Chapter 127

Chapter 127

"......"

After a moment of thought, Jiang Nian nodded under Cheng Jing's encouraging gaze:

"Alright, let’s go together. And, Brother Jing, just these past couple of days, my ability range has expanded to 370 meters. It’ll soon break through 400 meters... With a bit more effort, 500 meters is within reach."

Aside from the rapid progress from crisis pressure, much of the credit went to backing up his teammates.

Syncing with his teammates' different attribute-based abilities, once familiarized, sped up the expansion of his purification range.

Now, working with the team, he had found his own role:

On offense, he could grab a gun and charge in; on defense, he could back up the team with buffs.

Thinking of this, Jiang Nian put away the crystal core, touched his own ear, and—unusually hesitant—asked Cheng Jing:

"Brother Jing, aside from my abilities... do you think I’ve gotten better at anything else? I want the truth."

His teammates were all badasses—he didn’t want to hold them back.

"Of course!"

Cheng Jing said right away. Seeing Jiang Nian’s bright, hopeful eyes and nervous expression, he grinned slightly:

"Whether it’s your abilities or other aspects, Nian, your progress has been rapid. Truly, your knack for fighting is something ordinary people can’t match."

Once he started fighting, he’d go all out. Luckily, he was part of a team—left alone, who knew how wild he’d get.

"You—"

Jiang Nian turned red:

"Is that a compliment or an insult... I’m serious."

"So am I."

Cheng Jing then stopped teasing and looked at him earnestly:

"Even without my boyfriend bias, everyone sees your abilities, Nian. You’re the glue holding us together. Whenever something comes up, if I don’t run it by you, I don’t feel right. That’s the truth."

He wasn’t the only one who felt this way—the others did too. From the apocalypse until now, it was second nature now.

When it came to big decisions, if Jiang Nian wasn’t involved, it didn’t sit right.

"Mm, I understand."

Jiang Nian patted his burning cheeks, his heart doing backflips with joy. This meant everything!

The backbone—that big brother feeling was back!

With the approval of both his boyfriend and team leader, Jiang Nian was too amped to sleep. He immediately pulled out the map of the commercial district they were heading to tomorrow to study it.

If they were back at the dorm, well... he’d have found another way to burn off the energy.

......

The outer-ring commercial district of Xihe City was a huge wholesale and retail hub.

According to the map data, the total floor area is approximately 15,000 square meters, consisting of covered market stalls, shops, and a multi-purpose building.

The covered market stalls serve as the wholesale area for fresh produce and farm produce in the entire market, along with a ground parking lot, covering about 5,000 square meters.

The shop area spans over 6,000 square meters, covering all daily necessities.

In comparison, the multi-purpose building occupies a slightly smaller area, with an underground parking level and five above-ground floors:

Floors 1 to 3 are shopping centers.

Floor 4 is an entertainment floor, featuring bars, gyms, cinemas, video game arcades, and more.

Floor 5 is the office floor, housing relevant commercial spaces as well as the market’s administrative office.

Each floor of the multi-purpose building has independent security gates. During the toxic rains, when authorities mandated people to stay indoors, the entire building was shut down completely.

However, in the ensuing chaos, after the covered market stall and shop areas were thoroughly ransacked, the closed multi-purpose building wasn't spared either.

Additionally, the entire market was affected by earthquakes, with ruptured municipal water pipes and extreme freezing and thawing leading to a "massive flooding" scenario.

Countless large and small debris clogged the basement entrance, jamming it completely with a terrible stench.

A row of electric vehicle storefronts also caught fire, leaving surrounding shops and several sections of the multi-purpose building charred and dilapidated—a gruesome scene.

"The damage here is too severe. There’s no need for a full search to waste time," Cheng Jing said, then instructed Tang Yi to use a drone to survey the entire market and conduct selective exploration based on the map.

From Jiang Nian’s past-life knowledge, the market was only briefly mentioned by Xia Weiwei as a place where some common supplies were found—even a cursory search would suffice.

Tang Yi operated the drone, while Zhou Rongbin held the map, marking locations as directed.

"Forget about the covered market stall area. Focus on the shops and the multi-purpose building."

...

Yet, after over three hours, they only collected a few ordinary zombie crystals.

Though they did find a couple of somewhat preserved small warehouses and freezer rooms, the contents inside were unusable: rotten fish, spoiled meat, decayed vegetables and fruits, and the stench of zombies...

The deadly mix of these three inhumane odors acted like a biochemical weapon, hitting you like a truck and nearly knocking them out.

Not to mention the disgusting mess of maggots and corpses covering the floors and walls.

After several such encounters, everyone was left green around the gills.

After leaving another biohazard area, Huang Qian removed her mask, vomited nearby, then returned, rinsing her mouth with water while complaining,

"All I can say is, it’s truly a spoiled stockpile from a wet market—it could make a zombie gag."

Cheng Jing steeled himself and asked Zhou Rongbin, who was holding the map,

"How many marked spots are left to search?"

Zhou Rongbin pointed at the map and replied,

"Just one last spot—the dry goods section near the back entrance of the multi-purpose building."

"Let's hope the dry goods section is in better shape."

Jiang Nian took a sip of water to suppress the discomfort rising in his throat. There must be stuff, they just hadn’t found it yet.

Cheng Jing nodded:

"After searching the dry goods section, we’ll head straight into the main building. Looks like we can call it a day early."

Then he turned and patted Jiang Nian:

"Put a mint candy or dried citrus peel in your mouth—it’ll help you feel better."

"Oh right, I have candy."

Jiang Nian took off his half-finger gloves, asked Liao Yu for a handful of ice to wash his hands, and pulled out a large pack of mint candies.

He quickly popped one into his mouth to ease the nausea, then passed the pack around for everyone to take a handful.

Only Cheng Jing didn’t reach out, instead cheekily demanding:

"I don’t want any. Nian Nian can just feed me."

They were a couple first, teammates second—shouldn’t they get some couple privileges?

Amid the laughter of their companions, Jiang Nian had no choice but to take back the candy, unwrap one, and feed it to him.

Huang Qian shot them a look:

"Everyone’s in a relationship, but you two are the most extra."

Zhao Lei and Liao Yu beside her nodded in agreement. Even though they had their own partners, they still got secondhand cringe from the display.

The three singles in the group were already used to it, silently spectating the lovebirds’ daily squabbles.

"Sister Qian..."

Jiang Nian turned beet red. Everyone was on edge from the smell, so joking around was fine, but when it came to Huang Qian, he could never give as good as he got.

Cheng Jing put on a serious face and smoothly fired back:

"If we didn’t show off, you’d never realize how clueless you all are. If it weren’t for being stuck together, making it easy to date within the group, with your level of romance game, you’d stay single till the end of the apocalypse."

Huang Qian: "..."

The others: "?"