Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Cheng Zhiyu remained vigilant, not letting Little Black or Xiao Er intervene. Instead, he advanced with Little Iron, now a makeshift cleaver, to dispatch the zombies himself.

He moved with astonishing speed, slicing through them as if they were watermelons. Tian Qiao, who had been freezing zombie heads and shattering them with a stick, watched in wide-eyed amazement.

With only a few zombies remaining, Tian Qiao, finding the figure both familiar and strange, seized the moment to speak. "Dude, thank you so much! I was moments away from kicking the bucket! Seriously, you're incredible—chopping through them like watermelons. I feel like a total rookie next to you!"

Cheng Zhiyu had recognized Tian Qiao earlier, but the latter was heavily bundled, with only his eyes visible. The dim lighting and Cheng Zhiyu's significantly altered demeanor over the past months made recognition difficult for Tian Qiao.

Seeing Tian Qiao, Cheng Zhiyu couldn't help but feel a surge of emotion. Yet, he waited until the last zombie was down before speaking. "Tian Qiao, it's me. You didn't recognize me?"

He chuckled softly.

Tian Qiao's eyes widened instantly. Any lingering doubt vanished with the sound of his voice. "Chengzi!"

Cheng Zhiyu pulled down his mask, revealing a handsome face. "It's me. I never expected to run into you."

He felt immense relief that he hadn't stood by idly earlier.

"The big shot is actually my bro! Chengzi, you're absolutely amazing!" Tian Qiao was utterly stunned. Seeing a familiar face from before the apocalypse, he couldn't hold back his emotions. "Waaah, Chengzi, I missed you so much!"

When the apocalypse struck, it was impossible not to worry, but he had forced himself not to dwell on it. Chengzi was so clever; he surely would survive.

But sometimes he'd have chaotic dreams, and, to be honest, he'd wake up with tears streaming down his face. Now, seeing Chengzi safe and sound, and so incredibly capable, how could he not be emotional?

Tian Qiao, still teary, reached out to hug Cheng Zhiyu, but before he could, a dog's head popped out from Cheng Zhiyu's collar.

The dog stared at him with an unnerving intensity.

Tian Qiao was startled. "Holy crap! Where did that dog come from?"

Cheng Zhiyu, wearing gloves, couldn't pet Little Black. He smiled and said, "Allow me to introduce you. This is Little Black."

"Damn, bro, you're seriously impressive. In this situation, you're still able to keep a dog, and it's even chubby." Tian Qiao was so taken aback he forgot to cry.

It wasn't the right time for explanations, so Cheng Zhiyu didn't correct him. Tian Qiao would eventually find out.

Little Black's gaze at Tian Qiao grew even more displeased: *Where am I chubby?*

Tian Qiao sighed. "I was about to give you a big hug, but your dog scared me."

Cheng Zhiyu replied, "Better not. My clothes are splattered with zombie brains."

Tian Qiao recalled Cheng Zhiyu's "watermelon-chopping" technique. "..."

No wonder he was so thoroughly covered...

"Uh... suddenly I feel pretty good about my method." He froze zombie heads into ice and then smashed them—cleaner and more hygienic.

Tian Qiao said, "Hey, let's find a place. Staying here isn't a good idea."

Cheng Zhiyu nodded and walked toward the fire-type zombie. "Wait a moment."

Tian Qiao was puzzled. "What are you doing?"

Cheng Zhiyu used his cleaver to split open the fire-type zombie's head and rummaged inside with a stick.

Tian Qiao found it rather disgusting. "Seriously, Chengzi, what are you doing?"

Cheng Zhiyu explained, "This is an ability zombie. There's a crystal core inside its head."

Tian Qiao asked, "Crystal core?"

Having read novels, he immediately understood that this "crystal core" was something valuable.

"Damn, good thing you have experience. Otherwise, someone like me would've just killed it and left it." After saying this, Tian Qiao realized, *oh right, I can't even handle an ability zombie.*

He scratched his nose as Cheng Zhiyu extracted an object, rinsed it with water, revealing a red crystal core that shimmered like a diamond under the light.

Cheng Zhiyu glanced at it. "This is a fire-type. You can't use it. I'll find an ice-type one for you later."

Tian Qiao scratched his cheek. "Hey, do we need to split things between us? Besides, you're the one who took down this zombie. But wait, zombies have different abilities?"

Cheng Zhiyu nodded and briefly explained, "So far, I've only encountered metal-type and wind-type."

Tian Qiao immediately thought these two sounded even harder to deal with than fire-type. He sighed, "After getting my ice-type ability, I thought I was something special. I didn't realize zombies were evolving too."

"Don't worry. The more you fight, the stronger your abilities will become," Cheng Zhiyu said as they walked.

Tian Qiao caught up with him. "Yeah, that's true. I'm way better now than when I started."

He perked up, feeling reenergized, and muttered to Cheng Zhiyu, "I noticed you're talking a lot more now. You used to be so quiet."

Cheng Zhiyu replied, "I haven't seen another person in three months."

Tian Qiao immediately understood.

They found a safe and relatively clean place to stay. Once the door was closed, Tian Qiao relaxed. "I'm exhausted."

Cheng Zhiyu wasn't tired—he'd slept well during the day. He took off his jacket and searched the place, finding a desk lamp. The room finally brightened up a bit.

