Another two days passed.
They continued the same work.
They cleared zombies, registered residents, and distributed supplies.
In their spare time, Sun Ya and Wei De took a few others to learn how to hotwire and drive a car.
The primary burden of zombie hunting had passed from Su Jin to Cheng Du.
With their launch window rapidly closing, giving Cheng Du real combat experience was the best use of their time.
His power to control fire was very strong.
A zombie could only be killed by a piercing injury to the heart.
While Cheng Du's flames couldn't deliver instant executions, they severely crippled the monsters' mobility.
Standard combustion barely registered on a zombie's nervous system in the short term.
But flames manifested via an ability seemed to carry an innate, agonizing multiplier, causing zombies obvious pain.
This left them wide open for a quick finishing blow.
Cheng Du had developed two primary combat applications. The first was wrapping flame around his body or even a weapon for close combat.
The second was an attack at a distance by spewing bursts of flame from his mouth.
Both yielded considerable power, but Cheng Du's stamina, when compared to Su Jin's, was pathetically shallow.
Curiously, the fire-breathing trick wasn't biologically restricted to his mouth; it seemed he could vent flames from literally any bodily orifice.
Cheng Du repeatedly lobbied Su Jin to watch a demonstration.
Su Jin politely declined every single request... terrified the idiot would spray feces on him.
...
Another zombie fell.
Cheng Du stepped back, making room.
Su Jin squatted over the corpse to examine it.
He was the fastest at this grisly task. It turned his stomach, but letting anyone else do it would waste time.
Opening the chest, Su Jin suppressed a spike of anxiety as he dug his fingers behind the heart.
His fingers brushed against a fleshy orb nestled in the tissue. His pupils dilated, and he clenched his fist!
"Yes!"
They had finally found it!
With this, all three of them could now be equipped. They launched the day after tomorrow, which gave Fu Hu one day to awaken and get used to his new ability.
Putting the orb away, Su Jin rose to his feet and glanced at his crew. "Alright, break's over. We only have a few units left. We'll finish them today."
.....
Evening fell.
The eight survivors gathered around the dining table for another "cult ritual".
This time, they skipped the preamble. Fu Hu swallowed hard and reached out to cradle the fleshy orb.
Su Jin punctured the membrane with his knife, rupturing the sac.
Fu Hu fainted, and Cheng Du caught him and dragged him to the sofa.
Su Jin sent the others away with a wave, retaining only the two elders, Sun Ya and Wei De, to talk.
Leaning against the table, Su Jin asked, "We launch the day after tomorrow. Is there anything else we need?"
Sun Ya slid a folded sheet of paper and a medicine box across the wood. "The plan and Old Wei's medicine box. Review them on your own time. While you were out today, Old Wei and I checked the car and filled the tank."
"We made two simple time bombs. They're on the fourth floor; you'll have to carry them down yourselves. We're too old for it."
"Also, strap the gas cylinder to the back of the car. We've already smashed out the back windshield so you can throw things out. If we need it, have someone in the back seat lob the bombs out the gap."
Sun Ya paused, his expression turning grave. "By the way, Xiao Li... how exactly did you frame this op to the others? They don't seem to realize how dangerous the trip is."
Su Jin offered a smile. "I downplayed it to the women. I said we were getting supplies and medicine nearby. Nothing far."
"As for Old Fu and Cheng Du, I pitched it as a risky trip for supplies at the medical university. Old Fu didn't complain; his wife and kid are here, so he feels he must help. Cheng Du is excited by his new power and eager to test it."
"Cheng Du is erratic. Keep him in check so nothing goes wrong," Sun Ya sighed heavily. "I've been analyzing the situation. We cannot hide this from everyone forever. The others are sensible people. They need to understand the stakes. Once you bring the supplies back tomorrow, we need to tell them. We're going to be running tests in many homes; the others need to know and be on guard."
"Worst-case scenario, if the intelligence leaks after we scale up our organization, with three people who have powers, we should be able to maintain order."
Su Jin nodded in agreement. "My thoughts exactly. The more people who gain powers, the more stable our group will be. Regardless, we'll talk again after I return."
"Remember what we gave you. Be careful, be cautious... everyone is counting on you."
"Understood. Get some sleep."
...
Dawn barely bled through the windows when Fu Hu groggily peeled himself off the sofa.
Waking up to seven people staring intensely at him didn't trigger any panic; he’d been a spectator to this exact creepy phenomenon twice already.
Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he grunted, "How long was I out... what time is it?"
"Forget the clock. Try out your new power," Cheng Du urged.
Hearing that, Fu Hu perked up. He snapped upright.
He blinked rapidly, trying to feel for any change.
A dozen tense seconds passed before Fu Hu's face split into a grin. "Yeah... yeah, yeah, I definitely feel it! It's like a current of air inside me, and I can control it."
"Try directing it to part of your body," Cheng Du coached from the sidelines.
Su Jin remained silent. His own mutation was fundamentally different from theirs; his upgrades were entirely passive, changes to his basic physical abilities.
Fu Hu held out both arms.
The crowd leaned in to inspect the goods.
"I don't see anything," Cheng Du noted, bewildered.
"No, there is a change. Touch it," Fu Hu instructed.
Cheng Du poked Fu Hu's forearm with a finger and cried out in surprise. "Holy shit, he's solid iron!"
Intrigued, Su Jin grabbed a cup off the table and rapped it against Fu Hu's bicep. It produced a clear ringing sound.
"Hardening?" Su Jin deduced.
Testing his strength, Fu Hu took the cup from Su Jin's hand.
With a casual flex of his fingers, the cup broke into pieces.
Not satisfied with crushing dishware, he went to the corner of the room and snatched up the neglected ninety-pound compound bow.
Pulling it as easily as a slingshot, he drew it more than ten times with ease, before setting it down and returning to the sofa.
Su Jin looked pleased.
The bow was not enough to test his limits. To manhandle it so effortlessly meant his strength had grown enormously.
"It's not just the hardening; I'm much stronger," Fu Hu said, rolling his shoulders. "But other than the strength and the hardening, I don't feel anything else."
"Is the hardening localized entirely to your arms?" Su Jin interrogated.
Fu Hu shook his head. "I can use it anywhere on my body, but covering my whole body is difficult. I can only cover about as much area as both my arms at once."
"That's more than enough!" Cheng Du smirked, licking his lips.
The instant those words left his mouth, the collective gaze of Su Jin and every other man in the room snapped downward to one particular part on Fu Hu's body!
"Lucky you... Wan," Aunt Liu whispered into Zhang Wan's ear.
"Shut your mouth!"
Zhang Wan pulled her daughter aside, trying to suppress a smile.
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