Chapter 207: Zombie Virus
Shen Baoying had obtained a Superpower Stone, making everyone all the more hopeful about the remaining few.
Zhang Qingfang reached out her hand, and suddenly, a Wind-attribute stone reacted. A flicker of excitement appeared on everyone’s faces.
"It’s glowing! It’s glowing!!!!"
The words had barely left their lips when the glowing Superpower Stone shot into Zhang Qingfang’s body with a SWOOSH.
The intense pain was identical to Shen Baoying’s. But Zhang Qingfang wasn’t as young as Shen Baoying, who had a more resilient body.
The moment the Superpower Stone reacted, Jiang Si was ready to help Zhang Qingfang overcome the ordeal.
But unexpectedly, the moment Jiang Si placed her hand on her, the Superpower Stone that had flown into Zhang Qingfang’s body shot out with another SWOOSH and burrowed into Jiang Si instead.
The energy from three stones converged inside her, and the immense power generated excruciating pain.
Jiang Si clenched her jaw, refusing to scream out. Fearing she’d bite her tongue, Qin Shen offered her his hand and pulled her into a tight, one-armed embrace.
He attempted to use the same method as last time, transferring the energy from his own body to Jiang Si.
Jiang Linhai was frantic with worry, asking over and over, "What’s wrong? What’s going on?"
No one could answer him.
But this time, Qin Shen’s embrace seemed unable to alleviate the intense agony from the energy stone’s fusion. The pain was just too immense, as if she were being flayed alive, her flesh stripped from her bones.
Jiang Si gritted her teeth so hard they felt like they would shatter. Her deathly pale face was a terrifying sight.
Qin Shen pried her mouth open. Unable to bear it any longer, Jiang Si bit down hard on his wrist. As his blood flowed into her mouth, she felt a surprising sense of relief.
The next second, Bo Xi injected an anesthetic into her neck.
Jiang Si passed out. Qin Shen swept her up into his arms and carried her back to their room. The others didn’t dare touch the Superpower Stones, so Jiang Linhai locked the box for the time being.
Even though Jiang Si had been anesthetized, her expression was still twisted in agony.
Qin Shen held her close, kissing her cheek and waiting patiently, as if silently telling her, ’You can get through this. You’re going to be okay.’
Shen Baoying slowly regained consciousness. The first thing she noticed was that her body felt different. Like a fire-breathing dragon, she had an overwhelming urge to start a fire.
Excited, she held out her hand, and a small fireball popped into existence. She clenched her fist, and it vanished.
The ability to summon and dismiss the flame in her palm at will filled her with wonder and joy.
Suddenly, the door creaked open. It was Jiang Linhai, bringing her a glass of water.
Shen Baoying was about to share her newfound ability to control fire, but then she saw Jiang Linhai’s grim expression. It looked like something terrible had happened.
Shen Baoying took the water he offered but didn’t drink. "What is it? Did something happen? Or are you just upset that you didn’t get a superpower?"
Jiang Linhai shook his head. "It’s Sisi... Sisi still hasn’t woken up!"
"What exactly happened? Tell me, be clear!"
"Sisi suddenly absorbed a Superpower Stone. She’s fallen into a coma, and her condition isn’t good!"
Shen Baoying scrambled to her feet and shot Jiang Linhai a reproachful glare. "Why are you just now telling me!"
She rushed to the door of Jiang Si’s room, only to be stopped by Jiang Linhai, who had caught up with her. "Qin Shen is with Sisi right now. Don’t disturb them. Maybe... maybe she’ll wake up soon."
What mother wouldn’t be anxious? She stomped her foot in frustration but ultimately refrained from pushing the door open.
’Qin Shen and Jiang Si are both superpower users, and he has Healing Power. Surely... surely she’ll be okay.’
Shen Baoying could only try to reassure herself.
With the Jiang family preoccupied with worrying about Jiang Si, Lu Zhifeng stepped up to take charge of the group.
They couldn’t leave their current location, and based on their prior intelligence, the zombies would be arriving soon.
Lu Zhifeng, along with Bo Xi and the troop of monkeys, planned to continue reinforcing the fences to keep the zombies out.
When they stepped out of the cave hotel, they discovered a new wall of snow, over two meters high, encircling the exterior.
The snow wall was quite thick; it would take the zombies a long time to dig through it. If they poured water over it to create a smooth ice wall, the chances of them getting in would be even slimmer.
However, there was a massive hole in this wall—damage from Jiang Si’s previous confrontation with the other superpower user.
Lu Zhifeng didn’t rush to fix the wall. Instead, he had everyone focus on finishing the fence at an accelerated pace. Only when the fence was complete that evening did they use a snowplow to slowly patch the hole in the snow wall.
The temperature plummeted at night. Even with no snow or wind, it was bitterly cold.
Jiang Linhai, snapping out of his daze, hurried out with Jiang Chengwu to help.
Meanwhile, Shen Baoying and Zhang Qingfang rushed to prepare a hearty meal for the weary workers.
By the time Jiang Linhai and Jiang Chengwu went out, the snow wall had just been patched. All that was left was to pour water over it, taking advantage of the low temperature.
They had a water pump and used it to draw water from the cooler part of the hot spring. The warm water wouldn’t freeze in the pipes, and when poured onto the wall, its residual heat would slightly melt the surface, creating an even smoother ice wall and forming sharp icicles.
Fortunately, the area enclosed by the snow wall wasn’t too large, and the pump’s hose was just long enough to reach.
By the time they had finished reinforcing the wall, even the monkeys were sweating, exhausted and covered in bits of frozen slush.
Thankfully, when they returned to the cave hotel, they were met with steaming hot noodles, braised beef, egg crepes, sausages, steamed buns, and a variety of side dishes.
It was a rare treat for the monkeys to eat food made from white flour. Shen Baoying was generous today, letting them eat their fill. It wasn’t just the monkeys who had worked; the mothers with young, the old, the weak, and the sick were all given white-flour steamed buns and chopped, roasted fish.
Everyone ate and drank their fill, but no one could think about sleep yet. Qin Shen was still looking after Jiang Si.
The two of them were usually the backbone of the group. Now that they were in trouble, the others were determined to make sure their "home" was secure.
With the fence and the snow wall, the zombies wouldn’t get in unless they had unusually high intelligence and could figure out how to build ladders to climb over.
In addition to these two barriers, they also had Jiao Chunzi, who could keep the zombies at bay.
As long as nothing unexpected happened, their temporary safety seemed assured.
The only fear was that, besides zombies, other disasters or even hostile superpower users might appear.
Niu Niu suddenly piped up, "Daddy, what about the hot spring? They could swim in through the hot spring entrance!"
Jiang Ancheng had carefully designed the hot spring entrance before, installing a barrier at the bottom. Zombies were too large to get through.
Suddenly, Jiao Chunzi, who had been silently holding her child, spoke up. "It’s not just humans that are infected with the zombie virus. There are animals, too."
Her words stunned everyone into silence.
"Animals? What kind of animals?"
Jiao Chunzi said, "When Sisi and I went out, we saw infected moose, vultures, and snow wolves. There might be other infected animals, too."
Vultures could fly and reach this place easily. If the zombie virus could also infect reptiles like lizards and snakes, then it was highly likely they could sneak in through the cave hotel’s hot spring.