Xia Qing nodded, pretending to look somewhat disappointed.
She had awakened Charm, an ability that seemed completely useless at this stage.
The charm ability had only just begun to activate; she would become increasingly attractive, and her skin would grow smooth and fair.
It was unimaginable.
She had to remember that in her past life, to expand her spatial storage, Xia Qing had endured countless hardships and seen through too many ungrateful, heartless people.
The dark side of human nature manifested wildly during the apocalypse.
In the end-times, strength was king.
She was not the Xia Qing of the previous life; rather, she was Xia Qing from the wasteland world.
Although she hadn’t fully recovered all her memories, she still retained fragmented recollections.
Knowing that Lin Yao had awakened the charm ability in their past life, she had always cowered in the rear—to be precise, hiding behind men.
In the old days, Xia Qing had earnestly and repeatedly advised Lin Yao to go out, kill mutants, and acquire energy cores to level up her own ability.
Instead, Lin Yao believed that as long as she relied on men, it didn’t matter how her ability upgraded; leveling up was entirely pointless.
Even if it did upgrade, it would only enhance her knack for charming men.
Unlike Xia Qing, who could upgrade her spatial storage, hoard massive amounts of supplies, and become a sought-after figure favored by the military.
Even though Lin Yao possessed the charm skill, always hiding behind various men, and despite being gorgeous, beautiful, and possessing a perfect figure…
Once the mutants invaded and the apocalypse broke out, all of these traits paradoxically became her original sin.
No one cared whether you were pretty or not; they only cared whether you had food.
Lin Yao had always trailed behind Xia Qing. Her family background was vastly superior to Xia Qing’s—her father was a wealthy tycoon in North City, and she had lived her entire life surrounded by adoring attention.
After the apocalypse, all of that changed. Xia Qing became the one everyone fawned over.
Still, heaven had treated her well, giving her a chance to start all over again…
She stared at Xia Qing’s back, her fingers clenching tightly.
I should be the one everyone looks up to.
Xia Ran asked Lin Yao, “Yaoyao, since there’s spatial storage right downstairs, come with me. Let’s harvest the supplies from the supermarket downstairs and store them in your space.”
Lin Yao thought of something: “The supermarket downstairs… there might be mutants down there, right?”
In her past life, Lin Yao had never killed a single mutant.
After all, with her charm skill, she could easily captivate men, and others would willingly hand over food to her.
However, the charm skill had a time limit. Once a man snapped out of it, some dark-minded individuals would seek revenge on her—only to fall right back under the spell of her charm skill once more.
This endless cycle of repetition was a form of torture for Lin Yao.
Mutants were creatures from another world. Their physical appearance closely resembled humans, but inside their mouths were dense rows of sharp fangs.
Being bitten by a mutant would infect a person, turning them into zombie-like monsters that lost their minds, went insane, and tore humans apart.
Mutants devoured flesh and blood!
Sucking dry every drop of blood, eating away every morsel of meat!
Xia Ran knew Lin Yao was terrified, especially with the mutant outbreak hitting Jiangcheng…
Right now, the outside world was swarming with mutants. Their regenerative capabilities were terrifyingly strong, and they possessed immense physical power; only by severing their heads could they truly be killed.
Xia Ran: “Yaoyao, don’t be afraid. I’ll go ahead first and clear out the mutants and the infected.”
“Since you now have the spatial ability, we can gather more supplies so that we can make it to North City.”
Lin Yao remembered that her past life had unfolded just like this. Xia Qing had awakened spatial storage, earning the immense favor of her older brother, and had insisted on following him to hunt mutants.
As a result, she was scratched by a mutant. Though her body contained antibodies, it left a massive, ugly black scar on her arm.
Even so, countless people still followed Xia Qing.
Lin Yao wasn’t going to be that foolish; she hoarded supplies strictly for herself.
Lin Yao: “Brother, but I’m scared. Why don’t you just kill the mutants first, and then I’ll go inside? Besides, cell phones still work right now.”
Xia Qing naturally understood the situation. On one hand, she temporarily didn’t want Lin Yao to discover that she was both a重生 (reborn) and a traveler from another world.
Because some of her memories were missing and came in intermittent flashes.
