used rejuvenation techniques to activate the necrotic nerves and blood vessels, carefully realigning the meridians.

Guan Yuanfeng’s pale body trembled. Having undergone many major surgeries, he clearly had a high tolerance for anesthesia and was likely about to wake up. Zhou Yun noticed him sweating and shaking slightly, so he stopped infusing him with energy.

Zhou Yun, exhausted from several large infusions of energy, knew that Guan Yuanfeng’s severed limbs wouldn’t be restored to their original state in one go, so he would need to be patient and let the process unfold.

===

When Guan Yuanfeng woke up, he found himself dressed and lying comfortably in bed, with an oxygen tube in his nose and a blood oxygen monitor attached to his finger. The rain outside was pouring heavily.

It took him a moment to recall where he was. He moved slightly, suddenly feeling that long-missed phantom limb pain.

It felt as if thousands of bugs were biting and gnawing at him, a mixture of itching, soreness, and a burning sensation.

He groaned in discomfort.

A cool hand touched his forehead. “You’re awake? Is it very painful?”

Guan Yuanfeng turned his head and saw Zhou Yun, still in a dazed state from just waking up. “The surgery…”

Zhou Yun reassured him, “The surgery was a success. The pain you’re feeling is because your abilities have triggered the nerves and meridians that had atrophied in your leg. It’s not phantom limb pain; it’s real pain. You need to learn to use your abilities to circulate energy. Perhaps your leg can come back to life.”

Guan Yuanfeng froze for a moment. Zhou Yun half-supported him to sit up against the bedrest and placed his hand over his abdomen, at the Dan Tian point. “Listen to my instructions. Remember the breathing technique I taught you for the Ba Duan Jin. Try it. Place your tongue on the roof of your mouth, focus on your Dan Tian, calm your mind, and feel the energy core there.”

Guan Yuanfeng trembled all over, enduring the excruciating pain as he closed his eyes but found it hard to concentrate. Zhou Yun’s hand on his abdomen felt too real, and his skin was too sensitive there.

A warm current suddenly appeared in his abdomen. He froze.

It was a feeling he had never experienced before. He felt the warmth travel through his meridians to his chest, then to his elbows, down to his fingertips, and finally back to his chest, then to his abdomen, and to the stump of his leg. His meridians there were still blocked, causing itching and numbness.

He trembled as he felt the warmth return to his Dan Tian.

Zhou Yun’s calm voice came in his ear: “Remember the path of energy flow. Your meridians are coming back to life. You need to practice every day, and there’s hope for the regrowth of your severed limbs.”

Guan Yuanfeng opened his eyes. Zhou Yun wiped the sweat from his forehead with a towel. “I’ll go get some porridge for you to eat. Rest well.”

Zhou Yun went out, and Guan Yuanfeng opened his eyes, pulling back the covers to look at his severed limbs. He saw that the previously dark and twisted necrotic wound now looked pink. The meridians and blood vessels were visible through the skin, clearly active and pulsing with life.

He reached down to touch his abdomen, covered by a layer of gauze. He felt no pain there. Zhou Yun’s hand had been over it earlier, and he hadn’t felt any discomfort, nor did he feel any now.

Was the surgery really successful?

Had the two crystals really been implanted?

Would he gain abilities?

Zhou Yun had been so certain about the regrowth of his leg. Over this time, Guan Yuanfeng had placed a lot of trust in him, and despite the terrible pain, it suddenly felt more bearable.

He smelled the aroma of fish and suddenly felt a deep hunger—something he hadn’t felt in a long time.

Zhou Yun quickly brought in a bowl of fish porridge, a plate of steamed eel with plum sauce, a plate of millet cake, steamed garlic cabbage hearts, and a square-shaped salted duck egg with steamed meat patty.

For some reason, the food smelled especially delicious today.

Guan Yuanfeng didn’t hesitate, thanked him, and began eating.

Zhou Yun went to open the window, walked out onto the balcony, and looked at the now-stopped heavy rain. The weather had turned cooler, different from the scorching summer days, with a cool breeze in the air.

The zombie’s downstairs… have increased.

Zhou Yun knew that the long winter was approaching. He needed to plant crops as soon as possible and prepare for the winter herbs and plant greenhouse insulation… There were so many things to do, and he needed to quickly increase his ability level.

He turned and saw Guān Yuánfēng also looking up at him, asking, “Are you done eating? Want some more?”

Guan Yuanfeng said, “Hmm… What kind of meat is this?” He pointed to the steamed meat patty.

Zhou Yun replied, “Mutated eagle meat.”

Guan Yuanfeng’s brow twitched and then pointed at the steamed eel, “That wouldn’t be your electric eel pet, would it?”

Zhou Yun nodded, “Yes. The meat of mutated animals is very beneficial for abilities users. The 1.5-meter electric eel will last for several meals.”

Guan Yuanfeng: “…” He thought for a moment before finally finding a reason for Zhou Yun: “Did you buy it to raise it just for eating?” It made sense. The fish in the nearby lotus pond seemed to be ordinary fish raised for food, but this was an imported pet, so it probably wasn’t cheap.

Zhou Yun couldn’t help but laugh: “I was curious about the taste, and I tried it earlier. It’s quite tasty, thick and tender, not a waste after raising it for so long.”

“Do you want me to fry two pieces for you tonight? Or maybe steam one with fermented black beans? The sour plum I used earlier works well, but the black beans are also a good choice.”

Guan Yuanfeng was speechless, thinking that Zhou Yun probably bought it for some research or experiment. He didn’t ask further and began cleaning his bowl.

