“
Fei Yucheng looked at him calmly and said nothing.
CHAPTER 21
Magical Potion
After Tu Sanqi returned, she originally wanted to finish making that conveyor belt as soon as possible to alleviate the burden on the healers.
But as soon as she got back and took out her toolbox, her vision suddenly darkened, and she fell backward stiffly.
When she woke up again, it was already two days later.
Fei Yucheng was drawing blueprints on the table beside her. When he got focused, he rarely noticed other things. For example, now, it wasn't until Tu Sanqi got out of bed herself, got some water, and sat in front of him pointing out a minor flaw that Fei Yucheng suddenly reacted.
“You’re awake!” Fei Yucheng looked up in surprise and quickly ran out to call the healer.
“It’s Mental power overdraft. Pay attention to rest recently… Your physical condition has declined. I’ll get you two nutrient solutions.” The healer placed a hand on her forehead.
A faint green light lit up on her forehead, and Tu Sanqi instantly felt the tension in her brow ease.
She thanked him, and Fei Yucheng followed the healer out to get the nutrient solutions for her.
Tu Sanqi lay back down on the bed, took out the potion she carried in her inner pocket, drank it down, and fell into deep thought.
After entering the training camp, she and Fei Yucheng spent a lot of time on studying materials and research and development. However, during the two days of concentrated lectures, Teacher Li An also took them into the training pods.
This type of training pod was different from the ones Tu Sanqi used in school. The projects in this training pod were all engineering practicals.
The helmet worn by the user connected to the brain and the pod. Every operation was directly controlled by will, which was a special training for Mental power.
Although the Department of Engineering didn't have time to awaken abilities, because the use of many tools required the assistance of Mental power, the Department of Engineering also focused on Mental power training.
But now, the healer said she had overdrawn her Mental power.
Fei Yucheng’s daily experiment time was longer than hers, and he hadn’t been idle since coming here, but he hadn’t overdrawn his Mental power…
A flicker of daze flashed through her mind from that day when they caught the Yüksek Dereceli Zombi.
Tu Sanqi took out the mirror she carried with her and looked at her light brown eyes, suddenly feeling uneasy.
Could it be that her zombie ability was starting to awaken?!
She didn’t want to awaken! Not at all!!!
***
Three days later, with the strong addition of Yetenekli Mermi, Mei Jun broke through the defenses like a bamboo and took S City. The zombie horde to the south was also repelled for dozens of kilometers. In a short period, S City would no longer be invaded by zombies.
The next day, Mei Jun applied for a stationed team from his superiors. After the ability user team from the Fifth Special Zone took over, Mei Jun withdrew with his men.
Fei Yucheng and Tu Sanqi returned as they came, by helicopter piloted by Yu Pan.
Mei Jun and his group took two cars, so they would be slower.
And after returning to the Special Zone, Tu Sanqi immediately took the potion to Doctor Cheng.
Doctor Cheng thought she had some kind of illness. After a series of examinations, he looked at Tu Sanqi holding the report, confused, "You've recovered very well… Why do you look like you're dying?"
Tu Sanqi gave a wry smile and asked Doctor Cheng, “When can I stop taking this potion?”
Doctor Cheng was stunned and looked at her report again.
Then he replied, “You’ll need to drink it for at least three more months to return to a healthy state.”
Tu Sanqi: “……”
Tu Sanqi yelled in her heart.
She was already starting to awaken in her current state; what would happen if she truly returned to a healthy state and couldn’t hide her ability anymore?!
“Why are you suddenly asking about this?” Doctor Cheng asked, as if casually, “You never seemed to resist it before.”
Tu Sanqi nervously picked at her fingers and dryly made up an excuse, “This potion is quite expensive.”
Doctor Cheng: “……”
Doctor Cheng then remembered that Tu Sanqi hadn't yet graduated from the Department of Engineering and started her job. Not only did she not receive a living allowance each month, but she also occasionally had to pay money out of her own pocket for missions.
Her current expenses should all be borne by her brother, Tu Yu.
This child is truly sensible.
Doctor Cheng sighed in his heart. Coming back to his senses, he comforted her, “Then I’ll apply for a subsidy channel for you. Next time, you don’t have to pick up the medicine from the pharmacy. I’ll get it directly and bring it to you.”
“It’s free!” Doctor Cheng raised an eyebrow triumphantly.
Tu Sanqi: “……”
Tu Sanqi forced a smile, “Thank you, Doctor Cheng.”
After she left, Doctor Cheng’s expression gradually faded.
Scanning the three indicators on the screen, a hint of worry flashed in his eyes behind his glasses.
In just two to three months, Tu Sanqi’s three abnormal indicators that were at 1 had now significantly increased to around seven hundred… The potion had a great effect on her.
