PSW - Chapter 147

Chapter 147

Numb, weak, emaciated, like walking corpses.

One by one, the ordinary women were carefully helped out by the female Ability Users. They looked exceptionally frail. Even with the continuous healing from the Saint's Halo's great array, their condition still appeared extremely poor.

Their filthy, tattered clothes barely covered their bodies, and their hair was a tangled mess. Some even had dried, hardened white stains on their clothing.

They moved slowly, but no one urged them on. Instead, the female Ability Users whispered words of comfort in their ears, telling them the good news that Si Haotian was dead and that a benefactor had come to save them.

But they were still uneasy, timid, and afraid to hope.

In total, there were only thirty-seven ordinary women.

Zheng Yi raised her hand and condensed a stream of water, using her ability to envelop each of them. The fine, rapid vibrations of the water gave them a simple and quick cleaning. When the discolored water dissipated, leaving only a patch of dust and grime on the ground, their bodies were completely dry.

Zheng Yi handed thirty-seven tubes of sweet-flavored nutrient solution to Yu Yinan. While she used her ability to clean them one by one, Yu Yinan approached them with the nutrient solution, distributing it and having them drink it.

Setting aside the effects of restoring stamina and energy, the simple effect of "satiety" was enough to help these people who had long been starving and were now frighteningly thin. In their current state, rashly cooking them a lavish meal would likely be too much for their stomachs to handle.

"Here are some painless abortion agents. They can be used for pregnancies under six months. They won't cause too much harm to your bodies." Zheng Yi directly purchased twenty doses of the painless abortion agent and placed them on an empty spot nearby. She then glanced at the female Ability Users. "They work the same for Ability Users. You can choose for yourselves. If there aren't enough, you can ask me for more."

"There are vehicles and supplies here. I won't touch any of them. You can go to other bases, or you can try to take over Yongdu. I won't be staying long."

These words were not just for the ordinary women, but also for the female Ability Users. Zheng Yi couldn't stay, nor could she arrange everything perfectly for them. If they wanted to live, to survive, they ultimately had to rely on themselves.

Of course, everything had changed so quickly that they surely hadn't processed what had happened yet. Zheng Yi wouldn't be leaving today. She paused, then said in a gentle, almost tender voice, "You can take your time to think. Hmm, you're more familiar with Yongdu, so you can go find some rooms to rest in."

Zheng Yi's gaze swept over the female Ability Users. "You… can elect a leader among yourselves." Zheng Yi said no more, just gave them a warm and friendly smile. Then she beckoned to Yu Yinan and led her back to the male Ability Users, who were split into two factions.

Whether they had aided the tyrant or been forced to submit… perhaps they truly had no choice, forced by their circumstances and Si Haotian to become what they were, to do what they did…

"Are you going to kill them?" Yu Yinan asked. "Or let them go?" She leaned toward the former, but everything still depended on Zheng Yi's decision.

"I will deliver them," Zheng Yi replied softly. "Help them escape the sea of suffering that is the flesh."

"Jiejie can help deal with the shells they leave behind after their ascension."

Zheng Yi's voice was light and cheerful, her eyes crinkling as if this were a truly sacred "deliverance."

She hadn't let the women follow, nor did she intend for them to watch—neither the ordinary ones nor the Ability Users. After all, not every woman could part with the child in her belly. Even if the child wasn't wanted, for some, it had been growing inside them for so long that a strange connection had formed, making them reluctant… Perhaps hormonal changes also played a part? In any case, Zheng Yi respected whatever decision they made.

Furthermore, Zheng Yi didn't want a scene where, during her act of deliverance, the men would cry out in anguish to the onlookers, shouting things like "I'm your child's father."

"My lady… you're back? Um…" Seeing Zheng Yi and Yu Yinan approach, most of the Ability Users wore expressions of guilt and avoidance, but they forced themselves to remain calm and greet them, trying to ask about the situation. Those women… they hadn't said anything they shouldn't have, right? After all, they could all be the fathers of the children in their wombs!

If this powerful figure had been a man, they wouldn't be so anxious. The problem was that both of them were female Ability Users. Who knew if they would empathize? In their view, this was the apocalypse; ordinary people were consumables. To be more extreme, ordinary people and Ability Users could hardly be considered the same species anymore, even though they could still reproduce. But who knew if the children born would be ordinary people or become Ability Users from birth? The apocalypse had been going on for less than a year; no one knew the answer.

Zheng Yi didn't say a word to them. She just closed her eyes for a moment. In the next instant, an invisible and immense mental force crashed down, tyrannically crushing the group of Ability Users!

