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Zhou Yun took the water balloon gun, which had almost lost its original form, and studied it. The barrel had been replaced with a large-caliber stainless steel one.
Guan Yuanfeng gestured to him: “Put the powdered medicine wrapped in paper here, then shoot it out—it’s a bit like a shotgun.”
He took a pre-cut rectangular piece of paper, folded it, and rolled it up skillfully. He scooped a spoonful of flour from a bowl and stuffed it inside, then handed it to him.
Zhou Yun stared at Guan Yuanfeng’s nimble fingers for a while, unable to understand how the hand that should be holding the gun could also perform such delicate and precise actions. He tried to pick it up and, following Guan Yuanfeng’s instructions, placed the flour-paper pellet into the gun. Aiming at the open air beyond the balcony, he pulled the trigger.
Poof! Crack!
The flour exploded in the air, scattering in all directions.
He happily said, “Not bad. Once I’ve extracted and dried the medicine, we can give it a try.”
Guan Yuanfeng, seeing his satisfaction, also felt a sense of accomplishment. “Where do you plan to test it?”
Without hesitation, Zhou Yun answered, “The parking lot.”
Guan Yuanfeng understood. “You want to clear the parking lot?”
Zhou Yun said, “Yes. The underground parking lot has two levels, a large area, and a lot of zombies gather there during the day. It’s very unsafe for the building.”
“We can go at night when there are fewer zombies, block both the entrance gates of the parking lot, and make the building much safer.”
Guan Yuanfeng nodded in agreement. “Not bad. How do you plan to fight?”
Zhou Yun picked up the kraft paper that Guan Yuanfeng had used for wrapping the bullets and drew a map for him. “We’ll go down through the safe stairway. Here is the elevator shaft, with safe stairways on both sides. The elevator lobby faces the entrance of the parking lot.”
He circled the area outside the parking lot entrance. “We’ll place zombie bait here first. Once it’s within range, I’ll freeze them.”
“We’ll both use ranged attacks, relying on ice arrows, lightning, and comet fire to kill them.”
Seeing that the plan included him, Guan Yuanfeng smiled slightly. “Good, the tactics are well thought out.”
Zhou Yun couldn’t wait to get up: “I’ll go prepare the reagent. We can go clean up together later.”
Guan Yuanfeng sighed: “Why don’t we eat first?”
Zhou Yun suddenly remembered: “Right, I forgot.”
Guan Yuanfeng smiled as he looked at him: “I just had a stomach full of mung bean soup, now all I want is meat.”
Zhou Yun looked at his smile, his ears warmed up, and he hurriedly turned to go downstairs: “Didn’t we have braised beef? I’ll stir-fry some sauerkraut fish?”
Guan Yuanfeng slowly pushed his wheelchair behind him: “The beef was accidentally finished… my appetite is indeed increasing… I cooked some rice and steamed a few sausages.” Not only did he finish the braised beef and mung bean soup, he also ate all the snacks on the table.
It’s hard to describe that feeling of hunger, as if the stomach had turned into a black hole. The craving for food was so intense that it could make anyone lose control.
Zhou Yun was surprised: “How many crystal cores did you absorb today?”
Guan Yuanfeng replied: “Six, but it still feels like there’s more room.”
Zhou Yun thought for a moment: “We can increase it to eight. Don’t worry too much, once the reagent is ready, we can head to the underground parking lot to collect more crystal cores.”
Guan Yuanfeng: “…”
For some reason, the term “collecting crystal cores” made him feel a surge of heroism in his heart.
He watched Zhou Yun swiftly descend the stairs, his long legs taking three steps at a time. There was still some mud on his pants, so he must have been gardening again. Comet was happily wagging its tail and following him, making it seem like even the dog was having fun following someone like Zhou Yun.
It seemed like there was nothing in this world that could stop this person.
For dinner, Zhou Yun made sauerkraut fish again, stir-fried sausages with Chinese broccoli, and added a little sugar and ginger.
Considering that Guan Yuanfeng had been feeling a bit overheated, Zhou Yun also made an old duck soup.
Guan Yuanfeng watched as Zhou Yun brought a basket down from the rooftop. Inside were tender green cacti with thorns. He was a little stunned: “How do we eat this? Salad?”
