At this point in time, Chenghai wasn’t entirely sure what disturbed him more.

The fact that Rouxi casually held enough power in her hand to probably flatten a city block.

Or the fact that she was currently using that same core like a stress ball while eating barbecue chips.

The massive green crystal spun lazily through the air above her hand before dropping back down into her palm with an easy rhythm that made Chenghai increasingly nervous every single time she tossed it.

His head went up and down as she absently threw the core into the air and caught it again.

Up.

Down.

Up.

He held his breath as she leaned forward to eat another chip. She was going to miss it. He closed his eyes, waiting for the damn thing to explode.

But the only thing he heard was the sound of it dropping into her palm like a well trained dog.

"Could you maybe stop doing that?" Lingyun asked finally as he watched the core flip through the air again.

Rouxi caught it one handed. "What? Why?"

"Because if you drop it, I feel like we’re all going to die."

"That sounds a touch dramatic. It’s not glass, it’s not going to break simply because you drop it on the floor."

"I would prefer not to take the chance," Lingyun replied, shaking his head. "Look, we get that you are built differently, but give us poor weak men a way to survive."

"I prefer the term superior. I was built superior."

Lingyun snorted while Yuche shook his head softly from where he still sat in the armchair. The silver core from earlier rested untouched on the table beside him now while Zhenlan quietly reread one of the old books he had borrowed from the mansion library.

After watching what had happened to Chenghai, no one was willing to risk touching a core for any length of time.

Which probably should have worried Chenghai more than it did.

The baby vine lifted its head from Rouxi’s lap before suddenly turning toward the front windows.

Then it hissed out a warning.

The sound immediately drew everyone’s attention.

"What’s going on now?" Lingyun muttered. "Can the world just not try to kill itself for like five minutes?"

Before anyone could answer, noise erupted outside.

But it wasn’t the screams that everyone was expecting. It was cheering.

A lot of cheering.

Rouxi stopped tossing the massive core immediately, her eyes going to the wall as if she could see outside. The rest of the room went quiet.

Then Chenghai pushed himself off the couch first and walked toward the front door.

The military camp outside the mansion had transformed into complete chaos. Soldiers moved between tents while scientists rushed across the compound with stacks of papers clutched in their hands. Several men were dragging something large across the pavement toward the center of camp while others followed behind them looking almost deliriously excited.

"What the hell is going on?" Chenghai muttered.

One of the nearby soldiers looked over immediately, grinning so hard he almost looked insane.

"There has been a breakthrough!"

That definitely wasn’t reassuring.

The others stepped outside behind him while the military dragged a zombie corpse into the center of camp. Its head was almost completely destroyed, dark blood staining the pavement beneath it while scientists gathered around like children on Christmas morning.

"Look!" another soldier announced excitedly to someone nearby. "They finally figured out how to kill them!"

Rouxi made a low noise behind Chenghai that sounded suspiciously close to a scoff.

A scientist stepped forward next, his chest puffed out so far that Chenghai wondered if the man was physically capable of relaxing.

"Not only have we figured out how to kill them," the scientist announced loudly, making sure everyone nearby could hear him, "but we’ve successfully created a vaccine capable of preventing infection before it even begins!"

The military camp erupted.

Actual cheering.

Some of the younger soldiers looked close to tears while others immediately started talking over each other about getting civilians vaccinated and taking cities back.

Hope spread through the camp faster than wildfire.

And honestly?

Chenghai understood why.

For the first time since the apocalypse started, people looked like they could finally breathe again.

Only...

He turned slightly.

Rouxi didn’t look relieved.

She looked annoyed.

One of the scientists adjusted his glasses before speaking again. "The biggest issue now is distribution. Many civilians may refuse treatment if they don’t believe they’re personally at risk."

"Especially isolated survivors," another scientist agreed immediately. "Most people still believe avoiding zombies is enough protection."

"A standard vaccination campaign won’t work fast enough."

The group fell silent.

Thinking.

Then one of the older scientists slowly straightened.

"We need people to take the vaccine without realizing they have."

Several heads turned toward him immediately.

"Meaning?" asked one of the soldiers.

The scientist smiled.

"We put it into the water supply."

Several scientists immediately started nodding.

"Of course."

"It would spread through the entire city automatically."

"We’d need to adjust the concentration levels first."

"But it could work."

"It will work."

Excited conversation immediately exploded around them as scientists began talking over each other about formulas, contamination levels, and distribution systems while soldiers nearby looked increasingly hopeful.

Chenghai didn’t say anything.

Mostly because he could physically feel the shift in the atmosphere behind him. It felt cold.

He turned slowly and saw that Rouxi was standing several feet behind them by the front door, the massive green core still resting lazily in her palm while the baby vine curled tighter around her shoulders.

Her expression was completely blank.

Which honestly felt worse than anger.

The scientists continued excitedly discussing how they could alter the vaccine to spread easier through city water systems while Rouxi stared at them like she was watching children play with explosives.

Then she gave Chenghai a look that seemed to scream ’I told you so’ without ever opening her mouth. It was like she had already seen this entire conversation happen before and knew exactly how it ended.

Hell, she had even gone so far as to warn the guys that this would happen. They just hadn’t taken her seriously.

Footsteps beside him caused Chenghai to turn away from Rouxi to look at the man beside him.

Yuche.

And he had his gaze fixed on Rouxi as well, watching her just as closely as Chenghai was.

Then Yuche sighed softly.

"At this point," he started quietly, watching Rouxi turn around and head back toward the mansion, "we just need to accept the fact that she’s always right."

There was a long pause before he continued.

"Even when we hope she is wrong."