Volume 1, Chapter 35: The Blood-Stained Corridor, A New Ability Acquired!

Liu Nainai was overjoyed to have traded for food, and she no longer felt such animosity toward Lin Feng. She was even happy to answer his minor questions.

"A spider plant on my balcony mutated, and I found it inside the flower."

Lin Feng nodded, withholding further information. It seemed that any plant could potentially bear an ability-granting fruit.

Just then, screams erupted from the crowd. "Murder! Someone’s been murdered!" "Quick, call the police! Run!"

The crowd, which had been mobbing the security team members, instantly dispersed. Everyone scrambled toward their own homes, too terrified to remain in the blood-stained hallway. In the corner where the brawl had taken place, the floor was slick with blood. Several young men lay in the carnage, blood bubbling from their mouths. Only moments ago, under Chen Hao’s leadership, they had been acting with arrogant bravado, seizing others' food. Now, the very items they had hoarded had been snatched away by others, and they had even lost their lives in the process.

The hallway was a scene of chaos; some took the opportunity to loot, while others fled in a panic. Liu Nainai turned pale, afraid to move. She knew that standing near Lin Feng was the only way to be safe. Everyone passing by instinctively gave them a wide berth, keeping at least a meter’s distance. Such was the law of survival in the apocalypse: might makes right.

Zhang Xueqi and Li Bing clung tightly to Lin Feng’s arms, wishing they could melt into his embrace. Meanwhile, Granny Xu took advantage of the chaos to pilfer from the crowd. Suddenly, she saw a child knocked over by the stampede and trampled several times, coughing up blood on the spot.

"Grandson! My sweet grandson! Get out of the way, you’re trampling my grandson!" Granny Xu rushed over in a panic, cradling the boy and screaming for help. But no one stopped; everyone was focused only on escaping. Everyone knew this trade market would never open again. By the time Granny Xu lowered her head again, her grandson had already stopped breathing.

"Ah! How could this happen? Grandson, don't leave me... If you're dead, how am I going to face your father..." Overcome with grief, Granny Xu fainted on the spot.

Having secured the ability fruit and the supplies Chen Hao had collected, Lin Feng had no intention of lingering. This place was noisy and chaotic; it was nowhere near as comfortable as home. He noticed Liu Nainai still standing behind him, clutching her backpack tightly, showing no sign of leaving.

"Aren't you going back yet?" Lin Feng knew what she was afraid of. Though he had scared off many people during the trade, he had been seen by quite a few. If she left alone now, she would likely be robbed halfway.

"I’ll go back in a moment," Liu Nainai whispered, her fingers digging into her backpack straps. She clearly remembered the greedy looks several men had cast at her bag as they left. If it weren't for Lin Feng’s presence, she would have been robbed long ago. She didn't dare go home now, terrified of being followed.

Lin Feng didn't interfere; he was no knight-errant. He immediately led Zhang Xueqi and Li Bing into the elevator.

Soon, the entire hallway fell silent. Only the cooling corpses lay in pools of blood, alongside the unconscious Granny Xu and her dead grandson. The air was thick with a nauseating scent of blood that made Liu Nainai’s stomach churn. She remained where she was, her body trembling uncontrollably. Recalling everything that had just happened, she longed to hide at home forever and never step outside again. But her reason told her that acting rashly now was even more dangerous.

After waiting about ten minutes and confirming the hallway was truly empty, Liu Nainai carefully took her first step. Holding her breath, she tiptoed toward her home. Fortunately, she didn't encounter anyone on the way and made it back safely.

As soon as she entered, Liu Nainai locked the door behind her. Without even putting down her backpack, she collapsed onto her bed. Gasping for air, she couldn't stop the tears from flowing. She had always been a timid person; she even chose conservative outfits for cosplay to avoid trouble. But the scenes she witnessed today were truly horrific. First, Chen Hao burning a man alive, then Chen Hao himself being casually crushed to death by a delivery driver, followed by the chaotic brawl that left seven or eight dead, staining the hallway red. Liu Nainai had never imagined she would witness such a hellish sight.

She suddenly found herself envious of Zhang Xueqi and Li Bing. As long as those two women stood by Lin Feng’s side, no one dared to bully them—they wouldn't even dare to look at them openly. But soon, Liu Nainai wiped her tears and clenched her fists. "No! I won't rely on a man. It’s shameful to hide behind some stinking man like them."

She decided to preserve the three roasted chickens carefully and use the food to survive until official rescue arrived. Suppressing her inner fear, she excitedly opened her backpack and took out the three wrapped chickens. She put two in the freezer. When she unwrapped the foil on the third, steam rose immediately, and her mouth began to water. She hadn't expected to eat her favorite food in this apocalypse.

Lin Feng, using his [Destiny] ability, saw everything. He had sensed earlier that there were no other people or animals in the hallways beyond the white mist, save for the "White Tiger" husky. Liu Nainai was a woman he had marked to unlock resources. However, she seemed to harbor a bias against men; whenever she looked at them, Lin Feng could sense hostility radiating from her. While it wasn't as intense when she looked at him, it was still there. In two days, when she ran out of food, she would eventually have to kneel before him and beg to be taken in.

Lin Feng knew many people were waiting for official rescue. To that, he had only two words: "Naive!" A week had passed; there hadn't been any rescue, nor even any news of one. Plus, with the roads paralyzed by overgrown vegetation, they would have to clear paths to transport supplies. The authorities were likely overwhelmed by the current situation.

Lin Feng didn't avoid Zhang Xueqi and Li Bing as he popped the scarlet fruit into his mouth. It tasted different from the previous ones—more sour, with a hint of sweetness. After eating it, his physique grew slightly stronger, and he gained a new ability.

[Congratulations to the host for acquiring a new ability: Blink (LV1)]
[Blink: The host can teleport to any location within a 10-meter radius by consuming stamina!]
[System Evaluation: Wielding the power of gods, changing in an instant!]

Lin Feng’s eyes lit up, and he activated it immediately. The next moment, he appeared in the adjacent bedroom. He could hear the surprised gasps of Zhang Xueqi and Li Bing in the living room.

"Where did Brother Feng go?"
"I don't know! He was just sitting here!"

Lin Feng took a handful of ability fruits from his super-storage, hoping to upgrade his [Blink] ability to level 2. After consuming five fruits, a prompt appeared.

[Destiny upgraded to LV3, detection range increased to 50 meters!]

"Huh? I didn't expect this ability to upgrade first."

With this, his sensing range had increased significantly. It could now reach the fog-covered 13th floor. Unlike his eyes, which only had a 3-meter visibility in the white fog, the detection ability of [Destiny] was completely unaffected. The only issue was that it was somewhat blurry, and stationary objects were difficult to distinguish.

Lin Feng ate a few more mutated fruits. Just as he felt full, a prompt finally appeared.

[Blink upgraded to LV2, teleportation range increased to 20 meters!]

Zhang Xueqi and Li Bing were still bewildered when, a second later, they saw Lin Feng reappear.

"Brother Feng, how did you get back here?"