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

Chapter 98 Awakening of Superpowers

At the South China Security Base, separated from Lu Yuan and his group by a sea, Pei Sihao had been in a coma for almost six days, and his high fever persisted. Besides Pei Sihao, four or five other people at the base had also fallen into comas due to recurring high fevers in the past few days. After consulting with his superiors, Liu Qi, the leader of the Evolution Group at the research institute, sent all those in similar situations to special wards.

At the same time, Liu Qi's interrogation of Lin Yun became more detailed, even to the point of wanting Lin Yun to recall what he ate and drank every day. After all, Lin Yun was the only one in the entire South China base who had evolved superpowers and was a conscious and communicable research subject.

"Team Leader Lin, is Senior Brother Pei and the others showing signs of evolving superpowers?" Lin Yun had just come out of Liu Qi's "torture" at the research institute when he ran into Yang Xiao and Zhong Qiang. After arriving at the South China Base, the two had to train with the soldiers in the morning and do some errands in the afternoon.

“The coma has lasted so long, even Team Leader Liu isn’t sure.” Lin Yun followed the two of them to the canteen. The canteen was run by the older family members who had come with them, and some younger women had been assigned to teach at the base’s school. The entire base was well-organized, with medical and educational services arranged perfectly. It looked like a large residential community before the virus outbreak.

"Why didn't we evolve?" Zhong Qiang was a little discouraged. He had escaped from school with Pei Sihao and the others. Pei Sihao was currently in a coma with a high fever. Lin Yun and Qin Yuan had evolved fire and wind-type abilities, and later Captain Du Wenqing also had earth-type abilities. Even Lu Yuan had a space, but he and Lin Xiao had nothing.

"I wonder if Senior Brother Gu has evolved any special abilities." Lin Xiao, who had been silent all along, suddenly thought of Gu Nanfeng. If Pei Sihao was currently in a coma with a high fever, was Gu Nanfeng in the same state? He gently clenched his hand, wanting to say something, but swallowed the words back.

"I don't know. I heard from Major Pei yesterday that the blizzard in the inland areas seems to have affected the satellite signal, and I haven't been able to get through on the phone." Lin Yun recalled meeting Pei Sihao, who came to visit his younger brother at the research institute yesterday. He said that the whole country is experiencing a drop in temperature and snowfall, including some areas in H Province. It's a little better here at their South China base, but the temperature is still dropping every day.

The three chatted as they queued for food, then found a four-person seat by the window. Just as they were about to continue their conversation, they heard many people in the cafeteria suddenly stand up and look out the window.

"Holy crap, it's snowing!" Zhong Qiang looked at the heavy snow falling outside the window. The snow was about the same amount they had experienced in X Province. If it was snowing this heavily in X Province, they could understand it, but now they were at the South China base, which was close to the equator. If it was snowing this heavily here, what would it be like in the inland areas?

"It seems that the extreme cold weather is indeed coming." Lin Yun has been wandering around the research institute these days, and sometimes he hears other departments chatting. The most common topic he hears is the speculation about the extreme cold weather. It is said that the temperature this winter may drop to below minus 40 degrees Celsius.

Soon everyone else in the canteen returned to their seats and started eating. The snow was just a sign that the extreme cold was coming, and everyone in the base knew that this day would come.

"Team Leader Lin, let me go to the research institute with you." After finishing his meal and cleaning up his plate, Lin Xiao called out to Lin Yun, who was about to return to the research institute.

Inside the base, the research institute is a place that requires a special pass to enter and exit, and Lin Xiao and Zhong Qiang do not yet have the qualifications to enter and exit the research institute.

"Holy crap, Lin's dad, you didn't evolve superpowers too, did you?" Zhong Qiang, who was following behind, rushed to Lin Xiao in surprise upon hearing this. It turned out that they had all survived the apocalypse together, but "I was the clown"? In the end, he was the only one who hadn't evolved superpowers.

"You mean..." Lin Yun was also surprised. All the suspected evolution cases they had come into contact with so far were those who had high fever and were in a coma. There were no similar cases in the base, such as him and Qin Yuan who evolved superpowers without a sound, or Du Wenqing who first showed signs of mania before evolving superpowers.

"I'm not entirely sure, but I suspect I do." Yang Xiao's words were inexplicable, sometimes saying he was unsure and other times saying he had special abilities.

