Doomsday Reboot: My Superpowers Absorb Everything

The harvested rice paddies revealed the brown soil. Su Ya was directing the children to bundle the straw into stacks. These dried straws could be used as fuel or crushed into fertilizer. Lin Ye stood on top of the granary, watching Li Hu lead his men to carry the newly harvested rice inside. The sound of the sacks being stacked was dull and reassuring, like the beat of a drum in everyone's heart.

"Will Zhao Feng and his gang really come to collect the grain as agreed?" Li Hu wiped his sweat as he carried the last bag of rice into the granary. He slammed the iron granary door shut with a clang, and the large brass lock hanging on it was as big as a fist.

"They'll come." Lin Ye jumped down from the top of the granary, his military boots rustling on the straw. "If he wanted to rob us by force, he wouldn't have agreed to join forces yesterday. The Iron Hoof Alliance may be domineering, but that old bastard still has some sense of rules."

Even so, he still ordered Lin Jianjun to increase the number of sentries around the granary. During the daytime harvest, the sentries in the watchtower spotted the Iron Hoof Alliance members loitering on the northern hillside. Although they didn't get close, their menacing presence made everyone uneasy.

As night fell, a campfire was lit. Old Zhang had specially ordered the kitchen to cook new rice; the white rice porridge, mixed with wild vegetables, filled the entire stronghold with its aroma. Stone and a few other survivors from the Black Crow Hall sat around the fire, holding earthenware bowls in their hands, their eyes less filled with fear and more with peace.

"Let's go to the steel mill next week and get some more steel plates." Old Zhang tapped the ground with his iron cane. "The granary needs another roof. The current height isn't enough to protect against mutated birds."

Zhou Ming was inspecting the newly filtered water when he heard this and looked up, saying, "I'll go with you. The pipes at the purification station need replacing too. We'll also see if we can find some rubber pads."

Lin Ye nodded, and was about to say something when the sentry on the east side suddenly let out a short cry of surprise, and then fell silent.

"Something's happened!" Lin Jianjun jumped up and cocked his rifle instantly.

Lin Ye's senses spread instantly. There was no one outside the fence to the east. The sentry's presence had vanished completely, leaving only a faint smell of blood and a... familiar metallic scent.

"It's an ability user from the Iron Hoof Alliance!" Lin Ye shouted in a low voice, his military dagger already gripped in his hand. "They didn't leave!"

The group rushed towards the eastern fence, where they found the sentry lying on the ground with a thin wound on his neck, clearly from a sharp weapon. The iron padlock on the fence had been opened, and several hoofprints were visible in the mud nearby, leading towards the granary.

"You son of a bitch! You dare to play dirty tricks!" Li Hu roared, picked up his rocket launcher, and was about to give chase.

"Don't chase them." Lin Ye pulled him back. "Their target is the granary; they're deliberately leading us there."

In his perception, there were more than a dozen energy reactions lurking around the granary, all of them members of the Iron Hoof Alliance. One of them was the superhuman who could manipulate metal, who was currently hiding in the shadows of the granary, gently shaking his finger at the door lock.

"Suya," Lin Ye whispered, "can you bring the straw around the granary to life?"

Suya immediately understood his meaning. Green energy spread along the ground, and the straw around the granary suddenly twisted like snakes, wrapping around the ankles of the lurking figures. Caught off guard, the Iron Hoof Alliance members tumbled out of the shadows, dropping their weapons to the ground.

"Attack!" Lin Ye gave the order, and the people in the stronghold rushed out from all directions, unleashing arrows and machetes at the same time.

The Iron Hoof Alliance members were clearly caught off guard and immediately fell into chaos. The metal-type ability user tried to use the weapons on the ground to fight back, but was trapped by Zhou Ming's ice wall. The ice was mixed with Su Ya's poison vine sap, and the melting ice water flowed down his skin, quickly wiping him out of strength.

The battle didn't last long; all the dozen or so infiltrators were subdued, tied up like dumplings, and thrown to the ground. Lin Ye walked up to the metal-type ability user, the same guy who had been terrified by the Stone Armored Corpse King during the day. Now, his face was deathly pale, and his eyes were filled with fear.