She had been reborn into this world, which meant the original Xia Qing of this world might have been reborn into her wasteland world!
On the other hand, she remembered there were three mutants downstairs.
Although her brother Xia Ran carried a gun and managed to shoot two of them down, if Xia Qing hadn’t intervened back then, her brother surely would have died at the hands of the mutants.
If Lin Yao refused to go down today and Xia Ran went alone, he might not be able to handle all three mutants.
Keep in mind that the mutant outbreak had only just begun, and their reproduction rate was astonishingly fast…
Pregnancy in three days, giving birth in seven, and by day eight the offspring grew into fully mature adult mutants.
This meant they had precisely eight days to escape from Jiangcheng.
Xia Qing: “Brother, I’ll go with you.”
Xia Ran was deeply moved: “Your ability hasn’t fully awakened yet.”
Xia Qing: “Even though my ability isn’t fully awakened, I have antibodies. It doesn’t matter even if I get hurt by a mutant.”
“Brother, you haven’t awakened any abilities yet! If you get infected, we’ll be in big trouble.”
Xia Ran truly was a good older brother. When he acquired two energy cores, he had given them both to his two younger sisters instead.
“Say no more, let’s go.”
Xia Ran felt touched inside: “Yaoyao, you stay here. Come over only after we’ve wiped them out.”
Lin Yao nodded, sneering as she watched Xia Qing’s back.
Just as expected, still so pure. Having your arm injured is your destiny!
Xia Qing, don’t blame me for not warning you!
Though the two of them were cousins, when faced with personal interests and the apocalypse, even real siblings would turn on each other—let alone mere cousins.
Xia Ran handed Xia Qing a knife, instructing her that to kill a mutant, she must attack the neck and sever the head.
This knife was specially crafted by the police force—exceptionally sturdy and infinitely sharp.
By the time Xia Ran had used up all his firearms and bullets trying to rescue the two girls, he still hadn’t awakened any abilities.
Traditional firearms couldn’t guarantee a kill even with a headshot, making cold steel much more effective right now.
“Stay close to me.”
The supermarket was right downstairs. Xia Ran entered first, with Xia Qing following closely behind…
Xia Qing gripped her knife tightly, trailing behind Xia Ran…
Bloodstains still smeared the ground, and just around the corner lay a dismembered corpse…
To her surprise, Xia Qing felt remarkably accustomed to it.
In her past life, Xia Qing had killed countless mutants to maintain and upgrade her spatial storage, ruining the skin and hands of a normal young woman.
She had even chopped off her hair short just to facilitate killing mutants.
Though her life back then had been miserable, it was still far better than her existence in the wasteland world.
In the wasteland world, her very skin felt scorched by the harsh environment!
Her skin was so tender now that she wasn’t even used to it yet!
It was terribly difficult for Xia Qing’s spatial ability to expand its capacity. Plenty of people had followed behind her, but all of them were merely after the food inside her space.
Everyone acted as though her space contained an endless, inexhaustible supply of food.
They treated her with utmost respect on the surface, but in reality, they only cared about the food.
Interests came first; it was nothing more than a mutual exchange of what each other needed.
Through the blood-stained glass window, Xia Qing caught sight of her own eyes, her pupils flashing with a purple light.
This was her charm skill.
It had awakened!
The charm skill seemed capable of charming the opposite sex only.
To someone like Lin Yao, it was indeed completely useless.
However, energy cores triggered awakened talents based on an individual’s genetic constitution.
Energy cores could boost the same type of ability, but they manifested vastly different innate traits!
Swoosh, slash…
The sound of fighting echoed from inside the supermarket. It seemed Xia Ran had encountered the mutants.
Suddenly, a mutant leapt down from the ceiling.
Its entire body was skin and bones, covered in grayish-white skin…
Screeeech…
Their shrieks were piercingly sharp and extremely grating to the ear.
The mutant bared rows of dense, sharp fangs. Xia Qing had plenty of experience dealing with mutants from her past life, even though her physical stamina was currently far inferior.
Still, her reflexes remained sharp.
The mutant lunged straight toward her.
Xia Qing calmly activated her skill. In the reflection of the glass window, her pupils shifted to a vibrant purple!
The mutant’s grayish-white pupils suddenly paused for a split second.