After hearing Jin Chao’s explanation, Qiao Sheng quieted down and refrained from uttering another word.
His mouth parted as if he wanted to add something, but catching sight of Jin Chao’s completely expressionless face, he ultimately swallowed his words back down.
Having followed his captain for so long, he understood the man all too well.
The captain’s way of thinking was never on the same wavelength as anyone else’s.
When others panicked, he remained ice-cold; when others deemed a situation safe, he grew exceptionally vigilant instead.
This unconventional mindset had saved their lives countless times, even if it occasionally made Qiao Sheng feel like they were operating on entirely different frequencies.
Qiao Sheng quietly retreated to the side.
On the other side of the room, Xia Qing leaned back against the corner wall, slipping a hand into her pocket until her fingertips brushed against a small, round creature.
It wasn’t an energy core, but the little mouse.
She had acquired two energy cores today in total.
Jin Chao had traded two cores for her single white one.
Pulling the green energy core out from her other pocket, she rested it in the palm of her hand.
Green usually signaled attributes tied to the wood element or life force, though the specific nature remained uncertain until absorbed.
There were no absolute guarantees.
Attributes depended not only on the absorbed core, but also on an individual’s unique genetic traits.
However, she had no intention of using it on herself.
It held zero practical value for her, as she could only absorb pink energy cores.
Xia Qing scooped the little mouse out from her pocket.
The tiny creature curled up in her palm, covered in dusty gray fur, its thin, elongated tail coiled loosely.
A pair of bead-like black eyes darted back and forth, radiating a sharp, clever instinct.
Xia Qing then deployed her Charm ability to establish a direct connection.
This was the very first animal she had successfully charmed, even if it was merely an ordinary little mouse.
Setting both energy cores side by side on the floor—one red and one green—Xia Qing poked the little mouse’s nose gently.
“Pick one.”
The little mouse twitched its snout, leaning in to sniff both cores, its pink nose working in rapid twitches.
It didn’t show a preference either way.
She couldn’t tell what effect this might bring.
Xia Qing raised an eyebrow subtly.
The properties of a green energy core were indeed a fitting match for a mouse.
—Mice were creatures of relentless vitality and astonishing reproductive capabilities.
If it successfully absorbed the core, it might genuinely mutate and develop a useful skill.
There was just one problem.
This energy core was far too large for a mouse.
The core was roughly the size of Xia Qing’s pinky fingernail, whereas the mouse’s head was barely larger than a peanut.
Asking such a tiny creature to swallow a core larger than its own head sounded like a complete joke.
Yet Xia Qing wasn’t joking at all.
Crouching down, she gently held the mouse’s body with one hand while bringing the green core up to its snout with the other.
Instinctively, the mouse parted its jaws to bite the core, but its sheer size made swallowing it impossible.
Using her fingernails, Xia Qing slowly ground the core into fine powder, feeding the fragments into the mouse’s mouth bit by bit.
At first, the mouse struggled weakly, kicking its four tiny legs in the air and whipping its tail back and forth, trying to squirm free from her grip.
Under the suppression of Xia Qing’s Charm skill, its willpower to resist was swiftly worn down to nothing.
It could only obediently swallow the core fragments bite by bite.
Though the swallowing process proved agonizingly uncomfortable…
The mouse’s tiny body swelled up noticeably.
Xia Qing didn’t stop her hands.
The entire procedure lasted roughly ten minutes.
Throughout it all, Xia Qing carefully monitored the mouse’s physical changes.
Once the core powder settled in its stomach, the mouse’s body began to tremble violently.
Beneath its grayish-white fur, blood vessels bulged one after another, as if something were surging wildly through its bloodstream.
Those vessels took on an unnatural, vivid emerald hue, resembling the root system of a tree spreading rapidly under its skin.
Xia Qing’s heart picked up its pace.
Truth be told, she was fully prepared for failure.
Whether an ordinary little mouse could withstand the mutating energy of a core was something nobody could predict.
After all, the standard path for human awakening involved being scratched or bitten by a mutant first, becoming infected with the mutant virus.
Only by swallowing a core while the virus actively reengineered the body stood a chance of unlocking an ability.
It was a perilous tightrope walk where barely two or three out of ten survived.
Rumor had it that government research facilities were already studying safer methods of awakening—
Extracting the mutant virus to manufacture injectable serum, paired with controlled core ingestion.
Such a method promised significantly higher success rates and reduced side effects.
Yet those were high-level state operations; stranded survivors like them had zero access to such resources.
Right now, this little mouse could only submit to fate.
Placing the mouse back into her palm, Xia Qing gently stroked its back with a finger, her voice hushed low.
It sounded as if she were speaking to it, or perhaps muttering to herself: “You’re the very first pet I’ve charmed.”
“Even if you’re just a tiny mouse.”
“Endure it. Don’t let my effort go to waste.”
The mouse lay sprawled flat on her palm, belly facing up, its four legs stretched out stiffly while its body twitched intermittently.
The emerald vessels beneath its skin grew increasingly pronounced, as if a wild force were expanding frantically within its frame.
Its eyes remained tightly shut, its mouth slightly ajar to reveal two rows of tiny white teeth, its breathing coming in rapid, shallow gasps.
Xia Qing extended her index finger, pressing it lightly against the mouse’s chest.
Thump, thump, thump.
The heartbeat remained.
Faint as it was, it was undeniably beating.
Still alive.
Letting out a quiet breath of relief, Xia Qing carefully placed the mouse back into her pocket, using her fingers to prop the fabric open slightly to ensure air circulation.
Curled at the bottom of her pocket like a tiny ball of gray fluff, the creature’s body continued to twitch from time to time.
“I hope you pull through.”
Xia Qing patted her pocket softly, murmuring under her breath.
Across the room, Lin Yao sat tucked in a corner, an unsuppressible look of triumph plastered across her face.
That white energy core had ultimately ended up in her hands.
Of course, Xia Qing hadn’t given it to her freely.
Jin Chao had traded two cores to secure it for her.
That girl really got off easy, Lin Yao thought with a trace of bitter lingering resentment.
She cradled the white core like a rare, priceless treasure, the glint in her eyes shining brighter than the crystal itself.
A spatial storage ability was the single most sought-after asset in the apocalypse.
Whoever held spatial storage was the true female lead of the apocalyptic world.
Lin Yao had experienced this truth firsthand in her past life.
Which major faction or formidable military force didn’t scramble to secure spatial users?
A single spatial user was worth an entire logistics division.
From now on, Jin Chao would only pay more and more attention to her.
Closing her eyes, Lin Yao began absorbing the energy locked within the core.
Threads of white light drew away from the core, flowing through her fingers and into her body like warm spring water coursing through her veins.
She could feel her spatial storage expanding inch by inch, as if someone were slowly pushing open a heavy door in the pitch-black darkness, revealing a far broader horizon beyond.
About fifteen minutes later, the core crumbled into a pile of ash-gray dust, sifting through Lin Yao’s fingers.
She opened her eyes, exhaling a long, deep breath.
Her storage space had indeed grown—an entire tier larger than before.
Furthermore, upon completing the absorption, the lingering exhaustion that had weighed on her lifted significantly, feeling as though a heavy stone had been removed from her shoulders.
Lin Yao stretched her shoulders, completely unable to hold back the upward curve of her lips.
In her past life, she had awakened the Charm skill, yet no matter how hard she tried…
She had never managed to make Jin Chao view her with an ounce of genuine respect.
Jin Chao’s mental power was simply too formidable; using Charm on him felt like a soft breeze brushing against a solid boulder, failing to shake him in the slightest.