"Where's Zhao Feng?" Lin Ye used a dagger to lift Zhao Feng's chin, dark purple energy pulsating at the edge of the blade.

The superhuman stammered, "The...the leader didn't tell us to actually rob you...he just...he wanted to see your defenses..."

Lin Ye's face darkened. This was half true and half false. Zhao Feng might not have ordered a forced raid, but he definitely wanted to test the strength of the stronghold in preparation for future actions.

"Lock them up," Lin Ye said to Li Hu. "Tomorrow at dawn, let Zhao Feng come and ransom them."

After dealing with the lurking intruders, Lin Ye walked to the granary and inspected the damaged lock. Li Hu cursed beside him, saying that he should have buried landmines all around the granary and blown these bastards to bits.

"They didn't bring heavy weapons," Lin Jianjun suddenly said. "And they're all low-level ability users; they don't seem like they're here to rob us."

Lin Ye nodded, but felt even more uneasy. Zhao Feng, that old fox, would never do anything pointless. Why was he sending these people to their deaths?

The next morning, Zhao Feng arrived as expected, accompanied only by two guards, riding a mutated warhorse and carrying a wooden box. He showed no change in expression when he saw his men bound to the fence, as if he had anticipated this.

"I'll redeem the man, and you can collect the grain as agreed." Zhao Feng threw the wooden crate on the ground. He opened the crate and found a dozen brand-new rifles and a box of bullets inside. "Consider this my apology."

Lin Ye didn't move his rifle, but just looked at him: "Alliance Leader Zhao's act is boring."

Zhao Feng smiled, his scar looking particularly menacing in the sunlight: "I just wanted to see just how capable a stronghold could survive the Stone Armor Corpse King. Now it seems you, Lin Ye, are indeed skilled." He paused, his tone becoming serious, "But I'm not here to provoke you, I'm here to deliver a message."

Everyone was stunned.

"The remnants of the Black Crow Gang are not all dead." Zhao Feng's voice was deep. "Mo Lin's younger brother, Mo Yu, has fled south with a group of madmen. They are said to be looking for the 'Blood Crystal' that can evolve mutants, which is located in the chemical industrial zone."

Blood Crystal? This was the first time Lin Ye had heard this name.

"What is that?" Suya couldn't help but ask.

"It's a mutated crystal core with excessively high radiation concentration, and it's highly poisonous," Zhao Feng explained. "Swallowing it will cause the mutant to evolve instantly, but it will also completely lose its mind and become a monster that only knows how to kill. Mo Yu is even crazier than his brother. If he finds the blood crystal, all the nearby strongholds will be doomed."

Lin Ye's heart skipped a beat. The chemical industrial park was very close to the purification station. If Mo Yu caused any trouble there, the water source for the purification station could be contaminated.

"Why are you telling me all this?" Lin Ye stared into Zhao Feng's eyes.

"Although my Iron Hoof Alliance is domineering, we don't want to be wiped out by the madmen." Zhao Feng mounted his horse. "If you want to go and take a look, I can lend you ten men, all of whom are veterans who have experienced zombie hordes."

After saying that, he left without looking back, leading his redeemed men. Lin Ye watched his retreating figure, then glanced at the rifle on the ground, and fell into deep thought.

"That old fox is definitely up to no good." Li Hu kicked the rifle case. "Maybe he wants to use someone else to do his dirty work, so that we and the remnants of the Black Crow Gang will both suffer heavy losses."

"It's possible." Lin Jianjun nodded. "But regarding Mo Yu, it's better to be safe than sorry. The radiation in the chemical industrial zone is already high. If they really create some kind of monster, we'll be the first to suffer."

Lin Ye looked at Zhou Ming, who was checking the water quality report of the purification station, his brows furrowed: "The radiation levels in the recent water samples have indeed been rising, but not by much. I thought it was just a normal fluctuation."

