Chapter 365: Time To Go Hunting
Even though the core offerings in front of me was almost laughable, I kept going.
These pieces wouldn’t have been enough to get me out of bed in my last life, but beggars couldn’t be choosers, and I was definitely a beggar when it came to cores right now.
Letting out a long breath, I picked up the next one.
The pile of green cores was shrinking way too fast for my peace of mind, while the useless ones that couldn’t do anything for me were spreading farther across the bed. I didn’t bother sorting those neatly. I could put them back into my space later, assuming I remembered and no one came upstairs to complain about sleeping on zombie remains.
I picked up another green core and continued to push forward. This wasn’t a safe practice, and a lot of people had probably died absorbing so many cores at once, but seriously, this wasn’t even a drop in the ’well of my powers’ or whatever you wanted to call it.
But what was really getting to me?
None of that power or energy was even staying in me.
Instead, I felt it slip out of me like an invisible leak that was too small for me to find or plug. And do you know who was getting all the benefits?
The fucking plants outside.
Yeah, those bastards were greedily absorbing all the new powers the second they touched my inner well. They weren’t even giving me a chance to do anything more than cry over it.
My baby vine lifted its head from where it had curled around my wrist and leaned toward the pile like it wanted even more than I was willing to give. Not that I was willing to give anything.
"No," I hissed at it, desperately trying to cut off my powers from the plants outside. For a brief second, I looked out the window and almost flew into a rage.
The plants were thriving. They had gotten bigger, greener, and every last one of them seemed to be looking at me like I was supposed to give them even more.
Fuck that shit.
This was not on my bingo card for today.
Then again, neither was discovering that the Devourer was alive and well.
My baby vine opened its tiny mouth, unwound its tail(?) from my wrist, and dove for the pile of discarded cores. Sure... whatever. It could eat any of them and still be fine, thanks to that tank like stomach. Maybe it would take some of the burden and pass on whatever power it was getting to the rest of the plants.
Ha! A girl could dream. That greedy bugger wasn’t sharing anything with anyone and we both knew it.
Looking down at the pile, I saw that the last few green cores were even smaller than the rest. One barely covered the center of my pinky nail, and another was so cloudy that the energy inside it felt thin before I even absorbed it.
But I used them anyway... what choice did I have? Disappointed, I reached for another core, only to find empty sheets under my fingers. My eyes flew open and I looked down at the black sheets. There had to be more. I needed more.
This wasn’t enough.
Sure enough, with enough frantic patting of the bed, there was one left.
It had rolled into a fold near my thigh and it was so small that I would have missed it if it wasn’t so important. The little green stone was barely the length of my finger and not much thicker than a bean.
I picked it up and frowned at it.
"This is frigging insulting," I grumbled. I should have been outside fighting zombies and getting cores to become more powerful.
Wait?!? What the fuck?
Nope, that was not a me thought. That was one of those invasive thoughts that popped out of nowhere and didn’t make any sense.
If Zhenlan hadn’t insisted on supplies, I wouldn’t have gone out. If I didn’t go out, then I wouldn’t have gotten kidnapped by zombies. If I hadn’t been kidnapped by zombies, then I wouldn’t have met the Devourer. If the Devourer hadn’t decided that I was his favorite meal, then I wouldn’t have almost died. If I hadn’t almost died, I wouldn’t be sitting here freaking out over something I hadn’t managed to fully beat the first time around.
Let’s face it. This whole thing started because I left my house in the first place. Nice to know that I was right.
Anyways, I needed to deal with the Devourer because "this time... it’s personal." That thing tried to eat me, so now I was going to get my plants to eat it.
Nodding to myself, I closed my hand around the last core and the tiny bit of energy it held melted into my palm, weak enough that it barely made it past my wrist before those fucking plants outside swallowed it. Still greedy for more, they shifted again, reaching for more before realizing there wasn’t any left.
They had taken them all, and didn’t give me so much as a drop of power.
Fuck, this wasn’t working the way I had it in my head.
I looked over the cores scattered across the bed, checking between the folds of the sheets in case another green one had hidden itself somewhere.
Nothing.
Of course.
I was still staring at the useless pile when someone knocked on the bedroom door. "What?" I demanded, not ready, willing, or able to play nice at the moment.
But someone wanted to die because the door opened before I finished the freaking word.
Chenghai walked in carrying a plate, with Yuche, Lingyun, and Zhenlan fanning out behind him like they had all decided breakfast required supervision.
"I have your food," Chenghai grunted holding up a... thing... in his hands. I looked at the plate, then back at him.
Three pancakes sat in the center, though two were darker around the edges than pancakes had any right to be. Something that was pretending to be syrup covered most of the burnt sections, while several red pieces had been scattered over the top in an attempt to make the whole thing look intentional.
They might have been strawberries, but considering the fact that I hadn’t put any strawberries in the refrigerator...That raised several questions I was too tired to ask.
"No thanks," I grunted.
Chenghai’s face tightened. "You said you’d eat if I made it."
"I changed my mind."
I pushed myself off the bed before he could start another argument and reached for the buttons on Yuche’s shirt.
All four men stopped moving.
I undid the shirt as I crossed the room, pulled it off my shoulders, and let it drop onto the floor behind me. No one spoke while I walked toward the closet in nothing but a pair of black cotton underwear.
Their silence was very supportive.
I opened the closet and pulled out a sports bra.
Behind me, Lingyun cleared his throat.
I ignored him and pulled the bra over my head, working it into place before reaching for a pair of pants.
Chenghai was still holding the plate when I glanced back.
His expression suggested the pancakes had become personal.
"No time for breakfast," I said, stepping into the pants and pulling them over my hips. "I need to go hunting."