"What's wrong, Brother Bin?"
Seeing Yang Bin's strange expression, Chen Hao asked in confusion.
"Haozi… turn invisible for me."
"....."
"Are you sick or something?" Chen Hao said speechlessly. "If I could turn invisible, why would I bother getting a girlfriend? I'd just hang around the girls' locker room every day."
"I'm telling you—you can do it," Yang Bin said seriously. "Focus your mind and think about becoming invisible."
Seeing how serious Yang Bin looked, Chen Hao hesitated for a moment.
It sounded ridiculous.
But he still tried.
He closed his eyes and concentrated.
Soon—
His body began to fade.
Within seconds, he completely disappeared.
"B-Brother Bin… I think… I really turned invisible!?" Chen Hao's excited voice echoed across the rooftop, though his body was nowhere to be seen.
Yang Bin stared in shock at the empty space where Chen Hao had been standing.
He hadn't expected it to actually work.
So he focused his vision again on that spot.
Soon, Chen Hao's figure reappeared in his sight.
At that moment Chen Hao was looking at his own hands excitedly, turning them back and forth.
"Haha! I can turn invisible! This is awesome! From now on the girls' bathhouse can't stop me anymore!"
"..."
"Can you have a little dignity?" Yang Bin rolled his eyes.
"What's dignity worth? Is it better than watching girls shower?"
"..."
"It's the apocalypse," Yang Bin said dryly. "There are no girls showering now—only zombies trying to eat you."
"Uh… yeah… maybe I'll skip that," Chen Hao said awkwardly.
Then he scratched his head.
"But Brother Bin… what's going on? Why can I suddenly turn invisible? Is it… some kind of superpower?"
"Yeah," Yang Bin nodded. "You could call it that."
"But why did I suddenly get a superpower?"
"It's probably related to the apocalypse," Yang Bin said thoughtfully.
"Whether that's good or bad, we don't know yet. But since we've gained special abilities, at least we now have a better chance of surviving."
Chen Hao nodded.
"Brother Bin, what about you? What's your ability?"
Yang Bin thought for a moment.
"I can see things other people can't."
"Like what?"
"Like your invisibility."
"...."
"Damn," Chen Hao said helplessly. "You completely counter me."
"Looks like I'll never outrank you in this lifetime."
"What? You want me to call you 'big brother' instead?" Yang Bin asked with a faint smile.
"No no no!" Chen Hao quickly waved his hands.
"But Brother Bin… since we both have powers now… do you think we could actually accomplish something big in this apocalypse?"
"That's too early to think about," Yang Bin said, shaking his head.
"First we need to figure out how to survive."
"Neither of our abilities is suited for combat. Surviving in a world full of zombies won't be easy."
"True…" Chen Hao said.
"But since I can turn invisible, I could sneak out and steal food. At least we won't starve."
"Don't be too optimistic," Yang Bin replied.
"From what I've observed, these zombies seem extremely sensitive to sound."
"If you can't move silently, your invisibility won't help much."
"You'll need to practice. Learn to move without making any noise."
"Later we'll test it with a zombie and see if they can detect you."
Chen Hao blinked.
"Are we testing… or committing suicide?"
"You'll be fine," Yang Bin said calmly. "Have some confidence."
"…Alright."
Suddenly Yang Bin thought of something.
"Haozi, when you turn invisible, your clothes disappear too, right?"
"Yeah."
"Then what about objects you're holding?"
Chen Hao picked up a brick from the ground.
"Let's test it."
He activated his invisibility again.
Sure enough—
As his body vanished, the brick in his hand disappeared as well.
"It works!" Chen Hao said excitedly.
Yang Bin nodded.
"Now try holding onto me. Let's see if you can make both of us invisible."
"Okay!"
Chen Hao reappeared, grabbed Yang Bin's arm, and activated his ability again.
But this time—
Nothing happened.
Neither of them turned invisible.
"…Looks like it doesn't work," Chen Hao said.
Yang Bin nodded.
"That probably means you can't affect living things."
"Then if I touch a living thing while invisible… will I become visible again?"
"Let's test it."
Chen Hao immediately tried again.
He turned invisible and tapped Yang Bin on the shoulder.
The moment his hand touched Yang Bin—
His body instantly reappeared.
After several more tests, the results were clear.
