Chapter 142: Crystal Core
Chapter 142: Crystal Core
Anran watches Yun Tao’s retreating figure before glancing down at Doll in the stroller, who has fallen asleep at some point. She sighs, walks over, covers Doll with a blanket, and then rolls up her sleeves to start removing the diamonds from the zombies' brains.
The brains of these zombies are now very different from those at the beginning of the apocalypse. When the outbreak first occurs, a simple puncture to the zombie’s brain causes the diamonds to spill out like water, but now it is different. The zombies are dead, and their brains no longer release the diamonds on their own.
The brains have become sticky.
If she wants the diamonds, Anran has to carefully dig them out of each zombie’s head, one by one.
Fortunately, she has gained some experience by now. The diamonds are always located in the same spot in the zombie’s brain. No matter where she makes an incision, as long as she targets that specific area, she can pry the diamonds out.
It is good practice for her knife skills, but Yun Tao has killed so many zombies that Anran spends half the night collecting the diamonds from their brains.
She is exhausted, her back and waist aching. Looking up from the sea of zombie corpses, she notices the large, round moon overhead. Her eyes then drift to the baby carriage in the corridor as the howling of distant zombies reaches her ears. A dirty smile tugs at Anran’s lips.
At least, in this lonely world, she has a little one to keep her company as she digs out the brains of zombies.
She isn’t sure how late it is, but it can’t be more than three in the morning. Doll now sleeps a little longer at night, but around three o’clock every night, Doll wakes up—whether from hunger or a full bladder.
Anran slides the saber back into its sheath on her waist, stretches her sore shoulders and back, then pushes the stroller back home. After washing herself with some muddy water, Doll begins crying from the nursery. Anran quickly runs to Doll’s room, passing through the living room. As she passes the TV, she notices the clock on the wall. It is indeed three o’clock in the morning.
She takes Doll out of the stroller, walks to the sofa, and sits down, her eyes drifting to the pile of diamonds on the coffee table. Under the moonlight, they sparkle like water clouds slowly shifting inside the diamonds.
Anran is suddenly intrigued. She holds Doll in one arm, nursing her, while with the other hand, she picks up one of the diamonds from the coffee table. She examines it closely in the moonlight. Sure enough, it is different from the diamonds she has collected at the hospital.
When Doll finishes feeding, Anran gently places her in the crib, inserts a pacifier, and changes her into a clean diaper.
Anran then finds her backpack, pulls out the large bag of diamonds from the bottom, and opens it, gazing at the diamonds under the moonlight. She can easily distinguish the diamonds from the hospital from those collected here in the community.
How should she describe it? Though both sets are roughly the size of pomegranate seeds, the diamonds from the hospital resemble typical diamonds—bright and white, immediately recognizable as diamonds with no special characteristics.
But these diamonds, collected in the community, shimmer under the moonlight, almost as if water is flowing inside. It reminds Anran of the term Yun Tao used yesterday. Yes, "crystal core." The sparkling appearance—isn't that exactly what a crystal core looks like?