Chapter 26: The Apocalypse Savior's Substitute (3)

After she finished writing a character for “spotless,” she infused it with energy. Instantly, all the dirt and grime on the surrounding floor, as well as on the nearby people, vanished. Aside from the tattered clothes they still wore, everything else appeared as if newly bought.

“Wow, this ability is truly amazing,” the boy who had spoken earlier exclaimed, his face lighting up with delight at witnessing Mu Yin’s handiwork.

In this world, where prolonged contact with zombie blood meant inevitable infection, Mu Yin’s power might seem unremarkable at first glance, but in practice, it was invaluable.

“We’re the Longevity Squad. I’m Millie, the vice-captain. Is your ability purification? Have you joined any other teams? Would you be interested in joining us?” The group wasn’t all men—there were four or five girls as well. The one who spoke was a calm-looking girl in glasses.

“I don’t have a team. Since the world ended, I’ve been hiding out in my family’s villa. I only ventured out today because I finally ran out of supplies,” Mu Yin replied, explaining her situation.

“This is my ability, but it’s not purification. It allows me to grant the literal meaning of certain characters or paintings to non-living, non-energy, non-high-tech objects, limited by reality. And right now, the energy it consumes can’t be replenished quickly.” She gave a somewhat edited version of her power.

She felt quite favorable toward this team so far. As the savior’s stand-in, her mission was to eradicate the zombies and revive the spiritual energy of this world. Salvation was never meant to be a solitary endeavor—finding trustworthy companions was essential.

“What? That’s a truly unique power!” They had assumed her ability was just cleaning up messes or purifying water, never expecting something akin to the legendary Magical Brush of Ma Liang. Though there was no Ma Liang in this world, the young men and women who had heard similar stories were overjoyed and treated Mu Yin with even greater warmth. Those who had missed out on her initial cleaning eagerly asked for her help as well.

As they prepared dinner, they introduced Mu Yin to their base and the survivor squad. The Longevity Squad’s base was just outside the city, called Longchang Base. It was managed by the former military garrison and had become one of the top ten post-apocalyptic bases of the Empire.

In the two months since the apocalypse, countless survivor bases had sprung up worldwide, but few were under official control. Besides the Empire’s ten major bases, most others in various countries operated independently under despotic rule. The ten bases of the Empire were among the safest and most peaceful.

Of course, the inevitable problem after the apocalypse was food scarcity—not only were existing supplies dwindling, but as time went on, the land and water seemed to have become infected as well.

Although plants could still grow, most mutated into poisonous, inedible forms. This, more than anything, was the true crisis of the end times.

Mu Yin realized that her ability could be very helpful in this regard, though she couldn’t help but feel somewhat helpless after learning the state of the world.

After dinner, Mu Yin wrote two more characters—one to conceal their presence, and another for utter silence—and stuck them outside the hotel to mask their scent and noise.

When the team tested the effects, their appreciation for Mu Yin grew even deeper. Zhang Lin, the squad's water-wielding girl, offered to draw water for Mu Yin’s bath, and Chen Tao, who had fire abilities, helped heat it for her.

It wasn’t the first time they’d stayed at this restaurant, but before resting, the team still checked every floor to make sure there were no hidden zombies. With two left on watch, the others went to sleep.

Mu Yin shared a room with Millie. Although everyone was impressed by Mu Yin’s abilities, they weren’t completely at ease with her yet, which didn’t bother Mu Yin in the slightest. Under Millie’s gaze, she calmly drew a set of pajamas and changed into them, first using her spotless character to clean the room.

“Wow, your power is incredible! Could you make one for me? With this, we’d never have to worry about cleaning again!” Another girl, Zhou Ping, immediately spoke up at the sight.

“Well, I can help you, but unfortunately, only I can use the characters I draw,” Mu Yin explained awkwardly. While her characters embodied their literal meaning, unlike real talismans, they couldn’t be used by just anyone.

“That’s fine,” Zhou Ping replied cheerfully, and invited Mu Yin to clean the dust from their room as well. In the end, Mu Yin cleaned all the rooms where people would be sleeping. Luckily, this kind of character consumed very little energy.

Everyone retired early, even though it was barely past eight o’clock. In the apocalypse, with nightlife a thing of the past, early to bed and early to rise was a rare luxury—especially since safety was always a concern.

In the middle of the night, Mu Yin was awakened by the faint sound of rustling. She groped for her glasses, which still had night vision, and groggily made out the source of the noise—her blood ran cold.

“Millie, wake up! There’s danger!” Mu Yin reached over and shook Millie awake. Millie immediately sprang up, flashlight in hand, asking, “What’s going on?” As she swept the beam around the room, her face changed. “Damn it, how did we miss so many rats here?”

Since the apocalypse, it wasn’t just humans who had mutated—animals had as well, especially creatures of darkness like rats and cockroaches that thrived in filthy corners.

Worse, the plague had mutated within these animals, spawning a new virus. Anyone infected by these creatures would turn into another kind of monster entirely. Occasionally, someone with natural immunity might gain a shapeshifting power, but the odds were as low as triggering an ability from the zombie virus.

In this world, zombies were a threat, but rats and cockroaches lurking in the darkness were even more dangerous. Mu Yin hadn’t realized this; in her future, rats had become a massive race of mutant beasts, winning by sheer numbers.

The moment Millie saw the rats, she launched her attack, grabbing the gun at her bedside and firing off shots—each bullet taking down a rat. But there were too many, and she couldn’t kill them all at once. Two of them had already leaped onto the bed.

Mu Yin quickly dodged, and once Millie was off the bed, she grabbed the blanket, scooped up the two rats, twisted them into a bundle, and smashed them repeatedly with a stool.

On the other side, Millie dodged a few more rats, shooting them as she went. During the chaos, one managed to scratch and bite her, but she didn’t seem to care, instead rushing out the door to assist the others.