You say the cataclysm only comes after you've cleared the entire dungeon?

Since he'd already swallowed it, Lu An had no choice but to accept it, regardless of whether it was poisonous or not.

But not long after, he felt a warm current flowing through his body to his limbs and bones. His previously weak and powerless hands and feet regained feeling and he could move them.

The injuries to my wrist and ankle don't seem to hurt as much anymore.

He propped himself up and sat up, looking at the man and woman whose faces he couldn't make out at all. "Are you... from the military?"

"No." Lou Yunzheng picked up the dirty raincoat from the ground and put it back on. "Hey, you from Building A next door, come over and clear out the zombies."

The glimmer of light that had just appeared in Lu An's eyes went out again. "Oh..."

Lou Fengyue stared at him, sizing him up for a moment, "Who tied you up here?"

Lu An lowered his eyes, gritted his teeth, and said in a low voice, as if squeezed out from between his teeth, "When I had a high fever, the bed froze up. My parents said I was a monster, so they tied me up here..."

Where are your parents?

"They're gone," he took a deep breath. "There are zombies outside. My dad took my mom and ran away... without looking back."

Lou Fengyue pursed her lips, took out a can of eight-treasure porridge from her spatial storage, and placed it on the bedside table.

"Eat something first to replenish your energy."

Lu An glanced at her blankly, then looked at the bottle of water and the boxed lunch, his lips trembling slightly.

"Aren't you...aren't you afraid I'm a monster?"

Lou Fengyue did not answer his question.

I took off my gloves, took out a bottle of iodine and a pack of cotton swabs, and disinfected his wound.

"How long have you had a fever? How long have you been tied up here?"

"I had a fever for two days, and then my body started acting strangely. My parents tied me up, and it's been three days now." Lu An looked at the girl disinfecting his wounds and awkwardly pulled his feet back.

"Don't move." Lou Fengyue pressed down on his foot. "Eat something first, then come with us later."

Lou Yunzheng felt a tightness in his heart as he looked at the boy who was several years younger than him.

He was tied to a bed by his biological parents and left to die in a building full of zombies.

He wouldn't have dared to even think about such a thing before the apocalypse.

He walked to the foot of the bed, took the iodine and cotton swabs from his sister, and continued to disinfect Lu An.

"The roads are flooded, and your parents can't leave this building. We've cleared all the zombies out of the building; there are only a dozen or so survivors left. If you want to go find them..."

"I don't want to." Lu An gritted his teeth, picked up the can of eight-treasure porridge from the bedside table, and started eating in silence, his voice somewhat muffled. "They abandoned me here, so I'll just assume they're dead."

"Then come back to Building A with us." Lou Fengyue took out a box of clotting ointment, unscrewed it, scooped out a little with her finger, and applied it to his disinfected wound.

The cooling ointment relieved the burning pain, and then a scene that surprised them appeared—

On the exposed, bright red flesh, a new layer of skin is growing at a visible speed.

In just one minute, the wound that was oozing blood was reduced to a single red mark.

Chu Sinian stared in astonishment at the wound on Lu An's foot. "What kind of miraculous medicine is this?"

Lou Fengyue didn't answer, but only said, "Disinfect the wound on your arm and apply some medicine."

"Okay." Chu Sinian wisely didn't ask any further questions, took a cotton swab, dipped it in iodine, and disinfected the wound himself.

Lu An looked at the woman who was applying medicine to him. She was wrapped up tightly, with only her eyes and a hand that had taken off its glove to apply the medicine showing.

Her hands were very white, with slender fingers and distinct knuckles. But they were very thin, so thin that the veins on the back of her hands were bulging.

After treating both of their injuries, Lou Fengyue put the hemostatic ointment and iodine into her bag, which she actually stored in her spatial storage.

Lu An finished the pot of eight-treasure porridge and his eyes darted back and forth between the three of them.

"You..." he began hesitantly, "How should I address you?"

"Loulan." Lou Fengyue said succinctly, pointing to Lou Yunzheng beside her, "This is my brother, just call him Brother Zheng."

Chu Sinian smiled gently and spoke in a soft voice: "My name is Chu Sinian, and I'm their neighbor."

"Oh..." Lu An nodded as if he understood, then asked, "There are a lot of zombies outside, you should come this way..."

"I'm here for training," Chu Sinian said decisively. A short vine sprouted from his palm, with tender buds. "Like you, I have special abilities."

Lu An's eyes widened. He thought he had turned into a monster, but he never expected that there were other people like him.

Moreover, these people seem very strong.

The fact that they could kill all the zombies in the building shows that they could successfully control this special power.

"Can I... learn from you?" he asked tentatively.

"Otherwise, why would I take you with me?" Lou Fengyue said bluntly. "Put on your shoes, it's time to leave."

As darkness falls, the zombies become more active than during the day.

Building C is not far from Building A, but you still have to cross the water to get there.

Moreover, with the entire city experiencing a power outage, it becomes pitch black at night, making movement even more difficult.

Lu An nodded quickly, got out of bed, and went to the shoe cabinet in the entryway to find a pair of sneakers to change into.

The other three went out first.

He followed behind, and as he stepped out of the house, he glanced back at the messy interior.

This place used to be a warm haven, but now... only desolation remains.

The outside world is in chaos. These strangers are very capable, and they saved his life, gave him food and water, and used that precious and magical medicine on him.

He didn't know if they were trustworthy, but only by following the strong could he have a chance to survive.

-

Night fell earlier than usual.

Just after six o'clock, it became completely dark.

There was unusual movement in the water.

The zombies floated up from the bottom of the water, thrashing about, baring their rotten teeth, and trying to bite anything in sight.

Lu An followed Lou Fengyue and the others, climbing through the window into the stairwell of Building A.

He subconsciously glanced back—

Just then, I saw a zombie floating on the water, grabbing a dead rat, stuffing it into its mouth and gnawing on it, its mouth full of red blood dripping down the corner of its mouth.

The sight of it made his stomach churn.

The floodwaters have receded considerably since this morning.

Lou Fengyue estimated the water level and concluded that it should drop below the third floor by tomorrow.

This means that if they want to go out in their rubber boats, they have to go out through the windows on the third floor.

The problem is that the stairwell is full of zombie corpses, making it impossible to go down.

Lou Fengyue stood in front of the pile of rotting corpses crawling with maggots, and frowned slightly, a rare occurrence for her.

It's not fear, it's trouble.

Chu Sinian turned his face away, not wanting to look at him a second time.

Lou Yunzheng was also thinking about how to deal with this pile of "roadblocks".

Lu An's mind raced for a moment, then he suddenly spoke up: "Sister Loulan, I can freeze the corpse. Those maggots should freeze to death too, and then it won't be so difficult to move it out and deal with it."

Lou Fengyue turned to look at him, her eyes brightening slightly.

She reached out and patted Lu An on the shoulder, the force neither too light nor too heavy, "Young people are so smart."

Lu An's ears turned slightly red from the praise.

"But there's no rush," Lou Fengyue withdrew her hand, then changed the subject, "We'll deal with this stuff after the floodwaters recede in a couple of days and you've recovered a bit."

Lu An nodded and smiled, pursing his lips.

The group continued uphill.

We've reached the 37rd floor.

The door to Liu Wu's house was ajar, and he peeked out when he heard the noise.

Seeing that Lou Fengyue and the others were covered in black, sticky substance, he was stunned for a moment, then his gaze fell on the unfamiliar young face at the back of the group.

"Girl, what's this...?"

"I found it." Lou Fengyue said succinctly.

Lu An: "..."

You found it?