Doomsday Reboot: My Superpowers Absorb Everything

Three days after the tide of decay receded, the stronghold's fence was finally repaired. The newly replaced steel bars still bore the scorch marks from welding, and the ivy that Suya had encouraged to grow meandered up the iron thorns, the serrated edges of the leaves gleaming coldly—this was a variety she had specially improved, with tiny poisonous thorns hidden in the vines, which would paralyze ordinary zombies upon contact.

Lin Ye stood beside the gate, carrying a composite bow. The wound on his back had scabbed over. Although he couldn't engage in strenuous activity yet, walking and simple combat were no longer an obstacle. Li Hu was directing his team to load empty sacks onto the cart, stuffing them with moisture-proof mats made of mutated animal hides—intended for canning.

"Grandpa Zhang said the cannery's warehouse is three stories underground. It was built to military standards back then, and the security door is thick enough to stop artillery shells." Li Hu patted the railing of the cart, and the iron pipe made a dull sound. "If you really can't open it, use explosives. Old Zhang the blacksmith made some new explosives, and they're powerful enough."

"Don't just blow it up at the drop of a hat." Lin Jianjun walked over carrying a rifle with new strips of cloth wrapped around the barrel. "The people who scouted it last week said that there's a chemical storage room next to the warehouse. If it's blown up, the leaked stuff will be even more troublesome than rotten dampness."

Lin Ye nodded and drew a specially made arrow from his quiver—the arrowhead was coated with a low-temperature agent prepared by Zhou Ming, which would freeze the target instantly upon impact, perhaps more effective than explosives against metal door locks. He looked at the two strangers standing at the back of the crowd, survivors who had escaped from the southern settlement, one named Skinny Monkey and the other Scarface, who were said to have witnessed the attack by the tumorous zombie king.

"Are you sure the cannery hasn't been taken over by the zombie horde?" Lin Ye asked Skinny Monkey. The kid had his neck hunched over and his eyes were always darting around, making him seem unreliable.

"No, no." Skinny Monkey rubbed his hands, his voice trembling. "When we escaped, we deliberately took a detour and only saw a few low-level zombies wandering around. The high-level ones all followed the Zombie King to your stronghold."

Scarface chimed in, "Yeah, we saw the warehouse door too, it was locked tight, there must be good stuff inside." His gaze swept over the team members' weapons, a barely perceptible hint of greed playing on his lips.

Lin Ye silently noted down their expressions and gave Lin Jianjun a wink. His father nodded slightly, his hand discreetly resting on the dagger at his waist.

As the group set off, Suya handed Lin Ye a cloth bag containing strips of cloth soaked in radiation grass juice: "Wrap these around your arrows to repel low-level zombies. And this too." She handed him a small bottle of green liquid, "It's an antidote for chemical poisoning, in case... it comes in handy."

Lin Ye took the cloth bag and medicine bottle, his fingertips accidentally brushing against her hand. The girl recoiled as if electrocuted, her cheeks flushing red, and she turned and ran back to the field. Lin Xi covered her mouth and laughed behind him, but Lin Ye glared at her, so she stuck out her tongue and ran away.

The cannery was more secluded than expected, hidden behind an abandoned residential area. Ivy climbed all over the red brick walls of the factory, and the faded signboard of "Red Star Food Factory" could be vaguely seen among the branches. Lin Ye left the main force to keep watch outside, and only took Li Hu, Lin Jianjun, Skinny Monkey, and Scarface inside to scout.

The warehouse entrance was in the underground passage of the office building. As the skinny monkey had said, the iron gate was tightly closed, with a rusty padlock hanging on it, the keyhole filled with dirt. Lin Ye aimed an arrow coated with a low-temperature agent at the keyhole and shot it gently. The agent instantly froze the lock cylinder. Li Hu stepped forward and kicked it open, the iron gate making a loud "bang".

"It's very dark down there, I'll go get a torch." Scarface said, and was about to walk back, but Lin Jianjun stopped him.

"No need." Lin Jianjun turned on his flashlight, the beam piercing the darkness and illuminating the steps leading underground. "Stay close, or no one will save you if you fall."

