The desolate road

Liu Ruyan looked at the large number of people that had gathered due to her quick act.

Most of them looked at the middle-grade spirit stone in her hands with unconcealable greed. Perhaps, if it was not a public place, they would have rushed to rob her.

One middle-grade spirit stone was equal to at least 10 years of an outer sect disciple's salary.

Noticing the fierce gaze of everyone around, Liu Ruyan didn't hesistate and rushed to her cave and frantically started trying to absorb the spirit stone.

It was as she expected, the second she tried absorbing the spirit stone, it suddenly disappeared, and at the same time, she could see the Lotus Petal suspended in the centre of her consciousness begin to vibrate violently.

Liu Ruyan felt her inner changes and slowly understood that an inexplicable connection was forming between her and the Lotus Petal, as long as she wanted, she could communicate with it.

Liu Ruyan didn't hesitate and focussed her mind, the Lotus Petal shone with a brilliant light and Liu Ruyan disappeared from her cave altogether.

Just a few minutes after Liu Ruyan disappeared, two overly dressed girls barged inside her cave unceremoniously.

 "Liu Ruyan, we heard you got a middle-grade spirit stone, give it to us and we promise not to bully you for at least a year."

-Shane'r spoke domineeringly.

"That's right! With your poor physique, your body will explode if you forcefully try to absorb such a strong energy source."

"Obediently hand it to us, our mood is good and we may even give you a couple of low-grade spirit stones as pity!"

-Qin MIner chimed in with her deceitful words.

But soon the pair of black-bellied girls realised something was wrong, the cave was empty!

 "Where does this beggar run off to?"

Qin Miner's voice was full of surprise.

 "If she dared to spend that spirit stone on something, don't blame me for being cruel."

-Shane'r stomped her feet angrily, the hatred in her eyes was at an all-time high.

God knows the second they heard Liu Ruyan got a middle-grade spirit stone, they rushed to her cave at full speed, but that girl still managed to run away.

 "It's okay, because of her poor aptitude she can only absorb a low-grade spirit stone, let's try to find her outside, she must have rushed to the mortal market down the mountain to buy some useless stuff."

-Qin Miner's words were filled with hatred.

With the same momentum they rushed in, both of them hurriedly ran outside in the hope of catching Liu Ruyan.

....

In a desolate place, countless light years away, Liu Ruyan opened her eyes and looked at her surroundings. The air was without any spiritual energy, according to her inference from the Lotus Petal, it was definitely a different world.

In front of her was a very gloomy scene.

It was just like a normal modern city one could find on Earth, but all the skyscrapers and roads were in shambles, it was like a completely abandoned place left to rot, the time had taken its toll, the buildings had long rusted, the roads were full of cracks, the trees seemed to have withered because of no watering, there were wreckages of countless vehicles piled up on the road.

As Liu Ruyan moved forward, she realised something was off.

 Soon she discovered various dried blood stains on roads...broken pieces of different-sized human bones could be seen around some corners. She also found a complete skeleton probably belonging to a child under a car.

She felt nauseous.

 "Even if countries are at war, such gruesome scenes don't appear unless those mighty nuclear weapons are involved, there is at least always a sign of life, but here it is only silence."

Liu Ruyan had a strong premonition that this abandoned city, no….. this entire planet, must have undergone some unbelievable changes.

Suddenly she heard a loud voice.

Wasting no time, she ran to the source of the sound.

There, what she saw, made her eyes widen.

A team of five people were meticulously beheading some humans.

 "No! Those are not humans, those lifeless eyes, sharp teeth and pale-withered skin, not to forget walking without so aimlessly, they are zombies!"

Liu Ruyan was taken aback.

But she quickly adjusted, "There are already people cultivating immortality in the sect so even these zombies must be real."

She tried to calm her agitated mind.

"This team of five people is too strong! Can a normal human have such great strength?"

Liu Ruyan mumbled to herself.

By the time she comprehended the situation, those five people had already killed those zombies.

One of the girls, with her heightened sense, easily found Liu Ruyan peeking from behind a tree, she signalled the others to confront the unexpected visitor.

 "Come out, who are you?"

 "Are you from the other city?"

 The girl spoke fiercely.

 Liu Ruyan, knowing she was exposed, helplessly walked out of her hiding.

The team in front of her was composed of three girls and two boys.

Feeling their intense gaze on her, she knew she must speak lest she would be silenced.

 "Hello, I am Liu Ruyan."

With a staggering tone, she continued,

 "I have been living in the wild and fending for myself. I used up all my food and to try my luck came to this city."

"Because of growing up in the wild, I don't understand many things!"

 "I am sorry, I didn't know this was your territory."

Hearing Liu Ruyan's pitiful words, the eyes of the small group instantly calmed down.

 "It's okay! Now that the apocalypse has happened for so many decades, food sources are too scarce. But this city has been ransacked long ago, almost everything useful has been taken away by the remaining survivors."

 A tall woman, who seemed to be the leader, spoke with emotion.

 "I am Sabrina, the others are Alice, Leona, Mark and Luther."

Sabrina introduced the others after realising Liu Ruyan posed no threat to them.

Just after she finished speaking, the young boy named Mark excitedly brought two milky pearls to Sabrina.

 "Leader, look!"

 "We are lucky! We found two first-order zombie nuclei."

 "Good, with this our team's strength could increase a lot!"

 "We will divide these nuclei into five parts, with it we should be able to quench our hunger for three days at least."

Hearing such words Liu Ruyan was surprised,

Without a thought, she spoke,

 "Don't you guys have any proper food that you are relying on this thing found inside those rotten zombies?"

Hearing her the short girl called Leona chuckled,

 "Liu Ruyan, it is the end of the world, where can you find the so-called proper food?"

 "Oh, I remember you said you grew up in the wild! Probably that's why you do not understand many things!"

 "This thing called zombie nucleus can be found in some zombies, they are an excellent energy source that can strengthen our body making us strong enough to fight against all sorts of weird creatures, in small amounts it can even be used as an alternative to usual food."

After speaking, Leona laughed like a pro.

 "Hey, at least tell her about full details lest she end up eating them and blowing up her body." -Alice whispered slowly.

 "Oh yeah! You must consume the zombie nucleus in very small amounts because the more you consume them, the more food is required to digest the energy produced by these nuclei."

"Think...you are already very strong, and the amount of zombie nucleus required to upgrade your strength is too exaggerated, even after you mustered those nuclei, the amount of food you will need to eat to digest that amount of energy is simply too absurd. In this post-apocalyptic world, it is not practical to consume such a huge amount of food. That's why the real powerful people have long entered a state of plateau and could only helplessly wait for their death because there is not enough food available.

Leona told everything in a single breath like she was used to telling stories.