Zhou Yun shoved the basket of cacti into his hands: “Cook it in the duck soup. Peel off the thorns from the edges and slice it.” This was a mutated cactus. Since ginseng chicken soup was too nourishing, they had to switch to cactus and old duck soup.
He picked up the thawed duck, cut it into large chunks, and put it in a hot pan with cold oil to stir-fry. The fragrance immediately filled the air.
Guan Yuanfeng took the knife and started peeling the soft thorns, furrowing his brow: “Can this be eaten in soup?”
Zhou Yun replied: “The taste of this cactus is a little sour.”
Guan Yuanfeng: “…” He never ate duck much before because it always seemed to have a strong taste, and now adding cactus made it even stranger. But he carefully peeled off all the thorns.
Zhou Yun took over, sliced the cactus, stir-fried it for a bit, and then added water to simmer.
Surprisingly, it tasted pretty good. Guan Yuanfeng clicked his tongue in surprise.
He hadn’t expected that Zhou Yun had only added salt and soy sauce, and by cooking it in a soup, the duck had a pleasant smell. The duck soup did have a slight sourness to it, and after drinking it, his body felt warm. Although he ate less than at noon, he felt fuller much quicker.
They finished the fish, fragrant duck, sausages, and a whole pot of rice.
Before, he had thought that Zhou Yun kept too many chickens and ducks, and even bred rabbits that reproduced excessively. Now, considering that all three of them—he, Zhou Yun, and the dog—had powers, it seemed they would definitely need all the food.
He probably had to do as Zhou Yun suggested—raise more animals in separate pens. Otherwise, when winter came and the weather during the apocalypse was unpredictable, they would have to stockpile food like ancient people preparing for winter.
After dinner, Zhou Yun went straight to his workshop to make medicine. Guan Yuanfeng knew that when Zhou Yun got focused, he wouldn’t care about anything else, so he returned to their old house. He cleaned up the place, cleared the attic, and used an electric saw and drill to dismantle the old bed and wardrobe into wooden boards.
He noticed that the power of his abilities had greatly increased. Ever since his amputation, he had never felt so full of energy. Dismantling old furniture and moving things up and down made him feel like he could release all that energy.
So Zhou Yun’s so-called “go with the flow” probably meant this too?
He had too much energy with no outlet, which was actually bad for his body.
He nailed the old wooden planks back together and made livestock pens. He was quite satisfied with his work, and Comet seemed to sense his change in energy, running around energetically beside him.
—–
The next day, after Guan Yuanfeng disinfected the area, he personally moved the rabbits, sheep, and pigs into their new pens.
He even found Zhou Yun’s books on livestock care, like “Complete Guide to Livestock Rearing,” “Postpartum Care for Female Rabbits,” “Prevention and Treatment of Livestock Diseases,” “Sheep Rearing Manual,” and “Poultry Nutrition,” and seriously started reading them.
Live and learn. Under the pressure of needing to eat meat, he seemed to have found new motivation to study.
Three days later, Zhou Yun’s reagents were finally dried and ready. He and Guan Yuanfeng spent some time rolling the powder into paper bullets.
The operation to collect crystal cores in the parking lot officially began.
Zhou Yun put on his motorcycle armor again, but this time, he carried a Tang knife. Guan Yuanfeng couldn’t help but look at the beautiful phoenix-patterned knife handle and asked: “Your hobbies always surprise me.”
Zhou Yun took the knife, holding it in his hand, and gave him a proud smile.
Guan Yuanfeng was momentarily stunned by that smile with a hint of mystery, and he couldn’t help but think of the neat attic storage.
The entire building’s power distribution room was in the basement. Cleaning up the underground parking lot would allow them to collect gasoline and crystal cores, killing two birds with one stone.
They decided to go during the day. At night, the zombies went out hunting, but the underground parking lot had no living creatures, so the zombies wouldn’t linger inside. They would be fewer in number. During the day, zombies would hide in the basement to avoid the scorching sun, and the bait would work better.
They took the elevator down to the basement level. When the elevator door opened, they encountered a few zombies.
Guan Yuanfeng reacted quickly. When the elevator door opened, a gust of wind, accompanied by lightning, blasted out. All the zombies were knocked back. Comet rushed out with its mouth open, and the intense flames surrounded the zombies, instantly turning them to charcoal.
