Chapter 61: Black Water
Lin Han was left completely speechless by Zhang Lei’s sharp retort. With nothing left to say, he quickly changed the subject to their plans for attacking a neighboring stronghold. Though he called it a “neighboring” base, it was actually located some 230 kilometers away.
This settlement, designated Base No. 35, was a relatively small, privately run base. Before arriving in Chen Town, Ruan Fanfan had personally scouted the area and discovered that the leadership at Base 35 was actively negotiating with the central national bases, clearly seeking to be formally incorporated.
However, Wan Youzhi had no intention of letting Base 35 slip away into the government’s hands so easily.
The timing for a strike was perfect. With the sudden onset of the polar night, every water-type psychic across the land had undergone a bizarre mutation. Major bases that had previously relied on these espers for their daily survival were plunged into severe water shortages overnight. Under these dire circumstances, Base No. 27—which had been meticulously prepared for this exact crisis—held an absolute advantage.
Not long ago, Wan Youzhi had used his precognitive abilities to foresee that water-type psychics would be severely affected by the polar night. Acting fast, he had preemptively imprisoned them all, treating them like livestock to be milked. Through this ruthless method, he had successfully extracted and stockpiled 300,000 tons of pure, untainted water. Now that the captive psychics had turned completely black, he was forcing them to generate their new, dark liquid to be weaponized for his army.
Lin Han had already run extensive tests on the substance. He discovered that when zombies came into contact with this black water, they were instantly dissolved by its corrosive properties. When humans were hit by it, their esper powers were completely suppressed. While the global mutation had initially triggered a desperate shortage of resources, who could say whether this toxic water was ultimately a curse or a blessing?
“Since you knew about this mutation in advance, why the hell didn’t you warn me?” Zhang Lei asked, his brow furrowing deeply. His own settlement, Base No. 16, had taken a massive hit from the sudden water crisis, and he couldn’t even rush back to handle the fallout right now.
It would be a lie to say he wasn’t worried about Base 16. After all, he had built that place from the ground up, watching his original squad of barely a dozen people grow several times over in just two or three months.
“Your base will be fine,” Wan Youzhi replied with a dismissive smile. In his eyes, a tiny settlement of a few hundred people was completely insignificant. The only reason he had invited Zhang Lei into his inner circle was because he was highly intrigued by the man’s unique abilities.
Zhang Lei’s dissatisfaction flared, and he made no effort to hide the dark look on his face.
“Alright, look—once we successfully annex Base No. 35, we’ll just relocate your entire people over here,” Lin Han offered, playing the part of a generous, caring older brother in an attempt to soothe Zhang Lei’s anger.
“No rush,” Zhang Lei replied, a cold, faint smile playing on his lips.
Sitting off to the side, Ruan Fanfan felt a wave of indignation on Zhang Lei’s behalf. The man she admired was fiercely capable and resourceful; he didn’t need Lin Han’s fake, condescending charity. Lin Han clearly wanted to achieve absolute power overnight, but it was highly doubtful he actually had the talent to pull it off. Ruan Fanfan honestly couldn’t comprehend why, in Wan Youzhi’s visions of the future, Lin Han was supposed to become an unstoppable powerhouse. Looking at him right now, she couldn’t see a single trace of that glorious destiny.
Zhang Lei was equally repulsed by Lin Han’s empty promises. Though his expression remained stoic, he was scoffing wildly on the inside. Work under Lin Han? Drop from being a leader to a mere third-in-command? Keep dreaming. He needed to devise a strategy that would protect his own base while still milking Wan Youzhi and Lin Han for every advantage he could get.
As the tension simmered between the two men, Wan Youzhi ignored them entirely. He stared silently at the hand-drawn layout of the God’s Supermarket that Ruan Fanfan had provided, his mind visibly spinning with calculations.
Meanwhile, back at the God’s Supermarket, the entire staff was huddled anxiously around Liu Xiaona and the new hunter.
Song Yuqing tried feeding them fresh tomatoes and cucumbers from her stock, but the magical produce did absolutely nothing. Gaha aggressively scrubbed their skin with soap, but it didn’t even fade the pigment. Little Meat Bun even fetched two cups of their special water-attribute coffee, but that failed as well. Their skin remained a deep, solid charcoal, and any pure water they tried to manifest was instantly swallowed by the black venom.
“If we can’t figure out a solution right now, we might as well just get some sleep,” Liu Xiaona said, letting out a massive yawn. She possessed a remarkably resilient attitude and was already beginning to accept that she might just look like a piece of charcoal for the foreseeable future.
“Master Fu, you’re supposed to be all-knowing and incredibly powerful. Surely you know a way to turn Liu Xiaona back to normal, right?” Song Yuqing prayed fervently in her mind.
