Supplies could be acquired again, but if he lost his life, he would truly have nothing.
So, though he was pained to do so, he obediently took out the keys from his pocket and from a few of his trusted lieutenants, then looked at Xu Nuo with a hopeful expression, "All the keys are here. But, could the great master spare us a vehicle? You see, there are only two of you here, and we can give you all the supplies, but without a car, we wouldn't be able to continue on our journey, right?"
Xu Nuo wasn't planning to make enemies of them, so he directly said, "You can keep the keys to the business van and take one of the pickups. You can also take some of the supplies from inside. This is the best I can do, so choose wisely."
The convoy leader understood Xu Nuo's warning and nodded in gratitude before staggering towards the door, only to be stopped by Xu Nuo, "Hurry up and get your men out of my yard before the zombies come. Also, hang the woman's body from the tree across from my house, high enough for the villagers to see." With that, Xu Nuo pocketed the keys and entered the house.
Park Su, seeing Xu Nuo come in, didn't look up as he placed the last dish in the cupboard, "So, you've dealt with it already?"
Xu Nuo grunted in affirmation and headed upstairs. Today's events made him realize he should prepare more talismans, especially ones he previously didn't need but might now, like corpse-burning talismans, purification talismans, and array talismans for mass attacks.
Calculating the time he'd spend on this, he realized he wouldn't get much rest, but it was fine. Lately, he had been too focused on the sudden appearance of spiritual energy in his body and had somewhat neglected his Daoist practice.
Moreover, this encounter revealed that his existing spiritual energy could influence his newly awakened ability, otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to control them for so long or so many. Drawing talismans not only enhanced his combat abilities but also allowed him to cultivate his spiritual energy, so it seemed the best course of action was to draw more talismans. With that in mind, he immediately took out a stack of talisman paper from his space ring upon returning to his room, carefully placed his ink and brushes on the table, and after thoroughly washing his hands, began to draw.
Downstairs, after finishing his chores, Park Su secretly checked on Xu Nuo's handling of the situation with his pothos, and was quite satisfied. Xu Nuo had indeed understood his intentions, though the man was so cold he didn't even stop to chat before retreating to his room.
Park Su wanted to follow him upstairs; after all, Xu Nuo had used his ability in front of him, signaling that he knew his ability's nature and was no longer hiding it. It was his first time seeing someone with a manipulation ability, and he was very interested.
More importantly, he needed to understand the extent of this ability: how many people could it control, whether it could also control zombies, the range of control, and so on.
Just thinking about all the research he could do made Park Su's eyes light up with excitement; he was eager to rush into Xu Nuo's room. Secondly, he had discovered that Xu Nuo, as a Daoist, indeed had some skill. Especially those talismans, even though he didn't know who provided them to Xu Nuo, they were used quite freely and with great effect. This made Park Su think of the space ring on Xu Nuo's hand, wondering how many more such talismans he had and what level of Daoist magic Xu Nuo had attained!
He even thought that since they had known each other for some time and would face more challenges together, perhaps Xu Nuo could spare a few talismans for self-defense or teach him some life-saving Daoist techniques!
However, before he could go upstairs, he caught the scent of a strong, rotting corpse odor, causing him to frown. Sure enough, with all the blood in his yard and a fresh corpse outside, they were bound to attract more zombies.
He had asked the pothos to check the situation earlier, and the information he received made him regret letting the convoy leader go so easily. With fifty to sixty zombies arriving at once, even with his second-stage ability, his attack power wasn't sufficient to handle them all comfortably, especially since more might join the fray.
Keeping the convoy leader would have at least divided the pressure, but now he had to face the zombies alone, which was quite a challenge. He wasn't sure if he should ask Xu Nuo for help, but considering Xu Nuo had only awakened his ability a few days ago, controlling so many people to break down the door and for such an extended period must have consumed a significant amount of his ability energy. Otherwise, why would he use talismans?
In Park Su's view, Xu Nuo's retreat to his room was just him acting tough, hiding the fact that his ability was heavily drained. He didn't know that Xu Nuo used Daoist techniques because they were more convenient for him.
Realizing Xu Nuo couldn't help much, Park Su sighed and prepared to face the zombies alone. It looked like the door wouldn't last a month; perhaps he'd have to leave earlier. However, the convoy had brought him good transportation, and according to his calculations, first-stage crystal cores should be appearing in the zombies' brains by now.
He couldn't just stay in one place waiting for zombies; they were appearing one by one, but occasionally in groups. For now, everyone could still handle them, but Park Su knew that in the city center, there were likely already large groups of zombies. However, since their levels weren't high, they lacked organization and acted on instinct.
But soon, zombies would evolve, and once higher-level zombies appeared, there would be organized zombie groups, and Park Su had seen firsthand how destructive those could be. He wouldn't be foolish enough to think that just two reinforced doors and the two of them could deal with it.
