Chapter 127: Shifting Mindsets

“She’s a natural-born killer,” Jiang Li sighed.

Luo Ying had survived ten years in the apocalypse—naturally, he wasn’t afraid of zombies anymore.
But Luo Zhu was different. She’d grown up in a peaceful world. All Luo Ying did was casually point out how to take down zombies quickly. He let her practice on two along the way, and she already knew how to decapitate them with ease.
Even more impressive, she never flinched—whether it was seeing corpses or blood, it didn’t faze her at all.
That’s why Jiang Li felt the need to comment.

The zombified gym teacher was a Tier-1 zombie. Luo Zhu retrieved a Tier-1 brain core from its head.

“That noise just now attracted a lot of zombies,” Jiang Li suddenly appeared behind Luo Ying like a ghost, shocking Miss Huang and the others.
The noise, of course, wasn’t from killing zombies, but from the students’ screams.

Luo Ying and Luo Zhu split up and rushed toward the two stairwell exits. Channeling the Immovable Vajra Mantra, every swing of their blades sent zombie heads flying like rain.
The siblings cleared the entire school building of zombies.

And they hadn’t even become Enhancers yet—this was all done with only first-layer Qi Refining strength.

Once the zombies were cleared, the siblings returned to the classroom.
“Thank you,” said Miss Huang. She hadn’t expected this once-unremarkable student to have changed so much—it was like he’d become a different person.

Luo Ying took the brain core his sister handed him.
“This thing is called a brain core. It contains energy called spiritual energy, which can make people stronger.” Luo Ying pressed the brain core to his forehead, intentionally showing the students how to become Enhancers. After all, he couldn’t protect them forever.

“Picture your body growing invisible hands. Pull the spiritual energy from the brain core and shove it into your body.”

Miss Huang and the students watched in awe as wisps of blue vapor emerged from the core and entered Luo Ying’s body.
A faint crackling sound came from inside him—it was the strengthening of muscles and bones, the cleansing of internal injuries.

“Haven’t felt this in a while.” He clenched his fist, feeling his strength. He had become the first Enhancer of this life.

By the way, the first Qi Refining cultivator was Luo Zhu.

“Mr. Jiang, could you check how many Tier-1 zombies are left in the school?”

“Four. They’re located at…”

It didn’t take many victims for a zombie to evolve into Tier-1, and schools had no shortage of people. That made them breeding grounds for such evolutions.

“I’ll be right back.” Luo Ying stood and left upon hearing Jiang Li’s report.

Soon after, he returned with four brain cores and handed one to Luo Zhu.
He had already drilled the important points into her; she became the second Enhancer with ease.

Luo Ying gave the other three brain cores to Miss Huang and two well-behaved students. He personally guided them in becoming Enhancers.
There were other survivor groups from different classes in the building, but Luo Ying didn’t know them. He couldn’t just pick someone at random to become an Enhancer—what if they turned out to be cowardly or selfish? That would waste a brain core.

Luo Ying gave a few instructions—like taping books to their bodies to prevent zombie scratches. He also explained that these three new Enhancers now had some resistance to the zombie virus. Regular zombies couldn’t infect them. They could help clear the school and establish it as a safe base, then go out to gather supplies.

This was the safest approach. They didn’t need to worry about Tier-1 zombies showing up—Luo Ying and Luo Zhu would wipe out every last one in the city.

Seeing the siblings about to leave, a student called out, thinking it would be safest to stay close to them: “Aren’t you going to stay and protect us?”

Luo Ying didn’t respond. He just walked away.

“Tch, acting all high and mighty.”
Some students still hadn’t adjusted their thinking—believing that since they were all classmates, they were all the same.

Miss Huang snapped coldly, “Does Luo Ying owe you anything? Why should he stay and protect you?”

“B-but aren’t we classmates? Shouldn’t we help each other?”

“He didn’t help you just now?”

“If it were me and I had his power, of course I’d stay to protect everyone!” the student said shamelessly, knowing full well he’d never actually be as strong as Luo Ying.

Miss Huang cut through the lie mercilessly. “I thought you’d want to save your own family first.”

The student was speechless—because if he really became an Enhancer, he would absolutely abandon everyone to go save his parents.

In peaceful times, Miss Huang wouldn’t have spoken so harshly. But she had witnessed the military’s defeat, the rise of Enhancers—she understood that the world had changed. The peaceful era was gone for good. She had to break her students’ naive beliefs. Anyone holding onto that old thinking would one day bring disaster.

Miss Huang turned and sternly warned the students: “Classmates, the times have changed. Stop having childish thoughts. Don’t count on others to risk their lives to save us. Only by relying on ourselves can we grow stronger and survive.”

“Right now, the three new Enhancers will lead a rescue operation. We’ll clear the zombies from the building and establish this school as a safe zone.”

…

Tier-1 zombies were still rare. They only appeared in densely populated places—like supermarkets, hospitals, and schools. Following Jiang Li’s directions, the siblings took the shortest routes and eliminated all Tier-1 zombies.

But for now, the siblings couldn’t absorb so many brain cores. So they found a few local grassroots self-help groups and gave brain cores to the group leaders, helping them become Enhancers and teaching them everything they needed to know about brain cores, Enhancers, and zombies.

…

Three months later, the zombie whale returned to the sea. Many cities had been reduced to ruins. The existence of Enhancers became widely known.
Governments and corporations mobilized massive manpower and resources to drive zombies out of less-devastated cities and build safe zones, reinforcing and expanding their walls.

People endured the grief of losing loved ones and began rebuilding.
Each safe zone formed its own rescue team to clear out nearby zombies and carry out rescue missions.

Once, countries had complained about overpopulation and resource shortages.
Now, population was the most valuable resource.

People meant power.
More people meant more zombie-clearing, faster construction of infrastructure, and stronger, larger safe zones.

At the same time, people came to understand the significance of Enhancers—the power of the individual.
Every safe zone desperately wanted to recruit Enhancers. They offered promises of anything—women, food, power—whatever it took.
And the most coveted of all were the sibling Enhancers always surrounded by the spectral Tota ghost—Luo Ying and Luo Zhu.