Chapter 251: Back in the City with a Lot of Zombies
"Big brother, you're a great cook!"
"Can I learn how to cook from you?"
Zheng Yan stood at the kitchen doorway, taking a deep sniff.
"No way!" Meng Ci flat-out refused.
It wasn't that Meng Ci was heartless, but earlier, when Zheng Yan had been eager to help, Meng Ci had let him into the kitchen.
However, it turned out to be a mistake.
Zheng Yan picked the vegetables so only the leaves were left, then splashed water all over the place while washing them, soaking his clothes and the floor.
Then, he volunteered to cut the vegetables, but the result was a total mess, with no proper shape.
Not only that, he accidentally spilled the salt and even dropped the bowl on the floor.
Seeing the chaos before him, Meng Ci couldn't believe how much destruction one person could cause.
He shook his head and finally told Zheng Yan to get out of the kitchen, feeling bad for Lin Jun.
But then again, after all this time in the apocalypse, Zheng Yan still couldn't do anything. He probably got spoiled by Lin Jun, so there was no point in feeling sorry for him.
When Zheng Yan asked to learn cooking, Meng Ci instantly remembered the mess he caused in the kitchen and worried that he might burn the place down.
So he refused without hesitation, saying he didn't want to teach him.
"Okay!" Zheng Yan wasn't too upset and began his chatter about the apocalyptic lifestyle.
"Big brother, you don't have a fridge. Do you need me to get my boss to bring one back for you?"
"Big brother, the rice from your rice cooker doesn't taste good. Should I find you a better one?"
...
Now that the weather was normal, households in the villa area had solar panels installed on their roofs, so there was enough electricity at home. If not, they could also purchase it from the officials, thus pursuing quality of life issues.
Although many appliances had become unusable after years of natural disasters, there were still people like Lin Jun, who could repair them, keeping some appliances functional.
Meng Ci said, "No need!"
"The fridge consumes electricity quickly. We have a car, and if we want to eat something, we can just go to the exchange point to buy it."
"No need for a rice cooker either!"
...
Meng Ci found Zheng Yan too talkative, which was affecting his cooking, so he asked Zheng Yan to take the eagle for a walk.
Zheng Yan, happy to help his big brother, obediently did as asked.
After Zheng Yan left, Meng Ci breathed a sigh of relief.
He took out a Bluetooth headset and his phone from his space, playing a song while he continued cooking.
By the time the meal was ready, Shen Que and Lin Jun had returned from killing zombies.
Seeing that the two were unharmed, Meng Ci and Zheng Yan felt relieved.
The only trouble was that Eggplant's usually white fur had turned a deep red, and many strands were stuck together.
Unaware of his state, Eggplant kept rubbing against the giant eagle.
The giant eagle barked several times before stopping Eggplant's actions.
Feeling rejected, Eggplant looked at Meng Ci with longing eyes, indicating that he wanted a bath.
Shen Que took out a large wooden barrel and drew half a bucket of water from the well, letting Eggplant jump in and wash himself.
After that, they began to eat.
During the meal, Meng Ci asked about the situation with killing the zombies.
The authorities announced that by killing zombies and extracting the crystal, it could be exchanged for points at the redemption center.
One crystal could be exchanged for two points. By killing three zombies a day, you could exchange for a pound of food.
Currently, because there were many zombies and their levels were low, the points earned from each crystal were fewer.
In the later stages, when the zombies' levels increase and their numbers decrease, more points can be earned per crystal.
Shen Que and Lin Jun left relatively late, so the zombies around the base had already been cleared. The two had to head towards the city.
After more than half an hour, they were shocked by the dense horde of zombies in front of them.
When the disaster first struck the city, without military support, ordinary people were unsure how to deal with the zombies. As a result, a third of the ordinary people were bitten and turned into zombies.
Those who weren't bitten hurriedly hid in buildings that hadn't collapsed yet. However, many were caught by zombies while climbing the stairs, leading to another third becoming zombies.
Consequently, the zombie population in the city grew rapidly.
At that point, the psionics and military from the base arrived to clear out the zombies, but due to the large number, the process was very slow.
Some psionics, still learning to control their powers, were overwhelmed by the zombies' relentless attacks.
Furthermore, using their powers drained their mental energy, leaving them vulnerable if overused.
As long as the crystal remained intact, zombies could continue attacking humans without pause.
As a result, many resisting psionics were bitten by zombies.
The zombies who had been psionics were stronger than ordinary zombies.
These psionic-turned-zombies were faster, stronger, and more intelligent, allowing them to evade psionic attacks.
Shen Que and Lin Jun, moving in perfect sync, swiftly killed over a dozen zombies and extracted the crystals from their heads.
Since Shen Que had previously mentioned that if psionics overused their powers, they would become mentally fatigued and their reflexes would slow down, Lin Jun, sensing that something was off, left with Shen Que.
Before the apocalypse, M City had more than ten million people.
After several years of natural disasters, only about two hundred thousand people remained.
Of these, fifty thousand were in M City, and the remaining one hundred fifty thousand were in the M City base.
This mutation turned several tens of thousands of people into psionics, while over a hundred thousand became zombies, with the rest being ordinary people.
In the early stages, many ordinary people were caught off guard, leading to thousands being bitten and turned into zombies.
Zheng Yan listened to Shen Que and the others describe the situation outside, and suddenly, he lost his appetite for the delicious meal in front of him.
"What if the zombies start thinking for themselves? With so many of them, how are we supposed to win?"
Meng Ci and the others also looked worried after hearing this.
In the novels, the war between humans and zombies lasted two to three years.
Now, thanks to the authorities' quick response after Shen Que's rebirth, they prevented more corpses from turning into zombies.
But some people still wanted to give the dead a proper burial, so they secretly buried the bodies.
As a result, the zombie population didn't grow as large as in the novels, but it was still about one-third smaller.
"Using powers drains a lot of psychic energy, and if you're not careful, you could be overwhelmed by zombies."
Today, when Lin Jun and Shen Que went out, he nearly passed out after using his powers to kill the fifth zombie.