Since he had already let the convoy leader go, and the zombies had arrived, he had to face them alone. He released the pothos, positioning it near the woman's corpse as an ambush. He then leaped onto his yard wall, slowly accumulating his wood energy. Although there were no mutated plants around, this didn't hinder his ability to transform ordinary plants into something that could attack.
Even though he was preparing to leave earlier, he still planned to stay for a while and didn't want his carefully prepared security doors to be destroyed in one night.
Soon, he spotted the zombie group, their movements surprisingly fast for zombies, not as sluggish as when the apocalypse began. Some had lost limbs, others were covered in blood, and some even had rotting organs visible. Their target was clearly the fresh corpse tied to the tree.
Park Su knew that facing so many zombies head-on was suicidal, so he planned to attack from the shadows. Thankfully, having chosen the suburbs, there were plenty of plants around, and his control over them had been honed over years. Silently, he had already ensnared and killed six or seven zombies.
As expected, when he pierced the zombies' brains with his wood spikes, he found crystal cores, which made him sigh in relief. This meant a source of energy for his cultivation had appeared. First-stage zombies were relatively easy to deal with, so he wanted to gather as many first-stage cores as possible during this time to see if he could speed up his advancement.
He was also curious if his advancement would affect the pothos and if his newly acquired spiritual energy in his dantian would show any abnormalities after his advancement. Regardless of the potential changes, advancing would only increase his strength, thus improving his chances of survival in the apocalypse.
With this thought, his blood boiled, and his wood energy flowed more freely. In just fifteen minutes, he had taken down ten more zombies, killing them and directing the plants to wrap their leaves around the crystal cores in their heads.
The zombies were not slow either; within that time, they had reached the attack range of the pothos. Park Su was ready to fight alongside it, so without hesitation, he told the pothos that the zombies' weak point was their brains and that there were cores inside that could enhance its strength, but it shouldn't consume too many at once. He reminded it to collect the cores while fighting.
The pothos now trusted Park Su's words completely, so when the zombies stepped into its reach, it immediately launched its leaf blades directly at their heads!
Zombies were highly sensitive to the scent of blood from humans but didn't pay much attention to plants, so the pothos's attack was entirely unexpected. Almost instantly, three zombies lost their heads.
The pothos quickly extended a vine to crush the heads, successfully retrieving two crystal cores. Upon touching the cores, it immediately sensed the energy they contained and absorbed it without hesitation. To Park Su's surprise, after the pothos consumed the cores, he felt a surge of spiritual energy enter his own dantian, though it was not much, he could distinctly feel it.
This made his heart beat faster. Could it be that the energy the pothos absorbed could also be transferred to him, directly supplementing his dantian? This speculation excited him because if true, it meant he had an additional treasure for auxiliary cultivation.
Meanwhile, the pothos, unaware of what its master was thinking, only knew that absorbing the crystal cores replenished its depleted wood energy. Seeing no signs of displeasure from Park Su after it took the initiative to absorb two cores, it became even bolder. After all, these first-stage zombies posed little threat to it, and they wouldn't actively attack it. For the pothos, these zombies were like ready meals.
So, during the brief moment Park Su was lost in thought, it killed three more zombies, this time obtaining three crystal cores. It absorbed them without hesitation, and Park Su felt the influx of spiritual energy even more clearly this time.
While Park Su was somewhat thrilled, he didn't forget to check if this energy would have any adverse effects on him. Therefore, he didn't stop the pothos from consuming the cores, thinking that only by continuously absorbing this energy could he better understand the situation.
However, because he was focusing on exploring this sudden ability, and the pothos had to deal with killing zombies and collecting their cores, its actions slowed down.
The large number of zombies, being low-level, attacked instinctively without any fear or retreat. Many took advantage of the pothos's distraction, climbing the tree and pulling down the woman's corpse.
Xu Nuo had tied the knots tightly, and the zombies struggled to pull the corpse down, growing increasingly agitated. As more zombies gathered around the body, their collective strength increased, eventually tearing off the lower half of the woman's body, spilling intestines onto the ground. The scene was extremely bloody and violent, making even Park Su, who had regained his senses, feel nauseous at the sight.
However, the zombies became even more frenzied with the scent of fresh blood, their tugging and biting more vigorous. Within moments, the woman's corpse was reduced to just the hands that Xu Nuo had tied higher up.
Watching the zombies tear into the corpse, Park Su's face paled slightly. He couldn't help but think of his own horrific experience being pushed into a zombie horde, imagining the pain of being torn apart, which must have been similar to what this woman endured, except she was dead, while he had felt the agony alive.
His eyes filled with hatred. Had he been like this woman, his body left unrecognizable? Since entering the apocalypse, he hadn't thought about that man's name for a long time. But now, the gruesome scene before him brought back memories of the man he once deeply loved.
Sun Muyang. He had thought that by not seeing or thinking about him, time would erase the hatred. After all, he had loved this man and they had once depended on each other.
He even thought that perhaps Sun Muyang had died in the apocalypse, considering he had saved him from the company. However, today, witnessing the zombies devour the woman, Park Su suddenly realized he was far from as kind or forgiving as he thought he was.