Chapter 39

Lin Tantan understood instantly, this was a dark-type ability.
Dark-type powers take different forms. For example, the academy classifies a poison subtype that can spray black, mist-like clouds laced with toxins. Yang City even has such a user, though his toxin can't even fell a rat right now.
There are also those who can turn the space around their body into pitch-blackness, creating a so-called "domain." Other creatures that enter the domain may find their movement hindered, their minds affected, or their senses blocked.
It works on nonliving things too, for instance, when a hail of bullets would otherwise tear a dark-type user to pieces, releasing their domain can instantly slow the bullets' velocity.
In short, it's generally more defensive than offensive, leaning toward control. Lin Tantan felt the ability didn't really suit Mei Baisheng. Of course, there are no bad powers, only people who don't use them well. With focus and practice, anyone can find the most fitting way to use their gift.
Mei Baisheng didn't know any of that yet. Realizing he had an ability had made him ecstatic, but after playing with it for a while he lost his high.
"I still prefer fireballs, shooting one out looks so fierce and cool!" he said dejectedly.
Lin Tantan patted him. "Having an ability is good enough. Go get some black crystal cores and I'll teach you how to absorb them."
"Oh." Mei Baisheng took a couple steps, then came back. "Are you sure they have to be black? Isn't sorting them by color a bit hasty?"
“I've studied dozens of ability users, over eighty percent have powers that correspond to the color of their crystal cores. The broadcasts have been sent out, hurry and go.”
Seeing Mei Baisheng sprint toward his home, Lin Tantan looked toward the city.
The army had arrived; for survivors in Yang City who hadn't left yet, this was their only chance. They'd likely do everything possible to link up with the rescue teams. Those who had gained powers but were afraid or didn't know how to use a crystal core would probably throw caution to the wind and try.
I hope the experiences she "summarized" will be useful.
Somewhere in Yang City, in an ordinary family's home, grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins, several branches of the extended family who had survived, had gathered together. A dozen or so people, old and young, sat around a radio listening intently to the local station. The broadcast was relaying rescue information: fifty small rescue teams would enter Yang City, and their town had been assigned Squad 011.
“Squad 011 will arrive at Jiangxi Third Primary School at 9:00 AM. The route will be: Wutong Village, East River Road, Chenqiao Village, Jingyue Garden, Convenience Center, Central Kindergarten, South Bus Station... Survivors are asked to bring supplies, medicine, weapons and other necessities, and be ready to evacuate. Each stop will be held for two minutes; there will be no waiting past that time. Rescue vehicles are limited; survivors should, if possible, drive their own vehicles. Vehicle performance requirements are as follows...”
When the broadcast finished, a young man in the house took notes and sketched a simple map on paper. “Mom, Dad, we'll wait over by the convenience center. I estimate they'll be there by eleven. We need to get there early.”
The young man's mother looked worried. “But it's about a twenty-minute walk to the convenience center from here, on the way...”
“This is the closest option. Going to the kindergarten would take more than half an hour,” the young man said firmly. “We've waited so long; if we miss this rescue, there won't be another.”
The older relatives in the room exchanged anxious glances.
They all lived nearby and had managed to gather together after the disaster. They'd tried to leave Yang City earlier, having heard the provincial capital had a large survivor base, but not long after setting out they were blocked and forced back by a horde of zombies.
While fleeing back, one of the cars was surrounded by zombies and no one inside survived. Among them were two elderly people, a married couple, and a three-year-old child. Two young men had been bitten and turned into zombies.
The blow was so heavy that they no longer dared act rashly; they'd been staying at home, waiting. Now the rescue had finally come, this really was their last hope.
After a moment's hesitation, the young man's mother spoke first: “I'll go pack.”
Her sister-in-law stood up too. “I'll help. We can't bring too much, we only have three cars. Be sure to take food.”
The two old men got moving as well. “Check the gear we made earlier; make sure it's sturdy. We're going to have to kill a few zombies!”
The children, bewildered, began to fuss and help.
