Yan Xing was shivering immediately as the door to the warehouse opened. The door had two layers and only one of the layers was open but it still let the slightest breeze in. Everyone else found it nice but Yan Xing was immediately freezing because of it and as much as he wished he could, he couldn’t call out to Jiayi because he was busy. He honestly didn’t want to even look at another zombie after what he saw in his house and after becoming one but he didn’t have much of a choice, everyone in the group was expected to learn to kill zombies and even Mr. and Mrs. Ha were learning.

Jiayi was suited up, mostly for show since everyone would be worried if he wasn’t suited up to fight against the zombie that was approaching. He went past the remaining layer of the door and put it back down quickly, the cool breeze reminding him of Yan Xing’s condition.

“Let’s begin test number one,” Jiayi announced as the zombie came into view. Hu shi and He Guang weren't as scared as they saw the zombie, after seeing the hordes in the city they weren’t too scared. They were a bit scared that it was walking during the day and not staying still like the zombies had back when they first saw them. They attributed that to the cloudy weather that day though.

Everyone else was terrified, it was their first time actually seeing a zombie in real life and now they couldn’t deny that it was all real.

Li Ying and Wu Yanyu clung to each other and tried to stay silent as they watched on with fear and Yi Boqin tried to be brave and shield their view a little as the Zombie got closer.

“Head.” Jiayi murmured and aimed and shot at the Zombie’s head without hesitation.

He already knew it would work but he looked on cautiously anyway.

“Well…” Jiayi said and walked closer to the zombie after it didn’t move for around 10 minutes.

“I think we should study Its cells.” Ha Yuexin suddenly announced.

“I agree but…I think we’re the minority in that decision.” Jiayi murmured and glanced at the others who were very clearly shaking their heads.

Jiayi had already thought of a method of disposing of the body but he wasn’t sure of how things would go since it seemed that Yan Xing had his mark. He tried anyway.

He put on gloves (only to appease He Yuexin’s distrustful eyes, he knew it didn’t matter if he touched the blood) and went over to touch the body and then suddenly acted like he had felt pain on his side where the mark was. He wasn’t in pain but he recalled that the first time he actually used his power in the original timeline he felt a lot of pain on his side from the mark. He wanted them all to realize what the marks were so he made the first step.

Everyone was very concerned as they saw his pained expression and were later shocked when they saw the body suddenly burst into flames. It burst into flames so quickly there was no smoke but Jiayi had a face mask on anyway so there wasn’t much fear of him getting infected.

Yi Boqin and He Guang immediately reacted and went out toward him. Everyone else was too frightened by the flames. 

Jiayi pulled at his clothes, still acting like he was in pain. He exposed his mark and Yi Boqin and He Guang could tell it was glowing red. Yi Boqin and He Guang quickly looked between the mark and the burnt ground where the zombie had been.

“Did the mark give you the power to—that’s insane!” Yi Boqin exclaimed.

“…This situation continues to defy science…” Ha Yuexin murmured as she looked over at the three of them.

Jiayi walked back inside with Yi Boqin and He Guang and immediately noticed Yan Xing in the corner while Ha Yuexin looked over at him and his mark.

“A-Xing? Are you alright?”

Yan Xing was shivering and his hand was near his collar, clutching the area near his mark as used his other arm to hold himself in order to warm up.

“Worry about yourself first, Gege!”  Wu Yanyu exclaimed.

Yan Xing hid away a little as Li Ying approached him, and Wu Yanyu glared at him.

“Are you cold?” Jiayi asked Yan Xing. Yan Xing nodded from afar.

“I’m fine…Let me help A-Xing.” Jiayi said to Ha Yuexin and walked over to Yan Xing to shield him from Li Ying. Li Ying was probably just concerned but Jiayi wanted Yan Xing to avoid contact with other humans… for the sake of his hunger of course.

“He hasn’t eaten much since he got here…it could be low blood sugar?” Li Ying said as she watched Jiayi block her way. She was a nutritionist so of course, this was one of the first things on her mind.

“…oh perhaps…you did have that before,” Jiayi said to Yan Xing and smiled a little, remembering their “first” meeting.

He brought Yan Xing over to where he kept the clothes he had prepared for everyone and found a jacket for Yan Xing to layer over his hoodie to warm him up a little. He quietly apologized to Yan Xing as well since he would have to eat normal food again.

Yan Xing seemed alright with it but his expression when eating showed his feelings clearly.

“Do you not like it?” Mrs. Ha asked with a pitying look.

“He has a weak stomach,” Jiayi said and rubbed Yan Xing’s back.

“Jiayi, I swear I’ve never heard this kid talk because of you.” Yi Boqin said and raised an eyebrow.

“…Sorry.” Yan Xing murmured when he realized Jiayi was about to ask something along the lines of “what’s your point?”.

“Yan Xing is always like that, but if Jiayi said something in his stead that he didn’t agree with he would call him out on it.” Hu Shi explained and Yan Xing nodded.

“…You should sleep, Ge. You seem tired.” He Guang suddenly interrupted and spoke to Jiayi.

Jiayi was going to deny being tired but now that He Guang had made him aware of it he was becoming hyper-aware of his exhaustion.

“You two have been on lookout duty for a while, let’s switch places.” Huang Xuhuan suggested.

“The windows are tinted, just use the camera system,” Jiayi said and stood up and went to turn on the cameras for them.

“Why didn’t you just use the cameras before?” Yi Boqin asked.

