Chapter 21: Pickled Cabbage and Beef Fried Rice

Hearing the name of a legendary figure from her past life so suddenly, Su Su felt a complex mix of emotions.

After a few seconds of internal struggle, she unexpectedly felt a spark of curiosity.

"Pang Cancan? Which characters are they?"

Seeing Su Su turn back to look at her, Pang Cancan’s hope was instantly rekindled. She became exceptionally proactive, gesturing as she spoke: "Pang as in 'vast' (pangda), Can as in 'bright and brilliant' (guangming canlan), and Can as in 'as brilliant as the stars' (canruo fanxing)!"

It was indeed that very name.

Su Su opened her mouth, but the question that came out left the other girl rather bewildered: "If—and I mean if—I hadn't happened to appear here, what would you have done? Stayed hiding in the storage room forever?"

Pang Cancan thought it over: "I would have starved to death, I guess... No, wait, that zombie was so strong, it probably would have smashed the door down first. In that case, I would have ended up like a turtle in a jar, waiting to be caught."

It would have been death either way, likely serving as a sacrificial lamb for that group of bastards.

The more she thought about it, the angrier Pang Cancan became. Driven by a surge of frustration, she blurted out without thinking: "But I did have one final, desperate plan!"

"What plan?"

"I grew up in a mountain village, raised on poison water. If it came down to it, I could swallow a venomous insect and let its toxins mutate my body! Once the transformation succeeded, in the eyes of the zombies, I’d be nothing but rotting dead meat just like them. They wouldn't bother eating me!"

In her eagerness to latch onto this beautiful sister’s coattails, Pang Cancan gave away her deepest secret without a shred of defense.

Su Su fell silent for a few seconds.

She hadn't expected that in this second life, she would run into the "Poison Girl" during her "childhood phase," and even manage to stop her from mutating her body.

No, wait—given how defenseless the girl was... there might still be plenty of trials ahead.

Su Su pondered for a long time.

"Where are you going?"

Pang Cancan seized the opportunity immediately: "Wherever you go, sister, I go!"

Under Su Su’s silent gaze, she smiled sheepishly, not daring to spout any more sweet talk, and said honestly: "Actually, I don't know where to go either. Lin Wenzong... those bastards... they were planning to go to the Southern Base. Word is there are many ability users there, plenty of supplies, and it's safe and stable, so I was just following them."

"I'm going to the Southern Base, too."

Humans are social creatures; they naturally gravitate toward the most stable and safe places, and Su Su was no exception.

"If you're coming with me, you must listen to me."

"I will! I will! I'm your dog, sister—wherever you point, I’ll strike!"

Su Su: "..."

She truly couldn't connect the lively, eccentric girl before her with the sinister, cunning "Poison Girl" of the future.

"Let's go."

Su Su headed downstairs first, with Pang Cancan trotting happily behind. Before leaving, she suddenly remembered something and ran back to grab the pile of food she had left on the ground.

Serves them right! For abandoning her! And they didn't even manage to get any supplies!

Su Su brought Pang Cancan to where she had parked. "Get in."

"You got it!"

Pang Cancan was about to climb into the passenger seat without a second thought, but just as she poked her head inside, a menacing snake head struck directly toward her forehead.

"Holy—!!!"

Pang Cancan recoiled in terror, subconsciously releasing her venomous insects to fend off the attack.

*Buzz, buzz, buzz.*

They flew with incredible speed, but to the black snake, this was merely a batch of snacks delivering themselves to its plate.

*Hiss!*

A dozen venomous insects were swept into the black snake's mouth, crunched, and swallowed into its belly.

Being toxic creatures themselves, they could only end up as nourishment for the black snake.

Pang Cancan shrieked: "My babies!"

Su Su: "...Xiao Hei, spit them out!"

How could it possibly spit them out? They had already been digested.

The black snake rolled its eyes at Su Su, lazily crawled out of the backpack, and its two-meter-long body coiled itself across the entire passenger seat, fully asserting its territory.

Once settled, it cast a disdainful glance at the stranger, its eyes filled with satisfaction, a warning, and a hint of lingering greed.

Venomous insects—the taste was quite good. A few more wouldn't be bad.

Pang Cancan’s face turned pale with fright, and she backed out of the car, looking at Su Su in a loss.

"Sister, this..."

"This is my pet," Su Su said, biting the bullet. "Sorry, I didn't tell you beforehand."

She hadn't expected Xiao Hei to suddenly burst out of the backpack just as Pang Cancan was climbing into the passenger seat.

She had originally planned to keep it hidden for a while longer, but now it was completely exposed.

"Why don't you sit in the back? This is its exclusive spot, which is why it was a bit fierce just now. Actually, Xiao Hei is usually very obedient."

The last half of the sentence was a blatant lie.

Pang Cancan clutched her chest and got into the back seat. Once she calmed down, the initial shock faded.

It was just a pet python. In the village where she grew up, many people raised centipedes, scorpions, and the like; it was just a personal hobby.

Su Su watched Pang Cancan through the rearview mirror without a trace.

How should she put it? She was truly worthy of being the "Poison Girl"—she accepted the idea of keeping a venomous snake as a pet remarkably quickly, and even seemed faintly excited.

