008 Lu Qingxue’s Shock.
Four modified armored vehicles, like four steel behemoths, stopped in the open space ten meters from the shop.
The doors opened, and four men climbed out of the vehicles one after another, while two women stayed inside without moving. The four leading men were all powerfully built, their eyes carrying proud killing intent—clearly Ability Users at a glance.
“Shop owner, get out here! Who gave you permission to open a shop without authorization on Radiance Base territory?”
The man with a fire tiger tattooed on his shoulder, dressed in a black vest, had a deep, rough voice. The moment he entered, the scavengers and ordinary base personnel waiting in line scattered in fright.
He headed straight for Shen Wuqiao, but as soon as he stepped into the shop, his gaze swept over the dazzling shelves and his eyes locked in place, the threats stuck in his throat forcibly swallowed down.
The others followed in one after another, and without exception, before they could even put on a show of force, they were all drawn in by the various rare goods on the shelves.
“Holy shit, is that iced beer? And Huazi cigarettes?! Five years… I’m seeing Huazi again, damn—”
“And beef jerky! Real pre-apocalyptic stuff—my favorite spicy beef jerky, not that tough, stinky Mutant Beast meat!”
“There’s no Pollution Value marked on the packaging—it’s definitely pre-apocalyptic merchandise!” The four men circled the shelves once, shaken as if their entire worldview had been overturned.
The tattooed man was the first to return to the checkout counter, fixing Shen Wuqiao with cold, vicious eyes. “You’re a Space-type Ability User who stockpiled supplies before the apocalypse? How much of these supplies do you have left? Hand it all over—it belongs to our Radiance Base now.”
Shen Wuqiao, who had been threatened and intimidated an average of once a day, was already numb to it. She shook her head.
“All merchandise in this shop can be exchanged with Crystal Cores. If you want to rob me by force, that depends on how capable you are. No one has succeeded so far.”
“Bang—” The tattooed man slammed his palm onto the checkout counter, instantly leaving a clear handprint in the solid wood.
“You’re asking for death! You set up a shop without authorization within base territory and endangered the lives of our base personnel. I’m officially arresting you now for violating Base Law!”
Heat surged violently from the man’s body as a ball of red flame gathered in his palm, and the fire tiger tattoo on his shoulder seemed ready to ignite as well.
[Armed Ability Users detected threatening the shop. In-store Ability Sealing Protocol activated. Forced eviction initiated.]
“Brother Hu, what’s wrong with you?” One-eyed Zhang Long panicked at the sight of his big brother’s constipated expression.
Zhang Hu’s muscles were taut, the veins in his neck bulging and twisting as if every cell in his body were exerting force, yet he found that he couldn’t use his Supernatural Ability.
In the eyes with which he stared fixedly at Shen Wuqiao, an uncontrollable fear rose. What kind of power could suppress his ability?
Since awakening his ability, he had never encountered anything like this—even a Tier 8 High-level Ability User might not manage it.
This girl before him, with her unkempt hair and a lollipop in her mouth—who exactly was she?
“My ability? I can’t use my ability.” The other three Ability Users behind Zhang Hu finally noticed the problem.
But before they could step forward, an enormous invisible force yanked them hard. The door swung open automatically, and all four were flung out, crashing onto the roofs of the armored vehicles they had driven here.
“Bang bang~” The vehicle shook violently several times, and the gasps of the onlookers couldn’t drown out the wails of the four men on the roof.
“Sister Xue, this shop really is strange.” In the back seat of the car to the right rear, the two female Ability Users who had witnessed the whole thing frowned one after another.
The rear door of the car opened, and a woman dressed in black combat attire stepped out in black Martin boots.
Her curvaceous figure, beautiful face, and that cool, valiant aura instantly drew the attention of everyone present.
Her heels crunched against the gravel of the Wasteland with a faint grinding sound, yet every step she took was resolute.
Arriving at the shop’s entrance, she pushed open the heavy glass door, her imperious eyes turning condescendingly—like an act of charity—toward Shen Wuqiao, who was behind the counter fiddling with plugging in an electric kettle.
“Wel—”
The second their eyes met, the surrounding air seemed to freeze, and both of them forgot to open their mouths and breathe.
Shen Wuqiao stared at the woman before her—the more she looked, the more familiar she seemed.
