Jiang Hua unleashed lightning, driving it away once more, and asked the earth-type ability user, “How long until the wall is repaired?”
“Captain Hua, it will take three more minutes,” came the response.
“Okay,” Jiang Hua replied.
The brilliance of the lightning intensified.
Cold sweat seeped from his forehead, mixing with the rainwater.
The hand he held—Tong Sui’s—had almost lost its warmth.
Lightning abilities were considered the most lethal among all powers, and once Jiang Hua fell, this place would inevitably collapse.
A deep sense of helplessness threatened to engulf Tong Sui.
That energy, rooted deep within him, surged anew, a burning heat coursing through every nerve.
Tong Sui’s heart raced violently, as if a giant hand were kneading and beating his heart.
After a bout of intense pain, he opened his eyes.
The speed of the raindrops seemed to slow down.
As he looked at the zombies charging toward them, Tong Sui’s pupils constricted, a flash of red light appearing in the depths of his obsidian-like eyes.
All the zombies instantly froze in place.
The struggling team members were stunned. “What’s happening?”
It was as if they had been forcefully hit with the pause button, emitting a cacophony of painful, greedy wails but unable to move an inch.
A few seconds later, the zombies began to move again, but instead of charging at them, they seemed to fall into some kind of illusion, biting each other.
In just two brief minutes, only a small fraction of them remained, some missing limbs, bloodied and bruised, still fighting desperately amongst themselves.
After about three minutes, the earth-type ability user shouted, “Captain Hua, the wall is repaired!”
Upon hearing this, the red light in Tong Sui’s eyes faded, and he collapsed backward in exhaustion.
Jiang Hua swiftly caught him.
The few remaining zombies then halted their struggle, returning to their normal course toward the team.
They were swiftly taken down by several team members.
Tong Sui felt as if he were burning like a heated iron, furrowing his brows tightly.
The rest of the team rushed over.
“Is Xiao Sui okay?”
“What caused him to faint all of a sudden?”
A thought emerged from Jiang Hua’s heart.
He held Tong Sui tightly in his arms.
Tong Sui seemed to awaken a spirit root that belonged to him, a previously unseen mental type.
Jiang Hua carried Tong Sui to the vehicle.
Once the rest of the team finished off the last zombies, they jumped into the vehicle as well.
The SUV drove back to the dormitory amid the torrential rain.
Tong Sui clutched Jiang Hua’s collar, his cheeks flushed, letting out pained, mumbling sounds.
“So hot…”
Jiang Hua gently wiped away the physiological tears that had formed at the corners of his eyes due to the high fever and said softly, “Hang in there a little longer.”
The team members following Jiang Hua exchanged glances, having never seen him speak so tenderly to anyone before.
Jiang Hua brought Tong Sui back to the room.
He gently laid him on the bed, not caring that his dirty clothes and rainwater would stain the sheets.
Several team members were discussing:
“He was fine when we left, how did it suddenly turn into this?”
“It looks like symptoms of high fever from awakening abilities, but it’s been over two months since the apocalypse started. Could he really just awaken now?”
Most ability users had awakened within the first few days of the apocalypse; they had never heard of anyone awakening this late.
Jiang Hua interrupted them coldly, “Stop guessing; it’s just a normal fever from getting rained on.”
“Captain Hua, I have antipyretics in my space,” Wang Tao said, pulling out some precious medicine from the apocalypse.
Jiang Hua took it, “Alright, you all can leave now.”
Jiang Hua stood up, forcefully shooing the group out, closing the room door behind him.
The team outside the door exchanged silence, “Is it really okay for Captain Hua to care for him?”
After all, in their impressions, Jiang Hua rarely spoke; could he actually handle such detailed caregiving?
“Let’s not worry too much,” Zhang Binyu said, “Didn’t you see how Captain Hua looked earlier? He was practically putting his heart on the line for him.”
“Maybe while he’s caring for him, they’ll become a couple or something.”
They all chuckled and returned to their respective rooms.
Jiang Hua walked back into the room and entered the bathroom.
When he emerged, he carried a basin of warm water and a towel.
On the bed, Tong Sui was enduring an unusually high fever.
This was a process that one must go through when awakening abilities; the stronger the ability, the more intense the backlash.
Tong Sui, eyes closed, was mindlessly tugging at his clothes, hoping to cool down a bit. The hem of his shirt had already rolled up, revealing a slim waist.
His damp clothes clung to his body.
Through the semi-transparent fabric, his skin could be faintly seen.
Jiang Hua placed the warm water by the bedside, “Xiao Sui, let me help you change into some clean clothes.”
Tong Sui responded with a vague hum.
Jiang Hua extended his hand, his slightly calloused fingertips brushing against Tong Sui’s skin, causing Tong Sui to shiver and instinctively shift to the other side.
Jiang Hua pressed his palm down on him.
“Be good; wearing wet clothes can easily make you sick.”
Tong Sui was like a fish stranded on land, struggling a couple of times due to lack of oxygen, gasping for air with his mouth wide open.
His lips were exceptionally red.
They resembled ripe berries in their prime, waiting to be picked by travelers.
Jiang Hua peeled off the damp clothes and tossed them to the foot of the bed.
He soaked the towel in hot water and wrung it out.
Tong Sui curled up uncomfortably.
He looked like a boiled shrimp, his entire body radiating a faint pink, arms drawn in protectively before him.
The shape of his shoulder blades resembled beautiful butterflies, and the subtle undulations between each vertebra were breathtaking.
There were also red marks on his back.
Like a piece of art unsullied by dust, tainted by the basest of colors.