Chapter 6

In truth, Ye Jingyan did not particularly mind the fact that his ability-linked pet wanted to be paid “wages.” Although low-level zombies had a poor crystal-core production rate at the beginning of the apocalypse, given his current strength and S City’s population of more than six hundred thousand, paying a mere five crystal cores per day was hardly a serious problem.
Besides, the Heaven-Devouring Plant was his pet. Swallowing crystal cores would help it advance quickly, and the stronger it became, the more useful it would be to him. Why would he begrudge it a few crystal cores?
So the “labour agreement” was quickly settled to both sides’ satisfaction. After promising to make up the remaining three crystal cores very soon, Ye Jingyan returned the Heaven-Devouring Plant to his origin-energy sphere and prepared to complete the most important task of the night: activating the jade space with black jade and blood.
The display cases holding the black jade were made from specialised reinforced glass and were extremely hard, so Ye Jingyan had originally expected the process to be difficult. But after unexpectedly gaining origin energy, the job became trivial.
He selected the largest black-jade sculpture first, placed his palm against the specialised glass of the display case, and released a controlled pulse of origin energy. Cracks spread rapidly outward from the centre of his palm, and the glass broke apart onto the carpet without damaging the exhibit inside at all.
Ye Jingyan nodded to himself in satisfaction. Good. His control over origin energy had not declined because of his rebirth.
Then he cut his index finger, dripped blood onto the jade pendant, and gently touched its bloodied side to the black-jade sculpture. Just before the two made contact, the jade pendant suddenly seemed to develop magnetic force and attached itself firmly to the sculpture. The black colour of the jade sculpture then began visibly fading. The instant its colour disappeared completely, the sculpture shattered into several pieces and fell to the floor, while the mysterious suction vanished with it. The entire process took less than two minutes.
Next, Ye Jingyan repeated the process, allowing the pendant to absorb one black-jade exhibit after another. As each piece of jade shattered, the pendant’s temperature gradually rose and its colour steadily deepened. After it had absorbed almost half the exhibition hall’s displays, the pendant suddenly began trembling and emitted a blinding light.
It finally worked!
Looking at the jade in his hand, now transformed into a deep dark green, Ye Jingyan was overwhelmed with joy. He could not only sense that the jade space had fully formed, but could also faintly feel that it was linked to his thoughts—as though it had always been part of his body.
He hurriedly examined the space, only for the result to leave him astonished. He clearly remembered He Yuning saying in his previous life that when she first activated the jade, its interior had been only around one hundred and fifty square metres. Yet the space inside his jade was now more than five hundred square metres.
Could the origin energy contained in his blood in this life have affected the space’s initial size?
Since he had no answer, Ye Jingyan decided not to pursue the question. No matter the cause, a larger space was unquestionably good. It meant he could prepare much more thoroughly for the apocalypse.
With that thought, he released the Heaven-Devouring Plant and let it sit on his shoulder to watch the surroundings while he rapidly approached the other high-value display cases and stored every piece of gold in the space. With the arrival of the apocalypse, the country’s paper currency would rapidly become worthless. Apart from origin crystals and food, gold would become one of the most common forms of currency in circulation.
After sweeping away every gold item, Ye Jingyan did not waste time on the fifth floor. He immediately went down to the men’s clothing department on the fourth floor. As he continuously issued mental commands, item after item automatically entered the space as he passed.
During the apocalypse, ability users primarily made their living through combat, so he selected clothing made from soft, breathable fabric that would not restrict movement. From underwear to comfortable casual clothing, as well as all kinds of shoes and socks, he took more than a hundred sets of each practical style he liked. Then he went to the women’s clothing section and repeated the process, gathering plenty of clothing suitable for his mother.
Because the difference between seasonal temperatures became much more extreme after the apocalypse, Ye Jingyan also visited the bedding section and selected a large quantity of supplies: thick cotton quilts, down duvets, heavy woollen blankets, ordinary blankets, lightweight summer quilts, towel blankets, soft pillows, bed sheets in various colours, duvet covers, pillowcases, and even more than a dozen cushions because his mother sometimes had discomfort in her lower back.
He did not take too much for two reasons. First, the jade space was limited. Second, he knew that although the initial situation would be extraordinarily chaotic, humanity would gradually establish bases after several years, and industries of all kinds would slowly begin operating again. By then, people would use materials from mutated creatures to manufacture new clothing and equipment better suited to the post-apocalyptic environment. So when it came to clothing, he merely needed enough preparation to last through the years before order began recovering.
After that, he went down to the outdoor-equipment section on the third floor. He first collected several dozen sets of mountaineering clothes, then emptied the stores of their largest outdoor tents, sleeping bags, moisture-proof mats, multipurpose knives, fire starters, portable gas stoves, multipurpose military shovels, climbing ropes, water bottles, emergency lamps, and similar supplies.
Ye Jingyan continued collecting as he moved and soon reached the second floor. He first went to the cosmetics counters and gathered many of the products his mother commonly used, then plunged into the household-goods section. From pots, bowls, and cooking utensils to toothbrushes, soap, and toilet paper, he took anything that could be useful without hesitation. He even packed a considerable quantity of essential feminine hygiene products for his mother.
Next came the pharmaceutical counters. Because gamma radiation would alter the human body, antibiotics such as anti-inflammatory medicine remained effective only during the first few months of the apocalypse. As time passed, their effectiveness would gradually decline until disappearing entirely. Ye Jingyan therefore took only a modest quantity. However, he swept up every haemostatic agent, bottle of disinfecting alcohol, bandage, and other trauma-treatment supply he could find. Considering that he might later face all kinds of jungle creatures, he also took large quantities of antivenom, syringes, and medicines used to treat certain specialised illnesses. Fortunately, time inside the space was suspended, so he did not need to worry about medicine expiring.
