Chapter 8: Abilities (1)

Volume 1 “Year of Calamity”

Old Zhang and An Sheng talked for a long time, mainly investigating An Sheng’s physical condition and whether he could protect the residents of the Tube-Style Apartment Building.

Over the past few days, Old Zhang had observed the surrounding environment. The area around the Tube-Style Apartment Building was filled with groups of Zombies and occasionally appearing Mutated Monsters. The Zombies were actually relatively easy to deal with – slow-moving and physically stiff. Ordinary people could basically escape without problems as long as they weren’t surrounded by large hordes of Zombies. The real trouble was those Mutated Monsters.

Each Mutated Monster was different, but they shared the common trait of being extremely terrifying existences! Ordinary people would likely find them difficult to handle. Of course, if it were the An Sheng from that day, that would be another matter entirely. According to Old Zhang’s description, An Sheng had even crushed that short Claws monster that nearly killed Old Zhang to death with just one hand.

Strangely enough, after that day, although the Tube-Style Apartment Building was still surrounded by those Zombies, there were no Mutated Monsters within a certain range. Old Zhang speculated that these Mutated Monsters probably possessed some intelligence and could sense existences more powerful than themselves – and that existence was An Sheng. Of course, this was all Old Zhang’s speculation and hadn’t been further verified.

Old Zhang was only half right. Those Mutated Creatures did have territorial awareness and could naturally sense the strength aura of their own kind. Their method of detection relied on the Pheromones emitted from their bodies.

The visible red mist surrounding An Sheng after his mutation that day was exactly this. Such substantial Pheromones were the main reason for intimidating the surrounding Mutated Creatures. However, the current An Sheng had already returned to human form and would no longer release Pheromones. The reason the Tube-Style Apartment Building hadn’t been attacked by Mutated Creatures these days was due to the Pheromones An Sheng had released that still permeated the building, but they were almost completely dissipated. When that happened, how would those Mutated Creatures let go of these survivors in the Tube-Style Apartment Building?

Old Zhang’s proposal was for An Sheng to protect the residents of the Tube-Style Apartment Building. An Sheng was actually somewhat afraid – having never been in a fight since childhood, he simply didn’t know how to fight. However, he was also a resident of this building, this was his home, and protecting them meant protecting his own home. So An Sheng didn’t refuse and gladly accepted Old Zhang’s proposal.

Over three days, Old Zhang had conducted a household survey of the Tube-Style Apartment Building. The disaster had come suddenly – many residents of the building had either turned into man-eating monsters or been eaten by monsters. Only over a hundred people remained alive, and among these hundred-plus people, the elderly, weak, women, children accounted for sixty percent. There were only about thirty young adults including women.

The survivors of the Tube-Style Apartment Building were currently gathered in rooms from the fourth to sixth floors. Although over a hundred people wasn’t a small number, the Tube-Style Apartment Building had plenty of rooms, so accommodating these people wasn’t a problem.

Old Zhang had quite good overall perspective – he had immediately taken stock of the food and water reserves. There was plenty of food – this was a residential area, and every household had stored food. Collected together, maintaining for three to five months wouldn’t be too big a problem. The biggest issues were fuel and drinking water.The Blood Rain had cast a shadow over everyone. No one dared consume groundwater or tap water, uncertain if they were contaminated. Fuel was also severely limited, as cooking required it. Most residents here were tenants who relied on electrical appliances, but the city’s power grid had long since collapsed.

Old Zhang spread a map on the table and pointed to an area circled in red, saying to An Sheng, “Xiao An, this is a liquefied gas station, very close to our Tube-Style Apartment Building. We’ve been discussing these past few days about going to get some fuel and collecting bottled water along the way.”

As a taxi driver, An Sheng was quite familiar with maps. Looking at the circled location, he immediately recognized it as the liquefied gas station three kilometers from the Tube-Style Apartment Building. Most urban areas of City B had transitioned to natural gas pipelines, but many residents and restaurants in the suburbs still preferred using liquefied gas and other fuels.

Fortunately, high-risk facilities like liquefied gas stations were located in relatively open suburban areas, which gave Old Zhang some hope. Otherwise, in such a vast city teeming with Zombies and Mutated Monsters, they would have no chance to gather supplies.

“A three-kilometer distance isn’t far, but Brother Zhang, we’ll need a vehicle to get there, and an ordinary one won’t do,” An Sheng said worriedly as he studied the map. He had pinpointed the crux of the issue: gathering supplies required a vehicle, and a small car simply couldn’t break through the hordes of Zombies on the roads. They needed a large vehicle.

“I know what you’re worried about. That’s precisely why we haven’t gone out to look for fuel these past few days. I know where to find large vehicles, but we ordinary folks have no way to get there. That’s why we’ve been waiting for you to wake up.”

Old Zhang looked somewhat embarrassed. From the very beginning, he had intended to leverage An Sheng’s abilities. Just 300 meters from their Tube-Style Apartment Building, along the national highway, there was a parking lot with plenty of large semi-trailer trucks and box trucks. Those sturdy box trucks were Old Zhang’s target.

Their robust cargo compartments could withstand attacks from Zombies, and their over-one-meter-high chassis prevented flooding during the recent heavy rains, making them usable.

However, they had no means to reach the parking lot. Though it was only 300 meters away, the swarms of Zombies downstairs made it an impossible task for ordinary people like them. But what they couldn’t do, An Sheng might be able to. Not just Old Zhang—almost everyone had set their sights on An Sheng.

“You all…”

Seeing the expectant looks in everyone’s eyes, An Sheng understood exactly what they wanted him to do. But he was genuinely afraid to go. Although many claimed his abilities were incredibly powerful, he himself had never witnessed them. He had no recollection of what had happened back then—he had been completely unconscious. As far as he was concerned now, he was just an ordinary person who had no idea how to use his abilities.

“Brother Zhang, everyone… to be honest, I really don’t know how to use my abilities, let alone transform into the state you described,” An Sheng explained apologetically. He didn’t want to disappoint everyone, but the truth was undeniable, and he had to be honest.Hearing An Sheng’s words, everyone was visibly disappointed. In truth, they all knew that if they could use the large vehicles in the parking lot, not only would they be able to gather living resources, but they could also use these vehicles to escape. After all, the Tube-Style Apartment Building wasn’t exactly a safe place. In the current situation, survival might only be possible by fleeing to sparsely populated areas.

“Don’t be like this, everyone. I think we should give Xiao An some time to figure out how to gain power. If you ask me, since he managed to turn into a monst… superhuman once, he can do it a second time.”

Old Zhang nearly blurted out the word “monster,” but fortunately, he caught himself in time. “Superhuman” was probably the most positive term he could come up with, since everyone who’s watched Hollywood blockbusters knows that superhumans are incarnations of justice—even though An Sheng’s form at that time had more closely resembled a devil.