Zhang Yuqi rested in the hospital for two days after Granny Li insisted over the phone. Although she felt fine, Zhang Yuqi heeded the wise words and stayed over for 2 nights.
The nurses gave her good care and gushed over Cinna since he didn't give them any trouble at all. They were very friendly and talked about many trivial things. Idols, music, movies, they just all tried to enjoy life while they could in the apocalypse.
Granny Li had everything prepared when Zhang Yuqi finally got back to the mansion.
The baby room was a baby blue painted room. It had silver star stickers trailing the walls. The floor was wood and had a fluffy beige rug. Baby toys were piled to the side neatly in felt boxes. The lights had small paper crane trails that were numbered to be a hundred. The crib wasn't prepared yet because Zhang Yuqi had planned to make it herself. She had seen a wooden crescent moon crib on the internet before and was planning to make one for Cinna.
"How do you feel? Are you feeling any pain? Go lay down on the sofa, I'll make you some seaweed soup, Korean women eat it after giving birth because it helps restore the blood that was lost during childbirth."
Zhang Yuqi relented and sat on the sofa comfortably with Cinna in her arms. They both fell asleep smelling the soothing and deep fragrance of the seaweed soup.
Granny Li chuckled silently at the scene. This young girl was burdened with too many things. Granny Li thought back to the days when she was burdened with many things as well.
Diriring!
Granny Li's phone rang.
"Who is this?"
"General."
"...You know that I retired a long time ago."
"Yes, but we need your help. Where are you?"
"I'm in City T."
"That's good. The army base nearest to you should be there. I heard that there were many new recruits. Please help train them."
"I'm retired." Granny Li said in a forceful tone.
"Please, just once. We need to stop this apocalypse. The army will be helping all the surviving citizens from the doomed territories. There were already ability users months ago but most of them don't want to help. New ability users are appearing but they are very weak since they are too new. And if you know any ability users, please ask them for help."
At this last sentence, Granny Li looked towards Zhang Yuqi. Did she have an ability? Was it to tell the future?
In the end, Granny Li gave up and agreed to help the army.
She left a note saying: "Take care of yourself." next to the seaweed soup and carried out all her belongings out of the house. She got on the military car when it came to pick her up and forlornly looked back at the mansion one last time. She wouldn't get a chance to swim in the huge pool, explore the gardens, or cook in the wonderful kitchen anymore.
Zhang Yuqi awoke when she was nudged by Cinna's head. Cinna stared with bright eyes and Zhang Yuqi lovingly touched his nose.
'Yuqi, Granny Li is gone. I overheard her conversation and it seems that she was a general in the army. And a pretty high-ranking one at that. She won't be coming back.'
"Ah... It's ok. At least she's alive. Oh, I should eat up the soup she prepared! Hey, what do you think of Cinna? Isn't he wonderf-"
'Yuqi, don't be sad.'
"...I'm not." Zhang Yuqi silently slunk over to the huge dining table and drank the seaweed soup. Darling could feel that Zhang Yuqi was a little bothered. Maybe she was putting on a mask the entire time? Darling was informed that this woman was sly, intelligent, and cool. The present Zhang Yuqi was too childish. It might have all been a cover.
After eating a small meal, Zhang Yuqi called her friends who were in the safe city. Some didn't answer, probably people who didn't come to the safe city even if they were told to. Others answered with a dull tone. Some even yelled at her for saving them. They had left behind family members or a lover. None of them were grateful.
Pissed off, Zhang Yuqi played with Cinna all day. She showed around the house and thought of improvements that she could make.
The plants might become mutants, but if they were watered properly and cared for, they would be tamed. Mutant animals could be tamed or killed, so it didn't really matter.
'Darling, will this ever be over?'
'Someday.'
Reassured, Zhang Yuqi frequently went out of the safe city with Cinna strapped to her chest and hunted mutants. She soon found out that zombies who were turned for more than a day would die immediately when their bloodline was pumped out. She hadn't succeeded in saving zombies yet.
"Whew! I collected a lot of mutant meat and bloodline today! And the mutants and zombies seem to be evolving! Ai, what should I do? Soon they'll have nuclei right? They should be turning into level twos in the next few months."
'Yuqi, what about forming a group of mercenaries? You can earn money that way.'
"What do I need money for? I still have a couple millions saved."
'Some safe cities still use money as a currency. You could buy weapons or material to form weapons.'
Zhang Yuqi acknowledged the idea and continued to push forward, killing everything that blocked her way. She put the car in her space because it was no longer useful for her. She could run faster now and if she was tired, she could teleport frequently. Zhang Yuqi was now at level 10 and could utilize basic functions very well.
'STOP!'
Wincing at the loud voice in her head, Zhang Yuqi stopped.
"What do you want?" Zhang Yuqi asked.
'There is a child in that building! He has telepathic powers! It's a bit far away but the telepathic message was able to reach this far!'
"How come I couldn't hear it?"
Darling sighed.
'Yuqi, you were smiling crazily and yelling! How do you expect to hear anything in that situation? Besides, I'm sensitive to the surroundings. Let's just go save the kid.'
With Darling as the GPS, Zhang Yuqi was able to quickly arrive at the building.
"Bleh, sounds cheesy. Did you say only one kid is alive? Shouldn't this place have more?"
'I don't know the situation yet either.'
