105: Chapter 105 Clean Bones

Zhou Che touched the surface of the bone; it was smooth and delicate, cool to the touch.

Gripping it in his hand, he could feel a faint flow of supernatural power within.

It felt as if bone marrow were slowly circulating inside the bone.

"Mr. Zhou, is this thing powerful?" Wang Laowu asked again, unwilling to give up.

"Powerful." Zhou Che tucked the two bones into his jacket.

"It hits people until they disappear; tell me, isn't that powerful? Let me hit you a few times later, and you'll know just how powerful it is. It's just that this damn thing has an annoying requirement—it has to be kept clean. Who has time to worry about cleanliness when I'm in the middle of a fight?"

Despite what he said, he had already tucked the bones away.

Hearing Mr. Zhou's explanation, Wang Laowu gave a sheepish smile.

If this bone hit him and made him disappear, what would he do? Better not to hit me.

Zhou Che thought to himself, what a joke; only an idiot wouldn't take advantage of a freebie.

So what if it needs to be kept clean? From now on, I'll take a bath before a fight and another one after; it's a good deal.

These two bones were supernatural materials, not finished strange objects.

Zhou Che was already calculating; he'd go back and find the Mechanic in The Convoy to turn these bones into a proper strange object.

With such a good foundation of material, its power would increase significantly once crafted into a strange object.

When the time came, he'd carry this bone club, and whoever he didn't like, he'd just whack them. A few hits and they'd be gone, without even needing to be buried.

After putting the bones away, he stood up, his gaze falling back onto the human skin suits hanging on the rows of racks.

He had been too busy hacking away during the fight earlier, but looking closely now...

Although these human skin suits were piled on the floor, their texture remained intact.

Only a few had been slashed or burned through; most of the rest were completely undamaged.

The surface of the human skin suit was smooth and clean; touching it didn't feel like human skin.

It felt more like an extremely thin and tough leather, carrying a faint chill.

Zhou Che reached out and touched one.

As soon as his fingertips touched the surface of the human skin suit, another stream of information flooded in.

Supernatural Material: human skin suit.

Can mask life force signatures when worn; active activation can devour the target's life force.

Devouring requires the consumption of supernatural power to drive it.

Note: This human skin suit has been purified, contains no lingering anomalies, and is safe to use.

Zhou Che raised an eyebrow.

Masking life force and devouring life force.

Isn't this the exact same trick those things were using earlier, wrapping themselves around people to suck their life force?

So that was the principle; those two Mannequins used supernatural power to drive the human skin suit.

The human skin suit then became a lethal weapon that sucked away life force.

Now that the Mannequins were dead, these human skin suits had lost their masters and become ownerless items.

"Good stuff." Zhou Che stood up, patted the human skin suit in his hand, and called out, "Captain Liu Ruyan!"

Captain Liu Ruyan was taking roll call; hearing the shout, she walked over quickly.

"Take two people and pack up all these human skin suits."

Zhou Che pointed at the human skin suits hanging on the racks and piled on the ground.

"Don't leave a single one behind; take them all. Fold them neatly and don't get them dirty—these are all treasures."

Captain Liu Ruyan glanced at the pile of human skins, her brow furrowing slightly.

After all, they were human skins; looking at them still made one's scalp tingle.

But she didn't ask any questions; she nodded, called over two ordinary survivors, and began to pack them up one by one.

"Be gentle, don't tear them."

Zhou Che added, "Wash them clean and let them dry when we get back; they'll be very useful."

He wasn't joking about them being "very useful."

The ability to mask life force was too practical.

In the apocalypse, what do anomalies rely on to find people? They rely on sensing the life force of the living.

As for devouring life force, Zhou Che was thinking further ahead.

Since this human skin suit could suck human life force, could it also suck that of an anomaly?

He'd find a few anomalies to test it on when he got back; if it could absorb them, that meant he'd have gained an offensive weapon.

Even if it could only suck human life force, it still wasn't a loss; there were plenty of people in the apocalypse who wanted to mess with The Convoy.

Ten-plus minutes later, Captain Liu Ruyan had collected all the human skin suits.

There were ninety-seven intact ones in total, and a dozen or so damaged ones.

He didn't throw away the damaged ones; Zhou Che told her to pack them up as well, saying he'd see if they could be repaired when they got back.

The ninety-seven human skin suits were folded neatly, wrapped in cloth, and tied into two large bundles.

Zhou Che looked at the bundles and nodded with satisfaction.

"Alright, there's nothing left in this shop." He turned and walked toward the entrance, "Time to get to work."

Walking out of the clothing store, the air in Hongfan Plaza felt lighter.

That sticky, chilling sensation from before had dissipated.

Replacing it was a dry, cold air that smelled of dust.

It was still cold in the mall, but that was due to the low temperature, not the chilling cold of an anomaly.

Zhou Che stood on the second-floor corridor and looked down.

The mall had four floors in total, and he remembered the floor distribution that Wang Zhiming had marked clearly.

The basement level was the supermarket, and the first floor was cosmetics and jewelry stores.

The second floor was women's and children's clothing, the third floor was men's clothing and sports brands, and the fourth floor was dining and the cinema.

Now, the entire mall belonged to them.

"Everyone, attention!" Zhou Che clapped his hands, his voice echoing in the empty mall.

"The anomaly is dead, and now this mall belongs to us. Follow the teams assigned earlier."

"The Second Squad will go to the basement supermarket; focus on taking quilts, hand warmers, coal, and compressed biscuits—anything that can be eaten, burned, or used as bedding, don't leave a single item behind."

"The Third Squad will go to the third floor for men's clothing and sports brands; windbreakers, down jackets, thermal underwear—pick the thick ones, don't grab those flashy, useless items."

He paused and looked at Wang Zhiming.

"Wang Zhiming, you and Shen Fei take twenty survivors and go search the streets outside."

"We came by car, and I saw that both sides of the street were lined with shops."

"Clothing stores, grocery stores, hardware stores—search house by house."

"Focus on winter supplies: padded jackets, quilts, thermos bottles, hot water bags, and medicine."

"Cold medicine, fever reducers, anti-inflammatory drugs—take as much as you can find."

Wang Zhiming pushed up his glasses and nodded.

"Wang Laowu, you go too." Zhou Che pointed to another person, "Keep an eye on each other on the way."

"Got it!" Wang Laowu patted his chest, "Leave it to me."

Zhou Che thought for a moment and added:

"What about Zhang Lijuan? She's outside watching the floating car; call her to join you when you go out."

"Three people leading twenty survivors is enough."

Wang Zhiming and Wang Laowu acknowledged, then left with the twenty survivors they had selected.

These twenty people were all young and strong, with quick hands and feet.

Each carried a large burlap sack, holding crowbars and ropes in their hands.

Hearing that they could go out to scavenge for supplies, everyone was eager to get started.

Following Mr. Zhou on a trip like this, scavenging more things to bring back, meant they would get a larger share for themselves—everyone understood that logic.

Zhou Che watched them leave through the main entrance of the plaza, then turned and walked toward the third floor.

His own work wasn't finished yet; there were still so many shops on the third floor.

Wang Zhiming and the other two exited the main entrance of Hongfan Plaza, and the cold wind hit them head-on; the three of them wrapped their clothes tighter around themselves.

The floating car at the entrance of the plaza was still parked neatly, and Zhang Lijuan was standing by the car, keeping watch.

She was holding a few talisman papers in her hand, and upon seeing Wang Zhiming and the others come out, she let out a sigh of relief.

"How is it inside?" Zhang Lijuan asked.