Chapter 57: Tipsy Long Island Iced Tea

At eight o'clock in the evening, the lights in the urban village came on right on schedule.

When Granny Niu opened her door carrying a bundle of green vegetables and two tomatoes she had just traded with a vegetable vendor, a rich aroma of meat was already drifting from inside the room.

It was from the young girl who had rented the place just today. She was cooking in the kitchen, and judging by the smell, it was probably braised rabbit meat.

"Hiss!"

A two-meter-long black python slithered onto the shoecrack without warning, its vertical pupils staring at her with an eerie gaze.

Granny Niu paused for two seconds, a flash of surprise gliding across the depths of her eyes, but fear was entirely absent.

She calmly began to change her shoes.

Before the black snake could do anything else, Su Su rushed out of the kitchen looking furious. "Xiao Hei! What are you doing?!"

"Hiss!"

The large black python hissed twice more at Granny Niu. Seeing that she still showed no reaction, and did not pick up the broom she had left leaning by the door to chase it away, it returned to its female companion with supreme satisfaction.

To prevent her from getting angry, it deliberately rubbed against her lower leg.

"Hiss~"

Su Su's heart softened instantly. She looked apologetically at Granny Niu. "I'm so sorry. Xiao Hei is a companion I raised. He's just a bit mischievous, but he has no bad intentions."

"He has superpowers, doesn't he?"

This matter couldn't be hidden forever anyway, so Su Su nodded. "Yes."

"Mm."

Granny Niu's reaction was so calm that Su Su couldn't quite figure her out now. "Aren't you scared, Granny?"

Hearing this, a brief trace of a smile squeezed onto the corners of Granny Niu's mouth. "Humans can turn into zombies; what is there to be afraid of about a snake?"

That was true.

Seeing that Granny Niu was not resistant to Xiao Hei, Su Su felt exceptionally happy inside. She brought out the braised rabbit meat. "If you don't mind, we can eat together."

Granny Niu didn't decline either. She went back to the kitchen and stir-fried a plate of green vegetables and a plate of scrambled eggs with tomatoes. Put together, it counted as one meat dish, one egg dish, and one vegetarian dish, eating better than the low-level superpower users in the North District.

The black snake had already been fed and was now lazily curled up on the female's lap. Its forked tongue swept back and forth casually over her lower abdomen, though it could only touch that single layer of thin clothing.

The dining table was exceptionally quiet.

This was also the normal state of dining with Granny Niu in her past life, and Su Su was long used to it.

"I plan to forge a curved short blade for you."

"The blade will be forty centimeters long. This length ensures people won't easily snatch your weapon away, while also making it convenient for close combat against zombies."

In her past life, this was also the weapon Granny Niu had forged for her. Hearing it again, Su Su felt no surprise at all.

"Thank you, Granny." She smiled sweetly. "This blade will definitely suit me very well."

Granny Niu seemed not to expect such enthusiastic praise from the young girl. She remained silent for a few seconds before speaking. "My craftsmanship isn't worth the tier-three crystal you offered, but I need it... Besides the knife, I can also forge a set of close-fitting soft armor for you, along with some hidden projectiles for your sleeves. If the snake you keep has shed any scales or skin, you can give them to me as well. I can forge them into the weapons to make them harder and sharper."

Su Su instinctively looked at Xiao Hei.

The latter raised its head innocently and looked at her, quietly pulling back its tongue, which had almost stretched into the inner lining of her top. "Hiss~"

Su Su didn't notice its little maneuver.

She had originally wanted to say that Xiao Hei never dropped its scales, but she immediately remembered the dozen or so snake scales that had been knocked off in the underground cave.

"Xiao Hei, can those snake scales be used to forge weapons for me, okay?" Su Su knew that Xiao Hei could understand, so she negotiated in a gentle and pleasant tone.

"Hiss!"

The black snake naturally agreed. Just thinking about its scales being forged into soft armor and pressing closely against the female... the look it gave the old crone became much gentler.

After observing for a long time, Granny Niu suddenly said, "You two are the closest human and battle pet I have ever seen."

Su Su raised her eyes in surprise. "Have you seen other people keeping battle pets?"

"Of course." Granny Niu picked up a couple of strands of green vegetable with her chopsticks and said flatly, "The superpower users in the North District are a mixed bag. Some people specifically raise fierce beasts to fight for them, and others feed them crystals."

"If it fails, the fierce beast explodes and dies. If it succeeds, the owner suffers a backlash."

"No one has successfully driven a fierce beast to this day."

Such a massive amount of information shocked Su Su's inherent cognition.

In her past life, Granny Niu had never chatted with her about these things. But that was normal; back then, she was just an ordinary person struggling to survive at the very bottom, with no need to know too much.

"Once the weapon is forged, you should leave this place."

"The urban village in the South District is not suitable for you. Going to the North District will give you better development and a higher standard of living."

Su Su retorted, "What about you, Granny? You are clearly a tier-two superpower user, so why do you also live in the urban village?"

This was also a doubt that remained unresolved in her past life until Granny Niu died.

The elderly woman sitting across from her fell silent for a long time—so long that Su Su initially thought she wouldn't answer the question.

