TVHCM 06

Mo Chu slung the largest backpack she could find in the warehouse over her shoulders and stepped outside. Once she was out, she pulled the warehouse door shut behind her and dragged two zombie corpses in front of it, staging the scene to look as though zombies had gotten inside and a brutal fight had already taken place there.

She knew the disguise was a little exaggerated. By the sixth year of the apocalypse, no one would have been fooled by something so crude. But right now, in the earliest days of the end times, most people still hadn’t adapted to the bloody reality of this new world. Just the sight of two zombie corpses was enough to scare away the vast majority of survivors.

There was still some risk, of course. All she could do was come back as quickly as possible.

And maybe it was because Li Chen had grabbed her hand unconsciously before she left, but for one fleeting moment, she actually felt that the infamous future Demon King was… pitiful.

The thought startled even her.

In her previous life, Li Chen had been cruel, volatile, and soaked in blood. But no one—not a single person—had ever thought of him as pitiable. Even though his past had long since become an open secret among ability users, spread from one whispering mouth to another, nobody sympathized with him.

But the Li Chen from her past life was the “Demon King.”

The Li Chen in this life was only Li Chen.

Mo Chu sighed quietly to herself. Before she’d even begun moving, the urge to hurry back had already become unbearably strong.

She moved swiftly through the city, weaving between abandoned streets. Since her goal was gathering supplies, she avoided the wandering zombie hordes whenever possible.

There wasn’t a single pedestrian left in sight.

The whole city looked dead.

Mo Chu knew the survivors still trapped here were either hiding in their homes or workplaces, anxiously and desperately waiting for rescue—or they had already fled the city during the earliest chaos of the apocalypse, just like she and the others once had.

Back then, almost everyone still believed only their city had fallen.

As long as they escaped… as long as rescue came… they would survive and someday return to civilization.

But the truth was that the entire world had collapsed.

Every city was drowning in disaster.

By the third day of the apocalypse, communication signals were still down and rescue had yet to arrive. Some people had begun to realize something was terribly wrong, though most still clung stubbornly to hope.

But… they weren’t completely without hope.

At the thought of that “hope,” Mo Chu pressed her lips together and forced herself to focus. She quickened her pace and continued searching for supplies.

Eventually, she found a large underground supermarket that looked as though it hadn’t been looted yet.

But the moment she stepped inside, she realized she wasn’t alone.

Two groups of people were confronting each other near the shelves, the atmosphere tense enough to ignite at any second.

One group was mostly men with only a few women among them. They looked aggressive and domineering.

The other group was mostly girls, but the three boys leading them were all tall, broad-shouldered, and heavily built—each over six feet tall, radiating the kind of presence that screamed I could take on eight of you alone.

Neither side looked easy to provoke.

The moment Mo Chu walked in, the tension sharpened instantly.

Everyone turned toward her.

Especially the male-heavy group. Their leader looked her over, realized she was alone—and a woman—and a trace of malice flashed across his eyes.

Mo Chu calmly drew the dagger tucked into her boot.

Her gaze turned cold and razor-sharp, refusing to yield an inch.

Some things could be compromised on.

Supplies were not one of them.

Once you gave way the first time, there would be countless next times. That was one lesson six years in the apocalypse had carved into her bones.

The moment she became a woman holding a weapon—a woman who looked dangerous—the man’s gaze shifted away.

Then one of the boys from the other group, still wearing a basketball jersey, frowned and said, “The supermarket’s huge. Nobody’s taking everything. We stay out of each other’s way and take what we can.”

The man clearly didn’t think a fight would end well for him either. “Fine. Everyone grabs their own stuff.” His eyes slid toward Mo Chu. “But she doesn’t come in.”

He pointed at her.

Everyone looked her way.

Mo Chu’s expression barely changed.

She was already considering whether she should kill him now—or wait until they left and rob them afterward.

In the apocalypse, it wasn’t just zombie blood that stained your hands.

Sometimes it was human blood too.

She’d learned that long ago.

But before she could react, a girl from the other group spoke up in disgust. “She’s with us now. Are you letting her in or not?”

None of her teammates objected.

With so many people backing Mo Chu, the man could only agree through gritted teeth.

Once they entered the food section, the girl waved at Mo Chu. “Hurry up and come in.”

Mo Chu sheathed her dagger and walked over. “Thank you.”

The girl waved her off impatiently. “Just grab your food and leave fast. Don’t let those people target you.”

Without waiting for a response, she hurried after her teammates.

Mo Chu called after her, “What’s your name?”

The girl didn’t turn around. “Ying Yi. See you!”

Mo Chu watched her disappear deeper into the supermarket before heading inside herself.

The place still bore the marks of the apocalypse’s first outbreak. Overturned shelves. Bloodstains splashed across walls. Scattered corpses of both zombies and humans.

But judging by the fact that all this commotion hadn’t drawn out any zombies, the supermarket was probably clear.

Even so, Mo Chu stayed cautious.

She noticed the hostile group heading straight for the raw food section, quickly loading up rice, flour, meat, and grain—supplies clearly meant for long-term survival.