Without further ado, Lin Yun immediately led Yang Xiao toward the research institute. Zhong Qiang, of course, didn't want to miss it, so he immediately followed.

When they arrived at the institute's entrance, Zhong Qiang still couldn't get in. Yang Xiao was only allowed in after Lin Yun went in to find Team Leader Liu, who then personally led him into the institute.

For the rest of the time, Zhong Qiang squatted alone under a big tree outside the research institute. The wind and snow were getting heavier and heavier. He hadn't worn much clothing that day, and he felt like he was almost numb from the cold when he saw Lin Yun and Yang Xiao come out of the research institute.

"How is it? How is it?" Zhong Qiang immediately rushed towards the two of them. He had been squatting for too long and his legs were numb, so he almost fell into the snow.

"Wow, this snow is really heavy, it's piled up so thick." Yang Xiao kicked the snow, sending some snowflakes flying before they sparsely fell back to the ground.

"Hurry up and tell me the result!" Zhong Qiang was impatient. He wanted to know the result right now, but one of the two people gave an irrelevant answer, and the other remained silent, which made him very anxious.

“Finally…” Lin Yun suddenly smiled, “I won’t be the only one being interrogated anymore.”

"Haha." Yang Xiao laughed along, grabbed a handful of snow, rolled it into a snowball, and threw it out.

“As expected…” Zhong Qiang looked up at the sky at a 45-degree angle, “The clown is actually myself.”

“It’s getting late today, and the Evolution Group has other work to do, but what Team Leader Liu means is…” Lin Yun paused here, then looked at Zhong Qiang, “You have to come with us tomorrow too.”

"What am I supposed to do?" Zhong Qiang looked dejected. He didn't think he could be of any help, like helping to recall what everyone ate each day or why he was the only one who hadn't evolved.

"Because Yang Xiao's superpower wasn't very obvious, yours might be the same. You need to take a test first." Lin Yun smiled and rubbed the head of the dejected boy.

Zhong Qiang's eyes lit up. "What? I might have superpowers too?"

"It's hard to say, after all, you're a bit silly." Yang Xiao threw another snowball at Zhong Qiang, and Zhong Qiang returned the favor with a snowball. The two of them played around like this all the way back to the dormitory where they had been assigned to stay when they arrived.

The dormitory here is for eight people, and their room is not full yet, with only six people currently. However, since it has been confirmed that Yang Xiao has superpowers and Zhong Qiang is also suspected of having superpowers, the two of them have to move to Lin Yun's dormitory.

Lin Yun helped them pack their few belongings and then took them to his current dormitory. It was very close to the research institute and was a standard four-person room. However, Lin Yun was the only one living in the room for the time being. After all, he was the only person with superpowers confirmed by the base before, and now more than half of their escape team had been assembled.

Once they got to the dorm, the group could finally chat freely. Zhong Qiang hadn't even finished unpacking when he pinned Yang Xiao against the door and started "interrogating" him, "Dad, when did you awaken your superpower? Why didn't you tell me?"

"I wasn't sure before either, but Team Leader Liu did a lot of tests for me today before I was sure." Yang Xiao pushed away Zhong Qiang, his "silly son," and put his personal belongings into an empty cabinet in the dormitory.

The dormitories at the South China base are not as good as the apartments Zhong Qiang and Lin Xiao used to live in at the university town, because they might need to accommodate many survivors later on. The previous eight-person rooms had four bunk beds in one open space, each person had a storage cabinet, and a balcony for drying clothes. To the left of the balcony was a small bathroom, and to the right was a small washbasin. Each floor also had a larger washroom and bathroom, where they usually washed and used the bathroom. Laundry facilities were all on the first floor, and the canteen was shared throughout the entire base.

The dormitories for Lin Yun and his research team weren't much better. They were just large open rooms with four bunk beds and desks underneath for studying, since researchers would bring their work back to the dorms. The balconies were separate, and the storage lockers were equivalent to two in an eight-person room. The toilet and washroom were located near the entrance, and the rooms were slightly larger than those in an eight-person room. The toilets also had shower facilities.

“This is just like the dormitory my grandpa and his family used to live in!” Zhong Qiang said while packing his things. “Dad Yang, you still haven’t told us what your special ability is.”

"It's too useless, I don't want to talk about it." Yang Xiao made his bed and lay down on it. He was too lazy to climb down again.

