C7 Human Nature

Chapter Seven: Humanity

After their showers, the two women changed into fresh clothes and descended to the living room on the ground floor.

Zhang Tine entered the kitchen to assist Ye Xiaomei with cooking, taking the opportunity to pass along the food she had brought. Truth be told, even if Zhang Tine had kept the food to herself, Gu Ming and his wife wouldn't have voiced any objections. However, they would have silently judged her, branding her as someone not to be trusted. They would have likely abandoned them at the next Survivor Base they encountered, as they couldn't afford to harbor anyone overly self-serving in their vehicle. Who knows if they might have turned hostile while Gu Ming was out hunting? Thankfully, Zhang Tine chose to share, and with that gesture, she and her sister began to be seen as true members of the group.

"Sister, do you want to play with toys?"

Nannan, seldom encountering strangers, was eager to have Zhang Ying join her in play.

"Sure."

Zhang Ying was a soft touch when it came to children. Despite her shyness, she had an immense fondness for anything adorable, and Nannan was exceptionally so. Together with Lucky, the child and the young woman, accompanied by the dog, frolicked on the living room floor with the glee of Sun Wukong causing havoc in the Heavenly Palace. Laughter and barks echoed through the space, but thankfully, the chariot's soundproofing was top-notch, preventing any zombies nearby from being drawn to the commotion.

From the driver's seat, Gu Ming was busy scouting a passage through the county with his drone. The sounds of playful merriment below signaled that bringing Zhang Tine and her sister back had its benefits; they provided companionship for his wife and daughter.

Once the route was mapped, Gu Ming instructed Zeus to log the details. He then summoned the drone back to the vehicle, where it entered seamlessly through an opening in the roof, all under the deft control of Zeus. This convenience was a relief for Gu Ming, sparing him the exhaustion of handling everything manually.

"Honey, dinner's ready."

"Coming right up."

The table was a feast for the eyes, laden with an array of dishes that included chicken, fish, and an assortment of vegetables. Ten dishes in total, a veritable banquet in the post-apocalyptic world.

Zhang Tine and Zhang Ying hadn't experienced such a spread since the world had changed. At home, without electricity, their fridge had been rendered useless, and perishable items had spoiled, leading to the painful decision to discard them. Only canned goods had a longer shelf life. They were fortunate it wasn't winter yet; otherwise, even opened cans wouldn't last overnight.

In the post-apocalyptic world, the most pressing issue for humanity was undoubtedly food. It was foreseeable that, before long, food shortages would become even more acute. With no one left to cultivate crops, as survivors scoured the cities for any remaining sustenance, urban dwellers faced an imminent food crisis. Those in rural areas might fare slightly better, having the opportunity to grow some food during the daylight hours.

For Gu Ming, however, food scarcity was a non-issue. With energy points at his disposal, he could produce as much food as needed, and he even considered the prospect of entering the food trade.

Gu Ming had discovered through the system that it could directly absorb the energy cores found within zombies and mutated creatures. These cores were the source of energy points. The system could also capture energy within a certain radius, even if the core was destroyed, as was the case with the giant snake that morning. The white phosphorus had incinerated it, but the energy lingering in the air was still harvestable by the system.

Gu Ming speculated that these energy points might be present in the air, albeit less concentrated than in a core. It was possible that all surviving life forms carried these points. However, not being a scientist, he was unsure how to research or analyze them. He hoped to eventually settle down and perhaps find scientists to investigate further. He was confident that any remaining official entities would also be conducting their research, without a shadow of a doubt.

"Sister-in-law, isn't this a bit too lavish?" Zhang Tine remarked, fully aware of the value of food in these desperate times. She had felt somewhat guilty assisting in the kitchen earlier.

"Don't worry about it. We're not short on food. Your Big Brother Gu has a knack for finding it," Ye Xiaomei said with a playful smile.

"Go ahead and eat, don't be shy," Gu Ming urged, picking up his chopsticks first to encourage the others to start.

With Gu Ming leading the way, Zhang Tine and her sister began their meal. The table soon buzzed with the sounds of a hearty feast. Lucky and Ye Xiaomei, seated beneath the table, were not forgotten and enjoyed the same meal as everyone else.

As usual, Ye Xiaomei made sure Nannan was well-fed before attending to her own meal. The group engaged in light conversation as they dined, and shortly after finishing, they cleared the table, leaving it spotless.

Gu Ming settled into the driver's seat and fired up Zeus, gearing up to traverse the county town.

The colossal war machine roared to life, its tracks rolling over the pavement with a surprisingly quiet hum. These were special tracks, ideally suited for navigating the post-apocalyptic terrain, designed to slip past the notice of zombies. Mutated creatures, however, were unaffected, as they harbored no fear of the sun—a fact that piqued Gu Ming's curiosity about the underlying principle.

In practice, Gu Ming's tank was a formidable opponent to the average mutated creature. The most formidable adversary he had encountered since the apocalypse began was the giant snake in Purple County. Encounters in other cities had only brought him face-to-face with mutated cats and dogs, whose physical abilities had merely doubled or tripled—hardly the stuff of legend. Together with Lucky, Gu Ming had dispatched them all without fail.

As the tank sped along the county's roads, survivors peering down from high-rise buildings were filled with a mix of awe and longing.

"If only I had that vehicle, I could make it through the apocalypse," one survivor mused.

"Help me, please! Save my life, take me with you!" another cried out, undeterred by the threat of zombies.

"Damn it, it's so unfair! How did they get their hands on such a war machine?" a third lamented, hurling objects from above in a bitter act of defiance, unwilling to let those inside the tank escape their own misery.

From his vantage point in the driver's seat, Gu Ming observed the myriad human responses to the end of the world. Their reactions were understandable, though those resorting to hurling insults and debris were only sowing seeds of harm for themselves and others.

With a guttural growl, zombies, as if on a surge of adrenaline, burst from their hiding places. But the tank's pace was relentless, and by the time the horde emerged, it was already a distant threat. They gave chase like sprinters in a 100-meter dash, but soon their pursuit waned. They were, after all, creatures bound by their biology, not perpetual motion machines. As the sunlight bathed the streets, the zombies retreated to their dark sanctuaries. Meanwhile, any survivors who had stirred up enough trouble to draw the deadly attention of the zombies, only to be killed and consumed, had sealed their own fate—a fate that Gu Ming regarded as beyond his concern.

After swiftly passing through Purple County's town center, they hit the highway, taking the Purple-Green Expressway straight toward the border of Jerrawyn Province. Assuming the journey remained accident-free, they would arrive in no time.