Chapter 118: The Price of Special Abilities
The convoy's temporary camp was set up beneath the canopy of a gas station. Several infantry fighting vehicles formed a half circle, with a pile of firewood burning in the middle, its flames scattering the winter chill.
The twenty-seven children were wrapped in down jackets scavenged from a nearby clothing store, lined up like plump, round glutinous rice dumplings in a long row.
At this moment, they stood beside several armored vehicles, eyes timid, carrying a hint of bewildered blankness.
None of them dared get too close to the fire. They only stood at the edge of the vehicles, watching the team members in armor bustling about with restraint.
"What are you all standing around for?" 's voice sounded. He had already removed his helmet, revealing a melancholic face. "There's a fire inside, and hot milk! Hurry up and get in!"
The children looked at one another. In the end, the girl called took the lead.
Only then, like small animals permitted into their den, did the group of children cautiously move their feet.
In the convoy, some survivors who had joined midway visibly tensed when they saw the extra eyes on these children's faces and hands, but they quickly relaxed under the calm gazes of the team members.
If even these regular soldiers weren't afraid, that meant it wasn't a big deal.
Warm milk was distributed into each child's hands. Holding that long-missed warmth, the children finally relaxed a bit.
They sat in a circle, sipping milk and eating cookies, so well-behaved they seemed nothing like children their age.
After a simple energy replenishment, the medical team began drawing blood samples from them one by one.
The children were very compliant. Even when they watched the needle pierce their skin, not one had an extra expression or movement. Enduring pain was the most basic thing the disaster had taught them.
After the last tube of blood was collected, packed all the samples into a thermostatic container.
Just then, a low engine roar came from the sky.
The children instinctively looked up, and then their mouths fell wider and wider in shock.
A colossal aircraft, dark gray all over with an extremely sci-fi silhouette, descended from the clouds.
With unbelievable precision, it landed directly on the cleared open space not far from the camp.
The moment the landing gear touched the ground, there was almost no bump.
That sci-fi fighter jet simply came to a quiet stop on the snow-covered road. The residual heat from its tail nozzles turned the nearby snowflakes into vapor before they could land.
Then and the others skillfully unloaded the medical supplies and other materials it carried, secured the sample boxes, loaded them on, and turned back.
Afterward, that impossibly huge aircraft took off again, melting into the clouds in the blink of an eye and disappearing.
All the children's eyes followed it until it was utterly gone, the shock still branded into their bright pupils.
"What... what is that?" squeezed the paper cup, his voice drifting.
"Oh, that?" answered with great pride. "It's the drone. The most advanced drone in the country."
The children's eyes instantly went even wider. It sounded extremely impressive!
"Boss, it looks like the food isn't quite enough!"
But just then, , who had been checking the supply boxes, poked his head out, scratched it, and muttered a complaint.
The moment the words left his mouth, the atmosphere beside the fire changed once more.
The children, who had just been immersed in hope for the future, had the light in their eyes dim instantly.
Most of them almost reflexively stopped chewing, cookies still raised in midair, but their gazes quickly turned timid and hesitant.
The leading girl called even stood straight up.
She worked to keep her face composed, maintaining her calm as much as she could, and said in a tone that resembled negotiation: "We... we don't eat much, and we can help with any odd jobs!"
"Smack!"
, who had overheard, directly slapped the back of 's head.
"Can you think before you speak, you idiot?"
"What did I do?" covered the back of his head, looking innocent. "I was just reporting the inventory!"
"Report my ass! Look at the situation!"
On the other side, , holding his iced tea (still iced), also looked at the girl who had been struggling to maintain her toughness, his tone still calm: "Don't misunderstand. You just go ahead and eat. What means is that if the food isn't enough, we'll just go 'get' some."
The convoy had been traveling south all the way, both aiding survivors heading north and taking along compatriots who couldn't survive on their own, so supplies were consumed swiftly.
But they also had their own resupply methods. Apart from 's occasional airdrops, the more direct method was resupplying on-site in cities along the way.
And now, wasn't there a ready-made "big supermarket" right here?
The girl was sharp and immediately guessed his meaning. The expression on her face loosened for a moment, then immediately tightened again.
