Alex calmly stood and stared at the bunch of zombies snarling at her and waiting to bite into her flesh and bones. 

A week ago such a sight would have sent her running for her life and driven her to insanity, but now, things were no longer the same. 

It felt surreal to have changed so much in the course of a single week and yet that was the truth and that was what had happened.

A ridiculous grin appeared on the woman's face and it widened as she twirled around sending blasts of fire towards the struggling zombies. 

Each hit from her was lethal and the fire was strong enough to melt the skin and flesh of the corrupted human beings.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Alex danced around radiantly. This new power of hers very much suited her feisty personality and she embraced it fully without any reservations.

Perhaps she should be a lot more serious considering what had just happened with the goblin army and the swarm of insects, but she couldn't care less.

She finally had a fucking ability!

All these days, she had been so jealous and envious of the others. It was extremely frustrating to have drawn the short straw.

It was not that she didn't like her new friends nor was she ungrateful. 

If not for all of them working together and if not for the little puppy which was a giant monstrous dog now, they would have all perished a long time ago.

She was grateful for everything and she would never betray them but even so, it had been extremely frustrating and depressing to be constantly relying on someone else.

No matter how much she worked hard and how many creatures she killed, because of her lack of innate talent, she would only forever be below them in everything and she would have never been able to stand shoulder to shoulder with them as comrades.

But now!

"Fuck you!" 

"Fuck you!"

"And fuck you too!" She shouted, letting out her frustrations, and took care of the zombies in front of her. 

For the first time, she felt confident that she could take care of anything relying on her own strength and not require someone else's protection.

Of course, because of her flamboyant use of her mana with lobbing fireballs left and right, she also quickly felt drained and ended up taking care of most of the zombies using her dagger.

She slashed their throats and grabbed the mana core from within, before moving on to the next zombie.

Xu Meilin took another step back and looked at the woman as if she was crazy. And she was not wrong, Alex had that insane fired up look in her eyes and a big lunatic grin on her face.

"All done!" She clapped her hands and as she did, sparks flew here and there.

"Woah! Woah! Be careful. Don't burn me alive, big sister!" Xu Meilin almost cried out loud.

"What?" Alex asked, her lips twitching and the girl quickly changed her words. "I meant good job, big sister." She gave a thumbs up.

Alex giggled and then the two of them started walking into the blocked wing of the hospital. 

"For the love of god, can you please lose the word big in front of the sister? I am just plus or minus 5 years older than you guys!"

"Ah ha ha. Sorry, b… I mean sister."

The two of them chatted about various things, mostly about how amazing Alex's new ability was, and walked further into the hospital building searching every nook and corner. 

The poison had a much weaker effect on their bodies compared to the other lower level survivors. Especially after absorbing the mana cores from this batch of zombies, Alex felt a lot better.

The two of them continued wandering around the hospital when Xu Meiling abruptly stopped Alex. "Ah… Something wrong." She shuddered as an ominous feeling swept across her body.

"Huh? What are you talking about Mei Mei?" Alex patted her. "Are you alright? Maybe we should head back and see if Lu Chen had figured out something for the poison?"

"Do you want some water?"

Alex was worried as the girl who was up until now chatting with a shy smile and cheery voice had suddenly become deathly pale.

"Are you really alright?" She asked again.

Xu Meilin patted her chest and took a few deep breaths before slightly nodding her head. She felt fine now but what was this feeling at the back of her head?

It was an unsettling feeling like a food particle lodged at the back of the throat.

Alex looked at the girl who still looked pale. "Hmmm. Let's return back just to be safe." Xu Meilin didn't refuse her suggestion and the two of them started walking back.

But before they could even take a single step, a loud sound echoed behind them.

KA TA KA TA KA TA!

The cemented tile floor on top of which they were standing cracked and the earth started splitting.

Ah!!! The two women shrieked in shock and immediately moved away from where they were standing, but that didn't stop the floor from cracking and completely sinking down below.

A loud roar resounded from within the depths of the earth and slowly a slimy goopy head peaked out.

Ahhh! The two women shrieked even louder on seeing the nasty looking and smelling monster in front of them. They couldn't recognize what it was and it was already suffocating them.

The air in the entire room turned extremely pungent and acidic. With every breath they took, they could feel the air slowly corroding their insides.

"Ahhh! Sister, what is this?" Xu Meiling shivered.

"Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Stay behind me, Mei Mei." Alex clutched the dagger she was holding tightly.

"What the hell is happening now? Can't we even enjoy just one fucking minute of peace and quiet???"

"Ok. Let's calm down first."

"Deep breaths."

"Alright. Let's calm down first."