After another two months of medication… her zombie characteristics would likely no longer be concealable.
However, if she stopped the medication, her body couldn’t withstand the invasion of the virus within.
Doctor Cheng took off his glasses and rubbed his face expressionlessly.
It seemed he needed to make a trip.
***
Tu Sanqi also gradually discovered her dependence on the potion.
At first, she appeased Doctor Cheng and didn’t continue taking the potion after returning.
In her current state, Tu Sanqi felt it was about right. Her red eyes would occasionally flash, but she could quickly suppress them, and she didn't feel strained when connecting to tools with her Mental power in the laboratory.
Tu Sanqi didn't want to recover further; she felt that maintaining her current state was perfectly suitable!
However, a week later, she developed dizziness and blurred vision.
Tu Sanqi didn’t take it seriously… Another week passed, and she found herself suffering from temporary blindness.
Tu Sanqi: “!!!”
Coincidentally, Tu Yu returned from a mission and came to see her with his teammates. As Tu Sanqi walked out of the Department of Engineering building, before she could even say “Hi,” her vision went black again, and she fell down the stairs without warning.
Fortunately, Tu Yu reacted quickly… But that night, when she lost her vision again, she even started getting nosebleeds.
The situation worsened in the evening, even though Su Rumeng had used her ability on her during the day!
Tu Sanqi’s heart tightened. She immediately realized something. Trembling, she got out of bed, dragged out a box of potions from under the bed, and quickly took one.
Miraculously, it happened.
The moment she drank the potion, she felt reborn.
Her vision cleared, the nosebleeds stopped, and even the hand tremors that had recently appeared were gone!
Tu Sanqi: “……”
Tu Sanqi was dumbfounded. She turned on the light, sat cross-legged on the bed, and stared blankly at the potion for a long, long time.
This nutrient solution…
It seemed something was wrong.
CHAPTER 22
Does She Really Have Conjunctivitis?
But for some reason, Tu Sanqi didn't dare to ask Doctor Cheng for an explanation… Moreover, Doctor Cheng sent her a message saying he would be out on business the following week and that she must remember to take her medicine on time.
Tu Sanqi didn't dare to take her medicine on time.
But she also didn't dare not take it.
In the end, Tu Sanqi thought of a compromise. The original dosage of one injection per day becamece every other day.
Just then, a new out-of-bounds mission was issued. This time, it coincided with Tu Yu’s team departing, and Tu Sanqi was directly assigned to her brother Tu Yu’s team.
Those doubts about the potion were quickly dispelled. Tu Sanqi excitedly wanted to introduce her little invention to her brother Tu Yu… but found that Tu Yu’s team couldn't use this Yetenekli Mermi this time.
The power of the Yetenekli Mermi far exceeded that of normal bullets, but the commotion it caused was equally significant.
Ye Ming’s small team and Mei Jun’s team had different responsibilities.
Mei Jun’s team often appeared in large-scale battles where abilities and artillery shells flew everywhere. Yetenekli Mermi was undoubtedly a powerful aid.
But Ye Ming’s small team focused more on guerrilla tactics, aiming for surprise attacks, quick and precise takedowns while trying not to alert other targets.
Naturally, Yetenekli Mermi was not suitable.
Ye Ming’s team’s mission this time was to clear out the area of grassland to the east.
The grassland environment was complex. What one stepped on could be a swamp, or it could be a zombie hidden beneath the grass, or even more likely, encountering plants and animals with varying degrees of mutation.
Tu Sanqi nestled in the back seat, staring at the member information of Ye Ming’s small team and falling into thought.
Team leader Ye Ming was a perception-type ability user and was responsible for overall command.
Next were Tu Yu, Lin Lu, and Ling Yi, who were power-type ability, fire ability, and earth-element ability users respectively. These three were mainly responsible for output and action.
The remaining member was Su Rumeng, a healer.
Surprise attack… Tu Sanqi propped her chin with one hand, and with the other, she quickly drew the weapons of Tu Yu and the other two on a blank page.
Because of Tu Yu, Su Rumeng and the others treated Tu Sanqi like their own sister. Su Rumeng, who was sitting next to her, originally wanted to take the opportunity to inquire about her daily life after entering the training camp. She never expected that Tu Sanqi wouldn't say a word after getting in the car.
She was solely focused on her communicator, drawing back and forth in the back seat, her hands never stopping.
Su Rumeng: “……”
She felt like she was disturbing someone.
After a moment of silence, Su Rumeng quietly moved closer to Lin Lu.
Glancing sideways, she noticed Lin Lu was also staring at Tu Sanqi.
“Doesn’t she seem like a completely different person from when we first met her?” Su Rumeng whispered, with some emotion.