“I can see pretty well from up there and I didn’t want everyone to freak out after seeing the zombie when it was far away,” Jiayi explained. After he set everything up he went with Yan Xing to one of the bedrooms. 

The rooms all had two beds each so no one paid attention to Yan Xing and Jiayi entering the same room.  As soon as they were alone Jiayi put his hand on Yan Xing’s forehead and started transferring some of his energy to him.

“Does it still work?” Jiayi asked and Yan Xing nodded.

“I’m feeling less hungry…It’s not the same as the first time though.” Yan Xing murmured.

“…I’ll try and figure out a better way….” Jiayi immediately looked toward Yan Xing’s lips as he said, “It might be something embarrassing.”

Yan Xing seems confused but Jiayi didn’t elaborate. He removed his hand from Yan Xing’s forehead and laid down on one of the beds.

“Oh um…” Yan Xing murmured, he still didn’t know what to call Jiayi.

“When the zombie lit on fire…My mark started hurting too…” Yan Xing murmured.

Jiayi actually reacted to this. He sat up and looked surprised and then pensive.

‘Our marks switched and are now connected…?’

“It might be because I’m giving you my energy…” Jiayi murmured. He was still thinking about it for a while even after Yan Xing nodded and decided that was probably true.

‘It might also be because I absorbed his core in the past timeline…all of my powers from back then are still active so…It might just be that his core technically exists within both of us…’ Jiayi thought as he watched Yan Xing lay down and cover himself with the blankets.

“Do you normally get super cold like this?” Jiayi asked even though he knew the answer was probably no.

“No…”  Yan Xing murmured.

“…I don’t know if it’s a zombie thing… that other zombie was fine…”  Jiayi murmured.

“Maybe that’s a good thing? If you continue to be different from other zombies then I won’t have to worry about you getting found out.” Jiayi said and smiled over at Yan Xing. 

Yan Xing blushed and nodded before covering his head with his hood.

“You should sleep.” He murmured and turned away from Jiayi and also tried to sleep.

—-

“Well…Jiayi’s power doesn’t really make sense to his mark…but I think we can assume everyone else’s are self-explanatory?” Ha Yuexin murmured as most of the people in the warehouse sat down to eat later in the day.

“So He Guang has earth-related powers and YanYan and I have plant-related powers?” Yi Boqin asked as he looked at the vine-like mark on his shoulder.

“Her powers are probably more poison-related than plant-related.” Ha Yuexin murmured, “Since she got a nightshade specifically while you got just a vine.”

“What about Yan Xing?” Hu Shi asked Jiayi.

Yan Xing was still sleeping but Jiayi had gotten up to eat with them.

“His mark is fire and lightning, I guess he has both of those powers,” Jiayi murmured.

“…How did you even activate that power?” Jin Fang asked.

“I’m not really sure?” Jiayi murmured and looked at his arm.

In the original timeline that was how things happened. Usually, people would become able to use their powers if they were aware that those powers existed. Some people, particularly people who were fond of video games and comic books, in particular, saw the marks and immediately came to the conclusion that they had some sort of power and were able to use it pretty easily but other people really had to see it to believe it.

 In the original timeline, Jiayi had activated his ability by accident. He had been fighting a horde of zombies and almost got cornered when he suddenly used his power to burn them to a crisp. He didn’t know how his own power activated but it caused a domino effect and everyone else in his group who had received a mark quickly learned to use their powers as well.

“Maybe if you just try thinking about it and imagining it, it will work? I was thinking about whether or not I should burn the body…” Jiayi suggested.

“Hmm…” 

“Yi Boqin Stop!” Jiayi suddenly exclaimed as he watched green light fill the room. He was a second too late though, vines quickly filled the room.

“Oh my god!” Wu Yanyu exclaimed and shrieked a little as she and Li Ying were trapped in vines. 

Some people managed to escape the vines but a few of them were either in uncomfortable positions and would have to climb out of their vine enclosures while others—like Jiayi—were pinned to the wall with vines.

“Geez, if I knew it was going to be so out of control I would’ve told you to do that outside,” Jiayi murmured.

Jiayi heard some running and chuckled a little as he watched Yan Xing come out of the room with bed head and an increasingly concerned expression.

“What happened…here?” Yan Xing asked as he watched everyone.

“Yi Boqin learned how to activate that ability of his,” Jiayi answered and sent a playful glare at Yi Boqin who looked very apologetic, he was also wrapped in vines though.

“A-Xing, grab that vine,” Jiayi said and motioned with his head toward a vine near Yan Xing. Yan Xing did as he was told but he looked confused.

 “Imagine it burning, only the vine though, nothing else!” 

Yan Xing stared at the vine, he was very confused but he closed his eyes and did as he was told. His hands felt warm for a second but suddenly he wasn’t holding anything anymore. He opened his eyes and suddenly a bunch of the vines had burned off completely.

“Good job, A-Xing!” Jiayi said and watched Jin Fang and He Guang who looked shocked. They were worried they’d get burned but they were perfectly fine.

“Huh? What?” Yan Xing looked very confused.

Jiayi burnt off the vines that were around him on his own and then went on to burn off the rest for everyone else while Yan Xing stayed looking at his hands in confusion.

“Let’s practice using our powers outdoors from now on,” Jiayi said and elbowed Yi Boqin.

“A-Xing you did well for your first time,” Jiayi said and ruffled Yan Xing’s hair.

“I sense favoritism.” Yi Boqin murmured and Jiayi just rolled his eyes.