Lu Qingxue’s stunned eyes were locked on that face, one she would never forget even if it were burned to ashes.
An oval face with peach-blossom eyes, a small black mole on the tip of her nose, a loosely tied side ponytail draped over one shoulder, with two wispy face-framing bangs hanging by her ears.
Even with her face covered in dust, she still carried an ethereal, pure, and refreshing aura.
But how was that possible? It had been ten years. If she really was Shen Wuqiao, how could she not have changed at all?
“Um… do we know each other?” The more Shen Wuqiao looked at Lu Qingxue, the more she felt she’d seen her somewhere before, but she couldn’t quite be sure.
Hearing this question, Lu Qingxue’s heart clenched violently. That possibility she’d been unwilling to believe was, in fact, the truth.
The girl before her was undoubtedly Shen Wuqiao!
And the reason Shen Wuqiao asked was probably because after awakening her Ice-type Ability, her appearance and aura had changed so dramatically that she hadn’t recognized her.
But whether she recognized her or not no longer mattered. Shen Wuqiao and this shop had to disappear.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Don’t think that by acting friendly with me, you’ll get to keep running your shop here. You have two choices: hand over the shop and your supplies willingly, or be flattened and buried.”
Shen Wuqiao stared unblinkingly into Lu Qingxue’s eyes. “But your eyes are telling me that whether I hand it over or not, you don’t plan on letting me go!”
“Lu—Qing—Xue?”
At the sound of her name from Shen Wuqiao’s lips, Lu Qingxue’s pupils visibly contracted.
“Just as I thought. Even though you’ve changed your appearance, your eyes still can’t hide your secrets like before. Believe it or not, I’m actually pretty happy to run into someone I know in the Post-apocalyptic Era.” Shen Wuqiao flashed her a brilliant smile.
But Lu Qingxue inexplicably felt mocked: “You’re still the same as before—so annoying! So hypocritical!”
“It’s been ten years, and you haven’t changed a bit, have you? Oh right, are Brother and the others with you? Are they okay? Could you…”
“No, they’re not, and no, I can’t!” Lu Qingxue cut her off directly, warning her coldly: “I’m here today to tear down this shabby shop of yours. Your shop threatens the base’s security. It must be removed.”
“I sell food and drink, not artillery shells and mechs. How could I threaten the base’s security? You mean I threaten the hegemony of the base’s higher-ups, don’t I?” Shen Wuqiao saw right through it.
“You’re not worth wasting my breath on. If you won’t cooperate, then disappear along with your shop!”
Lu Qingxue turned around, her gaze sweeping over the three rows of shelves. The moment her eyes landed on the supplies, her throat visibly bobbed with a swallow.
But her steps didn’t stop. Inside the store, she too could feel her ability being suppressed—but she had a long-range skill.
As she walked out, the corner of her lips curled, leaving Shen Wuqiao with a contemptuous back view. Shen Wuqiao had no trace of ability fluctuation on her—she was nothing but a cripple.
Whereas she herself possessed a rare Ice-type Ability. She was one of the few Combat-type Female Ability Users in the Southern Base, the pride of her family.
At last, she had beaten her once.
But this wasn’t enough!
She walked straight up to the armored vehicles, channeled her ability, and leaped onto the roof of one. The moment she turned around, the cold aura around her surged violently, and the twisted cold air gathered before her into a massive ice vortex.
Frost coated her eyelashes, and a silver snowflake totem lit up in her pupils as a chilling killing intent gathered strength.
“Ice-Snow Tornado—”
Lu Qingxue held nothing back—no probing, no mercy—as she unleashed her strongest strike without hesitation.
Everything this ice tornado passed over would be sealed in ice; anything blocking its path would be torn apart, destroyed, and frozen over.
The icy vortex before her, carrying wildly swirling snow and ice, surged toward Shen Wuqiao’s small store.
But the silver beast with its gaping maw was firmly blocked by an invisible wall four meters away from the store.
No matter how Lu Qingxue exhausted her mental strength to drive her ability, that wall was like a mire, biting down on her and holding her fast.
Trapped between advance and retreat, the Protective Light Shield suddenly blazed with light, and a force no ordinary human could withstand swept up the ice tornado she had released, rebounding it back along its original path.
“Boom—” She had no time to dodge and was struck directly by her own skill, turning into a human-shaped ice sculpture.