Chapter 21

Chapter 21: Bad Premonition

“If you join the Black Eagle Special Operations Squad,” Lian Yi said, “you won’t be able to keep your ability hidden. And the missions are high-risk.” Her gaze sharpened to a blade. “Think it through. Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.” Sun Yi held her stare. “Instead of sitting here scared and waiting for news, I’d rather move with you. My perception can help you avoid danger. This is the end times—I can’t hide behind other people forever. Your underling went out with you for ten days and came back different. I won’t become his dead weight.”

Lian Yi liked siblings who guarded each other like that. People with something to protect usually kept a line they wouldn’t cross. She nodded once and made it official.

Sun Wang didn’t wake until the third morning. Hunger dragged him out of bed. He inhaled a bowl of noodles his sister had made, then ran to find Ying Yi.

After that, everything moved fast. Three days later, the three of them carried their bags into the Black Eagle Special Operations Squad’s dorms. Lian Yi and Sun Yi shared a room; Sun Wang took the one next door.

Their codenames were set too: Lian Yi became Zi Ying, Sun Yi became Tong Ying, and Sun Wang became Flying Eagle.

After three days grinding on the training field with the squad, the three of them stepped onto a new mission track.

During that stretch, Lian Yi taught Sun Yi how to draw power from crystal cores. After the two women pushed their abilities up to Level One, they took the method straight to Captain Eaglewing.

“I didn’t report it earlier for two reasons,” Sun Yi said, calm and blunt. “First, I didn’t know whether there were side effects. Second, I knew the military was studying crystal cores too. I wanted to confirm it was harmless before saying anything.”

By then, Tong Ying had become the team’s living warning system. With her in the squad, they’d dodged ambushes more than once—and used the openings to wipe out several violent groups. Her standing climbed fast. Soon, whenever there was a mission, people wanted her on the roster.

“I understand,” Ying Yi said, unruffled. “Some people tried absorbing crystal cores before, but the effect wasn’t obvious. I didn’t expect you to reach Level One so quickly.”

“Not that quickly,” Sun Wang said, leaning forward. His sun-darkened face looked a lot less boyish than it used to. “Sister Lian Yi and I absorbed every crystal core we collected over two months of missions. That’s how we leveled up. Over a thousand cores! Sister Lian Yi says it’s about quantity turning into quality—mosquito or not, meat is meat.”

“All right,” Ying Yi said. “I’ll report it to the higher-ups.”

After the Sun siblings left, Ying Yi went straight to the brigade leader. If this method held up, it meant faster growth for combat squads—and fewer bodies coming back in bags.

Because the missions kept getting harder, casualties were already happening. Ability users were immune to Level Zero zombies—scratched or bitten, nothing changed. But Level One zombies were different. A Level One bite could still turn them.

Worse, an ability user who turned became harder to kill than an ordinary zombie. And when that happened, the muzzle that used to guard someone’s back had to be aimed at a former comrade.

There was nothing heavier than that.

As the days passed, Level One zombies started appearing more often. They moved faster, bodies tough as rebar. If you didn’t destroy the brain or spine, they didn’t stay down. Anything less turned into a long, ugly struggle.

For now, firearms still gave humans an edge. But bullets weren’t endless. Time would bleed them dry.

Once the crystal-core method was confirmed, the army could accept missions and collect cores openly. They were the first to benefit, and more Level One ability users began to appear.

After the survivors finished reinforcing the walls, they didn’t want to starve on stored supplies. When word spread that crystal cores could be traded for food and water, people started forming zombie-hunting squads too. They followed behind the main force, scavenging leftovers and cleaning battlefields. With luck, they found supplies.

The entire base woke up. Able-bodied men joined the fight. The world had changed—adapt early or get crushed. There wasn’t a third option.

At the start of the third month of the apocalypse, Sun Yi began carrying a constant dread under her skin. Even inside the safe zone, it didn’t fade. That wasn’t normal. She told Lian Yi the moment she realized it.

Lian Yi understood as soon as she heard. A torrential rain was coming—and with it, plant mutation.

It was already September, but in the north it still felt like summer refusing to die. Greenery was everywhere—damaged, yes, but stubbornly alive.

“Stop going out on missions,” Lian Yi said. “Trade every reward you’ve earned for crystal cores. Raise your ability first. Your perception will sharpen, and I’ll have something solid to report to the captain.”

“Okay.” Sun Yi didn’t argue. A warning without a direction was nearly impossible to guard against.

Lian Yi went straight to Captain Eaglewing. He was bent over a map, brows knotted tight.

“Captain. Unless it’s urgent, keep the team inside the base,” she said.

“Why?”

“Tong Ying has a bad feeling. No direction yet. I told her to trade for crystal cores and raise her ability first—see if she can pinpoint it.”

Ying Yi’s pupils tightened. Tong Ying hadn’t been wrong since joining Black Eagle, and Zi Ying didn’t walk in over nothing.

“I’m studying the route,” Ying Yi said. “A hundred kilometers from here, there’s a military airport. Ammunition. Fighter jets. Superior ordered us to bring supplies back. They even assigned us a space ability user.”

“When do we move?”

“Originally, two days from now.”

“To be safe, we should wait until Tong Ying ranks up.”

“Three days, max.” Ying Yi’s voice flattened with the weight of orders. “If she still hasn’t ranked up by then, we leave anyway.”

“All right.”

Back in the dorm, Sun Yi sat cross-legged on the bed, a crystal core clenched in her hand as she drew its power into herself. A small pile of pale cores lay beside her like spilled teeth.

Lian Yi didn’t interrupt. She took out a Level One crystal core and began absorbing too.

Three days later, Sun Yi still hadn’t broken through. She kept absorbing, steady as stone. Lian Yi had no choice but to leave Sun Wang behind to guard her, then depart with the Eaglewing squad for the military airport.

Sun Wang hated it, but he understood. While his sister was mid-absorption, someone had to watch her in case anything went wrong. No one fit that role better than him.