Doomsday Reboot: My Superpowers Absorb Everything

Before the dust from the collapsed clock tower had settled, Lin Ye was kneeling at the edge of the ruins, using his uninjured left hand to pry away the scalding hot stones. The silver markings on his right arm flickered like a candle in the wind—the red light from the Corpse Mother had not only suppressed the energy but also left tiny red dots in his flesh, like sparks piercing his skin, occasionally causing a burning pain.

"Zhao Feng!" he roared, moving aside a concrete slab to reveal half a bloodstained military knife underneath, the wolf head emblem on the hilt blackened by the fire. There was no corpse, only a pool of congealing black blood mixed with ashes of mycelium, like a spread-out ink stain.

The silver pattern suddenly trembled violently. Lin Ye looked down and saw a metal piece the size of a fingernail embedded in the black blood—the Iron Hoof Alliance's communicator, still flickering faintly. As he picked up the communicator, he heard Old Zheng's hoarse voice come through: "Alliance Leader? Please respond if you hear me… A large number of mutated giant ants have been discovered on the west side of the fortress. Su Yatou's vines are about to give way…"

Lin Ye's heart sank. The mutated giant ants were social creatures, usually hiding underground unless their nest was disturbed—clearly, the explosion of the clock tower had awakened them. He glanced at the time on his communicator; two hours had passed since Zhao Feng covered his ascent to the rooftop, and the giant ants had probably already breached the outer defenses.

"I'm going back right away." Lin Ye growled into the communicator, stuffed the fragments of the general's knife into his pocket, and turned to run towards the valley. The burning pain in his right arm grew more and more intense. He gritted his teeth and poured dark purple energy into the silver pattern, even if it could only temporarily suppress the spread of the red dots.

As he ran through the streets covered with sunflower seedlings, he saw them growing wildly, vines climbing along the remnants of mycelium, barbs on the green shoots digging into the black blood, oozing a faint golden sap. Lin Ye suddenly remembered what Su Ya had said—that the vitality of plants could digest the cells of the Corpse Dragon, and perhaps it would also be effective against the Corpse Mother's mycelium. He bent down, grabbed a handful of soil with seedlings attached, and stuffed it into his backpack.

The closer they got to the valley, the stronger the stench of formic acid in the air became. Most of the low wall on the west side of the fortress had collapsed, and Suya's vines were riddled with holes, green sap flowing down them and forming small puddles on the ground. Li Hu was leading his men, sweeping the ant swarm with flamethrowers; the orange-red flames licked at the ant colony, producing a crackling sound as their carapaces burst, but even more giant ants emerged from the ground, surging towards the breach like a black tide.

"Brother Ye! You're finally back!" Li Hu's eyes reddened when he saw him. "Where's Alliance Leader Zhao?"

Lin Ye didn't answer. He grabbed the spare rifle from the ground and scattered the soil from his backpack onto the ant colony. The soil, still containing the seedlings, landed on the giant ants, and the vines suddenly grew rapidly, like tiny chains binding their carapaces. Golden sap seeped in, and the giant ants immediately convulsed, their carapaces melting at a visible speed.

"This thing works!" Li Hu was both surprised and delighted, and everyone followed suit, grabbing soil from the grass and throwing it into the ant colony.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Suya encouraged the growth of vines, channeling green energy into the seedlings and making them grow faster and stronger. Soon, a green wall composed of vines and seedlings formed on the west side of the fortress, firmly keeping the giant ants out.

When Lin Ye rushed to Su Ya's side, he noticed that the girl's lips were bloodless, her green energy was almost depleted, and the vines had turned yellowish-brown. "Don't push yourself." He held her hand and transferred his last remaining dark purple energy to her. "Zhao Feng... couldn't come back."

Suya swayed, tears silently streaming down her face, but she simply nodded forcefully, turned to the crowd, and shouted, "Reinforce the green wall! Pour concrete inside the vines!"

It was late at night when they finished dealing with the giant ants. Lin Ye sat on the watchtower of the fortress, stroking the fragments of Zhao Feng's military knife in his hand. The Iron Hoof Alliance members gathered around the campfire, no one spoke, but Lin Ye could sense their emotions—sadness, and a hint of bewilderment, like a flock of sheep that had lost its leader.

Skinny Monkey suddenly walked over and handed Lin Ye a gourd of wine: "The leader said... this is the last bottle of strong liquor he hid, originally intended for a celebration after the fortress was built." His voice choked with emotion, "He also said that if he didn't come back, we should listen to you."

Lin Ye opened the gourd of wine, and the spicy liquor slid down his throat, carrying a burning warmth. He looked at the Iron Hoof Alliance soldiers by the campfire. Most of them were young men in their early twenties, their faces still bearing traces of youthful innocence, but their eyes held a hint of the vicissitudes of the apocalypse.

"Zhao Feng said we need to build a fortress that can defend against level nine mutants." Lin Ye stood up, the fragments of his military knife gleaming in the firelight. "We'll continue building tomorrow. We'll reinforce the foundation with concrete and then bury three layers of steel bars so the giant ants can't chew it up; we'll raise the outer walls by three meters and install electric fences on top to protect against mutant birds; we'll move the greenhouse to the center of the fortress, cover it with glass, and use Su Ya's vines as a barrier."

He paused, his gaze sweeping over the crowd: "From now on, the Iron Hoof Alliance and the stronghold members will be one family. What Zhao Feng didn't finish, we'll finish together."

[At this point, I hope readers will remember our domain name: ①⓪①ⓚⓚⓢ.ⓒⓞⓜ]

Skinny Monkey was the first to stand up, giving a half-hearted military salute: "As Commander Lin commands!"