Thick dust covered the steps, and the footprints were messy, indicating that someone had been here recently. Lin Ye's senses spread down the steps, and there was indeed an energy reaction in the warehouse on the third basement level, but it wasn't zombies, but... humans!

"Stop." Lin Ye lowered his voice, signaling everyone to stop. "There are people down there."

Skinny Monkey and Scarface's expressions changed simultaneously. Skinny Monkey stammered, "No, that's impossible. There was clearly no one here when we arrived..."

Lin Ye ignored him and gestured for Li Hu to be quiet. The four of them tiptoed down the steps. The basement was a packaging workshop, with broken cans scattered all over the floor, and a sweet, rotten smell filled the air. Lin Ye picked up an unbroken can; the label read "Canned Yellow Peach," and the production date was three months before the apocalypse. It was well-sealed.

"Looks like the rumors are true." Li Hu weighed the can in his hand. "This stuff should last the people at the outpost for half a month."

When they reached the second basement level, the beam of the flashlight illuminated bullet holes in the wall and several scattered shell casings. Lin Ye picked up the casings; they were from a military pistol and the edges were still quite new, indicating that the weapon had been fired recently.

"They're from the 'Iron Hand Gang.'" Lin Jianjun recognized the markings on the bullet casings. "These bastards robbed the armory on the west side last month, I didn't expect them to hide here."

The Iron Hand Gang is a troublesome force for several nearby strongholds. Its leader is an esper named Iron Hand, who can harden his arms into steel. He is ruthless and makes a living by plundering. Lin Ye sensed fifteen people on the third underground level, one of whom had an exceptionally strong energy reaction and a metallic sheen emanating from his arm. This must be Iron Hand.

"They're moving canned goods." Lin Ye gestured for everyone to hide behind the pillars and peek through the crack in the door. Sure enough, there were more than a dozen people in the warehouse, packing canned goods into sacks. Tie Shou stood in front of the shelves with his back to them, playing with a military dagger in his hand, seemingly waiting for someone.

"Boss, why haven't Skinny Monkey and Scarface come back yet?" one of the henchmen asked. "Did they sell us out?"

Iron Hand sneered, twirling his military dagger in his palm: "Selling them would be even better. It'll let them test how deep those guys from the east of the city really are. If we can lure Lin Ye over, we can kill two birds with one stone—steal his canned goods and take over his stronghold."

Skinny Monkey and Scarface, hiding outside the door, turned pale and tried to run away, but Li Hu grabbed them and covered their mouths. Lin Ye's eyes turned cold. So these two were bait from the Iron Hand Gang, deliberately luring them here.

"Shall we get started?" Li Hu asked in a low voice, his hand already gripping the machete tightly.

"Wait," Lin Ye gestured for him to calm down. "They outnumber you; a direct confrontation will put you at a disadvantage. Watch my signal."

He took out the green medicine bottle Suya had given him from his backpack, uncorked it, poured the liquid onto a strip of cloth, and then quietly circled around to the warehouse's ventilation shaft. The Iron Hand Gang members had their backs to the ventilation shaft, and no one noticed that the fence above their heads had been quietly pried open.

Lin Ye threw the cloth strip stained with the drug into the warehouse. The green liquid evaporated in the air, emitting a faint herbal scent—this was a sedative drug specially made by Su Ya, which was effective on ordinary people and could also cause temporary dizziness to those with superpowers.

"What's that smell?" Iron Hand frowned, suddenly feeling dizzy, and his arm's hardening ability became sluggish. His men fared even worse, collapsing to the ground one after another, snoring loudly.

"Now!" Lin Ye shouted, jumping down from the ventilation shaft first, his military dagger aimed straight at Tie Shou's back.

Iron Hand reacted with lightning speed, his arm instantly hardening into steel to block the dagger's attack. With a crisp clang, sparks flew as Lin Ye used the momentum to retreat, narrowly avoiding Iron Hand's counter-punch.

