Ch 38: The Farmer Ger in the Apocalypse

Before dawn, Song Kaiji and Qu Weiwei left the base.

After a night of adjusting, Qu Weiwei was quite satisfied with her newly regrown arm. The fragrant, meaty bun she had eaten also made her feel hopeful about the future—she was in much better spirits than the day before.

She never expected that getting injured would turn out to be a blessing in disguise. Following behind Song Kaiji, she muttered, “I’m actually kind of grateful for this injury now… Otherwise, with my current ability level, it would be really hard for me to find an ability user team willing to take me in.”

Both she and Song Kaiji had awakened their abilities late. By the time they did, many first-generation ability users were already at levels two or three. They weren’t from wealthy or powerful families with crystal cores to spare, and once the gap widened, it was almost impossible to catch up.

Now, many mid-sized ability user teams had a recruitment threshold of at least level five! Those with particularly strong offensive abilities—like lightning, fire, or rare abilities—could sometimes get in with lower levels.

Qu Weiwei was beyond frustrated. Before the apocalypse, she was struggling to find a job after graduation. Now, in the apocalypse, she was being filtered out for her low ability level. What kind of terrible luck was this?!

As she grumbled, she looked around curiously. Song Kaiji was leading her into an abandoned amusement park—an area rarely visited because many of the large rides hadn’t been dismantled yet, making it difficult for vehicles to pass through. Most people taking on missions outside the base wouldn’t take this route. “This kind of opportunity actually exists? This isn’t some scam, is it? What if you’re just luring me to a deserted place to sell me off?”

Song Kaiji was speechless. Wasn’t it a bit late to be worrying about that when they were already halfway there? “A scammer would at least need something valuable to scam…” He glanced at Qu Weiwei’s right arm and reminded her, “Ask yourself—what exactly do you have that could be worth four hundred pounds of food? Oh, and don’t forget, you were missing an arm.”

“…Fair point.” As blunt as his words were, she had to admit they made sense. Thinking about it that way, she actually felt more at ease. “Then what does the boss really want? Is he just a good person with too much money to spend?”

Song Kaiji didn’t respond—he wasn’t sure himself.

Yesterday, while Qu Weiwei was still unconscious, Shen Qing had suddenly asked him a lot of questions:

How do people awaken abilities?
How do you increase ability levels?
How do you register an ability user team?
How much food does it take to sustain a team?

These weren’t exactly classified secrets, but Song Kaiji hadn’t found it strange that Shen Qing didn’t know much about them. After all, Shen Qing was just an ordinary person—not an ability user.

Discrimination existed in every world. In the apocalypse, where many other societal gaps had closed, the divide between ability users and ordinary people had only widened. Many ability users looked down on ordinary people and refused to share information with them.

Though Song Kaiji wasn’t particularly strong, he was still an ability user. He didn’t have access to high-level intel, but he knew the basics.

But what truly surprised him was Shen Qing’s decision to form an ability user team.

From his previous interactions with Shen Qing, Song Kaiji had always assumed that Shen Qing preferred to keep a low profile—making trades quietly, avoiding attention. Shen Qing’s wealth was almost unbelievable, and he seemed to be deliberately staying away from crowds, taking his goods and leaving in a hurry.

Song Kaiji had thought Shen Qing would just keep making secretive trades until one day, he vanished without a trace—his mysteries remaining unsolved.

He never expected that Shen Qing would want to form a team.

Did this mean Shen Qing was planning to settle down in Red City Base?

But after his initial surprise, Song Kaiji made up his mind—whatever Shen Qing’s plans were, it didn’t matter. Shen Qing had only saved Qu Weiwei because of him. He was the one who owed Shen Qing a debt.

From now on, regardless of Shen Qing’s secrets, Song Kaiji decided he would stand by him. He would do his best to help Shen Qing achieve his goals and ensure his safety.

After a while, they arrived at the agreed-upon location—the row of storefronts where Song Kaiji had first met Shen Qing. From a distance, they could already see Shen Qing crouched on a stone block in front of one of the shops, focused on sorting through something.

As the two groups met, Shen Qing looked at Qu Weiwei, and she, in turn, sized him up with surprise.

Because Song Kaiji had always referred to him as “the client” or “the boss,” Qu Weiwei had imagined the person who lent them the supplies to be a successful middle-aged businessman from before the apocalypse—someone in his thirties or forties, a proper big shot.

She never expected Shen Qing to be this young.

He looked even younger than her and Song Kaiji!

This… this… Qu Weiwei scrutinized Shen Qing’s demeanor. He didn’t seem like some privileged rich second-generation kid. And according to Song Kaiji, he wasn’t even an ability user. So where did all his food come from?

She cast a confused glance at Song Kaiji. Had he made a mistake?

Song Kaiji cleared his throat and introduced, “This is our new boss and team leader, Shen Qing.” Then, as a reminder, he added, “He’s the one I borrowed the supplies from yesterday. The reason you still have your arm.”

Shen Qing hopped down from the stone block and greeted her, “Hello.”

He intended to train Qu Weiwei.

Ever since he had his epiphany—realizing that power came from force—so many things about village life had become clearer to him. And from those observations, he had started to develop strategies he could use.

For example, although physical strength was mostly controlled by men due to biological differences, did that mean women and gers had absolutely no way to fight back?

Not entirely!

A recent example came to mind—when Shen Zhigao wanted to divorce Miao Shi, her two brothers had immediately stormed over to beat him into submission. They had tried to suppress him with sheer physical force.

That was even with Miao Shi being a naturally gentle person and her family being from another village.