Lin Yun watched the two of them struggling, then sat down at his desk and closed his eyes to rest. During this time, apart from going to the Evolution Group to recall the past, he had been doing some intensive training under the arrangement of Group Leader Liu. He would almost exhaust his superpowers every day. Liu Qi said that this would increase his superpower threshold.

Indeed, after these few days of training, he clearly felt that the duration of his ability's use had increased. So he trained very seriously every day. Usually, he would go back to his dormitory, wash up, and rest, but today he spent half the day playing with these two kids, and now he was indeed a bit tired.

"If you don't want to tell me, that's fine. Team Leader Liu will definitely tell me tomorrow." Seeing that Lin Yun and Yang Xiao both looked exhausted, Zhong Qiang didn't make a fuss. He made his bed, and the three of them washed up and went to bed early.

On the other side, the medical equipment had stopped working, but Gu Nanfeng was still unconscious. However, the good thing was that he was finally free of fever.

Around noon, Lu Yuan noticed that the survivors from the building across the street had gone to the convenience store at the entrance of the residential area again. It was probably because everyone had noticed the zombies leaving the area last night that there were many of them out today, about twenty or so at a time. Each of them was carrying a large backpack. Judging from the tracks on the snow, they must have started their operation early in the morning.

“We made such a commotion when we arrived, they must have noticed us. And now that the snow isn’t going to stop anytime soon, we need to go to that convenience store to buy supplies.” Lu Yuan glanced at the building across the street. He was right; someone across the street had been watching them since the first day they moved in.

"Don't we have supplies?" Qin Yuan wondered. With Lu Yuan's spatial ability, what else could they possibly lack?

“Xiao Yuan is right, at least we can’t let them think we have enough food.” Lu Yuan’s spatial ability must have been exposed on the first day they arrived, since their room has electricity and heating equipment. How could an ordinary household have so many heaters? Du Wenqing also glanced at the convenience store at the entrance of the community. “And we should also go and check that convenience store.”

The three discussed it and decided that they couldn't leave the unconscious Gu Nanfeng alone here. So they could only leave Du Wenqing, who hadn't improved much in terms of physical fitness but still had special abilities, here, while Qin Yuan and Lu Yuan, who was wrapped up like a bear, would go to the convenience store together.

Their building was farther from the entrance of the community than the building opposite, and no one else had passed by. As soon as the two of them opened the security door on the first floor, waist-deep snow rushed in. Qin Yuan quickly raised his hand and released a tongue of fire to melt the snow, preventing them from being buried.

Then, relying on Qin Yuan's fire-based ability, the two of them slowly moved towards the entrance of the residential area. The wind and snow outside were even stronger than they had imagined. Lu Yuan huddled behind Qin Yuan; if it weren't for Qin Yuan's fire-based ability, his face would have been scalded by the cold wind.

Soon, they ran into people coming out of the building across the street. Qin Yuan wanted to greet them, but the people across the street were dressed even more warmly than Lu Yuan, wearing clothes for all four seasons, as well as multiple layers of masks and sunglasses. They were very well covered up and didn't seem to want to talk in the snow, so Qin Yuan didn't want to make a fool of himself and silently followed behind them with Lu Yuan toward the convenience store.

There were no zombies today, and the convenience store's security door wasn't locked, so they didn't have to knock every time they came. The leader walked to the door, opened it, and went straight in.

Lu Yuan followed them into the convenience store last. Just as he had observed before, he was the last to push the security door shut. The convenience store was indeed as they had guessed; it was very small, probably no more than twenty square meters in area. However, the three rows of shelves were filled with rice, flour, cooking oil, and even fresh meat, vegetables, and fruits. Lu Yuan did not see any portable gas stove canisters, but he did see a small mountain of firewood in the corner.

"Hey, newbie." A frail voice rang out from deep inside the convenience store. Lu Yuan and Qin Yuan were still amazed by the amazing supplies in the store and didn't realize someone was calling them.

So by the time they realized what was happening, the twenty-odd people in front of them were already looking at them warily.

"Ah, sorry." Lu Yuan was suddenly pushed forward by Qin Yuan, and he responded tremblingly to the old man in the convenience store. Qin Yuan was a soldier, and he used to be a bit clumsy when communicating with the public, which often led to criticism from his superiors. So he pushed Lu Yuan, who was socially awkward, to the front.

"What do you want?" The voice rang out again, and Lu Yuan finally found the speaker among the twenty-odd people.