“Alas, my hands are tied on this one,” Master Fu grumbled, genuinely heartbroken that a perfectly good water esper had been corrupted into a poison-type. To ease his guilt and comfort Song Yuqing, he had even gone out of his way to grant her that unexpected shelf upgrade earlier. He really felt he was being exceptionally generous.
Song Yuqing let out a heavy, defeated sigh. Watching her mutter to the empty air, the newly arrived hunter blinked in concern, quietly wondering if the stress had finally caused the supermarket manager to lose her mind.
“This is a trial you must face and overcome yourself,” Master Fu’s voice continued in her head. “And trust me, once you scramble past this hurdle, there will be plenty more disasters waiting for you down the line.”
Song Yuqing: “…”
“So, Master Fu, you actually know exactly what’s coming next, don’t you?”
“Mm-hmm,” the old spirit hummed affirmatively.
“Manager Song… who is this ‘Master Fu’ you keep talking to?” the hunter asked, blinking his eyes in deep curiosity.
“Tell the boy,” Master Fu chuckled smugly, “that I am the almighty deity presiding over this God’s Supermarket.”
Song Yuqing, Gaha, and Liu Xiaona collectively rolled their eyes.
“Nobody,” Song Yuqing told the hunter flatly. “Just a figment of my imagination.”
Just as Song Yuqing was about to give up on her whitening experiments for the night, a sharp, rhythmic pinging sound echoed from the front desk.
It was an alert sound she hadn’t heard in ages.
Song Yuqing sprinted over to the computer. Sure enough, a chat box had popped up on the monitor—it was the customer service window for her inter-base online shopping platform.
[Nanjiao]: Song Yuqing! Has Liu Xiaona’s skin turned completely black over there too?!
Song Yuqing gasped with delight. She had never imagined that in the middle of a brutal apocalypse, she’d actually be able to use the internet to instantly communicate with someone so far away. Intrigued, Liu Xiaona and the hunter crowded around the monitor, while Gaha and Little Meat Bun—who couldn’t read a single word—elbowed their way to the front just to be part of the excitement.
Song Yuqing’s fingers flew across the keyboard.
[Song Yuqing]: Yes, yes, yes! She’s pitch black! Do you know what the hell is going on?!
Nanjiao’s response didn’t come through immediately, but the status bar above the chat box flickered with the reassuring words: The other party is typing…
“They must have run into other black water mutants at their base,” Liu Xiaona deduced. He felt a strange sense of relief, realizing his sudden transformation was a widespread, global phenomenon rather than some freak personal curse.
Ding-ding~
A massive wall of text from Nanjiao suddenly filled the chat window.
The message began with Nanjiao reassuring them of their safety, boastfully telling Song Yuqing and Gaha not to worry. He explained that their group had successfully reached Base No. 35, hooked the facility up to the local network, and installed the supermarket’s advanced security gates.
Everything had been running smoothly, and they were simply waiting for the base’s main power grid to be fully restored so the residents could finally experience the joys of online shopping. But without warning, the water-type psychics at the base woke up to find their skin stained an inky black. One particularly handsome esper had been so utterly horrified by his ruined looks that he lost control, unleashing his powers in a blind panic. The resulting chaotic surge caused everyone else’s abilities to haywire, throwing the entire base into absolute pandemonium.
[Nanjiao]: You have no idea how terrifying this is. The water generated by the blackened psychics is pure poison. If that black water splashes onto another esper, their powers are completely neutralized and temporarily vanish!
So it really is toxic. Song Yuqing shuddered, a cold sweat breaking out down her spine.
She let out a heavy sigh, assuming Nanjiao had only sent the message to vent about his stressful situation.
[Song Yuqing]: So… I take it you guys haven’t found a cure either?
Having gathered all the relevant information and seeing no immediate solution, she figured she might as well head back to bed. But just as she began to turn away from the desk, another alert chimed.
[Nanjiao]: Actually, we did find a solution.
The moment the text appeared, the The other party is typing… status flashed once more.
Song Yuqing’s heart leaped into her throat. The suspense was agonizing, and she suddenly wished Nanjiao could type a whole lot faster.
“Do you want a sip of water?” Liu Xiaona offered gently. She was incredibly tense herself, but she wanted to do something to comfort her boss.
Song Yuqing looked down at the floating sphere of liquid Liu Xiaona was holding out to her. Even though she knew her employee had simply grabbed a standard, clean bottle of water from the supermarket shelves to make it, seeing those stark, charcoal-black hands holding the sphere made her stomach turn.
“No thanks… you go ahead and drink it.”
Liu Xiaona obediently pulled the water ball into her own mouth, a faint look of sorrow crossing her darkened features.
Ding-ding.
Nanjiao’s final message popped up on the screen.
[Nanjiao]: It’s honestly all thanks to Little Meat Bun! If it weren’t for the Chinese tallow tree fruits he handed us right before we left, we never would have discovered the cure!