The young man rubbed his head and opened a recording on his phone, one he'd made of an earlier broadcast. Although the announcement played repeatedly every day, he had recorded it in case the system went down. When he pressed play, a solemn yet gentle female voice filled the room.
“Next is information about abilities. According to research, the abilities discovered so far include the fire type, which can appear as fireballs, flames, fire chains... Flames are generally red, and ability users can absorb corresponding red crystal cores to replenish energy... The wind type enables users to whip up winds and release wind blades, corresponding to blue-green crystal cores.”
“Each ability has a corresponding crystal core; absorbing the wrong one can be life-threatening. If you're not sure which crystal you should absorb, do not attempt it recklessly. The first time you absorb a core, be extremely cautious and have people nearby keep their distance...”
As he listened, the young man took a colorless, transparent crystal core from a small pouch.
A younger girl watching nervously asked, “Cousin, are you going to absorb the crystal? What if you absorb the wrong one?”
Her cousin's power was unusual, not any type mentioned in the broadcast, but the ability to manipulate objects at a distance, so they had no idea which core he should take.
The young man smiled to reassure her. “Didn't the broadcast say? Space and clairvoyance types absorb these colorless cores, so powers without a physical manifestation are probably like that. Besides, the other cores don't match.”
But the broadcast kept using words like “probably,” “possibly,” and “generally”, who could be a hundred percent sure?
The young man muttered, “Someone has to try. This risk has to be taken.”
On the last run, his brother, cousin and younger cousin had all been killed. Of the dozen or so family members at home, he was the only able-bodied young man. He had no confidence about getting them all to the convenience center. If his power were stronger... he could now manipulate knives within a five-meter radius, but it drained him severely; using it to kill two zombies would leave him exhausted. If it were stronger, their chances of survival would be higher.
He clenched the crystal core. “I'm going into the room, stay away.”
At that moment a voice came from the balcony above, one of the upstairs neighbors calling the young man's mother, speaking quietly for fear of alerting the zombies below: “Sister Zhang! Sister Zhang! The army's here, are you leaving?”
The young man's mother hurried to answer, “Yes, we're leaving. Are you coming too?”
“Of course, let's go together. There's strength in numbers.”
“Okay. We're headed to the convenience center. Do you want to come down or shall we come up? Let's talk it over.”
…
Elsewhere in Yang City, on the upper floor of a certain building, more than two hundred people sat on the floor with their hands tied behind their backs like hostages, two gunmen standing to left and right of them with their weapons trained.
At the front, a bald man with a face like a slab of meat sat in a chair, surrounded by several eager henchmen, while in front of them lay several people beaten bloody and motionless on the floor.
The bald man snorted coldly. “Trying to run off, thinking you can follow the army, huh? You lot are so short-sighted!” He held a cigarette between his fingers, jabbed his hand in accusation, wearing an expression that said How could you be so stupid. “Count how many died in this city, count how many left. This city belongs to us now! If that other city can set up a base, why can’t our Yang City? Why travel miles away, you’re fools. Stay here and follow Brother Long!”
The more he talked, the hotter he got; no one dared make a sound. The bald man had escaped from prison after the end of the world, possessed a lightning-type ability, had easily killed the guards, stolen firearms, recruited a few vicious criminals, seized some women, then pretended to be a savior to trick unaware survivors into coming into this building. He’d gathered hundreds of people that way.
Of course they wouldn’t go to the military-run base, their identities would be exposed. They’d rather stay in Yang City and sink with the zombies.
They didn’t see it as sinking, though. Zombies were stupid; kill a few each day and eventually they’d be wiped out. Even if they weren’t, being a petty warlord for a few days would be worth it.
So when word came that the army had arrived and people in the building began to get restless and prepare to leave, the gang revealed their true colors and blocked those “subjects and slaves” who guaranteed their quality of life. The ones beaten beyond recognition had tried to sneak away after being warned.
“Listen to Brother Long! Eat soup, eat meat, otherwise this is what’ll happen to you.” The bald man’s henchman crowed, then pulled his gun and fired in quick succession at the people on the floor. Some were hit, some weren’t. The stench of blood spread instantly; the room erupted in screams and many people were terrified to tears.