Because he had to work quickly while also selecting only necessary items to conserve space, even Ye Jingyan began to sweat faintly after so much activity.
Compared with his busyness, the Heaven-Devouring Plant handled its own work with effortless ease. Since they had encountered no zombies along the way, the creature became so bored that it even used its vines to remove some items from their outer packaging, helping conserve even more space…
The obedient behaviour of his pet made Ye Jingyan sigh inwardly amid his work. Although the “wages” were a little expensive, the Heaven-Devouring Plant really did deserve its reputation as one of the apocalypse’s most vicious monsters. Even when helping carry things, it was extraordinarily considerate.
Of course, he did not consider whether there was any necessary relationship between being vicious in battle and considerate while carrying supplies…
Sweeping through the building in this fashion, master and pet soon reached the most important section: food. After confirming that roughly three-quarters of the jade space was still empty, Ye Jingyan—who had gone several entire years without eating truly delicious food—cheered inwardly and rushed inside with eyes practically glowing green.
Whole racks of ribs, thick cuts of pork, fresh fish and shrimp, cleaned whole chickens, delicious cooked foods, crisp vegetables, sweet fruit, soft bread, boxes of beer, soft drinks, and bottled water…
Mm. He had to remember to take cooking oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and hotpot seasoning as well…
As Ye Jingyan loaded food into the space, he marvelled at how wonderful its preservation function was. A few days before assassinating He Yuning, he had still been lying on the roof watching the couple shut themselves indoors to secretly eat grapes. He clearly remembered that when those plump grapes were taken out of the space, droplets of water were still clinging to their skins…
Watching these long-missed foods gradually fill his space, Ye Jingyan felt incomparable satisfaction. All of it was his now…
Only when the entire hall had become almost empty did Ye Jingyan finally stop collecting. Looking at the less than one-quarter of free space remaining, he drew a deep breath and gently stroked his pet’s leaves as a reward before sending it back into the origin-energy sphere to rest. Then he turned toward the control room.
The control room was empty now. Apparently, the injured security guards from earlier had already become zombies and wandered elsewhere. As a result, Ye Jingyan was able to leave Fine Beauty Department Store by the same route without difficulty.
The sky outside had already begun paling with dawn. He coldly watched numerous stiff, sluggish figures appearing and disappearing through the morning mist, then slowly raised the iron rod horizontally before his chest.
Come on, monsters!
It’s time for me to start earning my pet’s wages!
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For the people still alive, the sunrise that morning did not bring new hope. It brought the abyss of a nightmare.
The plaza had already descended into complete chaos. An ambulance lay overturned at the roadside not far away, its rear doors open while the medical staff inside crawled out in twisted postures. On the broad street, several cars had crashed together. One furious driver opened the door of another vehicle to argue with its occupant, only for the driver inside to suddenly tackle him and bite into his neck. A middle-aged woman in pyjamas walked stiffly forward while carrying a blood-soaked child’s arm and chewing it continuously. A man in a business suit ran while calling the emergency police number for help, but instead of connecting, the sound attracted several zombie dogs that surrounded him…
In short, that morning, police sirens, gunfire, running footsteps, cries for help, and the weeping of women and children combined into a scene straight out of hell.
Ye Jingyan cleared away the zombies lunging toward him while watching the scene with a numb expression. Aside from occasionally helping passers-by deal with zombies following them, he made no attempt to rescue people who did nothing but scream and flee or collapse into wailing. He understood that when the apocalypse arrived, if someone could not find a way to face hardship and fear themselves, then even if he reached out to save them now, there was a good chance they would die in a zombie’s mouth the instant he turned away.
When facing death, the most reliable battle companion was oneself. Only by becoming strong could a person gain the possibility of survival. That was the truth he had learned from countless bloody examples.
His softheartedness in his previous life had created tragedy for both himself and his mother. In this life, he wanted only to live well with her…
Ye Jingyan watched a swaying zombie lunge toward him. Without hurry, he stepped back, swung the iron rod in reverse, and smashed its skull apart, then turned sideways to avoid the spray of black blood and brain matter. At the same time, an inconspicuous flash of green swept rapidly across the fallen zombie’s head. When the Heaven-Devouring Plant gave a pleased, spoiled whine, Ye Jingyan knew another crystal core had been obtained.
That made four crystal cores already.
He tilted his head to avoid half a broken roof tile falling from above and calculated privately. He had killed more than thirty zombies but obtained only four crystal cores. It seemed the crystal-core production rate among zombies really was very low at the beginning of the apocalypse. But his future cultivation, the Heaven-Devouring Plant’s evolution, the space’s upgrades… all of those required crystal cores. And once he reunited with his mother, he would also need large quantities of crystal cores to purchase property and other necessities…
Sigh! Earning money was never easy. The pressure of life was enormous…
Ye Jingyan sighed silently and abandoned the idea of finding an ownerless vehicle to drive directly back to the rented house. He decided to walk all the way to the development zone instead. Given his current condition, neither the distance nor the “exercise” along the way posed any difficulty.
So he moved slowly forward while clearing nearby zombies as inconspicuously as possible, and the Heaven-Devouring Plant collected the crystal cores from their bodies. The ease of their movements and the smoothness of their cooperation made them look like partners who had worked together for years.
Of course, no matter how well the Heaven-Devouring Plant performed, a pay rise was impossible…