The post-apocalyptic world has a space full of supplies.

Chapter 191 Consuming Crystals

Lan Yichen quickly adapted to the images and sounds inside the protective mask. Now he could completely ignore the fact that he was wearing something on his head, since he didn't feel anything.

"Can't they hear you talking like that?" Lan Yichen pointed to his head and then looked at the window with the curtains drawn.

"Obviously, you were eavesdropping outside just now." Liu Jia didn't want to talk to him, but he had indeed accidentally seen Lan Yichen leaning against the window eavesdropping through the gap in the curtains. Before he could say anything, the man disappeared. He didn't know who he was before, but he didn't expect him to come and knock on the door after failing to eavesdrop.

"I didn't..." Lan Yichen wanted to explain, but it seemed impossible to explain. He had indeed been eavesdropping by the window.

"If you have anything to say, you can say it directly. They can't hear you." In fact, Lu Yuan had guessed that Lan Yichen's initiative to come to him today under the circumstances yesterday must have been for a reason why he had to come. This reason might be partly due to Zhao Qi or Jiang Yun forcing him to come, but more likely it was because he himself wanted to come.

"Can you take me away?" Lan Yichen thought for a moment before asking.

“We don’t have 100 level 5 or higher crystals, nor 50 level 6 or 7 crystals. How do we get there? Should we dig a tunnel?” Zhong Qiang’s hearing was actually quite good. He could quickly distinguish which voice was the same as which voice among a group of voices. So, after Lan Yichen came in and said a few words, he knew that this guy was the culprit who had made him go in and out of the toilet several times last night by the wall. And today, he even came here dressed like a respectable person, asking for protection.

"What?" Lan Yichen was also shocked. What about 100 level 5 or higher crystals, and 50 level 6-7 crystals?

"You don't know? That bastard Zhao Qi said it this morning." Wang Shanhai really disliked everyone in this base, even though this person was someone Lu Yuan knew, and seemed to be there to defect.

"I really don't know." Although Lan Yichen had been at the base for several months, every former captain of the various bases that Zhao Qi brought back quickly integrated into the Beijing base, and none of them wanted to leave, so he really didn't know any of this.

"Jiang Yun said, 'How come you haven't awakened your superpowers despite consuming crystals so many times?'" Wang Sanhai was about to scold him, but Lu Yuan interrupted him first. After all, regardless of whether Lan Yichen was good or bad, they didn't have much time to waste here.

“It’s true.” Lan Yichen nodded gently.

"Eating crystals? They all ate crystals to awaken their superpowers?" Yang Xiao's mouth was now big enough to fit an egg. Back at the South China base, those research fanatics hadn't even dared to try eating crystals directly, but the people at this Beijing base had already done it several times.

“Yes, eighty percent of the ability users in the base awakened their abilities by consuming crystals.” Lan Yichen recalled his own experience of consuming crystals multiple times without any effect.

"What about other ordinary people? Are they all like you?" Lu Yuan continued to ask.

"No, everyone in the base who ate the crystal either successfully awakened as a superhuman or mutated into a zombie. Only I am not one of them. Only I cannot awaken." Lan Yichen shook his head, his eyes filled with tears. If he hadn't been wearing a protective mask, he would have felt quite embarrassed, since he hadn't cried even after what happened last night.

"Who was the first to discover that one could awaken superpowers by directly consuming crystals?" Lin Yun asked.

“It’s Jiang Yun.” Before Lin Yun could ask any more questions, Lan Yichen continued, “After Jiang Yun and I separated from Lu Yuan and the others, we led the production crew and more than thirty people from Y Town, heading towards our original destination, S City.”

"S City fell a long time ago. After the zombie virus outbreak, due to the large population, including many foreigners, people did not take refuge in time and were infected with the virus in large numbers. The zombies also caused great damage to buildings and AI electronic devices. Therefore, S City, which was originally the most prosperous city in China, became the first city to fall after the outbreak." Ji Lang's words were quite formal, so Yang Xiao immediately knew that he was probably just repeating the report they had seen at the time.

"So we were never able to get back to S City." Lan Yichen didn't blame Ji Lang for interrupting him, but instead gathered his thoughts and continued, "Actually, not long after we left J City, I learned that Jiang Yun had awakened his superpower. We were all very happy at the time because having a superpowered person in the team made everyone feel very safe."

"Then we entered the border of J Province safely. We all thought we could reach S City safely, even if all we saw was ruins. I thought that would be good. But we still encountered the biggest crisis. There were too many zombies in J Province and S City. We fought desperately. Jiang Yun... Brother Jiang really fought desperately to protect us who didn't have superpowers. But some of our teammates were bitten by zombies. These things were unavoidable, and we could understand them."

"While cleaning up the battlefield, I found a zombie's crystal. It was a very beautiful blue stone, so beautiful, so beautiful..."

Lan Yichen suddenly stopped, but no one urged him. Lu Yuan listened carefully. What he said was exactly the same as what Jiang Yun had said yesterday.

“Brother Jiang… Jiang Yun took that stone. At the time, I thought it was just because he liked it, since he likes blue things. But that day, Jiang Yun didn’t return to our temporary camp until very late at night. That day, I was on night duty with a girl from the production crew. When Jiang Yun came back, he smelled strongly of blood. You all know that when you kill zombies, the smell is that rotten stench, but that day Jiang Yun smelled of blood. But we didn’t know that at the time, so we thought he had gone to the outer perimeter to clear out any lone zombies, which is why he came back late and was so dirty.”

"The next day, we set off fully prepared, but we dared not return to S City. I had suggested going to the South China Base to find you, but Jiang Yun said we should try to get to Beijing first, because he remembered that when he went to Y Town, Jin Nan had mentioned that he would be attending an important meeting in Beijing. Jiang Yun was the only one in the team who had awakened his special ability, so we naturally had to follow his instructions, and I understood that he wanted to find Jin Nan as soon as possible. But when we set off, I discovered that one of our teammates, whom we had later rescued along the way, was missing. We searched for a long time but couldn't find him."

"Gone?" Lu Yuan suddenly asked. Last night, Jiang Yun said that this person ate a crystal but did not turn into a zombie.

“Hmm.” Lan Yichen was a little puzzled, but seeing that Lu Yuan didn’t ask any further questions, he continued, “This uncle is a really nice person, and his combat power is off the charts. Among us people without superpowers, he has the highest combat power.”

"And then?" Yang Xiao couldn't help but ask.

"Later we couldn't find him, but we couldn't delay any longer, so we left. I left the uncle two days' worth of food. When we got to H province, the uncle reappeared..."