Zhou yun came over to take over: “Leave it, don’t get up, we have a dishwasher. You rest for a while, try circulating your energy, and experiment with your abilities. The rain has finally stopped outside, I’ll go plant something. If you need anything, just call me on the intercom.”

Guan Yuanfeng watched as Zhou Yun briskly took the tray outside. Then he heard the sound of water running and the dishwasher working. The young man moved quickly, and soon he heard him climbing the stairs to the rooftop, full of energy and enthusiasm for life.

Guan Yuaneēng’s mindset had changed. If Zhou Yún were to stay by his side, carefully protecting him, he would grow to loathe and despise his own helplessness.

However, Zhou Yun remained relaxed, his speech and actions casual, like everyday life. He was still taking care of his precious herbs, thinking about planting things once the rain stopped. Guan Yuanfeng, in contrast, only felt relaxed and liberated.

For such a major task, Zhou Yun had prepared thoroughly. He could feel the seriousness when Zhou Yun proposed the idea and the meticulousness in his preparations.

Though he didn’t understand abilities, the crystal cores of the mutated electric eel and mutated eagle were clearly different from the usual ones he had seen. After Zhou Yun succeeded in transferring abilities to the comet, he didn’t immediately suggest trying it on Guan Yuanfeng, but instead ventured out to kill zombies and train the abilities, and only then did he cautiously propose the experiment.

From his perspective, he had just taken a nap, and when he woke up, Zhou Yun casually told him the operation was a success. His legs might regenerate, though it was likely a comforting lie. But this light-heartedness gave him a glimmer of hope for the future.

The chance of his legs recovering was small, but if he could gain abilities, then he would no longer be useless.

He closed his eyes, and as Zhou Yun had instructed, he began trying to sense the abilities within him. He had seen the two crystal cores with his own eyes, shining like silver threads, dazzling, translucent, and mysterious.

His legs still ached, but he didn’t know when he had fallen into meditation.

—–

On the rooftop, Zhou Yun took the sprouted potato pieces, pumpkin seeds, purslane, and date pits that he had previously cultivated and put them into a plastic box. He also cut off a few leaves from mutated cacti and added them to the box, spraying some water on them. With a pack of compound fertilizer and a military shovel in hand, the comet excitedly ran over and circled around his feet, eager to go.

Zhou Yun patted its head: “Let’s go, let’s plant.”

The comet happily followed him.

Zhou Yun turned on the elevator power, and the two of them—one man and one dog—went down the elevator, exited the lobby, and soon encountered a few zombies seeking shelter from the rain. The comet breathed fire at them, and they immediately ran away in fear.

The rain outside was light, and zombies feared light and water. They couldn’t move fast in the rain. Zhou Yun froze their feet, and the comet sprayed fire again, burning the zombies to death.

Zhou Yun picked up a few crystal cores and threw an attribute-less one to the comet, which happily swallowed it.

Without much effort, they reached Moon Creek No. 3. Zhou Yun unlocked the door and went directly to the backyard. He began skillfully digging the soil, applying organic fertilizer, and planting the potatoes, sweet potatoes, and pumpkin seeds he had brought. He dug the holes a bit deeper, fearing another heavy rain.

In the flower bed next to him, he also dug up the dead flowers and plants.

He took several old leeks out and divided them up. These leek roots were mutated, with silver veins on the leek leaves. He divided the leek roots into six or seven pieces, planted them evenly in the flower bed, and applied fertilizer.

He covered the freshly planted soil with dry rice straw and planted a circle of cactus roots around the house along the wall.

Then, at the front and back gates of Moon Creek No. 3, he inserted two branches of the trumpet vine from upstairs, patting the vine’s leaves: “Found you a good place, just grow freely.”

He went out through the back gate and walked to the lake. The rain had been heavy in recent days, and the lake had risen.

The murky water had insufficient oxygen, and he could vaguely see huge fish jumping to the surface to breathe.

At this point, the fish were still so lively. They were most likely mutated fish, Zhōu Yún thought. He would keep them alive for now and figure out a way to catch them later.

He took the hoe and dug eight holes along the lake, planting the eight date seeds that had been pre-treated with abilities, as well as two aloe plants—both were very tough plants that would grow quickly if the soil had enough water.

Along the way, they encountered a few zombies, which he and the comet easily dealt with, gaining a few more crystal cores. One of them was a rare earth-type crystal core.

He kept the crystal cores and planned to teach Guan Yuanfeng how to absorb them once he found his energy sense.

He looked toward the entrance of the underground parking garage, where a dense swarm of zombies gathered, as well as the ones wandering in the small grove. It was as if he were staring at a heap of crystal cores, and his gaze inevitably grew somewhat heated.

He took Comet home, and Comet immediately went to its nest to digest the crystal core.

Zhou Yun, meanwhile, washed the crystal core in the sink and placed it in the vegetable basket. He then rinsed off the cantaloupe he had taken out of the fridge to thaw, preparing to make dinner, when he suddenly felt a cool breeze pass through the room.

His senses were sharp, and he turned around, seeing a small black whirlwind sweep into the kitchen from the living room. It lightly jumped onto the countertop, spiraling all the way to the pile of crystal cores on the sink, like a joyful, dancing musical note.

Zhou Yun extended his palm, and the little whirlwind effortlessly swirled upward. The eye of the vortex lightly brushed against his palm, the gentle breeze caressing his face. Zhou Yun looked down at the small whirlwind and smiled softly.

Guan Yuanfeng’s talent really is quite high.