C5 Chapter 5

With a swift kick, Jiang Ruan sent the zombie's head flying like a soccer ball. In a flash, she extracted the crystal nucleus from its skull.

Her stomach protested with hunger once again. She had never felt full on her journey and wandered into a large supermarket. Since the zombie outbreak had occurred around ten in the morning, the store had been bustling with people.

Unleashing her psychic powers, Jiang Ruan sent the surrounding zombies shambling out the door, leaving her alone in the vast supermarket.

"Haha, now we're talking! Time to feast!" she exclaimed.

"Meat, oh meat, I crave meat!" Jiang Ruan beelined for the fresh meat section, only to find that the meat, all frozen, was now inedible after over half a month of the outbreak and the sweltering heat.

The stench of the spoiled meat left Jiang Ruan feeling hollow. She longed for meat so desperately that she was on the verge of tears.

Luckily, the fruit section still had plenty to offer. Without hesitation, she bit into a glossy Red Delicious apple, only to find it tasteless and oddly unsatisfying.

"What the heck is wrong with this apple? Has it mutated?" she wondered.

Driven by curiosity, she sampled all the fruits around her, but they all tasted terrible. "Come on, I'm a zombie now. Only meat can satisfy this craving," she thought.

In utter frustration, Jiang Ruan headed to the snack aisle and discovered canned goods. The aroma of canned meat nearly made her lunge for it.

She quickly opened a can and devoured the braised pork inside. It was, without a doubt, the most delicious thing there—nothing else came close!

After polishing off twenty cans and gulping down two liters of mineral water, she finally felt full. Jiang Ruan, still a Tier 3 zombie, had only 35% control over her human desires.

This meant that in the presence of humans, her zombie instincts would likely take over, as fresh human blood would activate the crystal nucleus in her brain, overwhelming her thoughts and reverting her to a flesh-craving zombie.

Yet, Jiang Ruan was not like other zombies. She retained her own consciousness and even a faint heartbeat. She could feel pain, breathe, but the blood coursing through her veins was pitch black.

At this moment, at least!

Realizing she needed a larger backpack, Jiang Ruan headed to the third floor of the supermarket and picked out a climbing pack, transferring all her belongings into it.

She also packed more than a dozen cans of food and several bottles of water. She considered changing out of her sportswear but then thought better of it. In a post-apocalyptic world, looking too polished could make her a target of envy, so she decided against changing her clothes.

She still had to find her brother and couldn't risk revealing her identity now.

Feeling the stones in her sportswear pockets, Jiang Ruan referred to them as crystal nuclei. She held many of these, each color likely signifying a different special ability. Jiang Ruan fused seven blue crystal nuclei into her palm.

A warm surge of power coursed through her body, followed by a sensation of her bones being sharpened by something pointed. The painful, ticklish feeling radiated from deep within her bones.

Jiang Ruan bore the discomfort as her bones crackled, her face transforming as she clenched her fists until the crystal nuclei's energy dissipated into dust.

"Phew..." Exhaling softly, Jiang Ruan massaged her sore shoulders. "I've healed."

She clapped a hand over her mouth in astonishment. She could speak! She could actually speak, and that was amazing! Overcome with excitement, Jiang Ruan couldn't help but leap up, only to lose control and crash through the floor, tumbling from the first floor down into the underground parking garage.