Cinna who woke up from the smell of sweat and blood cringed his face. He had gotten used to the smell over the past months but didn't enjoy it.
"Shh, shh, go back to sleep. We'll go home soon." Zhang Yuqi cooed and Cinna obediently fell asleep.
Zhang Yuqi broke in by smashing open the glass doors that were locked.
"Hello? Anyone here?"
Hearing her loud voice, all the zombies rushed to where they heard the noise from.
Broken glass rose as they were commanded to and went straight towards the oncoming zombies' heads.
Zhang Yuqi dropped her hand. Only 14 zombies. Most were children. 3 were adults.
"Hello?" Zhang Yuqi tried again.
'The kid is in a room upstairs.'
Zhang Yuqi climbed upstairs and spotted some corpses of children with smashed heads. There were 17 in the hallway and 11 had their heads torn off. Zhang Yuqi nodded in satisfaction. These children who were killed didn't have a chance to turn into zombies without their heads intact.
Zhang Yuqi reached the end of the hallways where one door was locked tightly.
Zhang Yuqi broke the door handle and went in.
"Hello?"
The whole room was painted red. There were 9 corpses. All of them had torn bodies. Unknown masses were spilling out of their torsos and no part of their bodies could b recognized. Some even showed their bones.
Sniffling noises came from the corner.
It was a teenage boy, crying with snot all over his face. He stared blankly and was shivering. Besides his face, he was very clean.
"Hello."
The boy looked at Zhang Yuqi. She was like a goddess. With a bright smile even with blood-stained clothes, the shivering boy was charmed immediately.
"I'm Zhang Yuqi. Who are you?"
The boy suddenly turned very afraid. What if he accidentally killed her too?
Noticing this, Zhang Yuqi smiled faintly.
"It's ok. They were all bound to be dead anyway. You didn't use your power wrongly. Don't worry, you can't kill me."
'Zhang Yuqi! That's not how you get someone to open up to you!' screamed Darling.
"I-i'm Longwei."
"No surname?"
"I-i'm an orphan."
Zhang Yuqi thought for a moment. She could use this kid and make a mercenary group.
'Yuqi! Don't you feel bad at all?'
'Hey, what happens, happens. I can't stick my nose into everything.'
Darling fumed at his host.
"Hey, want to come with me?" Flashing another dazzling smile, Zhang Yuqi reached out a hand.
Like he was looking towards the one last hope he had, Longwei grabbed onto the hand and pulled himself up.
Longwei was shorter than Zhang Yuqi. He had an androgynous face, like the ones that Korean idols had. Very pretty but cool.
Zhang Yuqi wiped away his tears and snot with a handkerchief.
Longwei was embarrassed and turned red.
"Since you are my first follower, I'll give you the surname Meng*."
*Meng = "First"
'Huk! Too domineering!' Darling was starting to feel like he did not know his host at all.
But Longwei, now Meng Longwei, gratefully accepted the name and began trailing Zhang Yuqi like a loyal dog.
He explained that before the apocalypse happened, he discovered that he could talk to others in their minds and move objects. All the orphans knew this, but the adults did not.
When the apocalypse struck, the adults turned into zombies and infected the orphans who were downstairs. They reached upstairs. The orphans who didn't want to become zombies all yelled out and tried to escape. They yelled at Longwei for help, but being scared, he accidentally ripped their heads apart. He went into the last room in the hallway, it was his room. 9 other orphans were there and they were all scared. They had seen how the other orphans were killed by Longwei and tried to kill him. Muddled up by fear, confusion, and fury, he couldn't control how much force he used to push them back, resulting in their gruesome deaths. From then on, he stayed in the room for 2 weeks. By using his power, he was able to bring up all the food and water into the room without the zombies noticing. Longwei first concentrated on seeing the layout of the orphanage. He then opened the fridge and pantry, floating all the water bottles and food up into the air. Opening a window downstairs and quietly floating the supplies to his room's window, Longwei was safely able to transport the goods.
Zhang Yuqi realized how good of a bargain she got and was happy. This boy was good at control unless his emotions went haywire. She could train him. This 15-year-old crybaby who cried for more than 2 weeks... She'd make a warrior out of him somehow
Zhang Yuqi took out her car since Longwei didn't have advanced physical traits.
Not surprised in the least how Zhang Yuqi took out a car out of thin air, Longwei happily went the front passenger seats. 'The Goddess can do anything!' he cheerfully thought.
"Ah, wait. Can you take care of my son? Sit in the back with him."
It was only then that he noticed the baby strapped to his goddess's chest.
His dreams of marrying shattered instantly and he held the baby carefully as he sadly went to the back seats. He strapped the baby into the tiny personalized seat and sat next to him.
"Miss Zhang, are you married?" he timidly asked.
"No."
While in his rejoice, Zhang Uqi spoke again.
"Ah, you don't need to call me Miss Zhang. Just call me jiejie*. I'm only 18."
*older sister
'Friend-zoned! Poor kid!' Darling felt pity for the teenager.
Longwei shut up after that and soon fell asleep.
It was dinnertime when they finally reached the gates.
The guards who knew her greeted her and opened the gates.
A new guard asked, "Who's that girl?"
The guards who knew her all replied differently.
"A mother."
"A scary monster."
"An SEM."
"A Goddess."
Weirded out, the new guard just went away from the guards who were arguing over who the pretty girl was.