Lin Yao’s eyes remained tightly locked onto Xia Qing.
Watching the increasingly refined contours of her features and the smooth, luminous glow of her skin under the dim lighting, a turbulent wave of complex emotions churned in Lin Yao’s heart—a bitter mix of envy, jealousy, and an imperceptible trace of unease.
So what if she’s beautiful?
She sneered inwardly, a tone of bitter refusal hiding behind her thoughts.
The world today was no longer a peaceful era.
This was the apocalypse—a lawless world where mutants erupted rampantly and societal order had completely collapsed. Ruin and desolation lay everywhere, and human lives were treated as cheap as grass.
Beauty could no longer shroud a person in glory or turn them into a star adored by millions.
Instead, in these chaotic times, it would become a tempting sin that invited predatory eyes.
Xia Qing, once you actually arrive in North City, when the food supply is completely depleted and even a bite of coarse grain is impossible to find, you will realize that this beautiful body of yours will only make you a target of everyone’s lust, dragging you step by step down into an inescapable hell.
On the other side of the room, Jin Chao and Xia Ran stood in a corner talking in hushed tones, both bearing rather solemn expressions.
Xia Qing hadn’t intended to pay any attention to Lin Yao, wanting nothing more than to wait quietly. Yet the other girl was like a persistent shadow, deliberately coming over to stand right in front of her.
“Qingqing, you seem to have gotten pretty again.”
Xia Qing’s heart stirred slightly. For some reason, listening to Lin Yao’s voice, she could sense an unmistakable sourness underlying her tone—like a mixture of jealousy and bitter resentment.
As Xia Qing slowly approached, several of Jin Chao’s teammates subconsciously raised their eyes toward her.
Xia Qing looked up, meeting their gazes, her tone resolute and tinged with a touch of pride: “Yeah, and I’ll keep getting prettier.”
Seeing her completely composed and confident attitude, Lin Yao felt a cold doubt creep into her mind, her fingertips curling in slightly.
Earlier, she had felt that Xia Qing seemed different from before.
Her words and actions carried a newfound calm and detachment, to the point that Lin Yao had quietly worried whether Xia Qing might also be a reborn traveler like herself—holding foresight and trump cards in this post-apocalyptic world.
But now, it seemed she had simply overthought things.
Wanting to be beautiful was the most fundamental desire of any girl, and Xia Qing was no exception.
What a pity that this was a peril-laden apocalypse—a place with zero tolerance for romance or vanity.
No matter how beautiful someone was, it couldn’t be traded for half a grain of food, nor could it block a mutant’s attack. It was utterly useless.
Unable to suppress the mockery in her heart, Lin Yao blurted out with a sharp edge to her voice, “This is the apocalypse. We can barely keep ourselves alive, so getting prettier is completely useless!”
Xia Qing slowly opened her eyes and looked at her. Her expression remained emotionless, her tone flat yet carrying an inexplicable pressure: “Is that so?”
Her eyes were deep, like an fathomless pool of icy water.
Lin Yao subconsciously focused her gaze, catching a fleeting flash of purple light deep within Xia Qing’s pupils.
It was so fast it felt like an illusion.
How… how is that possible?
Lin Yao’s heart seized up, a chill running down her spine. She remembered with absolute clarity that when her own Charm ability activated, her eyes would flash with a striking red glow. Yet Xia Qing’s eyes bore an eerie purple.
Could it be that their awakened abilities were fundamentally different?
Or was Xia Qing’s ability tier higher than hers?
At that moment, an uncontrollable wave of panic surfaced in Lin Yao’s heart, making her breathing grow ragged.
Human desire was an endless abyss, always greedy and striving for both options, wanting to claim everything within reach.
If not for the fundamental rules of the apocalypse restricting a person to awakening only a single ability, she would have long since greedily absorbed two energy cores at once, attempting to master two formidable powers simultaneously.
Yet in such a harsh apocalyptic environment, consuming two cores at once was impossible.
A fragile body simply couldn’t withstand the impact of two competing abilities; it would instantly burst and die on the spot, without even a chance to struggle.
Lin Yao’s fingers clenched tightly, her knuckles turning stark white from the force, her nails digging deep into her palms to mask the panic and greed surging within her.
“Qingqing, the apocalypse isn’t a beauty pageant! Whoever survives until the end is the real winner!”
Xia Qing offered her a brief glance without replying. Unwilling to waste any more breath on her, her eyes clearly showed her impatience.
Right now, rather than squandering time entangled with Lin Yao, she was far better off studying her own ability, nursing her physical condition, and boosting her caloric energy. Standing firm in this apocalyptic world was the only thing that truly mattered.
Just then, Xia Ran and Jin Chao concluded their conversation. He walked over quickly with a steady composure.
“Qingqing, we’re going to temporarily team up with Captain Jin to complete their mission. Once it’s finished, we’ll head back to North City together.”
Now that the major bridge connecting to the outside world had collapsed, passage was completely blocked.
Furthermore, Tianjin City was also infested with mutants.
Although Xia Ran had awakened an ability, traveling with Su Bai while lacking heavy firearms—and dragging along Xia Qing, Wu Fang, and her young son—was simply too dangerous.
Xia Ran wasn’t willing to gamble with their lives.
Xia Qing wasn’t surprised by this outcome.
According to her fragmented recollections, Xia Ran had died right here in Tianjin City.
As for how he died…
Xia Qing couldn’t recall.
Having transmigrated into this body, her memories of her past life seemed to grow increasingly hazy, likely due to the ongoing soul integration with her current host.
Therefore, Xia Ran had indeed died here in her past life.
And…
As a reborn individual, Lin Yao couldn’t possibly be unaware of this.
From her initial invitation to Xia Ran to her visible excitement upon seeing him arrive earlier, her motives were clear.
Xia Qing’s eyes darkened subtly.
Xia Qing: “Alright, Brother. I’m exhausted after traveling all day, so I’m going to rest for a bit.”
For everyone’s safety, the entire group was resting together inside a single building.
As a result, there weren’t proper private rooms available inside.
Nevertheless, Xia Qing managed to find an intact sofa.
Her top priority remained hunting mutants and absorbing energy cores…
Squeak, squeak…
The little mouse poked its head out from Xia Qing’s pocket; it was hungry…
It wriggled out to forage for food on its own.
She wasn’t worried about it not returning, as it was already bound to her by her imprint.
Once she absorbed another energy core, she should be able to plant a deeper imprint on the little mouse.
When that time came, she would be able to sense its exact location and even establish basic communication.
For now, the little mouse’s intelligence was far too low. She would have to see if she could feed it an energy core later.
She could only take things one step at a time.
Haste makes waste.
Closing her eyes, she fell into a light sleep, attempting to recall the original Xia Qing’s past life memories.
Unexpectedly, her consciousness drifted into her spiritual spatial dimension.
Carrying her spatial dimension with her, Xia Qing found herself transported back to her original world—the wasteland world.
“Help me seek revenge, and I will help you rebuild your home.”