Lin Lu’s eyes flickered slightly. Hugging her arms, she asked in a low voice, “Tu Yu said she had a misunderstanding about Conjunctivitis before… Did you examine her?”
Su Rumeng nodded. Thinking about it, she found it amusing, “Teacher Lu and the others didn’t even think of Conjunctivitis.”
“Is she really has Conjunctivitis?” Lin Lu asked again.
“Yes,” Su Rumeng said. “She suffers from malnutrition and might have accidentally contracted some bacteria at school.”
Lin Lu didn’t reply further but secretly withdrew her gaze, no longer looking at Tu Sanqi.
……
On their way back, Mei Jun and his group encountered more zombies and fleeing humans. After they dealt with them and returned to the Special Zone, both Tu Sanqi and Fei Yucheng were sent on new missions.
However, the machine that produced Yetenekli Mermi, since neither of them could use it this time, was handed over to Li An.
This machine still had many drawbacks. Li An, with her extensive experience, could spot several problems at a glance.
For example, the joystick power was too outdated, and only those proficient in connecting tools with Mental power could use it effectively.
Currently, in the Special Zone, only people from their Department of Engineering could achieve results with it.
Another example was that it could accommodate too few types of abilities. Currently, Tu Sanqi and the others had only made bullets for water, fire, and lightning abilities. While these three abilities were the most powerful in combat, they couldn’t negate the importance of other abilities in different application scenarios.
Such as earth-element or ice abilities.
However, inputting these two abilities into the machine would directly cause it to short-circuit, because the designers hadn't considered the mutual exclusion when selecting materials.
Finally… the exterior of the machine was so ugly it was agonizing.
Especially the funnel Tu Sanqi added later, Li An could never have imagined that a funnel could be useful here.
Li An: “……”
But overall, it was a very successful machine.
Before this, ability users often used their hard-earned abilities in the most basic way – throwing their abilities wherever they were needed.
No one had ever thought of integrating abilities into weapons.
Recalling the blueprints behind the two that night, Li An admired the two young people greatly.
No wonder the two senior engineers from higher up think highly of these two… The innovation of these two young people was exactly what they needed.
Coming back to her senses, Li An wiped down the machine and, after packing it, was about to hand it over to the senior engineers upstairs to examine. But before she could step out of the laboratory, Mei Jun’s communicator popped up.
“Teacher Li,” Mei Jun greeted, and got straight to the point, “Can I borrow that machine temporarily?”
Li An was a bit surprised, “Captain Mei is going on a mission again?”
Mei Jun shook his head, “No. Thanks to the machine brought by the two young people this time, I think their contribution should not be overlooked just because they are still in training.”
***
A day later, Ye Ming and his group had arrived in D City, near their mission destination.
To Tu Sanqi’s slight surprise, the ability users guarding D City were not from the Fifth Special Zone, but from the Third Special Zone, a bit further east.
However, it was clear that Ye Ming had a good relationship with them. As soon as they got out of the car, a thick-browed, big-eyed ability user strode forward, slinging an arm around Ye Ming as they walked in.
Tu Yu and the others, along with a few other ability users, were also chatting and laughing. After a round of greetings, Tu Yu brought Tu Sanqi forward and introduced her, “This is my sister, just call her Sanqi.”
As a potential zombie, Tu Sanqi was accustomed to interacting with ability users. However, due to the recent suspected awakening symptoms, she instinctively wanted to stand behind Tu Yu when facing unfamiliar ability users.
Seeing this, Tu Yu mistook it for shyness and explained to the others, “She’s a bit timid.”
“Sanqi? She doesn’t look like she’s reached adulthood yet! She’s too thin!” A curly-haired beauty in front raised an eyebrow slightly, but affectionately patted Tu Sanqi’s cheek, “My name is Xue Ying.”
The others nearby introduced themselves one after another and didn’t tease her much. Tu Sanqi breathed a sigh of relief and kept nodding.
After the pleasantries, the group entered the city. Ye Ming planned to head into the grassland as soon as possible and was now negotiating with the people from the Third Special Zone.
Meanwhile, Tu Sanqi and the others were hosted by Xue Ying and her group for a meal and then returned to their assigned rooms.
In the communicator, a message from Ye Ming came through the team channel, saying they would discuss tomorrow’s operation together in two hours.
Tu Sanqi took this opportunity to open her toolbox, took the weapons commonly used by Tu Yu and the other two, and prepared to modify them slightly.
However, as soon as she put on the laser gloves, Tu Sanqi paused. She walked suspiciously to the window. Outside, apart from the patrolling ability user team members, there was nothing unusual.
Tu Sanqi squinted slightly, her gaze focusing on the reflection on the glass.
Her red eyes had appeared again.
After a moment of silence, she took off her gloves and took out the potion she had prepared from her pocket. Just as she was about to drink it, a red light flashed past her eyes.
