Apocalypse: I Can See Health Bars
Chapter 24: Deaf?

Chapter 24: Chapter 24: Deaf?

Lin Fan had a very long dream.

He dreamed he met a woman. Her skin was snow-white and delicate, and her figure was slender and graceful.

The two of them lived happily together, watching the sunrises and the sunsets.

But for some reason, he could never see her face clearly.

The days flew by, and the two finally walked down the aisle.

The officiant stood before them and said, "And now, the groom will place the ring on the bride!"

Lin Fan took the ring box from a zombie in a suit standing nearby. He took out the diamond ring, lifted the bride’s slender, boneless left hand with one of his own, and slid the ring onto the claw at the tip of her ring finger.

The surrounding zombies all started chanting, "Kiss her! Kiss her!..."

Lin Fan shyly lifted the bride’s veil, finally seeing her face clearly.

It was like some kind of sea anemone, composed of countless soft, slender tentacles in a slightly bashful pink hue. And amidst these innumerable tentacles, a large, vertical mouth filled with rings of sharp teeth was slowly gaping open, growing larger and larger in Lin Fan’s vision...

"Geneva! What a load of crap! You just won’t go away, will you!"

Startled awake, Lin Fan shot up in bed.

The scenes from the dream were as if they had just happened, each moment seared into his mind, impossible to erase. The nauseating images had caused Lin Fan to soak the bedsheets beneath him in cold sweat.

’Isn’t this the monster I just killed!?’

’What’s wrong with me? PTSD?’

But then, he froze. He realized his voice sounded different. It was hollow and immense, carrying an unsettling, buzzing echo. Even the sound of him swallowing was now as crisp and clear as a drumbeat.

"..."

Looking around, Lin Fan realized that it was already dark outside, and he was sitting on the bed in his own bedroom.

He was wearing a clean set of loungewear. He remembered that the dog-washing apron he had on before had been splattered with the monster’s filthy blood. He wondered if it could even be washed clean.

Lin Fan only remembered that after a life-or-death struggle with the monster, he couldn’t fight off the intense dizziness any longer and passed out...

’Did Su Qing carry me back and change my clothes?’

The room lights were off, with only a small night-light on the headboard emitting a warm, soft glow. This put him at ease.

As if hearing a noise in the room, a figure hurried in from outside the door.

"You’re awake! How are you feeling?"

It was Su Qing. She was wearing a simple T-shirt and pants, standing by his bed and looking at him with a concerned expression.

There were still some ligature marks on her wrists and arms. Her hair was a mess, her lips were pale, and she looked completely drained.

’It seems carrying me back took a lot out of her.’

Su Qing was standing right beside his bed, but her voice sounded distant and muffled, as if coming from the other side of a mountain.

In an instant, it was drowned out by the sounds of his own body—his heartbeat, his breathing, the gurgling of his stomach. Her voice shattered into fragments, making it almost impossible to discern what she was saying.

It was an unprecedentedly bizarre experience. Su Qing was standing right in front of him, yet Lin Fan felt as though a thick wall separated them, one that her voice could not penetrate.

It was like being locked in a cage. This sense of isolation was more terrifying than his first encounter with a zombie.

"Are you uncomfortable anywhere?"

Seeing Lin Fan staring blankly without a response, Su Qing leaned closer and repeated herself.

"...I’m fine, I just need a moment... Sister Qing, is there anything to eat?"

Lin Fan still couldn’t hear her clearly, but he could easily see the concern in her eyes, which reflected the lamplight. By reading her lips, he could roughly guess what she was saying.

Su Qing heard that Lin Fan’s voice was much quieter than before and just assumed he was still weak from waking up. The moment she heard he had an appetite, she quickly replied, "It’s good that you’re awake... I knew you’d be okay... I’ll go make you something right now..."

With that, she trotted out, and a faint sliver of light appeared from beyond the door.

Only after Su Qing had left the bedroom did Lin Fan slowly raise his hand. He picked at his ear, then looked at his fingertips under the light. A few dark-red, dried scabs were stuck to his nails.

His mind was a mess. ’My ears are injured, and badly. It’s probably neurological.’

’My hearing has degraded this much, and in these conditions, there’s no way to find a hearing aid.’

’If I can’t even hear, I won’t know if a zombie is sneaking up behind me. What’s the point of trying to survive then? It’d be more dignified to just open the window and jump...’

137/190

In his turmoil, Lin Fan saw his Life Value. Just like with the bone-spur monster from Room 402, he had gained another 20 points!

His maximum health had even reached 190 points, almost double that of a normal person!

The increase in his health bar gradually calmed the panic from his hearing loss. He recalled the moment his ears were blasted; he remembered being completely unable to hear a single sound back then...

At the time, he couldn’t even hear himself cursing, and there was the monster’s apparent "silent roar." Thinking back on it now, it probably wasn’t silent at all...

’Back then, I must have completely lost my hearing!’

’And now... even though it’s still muffled, I can at least hear Su Qing speaking!’

’Neurological damage is supposed to be irreversible!’

’But my hearing is definitely recovering!’

He remembered that after being injured, he had 113 Life Value left. Including the 20 points he gained from killing the monster, he had recovered a total of 24 points up to this moment!

’At this rate, my body is gradually healing as my Life Value recovers!’

’If this logic holds, then once my Life Value is fully restored, my hearing should be restored too!’

’This Superpower of mine that lets me see health bars can’t possibly be just a visual ability.’

’Since it can quantify life into a number, with damage corresponding to a decrease in Life Value, then as the Life Value recovers, it stands to reason that all the damage I’ve taken should heal as well!’

This realization made Lin Fan’s heart pound wildly, even drowning out the ringing in his ears.

’This isn’t just "recovery," this is practically a "reset"!’

’Whether it’s nerve damage, severed limbs, or a viral infection, as long as there’s enough food, as long as my health bar can be refilled, I’ll have a perfect body that never suffers any lasting side effects!’

’In this post-apocalyptic world lacking doctors and medicine, this is my true capital!’

With this assurance, his mentality, which had been on the verge of shattering, finally stabilized.

He touched his forehead. The wound he’d given himself had a bandage on it, though it wasn’t applied very professionally. He’d have to deal with it properly in a bit.

It had bled, but the wound wasn’t deep. Just needed to be disinfected.

Thinking this, Lin Fan got up and slipped on his slippers.

Standing up suddenly from the bed, he still felt a little dizzy. It seemed the monster’s shriek had caused considerable damage to his body.

However...

With a thought, two auto-injectors, each as thick as a thumb, appeared in Lin Fan’s hands. Floating above them were their names: [Stealth Potion (Small)] and [Scream Potion (Small)].

Two new potions. One could, to some extent, help him evade zombies, while the other was the very shriek that had caused him so much harm...

"Allows user to emit a sonic attack for ten minutes. Severe strain on vocal cords..."

Lin Fan read the potion’s description.

’I just don’t know how many times it can be used within those ten minutes...’

He had experienced this sonic attack firsthand. It could directly assault the brain. He didn’t know how effective it would be against monsters, but against humans, it would be a trump card...