Doomsday Reboot: My Superpowers Absorb Everything

The warehouse at the outpost was filled with the sweet aroma of fruit. More than twenty sacks were piled up like a small mountain, filled with canned yellow peaches seized from the cannery. Old Zhang, leaning on his iron cane, checked the production dates on each sack one by one, a rare smile appearing in his cloudy eyes: "This batch of canned goods can last for three years, enough to keep us until the autumn harvest."

Lin Ye squatted in the corner, wiping his composite bow. The bowstring was wrapped with newly replaced mutated beast tendons, made from materials seized by the Iron Hand Gang, and its elasticity was several times better than before. Iron Hand was locked in a makeshift wooden cell, his hands and feet chained together. He was currently facing away from everyone, lost in thought.

"Did that guy tell the truth?" Lin Ye asked Lin Jianjun, who was guarding outside the cell door.

"He's incredibly stubborn." Lin Jianjun added a piece of firewood to the fire, and sparks flew onto Tie Shou's prison uniform, but he didn't even lift his eyelids. "When asked about the Black Crow Gang, he just said, 'It'll be your turn sooner or later,' and wouldn't say anything else."

Li Hu walked in carrying an open can of yellow peaches. The peaches inside were plump and juicy. He scooped out a big mouthful with a spoon and mumbled, "Whether he talks or not, we have a map. After we reinforce the fence a bit more, I'll take a team to the slaughterhouse and see what that Black Crow Hall is all about."

"No way." Old Zhang put down the canned food jar in his hand and tapped the ground with his iron cane. "The Corruption Tide has just passed, the stronghold needs to rest and recuperate, and the Black Crow Gang dares to eat the flesh of mutants, they're definitely not easy to deal with." He looked at Lin Ye, "What do you think?"

Lin Ye's gaze fell on the Black Crow Hall's mark on the map. The slaughterhouse was located right between the purification station and the steel mill. If they occupied it, water supply and steel transportation would be restricted. He recalled Iron Hand's words, "neither human nor ghost," and a sense of unease crept into his heart.

"I'll go scout." Lin Ye stood up, gently plucking the bowstring, which emitted a deep hum. "I'll only take A-Ying and Zhou Ming with me, keep a low profile, and leave first thing tomorrow morning."

Zhou Ming's water-based ability allows him to create ice mirrors for reconnaissance, A Ying's speed is suitable for breaking through, and combined with his perception, the three of them are indeed a safer team than a large group. Old Zhang nodded and did not object further, but only instructed, "Don't fight head-on, find out their situation and then come back."

The next morning, Lin Ye and his two companions, carrying compressed biscuits and water bags, quietly left the stronghold through a hidden door. The slaughterhouse was only five kilometers away from the stronghold, and scattered low-level zombies roamed the ruins along the way, which Lin Ye easily dealt with using arrows infused with radioactive grass juice.

The closer they got to the slaughterhouse, the stronger the stench of blood became. It wasn't the sweet, metallic smell of fresh blood, but rather a stench of rotting metal that made their stomachs churn. Zhou Ming used his ice goggles to probe ahead. The reflection showed the slaughterhouse's iron gate—the once sturdy gate had been forcibly torn open, with dark red chunks of meat hanging from the twisted steel bars, like some kind of warning.

"Something's not right." A-Ying's voice was extremely low, her fingers gripping the short knife tightly. "It's too quiet here, there isn't even a mutated rat."

Lin Ye's senses had covered the entire slaughterhouse. The energy reactions inside were chaotic and violent, containing the aura of humans, the fluctuations of mutants, and a strange energy somewhere in between, as if they had been forcibly fused together.

"Stay close to me." Lin Ye gestured for the two to move close to the wall, his military dagger gripped in his hand, dark purple energy quietly circulating within it.

Scattered in the slaughterhouse yard were skeletons, some human, some mutated beasts, all gnawed clean and stained with dried black blood. Several abandoned pigsties were piled high with corpses, mostly people from the southern settlement, their eyes wide open, their faces frozen in extreme terror.

"It was Black Crow Hall who did it." Zhou Ming's voice trembled. The graffiti on the pigsty wall was reflected in the ice mirror—a crow drawn with blood, its wings still covered with bits of flesh.

The three crossed the courtyard and arrived at the main building of the slaughterhouse. The doors were wide open, and strange howls came from inside, like human cries or the roars of wild beasts. Lin Ye gestured for A Ying and Zhou Ming to stand guard at the door, while he crept in along the wall.

In the main hall, a dozen people were gathered around a stone altar, each wearing a black cloak and with raven totems painted on their faces. A young girl, Xiaoya, was bound in the center of the altar; she was from the southern settlement, whom Lin Ye had seen during the seed exchange.

A tall, cloaked figure stood before the altar, holding a blood-stained bone knife, its tip pointed at Xiaoya's heart. His voice was hoarse, like sandpaper scraping: "With flesh and blood as the catalyst, with the mutated core as the sacrifice, we will gain the power of eternal life—"

"Stop!" Lin Ye could no longer hold back. He threw his military dagger, which was imbued with dark purple energy, and accurately knocked the bone knife away.

The cloaked figure was clearly not expected to be disturbed, and paused for a moment before slowly turning around. He removed his hood, revealing a face covered in scales, with pure yellow eyes, pupils that were vertical like snakes, and dark red bloodstains remaining at the corners of his mouth.

"It's you." The scaly man recognized Lin Ye, a glint of greed flashing in his yellow eyes. "A fish that slipped through the net from the cannery. Perfect. Your ability is very pure, suitable as a sacrifice."