Tian Qiao slumped down lazily. "Ugh, not having electricity is such a pain."

Cheng Zhiyu nodded in agreement. "Nothing we can do about it. Solar power could work, though. With how hot it is during the day, a solar power system would be perfect."

Tian Qiao looked at him. "Do you know how to make one? I sure don't."

Cheng Zhiyu replied, "...I don't either."

Tian Qiao thought for a moment and said, "We could check out large hotels or supermarkets. They might have generators. Think about it—if these places lost power before the apocalypse, the losses would've been huge. They probably had backup power sources and generators."

Cheng Zhiyu found this reasonable. "Alright, let's look for one later."

Tian Qiao yawned, and Cheng Zhiyu said, "If you're tired, go to sleep. I'll keep watch."

Tian Qiao was touched. "Having you here is amazing. It's been so long since I've felt this safe."

Cheng Zhiyu frowned. "Don't be so mushy."

Nearby, Little Black thought: *Since when do you find things sentimental? But that Tian Qiao guy is indeed pretty sentimental.*

Tian Qiao chuckled happily. Even being teased by Cheng Zhiyu made him happy now. He patted his stomach. "I'm hungrier than tired. Let me eat something first."

He then asked Cheng Zhiyu, "Is there anything you'd like to eat?"

Cheng Zhiyu raised an eyebrow. "You have food?"

Tian Qiao said proudly, "Of course! I've got everything. What do you want? Just name it."

"Then I'll pick." Cheng Zhiyu thought for a moment and said, "Do you have tomato beef brisket?"

"Yes!" Tian Qiao brought his backpack over, unzipping it while talking, "Not just tomato beef brisket, but also chicken soup, braised beef, spicy beef, tonkotsu ramen..."

The more Cheng Zhiyu listened, the more familiar it sounded, and then he watched as Tian Qiao pulled out all kinds of instant noodles from his backpack. He just stared blankly.

Tian Qiao waved his hand dismissively, "I know supplies are scarce now, but I've got plenty here. Don't hold back!"

Seeing that Cheng Zhiyu only had a backpack and nothing else, and that the backpack didn't seem to contain any food, he naturally assumed the other probably had nothing to eat.

*Man, that's rough—his face looks so thin from hunger.*

If Cheng Zhiyu knew what he was thinking, he'd definitely be totally confused. At this moment, he said, "I'm not eating."

Little Black, who had been very interested when he first heard Tian Qiao had so many delicious things, was instantly over it upon seeing the variety of instant noodles pulled out.

*Though instant noodles taste good, there's not even actual meat in them.*

"Huh? You don't need to save it on my account. If we finish it, we can just find more later," Tian Qiao said, pulling out a large metal bowl and tossing in a brick of instant noodles.

He reminisced a bit, "Back in high school, didn't we used to make ramen in a bowl like this? Ah... Is there hot water here? Hot water is so hard to find. I have a lighter; I'll go outside later and start a fire to boil some."

Eating instant noodles once in a while is a nice change, but having them every day is just miserable.

Cheng Zhiyu gave him a pitying look, "I have some food here. Do you want some?"

Tian Qiao said, "Hey, what've you got? Bread? Hmm... It's nice to have something different, but bread isn't as good as instant noodles..."

Before he could finish, Cheng Zhiyu pulled out a big container of steaming hot clay pot chicken stew. When he opened the lid, an enticing aroma immediately wafted out.

Then he took out a box of rice—the container was a normal-sized lunchbox.

Tian Qiao was shocked, "Whoa, dude, who taught you that magic trick? This... this smells amazing. Am I dreaming?"

After saying that, he pinched himself hard, making Cheng Zhiyu couldn't help but laugh. He pushed the clay pot chicken stew toward Tian Qiao, "Hurry up and eat. I can see you're hungry."

"Chengzi, I'm so lucky! How did I end up with such an awesome bro like you?" Tian Qiao's handsome face was full of emotion as he eagerly took a bite of the meat, his eyes lighting up. It was even still hot, just like it had just been cooked!

As he ate, he complained, "Tell me about it—I've been eating instant noodles every day. I feel like I'm going to puke at the sight of them, but what can I do? At a time like this, having instant noodles is already pretty good."

Little Black watched Tian Qiao devour his clay pot chicken stew, heartbroken. He wanted to jump onto the table but was held back by Cheng Zhiyu, "Be good, let him eat."

Without hesitation, he sold out his friend, "Later, we'll make him work it off."

Tian Qiao, eating without even looking up, said, "No problem, no problem. If I can have food this delicious, I'll do anything."

Little Black thought for a moment and seized the opportunity to say to Cheng Zhiyu, "Then I want chips."

Perhaps because of that blood drop, Cheng Zhiyu could understand Little Black's words, while others couldn't.

Since Cheng Zhiyu considered chips junk food and limited how many chips Little Black could eat, the mighty Crown Prince of the Winged Tribe had to ask for permission even to eat chips.

Little Black didn't know why he willingly let himself be controlled like this.

Cheng Zhiyu thought about it—Little Black hadn't eaten many chips today—so he generously gave him a bag, "Once you finish this, there's no more."

Little Black: Yeah, yeah!