Chapter 324: Classification of Ability
Chapter 324: Classification of Ability
The small village of Tiesi is now home to numerous survivors from the surrounding areas. Those who manage to escape the hordes of zombies are, in most cases, ability users. And those who aren’t, must have ability users protecting them. Now, with thousands—perhaps tens of thousands—of people in Tiesi Village, the number of ability users has surpassed that of ordinary people.
Moreover, most of the ordinary people are locals from Tiesi Village itself.
As the number of ability users grows, people naturally begin to wonder: How is your ability different from mine? Who’s stronger? How should ability levels be classified?
According to their compiled statistics, most of the awakened abilities in humans are strength-based. Elemental (five-element) ability users are rare—among a thousand people, it’s already fortunate to have even one five-element user.
Even rarer are special ability users. Unlike elemental abilities—which relate to controlling metal, wood, water, fire, and earth—special abilities are an unpredictable mix, often strange or unconventional, and difficult to classify.
These special abilities are so rare that Yun Tao himself has never encountered one—he’s only heard rumors.
He explains this to An Ran, who listens intently. Seeing this, Yun Tao sighs and says, “Of course, this is just a classification made by a few people in Tiesi Village. Whether it can be studied scientifically or understood more deeply—only time will tell. What I want to say is this: wood-type abilities are precious talents. They must be protected, both here in Tiesi Village and in any survivor team.”
“So-called ‘protected’—is that like what happened just now? As soon as they discover someone, they take them away? Are they basically under house arrest?” An Ran asks, clearly unsettled.
She can’t accept the way Tiesi Village treats wood-type ability users. She just saw a woman struggling as two soldiers dragged her away. The woman keeps trying to look back at her child, but the soldiers carry her off roughly, without a trace of respect.
This is completely different from how the Green Dragon tattooed man at the gas station behaved. At least on the surface, he was polite to An Ran and accommodated her needs. Tiesi Village, on the other hand, doesn’t even pretend—they just send soldiers to seize people.
The scene makes An Ran break out in a cold sweat. When she first enters Tiesi Village, someone hands her a form asking about her abilities and skills. At the time, her mood was terrible, and she didn't want to deal with it—so she simply wrote “none” for everything.
Luckily, she writes “none” across the board. Otherwise, she would be the one dragged off today. She would be separated from her child, just like that woman.
“Did you know there’s a water-type ability user in Tiesi Village?”
“Water-type?” An Ran raises her head and nods. She’s heard Zhan Lian mention it. He told her that if you give the user a crystal core, he can generate water.
“He was taken last night.” Yun Tao, who lives in District 1 with Hengheng, has access to more information than An Ran. Seeing her surprise, he continues seriously, “Zhan Lian didn’t tell you, did he? The water-type ability user’s home was broken into by another survivor team. In the chaos, he was taken away. So today, Tang Jianjun personally took away the wood-type ability user for so-called ‘protection.’”
Author's Note:
I’ve had a lot of thoughts while writing this story. Some readers say it’s a sister work to Good Pregnancy in the End of the World, others say it’s written with more detail. Some expect novels to be exaggerated, while others appreciate a realistic tone. Some call this a story of growth, others say it’s a strong-female lead story.
But what am I really trying to write?
Honestly, this book is my personal reflection on the apocalypse genre. The inspiration came when I was writing Good Pregnancy in the End of the World. A reader asked me, “Put yourself in their shoes—if the apocalypse really happened, would you do any better than the survivors?”
Why should the heroine be portrayed as superior?
So I wrote this book from that perspective: What if it were me—or you? In the end of the world, would we freeze in fear, or would we get up and run?
Maybe this story isn’t packed with thrilling moments. Maybe some of the plot points are familiar. But I’ve done my best to portray a dark world where hope still flickers.
I want to show that even in the apocalypse, even if you’re just an ordinary person, even if you’re weak and burdened with a child—even if you’re surrounded by calculations and scars—you can still fight to survive. And even then, there’s still love. There’s still hope.
May you and I both cherish this peaceful time and enjoy it while we can.