Su Su breathed a small sigh of relief.

She had agreed to let Pang Cancan join her not only because she guessed the girl would quickly accept Xiao Hei, but because in her past life... due to her unique abilities and rumors of romantic jealousy, Pang Cancan’s reputation at the Southern Base had been terrible. Everyone who spoke of her did so with looks of disgust and contempt. Even if there were real conflicts of interest, most people sided with Lin Weiran and Si Zhe.

But in the end, Pang Cancan died on the base's defensive line. Her thousands of venomous insects successfully held back the first wave of the zombie invasion.

Later, Si Zhe and Lin Weiran arrived to finish off the remaining stragglers.

No one cared about the remains of the venomous insects or the corpse of the Poison Girl; everyone looked up in gratitude at the two strong individuals standing on the city walls.

And then Su Su died, too, during the second wave of the zombie invasion.

If her own death was viewed as that of an insignificant ant overstepping its bounds, then Pang Cancan’s death was more like a whale falling in the ocean—a single death that allowed all other things to survive, leading the world to sing praises of the ocean's mercy.

"My name is Su Su. I’m twenty-two. You can just call me by my name from now on."

Su Su pulled herself out of her memories. Thinking of the insects swallowed by Xiao Hei, she felt a sense of guilt that words couldn't express.

She silently took out a second-tier crystal and two boiled eggs from her food storage bag.

"This is an apology. I hope it compensates for your loss."

A second-tier crystal!

Two boiled eggs!

Either one was enough to make the current Pang Cancan, who only had first-tier strength, drool.

"Hehe, that's too kind of you."

Despite her words, her hands grabbed them without a moment's hesitation.

"Actually, I have other babies. Being eaten by your pet is practically an honor for those ones!"

Su Su: "..."

Not knowing how to respond, she silently started the SUV and continued toward X City.

Eggs—boiled eggs, with tender whites and plump yolks.

Pang Cancan devoured them, tears of emotion welling up in her eyes.

It was no wonder the older generation said eggs were the rarest of tonics. Along the way, she had only been able to watch those bastards eat and drink well while she gnawed on dry noodles and spicy strips every day, leaving her face sallow and pale.

The moment she was abandoned, not only did she get a second-tier crystal that those bastards dreamed of, but she also got to eat eggs!

Betrayal was a good thing!

If they hadn't betrayed her, could she have latched onto such a powerful backer?

Pang Cancan chewed away while secretly peeking at Su Su in the driver's seat.

It was hard to imagine that such a delicate, soft, and sweet-smelling beautiful sister could raise such a terrifyingly large python, and keep it so sleek and shiny.

Was this what they called the "contrast effect"?

Su Su didn't know about Pang Cancan’s rich internal life; her focus was entirely on the road.

Without maps or navigation, she could only drive forward based on vague memories.

"I don't know how long it will take to reach the south, so I plan to go to X City to stock up on some supplies."

Gas, medical supplies... only by being fully prepared could she avoid being caught in a passive position if they encountered another situation like the looted highway service area.

"Sister Su Su, I'm familiar with X City. We can take this shortcut. Not only can we avoid the high-traffic areas, but we can also pass a large wholesale mall, a big pharmacy, and a gas station!"

"And if we take a detour from this direction to leave X City, I also know of a farm. Even if the people there have been eaten by zombies, the chickens, ducks, and geese they raised couldn't have been eaten, right?"

When she was with those bastards earlier, Pang Cancan hadn't revealed that she knew X City well.

A group of first-tier ability users would struggle enough finding supplies in the suburbs; going into the city would be suicide.

But things were different now. Pang Cancan had seen Su Su kill a third-tier ability user and was convinced of her immense strength; venturing into the city might yield far greater rewards.

"Alright, let's go with your route."

Su Su didn't hesitate and changed direction immediately.

Seeing Su Su trust her so much made Pang Cancan happy.

In her joy, her peripheral vision accidentally swept over the python in the passenger seat.

The latter had opened its vertical pupils at some point and was staring at her coldly.

"Xiao Hei." Su Su freed a hand and gently stroked the black snake’s head. "Don't scare people."

"Hiss!"

The black snake shook its head in dissatisfaction and ruthlessly changed its coiled position, but at least it stopped staring and drooling at Pang Cancan’s sleeves.

What a terrifying pet.

Pang Cancan hid her remaining few venomous insects even deeper.

The SUV drove toward the city center.

Su Su spoke suddenly: "If your ability reaches a critical point, you can go ahead and swallow that second-tier crystal. Once your strength improves, you'll have the ability to protect yourself if we encounter any accidents in the city."

"Okay!"

Pang Cancan obediently swallowed the second-tier crystal and closed her eyes to absorb it.

Seeing this, Su Su no longer held back and wrapped the entire car in her ability.

In the eyes of the zombies, the car was now a walking ball of white light. Perhaps they could smell the scent of the living, but their simple minds were already affected, leaving them without a single thought of lunging forward to feed.

And so, the SUV successfully drove into the heart of X City along the planned route.

It was very strange; the zombies wandering the city weren't dense, and their levels weren't particularly high.

Every now and then, they could see people rushing out of residential buildings. They were well-organized; some were responsible for luring the zombies away, while others rushed into shops along the street to scavenge.