Chapter 13

Chapter 13

"Sis, I feel like my powers are limitless now—like they'll never run out." Tang Teng's face glowed with excitement. "Sis, since we have all these energy cores, why don't you just force-grow all the vegetables in the yard at once?"

Tang Man rolled her eyes at him, swallowing the chicken in her mouth. "Do you think we can eat all those vegetables? The power's going to be cut off in a few days, and I'm already worried about whether we can finish everything in the fridge before then... Besides, do you think killing zombies and digging up energy cores is easy?"

Tang Teng thought about how his sister slaughtered zombies as effortlessly as slicing through melons and almost nodded in agreement.

"Let them grow naturally. If there's anything specific you want to eat, just tell me, and I'll use my ability to ripen it instantly. We'll eat fresh..."

Before Tang Man could finish, Sheng Yao burst down from the third floor, covered head to toe in shampoo foam.

"Sis, the water and electricity upstairs are out."

"Oh." Tang Man didn't bat an eye and continued eating.

"You're way too calm, Sis." Sheng Yao rushed into the first-floor bathroom to check. "It's out down here too."

"Fourth, just rinse off with cold water for now. There's no time to heat water," Tang Teng called into the bathroom.

"Got it." Sheng Yao replied, and then they heard the sound of running water from the bathroom.

"Sis, how high should the outer wall be?" Tang Teng scooped up the energy cores from the table and pocketed them.

"Start with three meters. The picture windows also need to be covered with metal plates, and the villa roof should be covered with a metal mesh. As for underground... we'll talk about that after these are done. We're not even sure how long we'll be staying here." She mumbled the last part.

"Sis, what did you say just now? I didn't catch the last bit."

"Nothing. Go use the metal I brought back earlier. Once you're done, we'll go out together to collect more metal."

"Okay." Sheng Yao nodded and headed to the front yard.

After finishing her meal, Tang Man went to unload the bus, pushing box after box of gasoline into the wine cellar with a small trolley for storage.

Once everything was moved, she grabbed a bucket of water, a bottle of laundry detergent, and a new toilet brush, then headed back to the bus.

This was their largest vehicle, destined to be the main workhorse for collecting supplies. It needed a thorough cleaning. Earlier, to prevent bloodstains from dirtying the gasoline barrels, she had tied them to the seats with vines, wasting several energy cores in the process.

She sloshed water and detergent inside, put on latex gloves, and meticulously scrubbed the bus. However, some nooks and crannies under the seats were impossible to reach, which frustrated her greatly.

Holding the toilet brush, she stared at the seats for a moment, then suddenly called out the window, "Xiao Teng, come help me with something!"

"Coming! Sis, what do you need?" Tang Teng jogged onto the bus in a few quick steps.

"Help me dismantle the seats on the bus. We'll use the metal for the wall and the wood for firewood," Tang Man told him.

She had already observed that the bus seats were fixed with eight thick screws. Disassembling them one by one with tools would be time-consuming, but with his metal manipulation ability, Tang Teng could remove them as easily as a child's building blocks.

"Okay." Tang Teng nodded and began working.

Just as Tang Man expected, Tang Teng had all the bus seats removed in less than ten minutes.

He even cleaned up the bloodstains and grime thoroughly. After cleaning, Tang Teng fashioned a new driver's seat and installed several more chairs in the cabin.

In the rear compartment, he followed Tang Man's instructions and built several mesh racks connected to the roof, dividing the space into multiple sections. This way, during sudden braking, the cargo wouldn't slide around and hit the people inside.

"Sis, you just need to get some new cushions and put them on!" Tang Teng extended his hand out the window, and a cloud of metal dust scattered in the wind.

"Now fix the door," Tang Man said, turning her attention to the shattered glass door.

"Sis, I'm out of energy cores," Tang Teng said, scratching his head with a troubled expression.

"There are more in the living room. I'll go get them." She started to get off the bus.

"I used those in the living room too..."

Tang Man: "..." Those energy cores added up to eighty or ninety. How could they be used up so quickly? Even eating them wouldn't be this fast!

Her gaze shifted to the solid wall in the front yard, which was already a quarter built and two centimeters thick.

Well, such rapid progress always comes at a cost!

It seems tomorrow's scavenging trip will have to target more populated areas.

"Before it gets dark, let's collect some more energy cores in the neighborhood," Tang Man told him.

Although they had cleared the roaming zombies outside the community, some were still trapped inside houses, and some plants outside unoccupied houses had mutated. All together, they should be able to collect another twenty or thirty energy cores.

Since they were operating within the community, they brought Zhongqiu along this time. Sheng Yao pushed a supermarket trolley behind them, while Zhongqiu sat on it with a serious cat face, "supervising."