"Lin Ye! It really is you!" Tie Shou was both surprised and furious. He hadn't expected that the other party would see through his scheme and turn the tables on him.

Li Hu and Lin Jianjun also rushed in. Li Hu dealt with the remaining henchmen who hadn't been drugged, while Lin Jianjun aimed his rifle at Tie Shou to prevent him from escaping. Skinny Monkey and Scarface were tied to a pillar, trembling with fear, constantly begging for mercy.

Although Iron Hand's arm was strong, it was slowed down by the drug, and Lin Ye quickly found an opening. Lin Ye injected dark purple energy into the dagger and swept it horizontally, slicing through Iron Hand's wrist. Although he didn't break the bone, he temporarily lost his grip, and the military dagger fell to the ground with a clatter.

"Do you submit now?" Lin Ye pressed a dagger against his throat, dark purple energy pulsating at the blade, ready to pierce his carotid artery at any moment.

Iron Hand's face was ashen. He looked at his men lying on the ground, then at Lin Jianjun standing at the door. Knowing that all was lost, he spat out a mouthful of saliva in resentment: "Kill me or torture me, it's all up to you!"

"I won't kill you." Lin Ye sheathed his dagger. "But you have to come back to our base with us and return everything we stole."

He had no interest in wiping them out completely. Although the Iron Hands were despicable, there might be reformable individuals within their ranks. The stronghold needed manpower, especially those knowledgeable in weaponry—the Iron Hands had seized the armory, and they might have the weapons they needed.

When they cleaned the warehouse, everyone was stunned by what they saw. The shelves were filled with all kinds of canned goods: peaches, oranges, meat... and even several boxes of unopened compressed biscuits, enough to feed the people at the outpost for a month. In the corner, there were also several bundles of rubber tubing, which were the filter materials that Zhou Ming urgently needed.

"We've struck it rich!" Li Hu excitedly stuffed canned goods into the sack. "Now we don't have to eat wild vegetables every day!"

Lin Jianjun found a map in the Iron Hand Gang's backpack, which marked the locations of several nearby forces. In addition to the Iron Hand Gang and their stronghold, there was an organization called "Black Crow Hall," marked with a skull symbol, which looked more dangerous than the Iron Hand Gang.

"What's the background of this Black Crow Hall?" Lin Ye asked Tie Shou.

Iron Hand snorted coldly, clearly unwilling to say more, but under Lin Jianjun's gun, he finally relented: "A bunch of lunatics who eat the flesh of mutants. It's said that their superpowers evolve very quickly, but they also become neither human nor ghost."

Lin Ye's gaze fell on the location of Black Crow Hall on the map, not far from the cannery, just north of the slaughterhouse. He remembered that Skinny Monkey had said that in addition to being parasitized by the Corpse King, some of the people in the southern settlement had been abducted by Black Crow Hall.

"Keep the map safe," Lin Ye said to Lin Jianjun. "Take it back and show it to Grandpa Zhang."

On the return journey, the Iron Hands gang members were tied to a cart, while Skinny Monkey and Scarface were sent ahead to scout the way, as a way of redeeming themselves. Li Hu drove the cart full of canned goods, humming an off-key tune, in an extremely good mood.

Lin Ye walked at the back of the group, looking at the mountain of canned goods piled on the cart, but he felt no relief. The Iron Hand Gang was just a minor problem; the appearance of the Black Crow Hall, and the tumorous corpse king that could control the tide of decay, all foreshadowed that the road ahead would be even more difficult.

As the sun set, the outline of the outpost appeared on the horizon. Lin Xi and Su Ya stood by the sluice gate, gazing into the distance. Seeing them return, they waved excitedly. The rice seedlings in the fields had grown taller, swaying gently in the evening breeze like a green wave.

Lin Ye suddenly realized that these canned goods and rubber hoses might not be the biggest gain of the day. The most precious things were finding a way to survive in the clashes with other forces and protecting his companions and hope in this perilous apocalypse.

He quickened his pace, heading towards the stronghold. The campfire behind the gate was already lit, illuminating everyone's smiling faces; its light appeared especially warm in the darkening sky.