Originally, Zhou Yun, who had an ice ring technique ready in his hand, stood in the elevator: “…”
He thought he had seen many battles and was quick on his feet, but he didn’t expect that both the person and the dog were outstanding combatants.
The first reaction to danger, the keen alertness, and the quick response tactical quality were things Zhou Yun, as a weak doctor, couldn’t catch up with, even with a lifetime of experience.
“Safety first,” Guan Yuanfeng reminded in a deep voice, letting Comet run a circle on the stairs for reconnaissance, confirming that there were no zombies hiding in the dark. Although he wanted to fight more than anyone else.
A mutated eagle had already brought Comet close to death once, and while he wasn’t afraid of taking risks, he didn’t want Zhou Yun and Comet to get hurt or into trouble.
After all, fighting zombies has a very low tolerance for mistakes. Once torn or bitten, there’s a chance of being infected with the zombie virus and turning into one.
Zhou Yun reached the passageway leading to the parking lot. There were four directions here, leading to the elevator hall, the parking lot, and the two safety stairwells.
He explained the tactics to Guan Yuanfeng: “I’ll freeze the zombies’ feet with an ice prison, trapping them so they can’t get close.”
“Then we’ll attack from a distance. I’ll use ice arrows, you can use a bow and arrow or lightning, and Comet can spray fire.”
Zhou Yun had fought in team battles countless times in the future: “The hallway is narrow. If we suddenly encounter a zombie horde that we can’t control, we’ll release the zombie repellent to temporarily disperse them, then create an ice wall to block the stairs, and retreat. The narrow corridor gives us time to escape.”
Guan Yuanfeng nodded and said solemnly, “The plan is feasible, but don’t rush it. Let’s take it slow.”
Zhou Yun checked his equipment and armor, then took out a tightly wrapped giant lunch box from his backpack and placed it on the ground near the parking lot door. He opened the box to reveal the fresh chicken blood from a chicken he had slaughtered earlier, along with a large bag of fish intestines. The strong stench quickly spread.
He then spread zombie attractant around, and the foul odor began to fill the air.
Luckily, both of them wore masks, though Comet, whose sense of smell was already sensitive, seemed uncomfortable and irritated, sniffing noisily.
Guan Yuanfeng and Zhou Yun stood behind the walls on either side of the door. The first zombies to run towards them from the darkness were two large ones and one smaller one, the small one still wearing a blue princess dress. They moved quickly, obviously having eaten well after the apocalypse, making them more agile.
Zhou Yun quickly froze them all, and Comet stepped forward, spraying fire to finish them off in one go.
Soon, zombies started walking towards the parking lot from all directions.
In the pitch-black parking lot, the zombies didn’t breathe and only emitted eerie screams.
Zhou Yun waved and froze a large group of zombies, then shot an ice rain arrow, causing the zombies to stagger and howl.
Guan Yuanfeng raised his hand and cast a lightning chain.
“Crackling!”
The black underground parking lot suddenly lit up with sparks, and the frozen zombies collapsed in a batch, while the zombies in the distance turned around without hesitation and fled.
Zhou Yun, who had been on alert, let out a breath of relief and looked at Guan Yuanfeng with envy. Indeed, in the apocalypse, lightning abilities were popular for a reason.
Guan Yuanfeng had only awakened a few days ago, and even though he was only at the first level, he was already this strong.
On the other hand, Zhou Yun’s water and wood abilities only caused damage to zombies at the third level, and even then, it took several hits. If the abilities had less energy, the ice would melt before the zombies died…
Guan Yuanfeng, noticing Zhou Yun’s somewhat resentful look, was surprised. “What’s wrong?”
Zhou Yun replied, “Nothing… You’re so strong.”
Comet, not to be outdone, rushed forward and sprayed fire on the remaining few zombies who had been frightened by the lightning and tried to escape but were frozen in place, unable to run.
Great, they were all burned to death.
Comet was really well-suited for mop-up work. Zhou Yun patted Comet’s head, thinking that mutated animals were indeed smarter and had higher IQs, especially since dogs were already quite intelligent. He emphasized to Comet, “Be careful where you spray fire. Don’t spray carelessly; the cars could explode.”