"I'm going too!" she rushed to say. "I can guide you there!"
"Also—" The girl hesitated, as if she had made some kind of decision, then added, "I... I can protect you too. I have a shield."
Hearing this, almost failed to hold his iced tea.
blurted out, "You have a too?"
The others didn't speak, but their eyes were full of amazement.
What was going on? How, after just a few months, did everyone have special abilities now?
Back when they were hiding and scrambling to stay alive, they hadn't heard of anyone evolving.
But this also explained why this girl had become the leader among these kids.
It seemed it wasn't just because she looked the oldest and had some grit, but also because of her .
Thinking of this, suddenly felt a little sad. How could even a little girl's seem more useful than his?
He shook his head, throwing off his straying thoughts, and turned his gaze back to the girl.
By now, the wound on her face had been cleaned again by the medical team and covered with a medical dressing.
"Qi... sorry, I forgot to ask before," began. "May I ask your surname?"
"My surname is Shen— . Qi as in 'roost,' chi as in 'late,'" the girl answered with measured precision, her tone so solemn she seemed nothing like a middle school student.
"Alright, Student Shen." nodded. "We can take you, but you must follow orders at all times and can't act on your own. Also, we don't need you to provide a shield."
As he spoke, he drew a short knife and made a fake slash at his arm.
"Hum—"
A pale blue shield instantly surfaced on his arm, steadily blocking the blade.
Seeing this, the girl who called herself 's eyes lit up in an instant: "You have special abilities too?"
"No." , standing nearby, walked over and, imitating , activated his own " " shield, correcting her: "We have technology."
"By the way, your ability... would it be convenient to give us a demonstration?" asked from the side.
Hearing this, the girl's expression stiffened. After a hesitation, she nodded. "Oh, okay."
"If there's a problem, you can say so in advance. We don't have to have you demonstrate your ." , noticing that the girl's expression was off, quickly added.
"Yeah, there is a small problem," the girl said in a low voice. "For a while after using it, my head gets very painful, and I hear... sounds, very terrifying sounds, as if something very frightening is howling. It's really scary."
"So, so, if it's not necessary, can I skip the demonstration?" The girl's voice grew quieter and quieter.
"It's fine, no need to demonstrate. We only wanted to see it out of curiosity anyway. Don't put any pressure on yourself." waved his hand, then continued to ask, "Every time you use it, it's like this?"
"Mm."
"That you mentioned—that Sister Zhou—does she also have it like this? And that bastard surnamed Lu, also like this?"
"Mm, Sister Zhou also has it, but she never let us know. I discovered it secretly on my own. She would lock herself alone in a room, stifling her cries of pain."
"But I don't know about that bastard."
"Oh, I see." nodded, his brow already furrowed.
Why didn't this description match the situation for him and Director ?
When he used his ability, at worst his fingers turned cold, and afterward he was somewhat exhausted, but there was no monster howling.
But he didn't keep pressing the question, figuring he probably wouldn't get anything more out of her.
"Then fine, let's set out!"
, who was staying behind, very straightforwardly lent his " " to the girl and taught her how to use it.
"Since using your ability has a price, use this instead. This one's easy to use."
"Mm." The girl took the compact device, rubbed its surface twice, and nodded solemnly.
And so, a group of fifty-six people, guided by , charged toward the department store building occupied by those beasts.
***
.
This five-story commercial complex had been transformed into a crude little fortress.
All the doors and windows on the ground floor had been sealed with shelves and cement bricks, leaving only the main entrance as the single opening.
Two overturned trucks lay across the entrance as barricades. More than ten zombies were chained to both sides of the barricade, snarling at every living thing that passed like guard dogs.
Machine guns were set up at several key commanding points, and there were even searchlights.
Some survivors wearing clean clothes and carrying weapons patrolled behind the defensive line, looking quite like the real thing.
But the scene inside the fortress was an ironic contrast to that orderly facade.
On the first floor of the department store, the former luxury-goods area had been transformed into a spacious hall.
A man was kneeling on the smooth floor tiles, desperately knocking his head on the ground.
"Thud! Thud! Thud!"
