Chapter 56: The Solitary Zombie

Tap. Tap. Tap.

The irregular footsteps continued overhead, yet the house's alarm system never reacted.

Charles frowned, motioning for Lukas and Elena to stay inside the growing room before stepping out of the airlock and turning to Xia Jiuwei and Lu Nian'an.

"There might be a zombie outside."

"A zombie?"

Xia Jiuwei's eyes immediately lit up as she turned toward Lu Nian'an.

"We get to see the zombie!"

Charles led the two of them into the monitoring room.

On one of the screens, a twisted human figure stood atop the steel protective panel covering the growing room.

Its clothes had long since rotted into rags. Large portions of exposed flesh were decayed, and in some places blackened muscle tissue was visible beneath the skin.

Dragging its feet in an unnatural gait, it shuffled slowly across the steel plate.

Charles checked the rest of the surveillance feeds one more time. Only after confirming there were no other abnormalities nearby did he turn away.

A short while later, he returned from the armory carrying a crossbow and led the two women to the first floor.

The house was still in lockdown, every window and door sealed behind thick steel shutters.

Taking out his phone, Charles tapped a few commands.

The steel panel covering the side entrance slowly lifted.

The three of them stepped outside.

The zombie was on the opposite side of the house, separated from them by nothing more than a corner wall.

Charles gripped the crossbow, his fingers instinctively settling onto the bolt.

Then he glanced at the two women beside him.

After a brief pause, he quietly relaxed his grip.

Instead, he held the crossbow out toward Xia Jiuwei.

"Want to try killing a zombie?"

She glanced at the weapon before smiling and shaking her head.

"Sure."

"But I won't need the crossbow."

Remembering what had happened during the deer hunt, Charles's mouth twitched slightly before silently lowering the weapon again.

Xia Jiuwei cautiously leaned around the corner.

The zombie continued wandering without purpose.

After watching it for a few seconds, she looked rather disappointed.

"It doesn't seem all that special."

With that, she simply stepped out into the open.

The instant she appeared, the zombie's head snapped toward her, its neck twisting at an angle no human spine should have been capable of.

It lunged forward.

Its speed was completely different from the sluggish creature it had been only moments before.

Xia Jiuwei casually flicked her hand.

A jet-black spike shot forward.

Thud.

The spike pierced straight through the zombie's chest.

Yet it merely stumbled for a split second before continuing its charge without slowing down.

"Huh?"

Xia Jiuwei blinked as it closed the remaining distance.

She gave a slight wave with her right hand.

Crack.

The zombie's head flew clean off.

Its headless body collapsed instantly.

Yet the severed head continued opening and closing its jaws on the ground.

Just then—

Whoosh!

An arrow tore through the air, piercing the skull and pinning it firmly to the ground.

The head twitched several times before finally becoming still.

Charles lowered his crossbow and walked over.

"Zombies only die once their brains have been completely destroyed."

As he spoke, he pulled a pair of gloves and a burlap sack from his pack and began dealing with the corpse.

"You know, the people who actually survived the apocalypse are probably the lucky one in a thousand."

Xia Jiuwei and Lu Nian'an both turned toward him.

"What do you mean?"

Charles stuffed the body into the sack.

"Because zombies aren't created through infection."

"They're the result of human mutation."

Xia Jiuwei's eyes widened slightly.

Charles continued,

"At first, the Swiss government also believed it was some kind of infectious disease, so they gathered huge numbers of healthy civilians into shelters for protection."

"But later they discovered that plenty of people who had never come into contact with zombies were suddenly mutating overnight."

"As more and more cases appeared, they realized everyone had the potential to mutate. If you were unlucky, you became a zombie. If you were lucky, you awakened as an Esper."

He smiled.

"Of course, most Espers aren't nearly as impressive as you two. Usually they just become physically stronger. Truly powerful abilities are actually pretty rare."

With that, he dragged the corpse toward the distance.

"Of course..."

"I found all of this in an abandoned research facility."

"So I can't promise any of it's actually true."

After disposing of the corpse some distance away, Charles quickly returned.

He carefully cleaned the steel protective panel where the zombie had walked, making sure nothing had been contaminated.

Satisfied, he took out his phone again.

The heavy steel panel slowly retracted to one side, revealing the thick transparent polyester panel beneath it.

