The Apocalypse Solution Provider

Chapter 44: Full Force Mobilization, A New Ability!

Two days later.

The ambient temperature had crept up to fifty degrees Fahrenheit. The gray mist lurking in the water—the apocalypse’s chief architect—had vanished without a trace.

In its wake lingered a faint, ever-present stench.

With no running water to flush toilets, the municipal sewer system had flatlined.

Surviving residents resorted to aerial bombardment for their waste disposal.

Plastic bags plummeted from high-rise windows, detonating on the pavement in ring-shaped splatter zones.

That wasn’t the only method.

A few eco-conscious “gentlemen” opted to reduce plastic pollution, jutting their bare asses out the window to spray freely into the wind.

If anyone still lived on the floors below, an unspoken truce dictated that they lob their own packages upwards in retaliation.

Compound that with the dissected Zombies and the rotting corpses of suicidal residents.

The world had seamlessly merged into a giant, open-air latrine and morgue.

A stark, putrid testament to the true horrors of the apocalypse!

For the past two days, Su Jin operated on a grueling schedule, weaving between buildings, dodging the rotting “strawberry towers,” and systematically hunting Zombies.

The Fu family, along with Cheng Du and Aunt Liu, shadowed him, observing his brutal efficiency.

Objective one: early exposure. He needed to forcibly desensitize these sheltered civilians to the gore of life-and-death combat.

Objective two: pack mules. Most apartments were now tombs, and their stockpiled Supplies required consolidation and reallocation.

Objective three: conduct a census and assign registration numbers to the remaining, seemingly healthy survivors.

Cheng Du and Aunt Liu were technically still in their quarantine observation period, but realistically, there was nothing left to monitor.

One possessed a massive stockpile of home Supplies, and the other was so paranoid she preferred drinking mechanical lubricant and her own urine—a half-empty cup of which was still sitting on her nightstand. That proved their uninfected status thoroughly enough.

Furthermore, manpower was at a premium. Su Jin authorized their early release.

The morning of the third day.

A crisp gunshot shattered the dead silence of the residential complex.

Su Jin kicked a door off its hinges, immediately intercepted by a geriatric Zombie, trailed by a towering brute.

Fu Qingdai and the civilian crew observed from the threshold.

Su Jin smoothly drew the extended screwdriver from his belt, driving it precisely into the old man’s heart before delivering a brutal leg sweep that sent the corpse airborne.

Using the momentum, he vaulted into the air, landing squarely on the tall Zombie’s shoulders.

While airborne, Fu Qingdai lobbed a glass fishbowl toward him. He snatched it mid-flight and slammed it over the Zombie’s head.

He clamped his thighs tight, locking the monster’s arms against its torso.

Reaching behind his back, Su Jin whipped out a long strip of industrial cloth, lashing it around one of the Zombie’s flailing arms.

With a few rapid, practiced loops, he bound its right fist into a padded stump, then mirrored the process on the left.

Leaping off its shoulders, he danced around the thrashing creature, tying off the knots until its hands resembled massive, harmless boxing gloves.

Finally, he produced a heavy-duty dog leash, choked it tight around the Zombie’s neck, and jerked his head toward the door.

Taking the cue, Fu Qingdai’s group scrambled downstairs. The enraged Zombie lunged after them, securely tethered by Su Jin acting as its handler.

Upon reaching the ground floor, Su Jin lashed the Zombie to a steel security window grille.

He stepped back, resting his hands on his hips. “Qingdai, you and your father are off logistics today. Your only job is archery practice! You’ve been shooting at folded quilts, but today is live-fire combat. No slacking.”

Fu Qingdai licked her dry lips, a knot of terror tightening in her stomach.

Two days of observing slaughter had barely calloused her to the gore, but stepping into the ring herself made her skin crawl.

“Brother… what if the window grille tears loose? What if the fishbowl shatters?”

“Relax, I’ve factored that into the risk assessment. Toss me your bag,” Su Jin ordered.

She hurriedly slung off her backpack and tossed it over.

Catching it, Su Jin fished out a can of industrial expanding foam—looted from the apartment of a Zombie who had evidently been a hardware contractor.

He casually palmed the top of the fishbowl, ignoring the muffled, padded thuds as the Zombie helplessly drummed against his chest, and aggressively injected the foam into the bowl’s opening until it filled the empty space.

Next, he uncapped a massive bottle of epoxy resin and drenched the exterior of the glass.