Comet barked, seemingly understanding, and then ran off quickly. After a while, Zhou Yun heard Comet’s barking, which seemed to be calling them over.
He exchanged glances with Guan Yuanfeng, who said, “Let’s go see.”
After Guan Yuanfeng’s lightning strike, the parking lot entrance became much quieter.
Zhou Yun took a knife and approached an off-road vehicle, where he found three zombies locked inside, all strapped in by seat belts. They were obviously a family of three who had become zombies before they had a chance to escape.
Zhou Yun gestured for Guan Yuanfeng to break the car window. As soon as the window was shattered, Zhou Yun cast a freezing technique, trapping the zombies and then decapitating them.
Guan Yuanfeng used a knife to split the zombies’ foreheads, learning from Zhou Yun as he searched for the crystal nuclei in their brains. He collected three nuclei, all very small, about the size of a fingernail.
Clearly, these three zombies had been locked in the car since the apocalypse, weak and decayed, with no energy left.
However, since they were still wearing their pre-apocalypse clothes, Guan Yuanfeng felt somewhat uncomfortable at close range. He turned his head and saw Zhou Yun opening the door and decapitating the small zombie.
How had Zhou Yun gotten used to this? Perhaps doctors had seen more dead bodies than they could count.
Guan Yuanfeng couldn’t help but feel a twinge of pity for Zhou Yun. He also thought that it was inappropriate for non-combatants to be at the forefront of the battle; he should bear more responsibility himself.
But Zhou Yun had already turned around, closing the bait lunchbox, sealing it tightly, and then casting another freezing technique to make sure no smell leaked out. He said to Guan Yuanfeng, “Go check the entrance to the parking lot and seal it. The zombies outside won’t be able to get in.”
Guan Yuanfeng nodded. The lightning technique had made the zombies retreat like a receding tide, giving him great confidence. With Comet and Zhou Yun around, self-defense was no longer an issue.
The two of them and the dog continued walking forward, harvesting a few weak, lone zombies from the dark corners of the vehicles along the way.
They had concluded that stronger zombies were “running zombies,” able to run very fast and agile, while some of the weaker, decaying zombies could only walk slowly. These zombies lacked intelligence and acted purely on instinct, always hungry but never dying. Instead, they would wander in place, easily slain by ordinary people.
Zhou Yun and Guan Yuanfeng reached the parking lot entrance and saw a large group of zombies wandering near the exit.
Zhou Yun took out a thin layer of bait and tossed it toward the entrance.
The zombies, drawn by the smell of blood, immediately gathered around it.
Zhou Yun quickly cast an Ice Ring, freezing the entire group of zombies in place.
Guan Yuanfeng immediately cast a Lightning Arrow from his wheelchair.
Crackling!
The same scene repeated itself—countless nearby zombies fled quickly, leaving only the frozen ones behind. Some fell, and a few were finished off by Comet.
Zhou Yun used an Ice Arrow to finish off a few zombies that weren’t hit by the lightning.
This time, there were more than twenty zombies. After they were roasted, there was even a slight smell of grilled meat.
The pouch of crystal cores had become heavy, and tonight’s haul was quite substantial.
Approaching the iron gate, Zhou Yun manually pulled it down, took out a chain lock from his backpack, locked the gate securely, then cast a Water Arrow to wash the entrance. Finally, he placed an ice wall at the entrance.
He noticed Guan Yuanfeng watching him and explained, “After freezing them, the smell won’t leak out. Soon, the zombies will realize there’s no food here and won’t specifically try to break down this door.”
Guan Yuanfeng, who had already known that Zhou Yun was meticulous, wasn’t surprised by the lock. What intrigued him was something else: “I saw you’ve been using your abilities for a whole night. Don’t you feel tired?” He himself had only cast two Lightning Spells and already felt drained.
Zhou Yun smiled, “Actually, I’m already at my limit, but since we’re here, I’d rather do things thoroughly to avoid any trouble. I’ll lock the exit as well. How about you?”
Guan Yuanfeng replied, “I do feel a little empty and weak.”
Zhou Yun searched through the crystal cores and picked one out, spraying some water on it before handing it to Guan Yuanfeng. “Try absorbing this one.”