Whether touching with his body or the brick—
As long as he touched Yang Bin, the invisibility would instantly break.
"So it's confirmed," Chen Hao said helplessly.
"If I touch a living thing, invisibility stops."
Yang Bin nodded seriously.
"Then you must be careful."
"Invisibility isn't invincible."
"While invisible, avoid touching anything if possible."
"Yes sir!" Chen Hao nodded seriously.
Just then—
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Loud knocking suddenly erupted from the rooftop iron door.
"Is someone inside?! Open the door!"
"Quick! Open up! Zombies are coming!"
Panicked voices shouted from outside as the knocking grew more violent.
Both Yang Bin and Chen Hao were startled.
"Brother Bin… what should we do?" Chen Hao asked. "Open it?"
Yang Bin stared at the iron door.
His gaze passed straight through it.
Behind the door stood three terrified men.
One of them was desperately pounding on the door.
The other two were fighting off zombies on the staircase.
One held an 80-centimeter steel pipe, while the other swung a bar stool wildly.
Because they were standing on the stairs, they had the height advantage.
Every time a zombie climbed up, they knocked it back down.
Yang Bin frowned.
"Open it," he finally said.
"If they keep banging like that, they'll attract more zombies."
"And this wooden ladder might not hold forever."
"But stay alert," he added quietly.
"There are three of them. One has a steel pipe."
"In times like this… people are unpredictable."
Chen Hao nodded.
"I understand."
"I'll move the ladder," Yang Bin said.
"You open the door."
"Once they're inside, close it immediately."
"Got it."
Yang Bin waited until the men outside knocked the zombies down again.
Then he quickly moved the ladder.
Chen Hao opened the door.
The three men rushed in instantly and slammed the door shut behind them.
Yang Bin quickly wedged the ladder back against the door.
Soon—
BANG! BANG!
The zombies had reached the door.
But with the ladder blocking it, the two zombies outside couldn't force it open.
"Whew…"
The three men collapsed onto the ground, gasping for breath.
After a while, one skinny man looked at Yang Bin and Chen Hao with lingering fear.
"That was close. Why did you take so long to open the door? We almost got eaten!"
Chen Hao frowned immediately.
"What kind of attitude is that? We just saved your lives!"
A tall man holding the steel pipe spoke coldly.
"The rooftop is a public area. Anyone should be able to come up here."
"You blocking the door like that is pretty unethical."
"Exactly," said a dark-skinned guy in the middle.
"Our dorm door got smashed by zombies. We came up here to take shelter."
"But you blocked the door and almost got us killed."
Chen Hao was about to argue—
But Yang Bin stopped him.
"You're right," Yang Bin said calmly.
"We shouldn't have blocked the door."
Then he reached toward the ladder as if to move it.
"Wait! Wait! Brother—let's talk!" the skinny man panicked.
"Yeah! No need for that!" the others quickly said.
"Blocking the door is great! Really great!"
The three men immediately broke out in cold sweat.
Outside were two hungry zombies.
If that door opened, they'd all be dead.
"Didn't you say it was unethical?" Yang Bin asked innocently.
"No! Very ethical!"
"Not harming anyone?"
"Not harming anyone at all!"
"Oh. Good."
Yang Bin nodded thoughtfully and slowly removed his hand from the ladder.
Just as the three men were about to relax—
He put his hand back again.
"Actually… maybe we should move it," Yang Bin said.
"What if someone else comes?"
The three men's hearts jumped back into their throats.
"That won't happen!" the tall man said urgently.
"We live on the seventh floor! Every dorm room is locked and the hallway is full of zombies. Nobody else is coming out!"
"Oh," Yang Bin nodded.
"That's reassuring."
He shook the ladder slightly.
"Hmm… this ladder doesn't feel very stable."
The three men nearly fainted.
"Then wedge something under it!" one shouted.
"This isn't something to joke about!"
"Good idea."
Yang Bin looked at the ladder, then at the steel pipe in the tall man's hand.
"Hey brother… can I borrow your pipe for a second?"
"I want to see if it fits under the ladder."
The tall man didn't hesitate and tossed it over.
"Sure."
Yang Bin caught it, measured a few angles, then clapped his hands.
"Perfect. Now it's stable."
The three men finally relaxed.
None of them realized—
the weapon in their hands had already changed owners.