To finish the armor plating, he strapped a crude, makeshift metal chest plate over the creature’s sternum.

Su Jin turned and pointed. “First, get up close. Desensitize yourself to its movement and smell. Once the resin cures, start shooting. If it rips the steel grille out of the concrete and you somehow can’t outrun a monster dragging a hundred pounds of metal… then your Darwin award is well-earned. I won’t save you.”

“Old Fu, keep the shotgun racked. Supervise your daughter.”

“Understood, Director.”

Satisfied, Su Jin waved the rest of his strike team back into the stairwell.

They resumed their methodical door-to-door sweep. When a resident responded, Zhang Wan and Aunt Liu handled the verbal screening and census registration through the closed door.

Following a brief, heavily scripted reassurance pitch, they deposited a ration of Supplies. Su Jin stood off to the side, shotgun leveled, acting as a lethal deterrent against desperate ambushes.

The resident, weeping like the rest, cracked the door open in a desperate bid for human connection. The sight of Su Jin’s cold, dead eyes and the yawning barrel of his shotgun instantly choked off their words. They silently dragged the Supplies through the gap and locked themselves back in.

Zhang Wan delivered the standard parting line: “Keep the plastic bottles! Do not throw them away! We require them for the next water distribution!”

The containers were salvaged from the complex dumpsters. Water rationing demanded sealable vessels, turning literal trash into a critical logistical bottleneck.

One unit processed. Next.

This time, there was no human whimpering; only the frantic, rhythmic slamming of a Zombie trying to breach the wood.

Su Jin blasted the lock and breached.

Two Zombies neutralized in seconds.

Expressionless, Su Jin drew his blade and began dissecting the heart.

This process had been repeated too many times, crossing the threshold into pure, mechanical numbness.

He was now completely desensitized to the gore.

Expertly cutting open the Zombie’s chest to search the pericardial sac.

Suddenly, his hand stopped. His sociopathic deadpan fractured into a grin.

Extracting his blood-slicked fingers, he stared at the Fleshy Orb pinched between his knuckles. A rush of pure, adrenaline-fueled triumph hit him!

Cheng Du, noticing his boss freeze, hurried into the gore-slicked room.

Spotting the grotesque sphere, his eyes bulged. “Director! Is that the meatball you briefed us on?!”

Honestly, watching Su Jin slaughter monsters with superhuman ease for two days had bred a deep, covetous envy in Cheng Du.

Su Jin had openly admitted this organic artifact was the source of his power, and promised Cheng Du a share of the spoils.

The subordinate had been salivating over the prospect!

Now, seeing the grotesque prize in person, an almost feral hunger gripped him.

“Bingo.” Su Jin exhaled a long, heavy breath.

The horrific drop rate had been gnawing at his logistical projections; he was beginning to suspect his own mutation was a statistical anomaly.

This confirmed the farmability of the resource.

They still had dozens of uncleared units. Based on this updated drop-rate data, securing a third orb within their three-day timeline was highly probable.

With both Fu Hu and Cheng Du genetically upgraded with Abilities, the probability of a successful raid on Longshan Medical University surged from a gamble to a near-certainty.

“Wipe the drool off your chin, we’re on the clock.”

Severing the Fleshy Orb from its connective tissue, Su Jin pocketed the prize and stepped over the corpse.

Night blanketed the city in absolute, suffocating darkness.

In the courtyard below, the heavily padded, foam-blinded Zombie—resembling a grotesque, blood-soaked Doraemon—strained silently against its leash.

Up on the sixth floor, the atmosphere was thick.

Eight people clustered tightly around the dining table.

Nobody bothered with the chairs. They leaned in, their eyes magnetically glued to the blood-stained tissue dead center on the wood, where the Fleshy Orb rested.

Five flickering candles danced in the draft of their collective, heavy breathing, casting sinister, crimson shadows across their faces.

Eyes wide, jaws slack, trails of saliva pooling in the corners of their mouths.

The scene mirrored a deranged, occult communion.

“Huff… Director.” Cheng Du panted, wiping his mouth. “This thing looks exactly like a severed nut. Are you absolutely certain about its efficacy?”

“It’s not an ordinary nut. Show me an anatomy textbook with a testicle attached to the aorta,” Su Jin deadpanned. “Consume it, and you transcend.”

“Language, you degenerates! My daughter is right here!” Zhang Wan hissed, mortified, clamping her hands over Fu Qingdai’s ears and eyes.

Fu Qingdai ground her teeth together, her cheeks puffing out indignantly.