Their minds went blank for a second. In that single shockwave, countless high-pressure water blades sliced across them. Before they could even feel the pain, Yu Yinan had already pushed the temperature of her flames to the extreme, incinerating their bisected corpses with absolute heat.

Five minutes later, the flames dissipated. A clear stream of water swept over the ground, carrying away the ashes and dust, scattering them in the wind.

"Once they've adjusted, leave them a map. Mark the locations of Zhongshan, Humanity's Light, and Xuancheng." If they needed help in the future, they could seek it in those three places.

Yu Yinan acknowledged with a sound, having no objection. She squinted at the dust and smoke rising into the air, then took Zheng Yi's hand and turned to walk down the street. As she formally surveyed the area, she asked, "We don't know the whereabouts of that special zombie… and if what Si Haotian said is true, that zombie is too strange."

It was almost indistinguishable from a human, even capable of fluent conversation. Such a special zombie was completely incomparable to the blue-light-bulb zombie from before.

It was incredible. It could provide Si Haotian with meteor fragment powder. What did that imply? It could also withstand the energy of the meteor fragments, grind them down, and had even come to understand the effects of the fragments' energy and could make preliminary use of it.

Perhaps… it had obtained the fragment at the very beginning of the apocalypse and mutated? Yu Yinan found it hard to believe that any other human or zombie could reach Zheng Yi's terrifying level. She guessed that this zombie might have undergone some special mutation, gaining an ability that allowed it to resist the energy of the meteor fragments.

But no matter the speculation, the most important thing now was to find a trace of this zombie.

It had taken the Xia siblings away before the extreme cold period. The extreme cold… perhaps that zombie also needed to hibernate? But why would it take the Xia siblings? As a food reserve for the cold period? No, no… perhaps the Xia siblings had just taken the opportunity to escape?

Yu Yinan couldn't figure it out.

Zero One couldn't figure it out either.

The original novel made no mention of this zombie; it didn't even mention the Xia siblings. Ah, it should have thrown away the original novel long ago. The world's timeline had already deviated to who-knows-where. What original novel was there to speak of!

Unfortunately, the original novel was the only place Zero One could get even a tiny bit of information. It racked its brain, summarized the characteristics of various zombie-type novels, and then hesitantly said to Zheng Yi: [Perhaps, this is the legendary zombie king?]

'A solitary zombie king?'

[…It should be the strongest zombie we can currently encounter. Look, for most Ability Users, Si Haotian's power was already overwhelming, yet that zombie made even Si Haotian extremely wary. It's clearly stronger than him.] The special zombie that caused the zombie tide back then was nothing compared to a zombie that could handle meteor fragments! That was a meteor fragment! With the blue-light-bulb zombie's mental power, if it touched a meteor fragment directly, its brain would probably explode.

Unfortunately, there was too little information. It was impossible to deduce anything useful from the few scattered pieces they had.

Zheng Yi didn't dwell on it, just squeezed Yu Yinan's hand reassuringly. "I am very strong."

"! I know, I've never doubted your strength for a moment! No matter how powerful or strange it is, it could never be your match!" Yu Yinan became agitated, speaking quickly, "I just… I'm just… a little uneasy about the Xia siblings, and there's so little information. I think you'd probably like that zombie… I mean, you'd find it interesting?" If the Xia siblings were really taken away by such a terrifying zombie, given their strength, it seemed highly likely they were in grave danger…

"Ah." Zheng Yi made a noncommittal sound, then paused. "Indeed, interesting."

Yu Yinan smiled. She swung Zheng Yi's hand slightly as they walked through the streets of Yongdu, casually incinerating the remaining mutated beast corpses on the road. So many mutated beasts had poured out during that battle. Although they hadn't caused any harm to them, the impact on the city was significant. How to put it? The buildings on both sides had become even more dilapidated.

"If they ask where those men went later, what should I say?" Yu Yinan asked, casually igniting the corpse of a fat rat with a flicker of flame.

"Just say they left," Zheng Yi said flatly, not thinking it was a big deal.

Who's to say that departing this world doesn't count as leaving?

Yu Yinan nodded thoughtfully, then heard Zheng Yi ask her, "What do you want to eat tonight?"

"They… probably haven't eaten normal food in a long time. The Ability Users might be fine, but the ordinary people might not be able to handle it? Should we make some congee later?" Yu Yinan thought for a moment and said, "And maybe add a little nutrient solution to the congee?"

"Jiejie, I was asking what you want to eat." Zheng Yi let just the right amount of helplessness show on her face. She smiled, a faint, doting look in her eyes.

Yu Yinan was slightly dazed. She blinked, suppressing the fluttering in her heart and the heat rising to her face as she whispered, "I… don't have anything I particularly want to eat. So, anything is fine."

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