The cloaked figures around him removed their hoods, each revealing varying degrees of mutation on their faces—some had animal ears, some had feathered arms, and others had skin that festered like zombies, yet exuded the aura of the living. Upon seeing Lin Ye, they roared with excitement, pointing their weapons at him.

"These people... have been forcibly fused with the crystal cores of mutants." In Lin Ye's perception, the energy within their bodies was chaotic, with human life force and the ferocity of mutants clashing violently. "Aren't you afraid of exploding and dying?"

"Ignorant fool." The scaly man sneered, running his fingers along his scales. "This is evolution! It's a gift from God! Look—" He suddenly rushed toward a low-level zombie beside him, tore open its head with his bare hands, and swallowed the crystal core.

A bizarre scene unfolded: the scaly man's wounds healed at a visible speed, his scales grew even harder, and the ferocity in his yellow eyes intensified. He let out a superhuman roar, moving faster than A-Ying, and instantly pounced on Lin Ye, his claws slicing through the air with a stench.

Lin Ye was prepared; dark purple energy condensed into a shield in his palm, blocking the claw attack. The enormous impact forced him back three steps, his arm going numb—this scaly man's strength was even greater than Iron Hand's.

"Aying! Take Xiaoya away!" Lin Ye shouted, leading the scaly man to the east side of the hall, where the space was narrow and could limit his speed.

Aying appeared instantly beside the altar, cut the ropes with her dagger, picked up the unconscious Xiaoya, and rushed out. Several cloaked figures tried to stop her, but were blocked by the ice wall created by Zhou Ming. The surface of the ice wall was covered with sharp ice spikes, which pierced the throats of the two people.

The battle in the hall was exceptionally fierce. The cloaked figures varied in strength, but their greatest strength lay in their fearlessness; even with their arms severed, they would still pounce and bite. Lin Ye's dark purple energy could purify the mutated energy within them. With each strike, the mutated characteristics of the opponent would diminish, revealing their original human form, but this also depleted his energy extremely quickly.

"Look at yourselves!" Lin Ye shouted at a cloaked figure with animal ears. A dagger sliced ​​through the figure's shoulder, and dark purple energy surged into it. The animal ears gradually faded, revealing a young face. "This isn't evolution, it's self-destruction!"

A sharp pain shot through the young man's head; he seemed to remember something, and his eyes became glazed. Seeing this, the scaly man roared and hurled his bone knife, piercing the young man's heart: "Traitor! You deserve to die!"

Enraged, Lin Ye no longer held back. Dark purple energy condensed into claws, tearing through the scaly man's defenses and leaving three deep, bone-revealing wounds on his chest. The scaly man let out a painful roar, the mutated energy within him raging wildly, and the blood vessels beneath his skin bulged, like writhing earthworms.

"Let's perish together!" The scaly man seemed to have gone mad, and his body began to swell, clearly intending to detonate the crystal core inside him.

Lin Ye quickly retreated, shouting to Zhou Ming at the doorway, "Freeze!"

Zhou Ming's water-based energy erupted instantly, freezing the entire hall floor, including the feet of the scaled man. His swollen body lost its balance on the ice, and the scaled man crashed heavily to the ground. Most of the detonated energy shot towards the ceiling, blasting a large hole in the main building's roof, sending debris and wood chips raining down.

When the smoke cleared, only Lin Ye and Zhou Ming remained in the hall. The cloaked figures were either dead or injured, and those whose mutated energy had been partially purified lay sprawled on the ground, staring blankly at their hands, unsure whether to feel relief or despair.

Lin Ye walked to the altar, which was covered with densely packed runes, and the powder of the crystal core still lingered in the groove in the middle. He thought of Xiao Ya's terrified face and the bones that had been gnawed on, and his heart felt like it was being weighed down by a stone.

"What do we do with these people?" Zhou Ming pointed at the surviving cloaked figures. Although their mutated features had faded somewhat, the fierce glint in their eyes had not yet disappeared.

Lin Ye remained silent for a long time before slowly speaking: "Take them back to the base and lock them up. Save those who can be saved, and those who can't..." He didn't finish his sentence, but both of them understood what he meant.

Aying returned carrying Xiaoya. The girl was awake, but trembling with fear, clutching Aying's clothes tightly. Seeing Lin Ye, she choked out, "They...they threw my brother into the mutated beast's cage..."

Lin Ye's heart sank to the bottom. He walked to the animal cage behind the main building, and sure enough, there was a child's corpse inside the cage that had been gnawed and mutilated, with half of a mutated dog's crystal core lying next to it.

"Beast." Lin Ye clenched his fist, his knuckles turning white, dark purple energy churning in his palm, almost out of control.

Zhou Ming patted him on the shoulder without saying anything, but the anger and grief in his eyes were exactly the same as his.

On the way back, the surviving cloaked figure was tied to a cart, head bowed, silent. Xiaoya sat next to Aying, clutching a jade pendant she had found on her younger brother, tears silently streaming down her face.

The setting sun cast long shadows across the slaughterhouse, making it resemble a gigantic beast with a bloodthirsty maw. Lin Ye glanced back, knowing full well that although the Black Crow Hall had been severely damaged, its distorted evolutionary philosophy had spread like a malignant tumor and would inevitably make a comeback sooner or later.

The campfire at the outpost glowed in the distance; Lin Xi and Su Ya must be waiting for them again. Lin Ye took a deep breath and quickened his pace.

He didn't know how many madmen like the Black Crow Hall or mutants like the Tumor Corpse King he would encounter in the future, but he knew that as long as the campfire in the stronghold was still burning and the rice seedlings in the fields were still growing, they had to keep going.

Even if the ground beneath your feet is covered in bones, and ahead lies an abyss.