Sun Ya and Wei De just leveled looks of profound, geriatric disgust at the two younger men.

“Showtime. Cheng Du, you’re up. Pick it up with the napkin.” Su Jin gestured with his chin.

Su Jin was the sole recorded test subject. The mutation’s survival rate wasn’t verified at 100%.

Given that Fu Hu was a higher-tier asset in his mental org chart, Cheng Du was the logical beta tester.

Cheng Du hesitated, his Adam’s apple bobbing. Trembling, he pinched the bloody tissue.

Fighting down his gag reflex, he lifted the grotesque lump toward his lips.

The two old men contorted their faces, their wrinkles bunching up like sour chrysanthemums as they braced for the gruesome display.

“Ugh… Director, the stench is repulsive. Pwah! It smells worse than an unwashed jockstrap in July, yet I’m starving for it… Is this medically safe? Is this really how you ate yours?” Cheng Du’s expression tore between agonizing revulsion and primal gluttony.

“Who authorized you to swallow it?! I said hold it!” Su Jin barked. “Put it down! And stop describing it with such suspect specificity.”

A slammed door echoed through the apartment. Zhang Wan had finally had enough and forcibly dragged Fu Qingdai back into their bedroom.

Su Jin took a steadying breath, drawing his knife and angling the tip toward the Fleshy Orb.

The moment the steel pierced the membrane, his pupils blew wide.

The mesmerizing, iridescent rainbow halo bled into his vision, accompanied by a violent, gnawing spike in his own predatory hunger.

Slicing the organ completely open, Su Jin deftly flicked his wrist.

A singular, glowing liquid droplet holding the rainbow light vaulted from the blade, splashing squarely onto Cheng Du’s wrist.

The droplet instantly vaporized, the radiant light sinking seamlessly through his pores.

Everyone’s gaze snapped to Cheng Du’s face.

“Status report?” Su Jin demanded.

“I… feel… a little hot…”

Before he could finish the sentence, Cheng Du’s eyes rolled back. His legs buckled, and he face-planted violently onto the hardwood table.

“A little hot?” Sun Ya snapped his head toward Su Jin. “Xiao Li, did you crash like this during your integration?”

Su Jin merely shrugged. “My internal temperature remained stable. Let’s observe and record.”

Dawn broke.

In the dim morning light, Cheng Du groaned, his eyelids fluttering open. He instantly jolted in panic!

Seven faces were hovering inches above him, staring down like vultures.

“Jesus!! Personal space!”

“Report your vitals. Are you detecting any distinct physiological mutations?” Su Jin asked, tone all business.

Cheng Du sat up, gingerly touching his face.

“Last night… I felt like I was being cremated alive!! Right now, it’s like I have magma circulating through my veins.”

“Can you weaponize it?”

“Give me some clearance.” Cheng Du staggered to his feet, shivering with a manic, giddy excitement.

His genetic code had genuinely rewritten itself. He had a superpower! The energy pulsed within him, intuitive as breathing.

The crowd backed away. Cheng Du raised his open palms, his face turning red as he held his breath, straining like he was constipated.

FWOOSH! Twin pillars of raw flame erupted, wreathing his forearms in searing fire!

“Holy shit!!” Cheng Du shrieked in shock.

The entire room recoiled in stunned silence.

“Dear heavens… it defies the laws of thermodynamics,” Sun Ya gasped, clutching his chest.

Wei De mirrored his shock.

He had mentally rationalized Xiao Li’s enhanced strength and speed as extreme biological adrenaline.

But human spontaneous combustion? Everything he knew about science was officially obsolete!

Cheng Du, high on power, continued testing the parameters.

The fire around his arms winked out. He unhinged his jaw, inhaled deeply, and exhaled with a guttural roar. A massive fireball blasted from his mouth!

The recoil was instantaneous and brutal.

As soon as the fire expelled, the kinetic kickback launched Cheng Du violently backward.

“Great Fireball Jutsu,” Su Jin muttered, his eye twitching as he lunged to catch his collapsing subordinate.

“Exceptional output, Cheng Du. Can you vent from other orifices? Like an exhaust thruster from your ass? Flight capabilities would drastically optimize our logistics. Even basic hover physics! Push the limits, show me.”

Cheng Du, looking utterly drained, weakly scanned the room.

He leaned in, whispering directly into Su Jin’s ear.

“I think I can… Boss, I’ll demo the ass-thruster for you in private, okay.”