The bald man was pleased with the effect; they laughed, taking amusement in the crowd’s chicken-like panic.
A woman on the floor had taken two shots and a pool of blood quickly formed beneath her. She could no longer feel pain; only life draining away. Seeing their smug, ugly grins, all she felt was despair and hatred. Clutched in her hand was a red crystal core. She had been too timid before, she’d never killed a zombie, and the red core had been something she’d picked up. But two days ago she’d awakened a water-type ability.
She dared not tell anyone she was an ability user; female ability-users here never escaped the claws of men like these.
The broadcast had said water-type corresponded to blue crystal cores. She thought she could follow the rescue force and have someone swap her red core for a blue one; with that power she could live well. But now that was impossible.
Forever impossible.
She smiled, and by instinct tore into the core’s energy. A vast, unstable power was drawn out; with all her strength she lunged at the bald man. With a bang the girl and the bald man exploded, and several henchmen around them were caught in the blast. For a moment the hall was a scene of flesh and blood.
Everyone froze. Among the two hundred or so captives someone suddenly had a spark of clarity and shouted, “Finish them! Kill them!” People leapt up and surged at the stunned gunmen like madmen.
In this city death occurred at every turn. Everyone tried by any means to survive, but not everyone succeeded. News of the arriving rescue brought hope, and a new urgency.
Many grit their teeth and took up the crystal cores in their hands; some succeeded, some failed.
Some shouldered their packs and left alone; others went house to house rallying neighbors and forming makeshift groups.
The sun slid from east to west, and the rescue teams grew larger, and with them the pressure of the zombies.
On the west side of the city, after a full day’s work, they finally organized one hundred and fifty thousand people. Supplies were loaded onto trucks; vehicles of all sizes formed convoys. As soon as people boarded the vehicles, they could leave.
As dusk fell they took up defensive positions. Then the first team returned, bringing a large group of survivors, and, naturally, a fair number of zombies in tow.
Lin Tantan had joined the fighting.
It wasn’t like before. Previously, when a group arrived there was a long process: checks, registrations, grouping, treating the wounded, setting up temporary rest points, distributing emergency food and supplies to those in need.
They even had to repair and refuel vehicles.
Bai Cheng was meticulous and had covered every detail; in the more than half-month since, the west side had run without a hitch. He deserved the credit.
But this time Bai Cheng didn’t organize those routines. He only led a handful of fighters to deal with the zombies; once the monsters were cleared, he planned to take everyone back to rest.
Zhu Xin’s expression darkened. “Bai Cheng, I heard you didn’t handle survivors like this before.”
Zhu Xin was the one they called the Hedgehog. Of the twenty thousand-strong force, one or two thousand had stayed behind, and the temporary leader of those was Zhu Xin. Hot-tempered and domineering, he looked down on Bai Cheng and had spent the day trying to insert himself into the west side’s affairs.
Bai Cheng took his interference calmly and let him poke around, except for two things: supplies were tightly controlled and Zhu Xin had no access; and the trained fighters, including ability-users, were not to be handed over for Zhu Xin to command. Bai Cheng refused to yield on that.
So Zhu Xin found himself limited to petty matters, stomped his feet more than once, alternately accusing Bai Cheng of being uncooperative, of lacking ideological conviction, of being selfish.
Hearing that, Bai Cheng said, “You say I lack ideological awareness? If I took charge of these people you brought, you’d call it a conspiracy, power-grabbing. If I dared lay a hand on the folks you brought back, wouldn’t you cut my hand off?”
As he spoke, a smile lingered on his face, mild, harmless, but Zhu Xin read it as nothing but mockery.
Zhu Xin was momentarily taken aback, then put on a stern face and said, “What kind of attitude is that? We're all here to serve the people, are you going to get personal now? For starters, some of these people are injured; surely you'll have the medical team come tend to them. And that wood-element ability user, the woman, what's her name?”
He scanned the crowd, spotted Lin Tantan, and pointed at her: “Her!”