Meanwhile, the younger group rushed toward ready-to-eat foods and instant meals.

After one glance, Mo Chu headed straight for the drinks aisle.

She loaded several bottles of purified water into her backpack first, then energy drinks, filling nearly half the bag.

After six years in the apocalypse, she understood one truth better than anyone:

Water was more important than food.

Once she finished with the drinks, she stuffed several chocolate bars into the side pocket, then moved efficiently through the shelves searching for anything high in sugar and calories, along with dense grain-based foods that would actually keep someone full—oatmeal powder and the like.

Her eyes swept the shelves once before spotting what she wanted. She grabbed two cans of fruit as well.

Her movements were quick and purposeful.

She knew a supermarket like this would never have compressed survival rations, much less the military-grade ones special task forces received in her previous life.

Under these circumstances, high-calorie foods replenished energy fastest. Grain products lasted longer and filled the stomach better than instant meals.

And canned fruit—

That was precious vitamins in the apocalypse.

By the time she finished, the backpack weighed heavily against her shoulders.

She hoisted it up and glanced across the supermarket—only to unexpectedly spot the hostile man quietly slipping away from his group and heading deeper inside alone.

Remembering the way he’d looked at her earlier, Mo Chu frowned and followed him.

The moment she caught up, she saw him pinning Ying Yi between a shelf and the wall.

One hand clamped tightly over the girl’s mouth.

The other was tugging violently at her clothes.

Once order disappeared from the world, some people’s ugliness surfaced frighteningly fast.

Rage exploded inside Mo Chu.

She strode forward and, before the man could react, grabbed a fistful of his hair from behind and slammed his head into the nearby wall with all her strength.

The heavy bang echoed through the entire supermarket.

The man’s vision went black instantly, blood pouring down from his forehead. Mo Chu shoved a towel hard against the wound to stop the smell of blood from attracting zombies, then lifted her foot and brought it down cleanly twice.

Crack.

Crack.

Both of his arms broke.

Another towel was stuffed into his mouth before he could scream.

Mo Chu stepped down again, grinding her heel against the shattered bones in his arm as she looked at him like he was already dead.

The man trembled in agony, unable even to cry out, on the verge of passing out.

Only then did Ying Yi finally react.

Mo Chu had expected panic. Tears. Shock.

Instead, the girl snatched up a rolling pin from nearby and started beating the man mercilessly, careful not to make too much noise.

Mo Chu nearly laughed.

She didn’t stop her.

But by then, the others had heard the commotion and were rushing over, so Mo Chu gently pulled Ying Yi back. Then she quickly grabbed a coat nearby and draped it over the girl’s shoulders, covering her torn clothing.

Only then did Ying Yi’s nose twitch red.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

Mo Chu quietly buttoned up the coat for her.

Tears finally spilled down the girl’s cheeks as she choked out between sobs, “Thank you… thank you so much… you’re… you’re so gentle.”

Mo Chu patted her lightly on the back.

Ying Yi’s teammates finally arrived. One look at the scene was enough for them to understand everything.

The three boys at the front flew into a rage. Without another word, they hauled the man off the ground and drove both him and his teammates out of the supermarket.

The boys and girls all thanked Mo Chu repeatedly.

She simply waved it off.

Before leaving, she crouched beside several zombie corpses and dug through them. From one body, she retrieved a crystal core.

She made no effort to hide what she was doing.

The moment the teenagers saw the crystal in her hand, shock spread across all their faces.

They exchanged looks before Ying Yi asked quietly, “Big sister… what is that?”

Mo Chu glanced at her. “A zombie crystal core. Ability users can use them to level up.”

“C-Crystal core?”

Several of them looked like their entire worldview had shattered. Some blurted out in disbelief that crystal cores were actually real. Others eagerly asked whether abilities were really like the superpowers they imagined.

Only one of the boys grew serious.

He immediately started asking what crystal cores were and how they were used.

Mo Chu answered everything she reasonably could.

The boy stared at her. “You’re just… telling us something this important?”

“There’s nothing secret about it,” she replied calmly.

The boy bowed deeply. “Thank you.”

Mo Chu only shook her head.

She had never intended to hide the truth about crystal cores to gain an advantage.

Sooner or later, people would discover their purpose anyway.

And the earlier humanity learned, the more strength they could build before the zombies underwent their second evolution.

Before she was an ability user, she was human.

And no human could stand by and watch their own kind be crushed by monsters.

She’d deliberately let them see what she was doing.

If they spread the information further, all the better.

In the future, she had no intention of hiding it at all.

Now that her goal had been achieved, Mo Chu didn’t linger. She said goodbye and left the supermarket.

After she was gone, the boy who’d questioned her earlier said gravely, “I think Professor might have awakened an ability. We need to get back and tell him immediately!”

“Huh? I thought the professor just got smarter after the fever. That counts as an ability too?”

“Then let’s try digging for crystal cores on the way back!”

“We really should thank that older sister properly.”

The boy looked toward the direction Mo Chu had disappeared, fully aware of how earth-shattering the information she’d casually revealed truly was.

And silently, from the bottom of his heart, he thanked her.