He Yuan spent an entire month trying to see if he could activate his abilities -if he even had any- but all his efforts were without results so he focused on strengthening and purifying his body with the qi.
People had been popping up with abilities around the base from a week ago, when the eight month clocked.
The strange phenomenon of people being able to command the elements and some other things came as a shock to everyone and the higher ups were busy looking in on it
He Yuan was preparing for another scavenge mission when two of his teammates walked up to him. They were Liu Bao and the youngest member of the team, also known as the lookout, Xiao Yu. He was about eighteen.
"Squad leader Ling!" Xiao Yu said excitedly as he ran up to He Yuan. "Another person in the base developed a fire ability today!"
He Yuan only gave the young man a nod whilst Liu Bao walked behind Xiao Yu and smacked him upside the head. "We should be preparing for the mission. Squad leader does not need your endless ramblings today."
Xiao Yu rubbed his head and glared at Liu Bao. "I'm not rambling, I'm just so excited." He looked back to He Yuan. "Squad leader, do you think everyone would develop abilities or only a special few? If so, what makes them special?
-But if they're not special, why did we not all develop abilities at the same time? Oh squad leader, do you want to know what else I heard? I heard that team B ran into a zombie with abilities on their scout yesterday.
-A. Zombie. With. Abilities! Can you believe that? Do you think we'd also run into such a zombie? If so, how strong do you think it would be? Oh boy, I'm frightened and excited at the same time! We-"
"Stop!" Xiao Yu froze and quickly folded his lips at He Yuan's command. He also held his hands behind his back and lowered his head sheepishly like a kid who was caught doing something bad.
He Yuan massaged his forehead. Xiao Yu was someone who was able to talk without pausing for hours on end but He Yuan knew the young man was usually like this when he was excited, scared or nervous. With all that was going on now, it was enough to have anyone talking.
Xiao Yu also had a very bright personality. It might be due to the fact that unlike most people, he was already at the city that was turned into base Beta at the start of the apocalypse. So he still had all his loved ones intact.
He was one of the few whose only grief was based on sympathy towards other people's loss of their loved ones.
"I'm sorry for my outburst Xiao Yu, but you were giving me a headache."
Xiao Yu blushed furiously. "Sorry, squad leader."
He Yuan nodded. "It's fine. Now the both of you should go call the others. It's time to get going."
Xiao Yu turned away immediately and Liu Bao looked like she had something to say before deciding against it and turning away.
When the two of them passed He Yuan's message to the others, Xiao Yu bit his lips and turned to Liu Bao. "Bao Bao, you're the closest to the squad leader, do you think he hates me?
Liu Bao massaged her forehead. "I don't think so, it's just that he likes peace and quiet. Traits that you don't have enough of."
Xiao Yu pouted. "I try my best though. I don't want him to hate me." He blushed even more. "I think the squad leader is very handsome."
Liu Bao narrowed her eyes. "Oh."
Xiao Yu nodded and ran to get on the van.
In the end, Xiao Yu was right about one thing. They did run into a zombie with abilities as they tried to escape from the warehouse.
One with fire ability to be exact and the zombie actually had the presence of mind to use the other zombies as cover to keep itself safe even as it threw balls of fire their way.
"ARGH, ACK, ACK!" The zombie horde had no problems keeping up with their moving van because the driver was high strung from trying to get out of the zombie horde at the same time as he tried to avoid the balls of fire.
He Yuan was handling a gun through the roof of the van, shooting furiously at the zombies but the more he shot, the more came at their van and even the fire zombie occasionally sent balls of fire his way too.
CRACK!
A zombie banged on the window of the van and it cracked. It was about to bang on the window again when the driver swerved to the side causing the van to tilt a bit.
Once the van once settled on the ground again, the rebound caused the back door of the van to violently burst open and a member of the team rolled right out of the door.
Xiao Yu.
"AAHHH!" Xiao Yu screamed as he ran and tried to get back to the van. The driver could not stop the van because if he did, the zombies were going to get to them and all of them would die.
He Yuan was conflicted. He couldn't let the boy die but he also couldn't put the lives of his other teammates at stake. He redirected the gun and started shooting at the zombies chasing after Xiao Yu.
Liu Bao held the iron on the van and leaped out a bit, extending her arm out to Xiao Yu. "RUN, HURRY!"
Xiao Yu tried his best to keep up, but the zombies who were attacking the front of the van took notice of him and started running back, the fire zombie also locked its eyes on Xiao Yu and sent fireballs his way.
