Chapter 15: Malice, and the Classification of Abilities

Bian Changxi glanced at the soda can that had rolled far away, a flash of surprise quickly passing through her eyes. She was at least thirty meters from the convenience store entrance—being able to throw something that far, the person responsible must have awakened an ability. It was either a physical enhancement from the Five Elements series, or a strength-type ability from the Ordinary series.

But then she smiled, a hint of annoyance in her expression. She stopped her motorcycle, turned, and looked for the person who had thrown the can. Inside the convenience store, five people were staring in shock at a skinny young man. There was no need to ask—he was clearly the culprit.

Under everyone’s gaze, the boy’s face turned red. He stammered, “I—I just wanted her to stop.”

The boy who had first called out to Bian Changxi shot him a glare, then quickly turned to her and said, “Sorry about that, our classmate didn’t mean any harm…”

If this isn’t malice, then what is?

Because Bian Changxi had stopped, the zombies saw hope. Two of them gave up on the convenience store and started heading toward her, getting closer by the second. Bian Changxi pointed at the boy who had called out, held up one finger, then pointed at herself and held up two. She took off her backpack and tossed it to the side of the road, put on her helmet, and rode forward a bit to widen the distance between herself and the zombies. Then, she suddenly spun around and charged straight at one of them.

With a bang, the zombie was knocked flying. She braked, turned, and ran her motorcycle right over the zombie’s knees, crushing them. Satisfied, she ignored it and immediately set her sights on the other zombie.

This zombie had no idea how dangerous a motorcycle could be. It just lumbered forward, mouth agape. Behind her helmet’s visor, Bian Changxi’s eyes flashed coldly. She was about to ram it, when suddenly her vision blurred and a wave of intense dizziness hit her. At the same time, the wound on her left arm flared with near-unbearable pain, and she broke out in a cold sweat.

That moment’s delay was enough—the zombie was right in front of her, reaching out with sharp, hideous claws. Bian Changxi drew the straight blade from her back, slicing off several of its fingernails and a pinky finger. She rolled off her motorcycle, flicked her blade to cut the strap holding her fire axe, grabbed it with her left hand, and quickly retreated to her feet.

She caught her breath, sheathed her blade, switched the axe to her right hand, dodged twice, then seized an opening and hacked into the zombie’s right shoulder. The zombie howled and swiped at her with its left hand, but Bian Changxi ducked low, darted under its right armpit, and swung her axe in a full arc. The sharp edge made a harsh sawing sound, nearly severing the zombie’s entire right arm, leaving it hanging by a strip of flesh.

Bian Changxi moved behind the zombie without pausing, raised her arm, and brought the axe down hard. Most of the zombie’s skull was chopped off, brain matter splattering everywhere.

The zombie crashed to the ground. Still wary, Bian Changxi chopped off its entire head before finally relaxing. Past experience had taught her: only a zombie with its head removed was truly safe.

Leaning on her axe, she panted for breath and glanced back. The last zombie was also heading her way, while the people in the convenience store seemed frozen in shock, not moving an inch. One man and one woman even bent over and started vomiting.

She let out a cold, mocking laugh.

The boy who had called out to her snapped out of his daze and shouted, “Come on, this is our chance! Are the six of us really going to stand here and watch a girl fight zombies for us? If you’re not cowards, come out and help me take down the last one!”

He talked a lot, but it worked. The others were roused, flung open the convenience store door, and rushed out to surround the last zombie.

Bian Changxi calmly went about chopping off the head of the first zombie she’d crippled, then picked up her backpack and righted her motorcycle. Leaning against it, she cradled her left arm and watched coldly from the side.

Their zombie-fighting skills weren’t bad. The boy who had called out—who seemed to be the leader of their six-person group—stood in front of the zombie, directing another girl to help distract it, while Zhang Yuwen and the skinny boy who’d thrown the can attacked from behind.

Zhang Yuwen was the tall, handsome, slightly roguish type. His family had money, and he often hung out with a gang of troublemakers. He looked impressive in a fight, but it was mostly for show. That was exactly why Bian Changxi had picked him to join her in her reckless adventures.

Right now, he was hacking at the zombie with a kitchen knife, looking fierce but not doing much real damage. The skinny boy, on the other hand, was pounding away with a hammer, his face twisted in a mix of vicious satisfaction and ferocity. It was unsettling to watch, but every blow left a dent. If only he were taller—if he could reach the zombie’s head, it would be over in a few hits.

After watching for a moment, Bian Changxi was pretty sure: the skinny boy had definitely awakened a strength-type ability.

In the apocalypse, abilities fell into three main categories: Ordinary, Elemental, and Special.

Ordinary abilities included strength, speed, and enhanced physical durability. These didn’t show on the surface; in other words, people with ordinary abilities just had certain physical attributes that were stronger than normal. They were often people who already had an edge before the apocalypse—athletes, street fighters, soldiers, police, bodyguards, assassins. Because they were so common, ordinary abilities were highly valued in the early days of the apocalypse, and many small, scattered groups were formed by people with these powers.

Elemental abilities were much rarer by comparison. The elements referred to the five elements—metal, wood, water, fire, earth—as well as derivatives like ice (from water), lightning (from fire), wind, fog, and so on.

The key feature of elemental ability users was that their powers manifested physically when activated. For example, in her previous life, Bian Changxi had a wood ability, which let her summon green vines and wooden spikes. Xu Hong had a fire ability, able to throw fireballs and fire blades.

According to statistics, only about one in twenty ability users had an elemental power, and the derivative types were even rarer and more powerful, with lightning being the most prestigious and formidable.

Finally, there were Special abilities, which basically fell into two types: psychic and spatial. Psychic abilities had further branches, such as telekinesis, telepathy, and mental probing. Spatial abilities included basic storage powers, as well as teleportation and spatial folding.

Special abilities were the rarest of all—less than one in a hundred, and they usually awakened later than the others.

If Ordinary abilities were a continuation of pre-apocalypse advantages, then Elemental and Spatial abilities depended more on luck—who got them, which type, and whether you had one at all was out of your hands. Psychic abilities, on the other hand, were the most interesting and the most fair: they could be cultivated through training, but usually only powerful elemental users could even reach the threshold.

In her previous life, Miss Cai Jiangmei managed to develop a psychic ability on top of her ice power, while Zhu Yunhua added telepathy to his fire ability.

And then there was Gu Xu. Bian Changxi sighed. Gu Xu, the leader of the Tengyang base and the strongest person in China, was a dual-type ability user—lightning and telekinesis. His power was terrifying, making countless heroes long to challenge him, but all they could do was sigh in frustration."