Chapter 43: Inquiry

Chen Mu and the others could understand her feelings. After so many days without eating proper food, suddenly having a hot meal, one can imagine the mood.

While He Ying and Sun Yuan enjoyed the rare delicacy, Dong Junwei gestured to Chen Mu and Tang Jing, moving to the side.

"Should we let He Ying join us?" Dong Junwei asked.

Ever since they heard about the abilities of the two newcomers, the thought of recruiting them had been on everyone's mind.

To develop and restore human civilization, relying solely on these nine individuals was out of the question, and Chen Mu and the others had discussed this matter many times. The options were either to recruit more people and expand their team or to join another group of survivors.

If possible, the former was more ideal, and the abilities of He Ying and the other person were undoubtedly helpful for the team, much better than having horns on the head or bumps on the body.

"We have to gradually grow our team, and He Ying... at least she knows the situation well," Tang Jing added.

"I have no objections," said Chen Mu.

Chen Mu had the intention to bring He Ying back, but such decisions had to be discussed with others. Dong Junwei's thoughts were within his expectations.

"But they still have three other companions, and we should bring them over too," Tang Jing suggested.

"That's not a problem. They are at most nearby, probably in the canteen. I can go and bring them. Right now, every individual is a resource, and even those who haven't awakened their abilities have potential. The group at Central One seems to have grown quite substantial, and for some reason, they hold deep animosity. If we continue to be complacent, we will just be sitting ducks."

Since Chen Mu's return, he had been feeling a growing sense of crisis. Even though he hadn't inquired in detail about the other people from He Ying, he had a vague premonition.

After reaching a general consensus, Chen Mu and the others returned to the crowd.

At this moment...

He Ying and Sun Yuan had already eaten three rice cakes in a row.

If it wasn't for feeling quite impolite, they really wanted to eat more.

"Don't worry, there will be even better things to eat later," Tang Jing said with a gentle smile, looking at the two who seemed to want more but felt embarrassed to ask.

He Ying had calmed down by now and said to Chen Mu, "I promised you that I would share everything."

Chen Mu nodded and immediately asked, "How did you and your previous companions come together?"

"When the disaster happened, I happened to be on my way from the classroom to the playground. There were quite a few people around at that time. It took me a long time to gather dozens of people, and it was quite challenging to make everyone calm down. But before we could figure out the next plan, we encountered a rat..."

As He Ying spoke, her expression showed both fear and sadness.

"In reality, not many people were actually eaten by the rat, but everyone was frightened and scattered. Many people jumped directly into the grass, and I don't know what happened to them afterwards. In the end, we were left with only sixteen people together."

Chen Mu asked, "Did any of you awaken your abilities on the spot?"

"Awaken?" He Ying was puzzled.

"We call gaining superpowers 'awakening'," Chen Mu explained.

"Oh," He Ying nodded in understanding and continued, "No, at that time, maybe everyone was in a panic and didn't even realize it."

Chen Mu nodded, thinking about his own group. If it hadn't been for Wei Dalei venting his anger and punching the ground, they probably wouldn't have realized the existence of their abilities so quickly.

He then asked, "When did you discover your ability?"

"It was when that rat appeared. I was really scared at that moment and could only run for my life. At first, I didn't pay attention, but soon I realized that I had pulled everyone a considerable distance away."

As He Ying spoke, she seemed a bit embarrassed, pursed her lips, and then continued, "As you know, I've always had good physical fitness, and I can run quite fast, but I never imagined I could leave a group of boys so far behind. At that time, I felt a bit floaty, but didn't think much of it; I assumed it was because I was so scared that my steps were uncoordinated. But after running quite a distance, I realized something was wrong."

"How big was that rat?" Du Jiajia suddenly asked.

"It was huge."

"How big exactly?"

"Really big..." He Ying pondered for a while but couldn't find a suitable description.

After hearing the uninformative back-and-forth, the group couldn't help but be speechless.

Chen Mu quickly took over the conversation, "Where did the remaining dozen of you go afterward?"

"We were in a state of panic and didn't have any long-term plans. Some people wanted to hide in the bushes, but I stopped them. Then we just followed the main road, hoping to encounter people coming out of the classrooms. However, we didn't come across anyone on the way."

"No one at all?" Chen Mu was puzzled.

"Yes, it was just five minutes after the break, and people either went to the playground to observe the exchange activities with Central One or stayed in the classrooms. There weren't many people on the road."

"And then you all went straight to the canteen?"

"Everyone thought there would be food in the canteen. Even if we couldn't turn back, at least we wouldn't starve to death."

"That's a reasonable idea."

"We should have been the first group to reach the canteen. I thought that with time passing, there would definitely be various rats and insects here. So we decided to bring enough food in one go and find a place to hide outside the canteen."

"Where did you hide?" Chen Mu asked.

He Ying hesitated for a moment and then said, "Outside the canteen, inside a ground-level distribution box."

"Distribution box?"

"Yes, there's a vent on top that's just big enough for a person to crawl in. It was a way to block large animals like rats."

"That's a good idea."

"It worked quite well. At least we were never attacked by animals afterward."

"But why were only five of you left in the end?" Dong Junwei asked.

"We were killed by the people from Central One." As He Ying said this, she couldn't help but grit her teeth in anger.

"Why did they want to kill you?"

"I don't know. We first met when we were fetching water."

"Where did you get water?" Chen Mu inquired further.

"There's a tap for watering flowers outside the canteen. It was left open, so it was constantly dripping." He Ying replied.

Chen Mu thought about how Dong Junwei had initially suggested going there to get water. He didn't expect that someone else had already beaten them to it.

He Ying continued, "We didn't have containers to hold water, so whenever we were thirsty, we had to go together to drink. One time, we happened to encounter people from Central One. They had fewer numbers than us, but one of them seemed to have awakened an accurate aiming ability with stones. He threw rocks with great precision, and he alone kept us pinned down. At that moment, I and another high school sophomore had already... awakened."

"The other boy had abilities similar to a bronze body, making him very resilient, so he volunteered to hold the enemy back. But when I finished escorting the others and returned to find him, I discovered he had died on the road, covered in ants..."

As He Ying spoke, her expression was full of sadness and self-blame.