Chapter 378: Off To See The Wizard
Mind you, while a ’normal’ (and yes, I put that in quotation marks because zombies will never be normal, no matter how long you have lived with them) zombies might have a smaller core, it was clear to see that the evolved zombie’s core had been different.
For one beautiful moment after I absorbed it, power had filled every empty space inside me. Then the plants had reached for it, dragging the energy outward through the roots, grass, and trees before I could keep more than a fraction for myself.
I still didn’t know what that meant.
I wasn’t at home, and these plants weren’t mine, but they seemed to be able to drain my powers just as well as the other plants around the mansion. Was I connected to every last mutant plant? Because if I was, then I was in for serious trouble.
Especially if they had decided that I existed solely to feed them while they became stronger.
Whatever the answer was, I was keeping my mouth shut about the plants taking my power until I understood it better.
The men didn’t need to know that the plants had taken most of the strongest core I had ever found. They only needed to know that I required more.
A lot more.
I looked toward the giant zombie’s body, where the thin grey corpse lay twisted inside the remains of its broken armor.
That thing had been stupid.
It had repeated the same attack until I figured out how it moved. It had relied on stone to keep its weak body alive, and it hadn’t been able to heal itself every time we injured it.
The Devourer could think.
It could learn.
It could control other zombies, move underground faster than anything that large had the right to move, and repair itself by eating anyone unlucky enough to be nearby.
The zombie on the road had caught my ankle once and nearly pulled me under.
The Devourer had already tasted me.
My new confidence felt good, but it wasn’t going to keep my limbs attached if I walked into that fight without enough power to back it up.
Lingyun dropped another core into the pile at my left and stood, stretching his back. "We should head home before the smell attracts another round."
Zhenlan wiped his hands on the least disgusting section of a dead man’s jacket and nodded his head. "We need to get her ankle looked at. I just don’t know where we are going to find a healer right now. Especially with Commander Li gone."
"I don’t need a healer," I protested. "My ankle is attached, I can feel it, everything is fine."
"That isn’t the standard we’re using," Zhenlan deadpanned, his face completely unamused as he stared back at me.
I narrowed my eyes at him. "Lingyun already said that."
"Then he was right."
Lingyun’s entire face lit up at the unexpected support. "Did everyone hear that? Zhenlan said I was right."
"Don’t make me take it back," replied Zhenlan, never taking his eyes off me.
Chenghai picked up the piles of cores on my left and started putting them in containers he had taken from the SUV while Yuche came toward me, clearly planning to help me off the car whether I wanted him to or not.
"We’re going back to the mansion," Chenghai said. "You can rest while we sort everything."
"Nope."
Lingyun’s answer came so quickly that Chenghai stopped walking.
He reached into one of the containers, shifted several cores aside, and pulled out a white stone about the size of his thumb. It was clearer than most of the cores we had found and bright enough to catch the weak sunlight.
"There are healers at the black market who work for stones." Lingyun held the white core up between two fingers before looking at my ankle. "This should be enough to fix that."
I looked down at the swelling pressing against my boot, then back at him. "And if it isn’t?"
Lingyun smiled, warm and bright enough that anyone who didn’t know him would have missed the promise hiding underneath it. "Then there are always other ways to get something done."
He turned toward Chenghai and pointed down the road.
"Take the next left and keep driving until you reach the old warehouse district," Lingyun instructed him. "You’ll see a red shipping crane before you see anything else. Turn into the freight yard beneath it."
Chenghai stared at him instead of moving toward the SUV. "You know where the black market is?"
"Of course I do," replied Lingyun, looking offended that anyone would question him. "I’m a well-rounded person with many useful skills."
"You set things on fire," Zhenlan pointed out.
Lingyun held the white core against his chest. "That’s one useful skill. I have others."
"Name one," demanded Chenghai.
"I know where the black market is."
Chenghai closed his eyes and rubbed one hand over his face, but he didn’t bother arguing further.
Smart man. Lingyun would keep talking until everyone either agreed with him or walked into traffic to escape the conversation.
Yuche reached me before the argument could start again and held out one hand. I stared at it, then at him, before sliding off the hood without taking it.
My injured ankle touched the pavement and pain immediately shot through my leg, causing my knee to folded before I could pretend otherwise.
Yuche caught me around the waist and pulled me against his chest without so much as blinking.
"I slipped," I informed him.
"Of course you did," he replied, bending down and lifting me into his arms.
"I can walk."
"Probably, but that’s not happening," he replied.
Apparently, today was the day everyone had decided that telling me no was okay to do. Newsflash... it wasn’t.
Lingyun hurried ahead of us and opened the back door with an exaggerated bow. Once Yuche settled me onto the seat, Lingyun climbed in beside me and bounced hard enough to shake the SUV.
"Black market, green cores, and a healer," he announced, rubbing his hands together. "This is already better than going home."
Chenghai started the engine while Zhenlan climbed into the passenger seat. "You’re far too excited about this."
Lingyun draped one arm across my shoulders and grinned toward the front. "Come on, Pretty Princess, we’re off to see the Wizard."
I looked at him. "Does that make you the scarecrow?"
His grin disappeared.
From the driver’s seat, Chenghai laughed.