Guan Yuanfeng saw that it was a brown crystal core, quite large—about the size of half a chicken egg. While its quality wasn’t as good as the mutated eagle’s or mutated electric eel’s, it was the largest crystal core they had harvested recently.
He hesitated, “You keep it. Your level is higher than mine. I can use the gray, attribute-less ones.”
Zhou Yun said, “This one’s earth-type. I can’t use it. You give it a try.”
Guan Yuanfeng felt a little strange but still took it and tried absorbing it. It went smoothly, and the energy was very rich. He felt his pores open, his dantian warming up, as if receiving a significant boost.
Zhou Yun smiled, “It seems you can absorb crystal cores of different attributes. I can’t. Try each type when you have the chance, and if you can absorb them all, that would be really convenient.”
Outside the entrance, the sun was shining brightly. Guan Yuanfeng looked at Zhou Yun and, for some reason, felt that Zhou Yun seemed to have already known that he could absorb crystal cores of other attributes.
Guan Yuanfeng nodded, and the two of them went back to the parking lot entrance, where it was still locked.
Zhou Yun used another chain lock to secure it, then cast another ice wall to freeze the entrance before heading back to the elevator.
The underground parking lot had two levels. They went down to the second level, walked around, and cleared out a few more zombies, thoroughly cleaning it up.
Zhou Yun looked at the vehicles in the parking lot and said, “We can head back tonight. Tomorrow, we can bring some fuel barrels and siphon the gasoline out of the vehicles for storage.”
Guan Yuanfeng frowned. “We can store some for the power distribution room, but the fuel barrels are strictly prohibited in the generator room and distribution room. There should be a warehouse here.”
After searching for a while, Zhou Yun and Guan Yuanfeng found a warehouse in the middle of the parking lot, opposite the power distribution room. They broke the door lock, entered, and found some electrical tools, parts, electrical equipment, and fuel barrels. They didn’t touch anything, planning to move everything to Yuexi No. 3 after the parking lot was fully cleared.
They spent three days clearing the zombies in the two underground parking levels and collected a heavy bag of crystal cores.
After cleaning and disinfecting them, Zhou Yun sorted and classified them based on quality. Among them were 220 gray, attribute-less crystal cores, 75 earth-type, 40 fire-type, 82 wood-type, and a few small quantities of gold, wind, and water-type, which were not significant.
Guan Yuanfeng was surprised. “Why aren’t there any lightning attribute crystal cores?”
Zhou Yun replied, “I guess they’re rarer, just like these other types.” He pointed to the small pile of wind-type and water-type crystal cores. He then picked out a wind-type one for him. “When you’ve absorbed all the gray ones, try absorbing this wind-type one.”
Guan Yuanfeng didn’t forget his previous question. “Is it only animals like the electric eel that have lightning attribute crystal cores?”
Zhou Yun said, “Maybe.”
Guan Yuanfeng pressed on, “How did you find out that your electric eel was mutated?”
Zhou Yun replied, “Its size increased. I tried feeding it a crystal core, and it ate it. I wondered if it might have a core inside like the mutated eagle. Keeping it could be dangerous. Before its mutation, it could kill a cow with electricity. The electric eel has no natural enemies in water—it’s almost invincible. I didn’t want it to grow any further, so it’s better to remove the core now.”
Guan Yuanfeng fell silent for a moment. “Did you keep it to study it?”
Zhou Yun answered without hesitation, “Yes.”
“It has an electrocyte organ in its tail, controlled by its spinal cord, capable of emitting electrical sparks at high frequency to complete self-navigation and communication within its nervous system. It could have significant implications for treating epilepsy and certain genetic muscle diseases.”
Zhou Yun’s response was smooth and flawless, as if he had anticipated the question.
“I believe that lightning-type abilities should help promote the regeneration of your nerves, and may even trigger some powerful skills. You need to strengthen your training and pay close attention to the flow of lightning energy through your body’s meridians.”
Guan Yuanfeng watched him, noticing the way Zhou Yun held the crystal core in his hand, turning his head to smile at him. Sunlight streamed in through the window, casting light on his face. His long eyelashes framed clear, transparent eyes, which shimmered in harmony with the crystal core in his fingertips, the light flowing beautifully, mysterious and captivating.