Granny Niu spoke slowly. "The Southern Base has a rule: superpower users entering the city must uniformly live in the North District. Whether the living environment is an apartment, a compound, or a villa is determined by the strength of the superpower user. According to regulations, a superpower user is also allowed to bring one ordinary person."

Su Su nodded.

This was a consensus told to people before entering the city, clearly written in the manual.

Granny Niu twitched the corner of her mouth. "Perhaps this is the base's mercy. After my superpower was detected, I moved to the North District with my daughter, who hadn't awakened her superpower."

Su Su looked over in astonishment. "You have a daughter?"

"She was the same age as you, and she grew up very well. Not as pretty as you, but still fair and pleasant."

Granny Niu's gaze gradually became hollow, as if she had fallen into memories.

"Relying on this superpower of mine, I was doing all right in the North District. Even without going out of the city to encircle and suppress zombies, I had a fixed source of crystals."

Hearing this, Su Su couldn't help asking, "And then?"

"And then she died among a horde of zombies."

The atmosphere suddenly became heavy. Even with anticipation, Su Su was still shocked by this past.

She roughly understood why Granny Niu of her past life had taken her in.

Granny Niu picked up the last piece of green vegetable. The vegetable without any seasonings was just like the past half-year of her life—insipid, tasteless, and hopeless.

The two sat opposite each other in silence for a long time before Su Su asked a soft yet crucial question. "She was an ordinary person; why did she appear among a horde of zombies?"

Granny Niu fell silent once more.

Ever since this incident occurred, she had never confided in anyone else again, as if merely mentioning it had become an arduous task.

Perhaps she had kept it bottled up for too long, or perhaps the young girl's protectiveness today reminded her of how her daughter once stood at the doorway of the shop arguing with dishonest customers on principle.

She finally leaked a shred of truth. "She fell in love with a man. He was a tier-one superpower user, good-looking, and knew how to coax people. After dating for half a month, he brought her home and had me forge a weapon for him."

At this, Su Su had already anticipated the sequel.

Sure enough, Granny Niu recounted the most realistic development in the world in a flat tone. "After getting that weapon, he broke up with my daughter."

"Not long after that, he started dating the daughter of a hunting team captain, and quickly advanced to a tier-two superpower user."

Logically speaking, the matter should have ended there, but losers are often unwilling, and when feelings of unwillingness become too intense, they evolve into extremism.

Her daughter sought that man out several times. Fearing that his current girlfriend would find out, the man spoke the most vicious and humiliating words to her.

Granny Niu had been busy forging weapons, and by the time she discovered it, her daughter had already signed up privately to participate in the mission to encircle and suppress zombies outside the city.

She had thought that being in a desperate situation might awaken her superpower, transforming her from a worthless ordinary person into a noble superpower user.

The result... she was buried in the zombie horde.

The scumbag lived a happy and fulfilling life, while her daughter died without a complete corpse.

Granny Niu had thought about revenge, but that man was a tier-two offensive superpower user, whereas she was a functional superpower user, and an elderly woman over sixty to boot. How could she possibly be a match for an adult male superpower user?

"Leave the South District." The elderly woman with half-silver hair stood up and carried the bowls and chopsticks to the kitchen. "You are far more exceptional than my daughter. You can live the most abundant life relying on yourself. Never throw your life away for a man."

Su Su sat at the dining table and silently looked down at Xiao Hei.

The latter gave a start!

It was actually very smart; it just usually didn't bother to think. Now, involving a "sensitive" topic, it immediately became obedient and clingy, straightening its body and rubbing its head against the female's neck to act cute and coax her.

"Hiss~"

Human males and it clearly belonged to two different species.

It only hoped the female could understand this point.

Xiao Hei suddenly leaned in, and Su Su stroked its head with a puzzled look. "What's wrong?"

The black snake raised its head, its vertical pupils closely studying her facial expression... finding no abnormalities, the petty and cold-blooded creature angrily slumped back down in an instant.

Slumping back down didn't relieve its anger either. It opened its mouth to bite the female's finger, grinding against it viciously.

Su Su simply assumed it was still angry about the broom incident and good-naturedly let it do as it pleased.

The sound of water in the kitchen gradually ceased.

Su Su was already standing at the kitchen doorway. Looking at the slightly hunchbacked figure, she softly said, "Perhaps she wasn't throwing her life away for a man."

"She wanted to awaken her superpower, perhaps truly for herself."

So that she would no longer be used as a stepping stone, so that she would no longer be humiliated, so that she could... become the master of her own destiny.

In her past life, Su Su had also signed up for the mission to go outside the city and encircle zombies.

Granny Niu had flown into a rare rage, arguing with her for half a month and even threatening to kick her out of the house.

Yet Su Su had refused to compromise.

She preferred to believe that Granny Niu's daughter had walked toward a correct yet tragic death for her own sake.

Click.

The very second her voice trailed off, the electricity meter—timed for one hour—shut off right on schedule, and the entire urban village plunged into darkness.

Su Su didn't know what state Granny Niu was in right now. Perhaps she believed it, or perhaps she didn't.

"... Wash up and go to sleep."

"Mm."

Su Su picked up Xiao Hei and returned to her room.

The mattress and bedding were brand new. After so long, she could finally lie down comfortably on a regular bed.

Rustle—rustle—

The equally clean black python slithered under the covers, expertly squeezing into the female's embrace.