What if Miao Shi had been like Madam Guixiang—tough and assertive—with her family living in the same village? Wouldn’t her brothers be ready to back her up at a moment’s notice?

That was why women and gers with strong, supportive brothers always carried themselves with confidence in their husband’s homes.

“My brothers have my back” wasn’t just an empty phrase—it was a real deterrent.

Even if a husband was stronger, if his wife or fulang had a group of muscular, battle-hardened brothers to call on, he’d have to think twice before laying a hand on them.

That was why so many women and gers were raised to prioritize their younger brothers—to take care of them, indulge them, even spoil them. They weren’t just doing it out of love. They were investing in their future security.

Some might not fully understand why, but the underlying logic was solid.

Women and gers from the lower classes were like wildflowers and weeds growing from cracks in the stone—no matter how harsh the environment, they always found ways to carve out a path for survival within the rules.

Of course, this strategy wasn’t without risks, nor was it guaranteed to succeed. In essence, women and ger were placing their entire future in the hands of their brothers—their character and abilities. If they had done everything right before marriage, treating their brothers with utmost care and devotion, but those brothers turned out to be ungrateful scoundrels unwilling to stand up for them, or cowards too timid to fight back, then they had simply gambled wrong.

In a way, “supporting one’s younger brother” was a strategy devised by women and gers, who generally lacked physical strength, to secure indirect access to power in the existing system. Blood ties made their brothers one of the few, unavoidable investment targets they had.

But what if they had no brothers, or their brothers refused to be of use? Then they would simply give birth to one themselves! This also carried a layer of filial duty—after all, a child of one’s own was far easier to command than a brother who had his own family. This was why so many women and ger were obsessed with having sons. Was it for their husband’s family, to continue the bloodline? Yes, but more importantly, it was the foundation for their own ability to wield power.

But Shen Qing was different.

In the village, he had been at the top in terms of physical strength. But in the apocalypse, things were different. If it were just about hand-to-hand combat, he wouldn’t be at a disadvantage anywhere. However, the emergence of abilities had created an insurmountable gap between people.

Shen Qing had asked Song Kaiji, clinging to a sliver of hope—if there was a way he could awaken an ability, even a seemingly useless one, then as long as he was willing to invest resources, many of his current struggles could be resolved.

But even Song Kaiji didn’t know how abilities awakened. The first and second waves of ability awakenings had happened suddenly within a short time frame, but those people had all eaten and done different things beforehand. The research institute had studied them extensively, hoping to find a pattern that could help more people activate abilities, but they never found a definitive answer.

After that, there were no more large-scale awakenings. Song Kaiji and Qu Weiwei had both awakened their abilities purely by chance. In the end, it seemed to come down to luck.

Shen Qing was slightly disappointed but quickly accepted it.

He recalled that day when the zombie didn’t attack him. Over time, he had indirectly gathered from Song Kaiji that zombies in this world didn’t prioritize attacking certain people over others. They simply attacked the nearest living being. Their past identities—whether friend or foe—had no influence on their behavior.

This further confirmed what Shen Qing had already suspected: he was fundamentally different from the people of this world.

If he could awaken an ability, that would be fortunate. But if he couldn’t, that was completely normal too.

However, abilities had introduced a key difference between this world and his village—physical power was no longer monopolized by men due to biological advantages.

Ability awakening was entirely random, unaffected by gender. The speed of training and leveling up also had little to do with gender or even physical fitness. Abilities had created an entirely new playing field, reshuffling society. The most powerful ability user in Hongcheng Base was a woman.

Even looking at the two people in front of him—Shen Qing was undoubtedly closer to Song Kaiji. Logically, he should prioritize training him first. But when he had asked yesterday, Song Kaiji told him that his spatial ability would only gain an offensive move, “space blade,” when he reached level five. Right now, he was only level two. Even at levels three and four, the only change would be an increase in storage capacity.

Qu Weiwei, however, was different.

At the farm, she had already reached level three in her wood ability, allowing her to grow vine-like tendrils as thick as rolling pins from her fingertips—capable of piercing through a zombie’s eyes and brain… and just as easily, a human’s.

Though her endurance was still weak—she could only maintain it for ten minutes before needing a half-hour break—with further training, her vines would grow stronger, more flexible, and last longer. Once she reached level six, she wouldn’t even need to grow vines from her fingertips anymore; she could summon them from anywhere at will.

While different abilities might have varying attack potentials early on, if developed to the extreme, any ability could produce a top-tier expert.

Shen Qing smiled brightly at Qu Weiwei. Now awake, she looked even more lively and beautiful than before, her eyes filled with the same clarity as Song Kaiji’s. But facing Shen Qing, she seemed a bit nervous, fidgeting as she said, “Thank you for lending me the supplies and helping me regrow my right hand. I will definitely repay you, I-I… um… I will definitely repay you!”

So embarrassing! Qu Weiwei mentally slammed her head against an imaginary wall. This was such a good opportunity to show loyalty, and she had fumbled her words!

Could indirect access to physical power only be obtained through blood ties? A debt of renewed limbs was nearly as great as a debt of saving one’s life—wasn’t that enough?

If he applied the same “supporting one’s brother” approach to Qu Weiwei, treating her with complete kindness, providing for her, helping her grow stronger, and building a deep emotional connection, could he gain indirect control over her power? Just as Miao Shi had gained access to Miao Xing and Miao Wang’s strength?

Shen Qing beamed at her and handed over a basket at his feet.

“The doctor said you need to eat more high-protein, nutritious food over the next few days. Take these eggs and eat them. If it’s not enough, just tell me.”

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