Although their main goal this trip was to collect energy cores, they wouldn't pass up any useful supplies they found!

They quickly arrived at the first house. Its window had been smashed with bricks, and the front door was wide open. The living room was in disarray, clearly indicating someone had already scavenged for supplies there.

Tang Man placed her hand on the ground and released her ability, detecting three problematic plants. After digging out their energy cores, Tang Man casually tossed them to Tang Teng: "Hurry up and restore your energy to work."

"Okay." Tang Teng nodded and absorbed one energy core.

Upon entering the house, Tang Teng waved his hand, and all the metal objects in the living room detached from their original positions and flew toward Sheng Yao's trolley. However, they only flew for one second before plummeting to the ground.

Tang Man raised an eyebrow at him in confusion.

"Sis, I'm out of energy cores again," Tang Teng said, scratching his head.

Tang Man: ???

Three energy cores only lasted one second? Xiao Teng's control over his ability was terrible!

"Hahaha, Third, you're pathetic! You couldn't even last three seconds!" Sheng Yao teased.

"What are you talking about? My sister's right here!" Tang Teng's face darkened. He wrapped an arm around Sheng Yao's neck from behind and pushed him to the ground.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry... Let's get to work quickly, or Sis will get angry if we keep messing around..." Sheng Yao begged for mercy.

Seeing Tang Man staring at them with her arms crossed and an displeased expression, Tang Teng reluctantly released Sheng Yao and bent down to pick up the metal from the floor.

Tang Teng straightened up, wiped the sweat from his forehead, pulled down his mask, and chugged a bottle of water.

"Fourth, there's no danger in the neighborhood, so take off that outfit! You must be boiling!" Tang Teng couldn't help but advise him, seeing him dressed in so many layers. Both he and Tang Man were only wearing thin autumn jackets, and just looking at Sheng Yao made him feel hot.

"You don't understand. I'm my mom's only hope now. I absolutely cannot let anything happen to me." Sheng Yao put his mask back on after drinking water and continued working.

Tang Man gave him a surprised glance. She had previously thought he wrapped himself up so tightly out of cowardice, but she hadn't expected this underlying reason.

After collecting the metal from the floor, the three of them searched the villa. Valuable items and food had long been scavenged, so they could only pick up what others had left behind. Soon, the trolley was full.

"Sheng Yao, take these back first. We'll go to the next house to collect energy cores," Tang Man told Sheng Yao.

"Okay."

"Xiao Teng, your control over your ability isn't good enough! When we get back, you can try..." Tang Man slowed her pace, walking and giving Tang Teng some tips on using his ability.

The next house had its doors and windows tightly shut, as if someone was living there normally.

Tang Teng stepped forward and rang the doorbell.

"Who is it?" A hoarse woman's voice came from inside.

"Sorry, wrong door."

Tang Teng backed away and continued to the next house. Before setting out, Tang Man had laid down the rule that to avoid trouble, they would only clear mutant plants and zombies from unoccupied houses.

The next house was also tightly shut. Tang Teng pressed the doorbell but heard the sound of claws scratching the door and the zombies' characteristic guttural groans.

Zhongqiu hunched low, her pupils turning into slits as she stared intently at the door, ready to attack at any moment.

Tang Man's eyes hardened as she stepped forward and grabbed Tang Teng's hand. "Leave this to me."

A thin vine threaded through the door crack, and the sound of bones snapping echoed through the door.

Tang Teng's heart tightened—how many zombies were in this house?!

Soon, the room fell silent. Tang Man withdrew her vine, her face slightly pale.

"Sis, are you okay?"

Tang Man shook her head. "The zombie animals inside are taken care of. Go open the door."

Tang Teng used his ability to break the lock and pushed the door open.

The sight in the living room made him suck in a sharp breath.

The floor was covered in dried blood, with gnawed bones and shredded flesh scattered everywhere. A little girl's head, smaller than his palm, lay less than a meter away from him, its empty eye sockets staring directly at him. Large patches of bloody scalp had been torn off, and there was no intact flesh left on her face.

The corpses of over a dozen zombie cats and dogs were scattered throughout the living room, their heads ripped off by vines and discarded carelessly. Tang Teng guessed that at the start of the apocalypse, one of the household pets must have mutated into a zombie, then infected the other animals, until the horde of zombie pets devoured the family of five.

Only now did Tang Teng realize just how vast the gap was between his and Tang Man's control over their abilities. If he had been the one to attack, he would have been incapacitated after killing just one zombie dog.

"Don't just stand there—get to work!" Tang Man, holding Zhongqiu, stepped over the sticky bloodstains and walked inside, her expression completely unchanged, as if such tragedies were routine for her.