It was a good thing that, after all this time, I didn’t give a fuck what people thought about me.

I wasn’t one of those girls who went out and ordered a salad, not like I ever really went out, but you get the idea.

No, I was the kind of girl that ate anything and everything and didn’t care who was watching.

Case in point?

Right now.

Zhenlan, Lingyun, and Yuche had made an assembly line between where I was sitting on the couch and the kitchen where Chenghai was still cooking.

I had eaten two plates of spaghetti and meatballs, four bacon sandwiches, more eggs than I cared to count, a full bag and a half of chips (and not even a flavor I liked), three chocolate Easter bunnies that I had no idea how they got into the house, and two hamburgers.

I was so full and happy that I officially had a food baby.

I sprawled deeper into the couch with one hand resting on the bump of my stomach while the baby vine curled beside me like a particularly violent housecat. Empty wrappers, bottles, and plates covered most of the coffee table while Chenghai stood in the kitchen debating with Zhenlan if he should make more food.

The answer was yes.

Always yes.

This was why powers killed people in the apocalypse. They didn’t have the food available to stop your body from eventually eating itself.

And I didn’t have to take out a single one of my own supplies.

I loved fucking over the military. That was the cherry on top of the ice cream sundae I wasn’t eating.

I let out a not so soft burp and sunk even deeper into the couch. For the first time since the fight with the Butcher, I actually felt human again.

I was warm, full, safe, and definitely wide awake.

Of course, my body still ached in places that were probably illegal, but at least my brain wasn’t trying to shut down anymore.

Which meant I could finally focus on more important things.

"Okay," I announced, grabbing another handful of chips. "Where are the cores?"

The room went silent and I narrowed my eyes at the four men now staring at me. "Why do you all suddenly look guilty?" I asked, my voice soft.

But I already knew that I probably wasn’t going to like the answer.

"Ummm," Lingyun started intelligently.

Yeah. Called it.

"We left them in the car," Yuche admitted calmly.

I stared at him.

Then at the others.

Then back at him again.

"I’m sorry," I said slowly. "You did what now?"

"Getting you inside was more important than anything else," Zhenlan replied before anyone else could speak.

"Yeah," I snapped immediately. "That’s only because you don’t know what those things do yet."

Chenghai shook his head once. "It doesn’t matter. You’re still more important."

Despite what many people would assume, that was 100% the wrong answer.

"Bring them inside," I said flatly, no longer smiling. "Then we’ll talk about what’s more important between me and them."

The guys exchanged looks before Lingyun sighed dramatically and pushed himself off the couch. "I liked you better when you were in a food coma."

"I liked you better when you were useful."

"Ouch."

Yuche snorted softly before following Lingyun toward the garage entrance while Zhenlan headed upstairs to grab storage containers from somewhere. Chenghai stayed in the kitchen for another minute before finally abandoning whatever he was cooking and walking over to sit across from me instead.

"You’re really upset about this," he observed quietly.

"Yes." 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

"They were locked in the SUV."

"Yes."

"Nobody knew what they were."

"That’s not the problem."

Chenghai leaned back slightly against the chair. "Then explain it to us."

I sighed and grabbed another bottle of water before answering. "Zombie cores are basically condensed energy. The stronger the zombie gets, the more energy builds up inside them until eventually..." I waved one hand vaguely. "Crystal."

"That’s it?"

"That’s it."

"That feels underwhelming."

"Most important things are."

Chenghai looked unconvinced but I refused to say anything more.

I wasn’t about to have this conversation a second time.

A few minutes later, the others came back carrying crates and containers full of glowing crystals. The second they set everything down on the coffee table, the entire room lit up faintly in different colors.

Red.

Blue.

White.

Yellow.

Orange.

A black core sat by itself near the corner of the crate like even the other crystals didn’t want to touch it.

I cocked my head to the side. I had never seen a black core in my past life, I didn’t even know that they existed.

Interesting.

The baby vine lifted its head immediately.

"No," I informed it.

The vine hissed at me.

"Don’t argue with me."

It hissed louder.

Yuche looked between me and the plant. "Should I be concerned that it understands you?"

"Lingyun understands me just fine. How is this any different?" I replied, not breaking eye contact with my baby.

"...Ouch," muttered Lingyun under his breath as he flopped down on the other end of the sectional.

I ignored him and reached down to grab one of the smaller white cores between my fingers. It glowed softly beneath the living room lights, almost pretty enough to forget where it came from.

Almost.

"These," I started while holding it up, "are eventually going to become more valuable than money."

Lingyun blinked. "Seriously?"

"Completely."

"Why?"

"Because money doesn’t make you stronger."

That shut everyone up for a second.

I rolled the core slowly between my fingers before continuing. "Food, clean water, medicine, weapons, cores. That’s what people are going to kill each other over... not paper with numbers printed on them that means nothing."

"That’s already happening," Zhenlan pointed out quietly.

"Yeah," I agreed. "But not to the degree it will be. Right now everyone still thinks the government is going to save them eventually. Give it another year."

The room went silent again.

Oops.

Maybe I should have softened that.

Meh. Too late now.

I pointed toward the different colors spread across the table. "Different colors usually match different abilities. Red cores are for fire powers. White helps air. Yellow is for fighting power users."

Lingyun grabbed one of the tiny red crystals carefully between two fingers and held it up to the light. "So we just... eat them?"

"Sure," I agreed. He was about to pop it in his mouth when I continued. "If you want to explode and make us clean up your guts from the new furniture."

The look of pure panic that he gave me caused me to burst out laughing.

"Most people hold it in their hand until it dissolves into their skin," I said when I could finally catch my breath.

His relief disappeared immediately. "That somehow sounds worse."

"It really isn’t."

I pointed toward the crystal in his hand. "You start small. Tiny ones first. If you absorb too much energy too quickly, your body tears itself apart."

The room got quiet again.

Honestly, people got quiet way too often around me these days.

"Define tears itself apart," Chenghai said carefully.

I shrugged. "Depends how stupid you are."

"That is not a definition."

"Some people explode. Some burn out their nervous systems. Some spike fevers so high their brains melt." I tossed another chip into my mouth casually. "I mean, that’s all according to online novels and anime. I have no direct knowledge."

The men looked at me like they didn’t believe a word that I was saying.

Yuche rubbed one hand slowly over his face while Zhenlan stared down at the crystals spread across the table like he was trying to reevaluate every decision he had made recently.

Good.

Fear kept people alive.

The baby vine suddenly lunged forward and snatched a small green core directly off the table before anyone could react.

Crunch.

The room froze.

The vine swallowed happily.

I blinked once. "Okay. Apparently we’re doing this now."

"That thing just ate it," Chenghai said slowly.

"Yeah."

"Should we stop it?"

I looked at the vine.

The vine looked back at me.

Then it opened its mouth expectantly toward the table again.

And exactly how did he expect me to stop a living garbage disposal?

"With what?" I asked. "A strongly worded letter?"