"Go outside, find a zombie, and let it scratch or bite you. As long as you can last 24 hours without turning into a zombie, you'll most likely awaken a superpower."
Hearing Flora Bloom's words, Ethan Monroe, who had been so fired up just a moment ago, instantly deflated.
"Holy crap… If—if I don't make it through, won't I become one of those man-eating monsters?"
"Theoretically, yes."
Flora Bloom had no intention of revealing that her own superpower could suppress the virus and heal zombie-inflicted wounds. However, if Ethan Monroe was actually foolish enough to get scratched by a zombie just to gain a power, she wouldn't mind treating him.
'Besides, Neal Wallace was scratched by a zombie before, and after I healed him, it doesn't seem like anything changed, has it?'
'Logically speaking, if you get infected by the virus and survive, you should awaken a superpower.'
As she thought this, Flora Bloom gave Neal Wallace a strange look. After hearing what Flora Bloom said, Neal Wallace found himself wondering the same thing.
After learning the method to acquire a superpower, Ethan Monroe put the idea aside. That night, Flora Bloom went back to her room to rest. The moment she was inside, she locked the door and then entered the thatched hut in her space to sleep.
After all, even though she felt Ethan Monroe and Neal Wallace were decent enough people, she had only just met them. One can't be too careful.
That same night, Neal Wallace, asleep on the living room sofa, developed a fever. But lost in a deep slumber, he was completely unaware and just continued to sleep soundly.
Early the next morning, when Flora Bloom emerged from her space, the acrid smell of something burning filled her nostrils. The sight of swirling smoke made it look as if the house was on fire.
She quickly opened the door and headed for the living room. It was only when she saw the furniture and sofa burned to pieces, and Neal Wallace himself engulfed in flames, that Flora Bloom breathed a sigh of relief.
"Holy crap, it's a fire! We gotta put it out! Ah, Neal, hang on! I'm coming to save you!"
As he spoke, Ethan Monroe found a bucket and hurriedly went to fill it with water.
Flora Bloom didn't have time to stop him, so she could only approach Neal Wallace, intending to wake him up.
But as she drew a little closer, the flames on Neal Wallace's body flared even more intensely, as if threatening to ignite everything around him and burn it to ash.
"Neal Wallace, wake up!"
At that moment, however, Neal Wallace was lost in a deep sleep. In his dream, he saw his girlfriend, Violet, betraying him and leaving with his best friend. The normally reserved Neal, for some reason, flew into a rage in his dream. He charged forward recklessly and slapped Violet across the face.
The fiery sting in his palm felt incredibly satisfying.
But then, for some reason, the fiery sensation in his palm grew hotter and hotter until a flame actually sprouted from it.
Strangely, once the flame appeared, the pain in his palm vanished. He found he could even control this flame at will.
"Bigger, bigger, bigger… Smaller, smaller, smaller."
While he was having the time of his life playing with it, the living room was being burned until nothing remained.
When Ethan Monroe doused him with the bucket of water he'd fetched, the fire on Neal Wallace didn't shrink; it grew even larger.
Seeing this, Flora Bloom knew that if Neal Wallace didn't wake up soon, he would burn the whole house down. So, she braved the scorching heat of the flames and slowly approached him.
But with every step she took, the heat from the flames intensified, and the scorching temperature made her extremely uncomfortable.
With a thought, deep blue water flowed from Flora Bloom's palm. It covered her hand first, then her arm, and slowly, the deep blue liquid enveloped her entire body.
Once Flora Bloom was completely encased in the deep blue water, the intense heat from the flames actually vanished. It was only when she got closer that Flora Bloom began to feel a little warmth again.
A strange thing happened when her hand touched the flames on Neal Wallace's body. The fire on him actually began to flee in other directions, as if it were afraid of being touched by her Water Ability.
Flora Bloom paid it no mind. She grabbed Neal Wallace's wrist, shook it a few times, and shouted, "Neal Wallace, wake up!"
"Wake up! You're about to burn the whole house down!"
In his dream, Neal Wallace suddenly heard someone calling him, but when he listened closely, the voice was gone. Then, the flame on his hand started to retreat uncontrollably behind him, refusing to obey his commands no matter how he summoned it.
In his panic, he suddenly jolted awake.
Before him was Flora Bloom's exquisitely stunning, almost otherworldly face. At first glance, it seemed to glow under the reflection of the sun, and he couldn't tear his eyes away.
Suddenly, he twitched his nose and smelled a foul, burnt odor. Looking around, he discovered that his surroundings had been reduced to ashes, as if a fire had swept through.
Flora Bloom sighed and massaged her forehead. She looked at Neal Wallace and said seriously, "Don't doubt it. You burned it."
Neal Wallace hadn't yet processed the shift from his dream to reality. But as he recalled what happened, he suddenly looked at Flora Bloom, overjoyed.
"Th-th-this… I burned this?"
Flora Bloom nodded and replied nonchalantly, "You've awakened a Fire Element superpower. Congratulations."
Neal Wallace suddenly grinned and walked toward Flora Bloom, who kept backing away. When she was cornered, she snapped at him.
"Neal Wallace, are you an exhibitionist or something? Can you please go find some clothes to wear? It's an eyesore!"
Neal Wallace looked down, and his face instantly turned beet red. He quickly spun around and ran to hide behind Ethan Monroe.
Ethan Monroe glanced at him and said disdainfully, "Tch, you exhibitionist. Hurry up and find some clothes in the room. Don't be a bad influence on an innocent young lady like Flora!"
Flora Bloom ignored them. Instead, she picked up her bag, using it as cover to pull out a bottle of mineral water and some bread, which she handed to Ethan Monroe.
After such a huge fire, the living room was now completely empty. Even the house's entire electrical wiring was fried. The refrigerator, air conditioner, and water heater had all short-circuited. Trying to cook now would be a safety hazard.
Neal Wallace found a tracksuit and a pair of sneakers belonging to the house's owner. They barely fit, and they certainly didn't match his aesthetic. But in the apocalypse, nobody cared about looking good.
When he came out, he took the water and bread and quickly finished them.
Just now in the room, he had tried to summon his Fire Element superpower. It went smoothly at first, but gradually, the flame he could control grew smaller and smaller. Eventually, he became completely exhausted and couldn't summon it at all.
Flora Bloom glanced at Neal Wallace's pale face and knew just what a foolish thing he had done.
"You've only just awakened your superpower, so your level is low. If you overuse it, you'll become weak. You're lucky it happened here. If you were outside, you'd just be waiting to be eaten by zombies!"
Only then did Neal Wallace understand the reason for his weakness. He took the water Flora Bloom handed him and drank a few sips. He suddenly felt the weakness subside a little. Although he still couldn't summon his superpower, Neal Wallace knew that with a little more rest, he would recover.
The water Flora Bloom had given Neal Wallace this time was from the river in her space. It had the effect of restoring stamina and healing wounds. While it couldn't reverse the weakness from overusing a superpower, it could strengthen the body and shorten the recovery time.