Xiao Yu was a hair's breath away from Liu Bao's hand just a little more and he would be able to reach her but before he could, he tripped.
The hearts of He Yuan, Liu Bao and the other team members froze as Xiao Yu fell to the ground.
"AAHHH!" Xiao Yu screamed as the zombies came at him from all sides but before they could descend their teeth and claws on him, he felt a tingling sensation under his skin and he let that energy out with all his might.
The zombies surrounding Xiao Yu were suddenly washed away by a flood of water and the eyes of every human being present widened.
"GET UP!" He Yuan shouted at the dazed Xiao Yu and the boy slowly stood up and stumbled to the van. Liu Bao helped him in just as the zombies recovered and resumed their chase.
Xiao Yu hurriedly repeated what he'd done before and the team members inside the van with him all watched in amazement as Xiao Yu drew beads of water from the atmosphere and formed a flood, pushing the zombies back again.
The fire zombie kept sending fireballs but with Xiao Yu's water, it was easily quenched. And that was how they safely arrived at the base.
When the van was parked, He Yuan hopped down with everyone else and they all surrounded Xiao Yu to check on him.
The boy was silent and let his teammates fawn over him. This caused the others to worry. Xiao Yu had always been a sickly ball of sunshine and happiness, this was their first time seeing him so quiet.
They all felt that he must have been traumatized by the near death experience and the rainbow Xiao Yu would disappear now.
Xiao Yu just stared at his hands before he looked at his teammates. Next thing they knew, Xiao Yu jumped and pumped his fists in the air.
"I DEVELOPED AN ABILITY, I'M FUCKING SPECIAL!"
When Xiao Yu landed on the ground, he realized he'd drenched his team members with water. He scratched his head and grinned sheepishly. "Sorry~"
Everyone just shook their heads as they all unloaded the van and carried the supplies to the logistics department. The Xiao Yu they knew did not go anywhere, alright.
He Yuan patted Xiao Yu on his back. "It's great that you're alive."
Xiao Yu puffed out his chest and wiggled his brows at He Yuan. "Of course squad leader. You can't get rid of me that easily."
He Yuan laughed and walked away. Liu Bao smiled at Xiao Yu before walking away too.
From that day on, more people developed abilities, including He Yuan's team members. Liu Bao developed an earth based ability, another wood based, yet another, fire based. All except He Yuan.
This situation made him worry. He had started cultivating months ago so by right, he was supposed to be one of the first to develop an ability so what was this?
Could it be that Du Ling was never destined to develop an ability? But that was ridiculous. Everyone had abilities in the original storyline. Everyone. There was no such thing as a human without an ability.
He Yuan was beginning to get pissed. Sure he had the [Strongest Martial Arts] but Du Jian would've developed a psychic ability by now. Psychic. His martial arts wouldn't save him if all Du Jian needed to do to handle him was stand a few yards away and apply pressure on his mind.
At the start of the ninth month, the very first zombie siege took place and the base that was attacked was base Beta.
BRRRRNNNNNGGGGG!! BRRRRNNNNGGGGG!!
He Yuan had just settled in for bed when an alarm went off throughout the base. His eyes widened. This was the highest form of alert. What was going on?
He wasted no time in hopping out of bed, wearing his clothes in record speed, grabbing his gun and dashing out of the room. His roommates were right behind him.
On the way, he ran into Xiao Yu. "What's happening?!"
"Squad leader!" Xiao Yu called out when he noticed who stopped him. "The base is under attack and this isn't like other times. It seems to be an orchestrated attack. The inhabitants are being evacuated as we speak.
-Oh God, this can't be happening. How are we going to move so many people? There's so many zombies with abilities outside! They might not be strong but compared to the number of people with ability in our base, they make quite a force.
-How are we going to get out of this? What-"
He Yuan slapped a palm over Xiao Yu's mouth and dragged the boy towards the evacuation centre. They ran into Liu Bao and a few other team members and they all moved together.
"THIS TRUCK IS FULL, LOAD THE OTHER TRUCK!"
"MOMMY!"
"FORGET THE SUPPLIES, CARRY PEOPLE FIRST!"
"WE NEED BACK UP AT THE GATES THE ZOMBIES ARE ABOUT TO BREAK THROUGH!"
"THE CHILDREN. GATHER THE CHILDREN!"
"MAKE THE ABILITY USERS AND SCAVENGERS DEFEND THE BASE AND BUY US TIME!"
"I DON'T WANT TO DIE!"
"PROTECT THE BASE CHIEF!"
"SOMEONE IS HAVING A SEIZURE!"
The entire base was in chaos.
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