Tu Sanqi’s eyes sharpened, and she put the potion back. Without a second thought, she jumped out the window to chase after it.
CHAPTER 23
Congratulations on Awakening
Tu Sanqi had always trusted her instincts.
Her intuition had never been wrong.
Driven by instinct, Tu Sanqi ran all the way to the safety net near the edge of D City. However, the sense she felt grew stronger and weaker.
Her steps slowed.
Her eyes scanned the surroundings. There was no sign of movement.
Tu Sanqi frowned slightly, her eyes unconsciously turning scarlet… At one moment, she tilted her head back without warning.
The person sitting on top of the safety net looked down at her with a calm expression. Those red eyes seemed identical to hers.
“It’s you!” Tu Sanqi recognized the person.
It was the Yüksek Dereceli Zombi who had spoken to her, calling her a fellow creature, after being swept away by the sandstorm!
How could a Yüksek Dereceli Zombi be lurking inside the city! This was terrible!
Tu Sanqi immediately reached for the alarm button on her communicator… But the moment her fingertip touched the communicator, the Yüksek Dereceli Zombi swooped down, grabbing her hand.
“It’s useless,” the Yüksek Dereceli Zombi said calmly.
Tu Sanqi pursed her lips, broke free from his grip, and was about to press the alarm again when she heard the Yüksek Dereceli Zombi say, “Aren’t you curious why the ability users didn’t find me?”
“Not curious,” Tu Sanqi coldly pressed the alarm.
The Yüksek Dereceli Zombi didn’t stop her and waited leisurely for her to notify everyone before approaching her again.
Tu Sanqi turned and ran… But a shadow was soon cast over her head.
This Yüksek Dereceli Zombi’s ability was flight! No wonder she had chased so hard!
Unable to outrun him, Tu Sanqi stopped. She looked directly at the Yüksek Dereceli Zombi who landed and walked towards her. Her right hand quietly reached for the gun she carried.
Although she knew that ordinary ammunition would have negligible damage to a Yüksek Dereceli Zombi.
But… she hadn’t intended to shoot!
“I’ll kill you!” When the Yüksek Dereceli Zombi entered attack range, Tu Sanqi suddenly sprang up and pounced above him. The hand holding the gun didn’t fire but used the gun like a fist, smashing it hard against his forehead.
The Yüksek Dereceli Zombi: “……”
The Yüksek Dereceli Zombi suppressed the urge to twitch the corners of his mouth and expressionlessly raised his hand to block the attack that had no lethality…
No.
Can’t block?
His arm seemed to instantly become an uncontrollable appendage. Tu Sanqi’s critical hit landed as desired, and the Yüksek Dereceli Zombi was unexpectedly knocked down.
Both of them froze for a second.
At this moment, Tu Sanqi even suspected it was a trap!
How could a dignified Yüksek Dereceli Zombi be defeated so easily?
But she couldn’t afford to care too much now. Operating on the principle of “the more blows, the better,” Tu Sanqi swung the gun and hit him a few more times.
The Yüksek Dereceli Zombi, who hadn't suffered this kind of childish physical damage in a long time: “……”
He pursed his lips and frowned slightly, but in a moment of eye contact with Tu Sanqi, he noticed her scarlet eyes, which were different from last time.
Instantly, the Yüksek Dereceli Zombi raised his hand to cover her eyes. His uncontrollably moving arm instantly regained strength. He grabbed Tu Sanqi by the collar and lifted her up.
He snatched the gun from her hand and then sensed him searching her pockets. Tu Sanqi immediately struggled.
In the blink of an eye, the Yüksek Dereceli Zombi threw her away.
As Tu Sanqi opened her eyes, she saw the potion in his hand—
“You stole it last time too!” Tu Sanqi frowned.
Seeing a hint of frustration mixed with anger in her eyes, the Yüksek Dereceli Zombi didn’t answer yes or no.
He carefully put away the potion and only said something meaningful.
“Congratulations on awakening.”
Tu Sanqi was stunned.
……
When Tu Yu and the others tracked them down, Tu Sanqi had just retrieved the gun that the Yüksek Dereceli Zombi had kicked away.
Su Rumeng immediately stepped forward to check her and then breathed a sigh of relief, “Glad you’re not injured.”
If she had been bitten by a Yüksek Dereceli Zombi, it would have been a big problem.
Tu Yu and Lin Lu habitually scouted the surroundings and found nothing. When they returned, Tu Yu noticed Tu Sanqi seemed a bit absent-minded.
“Were you scared?” Tu Yu reached out to pat her head and asked reassuringly, “You haven’t seen a Yüksek Dereceli Zombi before, have you? It’s okay, these things are just a bit hard to kill… Did he attack you?”