Zhang Yi’s bullet didn’t immediately kill Liu Ziyang. Liu Ziyang’s supernatural ability, which enhanced his speed and agility, allowed him to narrowly evade the shot. Despite the close call, he was not out of danger yet. Zhang Yi quickly reloaded, determined to see how long Liu Ziyang could keep dodging. Facing Zhang Yi’s sniper fire and Huahua’s relentless attacks, Liu Ziyang struggled under the combined pressure.
This time, Zhang Yi fired another shot with even greater precision and power. The bullet, charged with his supernatural ability, was strong enough to pierce through body armor. Liu Ziyang dodged again, but not without cost—blood trickled from his mouth as he pushed his ability to its limits. In midair, his figure blurred, leaving behind ghostly afterimages as he narrowly escaped death once more.
But just as Liu Ziyang felt a fleeting sense of relief, a massive shadow loomed over him. "Roar!" Huahua pounced, its jaws clamping down on half of Liu Ziyang’s body with a sickening crunch. The sound of breaking bones echoed through the air, accompanied by Liu Ziyang’s blood-curdling scream. In a desperate attempt to take Huahua down with him, Liu Ziyang raised his gun to shoot the cat in the eye. However, Zhang Yi was quicker, finishing him off with a precise shot to the head.
With Liu Ziyang and Xie Huanhuan dead, Zhang Yi finally allowed himself a moment of relief. He drove his snowmobile to the site where Huahua had defeated Liu Ziyang. When Zhang Yi arrived, Huahua had already returned to its normal size and was sitting beside Xie Huanhuan’s body, looking expectantly at Zhang Yi.
"Meow!" Huahua uttered a loud cry, clearly tired from the energy it had expended during the battle.
Zhang Yi smiled and rewarded Huahua with several cans of tuna, which the cat eagerly tore open with its claws and began to eat.
Zhang Yi then examined the bodies of the two intruders. The tall man, fully armed in thick white armor, had a crescent-shaped wound on his body from Huahua’s bite. The armor made of an unusual material likely used by special forces, was only partially damaged. Zhang Yi decided to take the armor back for further study.
As he turned to Xie Huanhuan’s body, Huahua meowed insistently, drawing Zhang Yi’s attention. He recognized the woman as the one who had infiltrated his shelter earlier, a feat that had driven him to kill her without hesitation. The shelter was his haven—any threat had to be eliminated.
Huahua blinked slowly, meowing softly as if encouraging him. Zhang Yi swallowed hard, realizing what Huahua was trying to tell him: he could absorb this woman’s power.
He placed his hand on her forehead, and a powerful energy began flowing into his body through his arm. The sensation was exhilarating, nearly overwhelming, as he absorbed Xie Huanhuan’s supernatural ability. It was the first time Zhang Yi had ever absorbed another Superhuman’s power, and he could feel himself growing stronger with each passing second as if a starving man had just eaten his fill.
"So, Superhumans can devour each other’s powers?" Zhang Yi mused, staring in disbelief at his hand. By the time he had finished absorbing her ability, Xie Huanhuan’s body had become nothing more than an empty shell.
Huahua, sensing the change, meowed again. Animals often have keener instincts than humans, and Huahua sensed the potential to devour Xie Huanhuan’s power. But instead of doing so itself, the cat had left the opportunity for Zhang Yi, an act that touched him deeply.
Moved, Zhang Yi couldn’t resist picking up Huahua and giving the cat a couple of affectionate kisses. "Thank you, Huahua! You’re such a good cat!" Huahua nuzzled against him briefly before jumping down to continue eating its tuna, clearly satisfied with its reward.
Still puzzled, Zhang Yi turned his attention back to Liu Ziyang’s body. "He was a Superhuman, too, so why didn’t I feel the same urge when I touched him?" he wondered. "This world and its mutated beings are filled with mysteries that defy understanding."
Zhang Yi decided to store both bodies in his dimensional space and carefully cleaned up the scene, though the footprints leading to the area were too long to erase. "I can’t do anything about that," he sighed. "They already know where my shelter is, so if they come looking for trouble, I’ll be ready."
"But now that the woman who could walk through walls is dead let’s see who else dares to invade my shelter!"
Zhang Yi steeled himself for the challenges ahead, knowing that these two were not lone operatives—they were part of a larger, powerful organization. Their uniforms and equipment made that clear. It was likely that more warriors, perhaps even entire squads, would be sent after him.
Returning to the shelter, Zhang Yi couldn’t help but feel a growing sense of urgency. He needed to bolster his defenses even further, for he knew that life in this apocalyptic world left no room for complacency.