The other Iron Hoof Alliance soldiers also stood up, their movements uneven, but their eyes were filled with determination. Lin Ye looked at them and suddenly understood Zhao Feng's intention—he had used his own sacrifice to completely eliminate the barriers between the two forces, allowing them to truly unite into one force.

Over the next month, construction of the fortress proceeded at a rapid pace. The Iron Hoof Alliance members, skilled in building fortifications, used steel bars and plates salvaged from the biochemical laboratory to construct an impregnable outer wall for the fortress. Under Suya's guidance, the survivors of the stronghold planted plants around the fortress that could suppress mycelia and mutants, including sunflowers, thorn vines, and special seedlings brought back from the hospital ruins, forming a natural green barrier.

Lin Ye's right arm gradually improved. Although the silver veins hadn't fully recovered to their peak condition, they were now functioning stably. He discovered that he could use the silver veins to convert the life force of plants into energy, albeit weakly, but enough to slowly repair his meridians. Su Ya said this was the result of the fusion of the silver veins and plant energy, and perhaps one day he would be able to nurture plants like she was.

That afternoon, Lin Ye was inspecting the newly installed power grid when Zhou Ming suddenly rushed over, holding a leaf in his hand: "Lin boy, look what this is!"

The leaf was picked from the green barrier outside the fortress. A small white worm was crawling on it, nibbling at the leaf. And inside the worm's body, a faint red glow could be seen—it was the mycelium of the Corpse Mother!

"The mycelium has mutated." Lin Ye's expression was grave, and his silver veins were slightly hot. "They can parasitize insects and spread through plants."

He followed Zhou Ming to the green barrier and indeed found that many insects were glowing red, and the edges of the leaves on the plants they had eaten were already turning black. Even more unsettling, in the distant ruins, swarms of mutated locusts could be vaguely seen, their wings flashing with an eerie red light, clearly also infected by the mycelium.

"It's the Corpse Mother's counterattack." Suya's voice was filled with worry, green energy pulsating in her palm. "It's using insects to destroy our barrier."

Lin Ye looked at the swarm of locusts in the distance, flying towards the fortress, their numbers like a dark cloud. He suddenly remembered the box of antiviral serum Zhao Feng had left behind, and the sunflower seedlings in the ruins of the clock tower.

"Li Hu, dilute all the serum, put it in a sprayer, and spray it on the plants of the green barrier; Shouhou, lead a team to guard the electric fence, and use the electric fence to electrocute locusts when they get close; Su Ya, encourage the growth of thorn vines and set up another line of defense outside the barrier; Zhou Ming, collect everything that can be burned and prepare for a fire attack."

At the command, everyone sprang into action. Lin Ye climbed the watchtower of the fortress, his silver patterns adhering to the steel bars of the electric grid. Dark purple energy spread along the steel bars, merging with the current in the grid to form a purple-silver electric grid.

As the locust swarm approached, the purplish-silver electric grid suddenly burst into a dazzling light, instantly incinerating any locusts that came into contact with it. However, there were simply too many locusts; as soon as one fell, another immediately followed, quickly piling up a thick layer of dead insects in front of the grid, and the light gradually dimmed.

"Use the sprayer!" Lin Ye shouted.

Li Hu led his men forward, spraying diluted antiviral serum onto the locust swarm. The serum landed on the locusts, immediately dimming the red glow, and the insects fell to the ground, struggling to die. At the same time, Su Ya's thorny vines erupted, like countless green whips, lashing the remaining locusts into a bloody pulp.

The battle lasted all afternoon. When the last locust fell, a pile of insect corpses several meters high had accumulated outside the fortress, emitting a pungent, burnt smell. Lin Ye stood on the watchtower, looking at the green barrier covered by the insect corpses, but felt no relief.

He knew this was merely a test by the Corpse Mother. As long as a trace of mycelium remained in the clock tower ruins, it would continuously send out new "messengers" until it breached the fortress's defenses. All they could do was reinforce the fortress, improve its defenses, cultivate more plants capable of suppressing the mycelium, and await the final battle against the Corpse Mother.

As the sun set, its golden rays bathed the fortress, turning the steel walls a warm orange-red. Lin Ye descended the watchtower and saw Lin Xi watering the plants of the green barrier, her little face covered in dirt, yet her smile was radiant. Su Ya sat beside her, her fingertips gently wielding green energy across the leaves, causing tender shoots to sprout anew from the places devoured by locusts.

Skinny Monkey and the Iron Hoof Alliance soldiers were cleaning up the insect corpses, piling them together to burn, the black smoke rising in wisps as if proclaiming victory. Li Hu, meanwhile, was inspecting the electric fence, humming an off-key tune with a relaxed smile on his face.

Lin Ye watched all this, a warm feeling welling up inside him. He walked to the greenhouse, where the newly sown sunflower seeds had already sprouted, the tender green seedlings swaying gently in the wind. He stretched out his right hand, the silver veins of which glowed softly, and infused a wisp of energy into the seedlings.

The seedlings seemed to sense his feelings and grew even faster, with a faint golden glow appearing on their leaves.

Lin Ye knew that as long as these seeds continued to grow, and as long as the people in the fortress continued to strive to live, they would never be defeated. No matter how powerful the Corpse Mother was, no matter how many dangers lay ahead, they would, like these sunflowers, face the sun and grow tenaciously.

In the distance, from the ruins of the clock tower, a thin sliver of red light seeped from a crack in the stone, like a greedy little snake, quietly burrowing into the soil, slowly and steadily spreading towards the fortress. The battle was far from over.