"Let's go take a look." Lin Ye made the decision. "Li Hu, you take a team to guard the stronghold. I'll go to the chemical industrial park with Dad, Su Ya, and A Ying, and bring Shi Tou and the others with us. They're familiar with the Black Crow Gang's methods."

As they were getting ready to leave, Lin Xi ran over and stuffed a cloth bag into Lin Ye's backpack. Inside were freshly made rice cakes: "Brother, eat these on the way. Sister Su Ya said we can't touch anything in the chemical industrial zone, so please don't touch anything you shouldn't."

Lin Ye gently ruffled her hair, feeling a surge of warmth in his heart. He glanced at the distant rice paddies, where newly sown vegetable seeds had already sprouted tender shoots, glistening green in the morning dew.

"Wait for us to come back," Lin Ye said to Old Zhang. "Take good care of the house."

Old Zhang nodded and tapped his iron cane on the ground: "Come back alive."

As the team set off, ten men sent by Zhao Feng were already waiting outside the stronghold. They were all tough, wiry men, carrying rifles and carrying sabers at their waists, their eyes sharp with the experience of many battles. The leader was an old soldier named Lao Zheng, who was said to have been Zhao Feng's bodyguard before.

"Chief Lin." Old Zheng gave a slightly sloppy salute. "Alliance Leader Zhao said that once we reach the chemical industrial zone, we'll be under your command."

Lin Ye nodded, saying nothing more. He didn't know what Zhao Feng was up to, but right now, they really needed help.

The scene in the chemical industrial park was even more bizarre than imagined. Outside the abandoned factories, mutated plants grew as hard as steel, with metallic sheen on the edges of their leaves; the puddles on the ground were dark green, bubbling and emitting a pungent odor; tiny black particles floated in the air, and inhaling them felt like being pricked with needles.

"Put on your masks." Lin Ye distributed the prepared air-filtering masks to everyone. "Try not to touch anything here."

His senses cautiously expanded, detecting over a dozen energy reactions within the warehouse ahead. One of them was particularly violent, carrying the chaotic aura characteristic of the Black Crow Hall—presumably Mo Yu. Dozens of mutated creatures lingered around the warehouse, moving sluggishly, their skin a strange purplish-black, clearly affected by the blood crystal's radiation.

"Mo Yu is in the warehouse," Lin Ye said to the group. "Old Zheng, you take your men and guard the back door of the warehouse. Don't let him escape. We'll attack from the front."

Old Zheng nodded and led his men silently around to the back of the warehouse. Lin Ye took a deep breath, signaling Su Ya to prepare to activate the vines, while he gripped his military dagger and rushed towards the warehouse door.

The warehouse reeked of an overwhelming stench of blood. Dozens of mutated corpses lay on the floor, their heads pried open, their crystal cores gone. Mo Yu stood in the center of the warehouse with his back to them, holding a black crystal the size of a human head. Dark red liquid flowed within the crystal, like congealed blood—it was a Blood Crystal!

"You've come." Mo Yu slowly turned around, his face half covered in scales and half still human skin, his eyes flashing with a crazed light. "Perfect, witness my perfect evolution!"

He pressed the blood crystal against his chest, and the black crystal instantly merged into his body. Mo Yu let out a painful yet excited roar, his body began to expand wildly, scales covered his entire torso, a pair of huge bone wings grew from his back, and a long sword made of bone spikes materialized in his hand.

"It's a Blood Crystal Zombie!" Stone exclaimed in terror. "The Black Crow Hall's ancient texts record that it's a monster that can devour everything!"

Mo Yu, no, it should now be called the Blood Crystal Zombie, let out a deafening roar, flapped its bone wings, and pounced towards Lin Ye.

A new and fierce battle has officially begun in this radiation-filled chemical industrial zone. Lin Ye looked at the monster rushing towards him, then at his companions and the veterans sent by Zhao Feng, and gripped the dagger in his hand tightly.

Whatever Zhao Feng's purpose is, and no matter how terrifying these blood crystal zombies are, they must win.

For the rice paddies of the outpost, for the clean water of the purification station, for those who are still waiting for them to return.