Chapter 3: Soul Force

Although Second Sister Shi was blind, she stayed under the overpass with her intellectually disabled daughter and her chubby niece, Shi Yuebai. The three of them were left behind together.

On ordinary days, it was Second Sister Shi who took care of the other two.

She was probably the most capable of the three.

Realizing the seriousness of the situation, Second Sister Shi groped around and dragged the corpse on the ground out from under the tarp.

Taking advantage of the dark and windy night, she dragged the body far away.

Shi Yuebai was so obese that Second Sister Shi simply didn’t have the strength to turn her over.

Yuebai was still lying face-down on the ground, trying several times to flip her large body over.

But she failed every time.

Frustrated, Shi Yuebai’s adrenaline surged.

She clenched her fists, and unconsciously, another layer of sweat broke out on her back.

In this wasteland world, a very small number of people could mutate and become superpowered.

But most, like the Shi family, had been mutated by radiation into freaks, with even basic mobility impaired.

While waiting for Second Sister Shi to return, Shi Yuebai carefully sorted through her memories and understanding of this world.

Fortunately, although this wasteland world was completely devoid of spiritual energy, she still remembered all the shamanic techniques of the Wu clan in her mind.

But it wasn’t much use— to activate those techniques, Shi Yuebai needed to absorb the world’s spiritual energy.

She would then convert it into something called soul force.

So from the very beginning, this wasteland world, with not even a trace of spiritual energy, was like a fish flopping on land for her.

All she could do was wait for death to come.

So what was the point of struggling?

Shi Yuebai squeezed her fists, angrily punching the ground.

A small dent appeared where her fist landed.

She stared in surprise at her own fingers.

Shi Yuebai knew very well that she wasn’t one of those wasteland mutants with superpowers.

She certainly didn’t have the brute strength of the Shi family men.

So where had that sudden burst of strength come from—just because she broke into a sweat?

Suddenly, Shi Yuebai sensed a faint trace of soul force within her body.

She quickly directed that wisp of soul force to circulate throughout her body.

This was a shamanic cultivation technique, allowing her to look inward and better understand her own body.

Then, to her delight, Shi Yuebai discovered that although there wasn’t a shred of spiritual energy in this wasteland, her body possessed a vast, thick power.

Here, people called this power—fat.

All she needed to do was convert the energy from her body fat, and it could be used to drive the Wu clan’s shamanic arts as soul force.

It was a complicated process, requiring several rounds of energy conversion within her body.

But at least it gave Shi Yuebai a glimmer of hope.

“Auntie…”

A weak voice sounded.

Shi Yuebai turned her head.

It was Shi Yaoyao, who had been knocked out, now waking up.

Her head had been smashed against a sharp stone, which Second Sister Shi hadn’t noticed.

By the time Shi Yuebai looked over, a pool of blood had already formed behind Yaoyao’s head.

She lay weakly on a pile of rubble, raising her thin little hand toward Shi Yuebai.

On her dirty little face, she still wore an innocent, confused smile.

“Auntie Yaoyao, you’re…the prettiest in the world…”

Though the little girl’s intelligence was low, she still remembered from years ago that—

Shi Yuebai was the Shi family’s precious pearl, the most beautiful little aunt.

Shi Yuebai’s round face froze for a moment, unable to describe what she was feeling inside.

Just as Yaoyao’s little hand was about to fall,

Shi Yuebai instinctively reached out her chubby paw and grabbed Yaoyao’s small hand.

“Yaoyao, don’t sleep, wake up.”

Seeing the little girl’s eyelids droop, Shi Yuebai hurriedly activated a Wu clan incantation.

She held Yaoyao’s hand in one of hers, and with great effort, formed a hand seal with the other.

At first, the shamanic spell didn’t go smoothly.

Shi Yuebai tried several times before she managed to convert fat into heat, heat into soul force, and soul force into the hand seal.

With the seal, she drew a simple Wood Vitality Array.

“All things live by wood, wood brings vitality, vitality brings life—by my will, you shall live!”

Shi Yuebai gritted her teeth, sweat streaming down her face, as she poured the first wisp of vitality into Yaoyao’s little hand.

Yaoyao, who had been on the verge of death, managed to breathe a little longer.

But even that was enough to lift Shi Yuebai’s spirits.

She kept at it.

Even though the energy conversion required several complicated steps, she overcame her impatience and irritability, channeling vitality into Yaoyao’s body bit by bit.

Gradually, Yaoyao’s breathing became more even.

No longer ragged and intermittent.

Meanwhile, Shi Yuebai herself felt as if she’d been soaked in water.

Even her messy black hair was plastered wetly to her head.

She let go of Yaoyao’s hand. Though exhausted, she was surprised to find her own breathing had become just a little smoother.

This reminded Shi Yuebai that the reason she’d ended up here was because the original owner of this body had been too fat.

The fat wasn’t just on the outside—it coated her internal organs as well.

The original owner had suffocated to death under all that fat.

Now, with her breathing a little easier, Shi Yuebai actually felt a bit of joy.

But she still couldn’t flip herself over.

Shi Yuebai squinted and dozed for a while, but was suddenly startled awake by a commotion.

“Where’s the zombie? Where is it?”

A large group of people, carrying sticks and weapons, cautiously approached the tarp where Shi Yuebai was.

Yaoyao, shaking her oversized head, also opened her eyes.

Frightened, she crawled over to Shi Yuebai. “Auntie…”

“Bad…bad people, them…”

Her little face was full of terror. Imitating her mother, she grabbed a stone and curled up in front of Shi Yuebai.

“Protect…Auntie…”

The little girl didn’t understand anything. Her legs were as thin as twigs, she could barely walk.

Her head was huge, with two trails of snot on her face.

But by instinct, she was trying to protect Shi Yuebai.

Shi Yuebai reached out and touched the back of Yaoyao’s head—her hand came away bloody.

But at least Yaoyao’s life was saved.

She wiped her bloody hand on the ground, then hugged Yaoyao’s small body and called out loudly:

“There’s no zombie here! If you don’t believe me, come in and see for yourselves!”

The panicked survivors outside looked at each other.

Someone asked Chen Lao’er in the crowd,

“Didn’t you say that fat Shi woman turned into a zombie? How come she can still talk?”

Zombies were mutated humans.

The most severe result of radiation—mutated into zombies, they lost all thought and speech, left only with the most basic instinct:

To eat.

That’s why survivors hated zombies, but also felt pain.

Because any zombie could be a loved one, mutated.

Chen Lao’er looked guilty.

“I saw Shi Yuebai scratch people with her claws—she almost tore my brother’s leg off!”

“If you don’t believe me, go in and look. My brother’s definitely still in there.”

The survivors outside the tarp hesitated, seeing how certain Chen Lao’er sounded.

Then, from inside the tarp, Shi Yuebai’s clear voice rang out:

“Come on! I’ve just turned into a zombie and need to eat someone to fill my belly. Hurry up and come in!”

Right then, Second Sister Shi’s angry voice came from afar:

“Chen Lao’er! Haven’t you bullied me enough? While I was out looking for food, you come to bully my daughter and my sister?”

“Just you wait! I’ll go turn into a zombie right now, and the first person I’ll eat is you!”

The Shi family had just lost three men, all dying to protect this survivor group.

Now, three widows remained, and two were threatening to turn into zombies themselves.

The crowd fell silent.

Recovered from illness, back to work this month!"