Through the clear barrier, the entire growing room could be seen below.

Lukas and Elena stood inside, nervously looking up.

The moment they saw Charles unharmed, both children visibly relaxed and immediately waved at him excitedly.

Charles smiled and waved back.

Then he turned toward Xia Jiuwei and Lu Nian'an.

"Come on."

"I'll show you my growing room."

With that, he led them back inside and into the airlock outside the growing room.

Inside the airlock, Charles first demonstrated how to put on the protective suit before taking two freshly sterilized sets from the locker and handing them over.

Only after both women had finished dressing did he open the door leading into the growing room.

Warm sunlight poured in from above.

The growing room was divided into four large sections, each planted with a variety of different crops.

Xia Jiuwei looked around before noticing that Charles had stopped near the far end of the room.

Most of the crops there were lettuce.

Pulling Lu Nian'an along, she walked over.

"These will be today's breakfast."

Charles pointed toward the nearby lettuce.

Xia Jiuwei looked down.

None of the plants were particularly large.

They looked more like young seedlings than anything ready to harvest.

"Breakfast?"

Charles nodded.

"They'll grow in a minute."

"...Grow?"

Instead of answering, Charles walked into the nearby storage room and returned carrying a small jar and a spray bottle.

"These are fertilizers."

He handed the jar to Lukas and the spray bottle to Elena.

Holding the sprayer, Elena skillfully gave the base of each plant a single spray.

Following behind her on tiptoe, Lukas used a small spoon to sprinkle gray powder from the jar onto the soil.

Charles walked behind the two children, watering each fertilized plant with a watering can.

As he passed Xia Jiuwei, he casually offered her the watering can.

Watching the little family working together, Xia Jiuwei's expression briefly grew distant.

Only after a moment did she come back to herself and smile, gently shaking her head.

Charles didn't insist.

The three of them simply continued making their way slowly through the growing room.

More than ten minutes later, every section had finally been fertilized.

"Now comes the important part."

Charles walked over to a wooden crate in the corner and took out a stone no larger than the tip of a finger.

It was crystal clear, resembling polished jade while emitting a faint inner glow.

Lu Nian'an looked at the stone before lowering her gaze to the ring on her own finger.

The two shared a surprisingly similar radiance.

"What's that?"

"A Crystal Core."

Charles answered.

"You usually find them inside a zombie's brain. Unfortunately, I checked the one we killed earlier, and it didn't have one."

He handed the Crystal Core to Lukas.

The boy accepted it happily, even bouncing up and down a few times before carefully slipping it into his glove.

At that very moment, Xia Jiuwei and Lu Nian'an both turned toward him.

A wave of energy radiated outward from Lukas, spreading in expanding circles like ripples across the surface of a lake.

The two women simultaneously looked toward Charles.

"It's fine."

Charles didn't seem surprised in the slightest.

"He's just using his Esper ability."

"Look over there."

He pointed toward the crops.

Following his finger, the two watched as the surrounding plants visibly began to grow.

Leaves slowly unfurled.

Stems thickened.

With every expanding wave of energy, the entire growing room transformed before their eyes.

Xia Jiuwei stared at the rippling energy and couldn't help asking,

"If every Esper ability sends energy waves out like this, wouldn't using one outside make it really easy for other people to find you?"

Charles looked puzzled.

"What do you mean, spreading out?"

"Yeah."

Xia Jiuwei pointed toward Lukas.

"Isn't all that energy continuously spreading out from him?"

Charles watched Lukas for several seconds before shaking his head.

"I can tell he's using his ability."

"But I can't see whatever it is you're talking about."

"You can't?"

"No."

After thinking for a moment, Charles added,

"I don't think normal people can."

He looked back at the two women.

"My guess is... only you two can see it."

Lukas maintained his ability for less than ten minutes.

Yet during that short time, the entire growing room seemed to leap forward by several months of growth.

The lettuce that had once been little more than seedlings was now lush and full.

Walking into the rows of vegetables, Charles skillfully harvested only the outermost leaves from each lettuce plant, moving from one to the next.

Before long, the large metal basin beside him was piled high.

Patting the dirt from his hands, Charles smiled.

"Alright."

"Let's head upstairs and make breakfast."