Each collision between forehead and ground produced a dull sound.
" , please, please give me some medicine! My son is dying!" The man's forehead was already bleeding, but his voice was still suppressed, full of fawning pleading.
Above the hall, on the second-floor corridor, a man in a clean jacket leaned against the railing, watching the scene with keen interest. He was .
He smiled and said to the person beside him, "Kowtow louder. I can't hear it."
A burst of laughter immediately rose around him.
The man downstairs stiffened, then began kowtowing with even greater force, blood spreading in a blot on the floor tiles.
" , can you hear? Is it loud enough?"
"Mm, the sound is loud enough." nodded in satisfaction, then changed his tune. "But the sincerity isn't enough. How can it work with you kowtowing alone? You're begging for medicine for your son—he has to come kowtow too."
"I—" The man suddenly raised his head, a flash of humiliated rage in his eyes, but when he saw those pairs of cold, mocking eyes on the corridor, that tiny spark went out in an instant.
He lowered his head again, his voice strained: " , my son... he's already unconscious. He really can't kowtow. Please..."
"Then that's a problem." straightened up, spread his hands, and put on a troubled look. "This medicine was earned by me and my brothers by risking our lives. Your little bit of supplies is far from enough to trade for it. Why should I give it to you? Are you willing to be a freeloader?"
Then he pretended to think for a moment. "How about this: you kneel right here and kowtow. If you kowtow for a full hour, maybe I'll take pity on you."
The man gritted his teeth, said no more, and silently slammed his forehead against the floor again and again.
watched the scene, the smile at the corner of his mouth growing thicker.
He turned and walked toward a room with a few of his underlings.
"Trash like that can't even keep his own life safe, yet still wants to ask me for medicine. He has no self-awareness whatsoever." He spoke to the underling beside him as he walked. "What can he bring me? How can he have such a thick face when he opens his mouth to beg? He doesn't know the slightest shame!"
"If I were that kind of waste, I'd have slammed my head into the ground and died long ago."
An underling immediately flattered him with a smile: " is absolutely right! If he had any ability, he wouldn't have to come beg you. With that look of his, he wouldn't get a hundred meters before the zombies tore him apart."
"That's exactly why I call him trash!" 's tone was full of superiority. "Ending up with nowhere to go itself proves that he's trash, garbage, a parasite, completely unworthy of living in this world."
He puffed out his chest, as if he were a god passing judgment on all humanity.
"Getting rid of these parasites is the outstanding contribution to the continuation of human civilization."
"Right, right, right!" The underlings chimed in.
But before long, a tall, thin underling suddenly rolled up his sleeve.
A murky eyeball on the inside of his wrist was exposed to the air, rolling around once.
The man cautiously spoke, his tone carrying expectation and nervousness: " , about these eyes—have you found any solution?"
With his movement, the other lackeys around also turned to look at in unison, the same desire in their eyes.
"Almost, almost." waved his hand impatiently. "Scientific research takes time! Alright, I'm tired today. All of you, go on. I still have to keep contributing to human development."
"Oh, sure, sure, sure!" The underlings immediately laughed ingratiatingly. "Then we won't disturb and the new sister-in-law's efforts!"
And when the laughter faded into the distance and the footsteps disappeared at the end of the corridor—
's smile vanished in an instant, turning incomparably grim.
He suddenly yanked open his jacket. There at the center of his chest, two eyes of different sizes were staring at him like a mockery.
What solution could he have? "Biology professor," "currently studying a solution"—all of it was nothing but stories he'd fabricated.
The only reason more than a thousand people hadn't seen through him was simply that he really could control zombies.
In fact, he himself was almost going mad from this stuff!
stared at the two eyeballs that didn't belong on his chest and felt a chill rising from the marrow of his bones.
A huge wave of despair and fury surged into his heart. Forget it. He couldn't worry about that anymore. Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die!
But just as he turned around, preparing to return to his room, a muffled explosion suddenly came from downstairs.
The entire building shook, and dust from the ceiling drifted down.
Then came the terrified scream of a patrol member.
" ! Someone—"
The next second, the scream cut off abruptly. A fine layer of cold sweat instantly broke out on 's forehead.