Apocalypse Ground Zero: Refusing To Leave Home Chapter 86: Dramas To The Rescue

"See?" I purred as I pressed play.

I had picked a random zombie drama... they all really were a copy and paste of each other. But at least I now had a good excuse for knowing what was going on.

Dramas to the rescue...

The sound ca through softly from my phone, low enough that any survivors wouldn’t be able to make it out, but clear enough that all the n could hear what was going on.

On the screen, a man stood in the middle of a street, surrounded by ’zombies’, with his hand raised. The tal objects around him lifted like they had been waiting for permission before impaling the zombies, killing them all.

I didn’t look at the guys, I watched the video instead, pretending like I hadn’t seen it a thousand tis. It was easier that way.

"tal manipulation," I said lightly, like I was comnting on the plot instead of anything that mattered. "It’s usually considered to be a top tier power. Anyone with a top tier power is automatically the mmc of the drama. So of them can make shields, so can reshape things depending on how far it develops, and others can create things out of the tal lying naturally in the ground. Pretty cool."

I tilted my head slightly before I paused the show and shrugged. "Of course, it depends on the writer."

I could feel Yuche watching , not the screen, but .

Good. Let him watch. I was giving him all the answers he needed to survive this thing. Since they already managed to co back after three days, that ant that they were strong enough to live.

I felt my shoulders relax just a bit. I was actually glad that they ca back. My chest felt lighter, there was no longer that lump in my throat... I didn’t realize what the feeling was before...

But I think it was relief.

I shook my head, not willing to think about... things.

"Convenient," he said, drawing out of my thoughts.

Right. I was trying to help them. I shrugged my shoulders like I didn’t have a care in the world and I kept scrolling. "It’s a common trope. Well, for zombie apocalypses. Then you have natural disaster apocalypse, dinosaur apocalypse...it’s a whole thing. If you know, you know."

Zhenlan shifted beside , his hand settling against my ankle under the blanket like it belonged there. "And this just... appears... in humans?"

"Mm." I flicked to another clip and pressing pause as I looked at him. "It usually happens after so kind of trigger. Stress, near-death situations, teor impact, virus, you know. Normally whatever is used to make zombies is also responsible for humans developing superpowers. Kind of like werewolves are a result of having vampires around."

The more I talked, the more confused the guys looked. But I wasn’t coming out and admitting that I wasn’t the girl they thought I was. That I wasn’t the Rouxi that they knew. I wasn’t opening that kettle of fish.

Lingyun leaned forward slightly and grunted. "That tracks. Apparently, I should have been watching more dramas and playing less video gas." He smirked at and winked.

I humd in agreent. "Well, not everyone can have a PhD in short dramas. I guess you are just lucky to have around."

I tapped the screen again and this ti, fire exploded from the mmc, causing the zombies around him to turn to ash.

It spread outward in a controlled wave, curling around the user instead of consuming him. It looked dramatic, exaggerated, a little unrealistic—but not by much.

"Fire," I smirked. "It’s one of the lower tier powers. Any of the elental ones are. There is also earth, water, air... They are pretty straightforward. Offensive type. High output, low control at the start, but almost every human will have so version of the four."

"That looks like the ti I set the curtains on fire," Lingyun muttered, not looking at .

"You an you weren’t smoking?!?" I demanded in fake outrage. "

"Nope," he smirked at . "But according to you, I’m just a common grunt then."

Chenghai shifted against the wall. "What about strength? Is that a thing?"

I nodded my head, and switched to another episode. In this one, a man lifting sothing that should have crushed him. It was done in the incredibly fake, CGI way that ’good’ dramas tend to do, but it made my point.

"They normally call it fighting type," I explained. "Strength, durability, sotis regeneration. Think of it like a Pokemon who never stops going."

He didn’t answer.

He didn’t need to.

I could hear it in the way he breathed.

Zhenlan hadn’t moved much, but his attention shifted.

"Air," he said quietly.

I paused for a second before pulling up the next clip. Of course this man had air.

It was invisible until it wasn’t and it packed a hard enough punch to kill anyone with a single thought. Yeah, that fit his personality.

I angled the phone slightly so he could see it better.

"Just like fire, air is one of the elental powers," I said as I pressed play. There, one of the n on the screen sent a bunch of people flying with just a wave of his hand. His hair moved, and a tornado appeared in front of him. "Also low tier, but at least you can kill people by literally taking the air out of their lungs... that’s fun... right?"

He watched the screen.

Then he looked at before watching to the end of the episode. Since they were all about two minutes, it didn’t take him long at all.

I took my phone back and turned it off, just as Yuche shifted, demanding my attention without words. "So," he said, voice light in a way that didn’t match his eyes, "we all just... got lucky?"

I humd, scrolling again. "Lucky, unlucky..." I shrugged. "Depends on how you look at it I guess. You are the only one to get a top tier. Everyone else is on the lower end."

I paused on another video.

This one wasn’t as clean.

"Sotis people don’t make it through the trigger."

I let it play.

Short.

ssy.

Over quickly.

I locked my phone and let it rest against my lap.

"That’s usually the part they don’t focus on."

No one said anything.

They didn’t need to.

Chenghai’s breathing shifted slightly. Lingyun leaned back, tension still sitting in his shoulders even if he tried to hide it. Zhenlan adjusted the blanket around without thinking.

Yuche watched everything.

"Convenient," he said again. "That everything can be explained by watching a video done by bad actors."

"Hey!" I grumbled, wrinkling my nose. So the acting wasn’t top notch... I think it was clear to all that I loved my dramas. "You take that back. Maybe you should just be grateful enough that there is an explanation... no matter how absurd it is. Otherwise you would be stumbling in the dark tying to figure it out."

Zhenlan chucked even as Chenghai shook his head. "Remind not to insult your dramas again," he said, relaxing into the chair that Zhenlan normally sat in.

Yuche rolled his wrist, flexing his fingers like he was testing sothing he didn’t trust yet.

Then he lifted his hand.

It was just a small movent, highly controlled, and very deliberate.

He pointed his fingers at like they were a gun, pulled the ’trigger’ and nothing happened. "Isn’t it a good thing that I don’t need my weapons to survive anymore?" Yuche purred, even as Zhenlan let out a low growl.

The air around us shifted and I could see Yuche turning red before he started to pale.

"Isn’t it?" I purred, pretending that I didn’t see what Zhenlan was doing. I did not appreciate getting shot at... even if it was a fake and just ant to scare .

My eyes narrowed as I studied the man in front of . I was sure that most people wouldn’t understand.... that they would be pissed that I wasn’t pissed about it.

But I understood him a lot more than what anyone knew.

I knew that when you had been bitten too many tis, it was only natural to bite first.

"And now we know that air beats tal every day of the week," purred Zhenlan his voice a tone that I had never heard before. "Do we need to keep testing it out?"